Now that we're back stateside, it's a little easier to post some summary thoughts. First up, we thought those who have been praying for us and the people of Quince de Julio may be interested to read the summary of Pastor Dave's interviews:
4 of the 23 families visited in their homes by our mission team were almost never sick each month. They had one thing in common. They had clean living quarters, inside and out. Jeny had 5 children but a total of 27 children and adults living in five houses in her living area. She said she prayed daily to God, the “Keeper of all things and people” to heal sick children and adults and to watch over and care for their health. David says, “Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you. I say to God, ‘Be my Lord!’ Without you, nothing makes sense” (Psalm 16:1 in The Message). Her family was one of the four healthy families.
Sadly, 13 children among these 23 families died, 9 from dengue fever. 3 children died in Maria’s family, the last family visited.
The average meal these 23 families ate each day was rice and beans. Some added eggs and/or cheese, chicken and/or fish. 14 drink coffee each day. 11 drink juice daily. 6 drink coffee and juice daily.
17 owned their own wells. 5 of the other 6 walked to nearby wells for their water. Only one said they went a long distance to a well to get their water. A few of the fathers and mothers we visited said that contaminated well water causes most of their serious health issues in Quince de Julio. While we were walking to homes, 3 homes were being fumigated to kill the mosquitoes carrying dengue fever, for which there is no known vaccine. Our mission team visited Basilicia and her baby on Monday, July 8th. We found her rolling back and forth in bed with dengue fever. They were taken to the hospital by Pastor Silvio after the mission team came around her bed and Pastor Dave prayed for God to do His healing work in her and her baby’s life. Thursday, July 11th Pastor Silvio told us that Basilicia and her baby were doing much better at the hospital and would hopefully go home soon. Praise God!
Conclusions: This year our team combined the Tippy-Taps with the water filters for the home education and installation of them. This will connect their dual usage with the community. The goal is to improve the health of the families using them in tandem.
Our team also wrapped plumber’s tape around the rings on the water filter so that hopefully they would last longer than last year.
Sharing the Water of Life, Jesus Christ, with the Tippy-Taps, water filters, hygiene training and VBS are essential for the families’ health in Nicaragua.
Pastor Silvio told Pastor Dave that the short two-day team visit last year under Lisa Marshall’s leadership produced life-saving results of good health for ALL of the families receiving water filters. All glory be to God!
I would recommend sending a mission team one more year to Quince de Julio to meet the needs of more families on Pastor Silvio’s long list that we did not have near enough filters to meet this year.
Pastor David Bottorff
No comments:
Post a Comment