Hey friends,
This is the first chance we have had to “report from the field”. The Journey of Faith team has had the privilege of working in some pretty remote places this week. Both of our projects went smoothly and both areas are drinking pure water today! The team has been a pleasure to work with and consisted of some very talented and hard working folks.
Site 1 – A rehabilitation center called El Betel for men with drug and alcohol addictions. This is a wonderful group of men who are struggling to get back on their feet, they have learned new ways to live and be productive by a Christian couple with a heart of gold. The compound where they live is a beautiful self sustaining farm where the men are learning to live off the land and work with their hands. Their vegetable garden is really a thing to see, pineapples, squash, cucumbers, cilantro, tomatoes, green beans, cabbage and much more are tended beautifully and shared with the local townspeople. They also raise chickens, pigs, and cows and are in the midst of starting a Tilapia farm and guess what else guys? a hydroponic garden…ask me if Kurtis didn’t light up? This wonderful group now has clean water piped right into their outdoor, wood burning kitchen which is about 200 ft. away and they have drawn up plans as to how they can extend their mini-water treatment plant to service the new dorms they are building. The best part is their dreams to share the water with the community that has accepted them and has joined them in celebrating their successes. Speaking of sharing El Betel invited the community to the vision clinic and the first day we serviced about 160 folks with new glasses and on day 2 another 50 and Health Ed was taught in the local school down the road. This is a rugged site with men whose lives are changing. Their hearts are saddened by their past actions and their loss of those that they once loved, but at the same time their hearts are swollen with their love for Christ and the new things He is doing in their life. Some of the best worship experiences I have ever had happened at this modest little farm. See attached video below of everyones first sip of clean water!
Site 2- WOW, that about sums up this village called Los Angeles del Rio. I’ve never experience this before but EDGE OUTREACH was the first ever outside source of help. This little community is 20 minutes by river from the Nicaraguan border and they just recently received their first road…if you want to call it that. For us is was 3 hours of rugged driving each way down a very narrow mud and rock path. Previously the only way in and out of the village was by traveling down the Rio. We were the first outsiders most of these children had ever seen and I must say we were a novelty. They brought out their horses to give everyone a ride around their one room school house, knocked several coconuts from the tree and served us coconut water, they LOVED the Health Education (as well did the teacher) they received glasses and clean water. This was a challenge to the water team as they actually purified a cistern and piped it into the entire school, bathrooms (if you want to call them that) and sinks to wash their hands. The well ran dry after 20 minutes of filling the cistern and they need to wait 2 hours for it to revive itself….but the water is being purified as it leaves the well and travels to the cistern. Two tanks were placed in a kitchen for emergency storage. What an honor to work for this community and how excited they were to have visitors. I’m sure they are still talking about the crazy gringos!
Next team comes on Friday, and I’m thinking we should have internet access by Tues. of next week.
Love ya all, Claudia & Kurtis
Video clip here -
Kurtis speaking to the men at the Betel Rehabilitation Camp in Costa Rica
