Sesalche II Water Project Update

As we hoped, Kristopher, Kevin and Julio were able to complete the water project in Sesalche II on Wednesday and Thursday. They had great weather to work in (sorry BWSC), minus an afternoon down pour on Thursday as they were setting all the flow-rates at each access point. They had a lot of help form the community these two days in order to finish up. There are still some minor punch-list items they will go back and finish up this week or next, but we are happy to report that water was flowing at each of the nine points-of-usage. Below are some pictures and videos of our project:

The photo below is of a man carry a 2500L water tank from the community market up to the spring:

This is a picture of water coming out of PVC for the first time in the market of Sesalche II from a spring about 1.5km away:

This is a picture of water coming out of a spigot in front of the Health Center in Sesalche II:

This is a picture of Freddy. Freddy is a young boy in Sesalche II that knows the names of just about every team member from the BWSC team. When Kristopher and Kevin returned late last week Freddy asked about Janie, DeeDee, Ginger, Sonya and may others on the team.

This is a video of water coming out of a pila for the first time in front of the Catholic church in Sesalche II:

Enjoy this last one! This is why we do what we do!!

The Barge Team "Barges" In...

The title for this post may sound as if our recent team had a rough landing or overstepped bounds in the Valley, but really it is meant to imply that the most recent group of professional engineers that we had visit us from the Barge Wagner engineering firm (in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Birmingham) truly made a lasting impact on us and the community of Sesalche II.

Sesalche II is the largest community whom we serve as a part of Project Ulpan. When we first visited them about two and a half years ago, the water situation seemed pretty bleak. The one water source that they could point us to was located at a pretty low altitude in relation to the rest of the community and was basically a mudhole, meaning that we would have to use a pump to get it to any of the necessary community-centered locations, and we might need a purification system, as well. However, back in the fall we began discussions once more of the possibility of beginning a water project in their community, and the community leaders surprisingly revealed a water source at a much higher altitude, located within property under the ownership of one older woman. After more discussions and with the help of a local lawyer, we were able to obtain rights to the water source, receive a map of the community with communal locations marked where they wanted a spigot and pila (a large, deep sink and washing basin), and plan for the Barge Wagner engineering team to implement the project the second week of January.

Sadly, we (with the team) decided to leave the Valley a day earlier than planned last week because of recurring news about robbers in the Valley. Although the activities of the robbers have not yet affected us directly, we have decided to not take any chances when it comes to safety, specifically with teams. It was nice, however, that leaving early allowed us and the team to have some extra time in the gorgeous, sunny Spanish-influenced city of Antigua. On the last night before the team left, we all sat around a dinner table together and shared three words that reminded us of the past week. It was a great moment of community and reflection. I cheated a bit by sharing three three-word phrases, and I think they can help sum up my fondest memories of the week:

1) "No Personal Space"- One thing that I can guarantee that no one of the Barge team will ever forget is the number of children that gathered around our trucks as we arrived in Sesalche II, followed (or usually led) us up and down the mountainous paths that the water line followed, shouted out our names repeatedly, and poked us again and again, often in places where we didn't want to be poked. Maybe it's the teacher in me coming out, but this is quite possibly my favorite part of these projects. Something about those smiling faces and sweet voices calling out my name urges me to keep on trudging through the mud, keep on carrying the pipe up steep slopes, keep on waiting for water to arrive at the right spots. We have always said that the health of the children and getting water to the community school is our top priority. The children that we saw last week, even though they allowed us no personal space, were plenty motivation to make sure that such a priority would be met.

2) "Surprise, Chicken Feet"- One common theme among the Barge team throughout the week was praise of Cata's delicious cooking. Especially after a long day's work in the mud and rain, it was such a treat to sit down and enjoy Cata's chicken or her famous chow mein. Cata is certainly one of the sweetest and most servant-hearted people I have ever met. Every team that has ever had her as a cook has claimed that just her cooking itself was reason enough for them to come back for another visit. Well, one night Cata decided to "surprise" a couple of members of the Barge team by placing chicken feet on top of the other pieces of cooked chicken on their plate. We all had a good laugh to see their surprised expressions, and I think Hollis even ended up eating the feet. I like this memory because it reminds me of all the good laughs we had with the team. Everyone had such a positive attitude the whole week, even amidst endless rain and countless changes in plans. Those laughs just kept us going...

3) "Energized by Teamwork"- I know from experience that being a part of a mission team is an amazing experience that helps one to feel purposeful and changes one's world view. I now know that being the "missionary in residence" who receives the mission teams is also a great blessing. I guess that it's easy as missionary to get burned out and feel very alone at times. Having a team like the one from Barge is extremely energizing for Kris and I and the Colvetts and Cata because it reminds us that we are not alone and that we have many people supporting and willing to join in our work. Also, it often takes a large project such as the one of the past week to encourage whole communities to partner with us in bettering the health and education of their own families. It is amazing what God can accomplish through us and within us when large groups of Americans AND Mayans are mobilized!

To sum up, this was a very large and complicated water project, requiring lots of professional engineering knowledge and skill, as well as a large amount of community involvement. Although the whole system was not perfectly completed after just four days of work (which was pretty much impossible to accomplish anyway), we are confident that Kevin and Kris and the rest of the community will be able to finish the system within the next week or so, and only because of the firm foundation that Barge helped to establish. We feel blessed to have had the Barge team join us and God in the work He is doing in the Valley. They may never know the extent of the impact they have had on the health and daily living of the people of Sesalche II. We pray that they will continue to bless others with their gifts/skills and joyful spirits in the States.

Sorry that this post does not come with video or pictures from the past week... they are downloaded onto a different computer. Look for them to be posted in the coming week....

Ratones, Reuniones de Orar, y Ladrones

Sorry that it has been a while since our last post. If you did not receive the Winter Newsletter that went out last December with a list of all of the updates for our work with Project Ulpan, please let us know and send us your email address so that we can pass it along. We are very excited about all that God accomplished through us in 2011 and all that He has planned for us in 2012!

We have a few stories to share with you since our return to the Valley last Wednesday...

Ratones (Mice)...
When Kris was helping to unload our suitcases last Wednesday and attempting to place a set of nice, new flannel sheets on our bed, he found a large nest of baby mice nestled under our warm covers. Kris was very cautious in sharing his discovery with me and cheerfully said, ¨I was able to catch three of them!¨ I immediatly responded with, ¨You mean there were more than three?!¨ And he came back with, ¨Yes, but the others ran away really quickly... I don´t think they´ll come back.¨ Surprisingly, I remained calm in my response to this news, and I resolved to not worry about it for the evening. However, as we were lying on our bed that night and in the middle of watching an episode of The Office on Kris´s computer, he suddenly jumped up, brushed off his sholder and immediately checked for a headlamp to see if the mice were back for a visit. He nor I never actually saw a mouse that night, but we did find several droppings to support my assumption that they had not yet left for good. We searched around as best as we could, but found nothing, so we turned off the computer, pulled the cover over our heads, and prayed that we would be the only two beings sleeping in our bed that night. Thankfully, we had a surprisingly peaceful rest with no more creature encounters. Since we are currently spending our nights in the city (more information about this below), we have not had to worry about any more mice. However, we did check our sheets on our first trip back into the Valley last Friday and found a nice, long trail of mouse poo. So much for new sheets. Oh well... so currently our sheets are washed and clean once again, our mattress is propped up against the wall so that it is no longer a potentional comfy mouse home, and the wooden frame for our bed is covered with rat poison. Don´t worry... we will keep you updated about our great mouse adventures!

Reuniones de Orar (Prayer Meetings)...
As I mentioned, we are currently spending our nights in the closest city of San Pedro Carcha. Through our connection with the Mennonite missionaries who live here, we got connected with a Qeqchi family who enjoys opening their home and hosting meals for Americans or other visitors who might need a place to stay for a short period of time. Julio´s and Labia´s large family is one of the sweetest and most hospitable we have ever met. Also, they are very kind to cook us dinner each evening (although, boiled potatoes mixed with mayonnaise is not my favorite dish). Our one complaint is that although the four walls of our small room are made of concrete and cause us to somewhat feel as if we are living in a barracks, the roof of our room is only wooden slats, which also serve as the floor of the second story, where they have built a small church within their home. Upon arriving at their home the first evening, Labia told us of the prayer meeting that night. We thought, ¨Good, these are kind, spiritually-minded people, and we certainly don´t mind a prayer meeting going on over our heads.¨ Little did we know that the prayer meeting that started at 8PM would be a three-hour event, complete with a sound system (directly over our room) to blast songs, prayers, and various sermons. Because we couldn´t understand the Qeqchi, we stuck in our ear plugs and with the volume turned up as high as possible, watched about 6 different episodes of various TV series that we have missed while out of the U.S. I just had to let out a good laugh the following evening (Sunday) as we returned to the house for the night to hear the speakers blasting once again. Thankfully, this time the service began earlier and only lasted until 9. However, we will never again think the same of Guatemalan prayer meetings!

Ladrones (Robbers)...
Without giving too many details to make everyone worry, let it suffice for us to share that some nighttime robberies occured in the Valley during our Christmas break. We decided as a team that since it is well known that we are very rich when compared with the people of the Valley, it would be best for us to move out of the Valley for a short period of time and stay in the city at night (still allowing us to drive back into the Valley and work during the day) until news of the robberies dies down. We feel that this is the smartest and safest decision that we can make at this point, and we have decided to move back into the Valley this weekend with the team of professional engineers who are coming to construct a large water project. Kevin Colvett made a very interesting observation about our current situation, however, when he stated that the people of the Valley are not as lucky as us when issues like this arise. The people of the Valley do not have an option of leaving their homes for safety issues and paying a large sum to stay in a city hotel. If our beds or computers or money were stolen from our homes, we have the resources to immediately and easily replace them, whereas they might have to work for years to replace them. If we suspect unwanted visitors at our homes in the States, we have the local police force close at-hand, whereas they are an hour and a half from state protection. In comparison to us who place so much trust in the ¨provision¨and ¨protection¨ provided by this world, the people of the Valley must just trust God for their protection and provision. Even as I write this I realize that I should not only be praying daily for OUR safety in the Valley, but also for the safety and protection of all families in the Valley... and I invite you to do the same.


As a final note, we have news of several exciting events for the new year. By God´s grace, we are...
- Opening a new medical clinic, run by our new Cuban doctor Misael.
- Introducing our new women´s promoter, Edna, to our team and to the women of the Valley
- With the help of a group of professional engineers from Barge Wagner, installing a water system in our largest community of Sesalche II.
- Talking to the community school teachers about our monthly dental health curriculum beginning next month.



Thanks for following us and sharing in our story... and HIS story.