by Rich Aram | Kingsland Team Member | 18 August 2013

Greetings,

We are here, settled in, and ready to serve starting tomorrow. Thank you for your prayer so far.  Here are some updates:

We will help a village called La Bolsa, population about 70. Is it worth us traveling all the way from the US to help 70 people? You bet. They sure think so. Living Waters can drill about one well a week, so about 50 per year. They average seven new requests per week. Wow.

At one of the International Children’s Educators Conferences I attended, one of the speakers was the president of World Vision. He said his wife was trying to understand what it was like to have to spend time every day walking and carrying water. So she refused to use any of the usual water in her house, and walked 1-2 miles today carrying a bucket  to and from a nearby lake to use for water. Anyone want to try that?

This village has been waiting over a year for this opportunity. They have been praying for us to come. Think about that, we are the answer to their prayer. I find that really humbling.

But the wells don’t always work out. We may not find water, the drilling or casing may fail. So please pray for that.

And pray for our testimony through our actions, since we can’t speak Spanish and nearly no one in the village speaks English.

I understand that actions speak louder than words, but what about the words? How do they get the message of God’s grace through Jesus? I asked that. Most of them have read the gospel or heard the gospel, but maybe they haven’t seen the gospel lived out in someone’s actions. Many of them may be skeptical; they may be waiting to hear what we want them to do for us for pay. We will be closely watched. So please pray that we live and act how God wants us. We want to be a blessing to these people, physically and spiritually.

God did not send us here to fail. We need His help and we are on His business. I like that.

Jorge, our local leader, also challenged use about how this can affect us. He thinks we fail if we each leave here unchanged. This should be a remarkable growth experience for each of us. I like that, too.

He also said it’s hard to build relationships with this work in 3-4 days, then have to say good-bye and leave them. But he said we will see many of them in heaven, where we will ALL speak Spanish. Ha!

A few related logistical stories. The village kids will see us drinking our clean water while we work and will ask for a drink. If we give one a drink, then it will be two then 70. So we must say no. That can be hard.

One well-meaning volunteer once gave her Living Waters wristband to a little boy she liked when they left their village. The staff later learned that the boy got beat up over it and another kid stole it. That second kid got beat up and the wrist band got stolen from him.

Rainy season, so we were told to bring rain gear. Jorge says we will probably get way too hot so it’s best to just let the rain fall on us. Fine with me.

We were also told that toilet paper cannot be flushed down the toilets in Nicaragua. I doubled checked on that and he said it’s not a problem here. Good.

Malaria is not a big risk, but mosquitoes also carry dengue fever which is also called broken bones disease. It causes all of your bones to ache for about a week. Jorge has had it several times and said it feels like he fell out of an airplane and hit the ground. So yes, we will be generous with the insect repellent.

Our team is smaller than usual so that will mean more work for each of us.

We welcome your prayers!
Rich