SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (ABP) — Six families in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, have new homes, thanks to volunteers from a North Carolina church.
For Rosalía Rojas, 33, the two-bedroom house is a dream come true. “We had lost all hope of having our own house because we didn't even have a lot to build a house on,” Rojas said. “We were wandering aimlessly from house to house.” The last “house” her seven-member family lived in was nothing more than an 860-square-foot shack without any interior walls.
During 10 days in June, 40 volunteers from the choir of First Baptist Church of Asheville, N.C., participated in a project called Sing and Build. They built houses by day and gave concerts by night.
“It really made an impression on Bolivian nationals that a team from America would come and work that hard to make their dreams come true,” said John Derrick, liaison for the partnership between Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Habitat for Humanity.
First Baptist of Asheville has a long history of involvement with Habitat for Humanity. It also has a large, 19-choir music ministry. “We felt like the project picked us,” said Clark Sorrells, the church's music minister and trip leader.
The church financially underwrote part of the trip, with fund raising and personal contributions covering the remaining cost. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 67 and started rehearsing as a choir two months prior, practicing previously performed songs and learning five songs in Spanish.
Sorrells says his group found music to be a powerful mission tool. “Singing connected us emotionally and spiritually with the folks in a profound way,” he said.
Rebecca Hix, Habitat's associate director for U.S. church relations, agreed. “Every time they opened up their mouths to sing, God's love was proclaimed powerfully,” she said.
Because of the mission team's size — most Habitat groups are less than 15 people — the team received national television coverage in Bolivia, Hix said. “The word was spread far and wide,” she said. “This team that went to one place to build a few houses inspired a whole country.”
Sing and Build was a pilot project in the partnership between Habitat for Humanity and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. First Baptist of Asheville set an example for future Habitat-CBF projects, according to Hix.
“This church represented Christian Americans in a perfect way,” Hix said. “CBF should be proud of this church.”
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