Week 1 done--Three to go

Hello from Lima! Here I am back in Lima for the weekend; last night I dropped off the first group that came down to start work on the "bocatoma" or water/dam/irrigation project. The picture you see to the left is what the Bocatoma looked like before we came. We are dismantling this makeshift dam to replace it with a long-term concrete one that will not need to be rebuilt every year. It will increase the water pressure to the local village; allowing farmers to adequately water their crops and provide sufficient drinking, cooking and bathing water for this small town of 250 called Lucumo.

According to our rough calculations, the group came to the conclusion that we had moved roughly 30 tons of materials 1/4 of a mile; either on our backs and shoulders or in wheelbarrels. Due to the lack of infrastructure in the area there is no way to get a large dump truck down to where we are working so everything must be moved by hand. So not only did we carry a lot of weight we also walked almost 5-6 miles each day carrying those same materials; and that's not stretching the truth.

By the end of the week, Friday, we had most of the old structure dismantled and we used the pieces to start constructing a bridge so that we can get the materials across the river where all the work will take place. It's such a complicated process, but it will be very worth it. We will be making life a lot easier and less complicated for the people of Lucumo by the time this project is finished. Below see a picture of the makeshift bridge in process:



I will continue to post weekly about the progress we are making on the project when I come back to Lima on Friday evenings. Please keep me and the groups in your prayers during this great time of service and work for our brothers and sisters in Lucumo. May the Lord allow us not only to give the people in Lucumo water to quench thirst, but may He give us His words, His hands, and His feet, that He will quench the eternal thirst that all of us have...

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! PRAYER NEEDED!

Hello all! I am writing to you from Lima, Peru; where I'm preparing to pick up the first group to work on building a new irrigation system for the town of Lucomo. We will be working hard for the next 4 weeks to get the dam built before June 20, 2008. Which is the day that last volunteer group of the States goes home. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY! Pray for safety, pray for good weather, pray for patience, pray for mercy, pray for cooperation, pray for energy and health, and so much more. Pray that the Lord protect us from any harm physical or spiritual. The Devil doesn't want us to be where we are going to express God's love and share the Gospel. Pray that we will be firm in His Word that Christ might shine through us. Without him, we are nobody, but with HIM we become his hands and feet. Lord, please use us to express your love for the people of Lucomo! Give us your words to tell them what they need to hear! Lord send your Spirit on Lucomo and Lunahuana...I pray...grant us your peace...

Good Evening

Just so you all know in my last blog I wasn't trying to complain about being tired. I am very blessed to be apart of the work here and I have enjoyed coordinating the different events that are happening and those events that are going to happen. I'm pretty sure this is what I was called to do.

Today was a very good day as I was able to paint some of the rooms upstairs in our office. I look forward to finishing the painting this week!

Again, please pray that God will give me patience and allow me to show his mercy to those I come in contact with daily.

Good Morning

According to what I've been hearing from you all back in the States, it seems that spring has sprung. At least, it's not snowing anymore right?

I'm just sitting here drinking my cup of coffee and listening to all the parrots and parakeets that live in the tree outside our front door sing. I love waking up to them...I don't think Heidi likes them in the morning, but we definitely enjoy them throughout the day! I will have to post pictures some time. Our camera, even our nice one, doesn't seem to do the bird justice since they are up so high in the tree. I will need to look into getting a new lense soon for bird-watching pictures. Do any of you own those binoculars that take pictures? I think I saw it in Skymall. That would be an awesome thing to have.

Well, let me fill you all in on what's been going on here in Panama over the last few weeks. We decided to move our mission office to a larger locale the beginning of the month. We were using a smaller two bedroom apartment as our office until now. Since we are creating a more regional mission office/center, we have now moved to a larger 4 bedroom house that is two stories. It has been a very big move and a long process at that. Who knew that coordinating so many people to do the move, run electrical wiring, telephone lines, network cables, and doing basic updates would be so tiring? I can say that I am exhausted. And I still have another week or so of work to have the office in full operating order! Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed doing the work and I like being with the different people that come into our office on a daily basis to help us get set up. As I see little projects come to completion I get a sense of satisfaction, I sure hope that I have a BIG sense of satisfaction when the whole office is completely up and running. Still, when I get home at night, all I want to do is sleep.

Today I will be painting the whole upstairs of the office. We have four individual office spaces which were bedrooms before, that we will use for missionary offices. One is mine. We are painting everything white...I know boring. But the landlord only wants light pastel colors, and I don't like pastel colors....too girly. So I decided to paint white and then decorate with pictures and wall hangings.

On top of all of this, somehow I need to maintain my regular work--accounting, reports; keep up on my school work and readings, and plan for the next trip I'm going on to Peru on May 22-June 21. I really hope that I get this office done this week so that I can relax a few days and get my body and mind back on track!

Please pray for us as we finish up these important transitions. Also please ask the Lord to strengthen my mind, to give me patience and mercy so that I treat those that are working with me with respect.

Look forward to hearing from you all soon!

Blessings,

Jon

More often

Hi everyone! I know I haven't been very active on my blog, but I'm turning over a new leaf if you will. I plan to use my blog more often as a way to communicate to everyone back to the states! I am having a really hard time sending newsletters out on a regular basis, and I'm always in front of a computer. It's just taking the time to write a newsletter and format a template and all that jazz...it's hard! :-) I will still do newsletters, but writing a blog sure is a lot easier and I can post all the pictures I want without worrying about how much it will cost to print!

So you will see more frequent posts from me about how our work is going here, our spiritual lives, any hard times, good times, in the middle times that we are having. You will be plugged into our life, well at least mine for sure. I'm working on getting Heidi into blogging too. We will see how it goes!

We love you all! LIVE FOR HIM!

PS. If anyone has some tips on making your blog look cool please share!