Monday, March 22nd, 2010- World Water Day

It is late here and I've been staring at the screen for some time now trying to put into words what our day was like. It simply isn't possible and I just don't know where to begin. So as usual I will let the photos do most of the "explaining". Today was by far our most emotional day- we spent World Water Day handing out free water to those most in need. More on that soon, but first check out the traffic jam we ended up in this morning. Of course this pic doesn't even come close to doing a good job of showing the whole scene- cars at a stand still heading every direction, like one giant puzzle. Our big white van was certainly a large piece of the puzzle. :) Eventually people started getting out of their cars to help unravel the big tangle of cars and we finally made our way to the church. Sure makes us appreciate our traffic laws in the USA!

We started our morning on a light note with a few quick games with our new friends...

Then the real work began. We walked to the water filtration center that Nueva Vida runs. Today, thanks to the donations all of you supported us with, our students got to hand out 300 jugs of FREE water. This was the first time this had happened, and we are so grateful we were able to provide it, thanks to the funds everyone help raised. We were all so excited to physically hand the water over to those most in need. In order to make it run smoothly, the people from the Nueva Vida church handed out tickets earlier in the week to those they thought would qualify (elderly, single moms, etc.) Those who had a ticket could come line up to get their water at 9:00.
Here Lindsey was collecting tickets and handing them over...

We felt so humble to get to help moms and babies like this- the water is such a big help for them.

Having fun and working hard lining up the new water jugs to hand out.

Carlos quickly made friends with these sweet ladies. They did not have any tickets and were pleading for water. Carlos made sure we were able to purchase some more for them and they were so happy. :)

Here is the corner the building was located on... Lots of traffic and people selling things everywhere.

I love this shot of the little girl walking home with her dad and their clean water.

Women asking for free water- it was heartbreaking to know we didn't have enough to provide for everyone.

Carson wishing he could take a spin on the delivery bike. Don't worry Jill- we didn't let him. :)

Our next stop was a different neighborhood, and we were told is was much more impoverished than the last, which we had a hard time imagining. Here are 2 of the boys there waiting for their water.

For me personally, this was the most difficult site of the day. Watching a grown man on his hands and knees begging for water from the Dominicans from the Nueva Vida church.

A very happy boy running home with his water...

We were invited into one of the homes... here Katie is praying with the woman, Lydia, who lived there.

The neighborhood we were in was shacks built up a river bank. This was poverty like none of us had ever seen. Our students took it all in, hardly believing what we were seeing.

We stopped at a home where we were able to a physically lay our hands on the walls and pray over the family who lived there. They specially asked for medical teams to come visit, they have so much need for medical help.

After an extremely emotional morning, we headed back to the church for lunch. This lunch was typical of what we've eaten each day... lots of rice, corn, some meat and vegetables.

We spent our afternoon watching the church's baseball ministry. Our students loved watching the kids play and the chance to sit and chat with their new friends.

Quick group photo on the field.

We ended our day with a pizza dinner and then an extra special treat, out for ice cream.

Our night ended like it always does, journaling, prayer, and discussion about our day. We watched our students be truly broken today. We saw and heard and smelled things that many of us didn't even know existed. It was difficult to take it all in, but we are so thankful that God continues to open our eyes to the hurt He sees and feels each day. We are so grateful to all of YOU who helped make this trip possible with your donations. You made World Water Day an amazing day for those who have a new 5 gallon jug of water in their possession tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We'll check in tomorrow- lots of cool videos to share too, but just too tired to get it all on the blog tonight.