June 28th

Today was another culmination of a huge project we've been working on all week: the house dedication ceremony!

When the first group went to the work site on Monday, the foundation was already laid the workers were waiting to get started. It only took three days to build and paint the entire house, which is 16x20 feet.

In order for a family to receive a house, they have to prove that they own their property, prove they are who they say they are, and prove that they currently live there with a current electricity bill. When Ron and Shelly first started building homes, they took care of all the orphans and widows and single fathers. Then they expanded to house with more than one family (or more than 7/8 people), and have since expanded even more.

Who has bigger muscles? 

The family we built a house for has four kids. They will most likely keep their previous house to use as a kitchen and live in the new part we built. Here are some pictures:

The house has one window, and this is the view. The mom was so proud of her view, and we all agree that it is absolutely breathtaking.

This is the front of their old house.

This is the back of the old house. You can see how much work they had put into gathering scraps of wood to make a wall.

The old latrine is on the right

New latrine

We put all of the new goodies on the two full-size beds. One had pantry items and the other had cleaning items and a few toys for the kids.

In addition, we bought a dining table with four complete place settings plus a child's table with two place settings.

The ceremony itself is one of the most beautiful things I have experienced. The mom and two of her boys were home, so we each read our scripture that had to do with certain elements of Christ and/or the church and presented the gift that went along with it. At the end of ceremony the father was able to come, which really completed the ceremony. Leanne and Ernie washed the family's feet while the rest of us sang "El Nos Ama" (How He Loves Us). There was not a single dry eye in the place at the end of the ceremony.

When the family saw their new house they were speechless. They couldn't express their gratitude enough. But really, it was we who should have been thanking them. We were blessed so much more through the process of measuring and nailing and drilling and painting and praying for this family than they could ever know.

After the very emotional ceremony, we headed back to the mission to say goodbye to the staff (but just until next year!) and then set out to see the pewter factory.

This afternoon we had the pleasure of going up into a park to see the "Jesus Statue" that we've noticed all week.

Everything about the park was beautiful and we had way too much fun playing in the little "hall of mirrors" we discovered on our way out.

We are quickly bringing this trip to an end, but our work is no where close to finished. We have been changed so much already, but we pray that as we go home and resume our lives we will not forget the lessons we have been taught here.

Until tomorrow-