Everything has
beauty but not everyone sees it.
Confucius
It's been an
incredible privilege to be part of the beautiful process of building a family a
home in El Salvador. There is beauty in working with the family, hearing their
story and our hearts connecting in such a deep way as
we hand them the keys to their
new home. My heart soars thinking about it! Just unbelievable!
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| Presenting keys and a Bible to a family |
But I have to
confess that I never thought the actual house, the actual building was that
beautiful. I mean we spend time here in
Canada decorating and making our homes look beautiful, adding new decor,
choosing colours, updating flooring and cabinets. And when we finish our week in El
Salvador we leave families with a new home, a simple steel structure, still
empty and seeing
just the shell.
But then two things happened that
completely turned my view upside down - or should I say, right-side up.
First, on one of our trips we were building
homes in quite a remote village - pretty much a 45 minute drive down rough dirt
roads that felt like you were driving to the middle of nowhere. Most of the children in this remote village
don't go to school past Grade 6 because the middle and high schools are so far
away. We started building on the Monday
morning and our team was building at the very far end of this village. It was rough, rocky ground making it very
tough to dig the holes, but three homes went up that morning.
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| The Shelter Team who make building these homes possible! |
On the Monday afternoon we moved to another
part of the village and started three more homes. My team was building for an
older couple, Andreas and Paula who would be living in this home with their
grandson. Paula was so excited to
receive this new home and Andreas said that in his 72 years, he had never had a
house where the roof didn't leak. It was
a huge day for them. Then Paula told me
something that changed everything. She
said that she had gone in the morning to watch us build the first three homes
because she had never seen a Shelter home before and she didn't even know what
it looked like. (that alone kind of surprised me because there were many
Shelter Homes in the town where we turned off to hit the dirt road).
Then she teared up as she told us that she
came back at lunch and she cried because the
house she was getting was so beautiful.
Wow! I had been looking at these homes
through my own lenses, but at that moment my eyes were opened to a new
view. Paula looked at this home that she
would receive and saw something so beautiful she cried.
Second, we had the chance to go back to a
community where we had built homes just a year prior. It was a heart-warming
reunion seeing so many familiar faces and getting to hug and connect with so
many again. One of the community
leaders, Maria, excitedly came to us and thanked us again for building her a
home. She was just beaming as she asked
us if we wanted to come and see her home.
And what we saw was astonishing!
Colourful hammocks hung from the front porch that overlooked the
hillside of tropical trees and greenery. (Why didn't I notice this incredible view
the first time??) Joy radiated on Maria's face as she showed us her home,
her room, her grandson's room filled with their belongings, pictures and
love. It was clear she had taken time to
tidy and clean and put everything in order.
She was so proud of her home and it was just beautiful!
Now when we build homes in El Salvador and
leave behind a Shelter home, I see so much more than the steel structure. I see a
beautiful home where lives can flourish, where families can make
this place special and colourful and full of love and hope.
I hope as you come out to the Grape Stomp and the BBQ and see a home replica - that's right, there will be
a full size home replica that you can walk through - I hope that you see beyond
the structure. I hope you see the hope
it brings, the new life and the brighter future that it brings to each family
who receives a home.
And that you will
call this house beautiful.
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| A Shelter Home 💓 |
Upcoming events -
Come and join us!
The Great Grape
Stomp on Sept 7th at Harbour Estates Winery
BBQ and Bake Sale at
Bethany Community Church on Sept 8th after both services
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