Montana church group to build houses in Guatemala

Building three homes in San Raimundo, Guatemala, created more than a dry place for three families to sleep. It built a team of 34 high-school students and 14 adults and a hammer-and-nails understanding of another culture.

Most of our kids our high-school kids who go down there, they have never seen anything like it. Theyve never seen families living like this, said Jo Ruby, a volunteer at First Presbyterian Church in Missoula. Some of the houses Ive seen them living in are wood pallets pieced together with blankets shoved in between them. In Guatemala, with 70 percent poverty, I think they will see even more of that when we go down there. They really see how the rest of the world is living.

Ruby has gone with her church youth group on previous building trips to Mexico, where she watched the attitudes of the people theyd gone to serve change the students.

They think you have to be happy with material possessions, and when you get down there, the families are incredibly generous, and they want to cook for you, they want to thank you, Ruby said. Theres lots of tears and they want to hug the kids all the time.

On one of Rubys trips to Mexico, the family they built the house for had teenage daughters.

They brought out all their jewelry and they wanted to share it with the girls, Ruby said. I think it makes (the students) want to serve in other ways when they come home, not just in Mexico or Guatemala, but to go out into the world.

The 2012 contingent, from the First Presbyterian Church youth group and community members, left Saturday to build three homes in one week.

We will be building the houses from start to finish, said Ezrah Schmeelk, director of youth ministries. The ground is usually somewhat level. If not, we level it we go from leveling the foundation to installing the windows and putting up the roof.

While the trip is centered on the building project, the focus will be on building relationships, Ruby said.

We like to say if you are just going down to build a house, you arent accomplishing much, Ruby said. Its about being around the families.

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Montana church group to build houses in Guatemala