News from Travis

Reflection

This past May I celebrated a decade since I did my first internship with Casas and spent some time reflecting. I believe God set me on this path well before that internship, but itwas that summer that my life really began to take shape. I had been serious about following Jesus for about two and a half years when I showed up that summer. When I arrived, I realized how little I knew and how incapable I was. My internship stretched me in ways I could have never imagined. After two weeks of training, I was on my own leading teams through the home building process. I feel sorry for and gratitude towards those teams who bore with me as I figured things out. Everyday seemed as if we were on the brink of disaster. Every week I would have a new group of 20-25 people looking to me to be navigator, general contractor, spiritual leader, and general knower of all. Little did they know, I had about two weeks more experience than they did. As I continued to become more exhausted with each passing week, I was shown more and more grace from each team I served with, including the one that poured concrete until 12:30 AM, the one that almost lost a girl twice due to a falling roof section, not to mention the all the teams that had to redo work due to my mistakes. These are just a few reasons that was by far the hardest three months of my life.

However, after all that hardship, I got to stand alongside these groups every week and change a family's life by giving them just a glimmer of hope. We reminded these families that God had not forgotten them. I saw men living in a machismo culture break down in tears because they knew how much a secure house meant. God rocked me that summer. He continually showed me that I could assist in showing His glory despite my weakness. But most of all, He showed me what it meant to "love thy neighbor." I'm so glad to say that now I rarely have that feeling of being overwhelmed while leading a build, but all the lessons I learned a decade ago still hold true, and I'm so incredibly humbled to call this my career.

It's Been a Year

What a whirlwind the last year has been. It seems crazy to think that it has been a year since we loaded up our lives and headed back down here to the desert southwest. In the past year I've had the privilege to be a part of building three homes in Guatemala, ten homes in Juárez, and one home in Acuña. It's been so fun to get back in the routine of building, reunite with so many friends, and build new relationships with my new teams, new coworkers, and fourteen more families. While these builds have kept me quite busy, my office and new parenting responsibilities have added much more to my plate. When we moved back last summer my responsibilities at Casas were somewhat up in the air. In the last fourteen months they have become quite grounded. In that time I have taken on the maintenance of our vehicle and trailer fleet, the upkeep on our properties in Juárez and El Paso, and the development of our property at our headquarters in El Paso, which I find most exciting. We are in the final steps of filing paperwork with the city to allow us to sell a portion of our land and begin developing the rest. This has definitely been a learning experience, but I've thoroughly enjoyed it and am so excited about seeing our plan evolve and our property transform into a more professional and productive space. Casas is a nonprofit that operates via donations. In an effort to honor God as much as we can, eight years ago Casas made a strong push towards becoming debt free. A year and a half later we had achieved that goal. Being debt free has now become a way of life for us. Therefore we are currently in the process of trying to find architects, engineers, and construction tradesmen that are willing to donate their services free of charge so that we can manage everything debt free. As of right now we are hoping to find volunteers that are experienced in these fields and can help us achieve our goals. If you are or someone you know would like to assist us on this journey please contact me.

At Home

In addition to all the craziness at work, becoming a father has come with its own chaos. Violet has kept us both on our toes and slightly exhausted as she is ridiculously active. It has been so cool to see Roberta become a mother and to see how Violet learns and explores her world more and more each day. Violet has come out to visit several of my work sites this year. It has been so great to expose her to our ministry, even though sometimes it means she gets really hot and has to take a bucket bath to cool down.

News from Roberta

In the Office

I came back from maternity leave in January and hit the ground running trying to catch up from the two months I was able to spend at home with Violet. Although my responsibilities as a team coordinator keep me super busy, and I sometimes feel overwhelmed, I love that I get to help facilitate mission trips for teams across the United States. It has also been a huge blessing to be able to bring Violet to the nursery at the office with us every day.

In México

We were able to take Violet across the border into México for four builds so far this year. The first was with a group of preachers from Southern Illinois that my dad put together when Violet was just four months old. The second was with Boyd Christian Church when Violet was six months old. Then Violet got to visit the two work sites where Parkview Christian Church's youth group was building. Most recently, she got to make a trip to Acuña with Hope Christian Church. It has been such a joy to see Violet interact with the people of México. Having her with us has definitely helped break the ice and create an instant connection with the families.

In fact, one of the ladies Parkview built for, named Josefina, started crying almost immediately upon meeting Violet. She then began to share her story about how she had lost her granddaughter, Harmonia, in February of this year. Harmonia was only four months old and had spent forty days in the hospital battling an illness. The family's heartbreak over the loss of this little one was palpable, but so was the significance of the house we were building for them. According to Josefina, their new home meant a great deal to the family. All thirteen of Josefina's family had been sharing a small ten foot by six foot shack made of pallets and cardboard that was no match for the sand, wind, and rain. She cooked the family's meals on a small camping stove. Needless to say, life has not been easy for this family. Josefina claimed their new home represented hope for a better future and would serve as a reminder of God's love and provision. At the dedication, through tears Josefina thanked God for sending a group of strangers from another country to help her family.

While serving Josefina, we were able to reconnect with Sandra and Jaime, the couple we had built for back in February with Boyd Christian Church. They lived one street away from Josefina, and when they saw us they excitedly volunteered to cook some delicious breakfast burritos for the team the next morning. Jaime used to be a police officer for the city. His wife Sandra used to drive a public transportation bus until she fell down the stairs while on the job and severely injured her back. The cost of her medical treatment and the stress of driving her to her appointments left the family financially crippled and out of work. So they began renting a cheap place to live, and Jaime found work as a photographer. When we arrived in February, Jaime had already begun building a small room made of concrete blocks. However, they could only afford to do a little at a time. Unfortunately, Sandra had to stop going to her physical therapy appointments because building a place to live was more important. Luckily, their new CpC home has since enabled Sandra to afford to resume her physical therapy treatments. She said she is still in a lot of pain, but she is grateful that she gets to resume therapy in the hopes of one day becoming pain free.

Meet Manuel. He is over 90 years old. He worked for many years as a street sweeper for the city of Acuña, México. He loves the Lord and is still spunky and full of life, though his hands are scarred and permanently calloused from a lifetime of hard work and difficult circumstances. He enjoyed playing with Violet every time we visited the work site where his new home was being built last week. He, his wife Rosa María, his daughter Lupita, his son-in-law Alejandro, and his grandson Victor live off a small pension from the city. I'm so grateful that Hope Christian Church drove all the way from Columbia, Illinois and endured the extreme heat to build a safe home for him and his family. Before they arrived, the family had been living in a small block house that could not stand up to the elements. When it rained, they couldn't sleep because their only bed got soaked. Now, they have a dry and secure place to call home. It was such an honor to witness God's provision for this family!

At Home

We are still adjusting to our new lives as parents. It has been an exciting time in our lives. We have learned so much about ourselves and God's love for us through our experiences. Violet is now nine months old. She is a very active and determined little girl. It gives us so much joy to watch her learn and explore her world. She is crawling everywhere and taking a few steps on her own. She continues to grow, even though she is only in the 30th percentile for height and weight (taking after her momma). We have enjoyed watching her try some new foods; sweet potatoes are her favorite. She is already a world traveler. She has especially enjoyed the three trips we have been able to make back to Illinois to spend time with our families.

Partner With Us

We would love for you to join us in our mission to partner with local pastors to share the love of Christ by building homes for families in need. There are three ways you can get involved. First, consider organizing a group of volunteers to come on a trip to build a home with us. Second, consider becoming a monthly or a one-time donor. All donations are tax-deductible and go to fund our salaries as missionaries. Click the donate button below to give online or send a check to our PO Box. Third, please pray for us. Subscribe to our newsletter below to stay informed of our prayer needs. We are deeply humbled and honored that we have the opportunity to participate in God's story of redemption for families in México, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. Thank you for helping us write this story!

Prayer Requests

• Balance in our roles as parents, spouses, and missionaries.
• Effectiveness in our ministry to volunteer teams and families.
• That our home in Mt. Carmel would sell so we can move on and purchase a home here.
• Comfort as we mourn the loss of Travis' grandmother, Janette Seaton.
• Spiritual refreshment as we come off a very busy Spring and Summer.