WE DID IT!

Just a quick update for everyone who has been praying for us, encouraging us, donating towards our trip and helping us along the way.  You are all amazing and we appreciate you SO much!

As of last night, we have officially raised enough money  to pay for all FOUR houses, all of our travel expenses, all of the food and water we will need in Mexico and even enough to buy household gifts (towels, dishes, pots and pans, brooms, mops, welcome mats, toys, socks, sheets, washcloths and more!) for each of the four families!  WOW!!  It's hard to believe that it's been less than a month since we stepped out in faith and this is where we are today.  God is so good! He has provided in amazing ways for us and this trip and we are so excited to see what He will do!

Any extra money that continues to come in will be used as a way to bless Casas and other families in Mexico and future trips to Juarez.

From all of the staff at CMU, MTU and FSU - thank you for your incredibly generous support and love towards us and these families in Mexico. To our students, it is an amazing encouragement for them to see the list of names who believe in their mission enough to support them like this and that means so much to them! You are making a lasting impact on lives in two countries!

We'll continue to post updates on this blog as the trip gets closer - we leave in only 8 days! There's a lot to do before then, but we are SO excited to go to Mexico and meet these four families! (And if we're honest - to get out of the snow!).

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for your prayers!

We are SO close!

Children playing on our 2014 trip

Two weeks from today, fifty-six college students and His House staff will be somewhere in Missouri headed towards El Paso, TX.  It already feels like spring here in West Michigan today as the sun is shining and the snow is melting. It's getting us excited for spring break - but the weather isn't the only reason we're excited. 

You see, we finally have all of the information for all four families this year.  Looking at these families and realizing that they are waiting in anticipation for us to come, to finally get their house is exciting!  We get to make a HUGE impact in their lives. It's humbling, inspiring and a little nerve wracking all at the same time (after all, they're hoping that the house that we build will stand!). 

This year, we're honored to build for Jesus and Maria and their three children Jesus, Irving and Mitchel. 

For Carlos and his wife Pella and their children Kevin and Eva and Itzel (a family member living with them). 

For Josefina and Eduardo and their grandchildren Denise, Elizabeth and Eduardo who are anxiously waiting for a house to fill up their property. 

And for Carlos, his wife Karla and their baby daughter Ereli. Carlos and Karla are the same age or younger than a lot of our students on the trip and are eager for a house to call their own as they raise their daughter. 

It's amazing how much more real the trip becomes when we know the names and faces of the families that we're building for.  Suddenly, it's not an abstract idea of building houses for families in Mexico but it's a concrete "this is who we're building for". It adds an urgency to be ready, to finish raising the funds and an excitement to get on the road.

Students from MTU getting ready to stand
 the wall sections in 2015

As of 10a.m. this morning, we are only $1,719 away from our goal. We've raised $2,631 in just over two weeks!  Our students have been working hard to pay for their own trip fees and donated over $550 of their own money in addition on Wednesday night during a freewill offering. We are committed to that extra house and we are so close to having all of the money that we need.  Will you help us finish raising the last funds that we need  and make a lasting impact on a family in Juarez?  You can give safely and securely online here or contact a student you know going on the trip.  If you have any questions about our trip or what we do and how the money is used, please contact Kate (kate@hhcf.org). 

Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to our trip and helped us get so close to the goal of building four houses.  We are so thankful for you and your generous support - you are loved and appreciated by college students at Ferris State, Central Michigan and Michigan Tech universities and the His House staff at each of these campuses. 

Stepping Out in Faith

As I'm writing this, snow is falling outside of the window and the roads are a nice slick ice rink. It's hard to believe that in a month from today, we'll be loading up the vans and headed south to Mexico. A month from today, 53 students and staff from the His Houses of Ferris State, Michigan Tech and Central Michigan Universities will be on their way to Juarez, Mexico to build homes for three families who don't have homes of their own! It's exciting!

We've been working hard since October and we've raised over $33,000 towards the trip. This covers the three houses, the travel expenses to and from Mexico, the food for while we're there, all of the various trip insurances, etc. Everything is paid for.

But, there is another family who has been praying and hoping for a house for weeks, months, maybe even years. We've raised some extra money and it's enough to begin building another house. It's not enough to finish it though and we can't start a house and then leave. What kind of missions trip would that be?

It was amazing last night as the Ferris students sat and listened to the options. We explained to them that we've already done what we set out to do, but we had the chance to do more. Only if they were willing. And they unanimously said "Yes". They're willing to work in smaller teams, to put in longer hours and to go as hard as they can during that week. They're willing to put in the time and the energy to raise the extra money. We want to build a fourth house.

It's a HUGE step of faith! The amount needed to build the fourth house is $4,350. That's the cost of a semester of tuition for some of our students. It's a scary amount to look at and realize that we only have a month to get it done. But, then we look at how far we've come already, how much money has already been raised and the fact that God has provided in the past. He's provided the money for the last 17 years for us to be a visible sign of His love in Juarez, and He can do it again. Nothing is too large for our God.

So, we're doing it. We're going for that complete fourth house. But we need YOUR help to make it happen. We can't do this alone. It's going to take a lot of people helping us to make it a reality.

If you're willing to give towards our fourth house - thank you! You are loved and appreciated by college students across the state of Michigan and by families in Juarez who wouldn't have a home without you.

To give online, you can visit our website and use your credit/debit card or paypal. Or you can contact your Ferris, CMU or MTU student and give the money to them.

If you have questions about why we do what we do, browse through this blog and see the stories from the last three years and the difference that we've made in Juarez. There are pictures of the families and the students who have been impacted for the rest of their lives because of what they've seen and what God has done through us.

And please, share this blog and the giving link to others that you think would be interested. Ask others to get behind us and help us build the fourth house. We are at a spot where literally every dollar counts and it's going to take all of us working hard to make it happen, but we can do this!

If you have any questions, contact Kate (kate@hhcf.org). Thank you so much for helping us move ministry forward, not just at Ferris but in Juarez, Mexico - a city that has not been forgotten.