Building a Memory

I believe in building houses in Mexico. For my community service project I deiced to go on a mission trip with my church to go build houses in Mexico. To me at the time I thought that this would be the easiest and most exiting project of to do; little did I know of the life changing impact that it would have on me.

When I first arrived at the campsite I was disappointed there was only dirt and two fire pits. After we set up the tents we went to work. When I first saw the family and there living conditions I felt guilty for coming here only to fulfill my volunteer hours. The family was living in a wooden shack no bigger than my room, and it had two huge holes in there roof, they only had one small mattress and three kids they eat on a table that look like it was make from wood scraps. They had no bathroom but instead had to share an outhouse with there neighbors. The family was so kind what little they had they would share with us one day; I remember that Leo the middle son came to me and gave me his only toy; that alone almost brought me to tears how could a 8 year-old kid with so little give up his toy to a stranger he may never see again. During the last day of construction the whole family was helping us and we finally finish I felt the warm feeling that your supposed to feel when you do a kind deed. All that was left was to bless the house and say good bye. When the deacon came and recited the prayer the mother of the family broke up in tears, the sight of her crying made me want to bawl too but I fought back the tears. When the blessing was done I thought the hardest part was over but I was wrong next came the good byes. The family individually said good bye to me first Isadora the littlest then Leo who asked me if he would ever see me again, I didn’t want to lie to him nor did I want to disappoint him so all I could answer was maybe as I choked on my words and fought back the tears . Then came Roberto Jr. who could only say bye before he started to cry the two parents said good bye and we exchanged hugs.

As I left Mexico I realized that there is more than showing up to volunteering I felt the warmth of a good deed a warmth a never felt before. Though I helped build the family a house the help me see what volunteer work is all about.