update

Well its been a while since i have updated this blog and with good reason too. My son was born November 24, 2008 at 7:00pm. His name is Joel Josiah Aycock and he is the cutest thing in the world. I will try to update pictures on the blog. I used to update the pictures all the time but the internet that i have now is not very fast and it takes a few hours to upload pictures.

In filter news....We have started putting in filters in a new village called Santa Lucia. It is a smaller village than the two before but it is also alot more poor. Please keep the people of Santa Lucia in your prayers. It has been really busy with the birth of my son so we are a little behind with installing the filters. We have plans to go back this week to continue installing the filters if it doesnt rain and the river doesnt rise. I will hope to put up some pictures of the village of Santa Lucia sometime.

There has been some interesting news that i head concerning me and the filters that i have put in the village of Joconalis. A few weeks ago a fellow came to me and told me that there are some people that were mad at me because of the filters. i thought that it could have been because they wanted a filter but it was something else. I asked who it was and why they were mad and this is what he told me....He said that it is the truck that brings up pure bottled water to the village that is mad because i took away his business. He told me that that truck doesnt ever make the trip up the mountain anymore. The people have been so happy and satisfied with the filters and now they have extra money in the pockets that could go for food, clothes, or a number of other things. This story really made me feel good because it shows that the filters work and the people trust them as well as me. Me having their trust is hugh because it gives me the opportunity to share the love of Christ.

Another story comes from the house where i put a filter with the group that came down to help. The only water they had was a stream that ran through their land. The problem is that up-stream is a corral where cows are milked twice a day, and it is the main water source for those cows to drink out of. Before we put a filter in that house the kids were always sick and always had rashes all over their body. I recently went back there to see if everything was good with the filter and how was their health. She told me that they use the filter every day and they kids have not been sick since they started drinking the water and the rashes have gone away as well.

Hearing stories like these has really helped me stay focus on how important my work is here. I am also praying that help will come because it is getting more and more difficult as i try to start other villages and still need to keep in contact with the old villages. Please keep praying for me, my wife, and my ministry here in Honduras

Website Update

I know it has been a while since I have updated anything on this blog site. I started renting a house a couple of months ago and i do not have internet at the house. I has been kinda crazy in these last few month for me with other things also. I have had to make a few trips to the capital and San Pedro Sula, still working of the papers for my wife. We have an appointment on the 5th of Sept at the embassy to see whether or not she gets the visa. please pray for out trip down to Tegucigalpa and the appointment.

In filter making news....
I have completed replacing all of the broken filters with new ones. The filters were working so well that the people of the villages asked for more. I have put 6 more filters in Joconalis in addition to the ones i replaced. The people seem really greatful and have been using the filters since last year. I have been having touble with my contacts so it has been kinda slow getting other villages started. I have been installing filters in differnt farm houses throughout the mountains where the only water people have is the same as where their cows drink from. They have been the most excited and helpful of anybody.

The website is up and running. The address is www.hishands.ws It does not have a lot of stuff on it but it will shortly. The will be a link to see new pictures and upcoming projects and things like that.

A group of men came to help build and install filters as well as learn more about the ministry I have here in Honduras. They stayed for a few days and learned about every aspect of the filter from start to finish. I will put pictures up from that trip as soon as I can. There is talk about other trips coming to help and learn more in the future.

I have been trying to send out a newsletter but it has been imposible to send from down here. I am sorry it has been so long since the first newsletter but I will keep trying to send it. Thanks for your patience on waiting on me to update this blog, the website, and newsletter.

Well I know its been awhile since i have updated this blog. I really dont like to update it unless I have some good news about something. For the past little bit its just been bad news after bad news. I first had a wreck in my truck and had to wait about a month to fix it and its still kinda struggling a little bit. Then i spent sometime gong back and forth to the capital of Tegucigalpa (which is 12 hours in a bus)trying to get the paperwork done for my wife so she would be able to go to the US for my sisters wedding, but we still are waiting for the papers. Then the people who were helping me are not seeming to want to help me anymore so i have started trying to do things with another person and it is just taking alot longer. The to top it all off, the filters that i have installed in Manguito and Joconalis have started to crack. I am going to have to fix te problem and reinstall the filters to these two villages again. I have been in the process of calling and emailing people from other parts of Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico who work with these types of filters to ask them if they have encountered similar problems. They said they have and it could be that the sand i am using is too dirty or that i need to tapper the inner plug more. I am now in the process of reconstructing the inner plug or the mold and will test it out sometime tomorrow evening. Please pray for me and this project that everything will work itself out and also that i will have patiences to continue. I can tell the the devil is throwing all sort of things at me for me to fail so i need your prayers to help overcome these things. thanks for waiting for te updates and i hope to have so good news next time.

Update

Thanks for all the prayers concerning the ministry here in Honduras. Please continue to pray for the villages here as well as the ministry to grow. I was recently in a car accident but everything is ok. Nobody was hurt but my truck is in the shop getting repaired. Its a small setback but I hope to get my truck back by the end of the week or the first of next week. When I get it back, I plan to continue my work in the village of El Jardin. Please continue to pray for that village. I recently went to the village of Maguito, where I had installed filters before Christmas to see how everything was working and if there were any problems. They told me that everyday people fill up bottles of pure water, and it has helped the community get closer because neighbors are visiting together as the fill up the bottles. Also I asked if they have seen a drop in sickness due to the water they were drinking before. They said that they have seen a huge differnce and do not know of anybody who has gotten sick. That is an answer to prayer. I will continue to update when there is new information. Please pray for me and my wife as we try to get her a visa to go to the United States next in May. Thanks again for all the prayers and support.

new news

Its me again. Down in Honduras where it is about 95 degrees. That might sound good to some of yall because I heard that there were a few snow flakes that fell a few days ago. Anyways it hot down here. Things are going pretty good, although we have had some trouble trying to get the passport and visa stuff from the capital(Tegucigalpa) but I think we are going to go tomorrow to try to work things out. Please pray that all will go wonderful without any problems.

In the filter news...
There has been a few tiny set backs. Some of the filters that I made last year for Joconalis and Maguito were breaking apart. Not completely, but there were small cracks in the concrete were water is getting out. Before I could start on the new villages, I have had to go back to these old ones to fix some of the problems. I believe that the problem was with the sand (it had too much earth in it). Anyway, I have been working on that and still working to go to El Jardin and San Cristobal. It has also been tough and slow going because the two men that were helping me last year have been busy doing other things. Please pray that things will open up and there will be possibly new help to come or that the same men will be willing to help me again.

I have been a little frustrated because it seems as though I am starting back at square one. I reckon that sometime that's what it takes. Please continue to pray for the people in the mountains here in Honduras as well as for me and my wife. Thanks so much for your support.

A New Year

Hello again. I know it has been a few months since I have last updated this thing to let everyone know how things were going. Some of you might have recieved a newsletter explaining some things such as; the new organization (His Hands Mission International), me getting married, and other things about the water project I am working on. For those of you who didnt get the newsletter and would like to be put on the mailing list then please send an email to Bigred_30@yahoo.com and I will be happy to do that.

Here is a quick update for those who did not recieve the newsletter. I came back down to Honduras on the 12th of January to continue the water purification projects. Before I came back I was very fortunate to be able to start a non-profit organization called His Hands Mission International. It is a 501c3 organization and will help me be able to get the word out to people as well as raise more support. I came back in January and I got married to a beautiful girl named Maite and we will live happily ever after. Thanks for all the prayers concerning everything. Also i have started back the filter building and have two new villages in mind. They are El Jardin and San Cristobal. Please start praying for these villages and that God will use me to minister to these people.

I have started back making the filters and things have been going wonderful. I have had a problem with one of my molds so I am waiting to try to get it fixed. I am still working with one mold and the filters are coming out wonderful. I do not konw when we will begin taking the filters to the villages but continue to pray for me, Maite, this project, and the people of Jardin and San Cristobal.

I will try to put up pictures of different things here directly and also I have been trying to get a website for the organization and I will let you know when that is ready.