The Importance of Water

This is a picture of the water in our kitchen sink from a few days ago:


I have no idea how many times in my life have I read or heard the story of what we call “the woman at the well” from John chapter four. But although I’ve “studied” it dozens of times, I’ve received a bit more enlightenment about it in the past few months and find it frequently in the forefront of my mind. In this passage, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman who has had five husbands and is presently living with a man to whom she is not married. He encounters her at a well and asks her for a drink. He then tells her that if she knew who He was, she would ask him for a drink of the living water which He has. He speaks to her of water that will become in one “a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

I’ve spent the last ten months in El Salvador. The small town where we live is fortunate to have a mayor that has seen to it that nearly every household has access to a “chorro” or water faucet within a short distance of the house. Most outlying areas have to rely on carrying water daily from either a natural spring, a community well, or from a river. In our town there are two different sources of water available: ANDA (a federal water source) or “el proyecto” water (treated with chlorine tablets and brought through a series of tubes from various springs). The ANDA water is of a better quality, but it comes at a monthly fee. The proyecto water is free after paying for an initial hook-up, but is known for being dirtier, more contaminated water. For our family’s stomachs, neither of these is an acceptable drinking option so we buy large bottles of water for drinking. Locals are forced to drink whichever of these is available at their house.

No matter which water source a home here has, water is only available for a limited time. Usually this means an hour or two every day or sometimes every other day. Because of this, the women plan their activities around water availability. Laundry is typically done in the morning—but only on the days when water is available. Water that is not needed at that time is kept either in barrels or in a “pila” (a concrete tank where most washing is done) so that when no new water is available, there will be water for washing and cleaning. Most homes also have various bottles or jugs filled with water for such times.

Water is precious. Without it, one cannot clean, or cook, or survive. The people here know how precious it is because they have known times without water. If one pipe breaks in the system that brings water to the community, it may take several days to repair it, depending on where the break is located. For the last few months the people who receive ANDA water have been rationing water because there is a leak in the pipes somewhere up the mountain and water is only available for about fifteen minutes a day, three or four days a week, and only with very low water pressure.

In our current home, we have a giant tank that holds 9000 liters of water. In this way, we should theoretically be able to always have plenty of water for cleaning, showering, and cooking. This water is brought into our house by a pump, operated by electricity. Therefore, when we have power outages (not at all uncommon) we have no water. And with eight people relying on this tank, it has at times become empty. On those occasions, we have to wait until a day and time when the local water source is ‘on’ in order to fill it.

Think back to the story from John chapter four of the Samaritan woman. Remember what Jesus told her? He told her that He had water that would become a well of water springing up to eternal life in someone. Those words didn’t use to have as much meaning to me as they do now. When you spend your whole life with clean water that’s as close as the kitchen sink, you don’t have an appreciation for a “well of water” and “never thirsting” do you? If you’ve never gone for days without a shower because there simply was no water, you don’t appreciate its cleansing abilities. If you’ve never carried a jug of water for a distance so that your family can have something to drink, you can’t appreciate its thirst-quenching abilities. If you’ve never had to use a strainer to get the impurities out of water before you can hand a still-cloudy glass of water to your child, you can’t appreciate the purity of a natural spring of water.

But this woman could appreciate the qualities of this water that was offered to her. She immediately asked Jesus to give her this water. I can only imagine her excitement that never again would she have to bear the weight of a jug of water as she hauled it up from the depths of the well and carried it to her house. She’d probably carried water for her family from the time she was young—this was the lot of women. And she likely had experienced times of limited water—when bathing was limited because there was only water for critical activities like drinking and cooking. This woman KNEW the value of what she was being offered. And she wanted it!

Of course, she found out that the water he was offering was not the same kind of water that she had originally imagined in her mind. She was still going to have to fetch water from the well every day, but she now had the promise of life eternal—a far better gift than she could have dreamed. She would still face times of drought in her life, when water was scarcely available, but through the tough times, she had a hope of a reward that could see her through them. And at the end of John 4, we see that she has been responsible for bringing a number of people to know Jesus. This sinful woman who found herself suddenly in the presence of Christ, the Redeemer, had become an evangelist herself.

This same water that Jesus offered to the Samaritan women is still available today. It is free of impurities. It is never-ending. It is free of charge. And it is always available to everyone. Pure drinking water is important, but of even more importance is making everyone is offered the "living water" of Jesus.

A win-win for princesses

A few weeks ago in our ladies class, we read in Titus about the responsibility of the older women to be teaching the younger women. As we began to talk about this, we discussed that "we" in the class ARE the older women and we have a responsibility to be helping and guiding the younger women and girls of the congregation. We discussed some of the ways in which we could do this but it kept coming back to the fact that we needed to be spending time with them. So I proposed that we host a special event just for the younger ladies of our congregation. The ladies loved the idea and we eventually decided we would focus on girls in grades 6 through age 21 and we divided up the responsibilities for the event and yesterday it took place.

The event was themed around the young girls being princesses because we are daughters of the "King of Kings." When the girls arrived, they each received a crown and had assistance putting it on. They were encouraged to wear nice clothing for the afternoon and some took advantage of this opportunity to wear clothing that they don't often have occasions to wear.

We played a game ("dynamica" is what it's referred to here) where the girls were divided into two teams. They were each given a few bed sheets (two white and one mauve) and there was a table piled with shared materials--ribbon, yarn, tape, paper, scissors, rubber bands, plastic flowers, etc. They were given 10 minutes to create a princess dress on one of their team members. Some of the ladies held up sheets so that the teams couldn't see each other. The girls seemed to love this activity. There was much giggling, laughing, and squeals that took place during it--always a sign of fun with young girls. Then the teams revealed their dresses to each other and the models showed off their dresses.

Ana led us in some songs and then I shared some devotional thoughts with the girls. Part of the ideas that I shared with the girls is that the "older ladies" of the congregation are here to help them if they need it. We discussed that referring to us as "older ladies" is probably not the best way to address us, but that we/they have experiences and advice that we can share on things going on in their lives. The girls got a good laugh out of us being called the "older ladies" ("ancianas" in Spanish) and we talked about how we may be older but we are also daughters of the King and fellow princesses with them. After this we had a prayer, led by Deyci, and we served cake and soda to the girls at a beautifully decorated table. The girls again shared many giggles during the time of refreshments and they each had a plastic cup and saucer with their names on them that they got to take home with them. We had 17 girls in attendance--a great turnout!

Erin walked home with one of the girls for a visit and said there were several girls and a couple of the ladies in the group as they walked and that they shared more laughs on the way home and that they talked about what a great experience it had been. One of the ladies told the girls that today was a day that they would always remember and there were more laughs shared about us being "ancianas."

It is my prayer that this event sets a precedent and builds a bridge for more such activities in the future. The ladies gain experience as leaders and hostesses and the girls enjoy a time of fun and learning and both groups get to know the other better. A win-win.

Home visits...

I think that one of my favorite parts of working here in El Salvador is making home visits. The people are always warm and welcoming, no matter how small or simple their house may be.
In February, we were able to make several home visits with Jesus and one will always be especially poignant to me. When we visited in the home of Ernestina, a sister from San Ignacio, she loved joining with us in song. Her eyes are very weak and she had a hard time reading the words but she sang out and it was obvious her heart was in her singing. She said she loved our time visiting with her and that it blessed her, but it was equally--if not more so--a blessing to our family. I was able to snap a couple of candid shots while we were with her. One of them is of her singing and the other is of her gorgeous hands holding her Bible during our devotional time with her. Both are treasures to me.

Finally...

I realize it's been a long time since I've posted. Far too long. Briefly, the last two months here have been filled with some difficult times. The church here has faced Satan head-on in a battle. The church has suffered and our family has suffered. Countless prayers and tears have been shed over the situation--by us and by others. In a lot of ways, our family has been in what might be described as 'survival mode' for part of this time--during which it has been difficult to write anything without discussing the situation that was happening to the church here.

For my silence on the blog, I am sorry. There have still been good things happening here, they've just been severely overshadowed by the trials. I heard a song this morning as I was getting ready for worship that spoke some of the words my heart has been feeling. It's called "If You Want Me To" by Ginny Owens.

The pathway is broken
And the signs are unclear.
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here.
But just because You love me the way that You do
I will go through the valley
If You want me to.

CHORUS:
Now I'm not who I was
When I took my first step.
And I'm clinging to the promise
You're not through with me yet.
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You
I will go through the fire
If You want me to.

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my own.
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'll never go alone.

So when the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself.
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help.
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through.
And I will go through the valley
If You want me to.

The past two months are definitely NOT the path our family would have chosen, but we believe God is still with us and is still leading us as we "go through the fire" and we know the final outcome of this world--Christians are victorious! Monte has been a great source of strength and help for Jose, the minister here, as this situation has developed. We are thankful God saw fit for them to have each other to lean on in this process. I have a lot of pictures to catch things up from the last few months and will work on getting on top of those this week. In the meantime, I would ask for you to pray fervently for the work here and for Jose and Monte as they face the trials Satan has thrown in our way. We continue to "go through the valley" but we know we are not alone. Thank you for your prayers and your continual support. God is good. God is faithful.
Love, Lori P.S. For those of you who read Monte's blog, he has given more information on the situation--you can find it on his blog.

Fun little peek...

We're still adapting to having the girls here with us and they're still adapting to us. They're not really very fond of most of the foods we eat, so there's some big changes that are happening there for them. So far they don't care for pizza or chicken nuggets. They liked the brownies I made, though. They're very happy with tortillas (I buy them 5 for 25cents) and refried beans and crema (like sour cream, but WAY better) for most every meal. They're learning English words and are now saying "Please" and "Thank you" in English most of the time. We're learning new words, also, and our household's communication is in a very definite Spanglish mix of the two languages. Last night the girls were helping Ruth (Erin) wash the dishes after dinner. While in the process of this, they began working on saying their alphabet in Spanish. I walked in to find a lot of giggling going on and the girls were able to say the alphabet all the way to the letter "I". I was able to video a little bit of it and thought you might enjoy watching. The girls didn't know I was videoing but when they saw the finished video they really enjoyed it and wanted to watch it several times. :) Enjoy this little peek into our evening...

Daily life...

There are some parts of daily life here that are very similar for us to life back in the States and we can easily forget that we are in a foreign country. And then there are the out-of-the-ordinary things that happen that make me smile and think how very much I will miss life here when I someday am back in the States. Last night after church we had such an event.

Last night was Wednesday night which means we have services in a member's home. Last night we met at Felicita's house. For those of you who have been here, you'll remember that her house is 98 steps down from the top of a tall hill. Our family had decided to get some pupusas from Reina after church so that our girls could enjoy a more typical meal. So after church we headed to Reina's, part of a group of about 30 people heading that direction.

Now, the fastest way to Reina's from Felicita's is not to climb back up the 98 steps (whew!) but rather to go down the few more and then cut across and down and over some very rough terrain and paths. During the day these paths are difficult. At night in the dark they're a bit more, well...challenging. But we had a large group together and the locals know the paths well and were very helpful. At one point, one of the visitors who had come last night directed the leader of our group to follow him through a "short cut" down the hill. This short cut involved actually cutting through the house of a family member. Literally. They opened a door on one side and we paraded through the house/tienda and out another door on the other side. A shortcut THROUGH a house. Priceless.

Then as we headed out of the house and down a path we came to a small bamboo bridge. I started to cross the bridge and there was a lot of yelling going on and couldn't understand it as so many were yelling at once but I was able to understand someone hollering, "Adobes!" and there were obviously adobe bricks to the side of the bridge so I assumed they meant to step on the bricks instead of the bridge. So I did. I found out the hard way (or soft/squishy way) that "adobes" can mean "Look. There are adobe bricks, completed-and-hard-baked-and-dried-in-the-sun." OR it can mean, "Look out! There are some freshly-made-and-still-wet-and-squishy adobe bricks." Last night, it meant the latter.

I found this out when my first foot was only halfway squished in, so I was able to quickly recover but I felt terrible for squishing someone's hard work. Teresa and Ruth were in front of me and said some of the locals had made the same mistake. I asked why no one hollered, "Wet bricks!" or "Cuidado!" or something and Teresa said she had but that I couldn't hear her over everyone else. I then found out later that Modesto, a local, had stepped in two bricks, with both feet, with full weight--a far bigger mistake than mine. And Jose had apologized to the owner of the bricks and asked if we needed to come back today to help him with them and he said not to worry. (Whew!)

It was one of those short journeys that fills me with memories and smiles. So very different than our journeys home in our minivan after church in the States. Strangely, just a bit sweeter and a lot more memorable, adobe-dipped shoes and all.

Update on us and the girls...

I know some of you are wondering how things are going with the girls so I thought I'd fill you in. I think we're all adapting to each other pretty well.

When they arrived on Monday morning they had two black plastic bags with all their clothing and personal items in them. I asked if they thought they needed more clothing and they both said they needed more pants. We are having school uniforms made but they still need clothing to wear outside of that time. So yesterday I took them shopping. There are several used clothing stores in town that my family shops from so we headed out to those.

I bought them each two pairs of pants and one shirt as well as underwear and "sleep/lounge clothes"--a pair of comfy pants and a t-shirt. (Their first night here they had no sleep clothes and planned on sleeping in the clothes they'd worn that day so we loaned them t-shirts of Ruth's for that tnight.) Honestly, I wanted to buy them each more clothing but I felt like I needed to not overdo things in buying them clothes. I'm a little afraid the girls will be targets of jealousy by the other girls at school for enjoying some of the comforts of our home and to overload them with new clothes could make that worse. It's a fine line that I'm trying to balance on here and I just pray that I'm making the right decisions as I do so.

When we got home I showed them how to run the washing machine and we washed all their new clothes. They were amazed by the washing machine and how it works. The funniest moment was as I was showing them how to use it and we measured out the detergent into a cup. I then told Roxana to "put that in here" and pointed to the opening for the detergent. She sat the measuring cup into the spot. We all laughed as I told her that she needed to pour the detergent into the hole, not just sit the cup in it. :)

After their clothes dried on the line they brought them in to fold and hang up and called me in to show me how beautiful their new clothes looked hanging and folded in the wardrobe. They were very proud of them.

Their mother left a cell phone with the girls. She said they don't usually have their own phone but this gives them a way to communicate if they need to. Last night I noticed Nohemi pushing buttons on her phone and asked if she was texting her mom. She said no, that she was playing a game on it. It's an older cell phone so it only has older very basic games. I asked her if she'd like to learn to play some other video games later this week. (At this point I wasn't sure whether I'd introduce them to some computer games or to xbox games. Yes, we have an xbox here--we dragged our 10 year old boy to another country and robbed him of a lot of his freedoms. But we let him bring the xbox.) Today we went visiting with Jesus to some members in San Ignacio. When we got home there was about an hour before time for lunch so I suggested that Nathan show them how to play the xbox. They were thrilled and he put in the Kung Fu Panda game. Ruth translated the directions for them as Nathan told them what to do and they got the hang of it pretty quickly. They giggled a lot and smiled a lot as they played. And Nathan enjoyed having someone new to play with, too, I think.

When the girls arrived I had put out a new toothbrush and some toothpaste for both of them in their room. I asked if they had one and they said no. I asked to make sure they knew how to use it and they said yes. So yesterday morning when it was time to brush their teeth they came in and got a cup of water from the kitchen and headed off to brush their teeth. Pretty soon Ruth came in to tell me, "Mom, they're brushing their teeth in the shower." The bathroom for them is a square area with a toilet and sink and in a separate area next door is a shower stall with a door. They'd both stepped in their to brush their teeth. I smiled and said to let it go for now. Fast forward to this morning and the girls went into the shower stall to brush their teeth again. I stepped over and asked them if they knew they could use the sink in the bathroom for that. They nodded but said they preferred the shower. I decided that it won't hurt the shower and doesn't hurt them so for now, at least, they'll be brushing their teeth in the shower. :)

The girls are eating the food I'm preparing but don't seem to love it. I fixed taco soup last night, a favorite of my family. They ate half of theirs. I offered something else but they declined politely. They did enjoy the ham and cheese sandwiches we had for lunch yesterday, sort of. Nohemi liked hers with cheese, but no ham. Roxana liked hers with ham, but no cheese. Both like tomatoes on them. So today when I began to tell what our options were for lunch, they both quickly said, "Sandwiches." So sandwiches it was. I think tonight we'll pick up some pupusas from Reina's for dinner so the girls can have food more like what they're used to for a meal.

The girls smile often and hug us freely. They have sweet dispositions and seem eager to learn and do their homework without complaining. New clothes, washing machines, video games with a little brother, and toothbrushing in the shower. I think we're doing okay. :)