Ah, what a day this was going to be.  The weather was warm but dry, the team was assembled, the plans were made, the site prepared, lets get busy making clean water.  But wait, we have no pipe?  We have no electrical wire.  We have no filters?  So the only water we can make is so dirty that it would contaminant the dirt?  It is nice to see that with this being my fourth trip things are still the same!

We quickly saddled up Living Waters rookie Mike Horsley and sent him on the customary trip to the local “hardware store”.  He was well armed with a Spanish-English construction dictionary, a vague idea of what parts we needed, and lots of enthusiasm and courage.  And can you believe it, he actually returned with some of the things we needed.

All kidding aside, despite the normal mission trip glitches, things went pretty well.  There were things we needed, but we found a way to make it work.  The locals helped a great deal with both the construction and education segments.  Their generosity is truly amazing, and they would always find a way to make things work, no matter what.  Their faith that the Lord will provide is a constant reminder of how much we (the Americans) want to rely on ourselves first, while not seeking the Lord’s will, or help, until we are in too deep to get ourselves out.  I am so thankful that God put us in this place to teach us how to depend on him more, and ourselves less. 

The village we are working in is small, about 1,000 people and it is built on the side of a hill.  I keep remembering pictures of Central American villages washed away in mudslides whenever a hurricane passed over them, and this place looks like that is a definite possibility here.  The water building is a small cement block structure with the customary black water tanks on the roof (sure hope the roof holds).  The security guard and his family live in one 10×16 foot room in the building.  The husband and wife sleep in hammocks on the porch, while the three or four small kids sleep inside.  They cook on an open fire, and I watched in humble amazement as the wife did laundry in an open tub with a washboard standing under a 90° sun.  What an interesting contrast of new world with old world as many of the people are glued to cell phones, have iPods, and yet cook over an open fire, sleep in a hammock, wash with a washboard and have no clean water.

By day’s end, we had electricity, piping from the roof tanks to the water cleaning board in the house, several dozen adults and children educated in general hygiene, and only about 10,000 unsolved problems.  But we feel the Lord’s presence - it will get done.