This week in Mexico 8-1-25
Here’s a glimpse of our week of outreaches in Mexico.
Quick links to the other parts this week:
Happy Friday, GTF fam! And happy August!
I’m so excited to share our outreaches in Mexico with you today! The summer here is zooming by, and we’ve been having a fun time with the kids! The kids begin the new school year on September 1, so we’re ready to begin back-to-school prep too.
Let’s begin with the roof pour for Maria and her two daughters, who lost their house in a fire in May.
Primo Roof Pour Project
This isn’t our crew. They’re on our other job. It’s the group of volunteers who offered to help after they heard about the fire. ♥
Concrete pour days begin early because once we begin, we can’t stop until it’s fully done.
After all the concrete has been poured, it’s up to just a few to level and smooth it all out.
Everyone was so tired at the end of this, but we got them to pose for a quick group photo.
All smoothed out and finished! Now we let it cure for a couple of weeks before we can take the wood supports down, and they can finally move into their home!
Thank you so much for your prayers for Maria and her daughters. It’s an incredible blessing to be a part of God providing for this family (James 1:27).
And now onto the kids!
Our escuelita
Fun at the Park
We’ve been having such a good time with the kids and several of the moms and grandmas!
Bible Story time
Crafts and friendship bracelets
I love that so many of the moms and even grandmas have been coming and participating! Most of these women grew up without the resources to play with art and craft supplies, and they are delighted to do so with their kids. ♥
Israel and Ericka’s house
Last time, we shared the finishing details and windows going in. You can also see the beginning of this project and their story.
The last thing we had to do to close up the house is this doorway. Israel had been given a sliding glass door years ago by his boss. They’ve saved it all this time for this moment. But when the window guy went to install it for us, he saw that the seals had failed and there was mildew between the panes of glass. He said it was cheaper to remake the door than try to repair. They were so disappointed that they had saved it all these years for nothing.
Here, our guys are prepping the track for the sliding glass door.
And here’s where it gets interesting. We love to hire Israel to do electrical/plumbing in our projects. His full-time work mostly covers their health insurance, which they need because of his wife’s health challenges. So they rely on odd jobs in the evenings and weekends to make ends meet.
We had already looked at our next project with him, and he said the Lord is prompting him to do it for free in gratitude for the work done for him. This is a generous offer, but one he literally cannot afford to do. One of the first reasons Jack and I began the home repair projects was to help people with work who were trying to provide for their families. But Israel was adamant. He would donate his time and trust the Lord to provide his needs.
We began praying for the solution. God knew all this when we began, and when He prompted Israel to donate his time. So we looked at options. We looked into ways of filling the large gap and installing a smaller door. It had been made to the exact dimensions of the giant door he had been given.
Finally, we talked to the window maker and told him the story with Israel. He said God is obviously in this, so he would, in faith, donate his time as well, and we would pay for just the materials. So we prayed for this ability. God provided.
And here it is!!
Look at how beautiful it looks! What an incredible view. And every time this sweet family looks out at that amazing view, it will be a beautiful reminder of God’s faithfulness. ♥
I’m excited to share the first pics of the new project! We’re still finishing up a few things with Israel and Ericka’s. Aidan is welding the railing for the stairway. But the crew is onto the next one!
Our new project begins
The sweet family of the new project are Jaime and Vanessa. They have a one-year-old named Tiago. They have been married and have tried for a baby for over a decade, and are so excited to have their first. During this time, they, like Israel and Erika, have been buying materials as they could and bit by bit building their home. They have lived all this time with Vanessa’s parents. Her brother, his wife, and their three-year-old also live there, so they’re excited to have their own space for the first time!
Vanessa works as an accountant in Tijuana. This was good while they were trying for a baby, they had some funds to help buy the materials for their eventual home. Her sister takes care of Tiago while she works. But Jaime gets home long before she does. She said it’s now at the point that he prefers both his dad and his auntie to his mom, and this is really hard for her. So her dream is to put a little room on the front of their home to open up a small shop so she doesn’t have to leave anymore!
You can see they have done so much over the years! We are helping them with plastering the inside and outside, which takes a lot of experience to do well. Our crew is excited to help make this dream come true for this family!
God is doing amazing things here and I’m so grateful for your prayers and support that make it possible. Thank you so much for praying with us for those we serve together! ♥
Quick links to the other parts this week:
Thank you for your love, and your prayers for those we serve around the world! It’s absolutely amazing what happens when we come together and follow the Lord’s leading. I’m beyond grateful for you all!
If you’d like to see more than we can share here, email me for access.
Thank you for keeping us, this ministry, and our outreaches in prayer, and thank you for your support! We couldn’t do any of this without you.
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God bless you!
♥ Samantha