We've Moved!

Our Living Waters for the World mission team now on Facebook!  We also have a new home for our blog.   You will find news about our trip preparations on the Facebook page and in the blog, as well as daily updates from Guatemala during the trip. Here is more information on these resources:

Facebook:  Search "FVPC-LWW" to connect to the Facebook page.  Be sure to "like" the page so that you will receive the latest posts.

 

For you non-Facebookers, we have direct link to the new Blog website...

Blog:  Enter "fvpclww.wordpress.com" in your Internet browser. There is a button on the bottom right corner of the blog page to click if you wish to follow the blog. You may also access the blog from the latest post on the LWW Facebook page.

 

Our next Mission Team is leaving on Tuesday, January 14th for Retalhuleu, Guatemala.  Check out the latest post for more information.

Mission Acomplished!

The teams arrived early at the  Manzatinango church to help decorate the sanctuary with the crafts and projects completed by the children earlier in the week.  The service started with singing lead by one of our newly trained health and hygiene teachers. The children educated the congregation by acting out the filtration system and the process of cleaning water.  Pastor Roberto expanded on that message encouraging the members to not only use clean water but to be responsible for other aspects of God's world.  Eric passed out bible book marks made by the children of the Presbyterian Church of Barrington.  The system was blessed and officially turned over to the congregation with a toast of pure water from the new system.  A joyful moment.

First pure water!

Pastor Fredy took the team to the black volcanic sand beach for a lunch of fresh seafood and field fresh watermelon. It was a nice event to celebrate the successful installation of two systems.

Fred, Linda and David went along with in-country partners to El Rosario. We talked with our partners and removed the system for use at a new location. The team left our partners on  good terms with the hope they  will reapply when their circumstances change.

The remaining team members were babysat on the beach by Pastor Fredy's mother.   She had her hands full watching the exhausted team rest in hammocks.

Dave described the ride back to our home base as a cross between a road rally race and slalom skiing.  We enjoyed our last dinner with Marco and Ninnett.  The meal concluded with another fabulous desert, pineapple tart.

Friday, January 25

Sorry we are a day behind in our posting. Friday was a busy day with finishing up installations. El Asintal´s installation was completed. We tested the water for bacteria with our Whirly Bag, all was well.

Mazatenango's installation continued, making great progress. The Mazatenango  teaching team traveled to Pastor Freddy´s for retraining on health and hygiene and the El Asintal training team received nine new teachers from the local elementary school. The team also repaired a pipe at the local school.

 The evening  included a church service and dinner at Pastor Freddy's where he gave thanks for  the work of the Fox Valley Presbyterian team. Linda presented  Laura Lamploughs's alter cloth to Pastor Freddy and his wife in front of their congregation. They were very moved.



Fred Filiaggi gave a very meaningful sermon that was truly from the heart. He also gave the local pastors a copy of Steve's sketch of FVPC.

Education revisit at Pastor Fredy's church.

We started our day bright and early with nearly 60 energized children, ready to learn at Pastor Freddy's church, El Shaddai. The children taught us traditional Guatemalan songs then we conducted lessons reminding the children of the importance of using clean water  They were originally taught similar lessons when their system was first installed.

We had a number of teachers helping us, including Pastor Freddy's son, Javier.

We were able to accomplish a lot with the great help, and enjoyed a productive morning with the students and their teachers. They loved learning traditional American childrens songs.

The training ended in prayer, followed by a hearty lunch provided by Pastor Freddy and the teachers. We will always remember our special friends from today, who brought us to tears with their affection.

Thursday, Installation Day

Today we broke into two groups and went to each of our sites. David, Bill, Nancy and Steve went to El Asintal. Linda, Sally, Fred, Jean and Eric went to Mazatenango. 


The church in El Asintal had built a new room to house the pump and filters as well as bottle washing. David and Bill were able to accomplish the system install in one day.  Awesome!  Tomorrow is checking for leaks, teaching to clean and operate.




Arriving at the church. 

Pump and Filter Room

Bottle Filling Station

Training the Trainers

Students with Germs

At Mazatenango work begun on the installation, and is progressing well.

Pastor Roberto, his daughter Sarah (on left) and Abby, our translator.

The Education and Hygiene segment was led by Jean and Eric, who had 28 students and 3 teachers. Education went well, and was even on schedule to our surprise and joy. We also went over the lesson plans with the teachers, so when we return on Saturday, they can teach the lessons to their kids. This will allow them to maintain both the water system and education of good hygiene long after we have returned home.

 We arrived safely in Guatemala city and were met by Pastor Fredy, Javier and Claudia, as well as the driver of our very cushy van.  All of the team but Fred made the arduous 4 hour trip to the Reu area to our lovely Cupula de Zion.  The temperature rose steadily from about 90.  We're not missing the
Chicago weather. 





We unpacked and checked our gear - which all arrived.  We had a bit of damage to one of the pumps, but Dave and Bill were able to repair it. Systems were sorted.  Teaching materials arrived in good shape and were sorted and reviewed.  Everyone took a much needed nap - with the exception of Steve.  Steve tried the inviting hammock, but ended up on the ground.  No harm done except to his dignity.




 Meanwhile, Fred went with pastor Fredy, Javier, and Claudia to the US Embasy to see about Pastor Fredy's visa.  They didn't arrive "home" until almost nine pm.  Well after dinner.









 A very long day for Fred with to recovery time after our all night flight.
We're ready for Bed and hope you will continue to send your prayers.  Tomorrow we split into two groups and head out to our two new water sites

FVPC Mission Team Heading Back to Guatemala

Pictured l-r:  Pastor Bart Roush, Sally Cable, Fred Filiaggi, David Beardsley
Bill Cwiklinski, Linda Strong, Nancy Van Cleve, Jean Hills, Steve Feddern

On Sunday, January 20, 2013, the FVPC Mission Team was commissioned for a return trip to Guatemala.  Joining the team will be Eric Enskat, representing PC of Barrington.  This 9 member team is the largest Living Waters for the World Mission Team to travel to Guatemala!  Why?  We will be installing 2 LWW systems at two separate sites:  El Shaddai  Mazatenango and El Asintal.  Both systems will be housed in churches.  El Asintal will be supporting 3 schools with over 600 children and the surrounding village (refer to archieve blog posts from February 2012).  In addition, Health and Hygiene training will be provided to teachers, parents, and students at both sites, and refresher training at the exisiting El Shaddai Retalhuleu LWW site.

The team will depart from Chicago O'Hare airport at 2:05 AM on Wednesday, January 23, and travel to the Department of Retalhuleu, Guatemala and our home for the next five days with our friends Marco and Ninnett at La Cupola de Zion.  Please keep us in your prayers, that we may be successful in doing the work that God has called for each of us to do.  We look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Faithfully... your FVPC Mission Team