Final Day and Mixed Emotions.

Thank you for your patience, as we didn't post an offering on Thursday night. This was a night of reflection for us, as we went to Las Penitas, and ate dinner at the Hotel Suyapa Beach. The food was excellent, and we had a chance to unwind after our week of hard work so far. The sunset was also amazing.

Sunset over the Pacific from our restaurant.

Friday was our last day with the people of Nicaragua. Our well was still not clean enough to shock and dedicate, but is producing good water and just needs some time. Though not being able to dedicate a well while on this trip, the important part is the well is set up properly so the people of Tolodar have better opportunities for health and prosperity in this very poor country. It looks like our water table is 114' down, which means the aquifer is healthy and will supply water for many years to come.

Everyone in the village helped in some way.

Jader, our site foreman,
checks the water table depth.

In lieu of returning to Tolodar to sit and watch them flush the well, on Friday, we visited a site which has seen many challenges over the years. In 1998, hurricane Mitch flooded the mountain upon which these people lived, and 3,000 of the 4,500 residents perished in the landslide. The government set aside some land for them to live on in the sugar cane fields, but it is 7km from the town, and just as far from the nearest road. Malnutrition ran rampant, so upon visiting, Jim and Tedde helped sponsor the town for a Living Water International well, and brought in Orphan Network to provide natal care and feeding programs. We were blessed to see both in action upon our visit, and meet Dick and Beth Anderson who were instrumental in bringing healthy opportunity to this village.

Once a week, this nurse would come to educate
young mothers and potential mothers.

As part of the feeding program, a new stove and nutrition
training became part of the gifts brought to this village.

Tedde's favorite thing was handing out Famous Amos
cookies as the children left the feeding program.

 Our group will split up from here. Five of us are in Managua at the Hex Hotel, while Jim and Tedde stayed with their friends Dick and Beth. Three of us enjoy a 7:15am flight (5:30am shuttle), while Fred and Janet will spend a couple days in Granada to unwind and process their experiences.

This has been an amazing journey so far, and there is much potential for even more grace to be spread through the Living Water program. We will head home tomorrow, but part of our hearts will remain in Nicaragua.

Stay tuned for upcoming news and presentations at church. The trip may be ending, but the journey has just begun.

The PCBarrington Living Water Team.

Striking Water is Like Striking Gold!

Well, at least it's a kind of muddy brown, if not literal gold. But in value for the people of Tolodar #2, it is better than gold!

What an amazing journey, and this is how it went:

Starting with daily devotions, Tedde shared Galatians 5:22-23, the Fruits of the Spirit. She shared the passage, and Pastor Joe sang a song about the Fruits of the Spirit as well. We each picked one of the fruits to cultivate this day, and it seemed like 'Joy" was the most popular. How prophetic it was!

We made our way to the village, stopping once to catch a picture of the sign for the town. Once on site, the now familiar drill rig and class areas seemed comfortable to us. We got to work, and the drilling crew impressed everyone with their now honed skills. They made their way past the 145' mark where we left off, and continued to drill until past 200'. As they got deeper, the dirt piled up and the samples were checked for quality. The magic depth would be 180'-195' from which to pull the water!

Welcome to Tololar #2!

The larger drill bit which took us to 200'!

While our drill team was working, we once again had lessons to help the women of the village make the best use of the new, clean water supply, and also some general tips on hygiene and care of the pump. We also did a great amount of review, and were duly impressed by the amount of information they retained. We also enjoyed a Bible story about the lost sheep, which went over very well with this group of farmers and herders. To close the women's portion of the day, they made crosses in prayer and all posed for a group photo - their community to ours.

We repeated the lessons with the children after school let out in the afternoon. They also remembered the "poopa" and how to take care of food. They loved the lessons from Bambino Benito and his diarrhea problem, and enjoyed posing for their own photo to share with you.

Hello from the women of Tololar #2!

Hello from the children!

The afternoon brought some changes in the drilling, bringing a new skill to our already highly qualified drill team! After using the machine to drill to 200', the team now used pure hand power to lower 4" PVC piping into the hole. Each of the 20-foot sections had to be hoisted into place, glued to the previous piece, then lowered carefully until the top was in position. This was repeated 11 times, and the weight of the connected piping was at the edge of the ability to be held securely by hand. Then, bottom was struck, the end cut to the proper height, and a flushing system attached. The well was flushed with several hundred gallons of bleach shock solution, and prepared for the next step.

Did we actually hit water?! Using compressed air, we pumped out all the water used to drill and shock the system, which really made people Joyful! The initial water was ours, but then after a couple blasts of compressed air, more water from the aquifer started to flow. Yes, the well will be a success - though there are still a few more steps required to make it a sealed, clean water well. Our excitement was quelled when we found that this is where we would leave the well for the night, returning tomorrow to finish the next steps.

Slits were cut every 1", in the upper 15' of the PVC pipe to draw water into the well.

Each section was placed, glued and lowered by hand power only.

The belching water is fresh from the aquifer, with the golden brown mud remaining from the drilling process.

 Another late night, and busy day tomorrow! Good night from our team.
The PCB Living Water Team