Building Homes in Mexico – Service is Uplifting

Our family just returned from a weeklong humanitarian trip to Tijuana Mexico and it was wonderful!

We spent the week building homes and helping on other service projects to help needy families in that part of the world.

Giving service is always an uplifting experience – for those on both ends of the service.

And sharing it as a family made it even more special.

As we wrote about a few months ago, the humanitarian group we went with was Builders Without Borders of Utah.

We first heard about the group about 4 years ago from a coworker who went with his family. After looking into a few similar groups, BWB sounded like the right one for us. And now after having been, I can confirm how stellar it is!

At the outset, we were told there was a cap on participants at 150. However, it’s so hard to say “no” when there are so many people and families who want to participate. When we headed out the day after Christmas we were informed that 211 people were in our group!

With that large of a group, we needed to be split up into two different groups. But that wasn’t a bother at all – there was plenty of work to do. We met at the San Diego border to all cross together as a group. Just seeing the convoy of vehicles and 12 trailers loaded with goods was an amazing first start to the experience.

Most of the building supplies for the various homes we’d be working on would be purchased in Mexico, which meant that the loaded trailers were full of additional supplies to distribute to the people we’d meet.

After getting set up the first evening, we were assigned in groups of families to work on the 8 various home building projects. The home our family worked on was a second level in the Las Delicias area.

We had a terrific job lead that taught us along the way – since we really didn’t have any building experience. From prep work, to framing, to roofing, windows, door, exterior, sheet rock, and all. The boys of course loved the nail guns and Caleb even learned to use a skill saw.

Brooke wasn’t a step behind with learning new things and diving right in as she helped build the stairs, shingle the roof, hang the front door, and paint neighboring homes.

Mom came out to the home site and helped hang sheet rock on one of the days, but most of her time was spent teaching locals various sewing projects at the church where we had set up our base. Every day, local women/mothers would make their way to the church to make quilts, blankets, pajamas, aprons and more.

All 16 donated sewing machines were whirring all day long, while others cut material and prepared their projects. The mountain of donated fabric and materials was also a sight to see – as was the myriad of women learning new skills to help their families.

In addition to the homes and sewing projects, there were 3 different Eagle scout projects happening.

One was a collection of cooking equipment that went to needy families. Another was the construction of a bunch of bunk beds that also went to needy families. (With limited space in homes, bunk beds are a huge blessing.) And 10 donated computers were set up and individuals trained on technical skills as well as family history work.

If that wasn’t enough, our group also raised enough money to purchase food essentials to help 60 single mothers feed their families for 3 months!

Going in we had enough to help 50 families with food, but when the charges for all the materials we carried over the border was $900 less than anticipated, it meant that 10 more families would benefit from these efforts.

Not to be forgotten are the many bikes, toys, and clothing that were also donated and will benefit many families as well.

As I said at the outset, it was an amazing effort to be a part of and we’re so happy we spent our Christmas and New Years break in service!

(By the way, our Mexican New Year’s Eve celebration was great with fireworks and a pinata!)

Some of the biggest reasons for taking part in such a humanitarian effort was for our children to witness poverty and feel the joy in serving.

Giving them the chance to see that even in tough circumstances people can be very happy and learning to appreciate the blessing we have were also big reasons for our choice to participate.

As much as we had hoped for an positive impact for our children, my wife and I were greatly impacted as well. As much as we went to serve people in Mexico, we were overwhelmed at the amount of service they provided for us as well. Simply wonderful.

It was a joy serving with so many great people that we’d never met before with whom we’ve now bonded. And it was a joy getting to meet and serve so many wonderful people in Mexico.

Handing the keys to the mother of the home we built and watching her walk through the door was such a sweet and tender experience.

She then asked everyone to gather in her home as she shared her feelings and a scripture with us. Matthew 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

I was so grateful to have the chance to translate her thoughts to the group gathered in that small home. It was a wonderful, moment as a capstone to the week of wonderful experiences that I’ll continue to cherish.

Serving truly is a blessing to all involved.

To our wonderful new friends in Mexico and elsewhere – God bless you!