Friday, December 31, 2010

Waiting... Faithfully

As 2010 comes to a close we want to share a story with you that encompasses our year, our hearts and why we'll spend 2011 working just as hard to bring the hope and love of Jesus Christ to hundreds of families with stories just like this one.


Sometimes it’s easier not to know.  Because my heart is broken.  It has been a long time, but tonight I sit here with a broken heart.  The craziness of the day has kept me at arms length from my real emotions, but as I sit here in silence, tears running down my face, I can’t help but be overwhelmed.  All I can do is thank God for allowing my heart to break for the things that break His.   I’m not deserving, but blessed.  Not worthy, but loved.  Not asking, but rich.  Not justified, but saved.
Bianca, the woman I met in Juárez today, is not alone, but lonely.  Not deserving, but poor.  Not abandoned, but defeated.  As I stood with her today, tears streaming down my face, I gained a real perspective.  I felt that for a moment in time, God gave me His perspective…exactly what he sees when he looks at His children living in poverty.  A real picture of why He has my family living in this crazy place, doing this with my life.  He showed me His love and compassion for this family.  And shared with me the burden of His heart.  Though we could offer little more than hugs, words of empathy, and a simple prayer, He showed me how important it is to live this life as a messenger of His love and His hope.  Living with these images etched on my heart, I will never be the same.
Her story is simple.  I will try to convey with words the images that are etched on my heart.  I walked into the home of this family of seven and my stomach immediately dropped.  Two rooms in a makeshift structure made of cinderblocks and scrap wood…the wood the covered the roof sat upon the walls, leaving huge gaps where the wind could whip through.  There were two entrances to the home, one covered with an old mattress box spring and the other with a wool blanket that blew in the wind.  There were a few chairs, a beat up styrofoam cooler without a cover that served as a refrigerator, a mattress on the floor for a bed, and foam squares for the kids that couldn’t fit in the bed.  The cold concrete and dirt floor had no covering and tar dripped from the ceiling in places they had tried to protect themselves from the rain that poured in.  As I talked to Bianca in my broken Spanish, the tortilla she had been warming on the one working burner on the hot plate burned, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was all she had to eat for that day.  She was 25 years old, with five beautiful children ranging in age from 18 months to 9 years old.  Her husband had just returned to them, after being in jail in El Paso for 10 months for working illegally to try to earn money for their family.  “In Juárez,” she told me, “there are no jobs.  Every day he looks for work.  But there are no jobs for him to do to earn money for our family.”
She walks nearly three miles roundtrip, four times a day, to bring her kids to and from school.  She looks exhausted, but continues to smile, even as she explains the hardships of her life to us.  She tells us how thankful she is for the small space heater they have next to the mattress that the family sleeps on.  When they bring the foam cushions and the heater next to the mattress, all seven of them might be able to sleep through the night.
As we cried and prayed, they smiled and nodded…they know they are hungry and know they are cold, but are we more burdened because of our perspective?  From a mother to a mother…my heart is sad when I can’t buy the newest outfits or clothes for my kids.  I cannot even wrap my brain around sitting in a makeshift shelter - not being able to give them a warm blanket to sleep with.  Or a tortilla to eat.  Or a coat to keep them warm when they play outside.
So how can I reconcile in my brain what I saw today?  How can I go from standing in a home with nothing more than an old bed frame covering the doorway to the doorway of my daughter’s school in a matter of an hour?  How can I be still in God’s presence and trust Him to fight my enemies when these images of poverty and injustice flood my mind and my heart?  When my heart is burdened for what I saw?  For my feelings of wanting to help everyone, rather than lifting them up in prayer and trusting that God will find a way to take care of this family.  I’m confused.  I’m heart-broken.  I’m not the answer.  I’m not their hope.  I never was. 
All I can do is stand confident in the fact that God has brought our family for a reason.  It was His plan for us to become a part of these families’ lives and them a part of ours.  It was His plan for us to write this story, and His plan for those of you that have partnered with us to read it.  Today I pray that Bianca would know Christ’s truth…that she is not worthy or deserving or justified in and of herself.  But that she is loved, protected, guarded, cherished, and saved by a God that is so much bigger than her circumstances.  That there is a God that is bigger than the daily struggle to feed her family and the nightly struggle to stay warm enough to survive.  That there is a God whose heart breaks for her and for her family.  And that there are people here on this side of the border who may not always have answers, but who are filled with love and compassion, and faith in a God that can overcome all.
-Katy Skarlatos

Thursday, December 30, 2010

5 Reasons We Love Casas

Do you have your list of New Year's resolutions ready?  Don’t worry…we are still working on ours too!  But we do have a list of why we love to come to work every day at Casas por Cristo.  Here are the top five reasons that we are proud to be a part of this ministry:
  1. Giving a Bible and keys to a family when their home is completed.  It never gets old.
  2. Seeing people’s lives changed forever because they received a home they could not otherwise afford.
  3. Meeting someone whose first mission trip was with Casas por Cristo, and finding out they are now serving in missions somewhere across the globe.
  4. Watching our Mexican pastors boldly bring the Gospel to the families we serve.
  5. Seeing God provide every day and every step of the way.
Hopefully this list inspires you to continue to be a part of our work in the lives of the Mexican people.  There's less than 48 hours left in 2010 and we need your help.  Before you head off to celebrate the New Year, celebrate what God is doing at Casas por Cristo by making a donation.  It is because of your giving that we are still here changing lives!

Friday, December 24, 2010

A Christmas Message

As you celebrate this Christmas season, we hope that you'll take some time to gather with your family and listen to this message from Jason Laffan. He recently shared this with his home church in Fayetteville, GA. As you listen, we pray that you'll be overwhelmed by a spirit of love as you reflect upon our Savior.  This Christmas, may you and know and receive this love that left riches for poverty to be born into this world to bring us the greatest gift ever given, eternal life.  Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

A Christmas Message from brittany girle on Vimeo.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A Christmas Story: Part 2

We recently shared "A Christmas Story" about Rosa and her family that we came across in the El Diario newspaper in Juárez.  The story was the same as so many families currently living in Juárez; one of poverty, freezing nights, and little food for her family.  After reading the article, our staff took some provisions to Rosa, hoping to bring a little help and the love of Jesus in this Christmas season.  Although she shared with us her need for a home, with the decreasing number of volunteers, there was little we could do but offer her an application to get the process started.  We left that day hopeful and grateful to be able to help, but thinking that this story ended there.  We had no idea this was just the beginning.

A week later at Paseo Christian Church in El Paso where many of our staff worship, the pastor preached a challenging message sharing Rosa's story with the congregation.  In his own words, "I used this story Sunday in a message just to be an illustration to get people to think beyond themselves.  To extend grace.  To be bringers of good.  To reflect Ephesians 2:8-10.  To hit them in the gut.  That’s all.  An illustration." During communion however, everything changed when a friend whispered in the pastor's ear, “Challenge them.  Tell them Rosa could be in a house by Friday and for only $4500.  Challenge them.

What happened next was truly a Christmas miracle. Ten people gave $4500 for Rosa and her family to receive a home.  The following Wednesday, 11 people went to Juárez to build.  On Friday, Rosa and her family received the keys to their new home.  God showed up in the form of El Pasoans willing to answer the call that was placed before them.  In return, Rosa and her family received a Christmas miracle they will never forget. If it wasn't for individuals willing to step out of their story and into Rosa's, her situation would have remained the same.  Today she would be fighting the cold trying desperately to provide for her family. Instead she is sitting in her new home preparing to make Christmas tamales. 

To watch this Christmas story unfold, has been to witness the hand of God as He intertwines and uses all of our lives for His perfect plan.  This Christmas season, may you find yourself lost in this spirit of love, grace, peace, and forgiveness.  May you find yourself being used as the hands and feet of our Savior.  May you understand a little more of God's gift of love through the birth of His son as you become a living part of this Christmas story.

What if we are the answer to prayer that someone is waiting for today?  We hope that you will see and engage in the opportunities God brings your way.  Perhaps it's just a phone call, a kind act towards friends, or the willingness to go out of your way for another. You may have no idea what greater story God is unfolding around you. Your one decision to act might change everything.   


"Blessed Is The Season Which Engages The World In A Conspiracy Of Love" -Hamilton Wright Mabi

Rosa and her son Adan
Rosa used all of the food that she had to cook for the team
Adan stuccoing his new home
Rosa with the bible the team presented to her
Rosa, Adan and the team in front of her new home    

                                                  Photos by: Steve Jolly






Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Christmas Story

This is Rosa Elva.  She lives in Anapra, a community on the outskirts of Juarez, with her husband and two teenage boys.  She lives in a house that her husband made out of palettes and cardboard.  Her family has lived in this house for six months.  There are holes in the walls of her house.  'Rosa tries to cover the holes where the cold air blows in between the fragile walls, all the while trying to make what little groceries they can buy last.  To heat their house, they use a wood heater that is placed in the bathroom, which also gives a little light during bath time and serves as a stove when they don't have any money left to buy gas [to cook].  'The fuel we have right now was collected from a demolished building downtown and if we see anything in the street, or here or there, we collect it' says Rosa, while she shows the tank of water in the bathroom which freezes at night.
'For Christmas we would like to build rooms with good material, but we don't have money.  My husband works just three days as a bus driver and well, [Christmas] dinner, we would like tamales but how can we buy or make them...'  (Article from El Diario 10/7/10)

This morning I checked my Facebook before I headed to the office.  I wasn't expecting to be greeted with a message from my friend Kiri.  She and I interned together here at Casas por Cristo in the summers of 2006 and 2007.  Kiri has a huge heart for the Mexican people!  In her message she linked this article featuring Rosa on the front page of a Juarez newspaper's online edition.  It turns out that yesterday, as Rosa was collecting cardboard to add to the outside of her house, she was approached by a reporter.  The picture painted by this reporter in his article is that of thousands of families across the border.  It is that of thousands of mothers trying to provide for their children; that of thousands of fathers working as much as they can to put food on the table.

This morning Tony and I crossed the border to deliver some groceries and a little bit of hope to Rosa and her family.  We took rice and beans, oil and caldo, tortillas and candy, a few sweaters and some fixings to make Christmas tamales.  We showed up on her doorstep, delivering not just groceries but rather good news and hope for a brighter future.  We directed her to a local pastor who could get her started on the application process to receive a new home!

Walking away from her house this afternoon I was filled with hope, hope for Rosa's family and hope for that community.  How exciting to see God start a new chapter in their life.  What a blessing to be part of an answer to their Christmas story!

Can you imagine the story Rosa had when her husband arrived home from work today?
-Alexis Martin

Thursday, December 2, 2010

What Moves You?

We asked our friends on Facebook, "What one thing is most vivid in your minds about your time building with us in Juarez, or Acuna Mexico?"  We're grateful for their perspectives, their heart, and their service.  This is what they had to say...



    • AndyNikki Chitwood 

      I have sooo many memories from when I lived there while working with Casas por Cristo. Many nights of driving up on "the hill" in El Paso and just sitting there in the car, looking over Juarez seeing all the lights, houses, etc.....thinking about how truly blessed America is/we are. It was a life changing year for me and I have never forgotten any of it. The friendships I built while living there will be carried in my heart forever and I hope, one day, to be able to take my husband and four kids down to meet everyone and build a house together as a family. :)


    • Richard Coe
      The overwhelming needs.

    • Kaci Winemiller
      Being able to talk to the people. Seeing and hearing their pain and then seeing and hearing their salvation through God, through the work we do. But the best part is knowing their life is better.

    • T.j. Norris
      The overwhelming LOVE.

    • Mark Yanke
      The conditions they lived in, and how happy they were after our work was done.

    • Gabe Leonard
      The differences between Mexico and the US.

    • Paul Moritz
      The families that we build for.

    • Cristen Brandt
      That even though they had close to nothing, they were still the richest people I had ever met.

    • Laura Robinson Alldredge
      I went to Juarez in 2007 and Acuna this past June. My most vivid memory is when the father of the family in Juarez and I were talking as we worked on stucco the last day, he told me that when I came back to visit I could stay in the house that I had helped build for them. I said "Because we are friends" and he said "No, somos familia" (we are family). I will always cherish that moment. What a beautiful picture that we are all God's children and we really are all family! I so look forward to going back!

    • Bob Gordon 
      The dedication ceremony.

    • LuAnn Gwinn Ribley 
      The appreciation and joy with two rooms! How many of us in U.S. would be joyful at two rooms on a concrete floor, no heat or air conditioning, and no running water inside?


      The communication between the families and workers - even when we don't speak the same language.

    • Lori Meyer 
      How we have so much and they have so little, yet the love and faith they have surpasses so many Americans....

    • Sherry Culp 
      Moms, Dads, children caught in a battle but desiring a Godly herritage for their children. A safe place from the hardships they face everyday. A land that needs revival, prayers and Christians to come and help them. Jesus with skin on!!! Pray without ceasing for them.


    • Michael David Ford 
      For me, it was the amazing opportunities to just love people down there. I went down to Juarez for a few days and built a house, and was just amazed at how much I fell in love with the family we were building for and the neighborhood children who came around while we were there. They have such great need down there, not only physical needs, but a need to see the love of Christ acted out for them in a tangible way.

We'd love to hear more of your memories and stories of those moments that have been engraved in your mind and changed your life.