On Mission has the privilege to assist the rural community in Yoliana with development of a new water system. Currently the town is gettting water from a spring a couple of kilometers from the community. The spring is drying up and does not provide enought water to supply the community. The ministry received a $5,000 private grant for a water project for Nicaragua.We put out feelers to identify a worthy project. We turned to our friend Marcos Person, a long time missionary to Nicaragua. He has two well digging machines and has worked on scores of wells in Nicaragua. He quickly identified several projects and committed to pray for the project God would have us do. The next day this rural community of Yoliana called him and shared their dilemma of their spring drying up. God is faithful and answered prayers quickly.
This is not the typical well project in Nicaragua that would give several families or even a small neighborhood water. This project will serve 1040 families. The scope of this project is to set a 10,000 liter water storage tank at the high point in the community, pipe water in a 3" pvc pipe four kilometers from a bigger fresh water spring from the mountains.
On Mission sent me to Nicaragua to help with the preliminary work and to start the process of the water project. After arriving in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, we set out by truck the next day to Yoliana. My precious friends at the Nice Foundation were not using their new Toyoto four-wheel drive truck and entrepreneur Tony Picado and pledged resources for our needs. We drove four hours east on two lane highways to a gravel road for the last hour of travel to this farm community. There are no hotels in this small community so arrangments were made for us to stay with the family of Humberto Bucardo in Yoliana. We stayed in their modest three room house with a multi-generational family of eight. They gave me their best bed, which I felt guilty of. It is so quite at night you could hear the slightest noise. The roster started crowing at 4 am, and I bet I could hear at least a hundred of them answering all the way down the valley. I Have never heard anything like that before. It was beautiful. We hired my long time friend Pedro Aries, who has helped me with many construction projects. Little did I know that his father has lived there some 15 years and Pedro's wife is from there. They are expecting there first child soon.
Our first step of construction was to pour the concrete pad for the water tank. That first morning in Yoliana we arrived at the construction site at 8am to find the community had turned out to assist the efforts; or should I say we showed up to assist their efforts. Interesting to note that we had to travel back an hour to the nearest town to buy construction materials. The pad was 9 ft. x 9 ft. and 15" deep with a rock base, perimeter bond beam, rebar and and a lot of hand mixed concrete. Brother Tony helped us secure the construction materials and headed back to Managua and pledged to be back in a few days. This community has no stores as we would know them, nor gas stations, resaurants, hotels or any commercial development. Their are a few house stores that sell a few necessary supplies and stables. One gracious family with a home store opened their house and cooked meals for me. My my, was I so spoiled.
Completing the first step in one day left me to enjoy the small community with no english speaking whatsoever for the next two days. The first being Sunday, we attended church with a pastor that showed up to help with the construction. I preached my first all spanish service, short and sweet out of Luke 16:19-31, the rich man and Lazarus. The community has five churches which includes a Catholic Church. Humberto says he was baptized in a Baptist church but is in the town a hour away. Not having any gasoline powered transportation, his family attends this little church a half a block from his house. After another meal and a siesta (nap), we headed out to visit families in the community. In my best Spanish, I was able to share my testimony of God calling me to Nicaragua with several families.
Interestingly every family in the community has pledged to help with the water project. Needless to say, nearly everyone in the town knew I was there and that we were there to help them with resources for the project. Actions speak volumes. I had asked to see the spring, so early Monday morning and another great community breakfast we were off. (The community would not let me pay for any of my food, their treat.) We had two options... to ride horses or walk. To ride would take from the working horses of the farmers, so we decided to walk. Five of us set off on foot to the spring up the mountain. About two hours later walking on the cow highways (no drivable roads), we arrived at the spring, breathtakingly beautiful! Water gushed from the mountain. The community had bought about an acre of land at the head of the spring.
The next phase will be to build a catch basin about the size of a small bedroom about 1 meter high. From the catch basin, four kilometers of 3" pvc pipe will be dug in by hand to the storage tank. The whole community pledges to either dig or pay someone on their behalf to dig. I didn't even see a tractor there. We walked the two hour route back where the pipe would be run. There were many little valleys and hills along the creek from the hugh spring. The elevation of the spring is about 50 meters higher than the elevation of the tank. There will be no pumps, just gravity to feed the water to the tank. They estimated about a month of digging to install the pipe. The work is scheduled for October. If The Lord is willing I hope to return for the water turn on.
Such a close nit community. We prayed over the project several times with my new friends. It is the rainy season in Nicaragua and they have worried that the rain would interfere with the work. The night we arrived it rained three hard storms durning the night, but Saturday moring, it was beautiful clear weather. God's spirit was ever so present and was acknowledged by this community. One day, after they requested help, God answered their prayer!!! What a privilege to be part of God's faithfulness to this small community. Their closeness is admirable, maybe even to be envied.
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