Faith Community Church Builds Berta's Home

This project could not come any sooner.  Pavana has gotten their fare share of rain lately.  As you can see in the pictures the road to Berta's home is washed away and we had to figure out on to get only about a half a mile down this road to the property of  Berta.  The Kia got stuck in the road which became a river over night.  The entire work crew got out there to help dig out the Kia and off it continued to the project.  I was very unsettled about us traveling through the river so I prayed and held on.  Once we got to the property everything else was just fine. Well almost everything was fine.  

This is the fourth home Faith Community Church of Geneva New York has built this year.  Thank you all so much for your generous contributions to provide people homes throughout Honduras.  You all are definitely showing love, love, love to these precious people.

 

Joyful Group of Men

After the struggle of getting through what use to be a road and is now a river they arrived with another opportunity.  Someone did not get the memo that six hundred of the block needed to go inside the foundation.  So with joyful hearts, Mike, Meida, Cristobal and O'Nil started moving the six hundred blocks into the foundation.  I'm so impressed with O'Nil and his intelligent thinking.  He got the wheelbarrow and loaded it up with blocks and carried several loads of blocks into the foundation.  This took several trips but between his ingenuity and manpower the blocks made their home in the foundation to become a home for Bert, Viola and Lizzy.  We had not been there two hours and came across what would cause some folks to say I give up and go home.  But not Pastor Carlos and his crew of men. They were literally on a mission and they were determined to get this day started.  Well for me I was like another God moment watching my friends set the example of perseverance.  As I always say I learn from these people of Honduras every single day.  Thank you God for exemplifying joy on the first part of this day in such a mighty way!!!!

 

Four Corner Problelm

As a normal week starts with Pastor Carlos and men placing the four corners in place they came across an  opportunity which became a time of using some ingenuity on the part of Joni and Yobani.   I sat and watched how they studied that one corner and how were they going to place the corner as it is needed to square up the new home.  Joni climbs up on the existing house and starts removing lumber, etc to get that corner placed. This little opportunity did not discourage Joni nor Yobani in preparing for the first block.  They probably worked about thirty plus minutes on this opportunity to get all the obstacles out of the way.  Isn't this so true with our own lives.  We have so many obstacles that separates from the love of our Cornerstone in Jesus Christ.  We work diligently daily to keep these obstacles out of our lives in order to have a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  Being a follower of Jesus Christ was never said to be easy but the end results are eternally beautiful.  So like Joi and Yobani we all need to remove everything that hinders us from our daily lives basting in the Presence of Christ.

 

Praying Over First Block

Berta eagerly waiting for the praying over her first block.  Mrs. Berta was a very quiet lady with very few words.  Meida shared she was humbled by this gesture of her new home.  I believe she never thought this would happen for her.  But this morning a dream of a new home was becoming a reality. Mrs. Berta and her granddaughters were living with her mother because of her existing adobe home was literally folding into because of all the rain we have had since May.  We are grateful to be a part of the joy Mrs. Berta was feeling this morning prior to the prayer.

Meida helped her understand she Viola and Lizzy needed to do to get ready for the prayer over the first block.  I called Mr. Sonny and Mrs. Helen in Geneva New York who were asked from their church Faith Community to pray over the first block.  I gave Meida the phone and Mr. Sonny spoke a few words of gratefulness they could be a part of this celebration of a new home.  Both Mr. Sonny and Mrs. Helen prayed over this home, Mrs. Berta, Viola and Lizzy as well.  Their personal touch calling them each by their name was heart wrenching.  Mrs. Berta did not know the voices on the other end of the phone but she knew their prayer was sincere and gracious.  Thank you God for Faith Community Church who has been so faithful this year in building their fourth home.

 

Angels Amongst Us

This was a week full of opportunities but also a week full of hard workers serving our Lord.  Berta brought water from the river daily to help with the mescal mixing.  Mike cut all the blocks this week because of how little help these guys had from the community until one day this angel appears from the community and even brought everyone a cold coke and chips, his name Ollandro from the local Baptist Church.  He volunteered every day to show the love of Jesus to Berta and her granddaughters.  Her daughters helped her cook the meals daily but there was not any extra man power.  So our boys worked extra hard this week but never once complained because they were grateful to have a job.  This particular project was a light this week in a community who needed to see the love of Jesus at work for a widow and her grandchildren.  Hallelujah praise God for all His many blessings this week, hard workers who are grateful and one little angel God sent our way always wearing a smile.  He was my joy and God moment that week.  

 

 

God's Provision Daily

Each day after the first Mike ask the vehicles not to go through the river.  The staff  had to walk all materials through another path which they still had to cross over the river behind Mrs. Berta's home.  This is also the river where all the water came from to mix the mescal for the blocks and the floor.  As you can see Viola, Lizzy and Meida was helping bring the water from the river to make their house a home.  O'Nil, who is always in charge of the mescal had five piles of mescal being staged out into different  mixtures so there was always one ready to go into the floor.  He runs a tight ship on this mescal station.  If you are working with him get ready because he can shoot out the orders in such a gentle way but firm.  But he as well is working so hard during this process.  At the end of the day with the floor they used up almost all of the mescal.  There was a small bit left. Pastor Carlos was working at the entrance of the front door when I heard him say a little more please.  O'Nil gave him what was left which was very little more.  Then Pastor Carlos said I need a little more please.  O'Nil had to mix one more very small batch to make the entrance to Mrs. Berta's home just right.  Nothing but the best for all our new home owners.  Pastor Carlos always puts the final touches on the floors as if the home was his own.

 

Beautiful Ending

Mrs. Berta, Lizzy and Viola stand very proud fully in front of their new home.  As you can see Mrs. Berta doesn't smile much but she was humbled and grateful as she shared with each of  us.  My prayer this week is Mrs. Berta saw Jesus at work on every block and every bucket of mescal.  This week was a week where Jesus' Light shined brightly.  I can only imagine Lizzy and her other girl cousins playing around her new home instead of Lizzy having to go somewhere else to play.  But because I'm not sure how long they have not been in their adobe home.   But now Lizzy is very proud of her new home because of the day of dedication her best friends which were her cousins came down to see her new home and they all three giggled just like a bunch of six years might do.  This warmed my heart the excitement in this child's life.  She will have a home where she will be dry when it rains and a safe from the outside world if need be.  Viola will grow up and be able to take care of Lizzy and her grandmother in her new home and work to keep it beautiful as it was this very day.  

The dedication began with me, Ginger, giving God all the praise and honor for this opportunity and able to participant in the building of this home.  Ginger thanked each worker especially Joni and Yobani who spent so much time on the fourth cornerstone and how Jesus is our Chief Cornerstone.  Ginger looked at Mrs. Berta and said, "I do not know about your relationship with Jesus Christ but this home is only a physical gift and the greatest gift of all is found in this book, the Bible."  The Word of God is our firm foundation and the only foundation which will keep us safe and secure with all the elements of this world we live in.  Jesus will protect us, love us and always be there for us no matter what.  So I dedicate this day in the name of Jesus Christ Mrs. Berta and Mrs. Berta said "amen y amen"

We simply love when Yobani is a part of the dedication ceremony.  Today is special because Mrs. Berta is part of Yobani's family.  She is an aunt to Yobani.  It was only approriate he be a part of this special day.  He looked at Mrs. Berta with the key in his hands and said, "My God bless you and keep you safe in the days ahead with this little piece of metal shaped into a key."  He walked away and looked at me for approval and all I could do was simply smile and say "Gracias Jesus".  Our Yobani has come such a long ways from four years ago.  We are blessed to have him on the construction sites with the teams or when it is only the Hondurans building the home.  

There on the end is our little angel who worked hard beside us all week.  As we gathered to pray each person placed their hands on the wall of the home.  Grateful for Meida this week, Mike was able to pray over the home and give God of course all the praise and honor and thanking the North American family in New York who helped make this happened.  After Mike prayed Pastor Carlos said a few words to Mrs. Berta as we brought this week to a close.  And all God's people said, "Amen y amen."

 

Welcome Catalyst Church

We were excited to have a North American team arrive here last week to serve at Monte de Horeb Ministries.  It definitely has been an unusual year.  This was our first team since March as far as North Americans on Honduran soil.  But they were as excited as we were.  Team leader, Ray and a long time visitor to Honduras said, "He was ready to be back and it had been way too long."  Ray has come every year since we have been serving in Honduras, which has been twelve years.  But I believe Ray came way before then as well. He came with a prepared team who served strong all week.  There job duties started first thing each morning and everyone pitched in where they had been assigned.  Mrs. Becky and Hannah got blessed this week.  They only made sandwiches one morning because of this team getting blessed daily with Honduran cuisine.  But these two ladies pitched in wherever there was a need.  Monte de Horeb staff was happy to see all of them come through the entrance to the ministry campus that Monday evening.  It had been long enough.  We were all ready for some guests to come and visit and serve along side of us.

 

Elias, Daniella y Gimena

Monte de Horeb Ministries has worked with Elias for years building numerous families homes in his hometown of Cedeno.  Elias lives in a cult de sac with his mother and seven siblings.  There is actually eleven siblings total but three do not live in this cult-de-sac.  Elias always showed up at job sites to help someone get a home because he said this is how he was raised to help others and this is what God would want him to do.  He was raised as a boy in the Baptist church in Cedeno.  As a child Pastor Carlos was his pastor.  We introduced each other the first morning as we arrived we forgot to introduce Pastor Carlos. Oops, but interestingly everyone there knew Pastor Carlos because this was his hometown.  But Elias spoke up quickly and said "This is my Pastor Carlos".  Elias is a single father whose wife walked out on him two years ago to raise.  She left Elias to raise two beautiful daughters who love their daddy very much.  He is an excellent father and teaches them well with respect for others as he does himself.  The home is being built for Elias and his two daughters but he is moving his mother into his home since his father passed away a year ago.  She will have a safe and dry home to live in and she will be there for her granddaughters when Elias heads off to work either working in the fish company or cooking at a local seafood restaurant.  We were all blessed to have met this family this week.  His best friend Fernando since childhood who has a home kept telling Elias ask the missionaries for a home.  They will build you if you ask. Finally, shy Elias, came to us about one year ago asking if there was a possibility of getting a home one day for him and his two daughters.  I looked at him and said of course and I always wondered why you helped everyone else and you never asked for one.  So finally after ten years of volunteering with others home Elias is getting as he said a dream come true.

It was the pleasure of the ministry to help such a deserving young godly man receive his dream.

 

Building a Home Yet There Was More Built

This is probably the only picture of the project you will see from this group of people.  They did build a home this week for Elias and his daughters.  But they built so much more.  They all worked hard at this home in between finding time for so much more.  So with out further a do lets' find out what they really did build.  Yes this may be the shortest blog in the history of my blogging.

 

Praying Over First Block

Pastor Carlos placed the first block on the foundation and Meida gathered the family around the block and explained how to lay their hands upon the block.  Elias had seen this done so many times but allowed Meida to graciously show him and his girls what to do.  Then he patiently shared with his daughters where to place their hands as Miguel Dos prayed over the first block.  This was just the beginning of an amazing week in Cedeno with two very special families, one Honduran family and one North American family.  Let God's work began in building something very very special!!!!

 

Happy Birthday Meida

First day of the project was what we call here a national holiday.  It was Meida's birthday.  we surprised Meida with a birthday cake.  Mike and I left the project once we prayed over the first block.  We told Meida we were going down the road to assess another project for later on.  She smiled and said okay not knowing we were going to try to find a birthday cake.  This was not an easy task.  We went to three places before we found a birthday cake and "Happy Birthday" was in English.  All I could do was laugh.  We got back to the project  just about time for the mid morning coke and we brought the birthday cake for our sweet and hard working Meida.  She was definitely surprised and I asked her what she thought of the new project we found.  She looked at me and smiled.  I love it Mrs. Ginger.  We are so blessed to have Meida on board with us and working beside us with the North Americans.  She has been with us eight plus years.  She definitely was our gift from God.

 

Building Relationships

Miguel Dos has been down several times and has built lasting relationships with our staff one being Cristobal.  But he also got down on his hands and knees and played marbles with Jose one of the local children in this neighborhood.  Pastor Carlos has built relationships with Elias and Fernando for many years.  As he watched them grow up in the church and even today they look to Pastor Carlos for wisdom in how to live out their godly lives for their families.  Fernando and his wife came over the first day to help fix the meal for lunch which is a life time friend his friend on a very important day.  Wherever Meida goes she builds lasting friendships with the locals.  We are grateful for her willingness to fill in the language barrier for all of us.  I caught her observing with her hat flipped back which is very unusual for Meida to have her arms folded.  There was a lot of relationships being built this week as I continue to share with you other stories that unfolded each day in Cedeno.

 

Buen Porvecho

This team did not go hungry this week.  Their first breakfast at Monte de Horeb Ministries was baladeas.   Baladeas is a soft burrito type shell homemade by our very own Ingrid.  You fix it to your taste with either scramble eggs with sausage, refried beans and creama.  This is a favorite breakfast for a lot of us in Honduras.  We told Mrs. Becky and Hannah to make up their sandwiches for Tuesday but this may be their last time to have to do this and we were correct.  We heard a rumor from Pastor Carlos Elias would be cooking every day for this team.  This does not happen every team but when it does the team is mighty blessed.  Fernando, Elias' best friend, came over the first day and prepared a fish has with a special fish he had purchased for Elias just for this day.  Fernando's wife helped cooked this meal the first day.  As the week continued the team had fresh coconut water where they got to experience true Honduran culture. Elias shimmy up a coconut tree to get everyone a fresh coconut to enjoy during their morning break.  Fresh coffee was often served in the afternoon as well.  We had fried fish of course one day.  The team would come back to the ministry campus in the afternoon ready for a nice cold coke or Fresca and sit around sharing about all their many God moments of the day.  We did have a scare for a few days, there was not any Frescas to be found.  Finally we found some and was able to quench a few thirsty men who wanted Fresca.  As of this week I believe the shortage of Fresca has passed on by.  Hallelujah Praise God that was almost eternal!!!

 

Mrs. Becky

Mrs. Becky did not meet a stranger this week.  She would sit down and start a conversation with this beautiful children in her own Spanglish.  She communicated with them with love more than her words.  She loved them each unconditionally with the love of Jesus which overflows in Mrs. Becky's life. These children were blessed to have Mrs. Becky in their lives this week.

My God moment for the week is Florentina's very special cross made by our Mrs. Becky.  The last day Mrs. Becky's bible story was about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  So their craft this day was to make a cross.  The evening before Mrs. Becky made Florentina a very special on with her initial in the center.  Florentina was so very proud of this precious gift provided by Mrs. Becky, the lady who loves endlessly in all she does.  In the beginning of the week Mrs. Becky prayed Florentina would come around the project more and be a part like everyone else.  Florentina was Elias' mother.  Mrs. Becky got her prayer answered the very next day when Florentina asked Mrs. Becky to join her for coffee.  So they developed a quick friendship, once again building relationship while building a home for her as well.  Thank you for this gift of love which Florentina will treasure for a life time and probably is hanging inside her new home today!

 

VBS

We were blessed this week to have a mini VBS.  It was with the children who lived in this cul-de-sac.  We have not went back to the church quiet yet to do VBS.  This was a very special time though with about fifteen children enjoying hearing Bible stories and coloring pictures each day with Mrs. Becky, Hannah, Logan and Breanna along with Meida.  The rain got in the way a couple of times and we made shelter under one of the homes porches.  But most day they did VBS under the mango trees on chairs and the bench with the coolers.  Mrs. Becky needed a cross for the last day of VBS and Elias made her one and presented it to her that morning.  There is one Bible story Mike and I were sad we missed.  David and Goliath where Joey Eddie was Goliath and he was everyone's God moment that evening.  Breanna described how his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell backwards as the pretend slingshot and rock hit him.  All the children were in awe of what happened.  Thank you all for preparing and presenting God's word to these beautiful children.  Mrs. Becky asked the first day what this book was she was holding in her hands.  Emerson our very special friend who a lot of you are reading this will know who he is immediately when you see his picture.  He looked up at Mrs. Becky with those big brown eyes and said, "It is the Bible".  All morning Emerson had been a little bit of a handful until then and it was like it all turned around for him.  He was attentive to the Bible story and came back each day to hear every story Mrs. Becky shared with the children.  One day as Mike and I were leaving early to run some errands I heard this voice holler out in Spanish Ginger Ginger and I turned around and it was Emerson running as hard as he could to say good-bye and give me a hug.  Tears welled up in my eyes as I hugged him and then he was looking for Mike and saw Mike and took off over to him for a hug from him.  All Emerson wanted was to be loved and he got a lot of that this week. Oh yes he got in a little trouble now and then but we all still loved him unconditionally as Jesus would do.

"Let the little children come unto Me."

Mark 10:13

 

Familia

Ray and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Becky have been coming together for many years.  They were both waiting patiently for their daughter and granddaughter, Brenna to get old enough to come too.  This year they were all blessed with three generations together serving their Lord in Honduras.  It was beautiful to see Brenna working beside both her father and her grandmother.  Yet it was also very special to see her out engaging with the children and loving them with her sweet sweet spirit.  She spoke volumes of wisdom at such a young age when she shared each evening during God moments.  She had listened well to her father and grandmother over the years about the culture and how to interact and see these people for who they were and where they were.  She shared one of the first evenings how much joy she saw in the Honduran people and the way they loved us strangers in their neighborhood and she never was saw a problem with the language barrier.  When she first arrived she claimed she was a bit nervous with all the possibilities of not being able to communicate or help build the home but God came right along beside her she shared and gave her complete peace in everything she attempted and accomplished.  Ray stood back and enjoyed watching his daughter serve the Lord. He questioned her on the first night, "What did you give that little girl Brenna who was by your side all day?"  Of course my ears perked up and I looked at Brenna knowing we are not a Santa Claus ministry.  Brenna looked back at her father a bit puzzled and he looked at her and said, "Brenna you gave this little girl your time and this is all she truly wanted, your time, not anything tangible but your time." Brenna shared with me one evening how proud she was of her father and how he was definitely at home in Honduras and she knew why.  It is so hard not to leave a piece of your heart here in Honduras when your heart is full of Jesus.  Mrs. Becky shared one evening how proud she was of  Brenna and what a joy it was to get to serve our Lord with her in Honduras.  God is so good all the time and all the time God is so good.

Life time friendships are hard to come by these days.  But Ray and Joey Eddie have been friends since elementary school.  There paths got lost for a while but they got reunited  and have been friends for over twenty years.  It was a joy and a pleasure to see these two godly gentlemen together all week serving our Lord.  They would always come up for dinner together as everyone was waiting for them.  But I can only imagine they were done in their dorm room chatting away about Jesus and life in general.  They were worth waiting for each and every time.  Both of them are quiet and have gentle spirits about them. They radiate the love of Jesus in all they do together and separately.  In Joey Eddie's devotional one evening he shared from Philippians 2:3-8, Jesus came to serve and not be served.  Well this is exactly what these two did the whole week.  They both were always willing to help wherever needed.  Joey Eddie talked about being humble well folks I do not know more humble gentlemen than these two.   Joey Eddie's devotional touched a lot of whom he and Ray are.  They are love, humility, humble, a good neighbor and definitely servants.   Joey Eddie complimented the entire team the first evening during devotional when he said, "Yes it was very hot, but not one time did any one of us complain."  Amen Hallelujah! as Joey Eddie would say.   

Miguel Dos has come to Honduras numerous times, sometimes twice a year.  But this year he was beyond excited to bring his son, Logan.  Logan is so much like his father, in looks and actions.  What a beautiful sight to see a father and a son serving their Lord and Savior together especially here in Honduras.  Honduras is Miguel Dos' love and now he got to share this inspiring experience with his son.  Logan fell right in on the first morning where he shared scripture he had read the evening before with the team before we headed out to the project.  He was always entertaining us in the evenings with his gift of guitar.  The team enjoyed hearing Christian music off the porch of the North American dorm. He enjoyed working beside his father on the project but he enjoyed engaging into the culture the most.  He got to drink a coke out of a bag his first morning on the project.  I told him he had more Honduran cultures in his first day than I did the first year.  Interestingly in this blog there is not a picture with Logan and the children.  Logan enjoyed the children.  They enjoyed him as well.  Even praying over the first block on the very first day he was holding Gimena's hand comforting her as we prayed over her new home.  He got really close with Jose this week.  They were always together.  Logan was a light in the life of this community as he shared the night of his devotional.  We are to go and be the light and this is what Logan did with the children in the community of Cedeno.

 

The Children

Our young people were the children magnets all week.  Hannah especially never grew weary with them playing around her or with her.  She always carried her warm and welcoming smile.  As you see Hannah and Brenna sitting there on this bench there is a funny story behind this .  I was sitting there all by myself chilling watching all the activities going on around me.  Brenna came over to sit with me to get a break of all the fun she was having.  Well sooner than later a couple of those little angels found her and came over to the bench with Brenna and me.  Then here came Hannah and her crew to join us.  This is when I got up to allow more room for all those little ones who were following Brenna and Hannah wherever they went.  This is why the big smiles on all faces.  They were having so much fun just hanging out.  Like I said early in a blog and I quote Ray, "All they want is your time and time is what these little ones got a lot of and yes the house still got built in to a home.  Sadly some of the children become adults at early ages.  This young man coming down the path carrying a load of llena, fire wood for cooking is Lester who is ten years old.  He works in the melon fields early in the morning and on his way home from work he brought his mother some firewood to cook with.  Some of the children are still in school, well not physically in school but are required to do work packets each week and turn in to a teacher to get credit.  So there are so many obstacles in the lives of these beautiful children who in their world is just another day.  A day of normalcy for each of them. And yet they are so happy and full of joy which we all wish we had a little part of ourselves.  They have little materialistically but so much more of family, sense of community all around them which sometimes we miss out on in our busy lives some team members shared this week.  Florentina shared how she wanted all her children to live near her and raise their children near her and eight of eleven of her children are doing this.  We watched this family daily to what they do including the children who work so hard for their families to meet daily needs, which is firewood, clean water and whatever their daily needs might be and yes they are very content with the life God has given them.  I always learn daily from the lives of my friends in Honduras.  Life is better when it is simpler as we learned from these beautiful children this week.

 

The Last Day

Mrs. Becky and Ray  were busy getting those doors spotless for the home dedication later in the day.  While the doors were getting polished up the roof was also going up by Mike and Miguel Dos.  Joey Eddie and Fernando and Ray and Elias were taking turns passing up the tin so this house would become a home and make Elias' dream come true.  Pastor Carlos looked from the ground today and got a break from the roof, what a nice gift from Miguel Dos.  Elias stood back after it was all done looking at his home with such pride knowing God had answered his prayers to completion.  His daughters, mother and himself will have a mansion to call their own.  Florentina looked at me on this day and said, "This is so very beautiful", with a huge smile on her face. She was so happy for Elias and his accomplishment this week to provide them a home, a home where they will make so many memories and some will be of this week with this team.

All day long Elias worked in the kitchen cooking up a very special dish for the team as his true gratitude for all they did for his family this week.  He works in a restaurant as well as in the fish company so this was one special and unique treat which Mike, Meida or myself had never had in Honduras.  It was so delicious.  It had shrimp, which he peeled most of the morning into a huge pot.  The seasonings were as numerous as how delicious it was,  This was made with a lot of love that morning.  After the home dedication we were all able to enjoy a cup of this delicacy.  What a sacrifice this young man made for us this entire week but this treat here was priceless in so many ways.  I do know we were all humbled by this act of kindness from this young man who blessed us all week with his servant heart.

 

 

God's Strength

As the final touches were going into the floor the roof was going up by Mike all by himself.  With a lot of help from the ground he got the roof done to completion.  He truly missed his sidekick Pastor Carlos who is always by his side on the roofs.  There was a discussion this past week when there is not enough community help we will add one or two more young men to help us along the week.  But as you can see from the treetops Mike had a huge smile on his face as he lays each piece of tin into this roof and completing Mrs. Berta's home.  What a beautiful day!!!!

 

Bittersweet Day

One evening after devotional Ray asked for volunteers for the dedication service.  Well I was taken back by all three of our young people volunteering immediately.  They spent the next two evenings preparing what scripture and words they were going to share on their last day in Cedeno.  This was all three of their first time coming to Honduras and offer to help with a home dedication speaks volumes for each one of them.  Logan started out by thanking the family for allowing them to come and work beside them all week to make Elias' house into a home where God will serve out of daily to the community of Cedeno.  Where his daughters will grow up and know they have a safe and secure place to live with their daddy.  At this time Logan lifted up a word of prayer over the dedication and especially for Elias, Daniella and Gimena. Elias instead of saying words to the team as most family does he prayed to God our Father for this home and making his dream come true on this day. We moved to Hannah where she read out of Numbers 6:24-26, "The Lord bless you and keep you".  She shared how this home will be a place where Jesus will radiate through these doors especially from such a godly servant as Elisa.  Hannah teared up with humbleness as she continue talking about how blessed these girls were to have a father who loves the Lord and will teach them the love of Jesus and with God's word, Hannah said, "Is how you will teach them the truth of Jesus Christ."  Hannah presented Elias with a family bible and he humbly said thank you.  Hannah at this time prayed as well over the life of Elias and his girls.

We then moved on to Brenna who was going to present the family with the key.  She read out of Ephesians 2:8-10  and shared how this key is a representation of security for your family.  But our true security relies in Jesus Christ.  He is our great provider in all details of our life.  He will never fail us as we go through life as long as we rely on Him for every need of our lives.  Elias then had a few words once Brenna handed him the key.  He shared for many years of his life this day had been a dream of his.  Now today he shared how his dream had become a reality for him.  He again thanked the team prior to unlocking his home for the first time.  Danelle and Gimena were so very excited as they ran through their new home screaming words of joy.  We then celebrated with our bowl of shrimp delight for lack of a better name.  Mike and I left to run many errands before heading back to the ministry campus and as we entered the campus we looked up on the rock and there was our family enjoying their first sunset for the week.  This just warmed my heart to see Lassie right up there with them enjoying herself as well.  What a beautiful ending to a bittersweet day.