Some of our favorite things

It's really hard to wrap a trip like this up in just a few words.  What we saw, experienced and did in Mexico is something that will stay with us for a long time. As we were driving through Texas, I asked each person on the trip two questions:
1) What was your favorite part of the trip overall?
2) What was your favorite project that you worked on this week?

While some of the answers were similar (a lot of people like chicken wire and framing!), a lot of us came at our answers from different angles. It's amazing how God can take the same trip and teach everyone of us something different than the others.  Without further commentary from me, here are the answers that people gave so that you can see in their words what they're taking with them from this trip:

Team Tech

Megan: Favorite part – Having Carly come on the trip (a friend from high school).
Favorite project – Working on the roofing with Carly and Kira

Hailey: Favorite part - The dedication.  It was really cool to see everything come together, and just being able to give to them and show God’s love.  It was really cool!
Favorite project: Blackboard

Jacob: Favorite part - The dedication.  We got to see who were doing it for and see their appreciation. we were the hands and feet to do it for them.
Favorite project: Drywall was a clear task: just put it up on the walls!  And it’s the finishing touch on the house.

Christine: Favorite part – Building in general. I enjoyed learning the process. 

Favorite project - I liked nailing the walls together.

Robbie: Favorite part -  Liked playing with the kids all week (from our site and from Casas families).  Favorite project - Hammering everything together.

Scott: Favorite part - Hanging out with Casas staff. Seth’s screw gun was pretty sweet.  Working with Miguel was pretty awesome, wish we could have talked more (language barriers). The soffit was good.

Favorite project - Enjoyed the soffit and the drywall.

Brandon: Favorite part – Watching everyone get to know each other in the vans. 

Favorite project - Boxing all of the supplies and crates together at Casas and working as a team to get everything done.

Kira: Favorite part - Meeting people and working as a team.  Nice to work with people in way you don’t normally get to. 

Favorite project - Sawing all of the wood. Rachel and I had it down and watching the walls go up, it was a feeling of accomplishment. 

Zach: Favorite part - I loved the dedication and getting to see the family and how appreciative of the house they were.  

Favorite project - Framing the house because you get to hammer a lot!

Philip: Favorite part - I enjoyed working with Miguel this most.  It didn’t matter that I could not understand what he was saying, but what made it special was that he was so happy helping us and sharing his experiences.  When his stories were translated, I could see how happy he was and the love he had. 

Adam: Favorite part - I really enjoyed working with Miguel. He told us he is a professional stuccoer and it was cool to see how excited he was when we started with the stucco and how excited he was to try to teach us what he knew.  We didn’t quite understand him, but it was a really cool example of leading by example and crossing language barriers.  

Favorite project - I also really liked working with the concrete slab since I’m a civil engineer.

Erin: Favorite part - This trip has been an incredible experience for a multitude of reasons.  I loved the labor aspect, learning new skills and getting to know the family.  However, I think that my favorite thing was the love and fellowship from the group.  It is something that will stick with me.  Without knowing me, both Tech and Ferris became like pseudo-families to me and for that, I’m extremely grateful.

Kayla: Favorite part - I loved the chance we got to pray together with the family – all of us at once in English while they were praying in Spanish. 

Favorite project - I cut one and only one piece of drywall and I was so proud that it fit!

Rachel: Favorite part - Hanging out with the little kids.  Their Spanish was fast and quiet and when you ask “what?” they don’t understand that they have to speak slower or louder.  But candy is an international thing! (She took a few of the girls on their site to the store and bought them some candy on one of the building days.  Instant friends!)

Favorite project - Teamwork projects like the chicken wire and crates.  

Ferris Team 1

Jon: Favorite part -  The dedication ceremony. 

Favorite project - The stucco.  It’s one of the few jobs everyone works together on.  Cool to see everybody working together.

Kelly: Favorite part - Getting to know everybody better, getting to see everyone’s talents and talking with them. 

Favorite project - Liked doing the blackboard because it looks like a real house when you get it up.

Mike: Favorite part - Going to the worksite everyday and working with our team every day.  Favorite project - Roofing on the second day.

Derek: Favorite part -  Definitely getting sick.  Just kidding.  Everyone I got to meet and spending time with all of the students and staff.  Meeting Jose and seeing how what we were doing will affect him and his neighborhood.

Favorite project - Working on drywall. It was the last thing to finish on the house so it was nice to see the house finished.

Michelle: Favorite, favorite part was praying over the house during the dedication because it was amazing to hear everyone praying for Jose, his ministry, the city and the constructed house of prayer.  Favorite project - Stuccoing! Because it’s fun and that’s when it starts to look like a house.

Evan: Favorite part - I enjoyed the hard work we spent each day building our house. I loved seeing how happy Jose was as he saw his new house coming together.  

Favorite project - Pouring concrete for the foundation and I also liked getting to know the groups and finding ways to make people smile.

Brittani: Favorite part - Liked the dedication. Jose will be using it as a house of prayer and we got to break it in by praying over the house.  His testimony was really cool too.  

Favorite project - Chicken wire.

Jordan: Favorite part - Watching the house go together on Tuesday and having Jose help them with the walls because he was so excited.  

Favorite project - Working on the chicken wire.

Melanie: Favorite part/project - Standing the walls up and realizing that the whole group needed to help with it. It couldn't be just one person. 

Sondra: Favorite part/project -  Putting up the house since all of us had something to do.  None of us could let go, or the house would fall in.  Enjoyed connecting with them.  Makes me want to rearrange some of my values and puts things into perspective. 

Ferris Team 2

Cameron: Favorite part - I enjoyed seeing the progress of our build.  

Favorite project - Framing the walls and putting them up.  Reaching a goal after hard manual labor is rewarding, especially when serving God and serving others.

Justin: Favorite part - Aside from catching up with the family I have in Texas, I would say my favorite part of the trip was speaking to the family in Spanish at the dedication.

Chris: Favorite part - Having Fernando waiting for us to arrive each day.  Seeing the joy on the family’s face and being able to give them a real house of their own where they could be safe and sound.  It’s amazing to have the chance to be God’s hands and feet in Mexico.

Mike P.: Favorite part - Seeing Fernando and Elesao (the two kids at our worksite) work alongside us and seeing their smiling faces while they did it. 

Favorite project - Liked framing or drywall.

Cassie: Favorite part - Cutberto’s smile as we were building. 

Favorite project - Sponging the stucco – makes it look finished.

Emma: Favorite part - Going through Elesao’s house.  It was built by Casas for them 11 years ago and they told us about how it was the perfect temperature all throughout the year and it was cool to see what they did with it.  

Favorite project - I liked painting the window trim with Brittany and Nadia, the two granddaughters.

Devon: Favorite part - Watching the family’s expressions as we built the house and how happy they were. 

Favorite project - Liked doing the chicken wire.

Danielle: Favorite part - Watching everything take shape on Tuesday and seeing the house come together.  

Favorite project - Working on the roof. 

Stacie:  Favorite part - Putting the walls up and watching all of us work on the project. 

Favorite project - Working on the roof with the sheeting – we had a lot of fun.

Chelsea: Favorite part - Watching how excited the neighbors and community was too.  Fernando would meet us on his bike and be waiting for us.  The neighbors joined the dedication ceremony and came to help. 

Favorite project - The soffit

Joe: Favorite part - Watching how everyone coming together as a team, no bad attitudes or anything but everyone was trying to encourage each other.  

Favorite project - I enjoyed doing the drywall and working with the other guys (best drywall day in 9 years of going on the Mexico trip!).  The framing is cool, but you don’t get to see it.  The drywall is the first thing that the family sees when they walk into the house at the dedication.

Kate: Favorite part - Loved working with the team that we had.  No one had a bad attitude or complained at all.  This whole trip has been like that and it feels like people’s attitudes are to serve each other, not seek out anything for themselves.  

Favorite project - Working on the blog and seeing how many people are excited to see what we’re doing in Juarez every year.  Favorite building project was doing the chicken wire and watching how excited our team was to finish it off.  Even though it meant coming back to the SHOC later than everyone else, we still worked hard and got the last three strips up and it was one of the nicest, tightest chicken wire jobs I’ve done in 5 years.

We're all home now and back into the routine of classes, exams and our own busy lives, but our hope and prayer is that we don't forget what we learned in Mexico.  That we don't allow the craziness of this life to take away the simple joy we felt at the end of each day knowing that we had done well in serving that day.  That should be our goal every day - whether in Mexico building homes or in Houghton or Big Rapids going to class. 

Thank you for all of your prayers, support and love for all of us throughout this trip.  We couldn't have done it without you! 

If you want to see more photos from the trip (between all of the cameras, I have well over 1,200 pictures of the trip on my laptop right now!), you can check out the Ferris His House page on Facebook and look at the Build Your Kingdom Here album.  

We'll be back next year as we travel to Juarez again - a poverty-stricken city that is still beautiful to us and has not been forgotten.