The full team is now assembled: Larry, Emily, Margaret, Ben,
Pam, Natalie, Katie, & the Shepherds. We will be working with Edgar, Ramero, Luis,
Diego, Rafe, Caesar, and Manuel. Also joining us will be additional
missionaries who will be joining the work team.
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| Donations brought by the team, and given by friends and family. Thank you, it will make a difference in the lives of many! |
Our projects are: two homes, two Onil stoves, a tilapia
pond, and interaction with the Labor De Falla school children and families.
Each home has a price tag of about $3200 and includes two beds, basic
furnishings and some food supplies. The chosen families will for the first time
sleep in a dry, warm, and safe home. This is often the first time the children
will sleep in a bed, typically sleeping directly on the dirt floor of an adobe
& cornstalk shack.
The stoves consume about 1/15 of the amount of wood of a
traditional open air fire. They also vent outside of the home, allowing the
family clean air and soot free walls and ceiling. Lung diseases and breathing
problems are frequent with the traditional stove or pit that many Guatemalan
families have inside of their living space. An Onil stove can boil a liter of
water in 20 minutes, using only a handful of wood. The cost of an individual
stove is about $300. It not only reduces the work necessary to obtain wood and
efficiently helps prepare meals, it also increases their life expectancy.
The tilapia farm will be hand dug and will be stocked with
250 fish. The rock bed that provides filtration also is a water source for
lettuce and possibly other vegetables. After the pond is established, it will
yield the family about 5 lbs of tilapia for consumption or sale per week. The
garden will provide enough fresh veggies that they will be able to also
generate income by selling the excess within the neighborhood. The model we are
using has been perfected in other villages and the pond we install will be the
second for this community.
These projects really are simply the by-products of our real
mission. We seek to build relationship and sustainable improvement to the lives
of individuals by the pressing of our lives on theirs. Our motivation comes
from the incredible love that God has shown us, and this love compels us to
then do the same for others. While we meet the immediate needs, our mission has
inter-generational… and yes, even eternal consequences.
What good is belief if it does not change your life and
compel you to action?
Today has been a day of rest, a day of gathering, and a day
of preparation. Tomorrow will be a day of recovery for those who traveled
today, and a day for the team to meld together with common purpose.
Even the smallest among us wanted to be involved in the
action today. It is contagious!
This evening we were privileged to go along with Edgar to
his church in Campanero. I was reminded of my first day in Guatemala back in
2010 when I was captivated by the worship. Today I found myself swaying in time
to rhythm, brass, and voice as my heart reached out with a congregation of
Guatemalans in praise to the God.
Total abandon to God is all that he asks of us. To open our
arms and allow Him to touch into our deepest fears, secrets, hopes, and to show
us love. What an incredible end to this day to again allow God to show me that
He is the focus.
We are all simple, ordinary people… in need of, and the
conduit of...
His extraordinary provision.
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