Our groups often find themselves building for a family on a street where other families live in the same or worse conditions.  Overwhelmed and confused by the specter of poverty, they ask, “How do we pick the families?”  The pastors we work with are members of our Mexican Ministry Planning Board.  They live, work and pastor in the areas where we take our groups to build.  They know their people and the needs of the community.  When we give them a seasonal quota for the number of houses we can build, they bring in the applications for the families based on the greatest needs.  They pick the families as a Board so that we can be assured that we are doing the right thing.  At the same time, we are giving our pastors a meaningful opportunity to reach out to their communities in witness to the love of God.

Last month, one of our groups walked in on an unusual set of circumstances as told by their Amor Field Specialist, T.J. Putman.

“Sometimes our pastors will bump a family to the top of the list because of  extreme hardships such as a devastating fire or health and safety issues.  One week before Christmas, Pastor Ponce, the head of our MMPB, bumped a family to the top of the list.  Francisco, the 39 year old father of five, was in a car accident last April.  He was in and out of the hospital for eight months.  His wife, Silvia, regularly attended church. Francisco did not.  When Silvia called on Pastor Ponce, he started visiting Francisco in the hospital.  They became really close through the whole ordeal.  One wish/dream Francisco shared with Pastor Ponce was, ‘I always wanted to provide a house for my family.’  Pastor Ponce was able to share his association with Amor Ministries and give Francisco the peace of mind that his family would have shelter.

I showed up to build the house the day after Christmas with Abiding Hope Lutheran Church from Littleton, Colorado.  Step by step we learned the family’s situation.  I wasn’t aware of what was going on when we met the family on the first day.  The mother broke down in tears when she shared the story with the group.  I had trouble holding back the tears as I translated.  When the group showed up the doctors had given Francisco seven days to live.  His blood pressure dropped and he would slip in and out of a comma.  The family spent each day of the build at the hospital.  Francisco’s two teenage daughters stayed home to answer our questions about the house and to babysit the two year old daughter.

After three days of strenuous labor we got the house to a point where the family could move in.  We needed one more coat of stucco to finish.  As we were driving off after the third day, I saw Silvia and Francisco’s sixty year old mother, Francisca, walking arm-in-arm like neither of them could stand without the support of the other.  They came up to my truck with tears in her eyes.  She grabbed my arm and said, ‘My son died today.  Silvia is on her way into the house to tell the girls.  They don’t know.’

We drove off and I made some calls. I called Pastor Ponce and told him that the house was at a place where the family could move in and that we could come back the next day and finish it.  He went to visit the family later that night and explained everything.  The family asked Pastor Ponce to pass along this message, ‘This house is a gift from THE Father.  We want to be here with the group tomorrow.’  The group showed up on the last day to finish the house.  After laughing and playing all week nobody really knew how to act or interact with Silvia or her family.  They finished the house in a few hours.  Before the group left they met with the family inside the house to pray and to share the love of God.  Grandma Francisca told us the whole story about what had happened to her son.  She shared how much she will miss him, but she knew he was at peace with God.  He had accepted Christ the day before he died.  She gave each participant the most meaningful hug they had ever experienced.  I am amazed each and every day at how God works and saves lives.”

One of the group members shared how deeply they were affected.  None of them had ever met Francisco, but they all loved him through getting to know his family.  Praying with his family on the last day was an incredibly heartbreaking experience, but one of the beginnings of healing.  Even though the group had been here before on trips that were meaningful and life changing, this one was special.  It proved that God is not random, that He made everything line up so that Francisco could be at peace about his family having a place to live.  It proved how we can all be a part of His perfect plan when we open ourselves to His grace, His invitation to serve someone in need.  It also proves that we can’t always know how much we will impact the life of the family, the local church, or the pastors’ ministries for generations to come when we say yes to a mission trip.  We don’t just build houses.  We build hope.

Peace,

Howie

P.S.  I want to invite all of you to visit our web site at www.amor.org.  There you will find lots of exciting information about the work of Amor Ministries, including our quarterly newsletter, Matters of the Heart.  Learn about our work in the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona, our South Africa mission trips, and our trips to Puerto Peñasco, a small fishing town on the Sea of Cortez, just south of Arizona.  Also learn about our 30^th Anniversary Celebration Tour and many other ways to be involved with us and to support us. Thank you.