Behind the Scenes

We know that you come down and build for a week and leave with new connections to families and their lives. A lot of times we are able to stay connected with these families and get to be more involved with them after the week of building. Families often invite us to share in quinceañeras, birthdays, graduations and other important events in their lives. This year we were able to attend some graduations of the kids that you've built for. We thought that you might like to see a little bit more of their lives in Mexico beyond what you get to see when you're here for a build. Dancing is deeply rooted into the Mexican culture and therefor every graduation has lots of it. This graduation had all kinds of different types of dancing and we were surprised to know some of the songs!

Why Do You Serve?

We wanted to know what motivates you to leave everything behind for a week and give your time, your money, and your life to pour into the lives of others.  This is what many of our followers on FaceBook had to say!  So why do you do it?  What motivates you to come and serve??

• • 
    

    Renee Berg I am humbled and overwhelmed by Christ's sacrifice for me. Out of my love for Him and the work of the Holy Spirit I can't help myself.
    
  • 
    

    Barbara Calhoun I do it because its not about me!
    
    
  • 
    

    Jessica Plumart
    

    Because there is nothing better than handing the family the keys to the house they've been waiting for for years. And when everyone at home asks why we go to that drug and violence filled city it's an open invitation to tell them about God's great love. And it's so much more than simply building a house, its building lasting relationships with these families, and them truly becoming your family. Each casas house is like a lighthouse displaying God's glory :)

    
    

    
    
  • 
    

    Caitlin Corn The people!!! Seeing their faces we give them something they could never even dream of!!!!! And changing lives!!
    
  • 
    

    Sherry Culp Because of the example of our Savior. Those that have gone before us and paid the price. Our rewards are in Heaven not here on earth. It is easier to give away when you understand this principle.
    
  • 
    

    Richard Coe
    

    It's about love... It's about the Will of the Father... It's about His Mercy. As far as Casas por Cristo is concerned and the ministry therein, the time spent serving our Father and the families of Juarez, Anapra, etc., has been thus far the greatest blessing of my life (aside from Salvation itself). Having grown-up in El Paso and having spent a significant amount of time in Juarez as a kid during "the good ol' days", and having known so many countless people who themselves or their families have come here from Juarez, It's a little bit personal for me; though I'm an American, it's still part of my home...and I love them.

    
    
  • 
    

    
    

Team Casas

We want to invite you to join us for Team Casas in Juárez, Mexico October 7-11, 2011. Team Casas is an opportunity to come together with other individuals from across the United States with the common purpose of building a home for a family in need in the name of Christ. This is a great way to join together with others desiring to build a home in Mexico that don't have enough people to create a full team. The cost is only $500/person (or just $100 if you are 0-11 years old) and includes the building materials for the home, your food, travel, and lodging while in Mexico. Just get yourself to El Paso, and we'll take care of the rest. Will you help us build a home for a family in Juárez that is waiting? Please contact us if you are interested, or to register online, click here. Your registration and $50 deposit will hold your place for the trip. However, if we don't have enough participants sign up for this trip, we will fully refund your deposit. For more information and details about this Team Casas opportunity, click here. We would love to have you join us on this next trip to change lives in Juárez, Mexico.


We've tried to schedule our Team Casas trips over long weekends or at times when it may be easier to get away from work or school. If these dates don't work for you, we would love your input on what dates will. Send us an e-mail at jlaffan@casasporcristo.org and let us know when we can better schedule these trips around your schedule!

A Different World

I'm sitting at a restaurant in Atlanta, GA this week, thinking about a population of forgotten people living on the Mexico border. As i sit here and stare, I feel so far removed from this life that I know on the border. I feel so far from the need that I see daily; from the desperate cries of a mother that can't guard her child from the storms; from the little boy that will never know an education past 15. As I sit here and look around me, all I can think is, "How do I make you care?" How can the lives of people that you've never met, break into your world, your plans, and your daily agendas enough to make you step away from your lives for a week to change theirs?

Honestly, I don't think it's possible outside of Christ. I think that God has to open our eyes and break our hearts for the needs of others and help us to see what He sees. As I find myself today back in my hometown, I realize that I was this person sitting at a table in Atlanta, minding my own business, living my own life. Then somewhere along the way a friend invited me on a trip to build a home in Mexico, and nothing has been the same since. God had to get in my way, He had to put a road block in my path that would create a fork in the road that would change everything after; and then I had to take Him up on the opportunities He placed before me. I still find myself lost. It feels strange to come back to the world that I knew and write about families living on the border in Mexico. It feels strange for this to be the cry of my heart. But as I find myself staring, this is all that I can think about.

What I can't stop thinking as I look around at the different people and their lives that are surrounding me, is that I want their worlds (and yours) to be rocked too. I want you to see more than you see right now, I want you to care; we want you to care. We want your churches to be turned upside down. We want your congregations to be so brokenhearted for the injustices in the world around you that your next Sunday service is spent crying out to God for the desperate needs of others. We want your lives to be flipped upside down and shaken as much as ours have, and then some. We want God to pick us all up out of our "American dreams" and show us His way, His heart, and what He sees.

Glory in the Specifics

Praying rightly, specifically, and intentionally

1Ki 17:20 And he cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?"
1Ki 17:21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again."
1Ki 17:22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
1Ki 17:23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives."
1Ki 17:24 And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

Notice how Elijah prays here. He prayed 3 times which means he was steadfast. But what we need to see here is that he prays a very specific and courageous prayer. Specific because he asks God exactly what he wants. Courageous because asking God to bring a girl back from the dead is a big deal. Would you feel comfortable praying such a prayer? We could argue that this is Elijah. We are not Elijah. But look at what Paul tells the church in Romans.

Rom 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Rom 8:10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

We have the same spirit in us that raised Jesus from the dead. We have the same spirit that raised that little boy in Elijah’s arms that day. We have our Helper. We have our Counselor. We have the Holy Spirit living in us. What does that mean for us? It means that we can approach the throne of God with confidence because it wasn’t us who chose him first; He chose us first.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
-Jesus Christ, John 15:16

Knowing this, we can ask God very specific and very courageous prayers. We tend to stay away from praying like this because we think that our requests are just too big and too specific.  We fear that if we asked God, we might be let down. We are afraid that God isn’t going to answer. Trust in His word and His promises and that He has chosen us and appointed us to cry out to Him.  Share with God the specific details of your heart and allow Him to reveal to you all of His glory.

Just the Beginning

You read their stories, you saw their pictures, you became a part of their lives with us. The moment we stepped off the plane for the first time in Guatemala we became a part of these family's lives. Now this journey continues. These first homes in Guatemala are just the beginning. We are excited about where this road will lead.  Here are some of the before and after photos from the first families that received homes in San Raimundo, Guatemala.  For more photos from the builds, check out the albums on our Facebook page. Thank you for making this next step in our ministry possible.

Field Update from Our Executive Director

Have you been keeping up with Casas por Cristo and all that is happening here? We want to keep you up to date with the stories and the events that change our lives and the face of Casas por Cristo as we minister to those in need.

Building on the Border

This is a glimpse of what it's like to build on the border fence between the United States and Mexico and the stark contrast between both worlds.