"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!!

the construction process

how's that for joy on Noe's face.

over the last 10 years teams have been coming down to el salvador to build homes for families in great need. one of our hopes was to have a team of local guys down here running a crew building homes for their countrymen... now we don't have to wait for canadians to come to keep building homes for families in need.

here is a quick video that shows what a normal day on the job site looks like down here. 4 guys are employed to build the home, while the rest of the community rallies behind them and makes it all happen - lunch for everyone too! please click on the link below...

http://vimeo.com/25247451

enjoy.

trent

king of the castle

i don't like it when the riders don't win the grey cup.

i don't like it when the favorite wins.

i really like it when the underdog wins.

i don't like being on the bottom.

for that matter, i don't really like anyone being on the bottom - but i especially don't like the people who are always on the bottom being on the bottom.

i have a couple brief stories to share. they speak of guys hitting the bottom. of coming back up. of seeing a glimmer of hope in a really dark world down here.

after a few months we are realizing the depth of the depravity of this culture. hope & redemption & love are needed more than we even imagined.

--

story 1
jose is a guy stu wrote about on the blog a while back. he has been living on the street spending his days drinking on the sidewalk a block away from our house. we would see him most days as we walked by. one of our first days after we arrived in san vicente, we talked for about an hour on the street corner in the shade of tree.

he shared his pain.

his story.

his hurt.

we listened and told him he was valuable.

that he mattered.

that we respected him...

bad things happen to guys sleeping drunk on the street -- we haven't seen him for a month.

every single day, we walk by 'his corner' and wonder where he has gone. this morning, stu ran to the bank machine and heard someone shout 'hey!'. he turned to see jose, dressed well, hair combed, lookin classy! real classy ;-) he said he was in town for the day with a couple leaders from the rehab center he had joined in san salvador a month ago. he said, 'i'm doing good. i'm gettin my life back on track. i'm working on my relationship with my family and trying to fix those relationships...'

i think we played a small part in this turnaround. it's a simple joy in the midst of a dark world.

--
story 2

another friend carlos was deported from the states two years ago because of trouble with the law. a while after arriving in el salvador he joined teen challenge rehab center. after leaving rehab he moved to our town san vicente. helped with translating at church and elsewhere. helped with teams from the states cooking, etc... a couple weeks ago he went awol for about a week finally showing up on our doorstep late one night with a fair bit of drink in him. we chatted, prayed and encouraged him. the next morning we got him in to teen challenge in san salvador again, but a few days later i called to see how he was doing, and he had left.

i've been pretty worried.

two days ago, he showed up at our door again. this time with his 14 year old son visiting from colorado. he'd left teen challenge to connect with him. had met him the day he flew in. they had a great week together and then came out to san vicente to connect with us! we were filled with joy and relief to see them both. they stayed in our home for 2 nights. lots of time to talk. laugh. chill out. and let him have some 'normal life' time with his son for a couple days. (michael is staying with his aunt in san salvador, but she won't let carlos stay in her house because of his past mistakes, so the visit had its restraints) we hit the pool with him yesterday afternoon and our kids had a hoot with his son michael. it will be a hard day thursday when he flies home leaving his dad behind. harder still i think for carlos watching his son fly home...

carlos cannot enter the states for at least 8 more years.

but today we see the determination in carlos to carry on. to make things right. to work hard. for his son to find in his dad the man he was made to be the next time he comes to visit.

again, a much needed bit of joy in the midst of a pretty tough week on many levels. we are looking for moments of light in this dark world. sharing those stories. and hoping you know and feel that your investment, no matter what piece you are playing, is not going without a really good return. these returns are in human beings discovering they are loved by a God who thinks about them all the time. these are returns that michael would say are worth their weight in gold. (and carlos is around 350 pounds)

so what more do i say,

but thank you on behalf of those who look, feel and live like they're at the bottom of the pile. those who are scorned by their own countrymen for the things they've done and are doing.

but in the kingdom, those people are on top.

--

last thought.
ever played 'king of the castle'? i did. i only won when i cheated. i mean i was the youngest of the cousins and i had to pull hair or hit low or whatever to get on top. all alone on top - what a good feeling! even though it only lasted for a moment, cuz someone was coming up to take you out. i look forward to the days where the guys who've spent their lives at the bottom of the pile make their way to the top. sometimes they even make it there in this life. one day though, i think they'll get placed there. and they'll get to stay on top... what a good feeling.

trent

Isabel & House # 2

Today I spent the morning with Isabel from San Antonio.  We sat in the clinic waiting for an ultrasound. This seems to be my norm these days, waiting in clinics. I ask God all the time in my prayers to use me as he sees fit. I guess that this is one of the ways because recently I have a heart ache for the women in San Antonio and especially their health. I have read and been told many times that if we starting taking people to the clinic or buying prescriptions for them, that we will have a line up out of the front door. I have taken that into consideration and decided that I don’t care. All I can think about is what if I was in that situation? If I knew that I couldn’t afford the medicine that was needed to make my child healthy or if I couldn’t afford to see what was wrong with me, so I just had to live with it? There is a free hospital here, but it takes 3 months to get an appointment and then even when you do, you have to pay for your prescriptions which are usually quite expensive. We have found a fabulous clinic here with an Ultra Sound Technician, a lab, a paediatrics doctor and an English speaking adult doctor. They have been very kind to us and are even going to help us out when we host our own clinic in San Antonio on Saturday. It costs money to get a consultation, but they give as much as the medicine for free that they can.                                                                                             

Anyway, back to Isabel. She thought she was pregnant because her period stopped and her tummy was getting bigger. After a few months though, her tummy just stayed the same size and remained soft. She went to a doctor and he told her that if there was a baby in there, it was not alive, and she needed an Ultra Sound. Yesterday we went to visit her and we were with Tomasita, the area Director, and I overheard Isabel telling her this, but that she couldn’t afford an Ultrasound. Thinking again about what it would be like to be in that position, I offered to take her today to find out.  This morning at breakfast I asked Stuart, “what do I do if it is bad news?” Usually I am not very good at handling that kind of thing. He said to take one step at a time and go to the hospital if we need to. I was thinking more along the lines of how to handle it emotionally, but oh well, guys don’t understand that kind of thing J!

 So she had the ultrasound and we found out that she has a large cyst in her stomach. At first I thought she was going to be upset because she was so excited when she thought she was pregnant. I said I was sorry, but then she said, “No, this is a good thing because it is reversible and I will be able to get pregnant again!”  So we went to the hospital and made her an appointment with a doctor to start the treatment to shrink the cyst. While waiting it also gave me the opportunity to chat with Isabel. A few months ago I found out that she used to work with an industrial sewing machine. Since I have been trying to start up this sewing machine project using local people, I thought she would be a great person to ask help teach.  Yesterday I asked her if she would and she said no because she didn’t think the other people here would listen to her, she says that there are other people more qualified. Today I shared with her that I think the Lord has big plans for her and that he uses people just like her to do His work. God you are good!!

                                                                               

This brings me to house #2 Christina and Carlos

Using the screws that Kade and Winnie’s school purchased (Escuela Canyon Meadows), by collecting recyclables, we put together another house. Each of the kids helped, by screwing the hinges to the doors and windows. At first it seemed odd that we were building a house for a couple with no kids, but then we dug deeper to get Christina’s story and it became clear.  Christina 25 and Carlos 28 lived with their mother in a little lean-to shack built beside the house of her mom. Carlos works in a factory hauling bags of sugar cane. They had a child 3 years ago, but two years ago he choked and died. She has been trying to have another child since then and is unable to. It is time like that when I hear these stories that I feel so blessed to be born in Canada. I also can’t help but think what I would do in that situation? Would the St John’s ambulance training would come in handy, or would I just freeze with fear?  Christina is so ecstatic to have a house to call her own. She is taking great pride in keeping it up and I think that Tomisita is training her to take over her “job” as Director because every time we come to visit, she always yells at her , “Christina, let’s go!!” (In Spanish of course)  

Stuart & Trent with Tomasita

Also Christina lives in a different part of San Antonio then the other families we have been building for. Usually it is Stuart and Trent, our 4-man local crew, and maybe if we are lucky a couple of other men. At Christina’s house, there were about 15 young men that came out to help. It was amazing to see the community come together and help each other. This week we are building in that area again, and about 20 men showed up to help. I really hope that this pattern continues so that even when we are gone, we can send money for a house and know that it will be built by a community together with the 4 fantastic men that are part of our crew.

Speaking of which, we are getting a little low on our funds for projects and would like to keep our crew employed building two houses a week. If you find it in your heart to help us and the community we are working in out, PLEASE click on the "Donate Here" button on the side of this webpage and specify PROJECTS when donating. A house costs $2700 to build and every little bit counts. Thank you so much for your support emotionally, spiritually and financially.

*a special thank you to Kerrie for taking most of the pictures and a special hello to all of Laura Martin's co-workers. We appreciate you keeping up with our lives!!

fed a thousand people or made a relationship stronger?

" We feed a thousand people today"sounds better to donors then "We hung out and developed relationships with a dozen people today" This is a quote out of a book that I am reading called,  When Helping hurts by Brian Fikkert. It struck me pretty hard when I read it, wondering how true it really is. This quote causes me to weigh the importance of relationships versus the importance of tangible "stuff". Although in no way am I saying that  the house building aspect of our year isn't important too, I am here to tell you that we are going to fall under the second category most of the time because we feel like God has put us here to have long lasting relationships.

Now that I am done lecturing myself, I would like to introduce you to Pimpa!! Pimpa was one of the first friendships we made upon arriving in El Salvador. She lives in Las Brisas (where World Partners built for a number of years), and is one of the only people from there that still attends church. We had heard through the grapevine that she makes the best pupusas in town. We also learned that she is a single Mom to two beautiful daughters, Guadelupe 13 and Marienela almost 3.

She is trying to make ends meet by selling Atol every afternoon at the Desvio. The Desvio is basically a v where if you drive one way, you head to one side of the country and if you turn the other way you head to San Salvador. Atol is a hot drink made from cornstarch, milk, cinnamon, coconut and other flavors. It is actually quite delicious. Pimpa carries this drink on her head from 2 in the afternoon until 5 selling cups of it for $0.25 a cup.

After hearing about her pupusas, we managed to invite ourselves (remember 12 people in all) to her house so that she could make us some for supper. Well, the rumor was right!! They were amazing. We starting asking Pimpa lots of questions about why she doesn't sell pupusas since she is so good at making them? She told us that she used to sell them, but that she ran into a large medical expense, and health costs outweighed her ability to purchase ingredients. Since that day she couldn't afford to buy enough corn, beans, and cheese to get going again. That got us thinking. We really feel a connection with Pimpa and wanted to help her in some way that would not just be "charity". We started spending a fair bit of time with Pimpa. 

We had her and her girls over to our house for a meal, and as I wrote in a previous blog, we went with her and two other ladies to the river to help them wash their clothes and hang out for the day. We prayed for her and asked God what he would like to see in her life. The answer we received included having her write up a business plan for what it would cost to restart her pupusa business. In order to get going again, she needed a grand total of $70 for materials. We decide to lend her the money with an agreement to pay us back $10 every 15 days.


Yesterday, we were invited back to Pimpa's house for lunch. After eating she brought out her business plan, handed us $10 and asked us to sign off on recieving the money. We were so delighted to see God's plan coming to fruition and we know that the light that Pimpa shines on her community is a bright one and that He will use her for great things to come. After the money is paid off, we also want to sit with Pimpa and encourage her to save a portion of her profits.


Here in El Salvador especially, it seems that a lot of people don't think about tomorrow. They only think about today.  In some respects this is a good thing and we can learn a lot from it.  Our North American attitude is usually based on worrying too much about tomorrow and not living in the beauties of  the day. In another respect it it is devestating to live this way. If an emergency comes up, it can throw a family into a downward spiral of poverty. As Stuart asked the other day, "How do we find the balance of forsight and planning while still living in the moments of today, and not being filled with a stress and worry about tomorrow?" We hope that by showing Pimpa that she can take the money that she would have been paying us and putting it away for the future, that she will be successful no matter what is thrown her way. Very cool to see.

Basilio and Daniel working on a house

We have been spending a lot of time also in San Antonio lately.  Trent had a run-in with the American Army that you may need to ask him about, but mostly it has been peaceful and we are really getting to know the people in the community. As you read earlier, we have been building houses there as well. We have a 4 men crew of locals that we hire as much as possible to build the houses and whatever else we can think of to keep them employed. These are good men, which, sadly, is a rare find here. Basilio is the forman of the crew and with the help of Trent's leadership they are now skilled labourers and can build a house themselves in one day!! They are all so thankful to have the work, so much so, that they are now looking for ways to give back as well. Basilio was in San Antonio the other day doing some repairs on a house, when he overheard one of the community members talking about their thirteen year old daughter that had a major operation on a hernia a while back. She was having lots of pain and problems. Basilio was so touched by the story that he offered to pay for the ultra sound. The cost of an ultrasound here is about 2 times a daily wage, so that is a pretty generous offer! He phoned up Trent and asked him if we could take her and if  he would deduct money off his next payday to pay for it. We were so touched to see people in the community helping each other.

So this is why we are, and will often fall into the second category from above. The little stories shed light onto why making those long term relationships are so important to us. We know that in the long run these stories, that are little moments of success to us, are huge in forwarding the Kingdom of God.

Thank you for continuing to follow our journey and support us even if  we just hung out with a dozen people today working on our relationships.

Carie

House #1: Edgar, Flor, Fernando & Kimberly

allow me to introduce to you a very special family. Edgar, Flor, Fernando & Kimberly live in San Antonio Caminos on the old train line. i see a lot of beautiful things about this family. the joy i feel in their family is well above the norm. the smile on flor's face seems to light up the world and fernando their son is something pretty special. now eight years old, fernando had a very high fever when he was young which unfortunately caused some brain damage resulting in some disabilities. he is bound to a wheelchair and has limited abilities of speech and general motor skills, but the joy he exudes is astounding. when you sit down beside him his face lights up and he answers your questions in short bursts "bien!" and "Si!" His eyes on the other hand say, "i am so happy to see you! i am filled with joy in my heart because you are here spending time with me!" and "i love my life and this is a great day!" it is never a burden or a chore to spend time at this home and last week we spent a fair amount of time with them building a new home.

the morning we started building, our family was reading about king david and the fact that God looks on the heart, not on outward appearances. we chatted about fernando and it was a cool moment as we talked about what place fernando has in God's ranking system. he has some difficulty outwardly, but i think that little heart in there is one of pure gold. one that loves and has joy and thinks the best of others... i was glad to see the lights come on in my kids eyes as they realized the place fernando has in God's eyes, in God's economy...

daniel, teresa & seth goldstein (carie's brother and family) came down last week to visit and help out in our ministry down here. it was fun for all of us to see someone from home, especially since they brought down little gifts from home for all of us! i was the proud recipient of 5 peanut butter cup chocolate bars. it's funny the little things you miss when away from home... daniel & theresa not only came to work hard helping our efforts, but also graciously supplied the money to pay for this home. so, we showed up on site with the crew from san filipe (basilio, roberto, noe & miguel) who have become quite proficient at the building process. they are close to understanding every part of the building process now and i look forward to the day stu and i cannot be onsite and they do a house without one "white guy" there to be the "boss"! the ground was quite hard so the hole digging was tough slugging, but we had lots of help from Edgar and other family and friends which was good to see. we really want to see the men step up and too often they aren't around to help as i believe it's sometimes too hard for their pride to swallow taking this gift from us. kerrie-lynn said that she was impressed with Edgar for sticking around after their firstborn had this fever. with so many absent dad's in this world, this family again shines some light in this little village. once the holes were in, the rest seemed to fly up without a hitch. the kids were on easter break so they were all out there with us. the guys built, the kids played with the kids in the village and the ladies visited and continued with some interviewing of nearby families. ellis spent the better part of the day up in a tree wacking fruit out with a stick (when not up a tree he was drilling holes into the ground with a 5/16" driver and a makita drill), elias played cars with fernando, kade & ben ripped around and played some soccer in the pasture behind the house, winnie & annah searched for goats, cats, horses, puppies or any other type of animal that they could pet, while isaiah helped out with the building quite a bit (predrilling holes, measuring and holding material in place). by the end of the day their was a sweet new house standing ready for a concrete floor.

a couple days later we returned with a couple house warming gifts and did a little key ceremony. when teams come, the key ceremony is a big event with one hundred plus people coming out, but even with just our 4 families standing in front of their 'almost finished' home, it was quite moving. stu said a prayer, daniel said a few words and handed the family the keys. we took pictures of all of us, then seth & fernando posed for some pics! those will be ones the goldstiens will cherish for some time i think...

we build two more this week with the boys from san filipe and we'll share their stories too. outside of building, we are kept busy filling in cracks for pastor jorge, meeting with the mayor two days back to back, helping a single mom start a small business, connecting with some street people, and helping our kids stay on top of schoolwork and spanish. on a final note, if you could, offer a prayer for our friend juanita. her house is bought and paid for, but is under risk of losing it to the previous owner because she never received the deed (kerrie-lynn shared her story in a previous blog). eviction has been threatened and the other morning she came over in tears... her and her youngest daughter have spent a lot of time with us during this time. we have a lawyer and others helping to bring justice to this situation. we are often blown away by the chaos here in el salvador. the lack of order and an honest system. we are so grateful for life in canada and hope in small ways we can work to restore things to the way they ought to be down here in san vicente, el salvador...

trent

after building a house, there is always a line up of women hoping that they will be the next family for a home.....

after the house is built, the concrete is then mixed by hand and poured for the inside

violet's happiest moments are when she can ride with her head out the window