First I want to apologize for not posting about my last weeks at Casas. Things were crazy busy and then when I returned home I had a week and then I was back at school starting classes and everything. Things have calmed down now and I realized I had not posted for a long time. I am not good at this whole blogging thing. But here is what happened since I last wrote in July.
So the next week was probably the hardest week of my entire summer. Brittany and I had 17 people to build a double when usually there are 18 or more. We were building in a tight space and had to cut the house down by a foot which threw off our roof. The biggest thing that week was me destroying my middle finger with my hammer. It was about twice the size and we had to put a hole in it to drain the blood. I thought I was going to pass out. But this was a blessing in disguise. The father of the family we were building for was born in the US and is a missionary to Acuna. He met and fell in love with a Mexican woman and now they are married and have 4 daughters. He was such a blessing to have because of his example. Also while I was draining the blood from my finger, I was sitting in their house with his wife. She understood more English than she could speak and I could understand more Spanish than I could speak. So there we were talking to each other. Both of us trying to use the others language but mostly using our own and still understanding and communicating with each other. It was amazing! I felt like everything was going wrong that week, but the family was so gracious and the team worked really hard, and in the end we were able to give the family a working house. God is AMAZING!!!
Friday we came back to El Paso and on Saturday, the interns and Brandon and Miguel and Martin were out working on our Intern Project. Building 3 houses for the families whose houses had burned down. We poured 3 slabs, built 3 sets of walls, and stood 2 of them all in one day. That night Amy had us over for dinner and just hanging out. I left early cause I was exhausted and was not in the greatest of moods. I needed some time to myself. Then on Sunday Aubrie and I traveled back to Acuna to lead our last house without a staff member. We built a house for a family of 3 with one on the way. The father walked into the house and said it's so big. I felt really blessed to build for them. The mother had faith in God that he would provide her with a house before her baby was born. I pray this family is doing well. After the dedication on Thursday, we went to an orphanage. The kids were so full of life and I loved playing with them. I rolled my ankle again here while I had a little girl on my back. Thankfully I was able to get my balance and got Andrea off my back without falling.
On the way to shop in Acuna, I got a call from Janette who told me to call Christi Reed because some one I knew had passed away. I called and found out my beautiful and vivacious friend Kerstin had passed away. I had a hard time composing myself in front of the team and they all found out. Janette had also told me that I would be joining her and Caleb on a weekend build starting on Saturday. This would be my last build of the summer.
We built with a team from Texas and had a blast. It was a great last build. It was kind of a blur to me but it was a lot of fun. On arriving back in El Paso, Caleb and I got the day off. The next day we had to take inventory of all the tool kits that we used in Juarez. After the rest of the interns returned from Acuna, we dedicated the burn houses. The faith of the families was amazing. They were so thankful and just wonderful to see them get new houses after what they had gone through. After the dedication, we had our last meal at Josue's. Man I miss that place. haha We went back to El Paso, cleaned up and headed over to a church in El Paso that we had helped earlier in the summer. They held a dinner and invited us to come. It was cool to see them again and talk about how much had changed since the beginning of the summer.
During our last week of our internship, we took a trip to the Grand Canyon. It was so beautiful and amazing place to reflect on what happened this summer. Pictures can not show how big it it but when I was there it just looked like a picture. I couldn't believe I was there. AMAZING!!! When we got back, I had a full day in El Paso and then my flight was the next morning. I couldn't believe it was time to go home.
<3 Lisa
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