My team, 180, and team Hot Mess stayed in Antigua this month
and have been incredible blessed by our wonderful contacts. Forrest and Carol
from Servants 4 Him Ministry have been a great team to work with. We have also
been blessed with the opportunity to work with Vera from Casa Jackson, a house
for malnourished children and Levi from Sharing His Plan.
and have been incredible blessed by our wonderful contacts. Forrest and Carol
from Servants 4 Him Ministry have been a great team to work with. We have also
been blessed with the opportunity to work with Vera from Casa Jackson, a house
for malnourished children and Levi from Sharing His Plan.
With Forrest and Carol we will be working sifting sand andmixing concrete for the water filters. I am excited for the opportunity we will
have later in the month to actually visit the villages and install the filter.
They have also graciously invited us into there home several times for dessert
and pizza and have showered us with knowledge on how to conduct children’s
hygiene ministries and how to build bio-sand water filters and efficient wood
burning stoves.
Forrest and Carol followed God’s calling 5 years ago and
moved from there comfortable farm in America to Guatemala to start making
bio-sand water filters. Their strategic plan was to use the filters as a form
of “good deeds evangelism”, or in other words they use the metaphor created
with the water filter to tell the people about the gospel. It meets a physical
need, which saves lives, as well as allows for the people to hear the good
news. In 2002, about 2.2 million children died of dehydration cause by
diarrhea, 80% of them in the first two years of their life. Parents in
Guatemala, like many third world countries, do not know of the importance of
,and do not have access to, purified water. The
answer is simple, provide them with the Bio-sand water filter ($55) and educate
them! The bio-sand water filters use local concrete, sand from the
rivers (cleaned of course), lasts a lifetime, and do not need to be cleaned or
replaced. Servants 4 Him do not have to follow up with the people but choose to
continuously check in with them to see how they are doing and truly build
relationships. This makes all the difference in the world!
moved from there comfortable farm in America to Guatemala to start making
bio-sand water filters. Their strategic plan was to use the filters as a form
of “good deeds evangelism”, or in other words they use the metaphor created
with the water filter to tell the people about the gospel. It meets a physical
need, which saves lives, as well as allows for the people to hear the good
news. In 2002, about 2.2 million children died of dehydration cause by
diarrhea, 80% of them in the first two years of their life. Parents in
Guatemala, like many third world countries, do not know of the importance of
,and do not have access to, purified water. The
answer is simple, provide them with the Bio-sand water filter ($55) and educate
them! The bio-sand water filters use local concrete, sand from the
rivers (cleaned of course), lasts a lifetime, and do not need to be cleaned or
replaced. Servants 4 Him do not have to follow up with the people but choose to
continuously check in with them to see how they are doing and truly build
relationships. This makes all the difference in the world!
Forrest and Carol have also since expanded their ministry to
include building efficient wood burning stoves to minister to the Mayan
villages. The Mayan woman currently cook over an open flame in the middle of
their houses causing the house to be filled with smoke. This has caused many
respiratory and eye issues among the villagers and because it requires a lot of
wood it has also caused many deforestation and mudslide issues. When Servants 4 Him goes in and
installs a clean efficient wood burning stove they are able to use a simple
analogy to present the gospel. They talk to the woman about how their house is
dirty from the smoke. No matter how hard they try to clean the house it just
gets dirty from the smoke the next day. This is like our life with out Jesus,
but once we install this stove, or let Jesus into our life he forgives are sin
and washes us clean so we no longer have to live in the filth of our past. The
analogy makes so much sense to the Mayans that every single family but one that
had a stove installed last year came to know Jesus Christ! Praise God!
include building efficient wood burning stoves to minister to the Mayan
villages. The Mayan woman currently cook over an open flame in the middle of
their houses causing the house to be filled with smoke. This has caused many
respiratory and eye issues among the villagers and because it requires a lot of
wood it has also caused many deforestation and mudslide issues. When Servants 4 Him goes in and
installs a clean efficient wood burning stove they are able to use a simple
analogy to present the gospel. They talk to the woman about how their house is
dirty from the smoke. No matter how hard they try to clean the house it just
gets dirty from the smoke the next day. This is like our life with out Jesus,
but once we install this stove, or let Jesus into our life he forgives are sin
and washes us clean so we no longer have to live in the filth of our past. The
analogy makes so much sense to the Mayans that every single family but one that
had a stove installed last year came to know Jesus Christ! Praise God!
Before…
After…
We were also able to help Levi from Sharing his plan to digditches on his new ministry site. Levi makes prefabricated ferro concrete
panels so when teams comes from America they can build a house in less than a
day. The houses cost $700 or $7 a square foot to build and can withstand the
earthquakes that are common to the area. He is currently in the process of
building up his work site with a workshop to build the panels, storage for them
and housing for mission teams so they have a place to stay on the property. We
were in charge of digging the ditches to run electrical wires to the future
buildings. It was very tough work but I know it will bless Levi and his future
ministry site.
Our third and final missionary contact for the month is Vera
from Casa Jackson. Casa Jackson is a clinic for malnourished children. When a
parent brings a child to the hospital because they are sick or dieing from
malnurishment Casa Jackson takes them in for 9-10 weeks to get them back to
health. The house is run almost entirely by volunteers. We go in there in
groups of 3 to feed the children. We run 8 hour shifts waking up the children
every two hours to feed them. They can’t afford bottles so all the kids are fed
formula by a spoon or syringe. It is very difficult to get them to take the formula and is
heart breaking work as the children are in such bad shape.
from Casa Jackson. Casa Jackson is a clinic for malnourished children. When a
parent brings a child to the hospital because they are sick or dieing from
malnurishment Casa Jackson takes them in for 9-10 weeks to get them back to
health. The house is run almost entirely by volunteers. We go in there in
groups of 3 to feed the children. We run 8 hour shifts waking up the children
every two hours to feed them. They can’t afford bottles so all the kids are fed
formula by a spoon or syringe. It is very difficult to get them to take the formula and is
heart breaking work as the children are in such bad shape.
