Day 6

Day 6 - 6/11/25 (Amy Chen and Kaitlyn Wei)

Hola! This is Day 6 of our trip and it was an emotional one! We started our day with a delicious breakfast of French toast, bacon, and eggs! They also had fruit, cereal, and yogurt like every other day. Funny enough both me and Kaitlyn were the last ones to get out of bed and to get to breakfast...

After breakfast, we had a skit and a game where we all walked in different directions and tried to form groups with the exact number of people before the staff finished counting down. Then we had morning devotion with four verses about going out, we had a meaningful discussion about what we have been feeling called to this week and what we want to work on in our lives. Then before leaving, we finished the early morning with worship!!

We made the 30-minute van ride to the site where we were building the houses and almost immediately Kaitlyn and I left to go shopping with the family so our perspective wasn't on the site for the first half of the day.

About 8 people and the family went with us and during the 20-minute bus ride to Calimax, the grocery store, Rueben told us about the family's story and how much building this house meant to them. In the store, it was so exciting for Maria, Alisson, and Brandon, Maria seemed overwhelmed with the opportunity to buy so much at a time. As we browsed the aisles we put so much into the cart while Cindy and Brian calculated how much we were spending in pesos! We had two full carts with all sorts of items like mangos, hair ties, detergent, and more!

When we finished shopping at around 12:20, it was time to head back to the house and it was almost time for lunch! We got there and Maria, Alisson, and Brandon began to set up the table for lunch. They brought out so many toppings (lettuce, guacamole, salsa, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, sour cream, and even more) and the fish for the fish tacos and it all looked so good!! Those were the best tacos I've ever eaten, I promise I could taste the love that went into making them. As we ate we sat on coolers because there wasn't a ton of seating and the van was still filled with the groceries we had bought earlier that day! That's all from me, bye!! - Amy

hi guys this is kaitlyn!!!!! so after we ate the best tacos ever, we went back to work... well most of us did, for example i think the roof people did roof work, while others had individual jobs preparing the house for the family. while everyone was hard at work, me, hannah, cindy, alyssa, irene and amy all sat together and talked to ruben, a translator, about life (hes soooo funny). until karin asked for help with painting, and amy helped!!! she painted very cute vines around the windows of the house, and ofc it matched the beautiful earthy greenish tealish vibe! then after a few minutes, ivan gave us jobs helping around the house, putting away things and throwing away trash etc. after that, me and hannah played football (soccer) with alison and brandon, and it was so fun!!! we even went over with brian ollie and alfred to play with kids at the school next door. after a while, it was time. after hours of final touches, installing furniture, beds, touch ups on paint, finally finishing the roof, adding the door, we had finally finished building their house. auntie windy and auntie angela worked together to stock the house up with the groceries we just bought.

first, we all took a group photo with the family in front of the new house, and karin printed it, and we used it as a gift to the family from us. after the photo, we all stood in a circle, like how we began. ivan held the keys, and we all passed it around, and each person that held the keys said a small message to the family, it was truly amazing and i am so blessed to be able to witness this moment (me and irene even cried). seeing Marias raw reaction filled with deep emotion and gratitude allowed me to see how God works. 

after going in a circle, when it was Brian L's turn, he went up to the family and handed them two bibles, one for the kids, and one for maria. brandon, immedietly started reading the bible and it was so cute. the key was then passed to ollie towards the end, and he handed maria the photo of all of us in front of the house, something to remember us with!!!! and finally, elijah passed the key to maria, and the moment we were all waiting for came. first, maria spent a few minutes with her and her family alone in the house. opening the door made them go quiet, and they were all speechless. after some time, we knocked on the door, and something that really was impactful was seeing brandons face, seeing this quiet, introverted kid crying with joy made me realize the power and the joy of the Holy Spirit. Alison was running around the house, while brandon and maria were embracing each other, crying with tears of joy. we then prayed with them, and said our final goodbyes, which was honestly the worst part of the trip. after saying our goodbyes, with tears and photos, we went back to the bus and headed back to base. 

after showering, we went out to dinner, and had a chipotle style meal!! it was quite yummy! after dinner a few of us went over to the sports courts and played volleyball and pickleball, and i think we discovered some new raw talent!!!! (no we didnt) we then headed to the worship hall when it was time, and started the evening off with hotseat, games, and a skit. later on, Luis gave his sermon, highlighting the Great Commission, and it was a deep thought provoking sermon, with thoughts of important insight, and he gave great emphasis on the number values, on how 3.4 BILLION people are not followers of Jesus, and he really called us out, highlighting the fact that many of us are  scared to go out and spread the gospel, when that was one of the greatest commandments of God. We also were all sitting on this giant map, and towards the end of his message, we were all given the task to pray for one of the countries in the map, and writing it out, while the worship team was singing. Luis called those who may consider being missionaries to the front, and had all of us pray for them, and it was such a beautiful time. we worshiped with our whole heart for the rest of the night, and ended with a prayer from josh.

 after the night session, me and hannah and auntie angela went to oxxo (haahahahaha) and bought some yummy snacks. others worked on cards but im guessing a lot of people are sleeping right now as im typing this because no one is outside lol. thank you!! God bless you all and thanks for reading.....