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.

Manguito/Joconalis update

Well I made another trip, my last trip to Manguito for this year and installed 3 more filters. Manguito is the village where we have to carry everything on foot or horseback to the houses where we are going to install the filters. We got there earlier in the morning this time so we would have time to carry and install more than just one filter. When we got there we were a little worried because the filters were not where we had left them. We asked around the community and they told us that the men in the village had already moved the filters to the homes where they needed to be instaled. That was a huge blessing becuase we were able to instal 4 filters that day to finish up the village of Manguito.

The next day we made another "last" trip to Joconalis because the pastor said the families that have the water filters wanted to show their appreciation for them. We arrived there and there were each of the families that had received a filter their to greet me and tell me wow it has changed their lives. It really meant alot to be that there were men who did not go out to the fields to work that day but stayed at the church to thank you and me for the filters. Then when i thought that we were about to go, the pastor stood up and told said that they had something for me. He pulled out a certificate in which all of the owners of the filters pitched in to buy. That meant more than anything.

I will try to put more pictures of the manguito trip as well as the trip to Joconalis later on.

pictures

Another Update from a busy two weeks

Alot has been going on the past couple of weeks. I now have a chance to let all of yall know about it. Some parts have been exciting and some have been sad and all have been really, really muddy. We are in the middle of the wet season here in Honduras and that means that it rains everyday about 70% of the day. It has been very difficult to make concrete filters in the rain but God has provided me different times during the day when the rain would stop and the sun would come out for just enough time for me to get the concrete in the molds and cover them up. Then it would start raining again. Its been great.
A week ago I made my first trip alone to the village of Joconalis to carry the filters so we could install all of them the next time. In my journey down the curvey muddy road I car that was coming towards me skidded around a turn and was fixin to hit me. When I saw this I swerved, and in doing this, the rope that was holding the filters in place broke and three out of the four filters broke. This was the sad part. It is not about the money (because the money is still coming in to help with this project...thanks you) but the time to make and let cure three filters is a little over a week. I was disouraged because I knew that my time is running out. I turned around and went back to the place where I make the filters and for the next three days I worked and worked on trying to repair them. After three days I had completed repairing the broked filters and they were ready to go to the villages. In this time I had also made two more. (That is 5 in 3 days, not just 3 in a week...God is good.) I went the next day to take the filters to Joconalis again. This time everything went smoothe as smooth can be.
Wednesday of this week I made another trip to Manguito carrying four filters as well. Manguito is much more difficult to get to because many parts of the road are washed out leaving us to pray that we will not slide down the mountain. Also in Manguito, there are only two main roads that cars can travel on. The other roads are only for horses and walking. The filters each weigh around 250-300 pounds a piece so they are a little heavy and are not shaped very well to carry. In Manguito we had to tie the filters to two large logs and carry them with four people (most of the time its four people unless there is a gringo and then there are 2 people and a gringo). We started out carrying the filter up a mountain in mud up to your knees stoping every now and then to look for our boots that got stuck in the mud. We finally made it the house where we installed the filter. Everything worked great. It took us about 1 1/2 hours carrying the filter for each house. We were only able to install one because the rain started to pour harder than before. We plan to go back to Manguito to finish up there sometime later next week. Please keep praying for the people of Manguito. Oh yea!!! I have a good story to tell. In Manguito there has not been running water for the past 10 days. This means that there was no way for the people to use the filters with the faucet we intalled for them. The people that have the filters listed to what we told them and have been filling up big jugs full of the clean, filtered water. During the past 10 days they have been able to drink, as well as share with others the pure water that they have saved before the water got cut off. Isnt that exciting. Also there are many streams that run through the village or Manguito where the people bring water and pour through the filters to purify that water. Its a great feeling when you hear something like this.
We made another trip to Joconalis on Thursday of this week to finish installing all the filters. We made in there safe and without any problems. We installed four of the 8 filters we had to install and then something neat happened. The pastor and the men that were helping us install the previous 12 told us this. They said that they would like to be a part of this project too and if we didnt mind, they want to install the last four and explain everything themself. The selfish part of me thought...no this is my project...but that didnt last but a second. I saw the joy, confidence, and desire to help there people and to be a part of something bigger then themselves. I told them that I didnt mind at all and if they had any questions they could call me. They were so excited when I told them this thats all they talked about for an hour or so. It fills good to install a filter and see the people drinking pure water from the filter, but it feels even better when then people want to help, and want to be a part of something like this. One of the Hondurans that goes with me to install the filters said that these people in Joconalis never wanted to help him or do anything with the chicken houses or garden projects that he has provided. This project that you have brought, he told me, has really changed their hearts. That was more fulfilling and more rewarding than the purest water that any of them could ever drink.
Men change peoples minds but only God can change a persons heart. Knowing that peoples health is getting better is one thing, but knowing that God is touching and changing the hearts of men through this project we are all a part of is something much more special.

I have added three picture links...the first is the broke filters that I repaired. the second is of Manguito and the third of Joconalis. Thanks again for all your prayers and everything that you have contributed to this project.

Email Me

Im thinking about starting a type of newsletter type thing. I havent really decided how often I would send one out, but I am thinking about maybe once a month. This would not take the place of this blog but only be something else with maybe more information, needs that I might have, ways you could help, or random stuff. I am just thinking that some people might like to have a hard copy of things that are going on down here. I know alot of adresses and I could look in a phone book for those who I dont have, but if you would like to receive a newsletter then please send me your adress. My email is Bigred_30@yahoo.com. It would be best for me to receive adresses by emails and not on the comment page. Also if you know someone who might be interested in what I am doing or does not have internet, then you could send me their adress as well. I do not know when the first newsletter will go out but probably sometime in the next couple of months. Thanks