By Lisa Mitchell
Patriot Editor

Kutztown resident Scot Guldin, a financial consultant for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, will give a presentation at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Mertztown, on Dec. 13 after the worship service at 10 a.m.

His life philosophy is to everyday, “strive to make a positive influence on the people I meet or speak to.”

Guldin was one of 27 Thrivent Financial representatives for a Thrivent Builds trip Oct. 16 to 25, helping construct for Habitat for Humanity’s new Villa Esperanza or Village of Hope in El Salvador.

Representing Pennsylvania, Guldin was chosen out of about 160 applicants in the state. Thrivent Financial sponsored the trip.

Wanting to help those less fortunate than himself and experience another culture, Guldin received more than he anticipated.

“I went there to help people, but I think when I came home, I felt more helped,” he said. “The feeling you get when you help someone, you get so much more back.”

Guldin feels the experience changed him, making him rethink his work schedule and re-examine his priorities. He learned more about myself and recommends this type of trip to anyone.

“The whole experience was new and amazing,” he said.

An interesting aspect of the experience, he said, was that every work day was started with a 45-minute scripture reading in both English and Spanish.

“It really hit me, realizing that faith is an important part of our lives and it can impact our lives so deeply in everything we do,” said Guldin. “They openly talked about (their faith), while here, we go to church but we don’t openly talk about it.”

Guldin liked that openness.

Some of the challenges included living in another culture, not knowing Spanish and working hard in 97 degree heat and humidity everyday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Construction was conducted with such tools as wheelbarrows and shovels. No heavy equipment was used.

They lived and worked side-by-side with the families who would live in the newly constructed homes.

The 20-by-20-foot block homes have four rooms with a covered back porch. While small in comparison to American homes, Guldin said this fits the lifestyle of the Salvadoran families.

“They had very little but they had their families and their faith. Because of that, they were just very happy about everything,” said Guldin.

According to www.habitat.org, in addition to a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor, called sweat equity, into building their Habitat house and the houses of others. Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with affordable loans. The homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments are used to build still more Habitat houses.

The experience was not all work. They visited the Mayan ruins, toured a coffee plantation and shopped at the village market. They ate meals with local families, played soccer with the local masons and played with the local children.

Village of Hope is a holistic neighborhood that will offer families in need access to land, a house, basic services and social infrastructure such as green areas and a community center. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans committed $1.3 million to Habitat for Humanity El Salvador and encouraged Thrivent members to volunteer.

For more about Thrivent Builds, visit www.thriventbuilds.com.

For more information about Habitat for Humanity, visit www.habitat.org.

Contact Scot Guldin about scheduling a presentation on his trip or for more information about going on a similar trip, call Guldin at 610-683-3564 or e-mail Guldin at scot.guldin@thrivent.com.

For more information, visit the trip’s blog at

http://www.travelpod.com/

travel-blog/

thriventbuilds/1/tpod.html.