A Lock and Key

It is with humble gratefulness that I have been able to travel with various teams to El Salvador, through the ShelterHelps organization. Each trip reminds me that we are not only there to build homes for those most impoverished, but more importantly, that we are there to build relationships with the families who are receiving an earthly home, and join together in conversation about the eternal home we will look forward to through a shared belief in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

At the end of the week, we enjoy celebrating with our families and presenting the (second and third) set of keys and a bible to them. Throughout the week, I try and capture the moment a mom takes the key to her new home and unlocks the door.

For some people, a key and a lock symbolizes confinement, while for others, it symbolizes freedom. Some see a key and lock on a door as symbols of closing one chapter in their life and opening another. Based on those two sentences, I pray ‘freedom’ and a ‘new chapter’ are what these doors symbolize for these new homeowners.

A photo shows one thing, but what it doesn’t show, is what’s racing through these Moms’ hearts and minds, as the key turns and the latch unlocks, knowing their families, especially their children, will now be safe.


A lock and key provides families with hope for a new future, as they can now leave their home and whatever possessions they might have, to further look for work and not worry that they will return to nothing, their present dwelling having been ransacked. Not only that, but during the rainy season, they will unlock their door to see their possessions are dry and not ruined by the torrential rains that take place.

In faith these moms prayed for a new home, some for years, and I believe that each
time they unlock their doors, it will be with renewed faith and a reminder to continue to trust in a God who provides.

I think of these moms who can finally sleep with both eyes closed, not having to worry that someone or something might come though a rickety, make-shift door poorly latched with twine or wire, or a tarp or piece of plastic held down by large stones. By no means does a lock and key alleviate all the difficulties these Moms face, but by their grateful smiles and tears, it is certainly apparent that it helps ease some of their struggles.

The word ‘rest’ comes to mind. I think of Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.” May these families sleep in peace and safety.


Deb Firth

One Word

 As we give thanks to the Lord for all that He is doing among us, through this week, we give thanks to all those who have encouraged, prayed for and contributed to our team efforts. Together, all of us, have been part of God’s provision of a safe, secure house where hope is found, for 20 families (about 100 people)! 

There’s so much that we have experienced and it’s hard to articulate it well in the immediate days after we leave. However for now, we would love to share with you one word that defines our week. Feel free to ask us, “How would you describe your week?”

We would love to share with you a little bit based on this one word:

Brody - awake 

Zeke - impactful

Pete - camping

Chelsea - joy

Abby - ironic

Kai - sufficient 

Eli - impactful 

Lily - patience

Ansley - eye-opening 

Eden - eventful 

Deb - grateful

Amy - “Hope-n-Trust”

Karen - contagious

Amanda - intertwined

Deve - unity

Nicole - perspective 

Greg - prayer 

Garrett - learn 

Lisa - relationships 

James - meaningful

JT - special 

Christine - present

Angela - steadfast

Tara - unity 

Scott - bumpy

They Are Young, But Don't Look Down on Them

Every trip is different. 

Every team is unique. 

Every time it is hard to leave. 

One of the most treasured parts of this trip and this team has been the inclusion of 9 high school students. Each one with at least one of their parents! It's Great Commission, Kingdom minded, Jesus centred,  disciple making in action and it's powerful and inspiring to behold. 

Each of them came with their own reasons for participating. Each of them has their own set of challenges that they are working through.  Each of them have been involved in our team preparation meetings for several months. Each of them. Every one of them is uniquely gifted by God to serve Him in the places they will go!

Having known most of them for many years, some from birth, others in recent years - it was a privilege not only to have them as part of the team, but also fully participating in everything we did: they dug holes, they drilled together walls, they put up structures, they played with children, they asked thoughtful and respectful questions, and they brought a lot of fun to our week!  On top of all of that, they willingly shared in praying for our team throughout the week!

Having 9 of them (our most student total ever) has been a wonderful blessing, and adds another reason to the long list of motivations for continuing to engage in what the Lord is doing through these mission trips. These students understood that we didn't come to be heroes, but we came to see and listen and feel what God is doing in a different part of the world, with different people, in different circumstances. 

Being with them for these last seven days, you can get a sense of their desire to honour the Lord with their lives.  The sacrifices that they made to be part of this are many - they may not realize it yet - but they will. However the new perspectives that they are learning, may they imbed themselves in their hearts and minds to deepen their capacity to serve others with the truth, grace, love and hope found in Jesus. 

They, all nine, no exceptions, have set us as an example in speech, conduct, in love, in faith and purity: Abby, Lily, Kai, Brody, Eli, Eden, Zeke, James and Ansley - thank you. 

Deve

Present

This is my third visit to El Salvador. Two of my daughters expressed an interest in participating in this team so I gladly agreed to accompany them.  As I entered this week, I desired to be present, soaking up the short time here.

To be present as we got to know the families receiving houses.

To be present as my girls have worked hard and served others.  

To be present to witness the beauty of this country.

To be present in the times of waiting.

While I miss the comforts and routines of home, this week with my daughters is a gift.

Christine

Opening Our Eyes

 I am here for the first time with my twin sister Ansley my dad John-Taeke (JT) and my mom Nicole.  There are 8 other teens here on this trip to build 20 houses. I am going to share some of my thoughts on the experience, testimonies, and points that stood out.

It has been a great experience for me personally because it has been really eye opening to see all the not-so-well-off people in El Salvador. 

It is great to hear the stories of how the new governor has changed El Salvador. Since 2021 there has been little to no gang violence in El Salvador.  But before 2021, gangs ruled El Salvador and it often wasn’t safe to be outside.

It is also really cool to hear the testimonies from the people in the community that we are building in, because there seems to be a common factor in the testimonies. The common factor seems to be 1 or 2 parents waking up 5am or earlier to go to work. One mother got up at 4am to walk an hour to work. She worked two four hour shifts in the day, and returned home in between for lunch, and to spend time with her 2 year old son. In total, by the end of the day, she walks 4 hours to and from work, 6 days a week.  She also has an even bigger pressure of caring for and helping to provide for her mom and her oldest sister (1 of the other 11 siblings in her family)

Who has a mental disability and when her mom passes she has to take care of her oldest sister. To top it all of she hasn’t gone to school since grade 6 (she is 18)

All this really opens your eyes. One family we met had to keep moving because Maria’s (mom) brother had an accident and became mentally unstable. He started to follow Maria’s husband around, saying he was going to kill him. The brother got token away by the police for a crime committed before his accident; as far as the family knows, he was killed after 2 days in prison. But now the family who was forced to move to get away from the brother, has  finally got a house back on the same property with some others in their family. Maria’s oldest sister, Celia, who is mentally disabled, and their youngest sister, Gelen are all related and got 3 different homes on the same property witch is really cool!

Some things that come to mind are:

- on one property, the Sarnia team built 5 houses over 2 days. The property belongs to the grandma. 3 of her kids got houses and 2 of her grandkids got houses.

- our team (Scott’s team) has a master builder named Rapha (pronounced Rafa) who has a great appreciation for the younger teens building because they are the people going to come again. He also has been working for or with Shelter since 2010 (the year I was born). He views his work more as an act of Service to the communities in El Salvador he just loves what we call his “job”.

- In El Salvador so many people want houses that there have been scams, like you pay $60 for a house and are told “we will come and build it for you once we receive a deposit”, but then they just take the money and not build the houses. I just think it is sad that people take advantage of other peoples housing situations, because these families may not be in that situation because of something they did. Like in our Daily debrief, someone shared that a girl got kicked out of her step mom’s house after her dad had died. She was 13 at the time. Now she is 26 with 3 kids, and is getting a house for the first time since being shunned.

But none of this would have been possible without Shelter, an organization that finds people in a community most in need of a house and shares the word of Jesus with them and gets them a house fabricated by WGM, an organization that when Shelter couldn’t keep up to the increasing manufacturing of the houses (2022)

, took over manufacturing the houses and sending workers to build them alongside with us (that is what company Rapha works for, but building the houses on the job sites for Shelter)

Over all, l it has been a good experience and as I am sitting here tonight writing this, we have 3.5 days to go in El Salvador, 2 more houses to build and hundreds of more memories to form.

Thanks to all the people back in Canada and the U.S who are praying and who financially donated! We could not build 20 houses with out your help 

Thank you 

-James

Same, Yet Different

When we consider the fact that we are building 20 identical homes over 3 and a half days, there could be a concern of the work becoming monotonous and our days becoming mundane. 

And, if that was all we were doing here, all we came to do, it’s quite possible that this would be the case. But in fact, no build is like another. Even homes that are right next to eachother are different.

The ground is different. Some houses have rocky soil. Some have just hard packed dirt. Some holes that were dug this week contained small boulders.  Some holes filled with ground water despite neighbouring houses (literally, 5 on the same property) not having any water issues. Those on our team who have been here over 15 times have also never seen water in holes before.  Digging became heavy work. 

The work crew is different. Shelter arranges for a build team of construction workers to be assigned to each build. Each recipient family contributes to helping with the build. The members of each Sarnia team assigned to a home build remain the same, but even who completes which tasks change for each home. 

The tasks are different. Digging holes. Cutting metal. Pre-drilling holes, and screwing pieces together. Assembling the walls on the ground. Raising the walls and carrying them to the correct holes. Lifting roof trusses. Carrying wall sheeting. Climbing ladders. Digging more holes for the porch legs. Measuring to ensure the house is square. Adding roof pieces (ah, some shade!!!). Screwing together all the sheeting. Putting hinges on doors and windows. Adding the doors and windows. Adding trim pieces. Applying the house number.

The number is different.  Each family gets to stick a house number over the front door of their home.  This number represents the number of houses Shelter has built to date. Over 6,170 homes so far!

Each family interaction is different. Some house builds are on the same property and may belong to members of the same extended family, but no two stories are the same. No family connection time (interviews with us and the families to hear more of their personal story) is the same. Some families are large (9 people in one home), others are small (2). Some express their emotions with tears as they share their story. Others can’t stop smiling. One family even taught us some dance moves! 

How the house will impact each families is different. Some are looking forward to having a concrete floor. Others are looking forward to shelter from the rain, no more flooding in their home, a lock that provides security, a place to call their own, or not having to constantly move. One family, before their new house was built, was sleeping literally behind their mother’s house: on a mattress, in the open air with just one wall for protection.

It’s these interactions that make the each build unique, and cause us to get up in the morning, excited about each new day. Each new build. It’s the families that cause people to want to continue to return to El Salvador to build more homes through Shelter.

But despite all of these differences, God remains the same. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the same, regardless of our differences of country, race, culture or language; family unit, build site, or construction crew. Regardless of our living situation, or housing structure. God’s free gift of grace and salvation remains the same, and is offered to all. 

““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Jesus. He who believes in Jesus is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

John 3:16-18

Nicole

Lots and Lots of Kids

On Tuesday morning, Abby and I saw lots of kids near the property we were building on, so half way through the build we went over to them. Our interpreter introduced us to the kids and then they noticed we had a bag of supplies for crafts, colouring books, and elastics for bracelets etc. There were about 10-15 kids there at one point and Abby started to braid some of the girls’ hair and I started to make bracelets with them. 

Then it was time for lunch and we had to say goodbye to them, and some of them were very sad because they didn’t get a bracelet or their hair braided. But thankfully, right after lunch we went back to the same location to build another house right next to it (5 houses ended up being built in that location this week) 

The whole time we were building the house, the kids were sitting in chairs in the shade watching, and smiling at us. So when Abby and I went over and got out our toys, they happily grabbed two chairs for us, put them in the shade and got ready for us to braid their hair and make them bracelets. But once again, we had to say goodbye to our new friends, but little did we know that we would be building a house just up the path from their houses just the next day. 

On Wednesday, we were almost done the house and Abby and I decided to go and make them more bracelets and braid more hair! As we were heading down the path towards their houses, they were at the end of the path with paper airplanes, and as we approached them, they all came up to us and said Hola (hello) and each of them gave both of us a hug! We ended up sitting in the shade and braiding more hair and making more bracelets! 

Throughout those two days the kids were always smiling and laughing, and they had so much joy with them every time we saw them! It was such a great experience and opportunity to be around those kids and trying to make conversation despite the language barrier! I hope and pray that God blesses their families in their new houses!

Ansley

The Immeasurable Love of Jesus

 This is my second trip to El Salvador. It is also the second time I have found it very difficult to write a blog post. This will surprise all of those who know me, as words usually come easily (sometimes too easily) for me. But the experiences and emotions of this trip somehow go beyond what I am able to describe. The words I choose don’t seem to fully capture the things that are most meaningful. 

To say I feel blessed to get to take this journey with my husband and two oldest children is an understatement. Watching their passion to help others. Watching my children’s joy in building connections with locals. Listening to their stories of the people they met. All of this fills me with a gratitude that is indescribable. 

Words also can’t explain the feeling I had

yesterday when building our fourth house this week. The mother, Rosa, sat with me, held my hand, and told me that she had prayed three years ago for a house, and that we were the answer to that prayer. She told us her story, shared her faith, and told us she will pray blessings for us, our children, and our children’s children every day for the rest of her life. We cried together, prayed together, and talked about our families. Yes, I felt joy, compassion, love, and so many other emotions. But what I really felt goes beyond that. The best I could describe it is that I felt like I saw Jesus in Rosa that moment. Her deep faith, gratitude, and openness made me feel overwhelmed with love. As Chelsea so beautifully expressed in our morning meeting, sometimes we get caught up in the thought that we are going to show God’s love to the people we are building for, but they can also be the hands and feet of Jesus towards us. Rosa expressed Jesus’s love to me yesterday in a way that transcends the words that usually come so easily to me.  

I will forever be grateful for these moments and what they have taught me about myself, my family, and the immeasurable love of Jesus. 

This is my second trip to El Salvador. It is also the second time I have found it very difficult to write a blog post. This will surprise all of those who know me, as words usually come easily (sometimes too easily) for me. But the experiences and emotions of this trip somehow go beyond what I am able to describe. The words I choose don’t seem to fully capture the things that are most meaningful. 

To say I feel blessed to get to take this journey with my husband and two oldest children is an understatement. Watching their passion to help others. Watching my children’s joy in building connections with locals. Listening to their stories of the people they met. All of this fills me with a gratitude that is indescribable. 

Words also can’t explain the feeling I had yesterday when building our fourth house this week. The mother, Rosa, sat with me, held my hand, and told me that she had prayed three years ago for a house, and that we were the answer to that prayer. She told us her story, shared her faith, and told us she will pray blessings for us, our children, and our children’s children every day for the rest of her life. We cried together, prayed together, and talked about our families. Yes, I felt joy, compassion, love, and so many other emotions. But what I really felt goes beyond that. The best I could describe it is that I felt like I saw Jesus in Rosa that moment. Her deep faith, gratitude, and openness made me feel overwhelmed with love. As Chelsea so beautifully expressed in our morning meeting, sometimes we get caught up in the thought that we are going to show God’s love to the people we are building for, but they can also be the hands and feet of Jesus towards us. Rosa expressed Jesus’s love to me yesterday in a way that transcends the words that usually come so easily to me.  

I will forever be grateful for these moments and what they have taught me about myself, my family, and the immeasurable love of Jesus. 

Tara

One decade for me - 6 for Anna

According to the t-shirt I packed, it has been 10 years since I first came to El Salvador. I feel like a lot has changed over that period (except for the food), the presence of Shelter and the number of Shelter homes  has increased, the transportation to the communities is safer and efficient (slightly less fun than on the back of the cattle truck). 

I feel blessed that I get to experience this trip with my wife and my two oldest children.  At the time of writing this post, our entire team has helped to build 12 houses for 12 families. Getting to build along side these families and getting to know them is one of my favourite parts of the trip. 

Today, the team I am a part of got to build a house for Anna. Anna has lived in this community for 6 decades and has had 12 children. Two of the other houses we have built this week are for other members of her family. Anna has been here through the civil war and through periods of gang violence. One of the differences today for her children and grandchildren is that there is now a church and a school in the community that her family can walk to. Now they have a safe place to live that will keep them dry in the rainy season!

She took our picture today so she would always remember us as she continues to pray for us after we leave. It is clear that God has been at work in this community long before we arrived this week and He will continue to be at work after we leave. I am grateful that we were able to play a small part and experience that this week.

Scott

A Full Day

Q: What does a day look like on a global mission team?

A: 

1. 7:00am meet for breakfast, team devotion and prayer

2. 8:00am we get into the vans and trucks with our drivers and translators and head out a one hour drive to the community. 

3. Then we meet with families, play with families, listen to families, laugh with families, cry with families, are blessed by families and be a blessing to families. It's here where houses are raised and bonds are forged. Our team of 25 is split into 3 teams for this part. 

4. We all come back together for a delightful lunch of PB&J sandwiches, fruit and something to drink - undoubtedly accompanied by the hilarious active antics of our 5 teenage boys. 

5. We head off in our teams to build again. See #3 above. 

6. Somewhere in the 4ish area we assemble again for the long drive home, amid the sweaty smells, and dirt covered arms and legs, which are mostly ignored, as stories get told back and forth.  Our transportation involves 13-15 of us in a micro van (that's a lot of people), and three trucks.  The ride home is longer as there is more traffic on the way back to San Vicente.  

7. After a short pit stop at our hotel we head off for dinner (so far, we've had to push dinner time to 6:15 or  6:30pm. Tonight was Taco Tuesday at the Shelter offices!  And they were awesome!

8. After dinner we try and get out into the city for a short visit. Last night was a grocery store (Super Selectos) and tonight was an ice cream treat (Boston ice cream). 

9. Then back to the hotel around 8:30ish for a time to debrief - This is a special, sacred even, time. We take time to listen to one another's experiences of the day. 

And then bed...because the next day God has already prepared good things to experience and good people to meet. 

All of this, takes a toll...the sun is HOT...some of the work is hard...but the experiences take a significant emotional, spiritual, psychological toll, as God breaks up some comfortable places in our lives and challenges is us with His faithfulness and provision to the beautiful people we meet in El Salvador. 

All this to say, thanks for following, for praying and for your encouragement.  

Deve

Nap Time

 Sometimes the sun is just too hot. The work is just too hard and the day just seems a little too long. So why not have a little nap?

Eli had no problem borrowing the shoulder  of one of the Shelter translators to recharge and reset - to be ready to go again when we arrived at our destination. 

Amanda

Good Apple

 This is my second time visiting El Salvador. If you haven’t yet, I would highly recommend coming someday. Since arriving to the country, lots of things have been very familiar, but there was still tons of newness to note. For example, the people. Mainly, there’s a lot of them on this team. There are 25 of us in total (including nine high school students who are all super cool), and we’re split into three sub-teams for building the houses.

  

  Today was our first build day. Each team built one house in the morning and one in the afternoon. I found this process to be very smooth. Everyone got involved and made sure they helped wherever there was a need for it. There weren’t any slackers. I was particularly proud of my sister, Eden, who dug lots of holes today. Let me tell you, that is not an easy accomplishment.

     There is so much more that I could write about today, but I will go into too much detail and then be sitting here for hours. So, I’ll just stick to one main highlight:

     Ansley and I met a little girl, Allison, on the first build site. Allison lives with her mom in another city, but she’s currently staying with her grandma and uncle—who were getting a house—while she’s on her vacation from school. I’m so glad she was there today because we had a blast. This girl might be the most smiley person I’ve ever met. She did seem pretty shy initially, but that smile was there just about the whole time. She eagerly picked out some elastic colours for Ansley to help her make bracelets out of (mostly rosa y some púrpura). I braided her hair. She coloured in a colouring book. She got to teach me some colours by pointing out different elastics and crayons and saying what colour it was in Spanish. She was very amused when my pronunciation was off and thrilled when I said something correctly.

     Later, Allison brought out a bag of toys; a baby doll, a couple Barbies, a keychain, some action figures, etc. All of which seemed inharmonious together. She was so excited to bring them out and show us. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to play with her toys because we had to go and talk with the family. Allison and I sat, squished together, on a hammock during the interview. Before we started, she got up to talk to her grandma, and then ran into the house they’d been staying in. A few seconds later, she emerged with a sneaky smile, carrying two small apples (manzanas), which she tried to conceal as she walked to the well and washed them off. She handed one to Ansley, and one to me. It was a touching gift. We were very grateful. She was beaming.

     After the interview, I rinsed my manzana with water and ate the whole thing, core and all. It was a good apple. 

Abby