Summer 2009
1) Joanna and Lacho
I have only met Lacho once, but he seems like a good man. Joanna is one of our local staff and I know her much better. She is a strong Christian and works with us throughout the school year helping teach classes at Club 121 (our half day school supplement). She was the first (of the summer families) to save her portion of the housing costs. And so we built for her and Lacho first.
But they will not be married until this weekend (9-5-09) and so are waiting to move into the house till after the wedding. Their choice to wait to have children till after they are married is by no means the norm in Croc and it was great to get to support this decision with the blessing of a house.
Joanna has had my banana bread and loves it. After they move in she wants me to teach her how to make it.
2) Idolina
I’m a bum and cannot recall the name of Idolina’s daughter or husband (though I do remember that horror and action movies are the dad’s favorite movie genres). The family used to live in Pesqueria but had wanted to move to Croc for some time (several of Idolina’s siblings live in Croc). They had purchased land here, but could not afford to build.
Idolina and her husband are both very positive about Christ. Idolina enjoys reading the Bible and going to Bible studies. But the family isn’t really interested in going to church. They have had some bad experiences with the hypocrisy and judgmental attitudes that can be found in many churches.
3) Donna Marta’s Patio
Down in Parselis (the poorest neighborhood in Croc) Donna Marta serves free lunches during the week. She has petitioned the local government to help with providing the food and YouthFront for some of the other supplies. 
Donna Marta prepares the food. But the families that eat there used to have to eat in an open spot of ground in front of Donna Marta’s house. Here both sun and rain made things uncomfortable, so we built a 12’x12’ roof with tin Donna Marta and Pepe (her ex husband, see spring building) had. Also Pepe helped us build a small retaining wall of concrete block (unlike us, he knows how to lay block) to avoid problems with runoff.
4) Olga and Juan-Carlos
This couple also has three children (perhaps four, I can’t tell if one of the boys is her son or nephew—they live on the same land as part of their extended family), but I still do not know all their names. Juan-Carlos is currently splitting his living time in Croc and in the town his parents are from. He is doing this as he tries to find work so he doesn’t have to spend as much money on transportation (though you could tell the whole family misses him while he is away for days at a time). Olga works as a nanny in Pesqueria. The family is in love with a little, almost poodle, dog. They walk it twice a day and dote over it. The two daughters recently received two very young pups (still not whined) that they adore. The son, Juan-Carlos (after his father), has a knack for drawing that Olga is very proud of.
Olga has an inspiring faith. She shared with Peluchi and I how hard her childhood was (her dad was a drunk and their mom ran out on them, the kids were left alone and often struggled for food). She said after this she had a lot of questions about why all of these bad things had happened to her and her siblings who were good people. She said she was given a Bible and started reading it with these questions. Within the Bible she found answers to her questions and has come to faith in Christ, though like many in Croc doesn’t want to attend church because of bad experiences.
5) Maria Guadalupe, Jose, Alfredo, and Pancho
Maria and Jose are very kind. Both Alfredo and Pancho seem a little shy around big groups, but at the same time they want attention. While we were working on the house they would often peek out from a corner, call my name, and then run away. And even now when I visit, they shout my name and are excited to see me, but once the whole family (this family also shares land with the extended family) is around they shy from conversation.
6) Jesus, Angelica, Cecilia, Angeles, and Jesus (Jr.)
This family asked for a house years ago, but were rejected because they already had a house with a decent floor and roof (though the walls, made of wood, had lots of cracks). Since then though our standards for who needs a house have changed and also their family has grown (with another member on the way too). So early this Spring we approved them for a house. But the family saved, but not on pace to make the spring groups, in fact not even on pace to make the summer. They had a little put away every time we stopped by; but they still had just under half with only two groups remaining in the summer.
Christy and I stopped by to try to figure out whether they were going to be able to come up with the money (often families can take out a loan or ask family members if they need money fast). The whole family was there (normally Jesus is gone at work during the day). They talked about how they had struggled to save (not buying cokes and such sometimes so they could save the money) but they couldn’t get enough. Jesus’ brothers were out of work, but he was going to ask his work for a loan. He wasn’t sure if they would let him take one.
Christy and I had decided before the meeting to not budge on the amount they needed for the house (obviously the money is not critical to us, but we made other families in more dire housing sacrifice for it and we felt this family, if it had to, could wait till next March—though this would be a shame. The greatest weakness of their current house was the walls and that in the winter the house would be very drafty. I hated the thought of not getting the house done before winter).
As we talked I hoped very much that they would be able to get the money. Angelica was nearly in tears about it and I was deeply moved. I offered that we could all pray now for God’s help and that Christy and I would continue to pray for this. They agreed to pray and by the end Angelica was crying and Jesus was very moved.
To be honest I was a little nervous to pray for such results, I had some fear about what would happen if the money didn’t come (and this is not normally like me, I think I felt strange to that the surface problem was just a couple hundred dollars—something I could have given myself. But I realized the point was that they invested in their own house).
Well the group that was scheduled to build their house and still the family didn’t have money. We continued to pray. After the first work day the family came to the church with the money (mostly gathered by the help of their families)!
God had come through! And Jesus talked to me while I was visiting their house a couple of weeks ago about how much this had meant to him—that we had all prayed together and that God had answered our prayer!
The two girls, Cecilia and Angeles are very energetic, happy girls who also seem to be very sweet. Jesus Jr. is a little tank of a boy. He is constantly banging, climbing, and spinning everything within his reach. Jesus Sr. loves his children very much and seems to care for both them and Angelica well.
7)Tono and Rosie
You might remember this family from the summer of 2008 when we originally built for them. You might also remember my post from the last week in March 2009 when 
their house was torn down (see Antonio and Rosie’s House about 3/4 down the page at http://jakeincroc.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/stories/ ) . The family was forced to hastily move into a shack made of materials they were able to quickly strip off their old house (as you see pictured above, they used tin for some of the walls).
In July, the mayor gave small plots of land to each of the families that lost houses during the tear down. And so with our last group we were able to build for Tono, Rosie, and their two children.
Tono works at a distribution center. A few months ago things were so slow there that he only had a day or two of work a week. Now he works extended hours for six days a week! Each extreme has been far from ideal for the family, but they are making it. The family enjoys their dogs and also have chickens (though these are for eggs and eating).
Spring 2009
1) Verro, Jesus (not pictured), Vanessa, Juanito
Verro had her daughter Vanessa when she was a young teenager. Vanessa is physically disabled. Verro does an amazing job caring for her, including riding the bus with her each day to take her to physical therapy and school. Vanessa has a beautiful smile and loves to play games. Whenever the family comes by the house Vanessa wants play with blocks. I stack some of the scraps of wood projects I have been working on and then Vanessa with glee tears them down. Juanito also likes this game, but his true love is cars of all 
kinds. He constantly asks me where is my blue truck (these are often the first words he speaks to me). And frequently he will then ask me where each of the other Americans’ vehicles are. He has several hot wheels as well that he enjoys playing with (and if you can make good enough engine revving/break squealing noises he will let you join in with him).
Jesus (who I believe is the father of Juanito?) has been a consistent presence with the family since I met them in March. He is a little slow in conversation and has a timid nature. The whole family loves my chocolate chip cookies. They even invited me over one time to make the cookies at their house with them.
2) Rehab Center
This is a locally run ministry to men in the Monterrey area struggling with drug addiction. It is located in Ladrilla, about ten minutes from Croc. Currently a couple of my friends from Croc are in the program and speak very highly of it. Its program runs about four months and includes both spiritual and job training. This past spring we built a 18’x34’ building for them to use as classroom space.
3) Pepe
Pepe lives next door to his ex-wife and also next to one of his daughters and his grandson (Carla and Sergio, who I helped build a house for in the summer of 2007). Although divorced, he maintains a good friendship with his ex-wife and takes an important role in the family, particularly with Sergio. The grandfather and grandson (who just turned two) are nearly inseparable.
Summer 2008
Week 1
Rrego, Verro, Fernando, Daniel
This family lives in Parsallies (the poorest part of Croc) on a street with many of the husband’s family members (two of whom I’ve helped build houses for in the past). Rrego works as welder. He meet Verro when he was younger and worked as a clerk in a store she went to. Verro told us has always dreamed of living in a concrete house.
Week 2
Juan-Jose, Vicki, & Jose
This family shares a plot of property with Juan-Jose’s sister and her family on main street. Juan-Jose moved to Croc about eighteen years ago when it was very small. Before that he had jumped around from place to place. He met Vicki about seven years ago and it was love at first sight—they married within a week! They have nicknamed their only son oso, which means bear, because of the he acts—especially when coke is around. Rrego works as a televison repairman now because of a bad back, but he also has worked as a carpenter and knows how to make metal doors and windows. He has never stepped foot in a church his whole life.
Week 3
Olga
Olga lives behind her daughter’s family. Before we built for her, she and her youngest son were living in a wooden shack with a large blue tarp making up one wall. Her son, 19, works at a glass factory in Apodaca (a nearby town). Like most people in Croc, he continues to live with his family until he gets married. Olga has five daughters and five sons, serveral on whom live in Croc still. In fact we built for one of her son last summer. The teen staff (John and Rodolfo are working with serveral teenage males, they do work projects, activities and bible studies all focused towards developing strong Christian men in the town) worked to build her a bed frame as well.
Week 4-5
Ieday
This is a picture of Ieday’s Mom (Maria) and Ieday’s children. All of them including Ieday, with Ieday’s dad were living together in a one room house. We built one of our houses conjoined (sharing a wall) with the pre-existing house for Ieday and her children. We had a small group week four (only a dozen I think including many children), so we only poured the floor that week and then we finished it with our next group.
Week 5
Josh
Drew lead construction for this house, while I finished Ieday’s house; so I don’t know them very well. But Drew has told me that both of the parents work full time (the wife at a resturant, I’m not sure about Josh). Their son (Ashle) has had chronic respiratory problems, which were exacerbated by the mold in their privous house, so they had moved back in with their parents, but there were a lot of siblings there. They were happy to move into their new concrete house.
Week 6
Antonio and (d)Rosie
This family was living in a two rooms that were pieced together of random wood and pallets. We tore down the front (and most dilapitated) of the rooms and put in our house (which is free standing, but has roof overhang and a concrete path to the other room). Antonio has to travel very far for his work–a job at a large distribution center for a company similar to Walmart here. Their daughter has just entered the first grade and according to her mom is really excited to go somedays and doesn’t want to go at all some days. They have a single cat who just had kittens, but are pretty nice to animals in general so several of the neighbors animals are ussally around their home.
Week 7
Gloria
This week a family group of six with a lot of construction experience worked one remodeling Gloria’s house. Gloria has two children and her husband is in jail. The family that had come down has known Gloria and her husband Jose for many years. They worked mostly by themselves, while the summer staff and I worked on completing Antonio’s house (which had been slowed by rain the previous week still needed its second door put in, mudding finished, the roof, electrical, and paint).
Week 8
Ana
Ana and her husband (who works late, I only got to talk to him once) live with their daugher and Ana’s elderly father. The older man’s mind and control of body functions is starting to go. It is hard for the rest of the family to be in a small house with him. So we built a house in their front yard for Ana’s father. Ana was incredibly grateful to have us help their family and her father was also exicted about the house.
