1st of 14 teams come & gone...

a massive ancient volcano crater lake - lago de coatepeque - stunning views

corn harvest season. grind em up, add water and fry up some tortilla's

well, the first of 14 teams has flown home. 


10 canadians from sarnia
5 houses built
1 tropical storm still raging
4000 el salvadorians displaced living in shelters
1 meter of rain. a lot... i mean a lot of rain - over a meter this week!
8 out of 12 people living here with a chest cold that won't quit...
1 trip to 2 compassion child sites visited
4 fluker's family visit
48 orphans fed supper
50 men visited at teen challenge in san salvador - drug rehab center
4 hour (much needed) nap on sunday afternoon - priceless


we are tired, but feel blessed by the team that just left as they showed our families much kindness and encouragement. leading up to this team we have spent two weeks viewing homes of families in great poverty. we have met and interviewed and taken photos of over 200 homes and families in the villages of san antonio and san felipe. the sewing centre is hopping. oscar is taking some good leadership there. carlos did a splendid job translating for the team and felipito got his feet wet with the first team and his new role here. all in all, we feel like it was a good first chapter to this new season of teams. we asked the team to interview and write a short note of the families they built for. a window into their lives. i thought i would include these in a blog so you can meet them too. thanks to Joy for writing their stories...
trent


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Maria del Ingles & 2 grandsons in front of their shed sized mud house.

Maria takes care of her 2 grandsons. she has some obvious mental conditions. she speaks incoherent at times. she jumps around and doesn't make sense most of the time. she seems well liked though in the village. everyone gets a kick out of her and it doesn't seem to be in a bad way. it seems they accept her for who she is. there are so many people here with untreated mental disorders. 

Her house was absolutely filled with stuff. it was smaller than an old single car garage. maybe 9ft by 15ft and looked like it was about to fall in any minute. you had to climb up 'stuff' to get to the top bunk as the ladder wasn't even visible! her new home will have a lot more room. hopefully "Horders", the TLC show will come and help her move in ;-)

These two boys are sure to have a healthier future as we learned first hand during these very rainy days. everything is wet. damp. smelling of mould and mildew. a new house is a brighter future for these two boys who have no mother to care for them… i'm sure God is well pleased as she cares for these orphans.

2 of Gladia's 5 children

A year ago Gladia’s life was changed forever.  Her husband died of heart failure leaving her alone with five children to care for. She sells fruit on the roadside, but it does not offer the means of support she needs. Her goal is to keep moving forward despite her many hardships, and provide her children with a better life.  As a child Gladia hoped to one day become a teacher.  That dream has been lost in the fog of day-to-day uncertainty.  

Her children attend school and can read and write.  This is very important to Gladia as she hopes they will do all that she did not. She is involved with her community, but is unsure how she can do anything to help support it outside of caring for her family.  If only this strong, hopeful woman could see what an influence she could have on the girls in her community, what an example she could be for the young married women.

Gladia believes she has nothing of value to offer herself.  Who might come alongside Gladia to pour into her life so she might do the same for others?

single mom - Theresa De Jesus Hernandez & 1 of three kids

When Theresa prepares food people come running.  She is a talented cook with a gift for feeding a crowd and making sure everyone is satisfied.  Her village knows her abundant skills, and often seeks her out for wedding and various events.  As a child she hoped to one day become a cook. Theresa is living out her dream and it shows.  She is a confident, strong woman with potential to become a leader among the women.  Perhaps she is so content because of the love and support her parents have given her, or maybe it is because she is using the gifts the Lord blessed her with.  Whatever the reason, Theresa’s inner joy is transparent. However, life is not without it’s trials.  Nine months ago her husband left her to care for her three small children, eight-year-old Jefferson, three-year -old Stephen and nine month old Chrissia. Alone and without a home they have struggled to get through each day.  After being abused for years at the hand of her unfaithful husband she is now free from the daily anguish, but at great cost.

The house she received means shelter for her family, and independence to continue to build a strong life.

single mom - Reina Guadalupe Hernandez & 1 of her 3 kids

When Reina was a child she had dreams of becoming a seamstress.  She worked hard until she perfected the craft bringing her dreams closer to reality.  Unfortunately, Reyna’s life did not unfold the way she hoped it might. 

Today she works as a maid, cleaning and scrubbing for others, while her children wait alone at home.  This job she toils so hard at does not adequately feed her family and often they are left hungry. 

This is not the life Reyna had imagined. This is a life of daily survival, and it is exhausting.  Reyna has not forgotten her childhood dreams.  She still sews and creates beautiful dresses using her eldest daughters designs, hoping for the day she can live her live with a purpose that instills hope in herself and her children. 

Her three children all attend school and can read and write. Education is important to this family.  Reyna desires a better future for her children, just as any mother would, and she believes the house that was given to her is the beginning of a new hope.

Ana Silvia Arebalo Montanas & Benito Mario with 2 of their 8 kids!

Benito has lived in his village his entire life.  The view he and his family experience each day is evidence of God’s brilliant creativity.  Unfortunately the house his wife and eight children lived in was a crumbling mess.   When Benito was told to tear it down in order to receive the new one he was hesitant.  Where would he put his belongings?  Where would he sleep?  What about the rain?  When pushed he finally agreed, and his family worked hard to prepare the land for his new home.  Benito and his wife of 28 years, Anna Sylvia, have eleven children.  They exude a simple happiness and contentment despite their hardships. The home built for them means so much.  Benito knew that their poverty would never allow for a beautiful home even though it was something he desired for his family.  What are his dreams for his many children?  A happy life with their basic needs cared for.  He believes the Canadian teams are a great blessing from the God he fears, and is thankful for all they have done to see some of his dreams come to pass.

inside wall of a house i built on my first trip 5 years ago with andrew, tyson & blaine.

What are we up to?? Read and find out...

Since no one has really written in a while, I thought I would put finger to keyboard and get some words out there. First off, I just came back a couple weeks ago from Canada, where I went to suprise my Dad for his 60th birthday. It was also a suprise for his wife Shelley and my sister Sarah and her fiance who were visiting from England. They all cried!! While I was there, my sister in law Teresa and my brother Daniel had their baby and I was honored to be in the birthing and delivery room as Teresa's coach. The week was amazing ending with selling our t-shirts for the Got Goat program. I sold almost every shirt we made and we are now able to buy 13 goats for families in need of milk for their anemic children. Check out our little trailer to see what we have been up to.


http://vimeo.com/25538595


Here is a picture of the goat shirts. We will be ordering more for the middle of October, so if you are interested please let us know and we will order you one in any size you want. (they fit small) They are $20 and with every 6 we sell we can buy a goat.

A few days after I got back, we were doing a key ceremony for two houses that the guys built while I was away. These houses were in San Felipe. The town where the 4 men that work with Stu and Trent are from. We were invited to Noe's house for lunch and then afterward to Robertos house for Atol, tortaitas and corn. We went out at 11 am and didn't return home until 7:30 pm. It was a long day, but I loved hanging out with our new friends and seeing what their family life is like.


At Noe's house we had beef asada and rice and salad. It always amazes me how people that barely ever eat beef or any meat for that matter want to use their last dime to buy us a nice meal. Sometimes it seems backwards to me. Especially having to feed all 12 of us. 13 when you count Carlos.

 We are blown away by the peoples generosity here towards us. I think that people see us as the face for all of you; that have given of your time, energy, resources and prayers, and boy are they ever thankful. Every other day someone is giving us something, from all sorts of fruit, to cream and cheese. Last week a women who the team from Bethany built a house for came up to us and said she wanted to give us a live chicken. Well sure enough, yesterday Trent came home with a live chicken to keep in the garage until it could be "taken care of" for supper. Today a friend of ours that knows her way around here told us the chicken needed to gain some weight, so she took it to her house to feed and care for it. Phew...

Back to San Felipe, after a humongous lunch, we went over to Roberto's house. Roberto's wife Isabelle makes this sweet quick bread called quesadilla. She wakes up at 3am 4 times a week to bake it in her forno oven that Roberto built for here. This oven could rival any high priced forno oven in Canada. The bread is the best I have ever tasted. We may commission her to make it for all the Canadians that come out here. We told Isabel that the next get together we are going to bring pizza dough and all the toppings to have a pizza party in her oven.


She also showed us how to make "queso fresco" (fresh cheese).

Right now it is harvest time. Corn harvest.. that means that every other day we get corn dropped off at our house. It is a lot of work to do anything with the corn. You can make the following. Crazy Corn, which sound weird, but is really delicious. It is corn on the cob with a mustard mayonnaise mix, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and a parmigiana like cheese. You can make elote tamales and a fried tamale like dish called tortitas that you eat with cream and salt.

Luckily corn season will soon be over because corn here does not have the same sweet taste as corn in Canada. Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining I love that the people here want to thank us with whatever they can, even though we don't need it!

On to another topic, we have been trying to start up this sewing program. We were able to purchase 5 industrial machines to start and are working on getting 5 home machines that the Sarnia, Ontario team will bring in October. So far I have taught Pimpa how to quilt and we have completed our first rag quilt using cut up second hand jeans. Kerrie and I taught about a dozen ladies to cut using rulers and rotary cutters and we are on our way. Starting tomorrow we will have a location to put the machines that is not my house, and will be able to teach that many more! 

Once again, thank you so much for all your ongoing support, we couldn't do any of this without you! If you are interested in more information about any of these projects, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. csmcalli@gmail.com

thanks abby...

hello again. Jake Fluker's niece is going to raise some money for our goat project as her dad and uncle come down to build homes. she has written a letter to send out to classmates at her school. i read it and thought, "i should pass on these words". it was a good reminder for me of what i am doing here and thought i'd try to share that encouragement to a few others. i just hope that being here is helping 'how people feel' down here. i hope they feel like someone cares.

she starts off with some facts about the houses and goats, etc. then ends with this...
trent

"...But here’s the part of why were sending money for goats not polar bears were or lions.  Goats provide milk, meat or livelihood and there super easy to raise. So close your eyes and imagine living in a shack made of card board or metal sheets, the floor is dirt and the one meal you look forward to is most likely rice and beans.  When it rains your roof leaks and when the wind blows your walls rattle. Sometimes the truck that brings the food to your village doesn’t come how do you feel? Imagine that some guys show up and replace your shack with a sturdy steel frame and a concrete floor and sometimes they even put new mattresses in your bedroom and put new pots and pans in your kitchen and there’s a goat in your yard. How do feel now? Will you help me make that kind of difference in the life if 20 families."     

(thanks abby)

-a few pictures from recent days-

 corn harvest time

 our little building crew

old house

 new house underway

2.5 hours completed - new record

occasionally you see spiders, 

but don't worry - only life threatening if they bite you.

chapter 1

hello friends,

we made a video of life so far in el salvador. click on the link below to
check it out if you like...
trent

Chapter 1

"You can live your whole life not being aware of anyone else's needs, but you will always be aware of your own. It takes intentionality to be aware of other's needs." Matt Dyck

Great things have been happening in the village. We are currently working on House #16 & 17! There are an number of men and women who now come out regularly to each house to help with the building and cooking. Its fun for us to see them starting to rally aroundeach other and help with a house when it isn't even their own.

House # 16 - Jorge & Sonia and their 4 daughters. This was probably a record house for the number of people that showed up to help, I think there was 30 people working! Stuart's mom, Bev & Rick Sproule were out to help with this house and it was fun to have them here with our families! They were great at getting to know the family and taking the time to try and speak the language. They may have gone home a little exhausted not only because of the heat, or from all the work they did, but because of our 8 children (between the 2 families)!!! :) Thanks to their help financially and for the help building, 2 new families are living under a safe roof tonight.

House # 17 - The last house we built for was for Blanca and her 7 yr old daughter Katarine. They are very poor and have hardly anything at all. She has the biggest smile you've ever seen and when we told her she was getting house, her smile said "I just won the lottery!" She is a single mom whose 'spouse' has another family in a near by town and rarely comes by. As it turns out when he heard she was getting a house he showed up! And also came back when it was time to have the key ceremony.... There are some very deep wounds in this family and the little girl is so obvious with her need to be loved.

Some highlights for me personally have been having all 3 of my sisters out to visit!!! Shanny & Jaime came out the end of May, and Merrylee came the end of June. It was SO good to have my sisters out here, we've all missed them very much. When Jaime & Shanny came, they brought along with them 2 large boxes of medical supplies that they raised $ to buy. We were so excited to hold our very first Medical Clinic in San Antonio. We had 3 doctors, 3 nurses and countless others volunteer their time to help with the clinic. We had over 300 people come through and were seen by the doctors. Another part was the Eye Glass Clinic that was also new to us. My sister Shanny used to work as an optician in Calgary, so her expertise was a huge help. It was awesome to see people pick up a book and be able to read, some for the very first time! A friend of ours even helped out with the kids and had stuff for them to do while they waited to see a doctor. I was able to hand out some toothbrushes and give some education on dental hygiene. Thank you to my sisters Jaime and Shanny for raising $ and getting the medicine safely to us! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to the medical kits. I'll let the video tell you the rest!

http://vimeo.com/27459950

This is a fellow named Isaias. He is 25 yrs old and has a wife and 5 yr old boy. Last month while he was selling coconuts out of the back of his truck, and bus came by and hit him. As a result he lost his foot. Shortly after seeing the doctor, he got an infection and they had to amputate his leg just above the knee. Trent was able to go visit him in the hospital and spend a little time with him. The family had to find 7 friends that were willing, AND had the right blood type to donate their blood for the operation. It just so happened that my other sister Merrylee (who is a physical therapist in Calgary) was coming down for a visit during this time. The night before she left to come here to El Salvador, one of her patients came to her with an old pair of crutches and asked if she could take them down and donate them to someone who needed them. So while Merr was here visiting, Isaias was released from the hospital and came straight to our house where we made a 'make shift' observation room on Carie's bed. We came out to the street to meet him, and he had no way of getting into the house. The public hospital here gave him NO post-op instructions, NO therapy, and NO crutches! We knew then who those crutches were meant for! Merr helped him into the house, giving him instruction on how to use the crutches and was able to help with exercises and instruction on how to care for and bandage his leg. A huge gift to Isaias, so thank you Merr and thank you to your thoughtful patient who gave to someone she didn't even know and changed his life!

This is Mitilda! She is our friend from San Antonio. She is 15 yrs old and is a sister to the Airlinda, the little girl we've been helping with all the medical problems (Carie has talked about her in previo

us blogs and who is now healthy!!! Praise God!) Mitilda only has a grade 2 education and when we asked why she doesn't go to school, she said she is too embarrassed to go back with grade 2 kids. She stopped going because her eyes were bad and could not see the board. She now is the proud owner of new spectacles, thanks to our friend Rob and his church in Grimshaw, Alberta! She has a teacher who comes to her and should be caught up within a couple of years. Her life has changed! Yesterday she came by the house for a visit and ended up helping me with a baby blanket that Carie and I are working on. Trent reminded me yesterday that I would never have thought a year ago that I would be sitting in my living room today visiting in spanish and sewing with a 15 yr old girl from

the village!

I still find myself wondering some days if I am really making a difference, do these people know that we really do care about them? I recently listened to our friend Matt Dyck speak on being discontent with all that we have and always wanting more when we see what others have. Or not even knowing you need it until someone else tells you, you need it! When you're surrounded by people that don't really care about your clothes or what your house looks like, I find myself not wasting one single minute of my day wishing I had more! These people are just trying to find enough food for that day and trying to stay dry in their beds at night. Its true, when we take the time to hear their stories and learn what their needs are, all of a sudden the focus isn't so much on me as it is on them and their needs!

Hope you enjoy reading a few of their stories. If you would like to help get involved in anyway, please let us know. We have many families who need a goat, a house, an education, or some medicine. The needs are endless!

"Generosity bridles discontentment"

Thanks Matt!

5 months and still going...

I guess we haven’t written in a while so I thought I would catch everyone up. This week we are kind of taking it easy after the 5 months of “working” sometimes 20 hours a day 7 days a week. The Berstad’s are away with Kerrie’s sister Merrylee seeing some sites and we are here in the house trying to get some rest. The kids are going crazy though. At what age do you start to need rest?

Anyway, I have been starting to ponder some things here lately. It is probably because we are at the 5 month mark and all of a sudden we look back and think, “where did the time go?” I have to admit with only having one visitor from home so far, my brother and sister-in-law and nephew, I am missing my friends and family a lot!! The thing I am pondering most is, how do we do work here, and not feel used or tricked?

For up to 4 months whenever someone asked me for something here, I trusted that they were telling me the truth. I would take people to the clinic, buy them shoes for school, or medicine etc. Recently, one of the women we know in San Antonio came up to Kerrie and whispered in her ear that she has no food to feed her children. How could your heart not break? I just think about how easy it is, when I am hungry, to go to the fridge and grab a snack. So right away we said that we would come back and give her some food. We put together a little hamper and brought it to her.

3 days later her friend came to the door also saying that she needed food and money because she didn’t have any. This time Juanita was here and helped us to ask the appropriate questions about what she was doing to help herself? It turned out that she hadn’t tried anything to help herself here and just thought that the “white folks” would give her a hand out.

Another situation that I think that I wrote about already, a little one year old girl that is antibiotic resistant and immune suppressed. I have been helping her and her mom a lot lately. Recently they got an appointment in the low income specialist clinic in San Salvador. She asked me if I would help out. She needed money for transport, food while there, and diapers. I agreed to all of this. After I told everyone that I agreed to this, they told me that I need to watch out. I might be getting used. I started feeling like I was getting taken advantage of. When she came to our door the next day, she said that her daughter had a fever and that she needed to go to the clinic. I was working on a project for kids’ church and really felt like I didn’t know what was truth anymore, and she was probably overreacting, so I told Stuart that I didn’t want to go. He said that he would. He took her, and it turned out that she had a really bad case of bronchitis and spent 3 days in the hospital. She probably would have died had she gone back home that day.

A couple of days ago, Kerrie e-mailed me this verse...

Philemon 1:6

"And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it."

It reminded me that, if God lays it on my heart, then I am not getting used. So what if I am a little naive sometimes. If I don’t do the things that I think God is asking me to, then who knows what can happen. And if I give a little too much sometimes, or step in the wrong direction, well then I know that our God is full of grace, and it will be ok. I also know that there are people to ask when I don’t understand something about the way things work here in El Salvador.

 

Last week, I also took a 15 year old girl to find out about going back to school. She only has a grade 2 education. She quit because she couldn’t see the blackboard and kids were making fun of her, but now she was eager to go back and learn. We are partnering with a church in Grimshaw, AB that said they would sponsor her to go back to school. After some digging and research, and walking all over San Vicente, we found out that she can have lessons near her house for free and they provide all the materials. The only thing that we had to do was get her some glasses. She starts schools on Tuesday and I told her that as long as she wants to go to school, we would find a way to get her there, even if it is University. Matilde’s life can be changed forever! And we couldn’t do it without out the support of friends at home.

I also know that while we have been here, we have already built over 12 houses, giving them a dry place to sleep, held a medical clinic for over 300 people, and made countless relationships. I met my compassion child Adonay and his family, who touched my heart deeply. We are going to build him a house in the next couple of weeks too. And I think overall in general, we are right where we need to be.

Please continue to pray for us. I am working on getting the sewing centre set up and we are still working on trying to get our temporary residency. I think we will head to San Salvador on Thursday to migration and after 37 documents, translated, stamped, authenticated, signed and a lot of money. Pray that we have everything we need.

Also we would like to build more houses. If you have it on your heart to help us out with that or the sewing project, please click on the “donate here” link on the side of this webpage and specify which project you would like to donate to. Thank you all so much for your support!!