Monday, Dec 10th: Day 1 of Drilling

*This is a long one folks!*

This morning we sang "He Is Mighty To Save" (which is now my theme song this week) and read and excerpt from the book "The Hole In Our Gospel". This is what we read (I will shorten it for the sake of space): "Most of you began this morning with a hot, clean shower. You brushed your teeth, filled a glass of water, and took a few vitamins..And each day you run your washing machines and dishwashers and take your toilets for granted..If you have children, they probably haven't spent even one hour of their lives fetching water for the family to drink or to bathe with. And I'll wager that neither you nor your children have ever had a sick day due to unclean water..I want you to imagine for a moment that when you wake up tomorrow, all of the water-related fixtures and appliances have been removed from your home..You would wake up wanting to use the toilet, take your hot shower, brush your teeth, swallow those vitamins, and fix breakfast-but you can't. What would you do? At first, you would be irritated by the minor inconvenience of having no showers, toilets, dishwasher, or washing machine-until it started to dawn on you that this is far more serious-a threat, actually, to your health, your family, even your survival. Finding a way to get water would begin to consume your life..Where I live, we are fortunate to have a wonderful lake just about two miles away, so if I knew I was going to be without water, I could begin to plan ahead to organize some water fetching. On foot, it would take about two hours round-trip to go fetch water to use for drinking and some rudimentary bathing, but thirty gallons of water weighs about 250 pounds. I checked my water bill and learned that my family uses about three hundred gallons a day. That would weigh more than a ton and would require fifty round-trips to the lake each day..Now, if you had to work this routine into your schedule every day and still get everyone off to work or school on time, you would have to begin your treks in the wee hours of the morning. Washing your clothes and dishes, let alone your own body, would become an overwhelming task..Now, this little imaginary dilemma I took you through may sound a bit amusing as you think about how absolutely dependent you and your family are on water, but let me add a more sinister dimension. Imagine that the water you fetched from the lake was teeming with deadly bacteria, parasites, and waterborne diseases-that are literally killing you. This is the grim reality for about 1.2 billion people in our world today. As many as 5 million people die every year of water-related illnesses. A child dies every fifteen seconds of a waterborne disease. This creates a no-win situation for millions of parents in our world today-they can watch helplessly as their children die for lack of water, or they can watch them die from diarrhea, because the only water they have is tainted."

I hope you don't feel guilty after reading that. Just wanted to put into perspective what we were walking into that week. I know that was long so I won't talk much more about today. Just some pictures and some thoughts from Kent Grubb, one of our drillers.

 

This is what 'el bano' looked like in the village, and yes, we did use it.

First impressions of the children here. This is Katarin and her little sister Rosa. They were first to greet us every morning-their house is right next to the drill site.

A little glimpse of what we did hundreds of times a day..use anti-bacterial wipes.

This is Juan Carlo. He was my buddy for the week. He holds a special place in my heart.

Jim, Deanna and Emily mixing the bentonite.

This is what a typical kitchen looks like.



When the hygiene girls arrived, we visited the homes around the area and invited the moms to come to the classes.

Some houses were made of concrete, some were wrapped in tin and plastic.

Every other day, those who pay for water, receive it from the city. Unfortunately, it is unclean water and when the city runs out, well, there is no water for anything.

We started with a craft. The children made name tags..and they absolutely loved it!

Little Erick

After making the name tags, Lauren started her lesson, which was an introduction to Living Water and us and Jesus as the "living water". I agreed to act out Lauren's skit, but didn't know I would be risking my life! LOL! I was supposed to go grab the cup, which was supposed to be empty, and pretend I was taking a drink. Only, the cup wasn't empty, and I got a mouthful of water...unclean water. I almost threw up as the water hit my mouth, and the kids thought I was hilarious! Only I wasn't acting that part! Glad to know we are off to a great start with the kids!

My lesson came next, germs and handwashing. I had to teach each child how to wash their hands with clean water, soap in one bowl with a little water for washing and rinsing in another bowl. I also had to stress the importance of dumping the water out after each person because it was now dirty. This took a long time with 20 kids! Karen helped out by being Ana, the puppet. Theresa had a fun time making her the night before!

 This was probably the first time ever for many of the kids to wash their hands. Very sad realization.

This is a hand dug well. The water is contaminated with bacteria and parasites that seep into the ground and into the water source.

The kids loved to have their picture taken and then see it back on the camera!

 At the end our our day we pulled out the balls, jump ropes, frisbees, and bubbles and the kids went wild! Definitely the hardest part of the day!

From Kent Grubb: 

Drilling began today a bit after 10:00. Our driller, Adrian, was delayed obtaining necessary items for drilling. We had a target time of 9:00 to start but the pause gave us the opportunity to walk back to the home where we had enjoyed the church gathering the day before. There we spoke briefly with the sister whose house it was, and she allowed us to use the latrine behind the house. She was doing laundry outside her house on a concrete sink and wash board.

At 10 Adrian began teaching us the rudiments of drilling a water well. The first stage is digging several small trenches leading to a pair of pits. Three men of the village church had dug the two five foot pits in an hour. We took some lengthier period to hack out our several shallow trenches of a half foot depth and several feet in length.

As some of us dug, Emily, Deanna, and Jim mixed Bentonite, a slick oatmeal-like substance - once it is mixed. They muscled 40 lbs sacks onto the lip of 55 gallon drums, then sifted the Bentonite powder slowly into the drums. At the same time time they shot water into the barrels from compressor powered pumps. Inevitably, the slurry erupted at moments, splattering the three of them. Undeterred, they finished up three 55 gallon drums. The Bentonite is critical for mud drilling as it lifts the cuttings to the surface.

We then dumped the Bentonite into the pits and began drilling. This is fairly physical labor, requiring lifting 5ft sections of pipe to be joined to the drillhead as the drill works further into the ground.

Adrian taught each member of the drill crew how to operate the drill. Some were naturals, others felt a conviction for other callings.

We are just inside the Pacific coastal area of Nicaragua. Jorge, the local Living Water director, warned us that the sun would be quite draining. We were very blessed today to have nice cloud cover as well as a very pleasant breeze.

At lunch, we had a sandwich, some chips, and Gatorade. Several pigs trotted by, with an eye toward anything that might have been dropped. Several showed mild irritation earlier in the day in their wallows along the road threading through the middle of the pueblo.

When the drill bit stalled about an hour after lunch, Adrian had us pull all 115ft of pipe from the hole. This requires breaking the grip of the threads on the successive lengths of pipe with a three foot pipe wrench. Each section must be reloaded into the trailer so it is ready to be reused. Once the entire pipe length was out, Adrian attached a new bit, while Jorge cleared the bit. As each length came off, water shot from the joint in the pipe saturating the three or four drill crew working to break loose the pipe.

At the end of the day, the hole was 115 ft. Adrian tells us we will likely have good water at 160.

Sunday, Dec 9th: Getting Aquainted

Whoa! The sun comes up early here! So I slept ok, but was awake around 5:15am. Today we are going to the church in the village, which we learned is an Episcopal church. I am naturally anxious about meeting the people and seeing where & how they live, but I am also, surprisingly, excited. All the credit goes to God.

So I roll out of bed about 6am & get dressed- oh, by the way, we all shower at night here because oh how dirty we are at the end of the work day, but also because we have to get up so early! And the shower is cold water- NO hot water- and you can only drink the bottled water. All the water in the sink & shower is dirty so I have to be careful not to open my mouth when bathing and not to use the faucet when brushing my teeth. Ok, so anyway, devo is at 6:30 and breakfast at 7, so I have a few minutes to drink a cup of coffee. I am not a usual coffee drinker, but the coffee here is GOOD! There is a nice patio with awesome chairs that we sit in while we sip our coffee.

 Breakfast consists of eggs, cereal, toast, pineapple, papaya, & watermelon, and fried cheese. I promised myself I would try everything while here, so I gave the fried cheese a chance, but it was too "squeaky" for me. Thats the best way for me to describe it. After breakfast, we roll out.

 This is what I'll call the alleyway from the main road to the houses. The hygiene team walked down here everyday to get to our area.

 The drive from the compound to the village is about 20 min and on a very bumpy dirt road. Lauren, who has motion sickness, did a great job everytime we made the drive..she just had to get out right away! Once we got there we walked to the house where church was being held, and we only had to follow the singing voices. I felt awkward that we arrived late but the villagers didn't seem to mind. They pulled up extra chairs and ushered us into them. I was greeted by a boy named Dante (who's smile will forever be imprinted in my mind), who got out his Bible, quickly turned to where the pastor was reading (the women at the well) & handed me his Bible. Tears started flowing immediately. At first I was embarrassed but then I just let them flow. They came even more when we greeted one another and I saw their expressions of joy on their faces as I shook each hand. We got up and introduced ourselves & sang a few songs in English- they really like how we talk and wanted us to keep singing!

 When it was time for the sermon the young children went to what I'll call the "common area" of their little community, so the hygiene members (me, Lauren, Theresa, and Karen) followed. We got a chance to meet the kids and then Theresa read a Bible story in Spanish (we were so blessed that she knew Spanish because it REALLY helped as the week went on!). We we re-joined the group I was touched at how everyone (men, women, and children) has a turn either singing, praying, or reading scripture. I felt as if we were worshipping without all the "constraints". A short time later Adrian tapped us on the shoulder & told us it was time to go. Not sure why we had to leave before the service was over, but it left a weary feeling inside. When we got to the van we had to wait on the chicken...the chicken?? Yep, we purchased a chicken from the people in the community to eat for dinner! Wow.

This field shows upside down coke bottles attached to sticks to catch rain water for the plants.

Here's our dinner.

When we got back to the house we had lunch- grilled chicken strips over a bed of lettuce. Add a little of the homemade pico/salsa and you've got a pretty good plate of food! Our hygiene leader, Scarleth, came after lunch so we could meet and go over the lessons for the week. After the curve ball we were thrown- too much detail for now, ask me about it if you want- we packed the trunk with our supplies for the week. Then we piled into the van for a couple of hours of sight seeing in Granada. We went to the local square & looked at all the booths & then to the lake, then back to the house for dinner.



We had soup with a chicken leg & some kind of meatball-like thing in the broth with vegetables on the side. Not my favorite, but I ate it. The hygiene girls then worked for a few hours on our lessons & crafts, then turned in for the night. It was an emotional and long day. Looks like the next several days will be much of the same.

Saturday, Dec 8: Ready, Set, Fly!

Here we go!! I had been feeling anxious all day. I don't like trying new things and this trip will force me out of my comfort zone into a completely unknown territory. I am praying continually for God's transformation in me for the coming week.

 A look at a live volcano from the plane

 Once we finally arrived in Nicaragua & all made it through customs, I was eased a little, but still very weary of what lie ahead. We were greeted by our head driller, Adrian, and then headed for the van. We met our driver Ernesto (or Nester, who I later will learn is quite a character). He started loading our luggage-and there was alot-on top of the van. There was a young boy, my guess is about 13, who was helping. As we loaded into the van we learned he didn't work with LWI but was just trying to earn a buck. He was standing in the doorway, staring at us while rubbing his fingers together asking for a tip. Unfortunately, we were instructed to not tip because it often brings trouble, so we just sat there, feeling completely awful. Whats worse, is after we closed the door, he stood there with his face pressed against the glass. So heartbreaking.

We stopped for lunch at Tip Top (there is a pic below), which is a fried chicken place. Pretty good for my first Nicaraguan meal!

 After lunch we headed to the compound in Granada, which is about 45 min from Managua. When we arrived at the house I was surprised at how beautiful it was. There are 2 houses on the property, one for the host family and one for the teams (the pic below shows Jorge's house). We were greeted by a huge boxer named Max who is super sweet and friendly. Once inside we divided into rooms-3 women each in 2 rooms and the 6 men in another larger room. We all had our own a/c unit and bathroom, but could only use the a/c at night. Jorge, the director & host, came to welcome us and told us a little about our schedule. After we had dinner, made by the wonderful kitchen staff. It was kinda like chicken stir fry and was very good! We fellowshipped and played some games and then turned in early-it was a long day! Looking forward to visiting the church at the village in the morning.

Trick Or Treat, Smell My Feet

As usual, we waited til the last minute to carve the pumpkin! Josh told they boys that they had to help clean it out..Ethan didn't mind.

 But Isaiah literally almost threw up! He put his hand in there and started gagging right away! I thought his face was hilarious and am tickled that I got it on camera! We didn't let him help clean it out after that!

 The boys picked out a design, and this is the final product. Turned out really good, I thought!

 We went trick or treating with the Gibbins/Torres families again this year. They like to go really early, so since it was a school night it worked great. Plus, we got home in time to actually hand out candy FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!

 The dragon costume was way too hot for tonight, so luckily I had this Bam Bam costume from when Ethan wore it 5 years ago! I love it still! So cute!

Halloween Extravaganza!

The first couple of Halloween events I will group together. After much debate on the costumes, the boys decided they wanted to be ninjas. Here we go, I thought. No more cute, matching costumes. I hope I will be able to do a family costume before they grow too old for that...Anyway, so I had to come up with something for Jacob. I didn't have anything in mind, so when Ashley threw out that she had a dragon costume hanging up at home, I asked if we could try it on. I really thought it would be too big but it turned out so cute! Here we are trying it on:

Isn't he so cute? Wait til you see the whole thing!

 

We decided to take a trip to Sea World for their Trick or Treat exhibit, and some of our friends came along. It was pretty cool! Lots of pretty colors and LOTS of bubble machines!

 

Trunk or Treat snuck up on us...but this is my favorite time of the year so I was excited! We invited our friends Ryan and Jenny and were so happy they came! We had a great time going to all the booths (we had it in the gym because of rain). Making memories!

 Please excuse Isaiah's hood...it wasn't attached to the rest of the costume and was too big for his head. He looks like he belongs to a certain group...poor thing. He still rocked it, though!

 The Gang; I hope they still hang out when they get older, and can look back on times like this and know that they hold a special bond because they have been friends for life!