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

Joconalis Round 3.....ding!

Im not really good at picking titles for my blog but here is the latest news...In my
third trip to Joconalis could possibly have been the most exciting trip that we have been on. Before this trip we have not seen any of the filters working/filtering water. I have received phone calls from the people there and they told me how grateful they were to have the filters, that they were drinking the water and it tasted wonderful, and when I was going to come back to install some more. This trip i finally got to see and taste the water that has been filtered by my filrs. It was looked clean and tasted wonderful. I dont know if it was because I was thirsty or excited about the water or what, but it was probably the best water i have ever tasted. I walked around the town to visit all of the homes with filters to make sure all of them were working correctly and they were. The nurses at the medical clinic were almost crying they were so happy about the filters. Not only do they use the water to drink but also to clean wounds and medical equipment because they said they believe there is power in the water. How exciting is that!!! When we went we also installed 4 more filters; One at another pastor´s home two at different houses and one at a school(the school has over 350 kids that will drink from this filter.) It is exciting to see the progress and all of the hard work that has been put into this project pay off. I have added a few more pictures for yall to look at and hope to have more in the days to come. I will be making filters for the next week to take to both Joconalis and Manguito so I will update yall with whats going on sometime next week if there is electricity/Internet/something to say. Thanks again for all that each of you have done for this project. I could not do what I am doing alone.

UPDATE WITH PHOTOS

I finally have the chance to update my blog and i have added some new photos also. To see them all you need to do is click on the photo link from the previous post and you can see the new ones also. I think they are a little bigger also.

For the past two weeks I have been traveling back and forth to Joconalis and Manguito. Why you might ask...Well I have finally begun installing the filters I have been making for the past few months. This has been quite an exciting time for me as well as the people of the villages because it is something that we both have been waiting to do for months.

In Joconalis, where we had installed one filter previously that didnt work, now has 6 working filters that can supply water to more than 60 families. Thats about 400 people. I had spent two full days washing all the sand and rock that I had to get the dirt out of it and with that, the filters work wonderful. The papers say that each filter should produce water at a rate of 1 liter per minute. Glory to God my filters do not filter at that rate. I strongly believe that God used the first filter that did not work to humble me and teach me patience and perseverance. With that being said I also believe that God has blessed the filters and doubled the rate of water being filtered to 2 liters per minute. In Joconalis there is a filter at 3 homes, the church/nutritional center/pastors home, medical clinic, and school. I have more filters ready to transport there and hope to go back sometime this week or the beginning of next week. Please continue to pray for the people of Joconalis

In Manguito, we had transported 6 filters but had yet to install any. We were waiting for the time when the men of the homes did not have work to do so they could show us where they wanted them. We finally found a time and have now installed 3 filters there. We could have done more but they had a town meeting with the mayor of El Paraiso to discuss things that needed to be done in the community. These filters have also been timed and have the same flow rate as the ones in Joconalis. There are more filters to be installed in Manguito and we hope to go back there some time next week as well. With the filters that have been installed in both villages are supplying clean water as we speak to about 600+ people (this includes the kids at the school). Please continue to pray for the people and the filters of Manguito also.

I have realized the importance of clean water, not only for myself but also for those who live in the rural mountain villages. Working/construction the filters in the compound in El Paraiso I have seen many kids who have been brought to the clinic with serious diarrhea, worms, intestinal problems, and other sickness that are caused by drinking contaminated water. Please continue to pray for the filters and that they will filter water more pure than any one could imagine. Thanks for all your prayers and I will update this thing again when I have something else to say.

Making of a Filter

I have recieved some question about how I make the filters. Here are some pictures to show you step by step. (I left out the pictures when I was resting eating or drinking.)

The time is now

Well its been another month and i am just now updating the blog again. Sorry about that. I am not one of those people that like to say just just to hear myself talk so im not going to write ¨Well i shovled sand today.¨ So now you know that when there is a new post that means that there is something worth reading. With my time here in Honduras a little more than half way over, I was getting a little anxious about getting up to the villages and setting some filters up. The time finally came on September 23. I took two filters up to the village of Manguito and everything i needed to set them up and get them going. When we got up there, there was one main problem. Nobody was there. Some how somebody got there days confused and nobody was there to recieve us. We left all the materials there at the church and talked to one man about another time that would be good to come. We made our plans and then left. Two days later we decided that it would be good to go to another village to start a project there. This village is called Joconales. We went there and took 3 filters and the materials to set them up. In this village there were people waiting for us. All of the leaders of the village decided to come out and see what this water filter thing was all about. We all went inside the church and had a devotional time where we shared about the importance of water as well as the story about when Jesus talks to the Samaratian woman about the Living Water. After this lesson, Adolfo (a guy who is helping me), explained the water filter in great detail and how it was going to work. We then began to ask about good locations for the filters so that they would be safe and also be able to serve the most amount of people as possible. Here are the names of the house that will have the filters and how many familys will benefit from them:
*Carmelina Rodriguez (10 Families)
*Mirna Mejia (9 Families)
*Rodis Aguilar (6 Families)
*Oscar Perez (8 Families)
*Angela Arita (9 Families)
*Gladis Reyes (8 Families)
*Odin Reyes (8 Families)
*Ceter or Health
*School
*Pastors Home/Nutricional center/Church
*Moises Henrriquez (13 Families)
*Tino Henrriquez (10 Families)
*Balvino Devaz (15 Families)
*Neptaly Valle (15 Families)
*Santos Menjivar (12 Families)
--with all the filters in place and working, we should be able to provide clean drinking water to about 125 different families (over 500 people).

We traveled back to Maguito the 28th of September to take more filters and also have the same devotional time with them. Everything went alot better then the first time because this time the entire village was there. It gave us an opportunity to share the gospel and also our hopes/dreams about this clean water project. I do not have the names of the locations where the filters will be in Manguito yet but when i do i will be sure to put them on here.

Also please continue to pray for these filters. When we were in Joconales, the pastor asked us if we could set up one of the filters to let them see how it works. We agreed and began to fill it up with the needed materials. everything was going great until the last part. When we put the water in the filter, nothing came out. We took everything out and tried it again and the same thing happened. Then again and again it didnt work. I had washed the sand but apparently there was still way to much earth in the sand and it wouldnt let the water pass. Humiliated, i spent the next two days washing sand and trying it again and again and again. Finally, one time when i put water in the filter it came out. It had finally worked. I am excited about this and excited about going back to Joconales and fixing the problem. Please continue to pray for this project. Thank you and here are some pictures of what we are doing.