Week 5- Build With Living Water Church

      

         

 I will say it again... what a fantastic team I got to build with! This group felt really familiar and I connected with a lot of the team members. I enjoyed getting to know people's stories, testimonies, and how they ended up on a Casas Mission trip. 

There were a couple things that happened this week that really stuck out to me and tugged at my heart. The family we built for this week was a young mom and dad and their 5-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter.

This family wanted to be able to help build the house, so at times we would give the mom, dad, or son our tools, and show them what we were doing so they could also be part of building their house. I think what is special about this is that the family gets to be able to say that they also built the house that they are living in now. It was difficult but fun to try and overcome the language barrier in order to explain what needed to be done and how to do it. 

One of the team members from this build was a young pregnant mom. When we showed up to the worksite on the first day, the mom we were building for ran up to this team member so excited and touched the team member's baby bump, obviously very excited for her. She also expressed concern because she thought the pregnant mom was a little crazy for coming on a mission trip to build a house while pregnant. At the end of the week, we went to a church service that the family we were building for attended. The mom we were building for took the pregnant mom's feet and rubbed them. We had just got done with a hot and sweaty day building and had yet to clean up. The mom wanted to show her appreciation for the team and especially the pregnant mom for showing up to build. In a million years I would never rub someone's sweaty feet after they built a house! But this mom was so excited to be able to show her gratitude in any way. 

There was another team member that had brought with them a couple gifts to give the family. She gave the mom some curtains for her new house, a shirt for the mom, and a couple other small but generous gifts. The mom was baffled at the fact that this lady that came down to build her a house would also give her more. So after the team member gave the mom the gifts, the mom took the earrings out of her ears and give them to the team member. The gratitude this mom felt toward the team was impressive and inspiring.

It was an amazing experience getting to connect with the family. The most important part of the build is the family. We build these houses for two reasons. One reason is to give the family one of the most basic life necessities. And two, to show God's love and share the gospel with the family. The ladder is so important to our ministry, and Casas is very intentional with how they run their organization so that they can keep God at the front of it. As a leader, during the build, we try to facilitate time to be spent with the family because that is why teams come down, to impact that family in a way that hasn't been done for them before. The goal is to show God's love through building and dedicating the house. The house is only a vessel used to be able to accomplish that goal. The house is an amazing and important gift- but it is temporary. what is not temporary is the love shown through building and the gospel that is given to the family- that is an eternal gift. 

The scripture that I connected the most with this week was John 13:1-17.

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

 Jesus calls us to serve others. That is was I am doing this summer. That is what our teams are doing when they come to build the house. That is what this family did when they helped build the house and that is what the mom did when she rubbed the pregnant mom's feet and gave her earrings away. The joy and blessings I have received by serving others are unmatched and are unlike anything this world can give. 

I have a couple other things I want to say that is not about the build this week. 

The first is driving in Mexico. Wow, it is crazy and unpredictable. One should always be vigilant when they are driving but that statement is even more true in Mexico- there are intersections where sometimes neither traffic has stop signs. Most intersections do have stop signs, but not all of them, so you have to be aware at literally every intersection to see if there are stop signs for you or the other traffic. They also have one-ways that are not labeled. This hasn't been a problem yet, but I am a little nervous that one of the times I make a turn it will not be in the right direction. This last thing about driving happened yesterday. I was at a busy intersection with a stop light and while I was sitting at a red light for a left turning lane, the whole stop light lost power. I did panic a little, because driving is a little crazy in Mexico already, and I had NO CLUE what to do when the traffic light just stopped working. I made it through fine, but it was a little chaotic. Driving in Mexico has definitely been a culture shock.

Lastly, I am not leading any builds for the next couple of weeks because there aren't any builds scheduled. Although I am a little disappointed that I won't be leading builds for the next couple of weeks, it does give me an opportunity to serve at Casas in other ways. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be building bunk beds that some teams pay to be given to the families they build for, putting together material bundles for the houses, and other tasks that need to be done to keep Casas running smoothly. I will still try to do an update later a how things are going but I probably won't do one each of the weeks. 

Thank you, everyone, for your support and prayers! I am blessed to be here and I am so happy and grateful that through God's will, I was able to come here and serve. If you have any prayer requests, I would love to pray for you, so just reach out!

~

Isabelle 

Ischeidler02@gmail.com