The other house

The girls in room 4: Kelly, Gina, Megan and Leah

(Some of Em's 'goodies')

Of course, again, my kid couldn't resist picking up "just one more" perrito (puppy).

Because we took 31 people from our church and met up with about 15 others from California, we were able to split into two groups during the week in order to build two houses. That was an unexpected blessing since we thought we'd only be building one originally. The 'Jolly Green Giant' pictured above is for a Canadian missionary named Jason who married a Mexican girl named Reina. (Ray nuh - 'queen' or 'royal') They had been living with her familia in their home but because her parents had a double lot, they gave them a portion of their land on which to build their home.
Here's a pic of a cool kitchen counter top the other team built for Jason and his new bride.
Once the house was finished we prayed blessings over their home and marriage.
Jason surprised Reina by sweeping her off her feet and carrying her over the threshold after she cut the ribbon. Que romantica!

And, because we had plenty of people on our teams, 3 of our guys were able to head down the hill to the house of a female missionary, the director of an orphanage, where they built her a staircase and a bridge between her upstairs dormers. I think that's one of the reasons I loved this trip so much...yes, our original purpose in traveling to Mexico was to build a home for a widow and her familia. But our schedule was not so regimented that we didn't have freedom to look around, see pertinent needs, and be able to fill them. I've been on a lot of trips that were so task oriented that, though we accomplished our goals, there just wasn't room to be used in a way that was specific to your gifts or talents, the way God designed you. I'll tell you about a great orphanage down there soon.