2012 : Boards, Builds & Kenya
2012 is off to a great start and this year I want to do a better job at keeping everyone up to date with the moments that fill my days! So with the first month of the year behind us, I thought I'd get this underway.
At the beginning of January I hit my next milestone in life and turned 31! Honestly, the years are flying so fast at this point I've given up trying to understand. I figured there was no better way to ring in 31 years than throwing myself down a mountain snowboarding. A group of us from Casas took off to Ruidoso, NM and spent the day on the slopes. This was the 2nd birthday I've ever spent away from my twin sister but they made my day amazing. I can't remember feeling so loved in such a long time! (Chantell and I celebrated together with a cake earlier in the month!)
I built my first house of 2012 for an amazing girl named Martha. She is 26 years old and has lived more lifetimes in those years than most of us will ever begin to imagine. There was something about her that captured me and I couldn't get her story off of my mind. Maybe it was the burn scars covering her arms from when she was in a bathroom that got bombed and she was caught in the middle. Or maybe it was the fact that she spent the entire day while we were building washing hers and her children's clothes by hand and she has to do this every two days. Or maybe it was walking into her home and seeing a bucket filled with water with an extension cord running into it as she showed me that it was the metal plate of the iron heating the water for her to wash clothes. Maybe it was taking a panorama picture of her home on my phone, and going back to my home that night, laying on my couch and dragging my finger across a screen as her wooden pallet walls filled with holes of light flashed by and my solid walls surrounded me. Regardless, Martha stayed with me, she changed me, and every night when I look at the lights of Juárez I thank God that one of those lights is her new home. Please pray for Martha. Although she received a home, her family is still struggling. She might be forced to put her young children into an orphanage so that they can be taken care of because her husband has abandoned her and she has to find work of her own. I sigh a deep breath when I think of how hard her life has been and continues to be. But I rest in the fact that the same God that holds me is holding her and I am beyond grateful that He allowed our world's to collide.
On a completely different note, in about 12 hours I will be on a plane starting a journey to Kenya! Two of my closest friends work with an organization called Nuru International and are living and working in Kenya to help end extreme poverty. I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to go see their work and Africa for the first time. Please keep my travels and all that they are doing in your prayers. I'm sure I'll have great stories and pictures to update you with next time around!
I hope that this finds you in the midst of your own great adventures, amazing stories, and surrounded by a God that loves you! Thank you for making my life possible and sharing in it with me. Much Love, Brittany
(click on the link below for a 360 view inside Martha's home in Juárez, México before receiving her new one.)
 |
Comments