Click
here to see how you can be financially involved
in building HOPE!
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Mexico
Building
Hope
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In
the summer of 2007, 150 adults, children,
teens traveled to the Baja Peninsula
in Mexico to build 9 homes. They were
Jesus' "hands and feet" for a week. This is the tenth
year PCNP has sent a family group
to Mexico. Through the years, dozens
of homes have been built for families
who have desperately needed them.
A
mission group, Amor Ministries, headquartered
in San Diego organizes the program.
Their board of directors includes
pastors from the local Mexican communities.
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pastors choose families to receive homes
based on their needs. The families do
not need to be church-goers but this
process gives the local pastors a way
to reach the family. These families
are living in a hole in the ground with
a cardboard roof or a 2-room shack.
Even if a family has a home we would
consider habitable there may be 12 people
staying in it. The family's commitment
includes buying the land from the Mexican
government for about $500 (value in
American money). |
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The
families and individuals who sign up
to go to Mexico (ages 7 to 99) will
each pay $375 for airfare and help with
the fundraising efforts for the rest
of the expenses. The expenses include
not only the food and water needed for
the team but all the building supplies
to construct the homes. Team members
supply their own hand tools and tents. |
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Why
do we go to Mexico?
- We
believe God has called us
- To
support the Mexican church
and learn from Mexican Christians
- To
build homes for needy families
- To
share the Gospel with children
and adults through outreach events
and VBS activities
- To
experience and learn from third
world living conditions
- To
grow spiritually as individuals
and as a group
- To
become better prepared for ministry
and mission back home
- To
equip and train other
churches in the regiment of short-term
mission projects
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Those
traveling to Mexico are split into
teams of 15-17 people which include:
- One
or two leaders who have experience
in Mexico
- Servants
(adults, moms, dads, kids)
- Strong,
tall teens to lift the roof sections
and tar all day
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purpose of the mission is to share Jesus'
love. . |
| Actions
speak louder than words. |
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Each
one of us is called by the Lord to travel
to Mexico, to be His voice, hands and
feet for a week. The people we meet
in Mexico live in difficult circumstances
with great dignity |
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We
build the houses following the Amor
plan exactly with the Mexican purchased
building materials. No power tools
are used. We use hand saws, hammers
and nails homemade stucco, rakes and
shovels for mixing cement.
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entire project is completed from Monday
AM through Thursday at 5:00 PM. The
completed house has a cement slab, two
rooms, stucco exterior and unfinished
interior. It has two sliding windows
and one door, but no plumbing and electricity.
It is very basic and Mexican families
enlarge it or finish it as their means
allow over the years. Just providing
a cement slab floor decreases the rate
of disease by a factor of 3. |
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The
team members prepare for the trip
by attending several weekend training
sessions. Basic building skills are
demonstrated and practiced, vacation
Bible school is planned, and tents
are set up. But mostly it is a time
to get to know your team members and
pray for God's blessing on the trip
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Temperatures
vary from 95 - 110 degrees during the
day only to drop into the 50's at night.
There are no trees for shade, no running
water, maybe no electricity. Facilities?
Hopefully a family near your worksite
has an outhouse with privacy. |
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is a diary one participant wrote during
a previous mission trip: |
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| "As
we traveled west, I began to have concerns
What did I know about building a house? I
didn't think I was up to the challenge? I
realize now it wasn't me...it was God working
through me." |
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| "We
slept in tents in the dust, did hard manual
labor in the desert heat and I never felt
better in my life." |
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| "My
team is awesome. We have learned to work together
and appreciate our Christian fellowship. We
have met some wonderful Mexican people who
speak a different language but share our love
of Jesus." |
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"On
Saturday we will return to New Jersey…to
our lives…to our homes…to our
things…life will go on…but it
will never be the same because of our experience
in Mexico. We will appreciate the blessings
we have and realize what is important is
not the stuff we have accumulated but the
relationships we have developed. We will
trust God more often because for one week
we trusted God totally. We will pray for
a family very much like our own except for
their location."
If
you would like to help build a house for
a family in Mexico without leaving the comforts
of your home, consider investing financially
in the trip. You can purchase anything from
a coloring book for $1.00 to an entire house
for $5000. Please help us build HOPE!
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Click
here to see how you can be financially involved
in building HOPE!
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