Casas Trip June 2008

So we finally made it to Mexico!

Our trip ended up getting pushed back because we didn't have enough people to make the full team needed for the build.

What ended up happening was we got put together with some other small groups from around the country to make one large team of 19.

This enabled us to take on making a, "double" house, twice as big as the one alloted for teams of 11 or 12.

Here we are standing in the roughed out foundation where the concrete was going to be mixed and poured. There's no fancy leveling tools, lasers and the like. We just nailed some 2x4's together and pulled it acrossed while people with shovels removed and added dirt where it was needed.

The concrete pour went very well. There was an assembly line of folks bringing sand, gravel, concrete and water to the portable mixer located just to the right of this picture.

My job was simple. Run the board over the concrete and make it flat. Sounds easier than it is.

Now this is trust!

Nailing the frame together was a bit like playing with an erector set. The Casas people had us cut and mark everything with magic marker so we knew excactly where everything went. It's an amazing system that allows everyday people to be able to frame up walls and ceilings...as long as they can swing a hammer.

With the concrete mostly dry from the pour the day before, we began putting up the walls. The design that the family was able to request, called for three rooms.

It's still amazing to me how smooth all of this went. Especially since most of the people on the build had little or no construction experience.

Here are the soon to be proud home owners, Victor and Margarita. They own the land that the house is being built on and went through an application process with their local pastor to get on the waiting list to receive a house.

Victor was a big help to us during the build. He kept our water jugs filled, ran off troublemaking teenagers and helped haul materials back and forth. Margarita was also very involved in the build. She, along with her mother, cooked our whole team two authentic dishes for lunches. One of which is pictured below.

This was a pork soup made with corn, cabbage and a red base that I wasn't familiar with. My favorite part of this meal were the freshly made tortilla chips. Warm, salty and oh so good.





Here's the house shown with windows in, tar covered board on covered with chicken wire that will accept the stucco that would go on the next morning. Notice the large stones underneath the house. Those were all brought in by hand by Victor prior to the build. He had created a semi-level surface for us with what appeared to be a back-breaking amount of labor. It was also important to get this house up off the ground because their land is located in something of a water drainage area.




Here's Annie doing what she does best. I call her the "Child Whisperer" now. She has an amazing gift of shepherding and teaching young children.

With the little bit of shade they could find Annie and the kids gathered for, "school time." She was reading to them from a children's bible until she started losing her voice. The kids didn't want to stop, so they passed the book around and took turns reading to the others.

This is the last roof section to go on and I put this photo in here to highlight one of the most important building materials used in the house. The walls and ceilings were all filled with R-11 insulation. This is a wonderful dual purpose material that will keep the house cool in the summer and warmer during the cold months of the year. Most houses in this area were not insulated as they are built with mainly brick and mortar.

The house is finished!! It was a three and a half day build. The windows are trimmed, stucco applied, rolled roofing on and secure and the inside of the house is insulated and sheetrocked.

It seems to be a miracle that something like this can happen in such a short period of time, with such a rag tag group of people. If it seemed to be a miracle to me, from a wealthy modernized culture, I can't begin to understand what Victor and Margarita felt.

Here's the team! The local pastor is in the back row in a dark shirt with Victor and Margarita next to him.

Praise the Lord for such an awesome opportunity! I know Annie and I are different because of what we saw and experienced in Juarez.

For the sake of The Kingdom,

Matt