Fighting For Things Taken For Granted...

What do you mean no indoor plumbing?

One of the first adjustments to traveling on missions is letting go of your comfort zone.  Letting go of luxuries and learning to roll with the flow.  Not my strongest trait....but God is working with me on this.   I now look at my mission trips as an adventure.  It is kind of like going camping in a very foreign world where the language barrier may be the easiest hurdle to deal with.

On each of my mission trips abroad the main need of the people has always seemed to be water.  As shocking as that seems in this day and age.... they desperately need water.  Being blessed to live in the United States I know this is something we take for granted.  How on earth could it be that people do not have water?  Not only do they not have the luxury of running water and indoor plumbing; but most have little access to water of any kind.  The water sources they do have are typically miles away and filthy with no means of cleaning the water.  This normally leads to infections, diseases and parasites.

There is HOPE

While in HAITI April 2012 our team helped in digging a well.  Before we left the well had tapped water.  A larger pump was needed; therefore, the well was finished shortly after we left.  This will supply water to many local families near Pastor Raymond's home who we partnered with in Haiti.

 In Bubanza of Burundi Africa this week Communities for Hope in partnership with several organizations dug and tapped the first well.  This is the first water well in Bubanza which serves as home to over 650 families.  This is an amazing answer to prayer.  When I visited Bubanza in 2010, I truly felt there was no hope.  How much longer can our friends survive with no water and walking miles each day for a bucket of water? Prayers have been answered thankfully to the many wonderful people who made donations to make this dream a reality.

Where I am now....Each of these missions seem to put life back in perspective for me.  We are so very blessed to live in a land with so much opportunity.  I feel so blessed to have the chance to travel abroad to help those less fortunate in the HOPE that it may change their life.  To know that something as simple as WATER can save thousands  is just amazing.  With this water our friends will be able to cultivate crops, which will give them strength.  And HOPE for a fresh attitude for a new life.