What started as a conversation about butternut squash soup quickly turned to Jesus and the joy of serving him.  I (Chad) spoke with Pat as Amy and Carol conversed, and our little divine fellowship moment lasted the better part of 15 minutes in the soup aisle!  After we had exchanged contact information and talked about connecting with Pat and her husband sometime down in Orlando, the two ladies thanked us for encouraging them and headed for the checkout.

About 30 minutes later, Amy's phone rang.  It was someone from White's Funeral Home in Burnsville, MN about 10 minutes south of where we were.  It turns out that our two new friends had been very busy since they left us!  They had immediately driven to Carol's church, Faith Covenant Church, and asked the staff there if we could park there for the week.  It turns out the church was hosting a HUGE urban camping event called MUUUCE -  the "Most Unbelievable Ultimate Urban Camping Experience" for approximately 750 JUNIOR HIGH STUDENTS!!!  Instead of saying no, they called the funeral home across the street and gave our information to them, which is why Amy got the call.  In the meantime, we got connected to help and voluteer for the MUUUCE event, so this morning we were able to help them serve breakfast to the 750 sleepover attendees.  Emily and Dillon did an excellent job at putting smiles on the faces of sleep deprived teens, to say the least, as they handed out apple juice, orange juice, and milks.

Shortly after breakfast, we took a ride to one of Burnsville's many parks.  While the kids were playing in the water, we got to spend a bit of time (30-40 mins?) talking with and encouraging a person who was there at the park monitoring the facility.  It continues to amaze me how God is opening divine appointments with opportunities to encourage people along the way.  We went for groceries on Thursday and ended the day today completely taken care of for a parking spot, with the opportunity to encourage yet another few individuals in their struggles and in their walk with the Lord.

Thanks to everyone who makes this possible.  I wish there was a way to tell you how much it impacts people when someone with no time agenda can just sit and listen to whats going on in their life, and then respond with biblical encouragement.  Thank you for granting us that opportunity!

Share5 will be joining with an operating partner to create a new initiative called UthBuild.  Our first objective:  to
build homes for the poor in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico in
October.  We have just returned from two consecutive week-long
building (and fact finding) trips with teams of teens in Rocky Point.  As a result of
those trips, we have chosen to partner with a local AZ church to share this
opportunity with HS teens nationwide for the first time this October
11-16, 2009. 

Participants will need to be in Phoenix, AZ by
the night of October 10th, and will return to Phoenix from Mexico by
6pm on Friday October 16th for return flights or drives home.  If you are
interested, please contact us.  Specific pricing and details will be
coming in May, but feel free to set the dates aside and start
fund raising now!  Each participant will need to raise approximately
$400-$425 plus their transportation costs to and from Phoenix.  The cost includes a share of the house costs, all food, the camp location, and transportation upon arrival in Phoenix. (discounts avail for groups with vans)
Sleeping bags, work clothes, and a tent are required!

Consider
joining us on this great opportunity.  It is a wonderful way to spend
your "5 day" challenge!  (I know its longer than 5 days, but hey, we
have to drive in and out!!!!)

Blessings, and hope you can join us. – Chad

The first is a sermon preached by Chad at New Horizons Church in Southgate, CA just after Valentine’s day (if you wish, you can watch this one in High Definition on Vimeo)

Chocolate, Church, and Jesus from Share5 by WorldWins on Vimeo.

This video is a montage of week one of our trip to Mexico on a building project with Bethany Community Church’s High School Ministry (Tempe, AZ) for spring break.  Hope you enjoy!

What ensued was a modern day miracle.  19 people who were not professional builders in any aspect of the phrase put together their willingness to sacrifice a couple of days with their confidence that in God all things are possible, and when the "dust" cleared, not only did we provide a safe, locking, dry, and comforting home for a family of five, but we were actually able to go beyond and begin a second build, leaving a project at about 60% complete (habitable but not finished yet) for another team.  Imagine that.  God allowed us to go beyond what we had imagined.  He proved once again what it means to have more than enough;  more than enough time, labor, energy, enthusiasm, and love to go around.

So here we are.  6 days from our departure we have returned again to Tempe, AZ.  Our plans were to go on to the other corner of the valley for the week, but as you know, plans change.  We have decided to return to Mexico this week with the second team heading down this Sunday and finish what we started.  We will build another house for Anna and her 4 children, and we will finish the second house that team one started for Renaldo and his family of 9.  One and a half houses is the target.  It will be a new team of 20 or so, and a whole new dynamic.  Different but none the less capable.  Once again, I am expecting that God will work a miracle through the hands and feet of the young people and willing adults that will place themselves as available vessels through which He can be glorified.  We will go down to Mexico, we will offer ourselves as a gift, and we will come home humbled. 

How can I say that so confidantly?  I know the God I serve, and I have confidence in His miracle working power.  May the same be said of you today as you go about bringing forth the miracle he has called you to deliver.  May you be His hands and feet.

See our Flickr album of the Week 1 Mexico Build 2009 – Irma's House and for Week 1- Renaldo's Addition!

Sunday we depart with Bethany High School Ministries for build week 1 of 2 in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) MX.  We will be assisting with the build/completion of 3 homes over 2 weeks for a couple of homeless families.  The home design (originally created by Amor Ministries) is a very simple 20' x10' wood framed structure covered in stucco.  Our version has 3 windows and a locking door, offering these families a security they have never known before in their cardboard and pallet constructed home. The homes are constructed solely by hand, using no power tools or air tools.  Just hammers, hand saws, hand trowels, and sweat of a team of roughly 15 teens and adults.  (see photo courtesy of Amor of a prior group's build) The idea is that if the tools are left behind, you have given the family (who will work with us) the ability to replicate the home for others.  Its the classic adage of teaching a man to fish…

We'll take lots of photos and videos this week, so watch for the uploads after we return.  In the meantime, please be praying for these families and for our team that this experience will deepen not only our compassion for others that have needs we can scarcely imagine, but that it will strengthen our passion to make a difference with our lives.  (see the "Passion" challenge!)

Part I – Keep Breathing Tour

• 27 days on a Christian Rock Music tour
• 17 band members, 2 sound techs, my wife, me, 2 rowdy kids, and a girl named Leanne that became a great babysitter!
• 20 cities
• $642 raised in one night for a pastor in Ghana that was robbed at gunpoint
• 1 broken collarbone, but 1 great testimony for God (Lead singer, The Wedding)
• 1 sad, late night goodbye at In-N-Out Burger
• 20 new friends

Part II – Every Day Since

• Total of 8,229 miles
• over 1,100 gals of gas
• approximately 20 rolls of TP
• countless gallons of Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee
• 1 new GPS unit
• one miracle working mechanic that has blessed us beyond belief
• 2 oil changes, and one on the way
• new airbag suspension in the rear of the RV
• served food in a rescue mission
• prepped and served food in an orphanage in Mexico
• sheetrocked a church stage and bathroom
• dug a footing through almost solid rock
• textured a wall with Grandpa Dick in Mexico
• encouraged a recovering drug addict in Costco's parking lot over lunch
• encouraged a former missionary that God still wants
  to use her
• encouraged a single mother at a laundromat to pursue her faith
• cut the hair of a homeless mother and her child
• put shoes on the feet of poor children (Thanks TOMS)
• attended a homelessness awareness rally
• saw our bank account dip below $10 more than a few times
• never went hungry
• saw God prove his faithfullness throughout
• boarded Air Force One
• acted as bartenders for a alcohol-free singles party on New Years
• have spoken to over 2500 people about Share5
• have booked upcoming speaking engagements at 3 churches 
• have teamed up with a church to build a home in Mexico in March
• will be completing a book on Share5 by March (rough draft!)
• have 4 chapters completed and beginning editorial review!

Thank you for your support.  As we head into next week and our 100th day on the road (February 6th, one day before Chad's birthday!) we thank those of you who have contributed through your prayers, finances, and much more.

We will be speaking in South Gate, CA on Feb 15th, then down to Irvine for an event on the 
16th, after which we will head for Boise, ID for a wedding Feb 21st.  We will be visiting our home church, so if you are in the area, we'd love to see you.  We will be sharing at all three services the weekend of February 21st-22nd, so come see us at Life Church Boise!

If you would like for us to visit and share with your church, and you are either in Boise or between LA and Boise, or Boise and Phoenix, we are available on Wed. Feb 18th (traveling north from LA) and Wed Feb 25th (traveling S to Phoenix)  We will be teaching in Phoenix Sunday, March 1st.  Please contact us for more information.  We'd love to join you.

The time at Rancho De La Paz with Pete and Bev Caruso and their family was a blessing.  We were able to provide them with a completed, solid foundation that is now ready for others to build upon, and we got some good progress and tutoring on the book start.  (Bev is an accomplished author.)  We will definately be back, and the project inspired and taught me a few really neat lessons that I plan to share via blog entries.  Watch for them coming in the next few weeks.

With that, its back to the road…

The Houck Family
Sharing Well with Others…

If things go as planned, we should pour some parts of the footing next week or today.  We are hand mixing the concrete and have high wind today, so those two don't mix well.  (think flour and a big fan..)

New photos on the flickr site!

 We are in Lake Elsinore, CA at a small ranch called "Rancho De La Paz".  We are doing something referred to in the RV world as "WorkKamping", or trading our RV connection (water sewer power) and parking fees for labor and maintenance work.  My task – Dig the foundation trench for a new 10' x 10' chicken house!

The ground is like 70% rock, so fortunately we have a Roto-hammer.  It makes fairly fast work out of busting up the shale.  I am done with the north and east trenches (they were started when I got here…) and will likely get most of the west done tomorrow.  Sounds like the plan is to pour a portion of the footing we will set the cinder blocks on this Saturday!

Why you may ask?  Well, in a word, service.  We want to be available to do whatever God leads us to do, and he led us to ask these folks if they had any needs.  This was there reply.  I found it interesting though, that later as I was out digging, the woman who with her husband owns the property came out and said, "Finally, I have HOPE!"  Now I know that she meant "hope for my chicken coup project to be completed in my lifetime", but it made me think.

If we show up and through our actions are able to give her hope in something she hadn't seen before but was now seeing more clearly, Isn't that the basis of what we are to do as Christians?  We show up, and bring the Hope of Nations with us, to bring hope to the heart of an increasingly hopeless world??? 

Have a great day.  I have a trench to dig!  Watch for photo updates on our Flickr Photos under Chicken Coup Construction!

We spent Thanksgiving in Mexico with Amy's parents, and had the opportunity to spend a day serving the children of the Esperanza Children's Home outside of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico.  They have about 30 kids and 4 full time staff, and we were able to help them with cooking, cleaning, and even some construction work.  Amy's mom Connie did laundry and ironed the girls' school uniforms, while her dad Dick and I applied texture to a new bathroom and kitchen in one of the new guest quarters.  Amy even got to do a number of hair cuts for the girls!  It was a great day, and we left blessed by the smiles and hearts of the children and staff. 

We will be returning in March when we go down to Rocky Point again for a construction project with Bethany Community Church of Tempe, AZ.  (If you are interested in possibly going on this or a similar trip, contact us for more information.)  You can see more photos of our Mexico trip on our Flikr photostream here!