MY MISSION

A team primarily from St. Als in Tulare built a beautiful home in July. The team, lead by Stephanie and Aaron Gomes, built a home, had a fun VBS and ministered to the women of the community. More highlights coming soon.

September 1-6 two dreams were simultaneously fulfilled. The first, and most important dream come true, Alex, Felicitas and little Jorge received a brand new home. Alex is an associate pastor for Casa de Gracia. This new home is just steps away from the church and visible at all times through their front window. It was dream come true for their family. 

The second fulfilled dream began almost a year ago when Elvie Peña shared with her real estate team that God spoke to her about giving a house to a needy family. She shared the prophetic message with her team at their quarterly retreat. At their next quarterly retreat she reminded them that it was still on her heart to give a house. At the time, she had no idea that it would be in another country!

 Shortly after that, Dave was showing a house they were listing his potential buyers. During that interaction, Dave shared with the Peñas that he gave all his commissions to build homes in Mexico and then leads teams down to build them.  Elvie immediately realized this was the fulfillment of her word from God. In the picture above, Elvie, Jeff and their daughter are giving a house, just as God had placed on her heart to do. 

In November, Chris Jolly, a local realtor with Melson Realty lead a team to build Home of Hope number 12. 

In December our team built a 28x16 sewing complex. During the Easter trip our team used the building for the first time to teach 12 women how to make products which can be sold for an income. During that trip, we also dedicated the facility to Wendy Van Beek and named it Salon de Wendy. 

December 26-30, our team built a home for a widow with 3 young children. Her husband died a year ago while working in the fields. Typically, the home owner buys their own land by making payments, then we come a pay for all building supplies and build the home. In this case, we decided to payoff her land completely so she would be able to better take care of her children.

The first build of the year was by a group from Reedley. They set the record by building the house in just 2.5 days. 

Anna and Misreal received a new home for Easter. They were living in an 8x10 shack with their 3 year old son. In addition to the home, our team provided them with a kitchen table, bed, drapes, shelves, supplies and a water tank. 

The Alonzo Gutierrez family received an new home on Thursday, April 6. The build was led by local builder Chad Howell.

In June we took Visalia First Assembly on their first mission trip to the Village of Hope. It was a really special time because we were able to throw a surprise birthday party for a little girl that is paralyzed from the waist down and give her physical therapy. We also built her family a brand new home making modifications for wheelchair access. It was a very exciting trip to see so many people use their giftings to transform life for this family.  The house was funded by the sale of a home for a good friend, Doug Benc. Doug came with us on the trip and got to give the keys to the new owner.

The Tulare VOH team, led by Aaron and Stephanie Gomes had an amazing trip in June of 2023. This was their 3rd time leading a trip and the majority of the participants were from from St. Als church. They built a very beautiful olive color home. We had many generous donations so the team was able to build a very nice home and equip the family will. 

In early November, Chris Jolly lead a team from Milson Real Estate.

Gerado (16) and Laura (17) got the greatest Christmas present this year, a new home for their little girl. This Home of Hope was funded by Philip and Ginger Pierschbacher who let me sell their home in Tulare and downsize in Visalia. They were absolute superstars on our trip, helping with construction and then giving keys to the young couple. We had extra money so on the day of dedication one of our team members, Grace Dolton, took the couple on a shopping spree to buy everything they needed to equip their new home.  They were very humbled and surprised as they kept shyly asking if they could have different items. In all we provided about $2,500 worth of food, baby items, furniture, clothing, and daily necessities.  It was so fun to show this couple what a great big loving and caring God we have.

Anna and Misreal received a new home for Easter. They were living in an 8x10 shack with their 3 year old son. In addition to the home, our team provided them with a kitchen table, bed, drapes, shelves, supplies and a water tank. 

This Easter I had the honor of leading a team of 120 from Radiant Church in Visalia. This was the 25th anniversary of my family leading mission trips to the Ensenada. We had a VBS, women's ministry, sports ministry, distributed food, sewing and more. We had two construction projects. This one was two Homes of Hope located on the campus of Casa de Gracia, the church we built in 2019. These two homes will be used for families in crisis situations. We have noticed that many men are getting hooked on drugs and then abandoning their families. We plan to make many more of these two home apartments so that we can be there for people in their time of greatest need. 

This Easter, in addition to building the crisis housing, we build the second phase of the Casa de Gracia Community Center. This new building on the right is a 40x36 foot meeting and dining area. It will be used during church services for children's church, but throughout the week for feeding meals, hosting missionaries, after school programs and more. Phase three will be in the location of the trailer and will include a full commercial kitchen and offices on the bottom floor and dorm rooms and restrooms on the second floor. We plan to build Phase 3 during Easter of 2025.