March 21, 2016 We had the great opportunity to meet with Familias Unidas and get to know Marisa, head of the program. She explained how Familias Unidas got started by building concrete houses for those families who had casas de cartón (cardboard). To me, it’s incredible how a program like this came to be just starting with a few houses and now Familias Unidas has around 25 years running. We had the chance to paint at two houses and meet with the nicest people. Even though we were trying to serve them by painting their house, they were serving us! It really opened my eyes to see how happy people can be even without having certain technology or not having a big house, but by having family and friends that’s all a person needs. Towards the end of the night the kids invited us to play soccer with them, and just seeing the joy they had in playing a simple game even though they had a lot of financial problems was an amazing experience. The most inspiring part of the day was when a lady named Krystal explained her situation to us. Her Husband, even though he was living in the United States almost until he graduated, got deported. She told us of how she had to drive 3 hours to go to work, and how he was working to take care of his family and working to get his papers. They had no family nearby to help them, but they are working so hard every day to make it work. They don’t take anything for granted. Iit hit me so hard that I worry about so many little things that in the long run don’t matter. Her story touched me to want to work as hard as I can and not take opportunities for granted.