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Men at Work build house in Tijuana

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Contributed by: Teresa Howell on 5/6/2008

Nine members of Men at Work, a men's group from First Presbyterian Church, Newhall, were hard at work building a house in Tijuana the weekend of April 18-20.

When the men arrived at the work site Friday afternoon, they found a cement slab with four walls, the skeleton of a house.

By nightfall, the men had completed the framing for the roof. By Sunday morning when they left for home, the men had completed a second coat of stucco, finishing the house.

Even though their time in Mexico was short, the men still took time to get to know the people where they were building the house.

All nine men - Jack Irwin, Tim Knox, Tom Bailey, Art Moore, Ron Ledbetter, Jeff Gilbert, Scott Bullock, Jay Headley and John Favalessa - exchanged stories with the family and played soccer and shared Bible stories with the kids.

Irwin characterized the whole experience as overwhelming.

"It was great," he said. "Here we helped a family in desperate need, andat the same time got to know the people and kids. I have been on a number of building missions, and I never get tired of them. I feel that I am helping people, a family at a time."

Irwin related that the family consisted of a grandmother, daughter with two children and a male cousin.

The family survived on the cousin's messenger salary of $120 a month.

Since it was Bullock's first time to work on a building mission, he was shocked at the poverty.

"I was proud of the house we completed, but it was not a house you would find in the U.S," he said. "It was one room, about 11x22 feet, with a cement slab. The family was grateful, and I felt good."

Next spring, Men at Work will be in another Tijuana neighborhood building a house, according to Irwin.

The men were working in Tijuana under Amor Ministries, a nonprofit group that builds homes in neighborhoods throughout Mexico. In making the trip, Irwin explained that the men's group was re-establishing its goal to do mission work.

For many years, the men went down to Mexico to build homes, and then the men quit going as a group because the church started sending families down.

"The men quit going as a group. Now we have re-established the Men at Work mission. The men's group plans on going down at least once a year to build homes," Irwin said.

The congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, Newhall, is initiating a new wave of mission projects, and the building trip taken by the Men at Work is the first step.

The group is also planning to go on building missions closer to home.

"I can't describe how I felt when the house was finished. I can't wait until we get out and build another house," Bullock said.

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