Our first house build is complete!
The day started with morning devotions and breakfast before worship & training at 8:00am. Missionary Brandon Buser shared about his family’s journey bringing the Gospel to the Biem tribe in Papua New Guinea by teaching their group about God in their native language and discipling the emerging church. Brandon also explained how he felt called to missionary work in high school, when his studying of God’s word showed him God’s heart for all the nations.
After watching a build safety orientation, the team prepared a few key supplies for the house build, including sunscreen and an Igloo cooler of drinking water and extra water for the team. The team loaded into the van and followed the Radius interns in the truck of building supplies the team loaded the day before to the build site about 35 minutes away.
At the build site, after meeting the lovely family who will own the house, the team unloaded the supplies around the cement pad where the house would be built. Under the direction of the Radius interns and coaching from Pastor Rick, the team started the framing, which involved measuring and sawing planks to size and configuring the pieces to build the frame of the house.
The team then started building the walls with OSB panels and before lunch were able to assemble the four sides of the house plus the frame for the roof.
The family served a delicious lunch of carne con papas (beef with potatoes), arroz (rice) and tortillas. The team also enjoyed the family’s refreshing agua de jamaica (hibiscus tea).
Next some team members worked on the painting while others completed the roof. After assembling the shutter window and door at the front of the house, the final step was to push the entire structure to the desired location on the cement pad.
Once the house was complete, the team prayed for the family and their new home before heading back to Radius Serve.
During the daily debrief, the team reflected on the day and were thankful for how we were able to work together. Despite the team members having limited experience in house builds, each member was keen to learn new skills and work together, often switching tasks to help complete different activities for the build.
We are also thankful for the connections we made with the family, praying for them - in English & (basic) Spanish - often working together with the family members during the build.
Finally, we are thankful for the privilege of building a home for the family and being able to share God’s love with them.
