Today was an amazing first day to a new house build! We're working with a team from Penticton, B.C this week and they are all hard-workers! In one day we got all the lumber cut, the roof panels and the walls put together and painted, and the whole house standing up on the cement pad! It was the fastest I've ever seen a house go up! It's really great getting to know yet another Mexican family whom I can call friends. This particular family has four children, one son is 21 and married to an 18 year old girl and they have two children together. Their next daughter is 18 years old and married with one child. They also have a 15 year old daughter and a 13 year old son as well. It was so interesting conversing with the two 18 year old girls who are both married and have children already. They both asked me how old I was, followed by the question: "How many children do you have", followed by: "Are you married?", followed by: "Well, do you have a boyfriend????". They were very shocked to think that at 19 years old you could still be living a single life back in Canada.
One of the most exciting parts of my day today was walking back to visit the family that I built for last week with my last group. I had seen their son around the neighborhood and decided to take a stroll over to their house to check in on them. I was so amazed at what I saw. Rogelio (the father of the family) was standing on the roof of his family's old shack, pulling off the remaining pieces of plywood and tarp. As I got closer I realized that he was wearing the tool belt that my father had given him last week on dedication day and had my dad's hammer in his hand. I felt so proud knowing that not only had we given this family a house to live in, but also the tools to maintain it. As I greeted the family I was flabbergasted by the smiles on their faces and how happy they were to see me, even though the rest of the team had already departed and headed back to Canada. They didn't hesitate one bit to welcome me into their home, show me around and point out all the finishing touches they had made to transform their "house" into a "home". It was an amazing feeling knowing that this family now considers me part of their family after only one month of knowing them, and seeing how much of a change we had in the future of this family. Felicidad told me that they plan to keep all of the old building supplies from their old house in case they plan to build anything more in the future. A month ago they told us that their plans for the future were to get a proper house for their kids and it's amazing to me that now they are able to look to the future and think about what else they might be able to make and achieve.
Hero Holiday - Give love, Bring hope, See change.
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