There are questions all, or at least most, of us ask after building an Amor home:  What’s going to happen to this family?Will it change their lives? Have we shown what servanthood and God’s love looks like? Sometimes groups are able to go back and see what years past homes look like. Some, unfortunately, have not been well kept – or have moved – or a natural disaster has taken place, which can be a real downer. But then you find people like Phillipe’s family who clearly demonstrate what an incredible impact our ministry can have. I would like share that story with you this week.

A man and his family drove past my 3 sites the other day. He stopped, got out, and introduced himself as Phillipe, his wife Silvia, and their two children. He explained, in Spanish, that he would love to cook for our entire group the next day (there was 80 people in the group). He then asked his wife and children to walk with Caleb (a fluent Spanish speaking group member) and me to his home, which has been converted into a soup kitchen. It turns out his family, while going through a very hard time financially, were blessed with a home by a ministry in the area. Once things picked up, they began devoting themselves to serving God in a way that would benefit their entire community. Out of their own pockets, each of them (Phillipe, Silvia and a woman from the community) take a huge percentage of their paychecks and put it into food and supplies to feed their community three days a week, 8am – 10am. They said they would love to do it more, but that is all the money would allow at that time. They serve 50-80 people per day the most delicious breakfast of beans, rice & seasoned eggs.

Over and over again, Phillipe thanks us, all the people who came in to eat, (there were only 15 seats, so I was going back and forth bringing in new groups). He told us how blessed his community was to have people come from the US (ahem… and Canada & Australia.. hehe) to show Gods love.

We were all humbled by this family’s intense passion and drive for God – a passion he says resulted initially from receiving a home when things were tough. And all 81/82 of us that sat down to eat that day were one of those lucky people that get to see the sensational impact building a house can have on a family and community. It’s not just about nails and roofing paper, but THROUGH these tools/resources… many are able to see Gods love and desire for them.

There are SO many memories and experiences occuring and  surrounding us Nexus. As the summer clicks over the halfway point, I know that never will I forgot Phillipe and his family.

Until next time,
G.B.&<3 (Gods Blessings & Love),
Linz & the Nexus team