Archive for the ‘Praise’ Category

Well update

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, May 7th, 2012

Over a year ago, we presented the idea of a well to the community for approval and permission.  They wholeheartedly approved as water is a big necessity here.

Then, we told people about the need and God raised over $20,000 for the project in just a few months.

At the same time, we contacted another mission agency to the north who drills wells.  After a bit of dialogue, that fell through.

So, we contacted a private driller on the coast close to us.  We met him through a friend.  Once we had all the money, we contacted him again to work out details and dates for drilling.  When he didn’t respond, my co-worker stopped by his office a few weeks ago and found out that he was no longer working at that job.

So, now with rainy season just a few weeks away, we are communicating with a third driller.  They are an organization farther south in Mexico that works with the government to drill wells in small communities who need clean water.  But, there’s not time before the rains begin and before the roads become impassable to complete the necessary paperwork and get all the equipment up there to drill.

So, at this point, we’re hoping to work it out to drill sometime after the rains end.  Maybe during the winter!  Please pray with us about this need!

Hauling water

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Clean water is on its’ way!

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

God has provided 100% of our goal for drilling a well!  Through many different people and churches in the last 6 months, we have received gifts that total over 20,000 USD!

Soon, we will have running water, instead of spending hours each week hauling water.

We have scheduled a hydrologist to travel into our village to make a scientific study of where we’ll drill, how far we need to drill, and what material we will be drilling through.  The driller will also accompany him, and hopefully at that time we can schedule a date in May for the drilling to begin!

Soon, clean drinking water will be available in Las Moras.

We thank GOD and we thank YOU who have sacrificially given so that there is a reliable source of clean water in the village.

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all I wanted was ice-cream and a hot shower…

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

I woke up early on my birthday so I could go running with a doctor who visits the village for a few days each month.  We were just getting to know her, and I was excited to find a running partner.

When I got back from running, we girls ate some yummy muffins Sarah made special for my birthday.  She took Dan breakfast in his bed (Dan had caught a nasty bug, and after a round of strong antibiotics, he felt worse.  So, the visiting doctor started him on a series of penicillin shots.) and gave him his 3rd shot of penicillin.

I was in my room planning for a language session I was about to have with a friend on the other side of the village.  Sarah was going to go with me.

All of a sudden, Sarah, sticks her head in my room and says in a deadly serious voice, “Rachel, run for the doctor.  Dan isn’t responding to me.”
I jumped out of my chair and told her, “The doctor is leaving for our neighboring town today.  She usually leaves about this time.”

As I ran, I prayed she would be at the clinic still.  As I got close, I saw the truck was still there, Thank you, Lord!!  The doctor, nurse, and health promoter were loading the truck and about to leave.

After I told them the message, the doctor ran back into the clinic and grabbed some medicine from the pharmacy; we all piled into their truck and raced back to our house.

Dan had gone into anaphylactic shock immediately after the penicillin shot.  His heart was racing, his blood pressure was really high.  His extremities were numb and he couldn’t move his body.  He stared at the ceiling and tried to speak, but his lips only quivered.  He was having difficulty breathing as his throat was closing up.  He was VERY pale, and we were very scared.

The doctor quickly injected him with hydro-cortisone that she had grabbed at the clinic and monitored his vitals as he began to stabilize.

We praised God that the doctor was still in the village when Dan went into shock.  We praised Him that the doctor had correctly anticipated the dilemma and grabbed the appropriate medicine.  We praised God that Dan was ALIVE!!

After 2 days, Dan was still extremely weak.  Upon the recommendation of the doctor in the village (who was leaving herself) and a fellow missionary doctor and considering the continued gravity of the situation, a mission plane flew Dan, Sarah, and Josiah Alkire to the city so Dan could get tests done to check his lungs and heart and be close to medical care.

Medical evacuation to the big city

Medical evacuation to the big city

choco_ice_cream_cone_zektSince Katie and I cannot stay in the village by ourselves for security reasons at this time, a co-worker flew in with the plane and drove us out.

So, now we are in the city.  Dan is recovering.  Yesterday he was up and around a bit and talking!  He is still very weak and has no energy.  But, there is improvement!!  We thank God!

And, now that we are in the city, I was able to enjoy some late-birthday ice-cream!  And, I am enjoying a hot shower EVERY DAY!!!

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God Answers Prayers!

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Our last week in the village was pretty exciting!  We held an eye clinic for the area and God answered our prayers!

We were able to see 122 people in 3 days and probably 3/4 of them got glasses. We saw people from at least 8 of our surrounding communities!  Several people were amazed at the difference with the glasses and were very expressive!  It was like night and day for them.  They could see!!!  Very exciting!

God used and I think will continue to use the glasses as a door for relationships with these communities and people.

We were able to communicate with the people in Nahuatl and Spanish.  We learned phrases that made communicating easier.  Is it blurry?  Is this better?  Cover up one eye.  Look at the light.  Look at me.  Follow me.  Sit here.  Stand here. The phrases worked great unless the person was from a different indigenous group.

There was one man who was from a neighboring indigenous group and was practically monolingual.  He had a hard time seeing, and it was sad to send him away without glasses.  We could have helped him if we could have communicated with him.

On the second day of the eye clinic, my co-worker, Dan hauled some people to and from their community to the eye clinic in his truck.  As he was returning to our village, he was talking with one of our neighbors who had accompanied him.  Frank was asking about different religions and what we believe.  He said he had seen that we are different and he wanted to believe what we do.  And, he wants his family to believe also. He and his wife live in our community, but are not Nahuatl.  They are each from two of the neighboring indigenous groups so they communicate in Spanish.  Dan said he could begin to teach them in January.  So, please be praying for Frank and his family.  The Holy Spirit is at work.  Pray for a hedge of protection around them as they desire to learn the Truth!

Frank's girls

Frank's girls

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Goal Achieved

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Wow!  I am still amazed that we are where we are.  We have a roof on our house!  The windows are in , the outside doors on.  Our house is secure!  After all the set-backs, we have arrived at the goal we’ve been pressing toward.  Our house is ready to move in!

All I can say is “Thank you, Lord!”  The past two weeks we had back-to-back work teams that made it possible to reach our goal.  It’s happened so fast!  We’ve been working on this house since November.  And, it’s all been a concept in my mind.  Now, seeing it, it is SO much nicer than I imagined.  I feel so blessed to have a beautiful, comfortable house to live in.  Thank you, God!

May 2010 Roofing Pics 134

May 2010 Roofing Pics 138

May 2010 Roofing Pics 144

May 2010 Roofing Pics 230

May 2010 Roofing Pics 248

Shirley's May Roofing Pics 018

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Check, check, check

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Windows – √

Doors – √

Floor – √

We got a call today from the village.  The team has finished the floor!  Woohoo!  And, they installed all the barred windows and the outer doors.  WOW!  And, they even had time to stucco the kitchen.  Thank you, Lord!  The guy who made our cabinets is going on our next work team and he wanted to install the cabinets, so now he can! :)

And, to top it all off, one of the pilots who flies for our organization here flew over the village yesterday and took a few pictures of the progress.  He just sent us copies.  So, here’s what it looks like as of Wednesday at 2:30.

Where is the work team?

Where is the work team?

You can see the tarp over the schoolroom to shade the floor so it doesn’t dry as fast.  There is black plastic on the floor in the kitchen and the other part of the schoolroom so the concrete will sweat and not dry too fast.  You can see the windows already in.  It doesn’t look like our blue throne is installed in the latrine yet.  That will come very soon, I’m sure.  Great job, guys!

Another angle

Another angle

Now, we’re just lacking a roof! :)

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Progress

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
Our house goes up!

Our house goes up!

The guys got back today from the village.  They hauled over 30 pick-up loads of dirt to fill in our foundation!  The building team took a break so that they could just shovel the dirt from the pickup right into the house.  The team got started again when they’d finished the fill.  We have 6 rows of bricks up as of Monday.  Every day, they do 2 more rows of bricks.  And, there are about 20 rows all together.  It’s going fast now!

There is a work team coming this weekend, so on Monday, the guys will head back to the village with them.  They’re hoping to be able to pour our cement floor and our bond-beam on top of the adobe walls!  It’s moving along!

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New Reality

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Saturday, January 16th, 2010

One week later.

One week later.

On Friday, the same pilots who took the picture below passed over our house-site again.  They took this picture.  The construction team had started to work again and had accomplished quite a bit in the week.  As you can see, they’ve finished the foundation for the outside walls and have finished one of the inside walls.  They were working on the top of the “T”

We were very excited to see that they’re working and had almost finished the foundation!  Thank you Lord, that there is progress on our house!

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Back Home!

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, December 21st, 2009

We made it back last night.  It’s been a LONG two weeks.  Check back soon.  There will either be one big, long post about our trip or maybe several short ones!

One quick picture - the drop-off in late afternoon

One quick picture - the drop-off in late afternoon

My sister comes in 1 hour to spend Christmas with me!  Time to go pick her up!

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Water?

Posted by Rachel Chapman on Monday, October 26th, 2009
Hydrologist & his wife

Hydrologist & his wife

We had the privilege of taking a hydrologist friend of one of my partners with us on our last trip.  The men hiked all over the area investigating all the water sources within a mile radius of our village – springs, creeks, and seeps.  He determined that we have plenty of water to supply all the needs of the village and our own needs.

Our problem now is to get the water to where we need it.  Our friend gave us three options for how to get enough water and store it.  So, beginning with our next trip in, we’ll be working on the simplest/easiest option.  Lord-willing, soon we will be able to have water at our house-sites!

There is a spring about a mile away that flows year-round – even in the dry times.  So, we plan to tap into that spring and bring water to a storage above the village for us to use.  There is plenty of head so that we will not need any pumps!

Although it will take a bit of work to put this system in, it really is a simple solution.  And, there is a church that desires to help pay for part of the project!

Thank you, Lord, for providing the water that we need!

This is the box that supplies the neighboring village with water.  We will tap their spring downriver to supply our village.

This is the box that supplies the neighboring village with water. We will tap their spring downriver to supply our village.

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