Nueva Casa in El Tejar

Today we started building a new house for a single mother with two sons in El Tejar. Although this house will be about the size of a shed in the States, it will be such an encouragement and blessing to this family. The mother works for several families washing their clothes, which barely pays for food and school supplies for her boys. Despite her difficult life, she smiled as we talked today about how this house was a gift from God and how He continues to take care of her.


This is Blanca's current stove. She is going to receive an onil stove, which will allow her to use less firewood and the smoke will be vented out of the house to protect her eyes and the family's lungs.

This is another "house" next to the one we are building.

While we were working one mother stopped by hoping that we would be able to build a house for her family. She shared that she has many children and as heart-breaking as it sounds, she offered her youngest as a gift for me. I thought at first that I wasn't understanding, but she continued to tell me that he could be a gift for me. The hardest thing I did today was explain to this mother that although we would be able to build many houses in her town, our list was simply too long and I couldn't promise that we could help her.

This little cutie is Mario. He lives with his mother and father in another little "house" next to the one we are building. After preparing the foundation for the house, the team was able to pour some concrete in Mario's house to raise the floor since each time it rains his house floods. Mario was such a helper all day, but the highlight of his day was making handprints in the concrete as the guys finished his new floor.