After Building Homes in Guatemala, Church Group Has Deep Appreciation for Their Blessings

Six members of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Wheaton recently returned from a mission trip to Guatemala, where they participated in a Thrivent Build for Habitat for Humanity.

While in the Western Highlands area of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, the team, joined by 12 members of a Wisconsin congregation, built three houses alongside the people who would eventually inhabit them.

The Holy Cross team included Pastor Dave Hanson, church members Connie Hanson, Paul Rom, Bridgette Abella, Becky Abella and Vicki Broberg, and former members Brian and Donna Lubnow. 

After five years of trips to Guatemala, the group was familiar with the site and the people there, Hanson said. “We have returned to Guatemala year after year in part because we now have a relationship with the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Quetzaltenango (also known by its Mayan name, Xela), which has enabled us both to work on new houses and to visit families on whose homes we have worked in the past.

"It is a relationship, moreover, that has helped keep us mindful of God's call to us to serve others, not just in DuPage County, or in Illinois, or elsewhere in the United States, but around the world.  It has been an important complement, therefore, to our other ministries,” He added.

Bridgette Abella said she elected to go on the trip this summer because of her experience with the "warm, generous and happy" Guatemalan people last year. 

"I have always had a desire to do this kind of work. My little sister, Lily, was adopted from China as a baby. I was seven at the time and involved with the decision and process to adopt her. From then on, I knew that it didn’t matter where you were born or under what circumstances—we are all the same. And I wanted to help others that lack opportunity and basic necessities, that we Americans take for granted.”

Broberg said the relationships the Holy Cross team built with the Guatemalan families was the most significant part of the trip. 

“When you can put names and faces on those struggling to have adequate food, water and shelter, suddenly the problems of poverty are much more personal," she said. "For the families we worked with, our time in Guatemala will mean they can move into safe sturdy homes of their own.”

She shared the most memorable part of the experience, “The many acts of kindness shown to us but the people of Guatemala. We came down to help them but they were continually doing things to make the work easier for us. One grandmother, nearly blind, worked with a hoe to smooth the dirt path we used to push wheelbarrow loads of cinder block to the worksite.”

Abella added, “We experienced so much work and emotion over that time period that there wasn’t room for anything else. You discover that if you have family, friends, food, and a roof over your head, you don’t really need anything else to be happy.” 

The team members raised their own funds to go on the trip and Thrivent Builds donated to each member as well. Thrivent also gave a $16,000 donation to the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Guatemala to continue working there.

The group’s one week trip not only included building homes, but also patching up the community, Broberg said. “In order to get the cinder block, sand and gravel to one of our worksites, we had to take all of the materials across a very worn wooden foot bridge. There were already several pretty good sized holes in the bridge but bringing the heavy wheelbarrows across made the situation worse. This bridge was the only means that our family and their neighbors had to access their homes and they didn't have the money to repair it," she recalled.

"There were also no funds coming from the government to make repairs. Our team provided the funds to buy the wood and when the members of the community heard about that, they all came together (women and children too) to do the repairs themselves-- It was a great combination of a little bit of financial assistance and great deal of community spirit and hard work to make things better for the entire neighborhood,” Broberg said.

Abella recalled the same memory and added another, “We could really see the difference we were making through Habitat. A close second was revisiting the family we built with last year. The family consisted of a young mother, her two children, her father and an elderly grandmother. The young mother was so proud of her finished home and we weren’t sure we would ever see each other again. It was great to see the project finished and know they have a safe home.”

Abella hopes to return to Guatemala next year, “I enjoy viewing the world through this type of lens rather than through tourism. It is important to me to continue to make these connections with people all over the world. I would like to go on other Mission trips to different areas of the globe. My mother and I went on these two trips to Guatemala, next year my younger brother Grant will be old enough to go.”

Broberg said that those who made this journey have returned with a deeper appreciation of just how richly they're blessed, "and better understand our responsibility and privilege to share those blessings with our neighbors.”