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

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.