On Tuesday, June 15, a team of 8 of us from Jedidiah were able to go down to the eastern edge of Tijuana to help a few families get a step closer in the process of their house becoming a home.

We started our journey by meeting Jeff Ahlberg from Amor at a Carl’s Jr. near the border (which is Amor’s weekday check-in point) and continued our day by driving through the Otay border entrance and then directly to the community of Fraccionamiento del Trabajo in Eastern Tijuana.

Immediately after our arrival to what was already the shell of a house with one coat of stucco belonging to the Mancera Rosas family, Jeff (pictured below) quickly showed us the ropes to mixing what would become the stucco that would be added as a second coat to the house. Jeff said that there we were going to start with this particular double house, and if we were able to finish that, we could continue the same task on a single house that was nearby. He did also mention that we would be the “A-Team” if we were able to get them both done.

Our team immediately hit the workload hard by mixing the stucco, loading it onto our hawks and trowels and applying it to all 4 walls. Our physical features enabled some of us to get high ground and others to get low ground on the walls. Jeff definitely set our team up for success by explaining the process well and helping a lot along the way.

Just after noon, we had finished the second coat of stucco on the first house. We took a quick break for lunch and were able to get to hear a little bit more from Jeff about the work Amor does and why they do it the way they do. Jeff told us that next week, there will be 1,300 people down building houses through Amor. That is a remarkable number!

We then drove about an eighth of a mile to the second house belonging to the Romero Martinez family and started working on it right away. The family who we were working on the house for was watching us work while the men were a huge help with the stucco job. You could feel their excitement and thankfulness. Cross-culturally, a smile says so much and anytime you made eye contact with them, a smile automatically followed.

After a few hours, that process was done and the sense of giving that the whole Jedidiah group felt started to set in a little bit. We drove away hoping that the actions of the day will be long-lasting for the families they directly impact.

From there, we made our way to the Tecate border entrance, but not before stopping for some authentic and incredible fish tacos.

Today, the soreness is a small reminder of the impact we hope we had as a collective group and of how much we can do. Organizations like Amor are available and ready to take a trip for a group of your friends or co-workers to allow you to serve others.

An old proverb that was posted on our Facebook and Twitter accounts today said “There is no beauty but the beauty of action.” Jedidiah is committed to take action by giving away 5% of our sales, 5% of our time and 5% of our clothes. Amor received some of that time and will receive a check for 5% of our sales after the second quarter of this year ends. After yesterday, we couldn’t be more confident that it will be used for great things. Keep your eye out for “How YOU Made A Difference: Amor”.

For more information about Amor, please visit www.amor.org.