Thursday, November 10

We are at the school in San Andres at the water system and it is running well. They have made 21,220 gallons of clean water in the last 12 months. It is making a big health impact. They have also put 1,770Q in the bank for future supplies.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

We arrived safe on Sunday to Jacaltenango after a long 10 hour beautiful bus ride up the mountainside. From our hotel we can see the first ridge of the mountains of Mexico. We began teaching and installing on Monday at Esucala Regional Mixta with the assistance of Claudia from Living Waters, Kristin from Peace Core and Juan, our Translator. The Rojas Family has been feeding us well!! We have also had great assistance from Eddy, 14 going on 35. We began with 10 Teachers, one child from the school, and 3 Installers. Day 2 the numbers grew to 13 adults and several children in the classroom and 4 Installers. We have learned the reason the school was chosen is because it has the best building and serves as a community center where many activities take place. Upon completion of the Installation, the school will complete one of the final steps to a Healthy School Certification.

By Tuesday afternoon our system is making pure water and the teachers are well equiped with new lessons for the classroom. Everyone is healthy and enjoying the beauty of Guatemala. We are sharing the hotel with Bay Presbytery. Linda, the Bay Presbytery Team, a Luthern who tell you we would be nothing with out Luther, is here for her 26th year. The Bay Presbytery Team went from roughly 6 in their classroom Day to 80 on Day 2! Both teams are enjoying morning and evening devotionals and connections as we listen for Gods will.

Tracy teaches Nancy, Loy and Dave about the filtration system before leaving for Guatemala.

Living Waters Team November 2011 Commissioning

The Team was commissioned to go to Jacaltenango, Guatemala November 5-12, 2011. The team leader is Tracy Wolf and team members are Kayla Wolf, Nancy Beardsley, Mary Cwiklinski and Loy Williams.

May 2 Update

Well... breakfast is running long and we found pictures of the presentation of the prayer shawl and the quilt... thought you'd enjoy seeing them! We will probably not be posting any after today, but will be thinking of you all back home. We miss you, and can't wait to see you!

May El Shaddai Celebrates!

It was a long, long day, but we have clean water flowing at El Shaddai! Only two small leaks in the system that were quickly fixed. Truly a team effort between Fox Valley and El Shaddai. We finished at about 5pm, and quickly rushed to church services which began at 5pm! So that meant quick showers and final preparations for the celebration. Church services run about 2 hours at El Shaddai, so we got there during communion. The celebration was wonderful! Our gifts of the prayer shawl and the quilt were warmly recieved (that is a complete understatement, but words cannot describe the joy and appreciation and the LOVE). We have some great pictures and video that will hopefully convey the feeling better.... and we'll share many stories as well, when we return. We also recieved gifts. A strong bond has formed not only with Pastors Fredy and Isabel, but the entire congregation. We wish you you all could have experienced this "God Sighting!" We now head to Lake Atitlan with Pastor Fredy as a generous gift from him on our way to Antigua for some much needed rest before heading home on Tuesday. Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers.

April 30 El Shaddai Installation

Today a new adventure with our friends in El Shaddai. We arrived to see a beautiful, almost finished water house. White tile floor, tile on the walls, and best of all the water system board on the wall and painted. It was extreemly hot in the system room, no windows - but not to long after we arrived the new air-conditioning was turned on. What a blessing. We began by glueing elbows - you can see Pastor Fredy working on them in the yard between the school and the water house. Linda W spent the day with a lovely group of adults and children working thru the education curriclum that she and Sara had prepared. This included having the children make hand prints and sing songs. That happy sound was heard all the way up on the water house roof where Gary and one of our partners, Edgar, spent hours working on the clean water tank. Fred and Linda worked with the future operator, Henry, and others putting the sytem up on the board. As always Claudia translated, taught, worked on the system and encouraged us. She is truely a God send to us, and to this mission.

April 29 El Rosario - A New Beginning

Where there is hope, anything is possible. We had a great finally day with our friends at El Rosario. A new covenant between FVPC and El Rosario was reviewed and signed, forging the way for a new beginning. The hard work began in readying the system for operation. With Linda's leadership, a small leak in the system was repaired by the El Rosario operators (Eli, Omar, and Cesar). The water tank was cleaned and the system purged. It took us all day, with no lunch, but we were drinking clean water and celebrating in the end! Sara led the children in song, and certificates were handed out to the children for completing their health and hygiene training. The operators got their certificates too, and new uniforms (LWW t-shirts and hats!) We felt the commitment from the El Rosario committee, and feel good about the days to come.

Yet our work was not done. On our way back to our retreat at Marco's and Ninnette's, we stoped at a Presbyterian seminary and retreat to investigate another potential LWW site. The administor had left (we were two hours late!), but one of the assistants gave us a tour and showed us the well and water tower, as well as the building that would house the LWW system. We did some prelimiary testing and took a water sample for further lab work. The initial testing looks very promising... now we just need to ensure that we are a good fit with this potential operating partner.

Tomorrow we begin work at El Shaddai, and building the LWW system there. Pray that all goes well. We miss you all.

Through My Eyes - a 2 part series by Linda Williams

Linda Williams had some time on her today, and decided to write. This is the first of a two part series on her experience in Guatemala:

El Viaje a El Rosario (The Trip to El Rosario)

While spending through Guatemala in Pastor Freddy´ s van over what our hotel host and driver calls “ las carrateras malas”(bad roads) I decided to take my mind off the wild traffic and rough conditions and practice my Spanish by reading billboards and signs and observing all that came into my changing windshield view of life in Guatemala, The scenes shifted ´from colorful city streets and market stalls filled with people and three wheeled taxis to stretches of cane field, to pastures filled with Brahma cattle and groves of mangoes almost ready for harvest. We passed precariously close to Bluebird School buses retired from school duty and now serving as brightly repainted public busses which link the rural communities to more urban areas. Modern hotels, modern houses and neighborhoods stood in sharp contrast to squatter´s thatched shelters beside the highway. All along the highway people walked or rode bikes carrying heavy loads of firewood or other material on their heads and backs. Children in school uniforms strolled in groups going to and from school. The only people in a big hurry it seemed are those of us zigging and sagging at high speeds to avoid the holes on the carrateras malas!

I read everything from campaign billboards to advertisements for tire repair stations. I was struck by the number of what appeared to be small storefront churches with the logo “Estoy con tigo!” I am with you! This being a mission trip I thought I knew what I was looking at. I commented to Marco about the great numbers of these churches he looked puzzled and then laughed. He said that these were all advertisements for the telephone company Tigo not the Word of God! I think that it may be both!

Lesson learned. Just because you see something and can read the words beware of being blinded by your own frame of reference. Good advice in general and especially good when encountering another culture anywhere in the world!

April 28 El Rosario

First... Can we tell you how hot it is down here? It so HOT.... Enough about our discomfort. We know you don't care ;-) We won't leave you in suspense... El Rosario is 90% back up and running! After some tense negotiations, Habitat and the Colonia came to an agreement for the Colonia to pay a nominal fee to operate the system until a sale price is reached. Fred, Linda Williams and Sara did a great job helping to reach this agreement (photo of meeting above). We also established electricity back to the water house today, along with replacing the pump to the well. All with great cooperation from the El Rosario Colonia committee. Linda and Gary removed the old filters and cleaned the system. We partially filled the raw water tank and ran water through the system.... Only one small leak near the water meter, but otherwise the system is in great shape! Linda Williams, Sara, and Claudia trained in Health and Hygiene today the committee members (along with some children in picture above). The training went very well. Tomorrow we will return to El Rosario to sign a new covenant, flush out the system, train the operators, restart the system, and drink clean water! Oh.... and CELEBRATE! We'll tell you the story later of how Fred, Linda S, Gary, and Carlos (one of the children) pushed our van to jumpstart it after the battery died!

April 27 Our First Day

Well... It's been a long and tiring day, but as always one of great joy and reuniting! We had an uneventful trip into Guatemala City. No issues with customs. Pastor Fredy, his son Javier, nephew Edgar, and our in country coordinator Claudia were at the airport to great us with open arms. It is very hot here, and we are in for some long days ahead. We are not expecting rain, so that is very positive news!

To the details - we were treated to breakfast at Pollo Campanas when we arrived - the KFC of Guatemala. We ended the meal locked out of the car, but Fred was able to squeeze in the tiny van window and save the day. Then a long hot 4 hour drive to Reu, stopping part way to buy fresh cut pineapple from a roadside stand. We checked into our cozy hotel, had a delicious lunch, a quick rest, and then traveled about 20 minutes to the site at El Shaddai.

There are many exciting changes since our last visit! The water house is ready with the 4x8 plywood board up and ready to mount the system. There is beautiful white tile all around. The new church area now has a thatched roof and is where Linda W and Sara will be teaching.

Pastor Fredy also showed us his radio station, which was a dream and is now up and running with 5,000 listeners. THEN . . . he had us come into the sound room, shut the door and introduced us live!!!!! We all had to speak live (I mean we were priviledged to speak) on Guatemalan radio. That's right, your LWW team are now radio personalities and the name of Fox Valley Presbyterian Church has been broadcast all over Guatemala. All done with no sleep. We were great.

FVPC Mission Team Enroute for Guatemala!

On Wednesday.... the Fox Valley Mission Team (Linda S, Sara V, Linda W, Gary B, and Fred F) leaves for Guatemala to install a LWW system at El Shaddai, and we will hope to restart our existing system in El Rosario.

Keep us in your prayers!

Fox Valley Mission Team - Postlude: We are Home!

Two Words... "HUGE SUCCESS!" Sorry we have not kept in touch on this trip. We moved locations after our first day, and did not have internet access. We returned home safely early Thursday morning. The trip couldn't have gone any better, and far exceeded our expectations.

On Sunday, we met with Pastor Fredy and his family at the El Shaddai school to tour the site where the LWW system would be installed... This included the grounds where Pastor's vision is to build a retirement home, medical clinic, and a new church. His vision is BIG! Our meeting to review the covenant took several hours, and ended with the formal signing (see second picture above). Afterwards, we freshed up, and headed off to worship services.

On Monday, we dealt with El Rosario. We made tremendous progress, and we are well on the road to getting our system up and running. Prior to driving out to El Rosario, we spent some time at the Habitat office in Reu to essentially get on the same page with Habitat. We drove out to El Rosario joined by Paulino and Louis from Habitat. On the way, we stopped to see Pastor Fredy at a second site in El Rosario (not far from our first site), and took water samples. This site would serve as a clean water production and distribution point for the area. We then continued on to El Rosario Colonia.

We met with the committee in El Rosario. This committee is extremely committed. They had an advanced copy of the covenant, and were prepared to discuss options. After getting everyone finally on the same page, the committee agreed to work with Habitat in purchasing the water house. The committee also agreed to work with Fox Valley Church in operation of the LWW system (see first picture above). Habitat will be assisting the Colonia to become a legal association, and sign a covenant with the Colonia for repayment of the water house. Once this is completed, we will return to formally sign the LWW covenant, and retrain the Colonia operators and hygiene teachers.

Plans are in the works for a return trip in mid-April to install the system at El Shaddai, and hopefully restart the system in El Rosario... with signing of the covenant. We will also hope to move forward with the second site in El Rosario... giving us 4 active projects in Guatemala! We are making our presence felt... and we are making a difference... with your help, support, and prayers! Clean water is, and will be flowing for many years to come!

We have many stories to tell, great memories, and new friends have been made. Stop Gary, Linda or Fred at church, or call us any time. We are happy to talk to you and answer any questions you may have. A presentation to the congregation will be coming in short order... Please come.

Day 1 Retalhuleu, Guatemala

We made it! Our first day in Guatemala has been both exciting and tiring. All has gone well so far. We landed in Guatemala City on time and our driver and Claudia were waiting for us at the airport. After about a 4 hour drive through the countryside, past smoking volcanos, sugar cane fields, and across washed out roads/bridges (from the tremendous rains this past season), we arrived in Reu.

We were greated by Pastor Fredy Monzon and his nephew Edgar as we arrived into town, and escorted to our hotel. Pastor and his wife, Isabel, are treating us like royalty! We were feed lunch, and allowed to rest from our journey. We were then taken to a nearby amusement park, Los Hostales del IRTRA (Guatemala's version of Disney World!). We took in a dance/magic show, followed by a wonderful dinner as guests of Pastor Fredy, Isabel, and their nephew Edgar. Edgar speaks fluent English, and has been a great help in translating. After dinner we walked through the park, and enjoyed some wonderful Guatemalan dessert ... Fried plantains stuffed with chocolate!

Tomorrow morning we will visit the installation site near a school run by the El Shaddai Church. We will meet with about 7 school committee members, review, and sign the Covenant. Later in the evening (around 5pm) we will worship at El Shaddai Church. Pastor asked Linda, Gary, and I to preach! Scott, we need you here!!

On Monday, we will go to El Rosario and meet with the committee members as well as Habitat Guatemala. Keep us in your prayers as we work to get our existing system operational. Claudia feels that we have better commitment from the committee at El Rosario. Later in the day, we will look at a third site in this area associated with the El Shaddai Church.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We are all very optomistic about the future, and our mission here. Gary is like a kid in a candy store.... Let's just say we won't have to twist his arm to come back!!

PS: Wish we could send up some sunny, 80 degree weather to help melt the snow!

Another Team Departs on Friday, January 14, 2011

Fred Filiaggi, Linda Strong and Gary Blauser will be leaving for El Rosario, Guatemala on Friday to check on an existing system and look into installing another water filtration system. Please keep them in your prayers that they have a safe journey.