“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…taking the very nature of a servant.”

—Philippians 2:5-6

Christ’s Church of Fountain Hills (CCFH) recently revived a strong congregation tradition with a short-term mission trip to Rocky Point, Mexico.

The three-day trip involved the construction from the ground up of a small home for a Mexican family of four.

It’s estimated that since the 1980s, various crews from CCFH have built 80 small homes in Puerto Peñasco, a seaside fishing village that is a popular vacation spot for Arizonans.

Despite the American influence there, however, many Mexican families live in abject poverty.

Hundreds and hundreds of “homes” consist of scrap metal walls, hunks of discarded wood pieced together, car hoods, old boat hulls or pallets fashioned into makeshift privacy walls.

“It just breaks your heart to see so many families living like this,” said CCFH associate pastor Gary Emmons. “But we can be the hands and feet of Jesus, serving the unfortunate when and where we can.”

The church teams up with 1Mission, a Christian ministry with its roots in the Valley that has a strong presence in the Rocky Point community.

The Fountain Hills crew left town early Friday morning, March 10, and worked that afternoon at the home site in Rocky Point.

The group, totaling 18 in all, then worked throughout the day Saturday and finished the second coat of stucco on the new home Sunday morning.

The crew consisted of some veteran contractors who have made the mission trip many times to young teens who had never been to Rocky Point or worked on a construction site.

Besides Emmons and his wife Kathy, others who participated were Mike and Brenda Scharnow, Ray and Marcia Appel, Cheryl Cavanaugh and her grandson Stephen Broetsky, Heather Baldwin and her two children, Heather and Emma; Gordon Pittsenbarger and his grandson Jacob; Ron Durner, Jon Barber, Richard Borgeson and Harry and Sandy Luker.

Participants paid for trip expenses along with building materials – through 1Mission – to complete the small home (measuring 11 by 24 feet).

All necessary tools and materials are delivered to the site by the ministry. All work is done by hand, from cutting wood with hand saws to mixing stucco in wheelbarrows.

The home is essentially a shell – concrete slab, wood-framed walls, plywood, tar paper, chicken wire and stucco – but it stands as a vast improvement from the small and beat-up trailer where the Barba Garcia family was living.

The new home will provide some much-needed privacy and protection from the elements for the family, consisting of dad Marco, wife Marya; 16-year-old daughter Citlali and Marco, 2.

1Mission works with local families to give them living skills for sustainability. Families also are required to work on other home sites before being awarded their own hand-crafted home.

“It’s been a few years since our church has sent a crew to Rocky Point, but it is definitely a worthwhile experience,” said Mike Scharnow. “It’s an emotional time for our church volunteers as well as for the local family receiving such a blessing.

“About half of our crew had never been on such a trip, so it was a learning experience as well. We all felt blessed to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.”

1Mission believes it is vital that community members become active participants, not passive recipients, in the development of their communities.

1Mission provides the opportunity for local people to get involved and actually be the change that they want to see in their community.

Retired home builder Gordon Pittsenbarger has been on virtually every CCFH trip to Rocky Point, and he thought perhaps this trip might be the last.

He is waiting for knee replacement surgery and admits he’s slowing down a bit.

However, after working side-by-side with the locals, his fellow church members and his grandson, the builder said after a few days’ recovery that he was ready to go again.

“We changed the life of a family to glorify God,” Pastor Emmons said. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”