Family Spotlight | Guatemala | June 26, 2017

Family Spotlight San Raymundo, Guatemala Stephy Soto (summer intern) taking a selfie with Maria, her family, and the team of volunteers "I've never slept on your idea of a bed, bathed in what you would call a shower, or owned a cell phone. Let me give you a better idea of perhaps what I have done. I, by the grace of God, have survived a life of 26 years. I've raised my four kids in the midst of a challenging life, a life that got exceedingly harder a year ago when my husband passed away from colon cancer. My house was about 6 feet tall with 3 walls and a roof, each made by a single sheet of tin. It totaled about 35 square feet. I earn about $14 a week making firework wicks. It's a very dangerous job as it consists of rolling up newspaper into the size of a cigarette butt and stuffing it with gunpowder." --Maria Carmelina Boch Tops Maria's world was completely flipped upside down a few weeks ago. Pastor Heyson Bohr serves on the Casas por Cristo pastor's committee in San Raymundo, Guatemala. Each month he has the opportunity to submit an application for a home on behalf of a family in need. Last month, the night before the meeting, he didn't have anyone in mind that needed a home, so he got down on his knees and prayed, "God, please reveal to me the person you've chosen to receive the next house." His prayer was interrupted by a knock at his door. He got up to find a woman who had heard of Casas and wanted to get some help for her daughter-in-law, Maria. As is required, Pastor Heyson made plans to check out the conditions of Maria's home to make sure she really needed help. He ended up going in search of her property by himself, but had some trouble finding it. He felt God calling him down a certain dirt road and ended up in a town called Los Ajuixes. He kept stopping to ask the locals if anyone knew Maria. Eventually, he reached the end of the road at the bottom of a hill and found her and her four children living in a three sided shack. The home Maria and her four children previously inhabited Behind the scenes, God had prepared a mission team from Fayetteville, Georgia to fly down and build Maria a home. It was a difficult build due to some heavy rainfall. Nonetheless, after three days of labor, a house complete with electricity and a porch was built. Two beds, a water filter, and other commodities in making a home comfortable were given. At the dedication, Pastor Heyson shared a story from Maria's oldest son, Jeremias (9 years old). He had a dream a few nights before of his daddy in heaven telling him that one day they would have a house. And there he stood, on the porch of his new three room home. How beautiful the thought that both fathers were watching down to provide for this family. We do not know where Maria is in her walk with God. Pastor Heyson will follow up to make sure the Gospel continues to be conveyed. Please pray for Maria and her family as well as all the other families receiving homes this summer. Pray that they will understand just how grand God's provision is, but more importantly, how grand his invitation is to be his daughter or son. --Story by Stephy Soto and Seth Wilson, Summer Interns

GUATEMALA TRIP INFO DONATE

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Family Spotlight Santiago, Dominican Republic Maria & Ramon with our summer interns, Cassie & Nathan Casas por Cristo offers an amazing opportunity for people who want to serve and experience life as a missionary through our summer internship program. We are accepting internship applications through April 1, 2017, so please spread the word. Check out this story from Cassie Cummings, one of our 2016 summer interns in the Dominican Republic. INTERNSHIP INFO Last year, the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield from New Jersey brought 50 people with them and split into 3 groups to build homes for 3 families in need. Our group in particular built a home for Ramon and his wife Maria and their children. Ramon and Maria are both in their 60's, so their children are all grown. However, of their 11 children, 4 of their boys live with them in the home we built. Before we left to start this week, Justin Kirklin, Dominican Republic Field Director, told us that this was the poorest family he had ever seen in his ten years building with Casas por Cristo; what an incredible thing that God was watching over them and moving in this group to build this family a home!            Maria and Ramon are part of an amazing community who surrounded us each day and showered us with love for coming to build for this family. I have to admit, I'm not sure we would have finished hand mixing/pouring our concrete slab without them! There are simply no words to describe how incredible it was to have so many people coming to help us on day one with the concrete. Beyond the first day, Ramon and Maria's sons, Antonio, Antonio, and Roberto (yes, they have two sons named Antonio!) were there every day helping wherever we needed an extra hand. On the last day of the build, after we did the dedication, Nathan and I had the opportunity to stay about 45 minutes longer with the family while the rest of the group attended another dedication right down the road with other members from their group. We had to stay back to watch our tools. I have never felt more welcomed into a family before in my life! Some Dominican women showed up to braid my hair; the family went and bought grape pop for Nathan (because they knew how much he loved it!), and they served us a feast of fried plantains and fried salami at their brand new table in their brand new home! It was truly an amazing experience to sit and enjoy the company of this family for a little while longer. When we finally had to leave, they kept asking us to come back and visit, which we actually got to do on one of our days off a couple weeks later. --Story by Cassie Cummings, 2016 Summer Intern

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TRIP INFO DONATE

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Family Spotlight | Acuña, México | August 22, 2016

Family Spotlight Acuña, México Meet Maria and her son Moises, a sweet family from Acuña, México. Maria is a 70 year old widow with quite a large family. She has seven children and over 20 grandchildren that she loves dearly. Before Capital West Christian Church came to build a house for Maria and her son, they were living in a relative's home nearby. Their living quarters were overcrowded, and Maria was definitely in need of a home to call her own. During the build week, Maria made a point to greet the team in the mornings. She even spent most of her days working hard in her hot and crowded kitchen to make a homemade meal for the team. This was Maria's tangible way to say thank you to the team building her house, and the team considered it to be the best thank you they could have ever received. Maria was often walking around the site smiling with teammates and admiring her new house as it went up. Everyday Maria would walk into the unfinished house and exclaim over and over again how beautiful the house was. This unfinished house, with bare walls and half a roof, made Maria's eyes light up with excitement. By the end of the week, Maria was in tears over her gratitude and joy found in this new house. On dedication day, Maria and Moises' family and pastor gathered around to celebrate the gift of this new home. After the pastor shared and the team expressed their love and gratitude for Maria and her family, Maria conveyed her thankfulness towards God and Capital West for coming to build her home. She told the team how excited and content she was with her new house. It was easy to see that Maria was very excited to have a house she could call her own. She no longer had to feel like a burden to her daughter's family who had been providing her with a place to stay. While this team worked hard to show Christ to Maria and her family, she surprised everyone by showing His love to them by cooking for and hugging the team members every day. This week, for everyone involved, was a shining example of how to live for Christ and love people. God worked through this team and Maria by changing each of their lives forever. Please join us in continuing to pray for Maria and her family!

ACUÑA TRIP INFO DONATE

915.778.0046  |   questions@casasporcristo.org   |   casasporcristo.org