Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Today was a great day! We met with Pastor Hernan and Pastor Otoniel and members of the Iglesia Evangelica Nueva Amanecer (Evangelical Church of the New Dawn) in El Asintal about 30 minutes from the El Shaddai church. The town near the church has no water and the well at the church is contaminated. It is actually easier and cheaper to by Coke here than clean water.

A system will work well here and will be a great benefit to the villiage. The church itself has only 30 members, but about 60 children. There are three schools near the church with hundreds of children that will receive the clean water. The area is very poor and most families have 8 or 9 children, many of them malnourished or sick. We negotiated the covenant today and will return to the church on Friday to sign it.

We continue to see great need, but we have met many people working hard to improve conditions and they are eager to partner with us. God is at work.

After our time at the church we had lunch at a local restaraunt that we drove to with our van doors wide open. We are becoming accustomed to the ways of Guatemala. At lunch, the pastor's wife was impressed with how much Bart liked the food (they ordered the same thing) that she said he was Chapin - which is what the native Guatemalans are called. Bart took it as a great compliment.

After lunch we went to an ancient ruin about 15 minutes from the church. It was discovered on a coffee planatation, and the owner of the coffee plantation has donated about 5% of his plantation as a national park. The ruins are from the Toteca indians, who were around several hundred years before the Maya, and about 700 years before Christ.

Tomorrow, we return to the church at Mazzatanango (where we worshiped on Sunday night) to talk about a covenant and possible water system. Please continue to keep us and our partners in your prayers.

P.S. We forgot to say the other day that we were able to deliver books, teaching supplies, and the pillowcase dresses made by our church at the El Shaddai church and our partners greatly appreciated it.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Day 3 was a joyous day! As with the days before, it was busy. Pastor Fredy picked us up after breakfast to go to El Rosario to meet with our other LWW operating partners. On the way Pastor drove us by the Red Cross, which El Shaddai Church provides clean water to, but we stopped at the Reu Health Department to meet with the administator, and see and hear first hand the impact that the clean water from El Shaddai's LWW system is having on the people of Reu. The Health Department sees 500 people a day with aliments ranging from diarreha, maleria, colera, and HIV. The LWW water is used to help dispense medications and provide pure water to infants with diarreha. We also went to an orphanage/school that recieves the LWW water, supported by El Shaddai. 160 children have clean drinking water in their classrooms. The Director told us that she has seen a huge improvement in the health of the childrenn since receiving the clean water. The seeds that we have planted in this wonderful country have produced not only trees, but a forest is quickly forming!

We arrived at El Rosario late in the morning, and met with Eli, Czar, and Francisco. El Rosario continues to struggle with the system, and we came to find the system has not been operational since October, 2011. After long and prayerful discussion, we have concluded that the commitment to LWW is strong with our partners in El Rosario, and we are working with them to obtain the proper licensing. God works on his time, and we witnessed this today, as Pastor Fredy joined in on our meeting, and offered his help to El Rosario to obtain their license. He also offered one of his two operators to assist with the system at El Rosario, and train an operator in use of the system. We are very hopeful for the future of this colonia, and the school which it will support with the LWW system.

After we finished at El Rosario, Pastor invited us to his Mother's home, not far from our site there. We were feed a wonderful fish lunch.... David almost exploded from the amount of food that he ate! We then drove to the beach to see the ocean.

After dinner tonight, we surpised Claudia with cake and presents in celebration of her engagement to Robert, and to show our appreciation for her ministry in Guatemala. Pastor Fredy, Pastor Isabel, and their son Henry joined us, as well as Marco and his mother-in-law. Claudia really liked the prayer shaw that we gave to her, as well as the card. Pastors Fredy and Isabel and Henry also gave her gifts. Claudia is a very special person, and it felt good to honor her in this way.

Tomorrow morning we go to El Asintal church to survey this site, and in the afternoon we will go to nearby ruins that we are told pre-date the Mayans. We are thinking of you all back home, and grateful for the support you have provided in this ministry. We are witness to the wonderful ways that FVPC is changing the lives of the people of Guetemala... the need is great, and we are answering God's call. Keep us in your prayers.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Today was an amazing day! We began a little worried about being late to meet some teachers and about 50 kids - turns out Pastor Fredy was a bit late to pick us up because the the water pump was broken and he had already fixed it. We arrived at El Shaddai, a wonderfully familiar sight, and went straight to work. Some of us meet with teachers and some set up tables and supplies. Very quickly the kids came out -about 70 of them !!! There were children from two schools and their teachers. There was only mild panic among your Living Waters team because we had been well prepared by Nancy Beardsley and Linda Williams - many thanks to them. We weren't prepared for the joy the kids bring - teaching is definily where the fun is. We were surrounded and had a wonderful experience. Favorite moments we'd love to have you ask us about:

Bart: calling the kids up to put their work on a banner and seeing them swarm and surround Fred with jumping joyful enthusiasm.

Claudia: watcing the kids as they watched Linda filter very dirty water and seeing their eyes get huge and say "it's magic"

Bill: waiting with tape for the kids to bring their work up to be put on the banner, and having them come dancing up in a huge herd of excitement and surround him.

Linda: explaining the system, then asking what the first step was. A little 5 year old boy who was squirming around, poking his neighbor and clearly not listening jumping up and proceeding to explain the whole system PERFECTLY!

David: being surrounded by 70 little kids all chirping like excited little birds for tape so they could put their work up.

Fred: reading a spanish english book to a couple of kids - and having the group grow and grow till he was surrounded by children taking turns reading the spanish outloud, then Fred reading the english.

All: after having the teachers "spread" germs (blue paint) onto a water bottle, Fred holding it up and the kids reactions of "oh yuck" and actually scooting away.

watching the kids wash their hands before snacks and hearing them sing the song we just taught them. We had a wonderful experience with the kids, capped off with the teacher's happy reaction to all the supplies we brought, especially the books.

After cleaning up, we went to the water house. It's the flagship of water houses, with many improvements since our last visit - but most amazing, what was started less than a year ago has grown to over 200 bottles of clean water a week !!!!! That's over 56,000 gallons in less than a year, with the majority of it being given away. We were astonished. God is good!

As we were leaving we "stopped by" the radio station to take a look. Bart, Fred and Linda broadcast live to Guatemala

Please keep us in your prayers, we travel to El Rosario tomorrow.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Team arrived safetly in Guatemala on Sunday with no trouble. Thank you once again to our drivers, Joanne Dempsey and Mark Crump, for getting us all to the airport to start our journey. Pastor Fredy and Javiar picked us up at the airport, and we headed for breakfast to catch up on news, and discuss our plans for the week. We soon learned that Edar, nephew to the Pastor, had been hospitalized with diabetes and was returning home today. He gave all quite a scare, and we ask for your prayers for a speedy recovery. We also learned that Edgar married a few short months ago and is expecting his first child.... so joy to share as well!

After a long and rather cramped bus ride to La Cupula de Zion, our home in Reu for the next 6 days, we rested and enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared by Marco and his staff. It was great to see Marco again, however, Ninnett is away in Florida working for a family in Boca Raton. We will miss seeing her.

At 4pm, we departed for a newly established El Shaddai church in Mazzatenango (about 1/2 hour drive in a hot, bumpy van). We were welcomed warmly by the congregation, and Bart had the surprise priviledge to preach (yes we got video!). After church service, we spoke with Pastor Robert (head of this congregation), and viewed the site for another potential LWW installation. The proposed location for the water system is within the church, and the room is spacious with electricity already in place and a municiple water supply. Water quality test results are expected tomorrow, and we will return to the site on Thursday to discuss a future partnership. This location is a seed church for the El Shaddai church in Reu, where we currently have a system. We are very optimistic about this site.

After a long day and pizza tonight, we are preparing to teach 50 students, and 20 teachers and parents early tomorrow, as well as provide system maintenance with our operating partner. We miss you all, and know that you are thinking and praying for a successful trip.

PS: Lydia, Dad had a wonderful watermelon drink, mango coconut salad dressing, mashed potatoes and fried chicken for lunch!

God Bless,

Your Mission Team

FVPC Mission Team Departs for Guatemala!

The FVPC Mission Team is on its way to Guatemala! Team members include Linda Strong, Bart Roush, David Beardsley, Bill Cwiklinski, and Fred Filiaggi. Our Mission.... To visit both El Rosario Colonia and El Shaddai in Reu and provide assistance with Living Waters system maintenance, bring replacement filters and parts, conduct refresher health and hygiene training to teachers and students, sign a covenant with a new location, and survey another potential site.... We'll be busy!

We look forward to sharing our journey with you, and will post as often as possible. We appreciate and thank you for your prayers for a safe and successful trip.

God Bless,

FVPC Mission Team