Juarez Mission Trip - June 25-28

On June 25, 2008 I traveled with a team of 32 people to Juarez to build houses for two families. As usual, we worked with our partners at Missions Ministries on this trip.

One unusual aspect of this trip is that we had one house built primarily by teenagers, called Team Red, led by my daughter Sara and her cousin Hanna. They were accompanied by friends from their schools as well as other teenagers who had signed up for the trip.

The other house was built by a combination of members from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, several of whom came from our new North Campus. Kevin Kim, the youth minister there recruited may of them and led our construction team, dubbed Team Blue. My wife Patricia and my sister-in-law, Mary Jane Elmore were on tam blue as well.

Normally the weather in late June is scorching hot in Juarez. Indeed, when we arrived on June 25, it was pushing above 100 degrees. We did our usual stock up at WalMart for water and supplies, as well as house warming gifts for the two families. We then proceeded to dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, Carlos and Mickey’s. The food was great and it gave the team a chance to relax and bond after our flight. We then took the bus to the team center in the Colonias outside of Juarez, where we slept for the night.

(Team Blue puts up the first wall in the photo at right.)

June 26

We woke up early the next morning and had our devotionals 30 minutes earlier than usual at 6:30, in order to beat the heat. Winslow Yee gave us a great spiritual send off, reminding us that God requires us to serve others. Breakfast followed and we boarded the bus around 7:30.

When we arrived at the build sites, we were pleased to see that the skies were cloudy. In fact the temperature was quite comfortable. We would be building in Kilometer 34, a community carved out of the desert 34 kilometers from the boarder and about seven kilometers from the team center.

Team Red, with 16 teenagers and two brave adults would be building a house for Ruth and Ramon along with their six children and four additional extended family members. Although the house is only 12x36 with three rooms, it would be a big improvement to the shack they were living in. Ruth and her kids would work alongside team Red throughout the process.

Team Blue would be building for Carolina and Lupe. They shared the worst structure I have ever witnessed in Juarez with their son, his wife and four kids. The place was made out of a few sheets of masonite, a truck topper and what looked like pieces of an old boat. It had a dirt floor and ceiling that couldn’t have been more than five feet high. (See the photo below showing Carolina and Lupe's house with the new house we built in the background.)

The goal for each team is to construct the walls and rooms, put in the windows, door and insulation. All this happened the first day in about six hours of work. We are always fortunate to have the concrete slab foundation poured and the lumber cut prior to arrival. The team nails it all together with guidance from Missions Ministries construction leaders Leo and Jesus (Team Blue) and the rest of their team.

About the time we were putting the last nails into the composite roof, the sun broke through the clouds. We hopped on the bus and headed back to the team center for a great lunch.

Immediately we reloaded the bus and headed back to Kilometer 34 and the Marantha Iglesia of Pastor Luis. Luis is the pastor for the two families we were building for. At his church we had a craft fair for the children of his church. We made balloon animals, face painted and took pictures of the kids. They then framed the photos with popsicle sticks decorated by them. (In the photo below Erika Athens and Kelley Stanske get into the facepainting.)

The centerpiece of the craft fair was a project by Charlene Golding and her daughter Caroline. With the help of several other team members, they had children create art, and then photographed the art and the child. Along with a small bio on each child, they will compile a book of the art of approximately twenty children. They will sell the books to raise money for projects in Juarez.

Outside the church, a huge soccer game raged in the heat. Kids from our team and the local church mixed it up on the field of dirt. In the evening the team retired after another great meal and a full day.

June 27

The next morning we did it all over again. We were led in devotion by Charlene. Carlos the MM chef had prepared another great breakfast, but we didn’t savor it too long. We wanted to be back out at the site early again.

Day two is a bit easier than day one. Again we were blessed with morning clouds. We painted the outside of the houses and dry-walled, taped and mudded the inside. Then came the highlight of the trip - turning over the keys to the family. Kevin Kim did the honors for team Blue. Kevin hoped that the family would remember the house as an altar to God and a reminder of his grace.

I was very proud when Hanna and Sara handed over the keys to Ruth and her family (see picture below). As with Team Blue, we all ten prayed for the family and gave them housewarming gifts of blankets, pillows, bed pads, food and a couple of nice iron skillets.

After lunch we again returned to the church, this time for a food outreach. We made sandwiches of ham and cheese, served with chips, watermelon and a drink. The team prepared the plates and then served them to the seated congregation. The whole church and the MPPC team especially liked the finish with ice cream bars as the temperature had again climbed to around 100 degrees.

In the evening we returned to the church for worship with the congregation. The church is small, the same size as the houses we built. It was extremely hot with our 32 MPPC members and 50 or so of the congregation in the small room. Benjamin Kelly from our team played a clarinet song accompanied by Matthew Tsubota on drums. We then had Mark Lipinski, Brooke Hobbs and Winslow Yee, witness to the congregation. After a mercifully (in light of the heat) short sermon, the service was over. The team spent some time saying adios to our new friends and we returned to the team center, our evening complete. (In the photo below Jenny Buurma says shares a moment with a new friend.)


June 28

The next morning, Mary Jane Elmore, led us in devotions, helping us focus on how we had changed and how we would carry forward differently. It is amazing how much one can get from just a four-day trip and serving others. The team then headed to the airport for the trip home.

Juarez – February 17-22, 2008

We traveled with a team of 48 people to Juarez to build houses for three families, do food outreaches and craft programs at a women’s shelter and local church and paint the inside walls in our new library. In addition, I stayed an extra 2 days to work on getting visas for our students to comes to the U.S. next summer for English immersion. We also got to give our new van to Susie, our children’s shephard after her van was wrecked last fall.

One of my favorite things about this trip was the team we took. We had several returning trip veterans as well as many Juarez rookies. My daughter Sara accompanied us for the fourth time. Also my niece Hanna and brother-in-law Bill. Sara and Hanna kind of became the leaders among the younger kids along with the Prioleau kids who had been several times as well. Bill and I enjoyed playing guitar and leading singing of songs along with our song-leader Sally Prioleau.

I got a great email from Katie Neider, who was on the trip with her family. Her husband Bryan, and daughters Megan (16) and Brooke (12). Typically, our church, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC), pays for one house per team. We wanted to build three houses so we needed to raise a additional $15,000. Below are the comments that Katie sent to people that she had gotten contributions from toward building the second ad third houses on this trip.

“We just got back from Juarez, Mexico where we have been for the past several days. Although it wasn't a vacation, I would have to say it was probably the best trip I have ever taken.

“The four of us went with a group of 50 people from our church. The church has teams of people who go to Juarez every other month or so to build houses for the horribly poor community there. We headed down on Sunday and spent most of the day just getting there. We stayed in a Team Center that they have built for the the teams of people who go down to build houses. The Team Center is surrounded by a tall cement barricade, topped with a layer of broken glass embedded in the cement with a final layer of barbed wire. It has guards 24/7 along with a not so friendly guard dog. We felt very safe. :-) Each family got to stay in their own room with our own bathroom and shower. However, you were lucky to be able to take a shower as water is a scarce commodity there. If the water did turn on, you were wise to be in and out within minutes as it would just shut off with no notice. There is a small kitchen staff who cooked all of the meals so we had all of our meals at the Team Center. (Katie is shown below presenting blankets to the family she helped build a house for.)



“On Monday morning, all of us headed out to the "construction" sites. We had raised enough money to build three houses. We broke up the 50 people into three groups, each group responsible for building a house. We learned that many families had gone to the church in town to put in their plea for a house to be built for them. Based on need, these families were chosen. When we arrived at our location, it took my breath away. Our family (like most in Juarez), was living in a two room shack. We met the family and worked side by side with them over the course of the next two days. When we got there, a cement slab was already there for us. The wood was pre-cut also. Our group of 18 people (10 who were kids) was headed up by a man named Chris who told us exactly what to do. It was an amazing sight to see all of us pounding away to create the frame of the house. Next we pounded away to nail on the siding. The most amazing moment is when we lined up and lifted up the walls to create the house. Next came the roof. By 2pm the first day, we had a little house built and had even finished roofing it. We had also "installed" the windows and put in the insulation inside. Throughout the day, this wonderful family helped us however they could. At 2pm, we all went back to the Team Center and had lunch. As soon as lunch was over, we were back in the van and went out to a battered women's shelter to make sandwiches for them and to play with their kids. These women and children were in such a tragic situation but still had the most beautiful smiles on their faces. Around 6pm, we headed back to the Team Center for dinner (yes, we all gained weight on this trip!). After dinner, a man named Jeff, showed us an incredible slide show along with a narrative about the situation each person in the slide show was facing. Jeff and his wife Jenny, had first gone on a trip to Juarez like ours three years ago. They became so passionate about the situation in Juarez, that they gave up their jobs and beautiful home in a gated community to live in the Team Center to organize all of this outreach. We all went to bed with our eyes widened to the situation not far from "home".

“The next morning, we headed back to the house that we were working on. We spent all morning painting the exterior of the house and putting up the dry wall in the interior of the house. Again, the family helped us paint. Even though they didn't speak any English, we had felt quite close with the family by this time. At one point, I had walked into their old "house". It is a feeling that I will never forget in my life. You can read many things and see many pictures but nothing will compare to standing inside the "house" that they had been living in. Their floor was dirt. Can you imagine never, ever being able to feel clean. Ever. Waking up and putting your feet into dirt the first thing. I will never forget the look and smell of the situation that they were living in. Water is so scarce that being able to clean is not high on the priority list. Up until the time that I had walked into this house, I had been "worried" about their new house because it was just a cement slab. Silly me, I had been concerned about how cold that cement would be for them. Not until I had stood in their dirt floor had I realized what a wonderful dream it was for them to have a cement floor. Very sobering.

“By 1pm the second day we had completed our house. We then got together with the other two construction teams so we that we could have a ceremony at each house to "hand over the keys". With the help of an interpreter, the family was able to share their feelings of gratitude and we were able to share our feelings of honor to be able to do this for them. Bryan speaks spanish quite well so he was the only one who was able to speak to them directly in their language. As you can imagine, it was quite an emotional moment after growing to care so much about these people.

“After these wonderful ceremonies, we headed back to the Team Center to have lunch, and then off to a local church for another food outreach. We again made sandwiches for them, gave out ice cream and played with the kids. The families who we had built these houses for were all at this outreach. By now it was dinner time, so back to the Team Center to eat, and then back in the Van to go to a church service. Again, these families were there among the church community. I had a little nine year old girl sitting next to me clutching my hand for the entire service. By now, it is late and time for bed to get ready for our flight home on Wednesday morning.

“I am so very thankful that we were given this chance. I would like to go back again next year with our family. We have gone on many wonderful vacations but nothing compares to this.

xoxo, Katie”

Katie’s fresh perspective, reminds me of the excitement I felt the first time went to Juarez. It is a rare person who is not equally changed by the short trip.

Another great thing on the trip was my friend Jonathon. A dentist here in Northern California, Jonathon decided to sign on for the trip after doing some outreach dentistry for the church last April. Jonathon brought his assistant Lydia along. He also brought $5000 worth of donated supplies and equipment. In two days he treated some 26 people, performing root canals, fillings, extractions and various other dental miracles. Jonathon and Lydia actually worked to long they burned out the shop-vac that is used for suction at the team center. (Jonathon and Lydia do their magic below.)








Another good friend Warren, brought along his son Brennon age 7. Warren lead the construction team on our house. Our team, dubbed “Team Azul”, consisted of lots of children including the Peterson triplets, age 8. We also had three high school freshmen, including my daughter Sara, niece Hanna and our friend Kelley. Kelley’s mom Cindy was a tireless worker as well, particularly gifted at the trim on the house. Cindy will be working with Joni and I on JCEP in the future, so it was good to have her see the colonia first hand.

After dropping the team off at the airport on Wednesday, I stayed behind to see if I could get some visas for the four girls we planned to bring to the U.S. next July for a month of English immersion. These are the four oldest girls in our JCEP program, Miriam, Martha, Blanca and Anahi.

I was sad to find out that our recent high school graduate Miriam had decided not to enroll in college and instead succumbed to the temptation of a job. $10 per day is a serious temptation for someone who has almost nothing. Even sadder was the news that Martha is now pregnant. Even though she plans on finishing high school this June, she is out for the trip to the U.S. for obvious reasons.

That leaves Anahi and Blanca for the summer trip. I spent a day at the U.S. embassy in Juarez trying to find out what we need to do to get them visas. The list is long, but after a day of frustrations, I finally got to talk to someone by phone who gave me the full scoop. I came home without visas, but at least I know what we need to do.

One highlight of my trip was the Wednesday night English class that we sponsor. I dropped in on our teacher Joel and his class. The English is proceeding nicely. Even from my last visit in January, I see improvement. Joel has been giving tests and it seems to have inspired the students. Two of our new students for next year, Edith and Moises were there. Also Anahi, Blanca, David, Samuel, Juana and Claudia. Margarita was out sick.

During the class I started quizzing them in English. “What is this?” I would ask while pointing at the air conditioner, wall or blackboard. The class got every one correct!

We also got our new van on the trip. It is a 12 passenger chevy van in excellent condition. It is a vast improvement on the mini-van we had. Susie will be able to easily fit all 12 students.

Finally, we painted the inside of our new library which was built in January. Thanks to the volunteers both days that volunteered to help. Including, Louis, Kevin, Warren, Brennan, Russ, Harry, Donna, Leilani, Alana, Marc, Isabelle and Brooke.

Blessed again, I never fail to have my faith strengthened each time I travel to Juarez.

SK

Juarez Mexico – January 20-23 , 2008 - Library

January 20-23 Joni and I traveled with a team 54 friends, family and Menlo Park Presbyterian Church members to Juarez. This was more than our usual trip to build a house. In addition to building a house for a deserving family in the Colonias, we were to construct a new library with funds we raised through the Juarez Children’s Education Program (JCEP) at our fundraiser last May. A medical team also made the trip with two doctors, a nurse and an eye-doctor, the first ever at the Juarez clinic.

The library was in Kilometer 30 (K30), one of the poorest of the poor neighborhoods outside of Juarez. Unless they are lucky enough to have a house built by our partners Missions Ministries or one of several other groups serving the areas, families live in shacks made of cardboard, pallets, and blocks or just about anything they can scrounge. The area is only partially served with electricity. There is no sewer system or running water. Families have an outhouse and get their water from the trucks that make regular rounds, filling their 50-gallon drums with water.

Recently a primary school serving grades one through six was built in K30. Additionally, we had built kindergartens last October. Now that the kids in the neighborhood have a school, we decided a library for after school activities would be a huge boost. Our partners at Mission Ministries (MM) have run a similar library for a few years. See previous blog at (www.jcepbolg.blogspot.com).

MM recently was granted the land for this library on a plot next to the primary school. They have also recently erected a medical clinic there. When we arrived, they had poured the slab for a 48x24 library with three rooms including a computer room, a classroom and reading and study room.

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up to a sunny day. After breakfast and devotions, the building crews set out to the site at 8 am. The medical team stayed behind at the team center clinic. Seventeen of the team members split off to build the house and the rest of us began the process of building the library. We were happy to be joined by seven of our JCEP sponsored children and Susie Pinada, the MM librarian and shepherd for our JCEP kids.

Day one was one of the longest we have experienced. We erected the walls, put in the windows, insulated, put on the roof, which was tarred and papered and trimmed out the structure. The kids on the crew loved doing the roof work. Those of us blessed with height got to hang insulation on the ceiling. The house team finished before us and many of them came over to help us get things done. Special thanks to Beth Kawasaki and Chris Henshaw for pulling double-duty on the house and the library hanging insulation. My shoulders couldn’t have done it without them. With just a short break for lunch, we finished around 5:30.

The short bus trip back to the team center ended with a great meal thanks to Carlos and the staff. An exhausted team showered up and reconvened later for a slide show by Jeff Piner, the resident American leader at the team center. Jeff regaled us with stories of sadness and hope - stories of people traveling to Juarez and how they have helped the local people. One particular story involved a young girl with a clubfoot. She was cured with surgery paid for by a teenager from MPPC, who raised the money after hearing the story and returning home.

Up again early the next morning, the team split up again to their various tasks. This day required us to finish the dry wall and taping inside the structure and to paint and caulk the outside. Our large team was able to complete all but the taping before lunchtime. Amazing work!

We then all convened over at the house for the key ceremony. The family of six, was given the keys to a beautiful new 12x36, three-room structure. The family had worked side-by-side with our team the entire time. Many tears of joy from out team and the family testified to the community created in two days.

After lunch the build team split again. About fifteen of us returned to the library to complete work. The rest headed off to a local women’s shelter to prepare meals and do crafts for approximately 40 women and children. The women’s shelter was founded by a local woman, abused since age six who later escaped the specter of prostitution by running away and making a life for herself. She raised the money to lease a building and with no salary, now takes in abused women and their children. Often they run low on food and have little support. Jeff Piner has adopted their cause and we help any way we can. We left behind large quantities of extra food and diapers for the families.

In the late afternoon, we had finally finished the library. We had a sunset dedication, handing over the keys to Susie. One of my favorite moments of the trip was when Annaliese Yukawa and Virginia Girard, seventh graders from Menlo School, presented Susie with 207 Spanish language books for the school. The girls had raised these books in a book drive. Following the handing over of the keys, we all laid hands on Susie and prayed that the library would be used to give community and opportunity for the children of K30, and maybe do something to help break the cycle of poverty there.

In the evening we had attended a rousing church service at the church of Pastor Francisco who had sponsored the family who go the house. Judy Hobbs led us in songs and spoke to the church of our great privilege to be there.

I sit on the plane home as I write this and can’t thank everyone who helped, but sure would like to. I particularly want to thank everyone who gave the money, more than $15,000, to JCEP to pay for the construction. Also, our team was great, paying out of their own pockets to travel to Juarez to build. All the kids, with their spirit of happily giving in service to others. Kari Hansen and her son Caleb who had a blanket drive at their school that garnered 100 blankets. Susan Siegel for translating at the clinic, food outreach, morning testimonial and for arranging transportation to the airport when the New Mexico police impounded our bus. Kenny Ludwig, my friend and Zen-like roommate for keeping a positive and flexible attitude of love at all times. Joni Cropper, my partner and leader of our trip, and her fantastic family who all made huge contributions to the trip. And all of you reading this who continue to support our efforts in Juarez.

A lot of things happened on this trip that I didn’t get to see or know. I thank everyone who came and blessed us with their love, sweat and dedication. But most of all I thank God, without whom none of this would be possible.

May God Bless You All
SK

January 2007 Short Term Mission Trip

January 14 to 17 Joni and I traveled to Juarez with 46 members of our Menlo Park Presbyterian Church team to build three houses for families in the colonias near the children we sponsor. Although the weather was very cold, the reception was warm. We completed three houses in the customer two days of work.

We also got to catch up with our 11 children. All are doing well. Joni gave necklaces with crosses to our 5 newest kids. These were David, Samuel, Margarita, Claudia and Nancy Margarita.

We also got to introduce several of the kids to new pen pals. We will be pairing kids in the U.S. with kids in Juarez. The idea is for them to write letters in both Spanish and English. The American kids are all studying Spanish. As you know the Juarez kids are all learning English. Our new English tutor. Enrique is doing well with the kids. Several greeted us with greeting in English. Also, we got some letters in English thanking us for our Sponsorship.

As another update, in October, we approved funds for a new van. Suzy can now drive the kids around in style after only having a subcompact that could take 4 at a time. Thanks for all your contributions that made this possible.

In June, Miriam will be graduating from high school. This is a big event. She hopes to attend a community college or trade school after graduation. Also, Juanita will be graduating from middle school and heading to high school.

SK