Building a home for a family in Mexico through Casa de Amor takes about two-and-a-half days. These few days can be an extraordinary experience for those who help build the new home, and more so for the family receiving it.

Families in Mexico receive new homes.



On Friday, Nov. 9, Inez Cruz and her husband, Pascual Morales, saw their prayers for a new home answered as about thirty people from Calvary Chapel Tucson arrived at their makeshift house with wood, cement, hammers and shovels.

“I felt an abundance of joy,” Cruz said, recalling the first time she saw the team. “I couldn’t believe it.”


Cruz and her husband live in Rocky Point, Mexico in a home made from blankets, cardboard, old doors and other pieces of scrapped wood. Their floors are dirt, and their roof is a thick sheet that covers half of the home. The couple and their 15-year-old daughter share one mattress.

Cruz said she and her husband had been praying for a house for six years, but were still thankful for what they had. “We have not purchased life, it is God who gave it to us,” Cruz said. “Who are we going to ask? We can’t ask people. It is (God) who we asked.”

After praying for six years, a local pastor approached 29-year-old Cruz, and her husband, 28, and told them they would be receiving a new home. A few months later Cruz saw that promise become a reality as she watched the floor, walls and roof of her new home being built.

“What I’m receiving is all a blessing from God,” Cruz said. “I am thankful to God for receiving the blessing of a house.”


Though joyful at the sight of her new home, Cruz recalled a time in her life when things did not seem so bright.

Cruz explained that she became pregnant at the age of 15. Unknown to her at the time, the father of her baby was married. Her mother, according to Cruz, was ashamed at what had happened, and treated her and her granddaughter harshly - even requesting that Cruz put a mask on when she left her home.

Her past circumstances, though difficult, have not darkened her outlook on life.

“God is always speaking to us, and we ignore Him, but He never ignores us. Sometimes we start walking the wrong way and we don’t listen to Him, and He’s trying to lead us the right way. He is the one that moves our hearts,” Cruz said.

It wasn’t until three years ago that Cruz began to feel this way. A friend, Rosalva Gutierrez, began to read the Bible to her.

“She said it would be so nice for me to know God. My response was that I would like to know Him,” Cruz said.

She decided to go to church with Gutierrez.



“When I entered, I felt like I was carrying something I couldn’t carry any longer,” Cruz said.

During the service, the pastor spoke about suffering and Cruz began to cry. She said the pastor soon noticed, and he, along with the whole church, gathered around and prayed for her.

“I felt at that moment, ‘this is so beautiful.' The sadness was taken away. When I left, my heart was filled with the love of God. He cleaned my heart.”

Cruz spoke to her husband about her experience, but “he didn’t want to hear it,” she said. She decided to leave a Bible open on their table as she was leaving one afternoon, hoping that he would read it.

“When I came back home, I noticed he was reading the Bible, and he said it was so interesting.”

Since that time, Cruz said her and her husband pray every morning and night together.

“My husband tells me to read the Bible because God is ready to listen to us,” she said.

As Cruz explained the circumstances of her life to five women from the house-building team, all gathered under her blanketed ceiling, she began to cry.


“All that I’m left to express is that I’m thankful to you guys and I’m thankful to God. Look at me now. I’m going to be receiving a little house.”

For more information about home-building projects and how to help, visit Casadeamor.com