As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we have been asking Amor Mission Trip participants to share their stories of how Amor has had an impact on their lives.  Submit your Amor story today! www.amor.org/MyAmorStory

Here is John McKinney”s “My Amor Story”.

Easter 2010 was my third Amor [Mission] trip. I have been to mexico often over the years… Different groups, churches, orphanages.

The amor house build is different that those experiences. Some call them a vacation with a purpose. I call it hard work.

The first two years, Templeton Community Church worked in the Rosarita area. The first house was attached to a shed. When we came back the second year, the shed and amor house were painted and it looked nice. The next year we built two homes within view of each other. It was great for competition. We also had the son of a plaster contractor working with us. He was great! I challenged our group to invite their friends and family to help in 2010 and we would try to do three houses. Then the news of violence hit and concerns for taking other people’s kids across the border almost made us stay home. To the credit of our staff, they decided to go for it with the understanding that it might be more dangerous than in years past. I had commented that we needed a minimum of 12 people to build a house. We ended up with 10 the week before we were to head south. Miraculously, one person dropped out at the last minute and two more signed up. One of them only had 10 days left on their current passport! When we go to Mexico, we were supposed to help a family that had a dirt floored shack. Unfortunately they were not ready. We got moved to a site that had a thin layer of cement on the ground where the slab was to go. Another miracle! We had much less site prep to form the slab. Our team mixed some of the best cement yet. The finish guy made the team wait an extra hour while he put the final touches to the slab. It was the straightest house and roof that we had made so far. The family we ministered to had four kids and were all sharing a 10X10 room. They were very excited to see the house come to completion. While Avenida Suares en Colonia Torres de Baja has changed, the experience of building them a home has changed some of our team forever.

Each year, we met people similar to us who struggled with poverty. In each case there were kids who needed shelter and parents that struggled to do what they could with their limited income. Each year my spanish has improved to the point where understanding ‘our family’ became easier.

Common to each house build was something that I call ‘third day drama’. It usually involves a meltdown over something that would not normally have any effect on a person who was freshly rested in their own bed. Stress has that effect on people. Also common to each house build with lots of tears being shed as we prayed for the family and handed them the keys to their new home. God called us to serve one another. The amor house build is a great opportunity to do just that.

This year, Lord willing, I want to work with our church to build a house and then work with the Barnabas Program [Amor's Project Barnabas short-term internship] to enjoy the experience with other brothers and sisters in the Lord. Blessings to you as you consider your own experiences and how to follow in the love of Christ.

Grandpa John

As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we have been asking Amor Mission Trip participants to share their stories of how Amor has had an impact on their lives.  Submit your Amor story today! www.amor.org/MyAmorStory

Anna Davis’ My Amor Story:

We pitched our tent in the dry, dusty dirt.
We ate in the dirt, we sang in the dirt.
We played in the dirt, we spat in the dirt.
We went to the baños and made more dirt.
Then we prayed in the dirt, and we slept in the dirt.

The next day we met a family and realized they had lived their lives
everyday, all day, in the dirt.

So we worked in the road that was nothing but dirt,
and we mixed and sifted in the yard that was dirt.
We nailed in the dirt and measured in the dirt,
sawed in the dirt and sweated in the dirt.

For just a few days we built in the dirt,
and rode buses that billowed with dirt.
And an earthquake came and shook the dirt,
and wildfires came and burnt the dirt.
And at the end of the day we’d take a shower,
just to get rid of all that dirt.

By week’s end our sweet family of mama and two sons,
had a house with a roof, two windows and door
and didn’t have to eat, sleep, work, play and live everyday,
all day, in the dirt anymore.

As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we have been asking Amor Mission Trip participants to share their stories of how Amor has had an impact on their lives.  Submit your Amor story today! www.amor.org/MyAmorStory

Here is Kyle Ozawa’s “My Amor Story”.

Kyle’s Amor Story:

A few weeks ago, my friend and I returned from South Africa where we spent a week with Amor Ministries, building a house for “Mama Maria” in the township of Delmas. While I have built many Amor houses in Mexico prior to this trip, there was something very unique and powerful about this particular experience. From day one, our group was joined by members of the local community, churches, and schools. What was fascinating was the diversity of the group. They ranged from affluent white Dutch Reformed Church members to local neighborhood kids. Yet, despite their apparent differences, everyone got dirty, picked up a trowel, and helped get the house built in just under a week’s time.

There were moments when the situation was a little chaotic with so many people, but it was an amazing sight to behold. We later learned that for many of the white community members, especially the children, this was the first time they had been in an impoverished “township.” For the local black community, seeing members from the affluent white community work to build a house for one of their neighbors sent a powerful message that reconciliation can truly happen. What I realized in the end was that our work would have a much greater effect than the structure that we left behind. The irony of it all is that in the end, we broke down more walls than we actually built.

Kyle & Bill with Kids

I have been going with our church, Canyon Creek from San Ramon, CA, to build houses with Amor for about 10 years in the Tijuana/Tecate area. I started going with my children and have continued now that they are out of high school and college. I drive the box truck down, organize the meals and help build. I love this trip so much. It is always the high point of my year. I love getting to know the families and getting to see our church youth with amazing servant hearts. I love being out of my comfort zone and realizing how little I really need to survive. I always joke that they will be wheeling me out in a walker at some point, but I will still go!

We try and let our youth go into a store like Gigante or Commercial Mexicana on our last night to buy local items. I was in line buying some items for my grandkids and other people. It was probably about $20 in American money. A local gentleman came up to the clerk and showed him his credit card and carried on an exchange that I didn’t understand. The clerk told me that the man wanted to pay for my items. I was confused and asked what he wanted. He explained again that he wanted to pay for me. I asked him “why”? He explained that he recognized us from past years in building in the area. He said he appreciated what we did for the community and he wanted to show his appreciation. I was dumbfounded and said, “oh, no…it’s alright, I can pay”. He insisted and said he was thankful to our group and to God.

I realized that I didn’t need his gift monetarily, but that I needed it for my heart and for his heart. It reminded me of how we think we are so self-sufficient that we don’t need God’s gift of grace. I just had to accept the man’s gift with a gracious heart. I was moved to tears throughout the rest of the day. It was an amazing story to share with the youth that evening. A few of the kids were with me in line at the time. One of them said that he had been praying for a sign of the impact of the work we do when we go there. That was quite a sign. I was able to share it with Gayla when I met her the next morning. I am so thankful for Amor Ministries and what it has meant in my life, my family’s lives and our church family’s lives. Thank you for your faithfulness!

In my experience hope is often found in the places I don’t always expect. It is also contagious. Several years ago I was on a team that built a home for a Mexican family in Rosarito. The family of four had been living in a house they had pieced together over the years from scrap wood, cardboard, and whatever else they could find. In the four days we spent building the home we had an opportunity to spend time with the mother and her two children as they were often outside helping us build while the father was away working long hours to earn a small salary.

On our last day of building the home for the family, they seemed to have grown one extra family member. All afternoon the mother carried around an adorable five month old baby boy dressed in a Bugs Bunny jumper (complete with bunny ears). Her teenage son and daughter made faces and played with the baby as if he were a younger brother and the mother bounced him around, fed him a bottle, and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. As we watched the family shower this baby with love and attention, we were aware that he didn’t belong to them and wondered about his story. We asked the mother what the baby’s name was, and she didn’t know. She asked her daughter the same question who didn’t know either. When they asked the woman who dropped him off the same question, again the reply was the same, “I don’t know”. No one knew the baby’s name, but they all knew his story.

His mother was addicted to drugs, and she and her friends had stolen things from the family we were building the house for. She was heavily involved in this lifestyle and was unable to care for her son. The families in the community had taken on the responsibility of caring for the baby, and each family would take turns watching him. It didn’t matter that this family had suffered at the hands of the mother, or that they didn’t know the baby well enough to even know his name. The child needed someone to take care of him, and this family loved him and treated him like family in the midst of their own immense need.

After finishing the house I left feeling the hope that radiated from a new home for a family, a community providing love for a child, and my image of how generous the human spirit can be.