First Full Day

Wednesday July 7, 2010

Our first full day -- breakfast at 8, devotion at 9, first class at 9:30, beak for lunch, classes all afternoon, dinner at 5:30, classes at 6:30, devotion at 8:30, then free time. There was no rest for the mission team today. None of us remembers school being this intense – at least not on the first day.

Well, to put it simply, we are learning a lot. Concerns that LWW was stretching one day of training into three days have now been replaced with the reality that LWW is squeezing six days of training into three days.

We are learning just how critical every part of this training is to a successful installation – an installation that can and will greatly improve the health of a community in need of clean water. And there are so many communities like that.

But our spirits are high, our love of God is strong, and our devotion to the mission endures. We are hearing amazing success stories.
• A system was installed in a Catholic Church in the Yucatan. The nuns, years after a successful installation, are still ecstatic that “their children” are no longer suffering from devastating and deadly GI track illnesses.
• Whole communities have experienced dramatic health improvements since their systems were installed.
• An overwhelmingly large number of the more than 300 systems already installed are still actively producing clean water for their communities – communities now irreversibly convinced of the life saving value of clean water.

So, the systems work, the training works, and God’s children are being helped by God’s children as we speak. We strive to be among the helpers.

We have met fellow students who are not affiliated with an LWW mission in their own church. They are like independent missionaries -- joining mission teams in other churches and organizations. Suffice it to say that the variety of people wanting to help install successful clean water systems is easily as great as the variety of systems being installed and the complexity of the hurdles to successfully install them.

We are very happy to report that Ron’s luggage has now joined us.

Please know that we are ever conscious of the support and prayers for our save travel and successful training. This trip, though. Is only the beginning. There is much to do in sharing our knew knowledge with the mission team and congregation at PCB. We look forward to that.

Fred, Ron, and Janet