Photo courtesy of Debbie Smith

Workers from Belmont Christian Church make progress on a house they worked on during last summer's mission trip. Each house built has three rooms and no running water or electricity.

Photo courtesy of Debbie Smith

Kayla Smith (left) and Hannah Lester paint siding during their trip last year to Ensenada, Mexico. They are joined by David (far left), the son of the family they were building the house for.

| Mary Hardbarger

mary.hardbarger@roanoke.com, 381-1679

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Temperatures can spike as high as the triple digits in Ensenada, Mexico, especially on a mid-July afternoon.

To work in the sun, one might imagine wearing as little as possible and looking forward to a long shower at the end of the day. But that won't be possible for Brandon Craig and his team of volunteers.

On July 18, Craig, the youth minister at Belmont Christian Church, will lead eight adults and 25 high school students on a mission trip to build houses in Ensenada. Because of local customs and a scarcity of water, they must wear long pants and shirts and will be allowed only five-minute showers every other day.

Despite the conditions, many of the students said they are excited for the upcoming adventure.

Amy Keith, a rising senior at Auburn High School, is joining the group for a second time and said she isn't bothered by the local customs.

"I just find an old pair of pants and I'm ready to go," she said.

This trip will be the church's fifth to Ensenada. The goal is to build three homes during a weeklong stay at Campo de Suenos -- meaning "field of dreams" -- base camp.

Located about 85 miles south of San Diego, Calif., Ensenada differs drastically from the California city. Although the city is a popular Mexican tourist destination, its core area is poor, and families are in need of housing and other basic necessities.

"It feels like you're on the other side of the world," Craig explained.

On a typical day of the mission, the volunteers eat breakfast and walk the half-mile out to the ocean shore for devotions. They are then divided into groups and loaded into vans. Each group has a local resident as its supervisor.

"In the past 20 years that this mission has been up and running, 700 homes have been built," Craig explained. "The job of the nationals is to present us the plan and we follow it. ... It's cookie-cutter to them."

The houses built are 16 feet by 20 feet with three rooms and no electricity or running water.

On site, the missionaries are often joined by local families who are eager to help and interact with the visitors.

"My favorite experience of last year's trip was playing soccer with the kids," Keith, the Auburn senior, said. "The fact that I get to help people less fortunate than I is so rewarding."

The houses are built in four days, and on the fifth day, they are cleaned and locked.

"On the last night, Thursdays usually, we present the family with a key to the house," explained Dana Huffman, who will also be attending the trip this summer. "I've never experienced anything like that before."

The group members join hands and pass the key around. It ends in the hands of Craig, who blesses it. Then the family opens the door to their new home for the first time.

The trip will cost each person $850. Each is responsible for raising his or her own money while the church's missions committee will pay $4,300 toward each house built. According to Craig, the students work hard to raise the money and, so far, everyone who has gone has returned.

"I actually take more students with me to Ensenada than I do to Kings Dominion" amusement park, Craig said.

Huffman will be joined by his family -- wife, Lynne, son, Ethan, and daughter, Taylor -- on this summer's trip. In 2007, he went with his son and has never forgotten the impact it had on him.

"There's hardly a day that goes by that I don't think about the trip," Huffman said. "Once you're there and in the moment, everything else in your life really becomes secondary."