A Christmas Gift
This year for Christmas my sister Angie recommend our family not exchange gifts and instead each family make a donation to their favorite charity. We all thought this was a great idea!
Tonight Ryan & I made our donation on behalf of our family to a mission we strongly believe in--Casas por Cristo. Ryan worked for Casas after he graduated in 2000 and I moved to El Paso after we were married to support Ryan and his work there. This same mission work brought us back to El Paso yet again from 2004-2006. There has been so much violence on the border recently, many volunteer teams have not returned to work with Casas. There has been a lot of news coverage about this in the El Paso area.
The wait for a new home for families in need was 3-6 months, now the wait could take over 3 years because of the lack of volunteers to fund and build the homes. A new home costs $5500 and it takes approximately 12+ people to build the home in 3-5 days.
Here is some info from their website about their work in Mexico:
Driven by a desire to provide tangible expressions of God's love and provision, we began building homes along the U.S. / México border in 1993, first in Ciudad Juárez and most recently in Ciudad Acuña. Casas por Cristo (Homes because of Christ) creates important partnerships among various groups across international borders. To date, we have provided nearly 4,000 families with homes. But at Casas por Cristo, we go beyond building. We are dedicated to growing Christ's church one home at a time by helping meet the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors.
Casas por Cristo is more than a humanitarian organization. While building homes is what we do, our core mission is to reach the people of México with the love of Jesus Christ. Our ministry is about bringing hope to families in need. It's about a God that loves His children so much that He sends strangers to build them a home with no strings attached. It is our prayer that each individual we serve will know the saving grace, peace, and joy that comes only through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Here is a happy family receiving their home. After a week of building the home the volunteers dedicate the home and hand over the keys to the family. Ryan always said this was his favorite part--I was able to be apart of a couple of home dedications in Juarez, and it is a very humbling experience. The families feel such a great sense of thankfulness that their prayers for safety and shelter were answered.
Check out Casas website for more info! www.casasporcristo.org
Tonight Ryan & I made our donation on behalf of our family to a mission we strongly believe in--Casas por Cristo. Ryan worked for Casas after he graduated in 2000 and I moved to El Paso after we were married to support Ryan and his work there. This same mission work brought us back to El Paso yet again from 2004-2006. There has been so much violence on the border recently, many volunteer teams have not returned to work with Casas. There has been a lot of news coverage about this in the El Paso area.
The wait for a new home for families in need was 3-6 months, now the wait could take over 3 years because of the lack of volunteers to fund and build the homes. A new home costs $5500 and it takes approximately 12+ people to build the home in 3-5 days.
Here is some info from their website about their work in Mexico:
Driven by a desire to provide tangible expressions of God's love and provision, we began building homes along the U.S. / México border in 1993, first in Ciudad Juárez and most recently in Ciudad Acuña. Casas por Cristo (Homes because of Christ) creates important partnerships among various groups across international borders. To date, we have provided nearly 4,000 families with homes. But at Casas por Cristo, we go beyond building. We are dedicated to growing Christ's church one home at a time by helping meet the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors.
Casas por Cristo is more than a humanitarian organization. While building homes is what we do, our core mission is to reach the people of México with the love of Jesus Christ. Our ministry is about bringing hope to families in need. It's about a God that loves His children so much that He sends strangers to build them a home with no strings attached. It is our prayer that each individual we serve will know the saving grace, peace, and joy that comes only through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Here is a happy family receiving their home. After a week of building the home the volunteers dedicate the home and hand over the keys to the family. Ryan always said this was his favorite part--I was able to be apart of a couple of home dedications in Juarez, and it is a very humbling experience. The families feel such a great sense of thankfulness that their prayers for safety and shelter were answered.
Check out Casas website for more info! www.casasporcristo.org
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