Give
Written by Bill Sundstrom
Photo Credit: Marybeth Geissler
“Has anybody in your household gotten sick from drinking contaminated water?” I asked Lucia, as she stood next to a cistern for collecting rainwater.
“Why yes,” came the reply. “Even as we speak, my father is inside the house with stomach problems due to the water.”
“We’d like to help,” I said, “by bringing you a water filter that will take all the impurities out of your water.”
Lucia’s teenage son came out to watch, and their eyes lit up at the first taste of the clean water coming out of the filter. Then Marni Servais offered Lucia and her son a second gift—the knowledge of how to know God. “I have always wanted somebody to tell me how I can have a relationship with Jesus!” exclaimed Lucia.
“I came on this trip because I wanted to grow in the area of sharing the gospel,” Marni later told me. “I felt nervous, but the more practice I got, the more confident I became.” Marni is no stranger to public speaking, as she teaches cosmetology at Fox Valley Technical College. But sharing the gospel was a new experience. Fortunately, Filter of Hope provided a simple outline of the gospel, using water-related illustrations that flowed organically from the filter demonstration.
When Marni finished, Lucia and her son both asked Christ into their lives. Lucia couldn’t thank us enough for coming to share this message, and as we left, two women from the local church said they would return and teach Lucia learn more about following God.
Marni and I had joined a 16-member team that had gone out from Spring Lake Church on a mission trip to Otavalo, Ecuador. Just as Jesus’ disciples came from a variety of backgrounds, we came from a variety of professions—from health care to Home Depot to teaching.
We wanted to help make a difference in both the physical health and the spiritual health of people by offering clean water and Living Water. The team partnered with Filter of Hope, which provided the water filters, and Emmaus Global Missions, which connected us to a local church.
Descendants of the Inca Empire
We divided into teams of four; each team went out with a Spanish translator as well as a church member to translate from Spanish to Quichua, the language spoken by these descendants of the Inca.
We visited Pucara, a community of indigenous people perched high in the Andes on the slopes of the Imbabura Volcano. Pucara first got running water about 15 years ago. The water is not purified, however, and most people boil it. Some don’t like the taste of boiled water, so they drink it straight, or drink rainwater, or fetch water from the lake. One man told me his family filters lake water through a handkerchief.
“There is no potable water here at all,” said Pastor Alberto, leader of the local church. “People are often sick and they don’t have any money for doctors. They never imagined that such a thing as a filter to clean the water would come to their community.”
And the filters are truly amazing! Using the same technology as used in city water-filtration systems, the little cylinder can clean 250 gallons of water a day for 10 years. But Pastor Alberto wanted to offer Living Water as well.
“Many people feel guilty about their sin,” he explained, “but are afraid to accept Christ, out of fear they will sin again. We want to win souls for Christ, and we believe this will open the hearts of those you visited.”
Curious about the long-impact of such a project, I talked to Israel Varela, from the Galilean Baptist Church of Otavalo. They worked with a Filter of Hope project two years ago, taking a team to an area near the famed Peguche Waterfall where they wanted to plant a daughter church. Today, as a result of that filter distribution, two Bible studies have grown from a couple of people to nearly 30 people each.
Spring Lakers
Spring Lake team members came for a variety of reasons. “I was sold on the idea of getting people fresh water,” said Peter Geissler, who with his wife, Marybeth, led the trip. “And that we were working with a church. It’s important that somebody can help with next steps.”
Marybeth, for her part, felt happy to go on a mission trip now that she has retired from teaching. “I liked how there was structure,” she says. “The imagery of dirty water and the filter was a good analogy and made it easier to share through the language barrier. It was exciting to make a difference in somebody’s eternal destiny.”
Several team members had concerns about the evangelism. “I didn’t feel smart enough,” says Cindy Quinnell. “I get tongue tied and afraid I’ll make a mistake. The first time I did it I was so nervous. The second time it went better.” Working with a team helped Cindy. “Seeing how others did it helped too—I could make tweaks to how I presented it.”
The teams were well-balanced, and it often seemed that each person could identify with somebody they met. For example, Dave and Emily Zukerman met Francisco, a man about their same age. During our trip, Dave celebrated his 10th anniversary of turning to Christ out of a Jewish background. Francisco was intrigued by Dave’s story, and especially that he received Christ later in life. By the end of the visit, Francisco and his in-laws had committed their lives to the Lord.
“Francisco’s wife was in tears because of all the years she had been praying for her family,” says Emily. “They were authentic and transparent, and we were too.”
Dave enjoyed getting to know other people on the team, such as Kurt and Connie Holst. “The Lord taught me that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” says Connie. “I was one of the older people, but I didn’t have any problems with the altitude or the physical aspect of it, and I was thankful for a comfortable place to stay.”
“I also enjoyed seeing how people were so open to sitting with us and hearing what we had to say,” she goes on. “and it was exciting to lead somebody to the Lord. It was good to bring the water filters but better to bring Living Water.”
Spiritual battle popped up in various ways. “The first day I felt the enemy putting on my heart that I was inadequate,” says Grace Sukowaty. “I was discouraged—we were planting a lot of seeds but not seeing a lot of acceptance. Then Marybeth prayed for me, that the enemy would have no power over me, and I was encouraged.”
By the end of the trip, our team had passed out 37 filters, shared the Good News with 68 people, and seen 28 commit their lives to Christ. We were all deeply touched by the warmth of the people and the welcome we received, and encouraged by how God had moved.
Beth Propp summed it up nicely: [The water filter] is such a nice visual of how Christ cleans up our lives. If you are willing to come, you will be successful.”
If you're wanting to learn more about missions and upcoming trips at Spring Lake please visit www.springlakechurch.org/missions
