A few pictures from the week..

Counting Tools

Leveling the forms is a lot easier with a transit.

Building Walls. They say a good leader never swings his hammer.  Sometimes its tough not too.

Setting the Roof.

Estella and New Home

Me and the House

An Awesome Group of People.

Some awesome connections being made in the foreground, me tossing the football  americano with Luis and Jesus in the background.  It was an awesome night. 

The interns are building a double in Juarez this week.

Hello All!

I’m ecstatic to hear that Rolling Hills is planning a trip! The waiting list for doubles in Juarez is a on the minds of the staff at all times.  

I had an awesome time this week leading a group from Spring Road Christian Church (West Point, Georgia!!).  Andrew and I led most of the build under a staff member’s supervision. The team constructed a beautiful house for Estella, a single mother of 3.


The drive to Acuna is taxing.  Each week staff members lose their Sunday’s to tne of the most desolate 8 hour drives in America.  (See picture of my extended cab seat in Justin's 1995 F-150 with sub par air conditioning) Justin, the staff member observing us this week, had a fever of 101 due to an abscess he developed on his neck as a result of an auto immune disorder.  The thing was the size of 3 golf balls and kept him from being able to turn his head.  He was back and forth over the border every day trying to get medical attention, however the doctors would not drain it because he was scheduled to lead a team in Guatemala on Monday. We ended up boiling a razor blade on Wednesday and doing it ourselves. Thankfully he is doing well.  He left for Guat this morning.  Please remember to pray for him, he has been so good to us.
  
This week was our first experience building with a team and I could not have asked for a better one.  The team consisted of 5 adults and 11 youth, half boys and half girls.  I have made some awesome friends and am thankful for every member.  They were very patient with us as we worked the kinks out of our team leadership techniques.

The build went according to schedule.  We finished Wednesday morning and then went back to the church we were staying in where the team prepared all of their extra food.  After the dedication that afternoon we took all the food to the sponsoring pastor’s church and ate and fellowshipped with the neighborhood.  It was so refreshing to throw a football for a few hours.

I feel so blessed to have met these awesome people and for the privilege to take part in the miracle that occurred in Estella’s life this week.

With regards to the RHBC trip, I would like to steer you towards Juarez. Acuna is just as hot as Juarez but with extreme humidity, mosquitos, and the most cockroaches I have ever seen in my life. Swamp coolers do not work in Acuna because of the humidity which made sleep difficult.  I woke up every couple of hours drenched in sweat.  Violence in Juarez is down 58% from last year with 80% of persisting violence occurring between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM.  Casas’ primary concern is team safety.  Teams do not leave the church after dusk, and the director, David Robinson, is in constant communication with both the U.S. and Mexican State Departments.  The recent violence is concentrated 70 miles east of Juarez and is strictly gang on gang.  David is informed daily of the areas of town that should be avoided (this hasn’t happened since I’ve been here and I understand that travel advisories are very rare).  I love you all dearly and would never put any of you in harm’s way.

I will be building a double in Juarez this week with the other interns. Please continue to pray for us.

I love you all and look forward to hearing the details of your trip.


David 


-I'll post some more pictures tomorrow once the group gets home and settled and puts them on the internet.  The last day is pretty much the only time I had time to get out a camera.

Estella's old house

Estella's new house, a work of God through Spring Road Christian  Church

My left knee in back seat of Justin's truck.

My right knee in the back seat of Justin's truck.

Hola y Dios de bendiga!

I apologize if this seems scatter brained, it’s late but I wanted to get everything down before I forgot.

It’s been another wild few days down here south of the border.   We completed our second and final training build earlier this afternoon (Wednesday).  We built for a family of 6 this week.  It was another exhausting few, but very long days.  It got up to 110 on Tuesday and there were winds up to 50 mph both days.  These dust storms are something I can’t even describe and though they made this week’s build much less comfortable, I feel like it was great preparation for future circumstances.  I was carrying a sheet of plywood perpendicular to the wind and was literally thrown to the ground by one gust.  Like I said, it’s hard to even put to words. 

This work is like nothing I’ve ever done before.  It’s so awesome to be able to walk away from your week having an enduring structure as the fruit of your labor as opposed to a grade on a sheet of paper.  The house we completed today was our third in just 9 days!!

Anyway, I have officially completed my team leader training, and will be leading a team with my friend Andrew in Acuna this Monday, and just a week after that, I’ll be flying solo..  I feel very confident about the building process; the intern manager has done an incredible job preparing us.  I worry most about the logistics of leading a team, navigation, personality management, tactfulness, ect.. 

Since I am building in Acuna two weeks in a row, Casas’ supply manager for Acuna, David Quinones, who has been training will us as well graciously invited me to spend the long weekend in his family’s home in Acuna.  Generally I speak to him in Spanish and he speaks to me in English haha. I quote “You come my house for the long weekend…you eat my food…you hungry you go to the freezer…my wife she wash your dirty clothes… mi casa es su casa.. all the time.. no problemo”  There are few things about my summer that have been consistent, but the thing that has is good people.  They just gravitate to this place.

I’ll leave you guys with some pictures and thoughts that go along with them.  I’ll post an update later this week when I learn more about the team I’m leading on Monday.

The Foundation. Screeding with Andrew.  Monday

Marking Wall Plates with Big Dave Kruh.

Setting the walls. Monday

Setting U-Joints. Tuesday

Finishing the roof. Tuesday. It got pretty windy up there. Interns from left to right- Zach, Me, Big Dave, Andrew

Bottom- Miguel (Casas supply manager for Juarez)

The Boys of Summer. From left to right- Armando (intern from Puebla, Mexico), Me, Andrew, Big Dave, Miguel

The neighborhood we built in (Eastern edge of Juarez)

Dry Wall

Dry wall- I was about to go insane by this point.

Foreground- New House 

Background- Whatever it is you call that thing they used to live in. (I feel like calling it a house would be a stretch of the definition)

This is Dulces, the youngest daughter of the family we built for.  She is almost 5.  Her mother was pregnant with her when her family applied for this house.  The current waiting list for a double in Juarez is over 4 years..

Dulces and her family now have shade from the sun, shelter from the rain, protection from the dust and wind, and warmth in the cold.  They have a house.  It's easier to believe that there is a God who loves you when your children are warm and dry.

Their neighbors moved when their house was literally blown down.

The waiting list for a double is over 4 years.. some families can't wait that long.

I've been praying about Rolling Hills' next trip since I got here.  Let's take a family off that list some day soon.

I love you guys.  I am so thankful for the examples I have in you guys.  It has helped more than you will ever know.

God bless,

David

Hey Guys!  It has been a crazy first week. We Crossed over Monday morning at 5:00 A.M. to begin work on our first intern training house.   The 1^st house was for a single mother, Patricia, and her two daughters Crystal and Marlyne. There are 8 interns and three staff members accompanied us.  The process is very slow because we are receiving very detailed instruction and explanation as we build.  When we return to the church we go back over the day’s events in detail.  We finished our training build on Wednesday morning and headed to house 4000 after lunch.  The 4000 build is an all staff build which is an amazing experience in itself.  House 4000 was a double that was completed at 11:00 A.M. on the second day.  We finished the sheetrock in about two hours.  The neighborhood families and pastors had a steady stream of food coming in; my personal favorite was the tacos del lingua vaca (Cow Tongue).   Next week we will be training on a double Monday through Thursday.   My first solo build is scheduled for the week of June 4^th, terrifying!!!! Prayers are needed.

I apologize that there are not many good pictures, they have been keeping us super busy.

Love you guys.

Dedication of the intern training build.

Interns and Instructing Staff

Pete Dockery and House 4000

Interns In Front of a Completed House 4000

David

Coming Soon....

Stay tuned for updates from David Lebby, who left on Sunday to begin his internship with Casas por Cristo.