Clean Water

A report from the Pure Heart International Team

2009-11-03T10:59:00.005-06:00

The Burmese Refugees project was a huge success as we were able to provide clean water as well as deliver basic medical supplies and donated clothes.

The Pure Heart team traveled on October 2nd & 3rd along the Thai-Burma border to visit 3 Karen Hill Tribe villages. They were able to help refugees who lived out in the jungle and drank water from a fish pond as their drinking water. They were thrilled to be able to provide this community with safe drinking water!

"At our first stop, we met a Karen lady named Tessanee who used her personal land to start an orphanage for Karen children and housing for widows. She has opened a small facility to take in 75 Karen who have fled from Burma with basically nothing. She also created jobs for the women and children by hand-weaving scarves and hand-painted cards to bring in funds to help provide their basic needs. Pure Heart purchased all the scarves she had on hand and just sold all of them at a recent jewelry party. They were a hot item!

Currently Tessanee cares for 125 people including the original orphans who lived there before this crisis

While we were there we prayed over 5 teenage girls that were very sick with Malaria and we gave Tessanee some medical supplies to use for the camp. She also introduced us to their newest addition, Syrah, a sweet little baby that was dropped off just a week before abandoned by her parents. One of the widows in the camp offered to tend to her day and night. We prayed over Tessanee that God would continue to equip her to run the camp and multiply what little they have. The whole camp gathers 3 times a day to worship God and study the Bible together. They are in the process of building a small church for the camp."

"There was a huge need to help them with clean water. To see the brown muddy pond from which they drink turned our stomachs. The clean water machine we had would be perfect for them so they could make chlorine at the camp and then deliver it to families all over the mountain. We also gave them basic medical supplies and donated clothing, and assisted another team that accompanied us on the trip to hand out blankets, rice, and Bibles."

"God is abounding in love and faithfulness and we can't help but shout it out! We are excited about all the opportunities God is putting before us to expand our reach in Northern Thailand and in other countries, but we cannot do it alone. Thank you for standing with us while we reach out to those who are hurting and for celebrating the lives that are being changed!"

Pure Heart International Team

Cambodia

2009-10-27T18:16:00.002-05:00

We have had a lot of fun in Cambodia! We have set up many Puride Machines, with many more on the way. we've spent a lot of time praying for the sick in the hospitals, ministering into the dump and slums areas. We've done a lot of outreach and evangelism partnering with Heartland Community Church - a really cool local church - http://channatouch.blogspot.com/. We love these guys and have been blessed to work with them. Chad and Tash feel a real call to minister into Cambodia long-term. They've been doing a lot of language studies in their time in Cambodia in order to be more effective in the long-run. Khmer (Cambodian) people are resilient to say the least. After many years of war (look up the Khmer Rouge and read about what this nation has been through), these people are hungry for good news and receptive to God's Spirit. Cambodia is ripe for revival! God loves this place. We want to see people set free. We want to see every person have clean, accessible water; every child free from the evils of the sex-trade; every home in walking distance from a local-church meeting place; and for everyone to experience the unconditional love of the Father. Miraculous, passionate joy-love extravaganza!
Up and coming, we'll be joining Burn in Cambodia - http://burn24-7.com/locations/asia/cambodia. Also, we're planning a bit of a pastor's training seminar, focusing on passionate worship, along with supplying Puride machines to the pastors (about 50) to take back to their villages. That means a lot of people getting safe drinking water! There's a lot in store!

in Cambodia we spent a short time in the city of siem reap, and then a short time in the capital, phnom penh. the most impacting time here for me (tash) was mothers day, we visited the dump with a guy that owns one of the many sex bars in the city. he takes donations and buys fruit and bread at the market to feed 100's of kids that scavenge and live at the dump. most of them are bare foot walking on smoldering trash and exposed syringes. we ran a 1st aid clinic, but it poured rain and i just cried and held one girl as she shivered alone. their were ones younger than my Isa who is 17 months. the toxic stench was sickening, one girl who came to help went to step on what she thought was grass and fell chest deep in black waste and came out all cut up. its a scary place and i was gutted to see what i saw there. we later learned of some christian organizations who are impacting that area, trying to teach the next generation to come out of that poverty mindset and lifestyle.
we then went to the country side and worked with a bunch of passionate Christians that daily show the love of Jesus at a church called heartland in the city of kampong cham. we got a bunch more water machines out to various villages while we were in kampong cham. we have a different ministry activity each day of the week. for example, Tuesday and Friday afternoons we go to the aids ward at the hospital to give bags of fruit to each patient, pray for healing, and share truth. we have seen heaps of people healed and saved just over the last couple months from there! one cool thing also is that the people that come to this hospital are from all over the countryside. some of the people that have given their hearts to Jesus tell us that there is no church in their village. then we are invited to go to their village and start a church in their home! we have three different villages to start new churches so far when we get back to Cambodia. on Wednesdays we go to one of the islands in the middle of the Mekong river. we just got house to house, meet people, pray for healing where there is sickness, and share truth. we have two new churches on the island now. we met one couple on the island that were already quite interested in Jesus. they had been married for seven years but unable to have children. we laid hands on her and broke the power of barrenness. two months later we got the news that she was two months pregnant! they have feeding programs in one poor village and in the slums area, and have started a school for the kids in the slums that are forced by their parents to go out late at night and beg. these kids captured my heart, they run at u and climb on u and give u the biggest tightest hugs and laugh and play, they are also very rough and tough to survive the conditions and families they live in. 'resilient' is the best describing word i can think of for Cambodians, to still have the ability to laugh and love and forgive after surviving the most horrific war experienced in our life time. still the land mines remain, there was a little boy at the hospital with no leg and when asked what happened he said he was playing with his 3 friends throwing a ball that they had found and catching it, he saw his friends die as the ball dropped and exploded. however the people of Cambodia are still not bitter. they are resilient. they bounce back. also, every other Thursday i (chad) and a few others from the church go out on the motorbikes on a circuit of far-away villages where we have churches planted as well. the first time i went out with them, one of the bikes got a flat tire, so while we were waiting in a small village on the dirt road i said "lets find some sick people". so we went to the first house we saw and asked if they knew anyone sick. the man said his neighbor was sick with a tumor. we went and prayed for her. a few other people came to the house, and they were all quite interested in Jesus as we spoke. we were invited back, so now we go there every time we go out. two people there had been saved so far by the time we left, and many more are on the way. we have a house church there now.
this is quite long, so stop reading if you need to, but this is my (Chad's) favorite testimony from our time in Asia: at heartland church we start every morning with prayer and worship. we start at 7, and it usually goes for about an hour, but one Monday we just kept singing and praying. the presence of god came on us all really heavy and we ended up worshiping all day. after this Monday, god started giving us amazing opportunities to minister! the next day we got a call about a woman who was severely possessed by a demon. four of us went to her house to get the thing out. i don't want to describe a lot of what the demon did, because i want to glorify the work of god, not the work of the devil, but i will describe a little bit for the sake of showing the reality of the spiritual realm. it said it wanted to drink blood. it said it wanted to kill the woman is was in. it spoke to me in English (the woman with the spirit cant read and write her own language, and she definitely does not know a word of English). it made the woman flail around and it took three people to hold her body down. when we showed up it wasn't so violent anymore. it was scared of the presence of god in us. it took about three hours to get it out. what we ended up doing to get it out was just make it angry by glorifying Jesus! we brought the guitar and worshiped god with all our hearts. the song it hated the most was the old song "the joy of the lord is my strength. ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hallelujah". the thing hated the joy that we expressed and it eventually just left because it hated the presence of Christians worshiping Jesus! another thing that made it feel unwelcome was another testimony of god's power. while we were there worshiping 5 or 6 more Christians from the church came to help us. they had just been at the aids ward praying for the sick and one of them shared this testimony that they had just learned the details of that day: about two months previous to this they met a woman named maria at the aids ward. she was a Muslim woman. she got saved. she went home and got sick again and the hospital would not take her back so she died. she had been dead for three days when her all-Muslim were burying her. her mother put a bible on her chest because she knew that maria loved the bible. they opened the coffin to see her for the last time and she came back to life! oh man isn't that cool!! she then went around her muslim village with her bible in her hand preaching the gospel. i met her after all this and she described to me a little bit of what she saw during those three days. she saw heaven, she saw hell, and she said Jesus brought her back to life. woohoo! anyway, this testimony was spoken while we were worshiping god, and the demon hated it. we continued to worship for a while, and then it just left. the woman had had this spirit in her for about 2 years. she changed her name the "Ruth", which in the Cambodian language is really similar to the word for "resurrection". she has a new life. she is a christian now, as well as heaps of her family including family members in other villages that have heard the story of god's love now! one of her sisters who gave her heart to Jesus is already a passionate evangelist now! so after the demon was gone, we stayed at the house talking for a while, and a woman ran into the house weeping. she said she heard the voice of god tell her read a bible verse, and she didn't understand what it meant - Matthew 10:8 - "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. freely you have received freely give." she was freaked out just that she heard god's voice, and she had no idea what this verse meant, but she knew that the Christians were at this house. we explained it to her and she said one of her neighbors was really sick. so we went to his house. his name is Howng. he crashed his motorbike and broke his neck. he was paralyzed and there was fluid coming up his throat that was choking him. he was expected to die any minute, in fact they had already started the funeral. all the family was there in their funeral clothes. he was laying on the bed with a bunch of incense and Buddhist sacrifice stuff in his hands. we said we wanted to pray for him. they said OK. we laid hands on him, imparted god's strength, and left. the next morning they called us and said "you Christians gotta come back 'cause he's not dead". we continued to go back and pray for him almost daily. he improved and improved so much. after a couple weeks he was sitting up, eating, talking, moving his arms, and saved. one of his somes also got saved. however, his wife continued to trust in Buddhist witchcraft stuff as well as having the Christians come and pray to make him better. so he was doing so good, and then the Buddhist priest came and did some sort of ceremony on him, and in the middle of the ceremony he died. bad stuff happens when you mix trust in god with trust in other gods (read 2 kings 1:1-6). so they sent two men to go dig his grave. one hour later howng came back into his body, sat up straight and said to his family "you tell those two guys to stop digging my grave. I'm going to that christian church, and if i cant walk there then you put me in a wheel chair and take me there." he started eating, and he seemed even better than ever again. then one hour later fluid came up his throat again and he died and stayed dead. he is a christian. his son is a christian. the whole village around his house is hearing about what god was doing. god uses all things for good. after that good stuff kept happening, but I'm going to stop writing now and you can ask me about it next time i see you! peace! we are in the states for another month and then we are coming back to Australia on September 18th. we'll be in Australia for 1 month before returning to Cambodia.
the stories go on and on. but hope is coming and things are changing in Cambodia.

Made for His Glory, forgiven by His Grace,

Eddie D. Roach

Haiti

2009-10-27T18:13:00.002-05:00

In Haiti we have set up 16 puride machines in various villages, providing clean water for thousands. We've had extraordinary favor with key people in leadership positions, and have set up contacts that make it easy for future teams to set up more puride machines. So far, two new teams have utilized our contacts to take more machines to the hurting in Haiti.
We have seen many touched and transformed by God's love there - many healed and saved. On our trips to Haiti, miracles have been prevalent. The Father has been so generous in showing his extravagant, irresistible love in powerful ways!
We have also run medical clinics. People line up all day just to be seen by Tash. Some people start walking from far-away homes at three in the morning because they've heard that a nurse is in town. Our clinics have run from sun-up till sun-down, and sometimes a bit longer.
In Haiti there are Big needs, but an even bigger Solution.
We have also built a children's home in Haiti. Man, these kids are loved by the Father, and in need of knowing it! If you are impressed to do something for these kids let us know. Here's Tash's write-up on it:

A Home For The Children
"May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!" Psalms 72:2-4

During February 2009, our team of 3 visited a small remote mountain village, Baie D'Orange, in Haiti. It is an extremely dry and forsaken place. By 4WD it takes more than two hours from the nearest town (Jacmel) over large rock boulders, up a steep climb. We discovered this place after consulting the regional medical board asking them to name the sickest, poorest and most neglected village. Upon arrival we treated endless crowds (mostly children) suffering from water related diseases and malnutrition. We presented the village with a Puride machine and trained them in its use. We saw many sick people recover, some as a result of the medical assistance we provided, some as a result of prayer and the laying on of hands. Their conditions were appalling, in every aspect. Our hearts broke for these people as we heard story after story of loss and suffering. The previous month, this village alone had lost more than 30 members due to starvation. Although they are hard working people and the soil is fertile, hurricanes wipe out a lifetime of work in a moment and leave them with nothing, and there is hardly enough water to keep everything going. There was mention of folks selling a son or daughter for the price of a meal in order to feed the remaining hungry mouths in the family. We saw many children that had no parents, and as I prayed I felt the Lord ask what I would do in response. A christian man was highlighted to me as a possible source of help to the situation. He had already opened His tiny home to take in three abandoned children, and was trying to care for them the best he could. After speaking together about the problem, he offered his land as a site to build a children home to care for the orphans. We funded the building of a 6 room home on his property, built by the locals. We saw the villagers come together and dream and plan as they took the future of their children into their hands. We stood back and watched them move from helplessness to become empowered and proud of this project. The children came. There are currently 7 kids in the home, 3 boys and 4 girls. The youngest is 4 yrs and the oldest is 8 yrs. In addition to the building funds we had beans and rice purchased for the first few months, these funds have now been used, and a local Haitian Christian church is attempting to help them. Our Haitian doctor friend who oversees this project has a huge heart for the kids but is an extremely busy man in high demand. There is a women who does the cooking and cleaning for the children, and also helps care for the goats and chickens we purchased for them. The children are involved in the local church.
The greatest need for the children is food. Most locals eat rice and beans. Fresh fruit, vegetables and meat are extremely rare and expensive. They also need clothes and medical supplies and toiletries. As they enter school, education for a child is about $100 p/yr. This includes uniforms, books and tuition. I've currently collected clothes, toys, toiletries and baby formula to send over with the next team to visit. Collectively, to feed, educate and clothe a child for a year would cost about $1000. They can and have survived on less but its our heart to bless these little ones with value and hope. When you ask many kids in Haiti about their future dreams, many look at you blankly. We desire for these kids to rise up as leaders who have vision for their village and nation. I would love to see more teams go and visit and play with the kids, teach them and love on them. They are extremely beautiful and thankful. If God is speaking to your heart to bless these guys it would change their future. They are worth it!!

Made for His Glory, forgiven by His Grace,

Eddie D. Roach

Burma

2009-10-27T18:05:00.003-05:00

When we arrived in SE Asia we were not sure if it was worth the time and money to make a trip to Burma. It was difficult to get visas and last minute tickets. It was going to cost extra money, and we were tired of dragging heavy bags all over Asia. But if you can see the faces of the hurting you can't stop helping, YOU WONT STOP. Our team saw a window and God flung open the doors. In two days we had visas and tickets to Burma, for 3 days. An American contact was in Burma as a teacher for a week. He had welcomed us to come but we had lost contact with him once he was in Burma. His last contact was through his wife that only told us his Hotel and when he was leaving. We wanted to met his students and pastors in his classes. So they could learn about how to clean water and take it back to there villages. God got us through Customs with 6 Puride machines and many gospel tracks. When we arrived at the hotel we waited in the lobby for over 5 hours. I had concerns because he was not looking for me and I had not seen him in over 8 years. Then, as I gave up, walking outside I saw our contact. The only white person besides me. We met and he introduced me to the Pastor, who was organizing the school. After briefing him on the machines the Pastor asked if I could come with him to the orphanage to show the children the machine and fellowship. I said yes, and was introduced to my family in Burma. There were about 40 kids, from all ages, looking at me with eyes open and ready to hear from God. The eyes would blaze as I shared how God loved me, and they connected. Here in a country where singing to Jesus to loud or talking about him outside of the small building results in losing your church and home. Kids with no physical parents, no house to go to, are willing to worship Jesus at the risk of losing what little they have. After I spoke, I got the real gift...listening. Listening to there prayers. I still have one 11 year old girl infused in my heart, that prayed with such dedication and passion. It was like she believed God of the universe could hear her. When we were finished they wanted to take me to show there rooms. It was an open room with bamboo mats for beds. Someone had donated stuffed animals so they used them for pillows. I never saw so many teenage boys so proud of there "home". It brought tears to my eyes as a little boy smiled and showed me his bed. He grabbed my hand, looked at me, and gave me an even bigger smile. The kind of smile where your eyes get big and shine. "Why are you smiling?", I asked. He pointed to the middle of the room and said, "A few weeks ago we were all in our beds worshiping. Wind stared blowing and a glowing green cross floated through the ceiling into the middle of the room. Right here. We all saw it and then it disappeared in the morning." I asked him, "What does that mean." He said, "It means he cares about us." Of the 6 Puride machines 1 is cleaning their water today. 5 were taking to the Delta and are being used by Pastors. This Winter we are planing to take 10 more without being sure of how to get them in to Burma, because we care.

Made for His Glory, forgiven by His Grace,

Eddie D. Roach

Children's Water Festival

2009-05-28T08:47:00.002-05:00

Todd, Cole and Owen Baldridge along with John and Mary Hays were in Des Moines, IA May 14 for the Children's Water Festival.

Cole shared their experiences of his trips to Burma and Nicaragua and showed the wonderful video that Marcia put together.

150 children heard his talk and all had a great time.

Sudan March 2009

2009-04-21T12:54:00.005-05:00

All Plans Changed

The group, Covenant Church, Omaha, Nebraska asked me to go to Sudan in order to set a pump and chlorination system. No well was drilled and no central chlorine system could be set up.

I was left to test water in the refugee camp, including the United Nations compound and the Southern Sudanese Army compound. I traveled on motorcycle with Samuel one and Samuel two. My other water team's name was John, he became John one and I was John two.

Eight out of 10 wells and were contaminated. This lead to a training on how to make chlorine from salt, I am sure over fifty people attended and all wanted a system. I brought only eight. Each were given as a micro business with plans for reports on their activities. Up to three teams share one generator and lazy on site engineers will be replaced. Samuel one, age 23, a BO soldier since age 12 is over seeing the operation. He is a gifted leader.

Unexpected Army and Baptist Friends

We met with the Army commander. I gave him a handful of Bibles and offered to make their water safe to drink. He showed us a well that was not working because of a bad pump. He indicated the Baptist church installed this, he asked us to fix it. We went to the Church and interrupted a prayer meeting among the pastors. We asked their help on the repairs. They said to return later to talk with the well driller who lived with them and he would help. They said they were praying for Bibles for the army camp. I told them they have a handful and they asked for more for the entire group of 100.

We offered what Bibles we had.

The well was fixed and every soldier and family now have Bibles, an answer to prayers.

The Church also has started 14 churches, we have set up at least for one new church to have clean water. Also, a class of 29 pastors were being taught at the Church as they being prepared to enter service as pastors all over Africa. I taught them on water purification, each one wants a chlorine generator for their villages. Plans are under way to provide each one by July, 2009, plus another 20 for the surrounding 400 villages to share. Even the top Army general wants them for their Army.

I heard a baby cry into the night. The people live in a refugee camp with nothing. The child had a stomach ache from drinking bad water. I checked with the doctors and the Bishop, they said this is common. The village is 10,000 and there are 400 more villages close by. I did all I could to stop this child from yelling pain songs into the otherwise silent night and thousands more.

John Hays

The team in Sudan

2009-04-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

Harmony Bible Church goes to Nicaragua

2009-03-24T09:43:00.002-05:00

A 16 member team from Harmony Bible Church, Danville, IA, traveled to Nicaragua February 6-14th, to address water needs.

The first leg of the trip took the team to Ometepe Island. This island is known for beautiful landscapes, hospitality & two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua. Amid all of this beauty however, is a dark reality. Raw sewage, 32 tons or 70,000 pounds are being released into the lake daily! This is the very water the islanders use to bathe, launder, cook with, fish in & drink!

The team was successful in installing 2 water systems, produced by International Water Management Systems out of Washington, IA. These chlorine producing units & filtration systems are now providing clean drinking water at a school in Las Pilas & a rural medical clinic located in La Corazol, on the island.

The team finished out their time serving in Nicaragua at a city dump located outside the capital city of Managua. The area known as La Chureca is where 1,000 people who wear, eat and live in trash. Children spend up to 12 hours a day foraging through piles of tires, cardboard and dead animals. In the center of the dump there is a school named La Esperanza. A place where the children can retreat from the harsh reality of their daily lives. The team was able to place another water system at the school and spent time loving on the children who endure unimaginable suffering. We are hopeful that the simple provision of clean drinking water will provide an improvement in the children's health.

Making a difference one drop at a time....is the desire of the foundation, Pure Water for All, set up by IWMS. Dr Sandra, who runs medical clinics on the island testified to the difference the water systems are making. See testimony below:

"My name is Dr Sandra Villagra and I work in Ometepe Island for six years with Seed International Fund Trust (SIFT). I have known Todd & Marcia Baldridge for one year, working to clean water. There are 2 clinics that I over see that have water systems in place.

In the clinis I see 34 patients a week. After the systems were installed, I treated fewer people for parasites and diarrhea. The health of the Island peoples has improved. I prescribed a lot of Immodium and Flagyl before the systems. The people of the island are very grateful to Marcia & Todd for their big hearts and big love for us. Thank God for them & their church. Now, we have two new systems for the Corazol/Las Pilas people.

Sincerely, Dr Sandra Villagra; Central America"

Together, we truly can make a difference...

Mission team leaders to Nicaragua February 2009

Todd & Marcia Baldridge

Event Note: There will be a Team Nicaragua Presentation this Sunday, March 29th at Harmony Bible Church at 6PM

Mike Philips in Reynosa, Mexico

2009-03-06T10:08:00.001-06:00

Reynosa, Mexico

February 21-28, 2009

Harmony Bible Church of Danville, Iowa sponsored a family mission trip. The purpose of the trip was two fold.

First, our team worked with an awesome organization called Isaiah 55, a deaf ministries organization that also supports other ministries. Through Isaiah 55, our team worked on construction of a housing complex in Reynosa for a ministry group called 24/7. 24/7 ministers to those who live in a designated area in Reynosa where prostitution and drug use is legal.

The second purpose of the mission trip was to find a need for clean water in Mexico’s interior region. Five of us took a van and had an adventure. Our group consisted of Dr. Jose Reyna, Bill Price, Pat Peterson, my 14-year-old son, Landon, and I.

We left Monday morning and drove to CD Victoria, where we had a couple of different contacts to meet with. First, we met with missionaries Jerry and Carla Mansee and they recommended a missionary in Juamave. Next we met with our other contact, which turned out to be a group of pastors. The Lord was with us and protected us during this meeting. Not knowing Bill Price understood Spanish, one of them wanted the unit exclusively for his church, and one of the others suggested that the chlorine could be sold! That night we prayed as a group for the Lord to show us who should receive the units and felt led to go to the missionary in Juamave.

We drove south to Juamave where missionary, Mark Dover, lives. Mark and his uncle have built over 270 churches in remote Mexico over the past 15 years through their ministry called Living Springs Mission. Mark is ready and willing to have mission groups to come to Living Springs Mission and this would be a tremendous location for an inexpensive family mission trip to be based out of! Mark took us to three villages in the mountains. On the way to one of the villages, we saw a woman getting her family’s water out of a pond with three donkeys standing at the edge, all sharing the same dirty water. In the villages, we also used dirty water to make chlorine. At each village we were able to train their pastor and leave behind a water unit to impact hundreds of lives both physically and spiritually!

We returned to Reynosa and Isaiah 55. On Friday, we took our 31 member mission team and installed our last water unit at Pillar of Hope Orphanage, which is just south of Reynosa. This orphanage is faith funded and always short on money. The children from our church raised the money for this unit. Pillar of Hope directors, Sarah Gutierrez and Paulien Naber, asked for all of us to gather together. With tears in their eyes, they told us that for two years they and the children had been praying for a miracle like this! At church this last Sunday, I told the kids that their water unit was placed at the Pillar of Hope orphanage, and they told me that this month’s children’s church theme is HOPE! Wow! This really helped the word hope come to life for our children. Praise God for His presence and help on our trip. It was life changing, especially for the younger ones who were along.

One blessing for me personally is to train the person on the unit and then tie in bible verses. I ask the person that I am training to read their own Bible, and as they read, you can see the words come alive. Then, at some point, they understand that this device is about the Living Water! What a great tool John has invented to spread the

Word with. Here are the verses I use in order:

1. Matthew 25:35-40

2. 2 Peter 3:5

3. Ephesians 5:25-26

4. 1 John 5:5-8

5. John 4:7-14

6. Jeremiah 2:13

7. 2 Kings 2:19-22

8. Matthew 10:42 (God's Blessing)

In His Service – Mike Philips

Water for Haiti: Note from Tash, Chad, Isa and Eddie

2009-03-03T11:19:00.004-06:00

hey guys!
here's an update over the past couple of months...

We left Australia in Nov 2008 for the states and have been staying in beautiful Lake Tahoe, with its snow capped months, and crystal clear lake. We left here, one of the wealthiest and cleanest places in the western world for Haiti last month. (We'd been praying about where to go with our new venture- taking a water purifying unit to places where people die from dirty water. This machine turns salt water into chlorine which can then be used to clean contaminated water). In a matter of 3 days of deciding on Haiti we were in the country, our team included-me (Tash) my husband Chad our daughter Isa, our friend and partner Eddie and a girl we'd only spoken to over the phone, Hana. We all got on famously, which is fortunate as there were some pretty cosy living arrangements at times.
In contrast, Haiti is known as the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and for the past 500yrs has lived under the shadow of much darkness, poverty, evil and death. This is no exaggeration...

Columbus discovered it in 1492 and claimed it for Spain rendering the indigenous population extinct due to murder, forced labor, repression and disease. Then the french came in also wanting control. Farming needs grew as did the need for African slaves, as many as 790 000 slaves were shipped in for only 32 000 white rulers, this was at least a third of the total number of people used in the whole of the slave trade...all in Haiti!! conditions were brutal to say the least, as you can see in this record by one man who lived half his life as a slave:

"have they not hung up men with heads downward, drowned them in sacks, crucified them on planks, buried them alive, crushed them in mortars? Have they not forced them to eat s*#%? And, having flayed them with the lash, have they not cast them alive to be devoured by cauldrons of cane syrup? Have they not put men and women inside barrels studded with spikes and rolled them down mountain sides into the abyss.."

This slave mindset of bondage and hopelessness is still strong even generations later after independence and freedom have been declared. I guess there are some things that are harder to abolish. Voodoo is the dominant religion of Haiti, it focuses on healing, calling up dead spirits, fortune-telling and dream interpretation, casting spells and creating potions. This is done through communication with dead spirits, they raise flags and preform drumming and dancing rituals to attract the spirits which then come and 'mount' or take over their bodies. A Voodoo service has animal sacrifice. By killing the animal one releases life, since the spirits are exhausted from the taxing task of running the universe, so they receive this life released to them and are rejuvenated. A girl i was speaking to about this, says its been known that children have been used in sacrificial ceremonies, she lives near 2 voodoo priests! Another aspect of voodoo is that its generally accepted and expected that the spirits determine lives, there is little use or space for free will and personal responsibility. One does NOT act on ones own, this is counter productive as the spirits have already determined things, and are not very taken with change. This fatalism is hard to comprehend when you witness such poverty and lack of willingness, power or vision to struggle for freedom. When you ask a child their dreams for the future you are often met with a vacant look, this broke my heart as I have never seen a nation filled with such talent that is wasting away.

If you squint you can imagine the paradise Haiti once was, now the beaches and towns carry a stench from the rotting filth and trash, dust settles on everything and fades out the color of what used to be. We saw women and young children climbing down a 20 foot vertical drop into a cave to collect 5 gallons of muddy water which they would then balance on their head and walk bare foot over the sharp rocks for hrs. That same water would then in turn cause them to vomit and have diarrhea from drinking it. They would bath in it occasionally and get scabies as a result. The recent storms and hurricanes devastated their meager crops and children, fathers and mothers, old and young would starve to death. Last month over 30 people died in one small village we visited. So how do you fall in love with a place like this? The people. Jesus gave us His heart for them and asked what would we do in response?

It was an incredible month for us, we saw MANY miracles, here's a couple:
We stayed at an orphanage and would go into the town to find sick people to help and pray for, one of them was named Salvadore, he'd recently been involved in a motorcycle accident and was limited to crutches due to the intense swelling and pain in his leg, as the boys prayed for him he immediately got healed, as the pain left he began weeping and was overwhelmed by the presence and love of God that was tangible in the room, the following days he was out walking and driving around town! Another guy on the street we met couldn't walk without a cane and after prayer carried his cane away on his shoulder. A woman with painful eyes and blurry vision could see clearly for the 1st time in yrs and no longer had pain when Jesus healed her, we saw her 3 days later and she was still smiling! For me the most memorable healing was a little baby that was carried into the clinic i was working in, he'd been having diarrhea for more than a week and was pale and non-responsive, the clinic was a shambles and poorly stocked, i had no IV fluids to give and felt very helpless as i turned them away with a little bottle of oral fluids and a prayer. I felt the baby would be fortunate to make it through the night, I couldn't sleep and kept praying hoping to see the mother bring him back in the morning...as i was thinking about them and wondering how that could happen in a crowd of 100s of sick people she appeared at the door holding her baby. He was happily playing in her arms and full of life and color. I said, Jesus healed your baby, and she responded, if it wasn't for Jesus they wouldn't be there!

We set up 8 water purifying machines which means up to 40, 000 people now have access to free clean water. We will return in early march to follow up on the success of this and distribute even more, we also want to go back as soon as possible because there is a huge need to help the children there. in one small mountain village where we stayed for one week almost 100% of the patients i treated there were under 5 y.o. Many of them have been abandoned or orphaned due to the extreme poverty. people are resorting to selling their children or bodies for to price of a meal! When I asked what was in place to help the children or being done for them the response came "nothing". The generous man I was speaking to then took us for a walk to view his 2 properties and asked which one we'd like to start a children's home! I chose the one on the high ground overlooking the ocean, it even has fruit trees on it!! We have some local house parents in mind and have already met some of the kids. hopefully we will start building as soon as march!

One final story, of the many, we met a man in his cocoa plantation that invited us to his home, he had been serving voodoo for many yrs and as Eddie shared his story of how he had also been into similar practices and then came to know Jesus as a friend and the freedom that he now enjoys the man said only last week he had a dream where he took all his voodoo stuff and threw it into the ocean and wanted to know Jesus! His face was beaming as we left..

If any of this speaks to you let us know...become part of the adventure!! life is so good!!
After being in Haiti for 2 or 3 more weeks we are going to Cambodia. Thanks for all the prayers and support! God is so very good, a loving father, friend and provider!! Praise HIM!!

Here i have seen things rare, and profitable;
things pleasant and dreadful,
things to make me stable in what i have begun to take in hand;
then let me think on them, and understand....

pure and undefiled religion before God is this:
to visit orphans and widows in their trouble..
James 1v27

Love Tash, chad, Isa and Eddie

ps.
Isa had her 1st birthday at the orphanage in Haiti, we played pass the parcel, musical chairs, and ate lots of banana cake!! she rocked the nation, and absolutely loved it!

Des Moines Register Article: Iowan Makes Tainted Water Fit to Drink

2009-02-23T08:57:00.003-06:00

Pictures from John and Mary's recent trip to Africa

_______________________________________________________________

The Des Moines Register wrote:

"We were going to give everything we had or nothing at all," Hays said.

"...(John) Hays and his wife, Mary, took $40,000 from their savings. They used $10,000 to apply for a patent, which is pending, and spent the rest to build chlorinators and travel to developing nations.

One trip found them in an African leprosy colony, where Hays put an automatic injection chlorine generator into the colony's water tower. A solar panel on the top of the tower juiced the 12-volt battery that sparks the chlorination. Soon, the colony's doctors had clean surgical tools and 5,000 residents had clean water to drink, Hays said..."

Click here to read the entire article.

WHS seniors visit Africa

2009-02-09T07:51:00.001-06:00

The Washington Evening Journal

By David Hotle

02/05/2009

What started off as a desire to visit a friend in another country turned into a mission to help the people of Tanzania get clean drinking water for Washington High School seniors Brad Sievers and Casey Negrete.
While the two went to Tanzania last month, the real journey began when the Negrete family hosted Boniface Mkini, an exchange student from Tanzania, last year. Mkini, Sievers, son of Jim and Lynette Sievers, and Negrete, son of Robert and Tammy Negrete, quickly became good friends. As with many friendships, the three started discussing how they could visit Mkini in his home country.
"He was very popular in school," Negrete said. "He was very well-liked around town and in my church."
The answer for the students came when they saw a presentation put on by John Hays, a member of Pure Water For All, which delivers water purifiers to areas of the world without a clean water supply. Hays, the director of the City of Washington Water Department, who had traveled to many countries to deliver filters he invented, said his next visit would be to Africa. Sievers and Negrete thought of visiting their friend and helping others at the same time.
"We thought we could do that and we talked with John," Sievers said. "My dad knows him too and we talked with him. We got two water units to take over there."
The cost of the trip was still an issue. Negrete and Sievers raised money in the Washington community for the trip.
When the day finally arrived to fly out of the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids for the 26-hour journey to Africa, Sievers and Negrete traveled with Hays to Amsterdam, Holland, and then to Kilimanjaro in Kenya, where Hays stayed. Sievers and Negrete traveled on to Cape Town, then to Tanzania. Sievers said Kesara, which is Mkini's hometown, was about 30 minutes southwest of the former capitol Dar Es Salaam.
Shortly after arriving, the two were reunited with Mkini.

For the full story, see the Feb. 5 edition of The Washington Evening Journal

Teaching Clean Water in Africa

2009-02-02T08:01:00.001-06:00

All is Going Well in Africa

2009-01-26T08:46:00.003-06:00

Click Here for a slide show of pictures.

Excerpt from John's Most Recent Email

2009-01-20T08:45:00.002-06:00

"Today is our second full day. Mary is making meals. Her new friend is Jenny, or jenn airmealsay...we call her Jenn. She gave her homemade french fries, while I enjoyed cold cereal with powdered milk. Mary just giggles as this her favorite food.

Yesterday Mary and I toured the orphanage. I did some electrical and plumbing repairs to the generator and building. The system is perfect! The hospital system is working perfectly as well. The team of 30 some doctors are working in both places. They enjoy having good water. The entire team is drinking "river water" that we are treating. Bottled water cannot be bought.

I plan to be away from Mary this coming week as I and a team will travel to remote villages. They have deadly water. The team I'm traveling with is a doctor, someone from the red cross and a another person who will be testing bacteria.

Mary and I are both very comfortable with the work.

The people in Magoogoo, where the system has been installed for over a year, say that no one has died from the water since it's been installed! Before I think 9 people died in a half a year."

What a way to start 2009!

2009-01-13T09:28:00.007-06:00

John and Mary leave for Tanzania this Wednesday, January 14th and will return on January 29th.

On their way to Africa they plan to make a brief stop in Amsterdam to meet with a red cross official who will accompany them into Tanzania. They are particularly interested in learning how to better treat water...they certainly know the best man to go to for that!

Once in Tanzania, they will meet up with a group of 38 people who will all work together to bring clean water to some of the most devastated areas.

It's been 3 years since John installed a water system at the Singa Hospital. During this trip, He will revisit the hospital and evaluate their water. If needed, John will also upgrade to one of the latest models that he and Mary have started using.

Their business continues to grow and prosper! The water ministry now has:

3 missionaries who work full time in the field.
1 volunteer in the states who schedules presentations
3 volunteers who will speak in churches or to any interested groups.

Up to this point John and Mary have done most of the presentations and preparations so the added key people are a much appreciated and needed development.

A leadership team has also been set up for Pure Water For All. This will take a big burden off John. They will be using a new mold which will make the assembly of the unit more efficient and a new battery system that will make the units much more productive.

Testimonies from El Ayudante in Nicaragua 2008

2008-11-11T09:27:00.003-06:00

Tropical Depression Alma was the first tropical storm on record to strike the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. High winds left nearly 50,000 in the Leon area without electricity which caused major water shortages in the city. Heavy flooding caused the contamination of many wells in rural areas, especially in Salinas Grandes, where the storm made landfall.

El Ayudante, as a part of the Leon Emergency Management Response Team, provided thousands of dollars for food, medicine, bottled water, and black plastic for temporary shelter from subsequent rains to those displaced from their homes and relocated to temporary shelters.

El Ayudante medical staff joined Ministry of Health Doctors to treat those affected by the storm in very rural areas along the coast. These medical professionals were also able to provide chlorine. An organization called International Water Management Systems, has invented a chlorine producing unit that turns a salt water solution into chlorine. These chlorine units were donated by Harmony Bible Church, out of Danville, Iowa. Chlorine produced by the units was distributed to coastal areas benefiting several thousand, averting illness from potentially contaminated water.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mahanaim, the Camp of God Rehab Center, is located high in the mountains in a primitive setting north of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. It incorporates Bible Study, accountability, and herbal teas in its rehabilitation process. Nearly 200 men, women and children ranging in ages from 12 to 75 are enrolled in the program.

The lack of basic sanitation and clean water continually caused outbreaks of stomach born illnesses at Mahanaim. El Ayudante and other medical mission teams served this center upon request sometimes twice a month.
Mission teams constructed a dozen latrines for Mahanaim to address sanitation issues and a team from Harmony Bible Church from Danville, Iowa installed a chlorine producing unit to treat their water supply which dramatically reduced stomach related illnesses. So dramatic was the reduction that when Rafael Alvarado, El Ayudante Director for Matagalpa, contacted the center to inform of the availability of a medical mission team, the camp director said to “send the medical team to another location that has a greater need!” The camp director commented that “illness has been reduced by over 80% at the camp especially since the installation of the chlorine producing unit!”

Hays News

2008-11-10T08:57:00.001-06:00

November 6th, 2008 was an exciting day. We are grandparents to a new little boy, William Louis Nielsen, 8 lbs. 5 ozs and 20 inches long. We have been to Des Moines to see Liz and Josh and Will and also Chelsea. It has been a great day.

Friday, November 7, 2008
We are in Omaha at Covenant Presbyterian Church. Tonight is a mission banquet in which John will be the speaker.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
John spoke at the three services at Covenant this morning. We purchased the rest of the items to send to Sudan on March 12 and they were put in a crate with medicine and many other items. They will begin their journey to Sudan next Wed. Plans are well underway for this trip and we are privileged to have John going as part of the team from Covenant.

Pray with us as we have an opportunity to send water units to the area in China where the earthquake hit earlier this year. They still have no drinking water and this could save many lives.

Raising the Water Standard in Canada

2008-11-10T08:04:00.002-06:00

Last week a unit was mailed off to a young man and his girlfriend in Calgary Canada. He purchased the unit for his friend who is one of the Lost Boys from Sudan. He was sent away from Sudan when the strife started and fled to Canada. He is now a Canadian citizen so he can safely return to Sudan and take a water unit and malaria medicine to his village of 2000! The village is growing each day and they have no safe water. Praise God that he found our website and we are able to help.

Article from The Hawkeye

2008-10-06T13:22:00.004-05:00

DANVILLE -- More than 250 people ran down U.S. 79 Saturday morning, engulfing the narrow two-lane highway with full-fledged runners, casual walkers and baby strollers pushed along by new mothers.

They weren't running for glory, recognition or fame. Those who participated in the 5K and 10K run/walk Saturday morning at Harmony Bible Church were only interested in raising money to provide water filters for children in Africa.

"It's a family-oriented event," said Libby Samples, Harmony Bible Church member and chief organizer of the run. "The whole idea is to help those who need clean water."

While the 10K run began on U.S. 79 just outside the church, the path eventually wound through Geode State Park and back to the church parking lot. There also were a variety of runs for the children in the church parking lot before the event began.

Fort Madison resident Niko Pothitakis watched from the sidelines as his son, Mitchell, 5, and twin daughters, Nicole and Samantha, 6, raced toward the finish line. Prizes were awarded to each competing child.

"They did really good," Pothitakis said. "They're pretty fast."

Pothitakis and his wife Carrie are no strangers to running fast either. The couple routinely participate in 5K and 10K runs throughout the area.

"It's nice weather, and we like to exercise," Pothitakis said shortly before the race began. "It's a good event."

Proceeds raised from the event will be used to purchase water filters from the Washington, Iowa, volunteer organization International Water Management Systems. Those water filters will then be sent to Africa.

Invented and patented by Washington water superintendent John Hays, who founded International Water Management Systems in 2000, the device utilizes a chlorine generator that requires solar power or a small battery to operate.

The filters extract salt from the water supply and turn it into chlorine, which then is used to purify the water and make it safe for drinking. A single chlorine generating system will last at least five years and can produce clean water for 5,000 people.

"It utilizes the chlorine to make the water safe, but it doesn't taste like chlorine," Hays said while sitting next to one of the filters inside the church. "If the water tasted like chlorine, no one would drink it."

The filters have been distributed to more than 20 countries since Hays developed the product three years ago. Much of that distribution has been accomplished through Harmony Bible Church.

Field water engineer and Harmony Bible Church member Todd Baldridge recently returned from a trip to Thailand, Mynamar and the Sudan to deliver the filters.

"We started going to church here because of their passion for missions," Baldridge said. "Everyone here just has a good heart."

Baldridge plans to travel to Africa when the filters are ready for delivery, though he's still not quite sure what part of the continent the filters will go to.

According to Hays, each filter costs about $550 to produce, and shipping costs can be even higher. Hays said a recent supply of 80 filters sent to Mynamar resulted in $20,000 worth of shipping costs.

"We get all of our money from donations, churches and charity events," Hays said. "If anyone is in need of clean drinking water, we're going to get it to them."

Hays promised his friends and co-workers he would develop a patented water system nearly a decade ago, though he wasn't quite sure how he would do it.

Once Hays finally invented the filter, he shunned the opportunity to profit from his invention and decided to base his volunteer charity organization around it instead. He even developed a larger version of the filter for his hometown of Washington.

"I still work as a water superintendent to pay the bills," he said. "This isn't about John Hays or the product. It's about the children who need clean water."

Margaret Hays, the proud mother of John supporting the 5k race.

Burma and Africa

2008-09-29T12:52:00.004-05:00

As at least 50 more chlorine units are being sent to Burma in the next few weeks many more people are being impacted by clean water in Africa!

Last October (2007) MaGooGoo Tanzania received a "Hays Chlorine Unit". Before this, roughly 5,000 people were dying from Cholera. Now, after one year of using the chlorinator no one within two miles has either gotten sick or died from bad water!

A hospital in Singida, Tanzania is now using chlorine generated from a single unit. The chlorine is made daily and then automatically injected into the water. They use rain water and city water both of which carry bad water. Now it is safe to drink.

A children's feeding center in Singiday also was set up with a chlorine and injector system. Up to 2000 children will be fed and watered. Some live on the streets and most are very poor. The hope is to give these children a chance to grow up and be productive.

The rainy season will begin on November 15. This brings rain run off and diseases that kill people, such as cholera.

John and Mary plan to return January 2009 to stop these diseases by providing clean water in 5 villages.

Geneva Embraces John Hays' Work

2008-08-25T08:26:00.003-05:00

Geneva College has a write up of John's recent trip to Myanmar: Read here

A water unit to Sri Lanka!

2008-08-14T11:45:00.003-05:00

Pictured below is a house where 7 people live. A pure water system that is being sent will be able to treat their water.

2008-08-12T11:59:00.000-05:00

More From Burma

2008-08-11T11:59:00.004-05:00

John Hays in a Burmese village