Clean water, living water!

        LIFT 45 had smooth travels on Sunday by vans to JFK and a direct flight to the Dominican Republic.  They arrived at the Students International base outside of Santiago just in time for a delicious dinner.  After a morning of orientations sessions on Monday, the students have been going out to work with the missionaries at the various ministry sites: 2 medical sites, appropriate technology, women's social work, boy's sports site, early childhood education, construction, and media.  

The following is a post from Alex Brown at the appropriate technology site:

        The barrio in Lo Salado in Cienfuegos is home to over 2500 families living in poverty, most of which do not have access to clean water. Seeing this need, Students International Santiago has paired up with a local pastor named Alex Jimenez to help change that.   He creates fast, long term gravity filters which he puts out into the community. The filters take around a month to make each, first he must pour the concrete form which takes 2-3 days to set, and then must sit with water in them for 18 days to ensure that there are no leaks.

        People in the community request his water filters.  Alex identifies those with the greatest need.  He sells each filter for 500 pesos which turns out to be around 10 dollars. It is best to sell them, so the people value them and take ownership rather than just receiving them for free. Along with the filter, Alex also installs the filters, cleans and maintains them, and moves them for the family if needed. This is a great way to build trust and relationships over time with the families in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

        In our short time here thus far, we have helped Alex deliver and install 2 filters in homes, and there are now 266 filters in the community of Cienfuegos, which means that 1 in every 10 families now has access to clean water.  His goal is to reach every home in the barrio and get to know everyone in the community. After teaching the families about how to use and maintain the filters, he shares about his relationship with Jesus, invites them to church then prays for them.  He continues his relationships with families with follow-up visits.  It is our prayer that Alex would be able to continue his work making and selling filters, and that the filters would be an avenue to share the hope of Jesus Christ with the people of Cienfuegos. 

An Invitation to Join LIFT 45

LIFt 45, Dominican Republic Blog Post #1

In preparation for our short term mission trip to the Dominican Republic, LIFT 45 has been taking Spanish classes and classes on holistic ministry.

We have also been raising support for our trip to be funded and donations to be given to the different ministry sites we are serving in. This week, we as a LIFT community are participating in a rice and beans fast to prepare physically and spiritually through discipline and for our hearts to be humbly alongside those we serve. The fast began on Monday morning and ends on Friday.

In our time studying global poverty and poverty alleviation my eyes have been opened to the broken relationships the world has with God, ourselves, others, and the rest of creation. One of the privileges I didn’t realize I had was to always have food to eat and lots of variety in food that others do not have. This is my first time fasting like this and I’m growing closer to the Lord and with other LIFTers as we eagerly and prayerfully anticipate our trip. I have been looking forward to this for a long time as a lot of what we do here builds up to the experiences we will have seeing the power of God and learning about a different culture. So we prepare and pray for the Dominican Republic and for the missionaries we will be with. 

Today in our Holistic Missions Practicum class, our director, Tim Trezise, reminded us that we are going on this trip as learners. This important aspect of all missions is talked about all the time in our classes and in LIFT required readings, The Hole in Our Gospel and When Helping Hurts. So we are excited to serve and share the gospel, but we are also going to learn from people in the Dominican Republic and cross barriers to live, dress, eat, and speak as they do. LIFT is so excited to be leaving early this Sunday morning to partner with Students International in Santiago.

I would like to ask you the reader, “will you join with us?” Would you be willing to pray for the Dominican Republic, and worship God with us as we serve in his mission for his kingdom being spread to the ends of the earth? Thank you for being a part of our team and for lifting your voice to our Heavenly Father. 

For the Glory of God! Para la gloria de Dios!

Sam Nicholson

We will be posting about every 2 - 3 days once we are in the DR, from March 27 - April 12.