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Naomi, Elias, Jefferson and Helen receiving their home. |
Wow. And just like that, it’s done.
This past week has
been filled with so much joy, laughter, tears, unfortunately sickness, but most
of all; love. There were so many real emotions, but unfortunately these words
I’m about to write will not be able to justify them in the slightest, but I’ll do
my best.
Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday were extremely long, but rewarding days. After breakfast and morning
devotionals, all 35 of us would hop on the back of the two trucks, and head out
at 8am on an hour long drive into the communities that we would be building in.
We had the team split into two groups, and then 2 subgroups which were our
build teams. This was so we’d be able to set a new record, of 30 homes in two
and a half days!! We were working from village to village that suffer from
extreme poverty. Their previous homes were a small rectangle room, made of mud
and sticks, without a floor. During rainy season, all of the sewage from the
toilets (which are basically a pit in the ground) would all get brought to the
surface. It would then get into peoples homes and into the dirt on the ground,
which causes many diseases.
To do the actual
physical building of the homes was such an honor. To know that we are literally
being the hands and feet of God in those moments was incredible. But what made
my heart even more full, was the time spent in kids ministry. At times, it felt
as though these children were ripping my heart out and stomping all over it,
but in the most loving way possible. I probably played with around 200 kids
over those three days and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them was so happy. And by happy I
mean sooooooooo happy, and it wasn’t just because they were hanging out with
white people. It was real joy.
These children have gone through so much that
they shouldn’t have gone through, but despite that, they are just filled with
so much love and joy. At times it felt as though I couldn’t breath because I
was being lavished in love (or maybe it was just because I was choking back
tears), but whatever it was, it was because of God.
This past week, I
saw more genuine smiles from the locals in El Salvador, than I think I’ve
honestly seen in the past 2 months. This is why my heart hurts so much. These
people are FILLED with love, and they have absolutely nothing, except for each
other and The Lord. At the key giving ceremony (Friday morning) the first thing
that around 95% of the families said, was that they wanted to thank God for
their new home.
Not every family
that received a home were believers, but the ones that were had such a strong
faith and trust in The Lord, something that astonished me, and I absolutely
admired it all week.
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| One big happy team |
I’m sure that many
of you haven’t been able to fully immerse and experience poverty at its finest,
so I think that not many of you realize that it could have been reversed. We could
have been born in a developing country and these families we built homes for,
could have been born in St.Catharines. This is also very hard for me, and
many others on the team to understand. We don’t deserve the life that The Lord
has blessed us with, and over the past week this has been a struggle for many
of us. We have experienced frustration, and anger because of it. But if we stay
in the state of anger over this situation, it's then Satan that wins.
It is up to us to
help our brothers and sisters in Christ, and those who do not know The Lord
yet. This week, I have realized how important missions are, and how important
it is to give glory to God for blessing us.
I have heard so many
incredible testimonies and have so many stories from this week. Although I
won’t be writing them on this blog (because it’s already almost a novel, and I
feel like I have so much more to say) I would love to share them. If you’re
interested please ask me. Please please please.
Lastly, I would like
to share that I was able to interview two families before getting their homes,
and explained what I have done to raise the money for their homes. [Kezia made and sold bracelets as a fundraiser called "Highs and Lows Bracelets" – raising
enough for a whole house!] At the key giving ceremony I gave them each their
own bracelet, and the smiles on their faces were huge. Once again, thank you
everyone who supported these families in giving them a home.
Coming home and
getting back to the North American reality is not going to be easy for me. I
can’t ignore that my heart hurts. But I praise Jesus for giving us the
opportunity to meet these families that have taught us so much, in such a short
time.
I will be back to El
Salvador soon.
Stay tuned for more
updates on Highs & Lows:
"We proclaim
how great you are, and tell of the wonderful things you have done." Psalm 75:1
xo Kezia Wilson
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