SPRING BREAK

It's SPRING BREAK!!  

Keep praying for our teams, families and staff today!!!

Stories of the Faithful

We have been blessed to receive stories from team members that have served with Casas por Cristo over the years.  We want to share their stories of lives being changed.  Do you have a story to tell?  Send it to us at bgirle@casasporcristo.org  We want to tell it to the world!

                   

The picture above is my screensaver on my home computer. It is a photo of a plant that we photographed outside of one of our first builds, and we (my husband and I) just love it because we found out that the plant is called "Dedos de Cristo," or "The Fingers of Christ." This picture was taken in the middle of a very hot June, and we love it because it is a plant that is flourishing in the desert of Chihuahua despite a lack of water or nourishment.
 
When I first went to Juarez in 2001, I went ready to feel like Ms. Wonderful ready to spread some faith among the slums of Juarez. We stayed with Chila and Juan Mata at Verdad y Vida. Instead of seeing desperation, I found out that there was a faith flourishing in Juarez that put mine to shame! It is a faith that is flourishing with little or no nourishment, and I learned a lot from it. My husband and I have continued building in Juarez for 10 years now, and we have no plans of stopping.
 I thank God for Casas por Cristo every night for giving me the means to see God's fingers in action--I really feel that Casas and the pastors of Juarez are truly "Los Dedos de Cristo."
 Love,
Kathy Palomino

Inspiration

We all have quotes in life that inspire us; words to live by that push us forward as we seek our way.  Here are some of our staff's favorites.  What is it that pushes you on and inspires you?


“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" - Matthew 6:25-27
-mikell


"Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” - St. Francis of Assisi
-josh


"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves" - Philippians 2:3
-scott


“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

-pete

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. -Ephesians 2:10

-jason roth

“Live like no one else, so later on you can live like no one else.” -Dave Ramsey

-jason laffan


"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." -Joshua 24:15
-gwen

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Marianne Williamson

-brittany

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke

-david

Dear Friends...

This is a recent e-mail update from our executive director David Robertson to our board of trustees and our staff.  We want to share it with you all as we celebrate the work that God is doing in and through Casas por Cristo.

1)  A really cool thing happened this week.  One of our former interns, Todd Hale, brought a group of eleven guys down with him from Canada.  They were very ambitious and planned to build two singles this week.  Wednesday morning the radio started going crazy as they decided on the spot to build a third house.  Brandon and Mikell were with them.  All of the arrangements were quickly thrown together and at 3:00 in the afternoon they were pouring the slab of their third house.  The family had about an hour notice before the group showed.  They finished the third house and dedicated Thursday about 5:00 in the afternoon.  This family was shaken to their core in a good way. From their perspective, they just witnessed and received a miracle.  Thank you so much to Todd, his group of crazy Canadians, and two Casas missionaries willing to pour themselves out as a fragrant sacrifice.

2)  A few years back the city of Juarez approached us about building some flood relief houses for families that had lost everything.  We built almost 40 houses right next to each other in this colonia.  Part of the agreement was that the city also provide three lots for us to build a church there to minister to these families.  The process of working with the Mexican government was difficult to say the least.  Trying to get them to honor their agreement for the lots for the church was a two year ordeal.  Well, just a little over two years ago we were able to build one of our Church buildings.  The pastor's committee chose to let pastor Joe Borntreger have the honor of pastoring that congregation. Things have gone so well that Joe is resigning from the church he currently leads in order to concentrate fully on this new outreach.  The congregation there now runs over 150.  That neighborhood of Casas homes now has a local church reaching out and ministering to their needs.  God is so very good.

3)  The third thing to let you know about is that our Juarez staff, Miguel Flores, is going to become a father-in-law.  Miguel and Veronica's oldest daughter, Jasmine, will be getting married on May 20th.  She is 20 years old.  Miguel and Veronica are excited and wanted to pass along this good news to everyone. 

Sometimes we can get overwhelmed by the negative reports that we hear.  I pray that these updates have reminded you, as they have me, that God has a perfect plan and that he is still in the business of working miracles.  What a privilege to get to serve our King here at this place.

-David Robertson