Our most recent SARF short-term team just returned to the states after making Maria’s new house move-in ready!  They worked hard all week waterproofing and painting the interior, installing a septic well, finishing the concrete work, installing wiring for electricity, adding windows and doors, and installing the bathroom.  The neighbors were happy that we removed the construction fencing from in front of the building and Maria was astounded at how it looked.  She asked us many times if we would help her in the case that the owner of the land didn’t follow through on his promise of letting her move in.  She said, “it looks so beautiful I’m afraid he will want to sell it instead of let me move in!”

Mari experienced a mix of sad and happy emotions this week as she said that she is blessed to have a new house to work on but sad that she will not be moving in with her sister who passed away in June.  She said she just does not have the words to thank all that Servants has done by bringing people down to make this home a reality, since the engineer working on the house ran out of money and time to finish the project.  She seems to have had a life full of disappointments of people promising things but never following through.  We were sure to let her know that even though people may fail us, God is faithful and He always hears our prayers and takes care of our needs.  The team was astounded to learn that Maria has never had an actual shower…especially one with hot water!  She, like many Guatemalans, has always bathed by pouring water over herself from a bucket.

There are still a couple loose ends that need to be finished in the coming month or two.  We were able to acquire a solar light kit that will be installed on the roof to give her free lighting in her house and a place to charge her cell phone.  Additionally, we were surprised to find a plumbing leak in the bathroom wall that neither we nor the engineer knew about, so we must investigate the cause of the leak and plug it up.  Lastly, we must investigate the necessary steps to be taken to have her electric meter installed by the company and then she will be ready to move in!  Below is a collage of pictures of the team’s work; you can click on them to see them in larger format.  At the bottom is the team video of their week working on Maria’s house and meeting some of our other families served by the SARF ministry.