BLOOMINGTON — Eliseo Valdes wishes you weren’t looking at his face for this story. He’d rather you see the faces of the poor people he has come to love so much in El Salvador.

It is a relationship that was forged a year ago when he traveled to San Luis Talpa with a group from Holy Trinity Parish in Bloomington to build homes through the Fuller Center for Housing. Despite early tragedy — the death of David McKinney, their prayer leader — the group was able to build the first fourplex in a community that eventually will have 60 houses and a community center.

“I knew Dave — not well, but I knew him to be a deep and devoted Christian. When I started working on the project, it was for him,” said Valdes, a member of St. Patrick’s of Merna Parish in Bloomington.

“He really wanted to help the poor,” Valdes recalled. “He started his dream. When he died, I felt that we were an extension of him, because he really wanted to do it.”

Founded in 2005 by Millard and Linda Fuller, who also started Habitat for Humanity, the Fuller Center asks families to contribute 350 hours of “sweat equity” toward the construction of their new homes. Born in Mexico, Valdes speaks Spanish and he got to know the people as they worked together to form and stack concrete blocks.

“When I was helping them, I saw where they lived,” he said. “I knew that they were going to be improving their lives.”

That love for the Salvadorans, as well as his ability to communicate with them and willingness to work hard, has taken Valdes back to San Luis Talpa three times since last June. He will return again in September to spend two weeks preparing building materials for the next Fuller Center “build.”

“When I’m down there, the Lord takes care of me,” Valdes said. “It’s unbelievable. I’m able to work 10-12 hours and get up in the morning, no pain, no nothing, and continue. It’s the Spirit working. The more I give of myself, the more I get. I feel so blessed that I can continue to go back.”

He also feels blessed by his association with the Salvadoran people, who have offered him everything from a place to stay to meals to hugs.

“What I’m doing now is juggling my mission trips and coming back and working enough to keep my business going and plan another mission trip,” he said.

The reason is simple.

“I just fell in love with helping the poor,” Valdes said.