“She came to me crying and she couldn’t even get the words out. I thought something terrible had happened. But then she told me that they were approved for a Home of Hope! I joined in with her crying as I hugged her.” Brenda De la Paz, recounting a special moment with her 14 year old granddaughter on February of 2020.
After 6 months of paperwork, the De la Paz family learned they were going to receive a Home of Hope. Everlin, the oldest daughter of the family, was ecstatic. The concrete slab was poured and the anticipation grew as the wood and supplies for the house were dropped off the second week of March. Tragically, the number of cases and general awareness of COVID-19 was rising in the US and Mexico. Stay at home orders were put into place and quarantine began. In March just before our Homes of Hope staff and volunteer team could build their home, we were forced to shut down.
In March, as Covid-19 forced everything to come to a halt, the supplies for their future home were picked up and saved for use on a later date. The De la Paz family settled back into waiting for their home to be built.
As they waited, they lived in a makeshift- one room structure with a roof compiled of metal sheets and leaky tarps. Israel, the father, was able to continue on in his job as a truck driver during the quarantine, but that meant leaving his wife and 3 children alone for long stretches of time. Israel shared, “When I was working and my family was in the provisional housing, I struggled with anxiety. I would call my wife everyday and make sure everything was okay. When I checked the weather forecast for Tijuana and saw that it rained I would call her to make sure that the roof wasn’t leaking. Sometimes my father in law would be able to help, or I would have to fix things when I got home from two weeks of trucking. But once I got home we were all squished together. My kids didn’t have any space for their homework, nor my wife had space to cook. I felt that my family was better off with me away, and not taking up their space.”
On September 7th, after a six month pause, a team of our full time YWAM SDB staff dawned their new Homes of Hope facemasks and began the construction of the De la Paz family home. Following COVID-19 protocols and safety measures, our staff were so excited to be hammering, painting, framing, and building again! As we stood in a circle, passing the keys around, the beauty of the moment was tangible. When Israel and Perla were handed the keys to their brand new home, with tears of gratitude they said “God’s timing is perfect.” When asked what she was looking forward to the most about having a home, Perla had tears in her eyes as she shared, “The thing I am most excited about is our family being together, and everyone having their space. I don’t want my husband to feel that way anymore.”
WANT TO HEAR MORE STORIES OF HOPE?
Join us for a complimentary online event,
An Evening of Hope, on November 19th at 5:00 pm, PST!
We could all use some extra hope right about now and here at YWAM San Diego/ Baja we are still very much in the business of hope, even in these crazy times! To that end, we are so excited to announce that we will be hosting a second Evening of Hope on November 19th at 5pm PST. During our time together, we will hear from special guests Ken Blanchard, Steven Curtis Chapman and Bob Goff, as well as hearing from some of our YWAM SDB staff members about how we are finding hope here in Baja Mexico and how you can partner with us to see hope abound! We had a fabulous time sharing with you at our last Evening of Hope and we are looking forward to another evening with fresh content and new special guests!
