On Feb 24, toward the end of their visit this year, they made a second trip to La Compuerta. This village is about 30 km away from our shop. The last 20 km of the trip is a bone-jarring ride, up and down steep hills on a road which can be described as being like an old river bed. It is truly a nasty trip through dry hills past corn and bean fields. The trip is best made in one of our little Mitsubishi crew-cab trucks, perhaps because they are smaller and there is less space to be thrown around inside, but it is still a tough trip.

La Compuerta is a village on the top of some of these dry hills. There are about 700 people who live there. We have made two attempts to put a well in there, but both have been unsuccessful. I visited in one of the villages and learned the only water was in a pond where the cattle drank too. Dan and Laura went back to finish the dental clinic work they had done earlier.

As they worked, Dan was interrupted by a woman who had a child in her arms. The little girl was about 2 and a half. She had a fever and was listless. She was not unconscious, but unable to walk or do much more than hold up her hand. It seemed very possible that the little girl was dying.

Dan and Laura decided to give her ½ a Tylenol and see if she got any better. Dan remembered that dehydration can cause a fever and gave her a full glass of water with the pill. She drank the 12 oz readily. They gave her another glass. The effect was dramatic. Within 20 minutes of drinking the water she was walking around talking and laughing. Her fever was gone and she was entirely back to normal. She went from a very sick little girl to healthy because of drink of clean water.

Later they had a chance to talk to a lady who is a teacher in La Compuerta. They spoke about the need for drinking water. The teacher said yes, she knows and tries to encourage the people to drink, but when she tells them to drink, the people say back to her, “If we drink the water we will die.”

You have the power to help us do something for these people, please help.

They landed at Guatemala City, paid the landing fee, the ramp fee and the departure fee and filed a flight plan and took off toward El Salvador. When they were about 20 miles from San Salvador airport, they called to ask permission to land. There was no response for a few minutes, and then they were told that permission was denied. They asked again while they circled some distance away from the airport and were denied again. They were told that if they landed without permission they would be fined US $10,000. The plane would probably be impounded until they paid the fee. They tried to explain and beg, but it was to no avail. Permission was denied. They had no choice but to fly back toward Guatemala City.

When they got back in Guatemala airspace they again sought permission to fly to Topachula where aircraft transit customs office was located. Permission was denied. They were told they had to land at Guatemala City and close the flight plan they had opened. There would be additional fees for the landing and fees to park and another departure fee.

As they got closer to the city, Speedy could see the cloud cover was very heavy. He called on the radio and begged to be allowed to go on to Topachula. He told them they were in the soup and could not continue with the visual flight rules. Permission was denied again. To aid them, the control tower said they could continue with visual flight and the control tower would give them vectors (verbal directions) to make the approach.

This was not a very good idea. Guatemala City airport is at about 4500 feet and there are 8000 foot mountains around it. A mistake would be deadly. Bucky had a portable GPS unit with terrain warnings and so they began to use it to make the approach. They were in the clouds and Speedy was on instruments. He told Bucky to keep looking out the window for the ground and to sing out when he had the ground in sight. He slowly descended to about 800 ft above ground and then Bucky yelled that he could see the ground. They circled for the final approach and landed, where they again faced the customs fees, inspections fees, landing fees and parking fees.

The next day they filed a plan, paid the fees and departed Guatemala City for the USA. Glad to be leaving the land of the fee, and going back to the home of the brave.
They certainly are the brave.

Come and join us next season and have an adventure yourself with us.

First was a stop in McClellan, Texas for the documents for Mexican customs and permission for the flight. That turned into an 8 hour ordeal for the paperwork, almost as painful as passing a kidney stone. Finally finished, they launched for their first stop, Vera Cruz. The got fuel and then back into the air headed south. As they flew, the ceiling kept getting lower and lower till they were getting into the soup at less than 700 ft above ground level. It was time to turn around and get back on the ground.

After a night’s stop in Pose Rica they flew on without incident and landed at the airfield in Poptun. Gary was there to meet the weary travelers. They had been one week on the way and very glad to rest for a couple of days before the drilling work started.

The plane was a hit in the town of Poptun. The field is controlled by the military and so security is no problem. They met with the mayor, the judge and the coronel in charge of the military base and before long Speedy was taking all the dignitaries for rides in the plane. He must have taken 20 people for short rides around the town and out over the orphanage and school campus. They were thrilled with this and it served to extend our contacts with the important people in the area. This will pay off in the future as these folks can help us in many ways.

I asked Speedy why he was involved in the drilling project. He said, “I have learned that my purpose in life is to help people get clean water. It is something I can do and so I do it.” Then he started to tell me about his attempt to fly from Guatemala to El Salvador to check on a well that needs refurbishment at an orphanage there. It was another adventure, see part 3 for the rest.

The project began the first week in January. As we arrived in Guatemala City we were asked to look at a proposed orphanage site (there are 317,000 orphans in Guatemala) near Chimaltenango and give advice of how to access a clean water source. We met Dan Smith of Paradise Bound Ministries and were able to propose a plan. The site is a particular challenge as it is located on a slender ridge elevated 800’ above the river. Their ministry presently builds simple housing for villagers as a way of establishing a relationship to present the Gospel.

In Chimaltenango, 3 miles from the proposed orphanage site, residents pay 5 quetzales/month for water. In newer villages where wells have been drilled more recently, costing significantly more, the villagers are asked to pay 70 quetzales/month. Many of those folks are returning to use the river rather than pay that much. Dan said many of the illnesses from parasites and severe skin problems are returning.

Our first drilling site was Ixbobo where Bob Perry and Dave Andreson began drilling with the Olson drill. This is the site chosen this year by the Upper Columbia Youth department to construct a church facility. Bob and Dave drilled 200 feet and we followed by installing a hand pump. At the scheduled dedication a couple weeks later we made the point that we don’t make water, the Lord does. The local pastor gave a message and we had prayer. The villagers were SO appreciative . . . and commented how wonderful the water was.

Bob and Dave then moved to Tanhoc and started well #2 there. Pueblo Partisans has been actively assisting the folks in Tanhoc for several years, showing them how to improve their economy and lifestyle. Another charitable entity has offered to help in Tanhoc with a reservoir and water lines throughout the village. Electricity is in the village and the second well will have a submersible pump in it to fill a reservoir on top of the nearby hill. Clean water from the hand pump installed 5 years ago has been a significant health benefit. Amy Backes from Pueblo Partisans said she couldn’t have stayed in the village if she hadn’t had the safe water. It’s very gratifying to see the villagers take the initiative to improve their way of life with this next step.

The drill then went to La Compuerta, a village of 700 at the top of a very high mountain. We didn’t hold much hope of finding water at that altitude. Bucky Mowrey & Speedy Gonzales tried a couple holes 200’ deep, losing a set of drill tools in one hole after a major collapse of the formation. Jon Hansen finished the last part of the last hole before moving the drill back to ICAP. Our thoughts are that a successful well may have to go 900’ – 1,100’ which is beyond our capability. We will consider drilling a couple miles down slope where there is power available and a much better chance of obtaining water.

Bucky, Speedy, and Jon Schoblocher began the well in Morazan with the Stadeli drill. Dominic Parmentier and Bob Cole finished the well and set a hand pump, then moved to Colonia Lourdes, completed a well there, and installed a hand pump.

After starting the well in Morazan and prior to drilling in La Compuerta Bucky & Speedy went to El Salvador for a few days, cleaned out a standby well with the 72 Star drill at that site for the ICC orphanage and installed a pump. This will give a standby water source if the main pump fails. The original plan was to drill another well or two; however, upon observing the water situation, Bucky & Speedy determined there is plenty of water. Water is being wasted in the facility, there are several leaks in water lines that need to be repaired and the check valve was not functioning properly in the large pump. The large pump would easily fill the 40,000 gal. reservoir then the water would go back down the well, emptying the reservoir and leaving the campus with no water for awhile. We arranged for the check valve to be corrected and the system is operating properly now.

Dave Rutledge and Monte Johnson upgraded the carrier truck under the Stadeli drill 50 years by replacing the 1942 GMC with a 1992 International diesel. They moved to Poxte and drilled near to the water reservoir that has previously been filled by river water. The river is nearly dry and no water is in the system. This well, with the existing reservoir and water distribution system will serve several hundred villagers. John Hansen finished that last few feet of drilling and provided a pump test.

Pat Clark upgraded the pump truck carrier from the 1972 Chevrolet to a 1992 Izuzu cabover diesel.

We had 2 dental teams that worked in the villages with us this year. Steve Barrickman came from Ohio and worked one week, being assisted by Lin Avendano and Berny Leonardo, Jr. This team was very professional and efficient. Dr. Barrickman came in after long tiring days pulling teeth and said “wow, I need to take my vitamins”.

Dan Fuller and his sister Lyn Hayden worked for 1 ½ weeks and were assisted by Laura Fuller, Justin Hayden, Blake Hayden, and Rebecca Miller. Comments were heard regarding how caring this team was. Many medical and spiritual needs, other than dentistry, were addressed by both teams. Dan did some of the evangelistic meetings in Barillal. Arrangements have been made for some villagers with critical medical needs to access assistance through the coming months.

The Second Hope Ministries team provided 6 days of basic village health training in Poptun. The coordinator was Dr. Ron Fleck with his wife, Bobbi. Dr. Don Fletcher, Karen Fletcher, R.N., Sherry Weidemann, R.N. and Diana Anderson, R.N. completed the team. They addressed such topics as basic hygiene, first aid, CPR, fevers, intestinal problems & cures. This medical training was truly God-centered. 30 people were chosen by the Health District to attend. It was extremely successful, pertinent, and valuable according to the attendees and the Health District. At the close of the week Dr. Mendez, the director of the Health District said, “The keys to the city are yours.” They want us to return.

Our website should link to secondhopeministries.org. Please check it out and see the Guatemala project.

Lin Avendano provided CPR training for volunteer firemen at God’s Helping Hands clinic. They hope we can provide more training for them in the future.

We installed conduit and main service wire to our shop, which will allow us to delete the overhead temporary smaller wire. While the excavator was there we installed 12” diameter culverts on each side of the road in front of our shop. The old 4” PVC pipes often plugged with weeds and trash, causing the water to wash down the roadway instead of the ditch, taking the ballast with it each year. We also purchased 5 loads of ballast and placed it on the north side of the shop in hopes of building an attached vehicle storage building there in the future.

We sold the reservoir forms and that frees the space in #3 container. The extra space is much needed and we moved the container to the north side of the shop where it can be used as a wall for the shop extension.

The Stadeli drill is stored in the shop of God’s Helping Hands at Machaquila where we will provide a second (standby) well next season for the clinic. They are using our 70 sections of scaffolding to facilitate the building of their large multi-purpose center.

The blue Mitsubishi pickup is at Berny’s house in Guatemala City. This frees some space in our shop and he’ll use it occasionally to prevent battery and mold problems.

The red Mitsubishi pickup went off the road and rolled over causing extensive damage. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt! We’ll have Berny check prices for repair soon.

The Upper Columbia Conference is using 3 of our trucks, cement mixer, scaffold & tandem trailer to assist in the current church building and evangelism project.

WFL provided much Spanish literature, Bibles, and Bible studies this season. Our supplies of literature are gone now.

The project ended March 6.

Our 36 volunteers were: Pat Clark, Marilee Clark, Gary Bartholomew, Angie Bartholomew, Bob Perry, Dave Andreson, Dominic Parmentier, Bob Cole, Bucky Mowrey, Speedy Gonzales, Dave Rutledge, Monte Johnson, Ron Fleck, Bobbi Fleck, Don Fletcher, Karen Fletcher, Diana Anderson, Sherry Weidemann, Lin Avendano, Steve Barrickman, Berny Leonardo Jr., Dan Fuller, Laura Fuller, Lyn Hayden, Justin Hayden, Blake Hayden, Rebecca Miller, Lynn Bartholomew, Kathie Bartholomew, Jon Hansen, Chris Hansen, Rod Bartholomew, Tim Davis, Ruth Davis, Tim Rasmussen, and Jon Schoblocher.

They left Lancaster, Ohio, on Sunday, January 31, at 2pm after saying goodbye to a crowd of friends and family. They landed at College Station, Texas, where there was cheap fuel available, and after a short stop, they went on to Beeville, Texas, where the lowering clouds seemed to say this was a good place to stop for the night.

The next morning they were at the airport at 5am. The weather did not look promising. After a call to Flight Service, they decided to stay on the ground till the clouds lifted, but the clouds did not lift all day Monday. Tuesday morning the weather was still bad so they decided to lay over another day.

Bucky noticed on Tuesday morning he felt a little sick, but did not think anything about it. They killed a few hours and in the afternoon decided to go to a local movie. During the movie, Bucky began to realize something was really wrong. He was suffering severe pain in his side. When they left the theater, Bucky told Speedy, “I need to go to the hospital, right now!” So they went. Bucky was examined in the emergency room and after a couple of hours it was determined that he was passing kidney stones. He was discharged with some instructions and went back to the motel for an ordeal of pain for the next two days. Only those who have passed kidney stones can appreciate what this pain is like.

Finally, on Thursday at 5 pm, the weather was ok and Bucky thought he was fit to travel. They fired the Piper up and headed again off to the south. Customs was ahead and then the trip down across Mexico and on into Guatemala. There was more adventure ahead, but I’ll save that for part II.

This was one of the things we have been concerned about since the beginning. How would we service the pumps and wells that we installed? The villages were dependant upon this clean water and we felt responsible for continuing to make it available. After several days’ discussion between board members, it was decided to send Gary Bartholomew down to fix this pump and make arrangements to train and contract with someone there to take care of these needs in the future.

Gary left in early October and arrived on about the 14th. After pulling the pump from the well at Tanhoc, he discovered that the leathers were worn completely out. Evidently the high percentage of suspended solids in the water, combined with the high usage of the well (this well serves over 200 people) had resulted in excessive wear on the pump cylinder down in the well. Rather than rebuild the cylinder, Gary replaced it with another new unit and the people of Tanhoc were drinking clean water and happy again.

Gary went on to service a couple of more pumps in other villages. During his time there, he trained some workers of our friend, Tom Troger, who operates a drilling and well service company in Guatemala, to replace our pumps and service the wells in the villages when we are not there. We also learned that we must establish a regular service program to monitor the pumps to make sure that the supply of clean water is maintained.

During his time there Gary made contact with Dr. Mendez who is in charge of the ministry of health in the Poptun area. Dr. Mendez said he had wondered why some of the villages weren’t having the occurrences of stomach problems and infant deaths, until he learned that we were working there. Then he no longer wondered why the health of some of the people was so improved. He is very happy to have the help of our drillers and is very happy that the people in his area benefit so much from what we do.

Please come and help us. It will change your life as you change others.

We tore down the drill rig, loaded all the leveling blocks and other stuff.

They had a little gathering before we left the well site. They thanked us profusely for the well. Many in Poxte understand the value of clean water to their family’s health. They seem to be a little more organized and more knowledgeable group of people then some of the other villagers I have seen. They wanted to give us something for the well, but we tried to get the free gift (grace) concept across to them.

I was asked by one of the men who spoke some English what we were getting paid to work there, after I told him a third time, he finally got it and shook my hand and gave me a big smile. The people there do a lot of hand shaking whenever they meet. There is a simplicity, directness and joy here, uncomplicated by concerns about social status, color or race. That is refreshing. It’s also amazing how the adults will stop whatever they’re doing to help with anything we need. … Suddenly I’m sorry I’m leaving.

We drove the rig just down the road a couple of miles to Machaquila. There is an American Clinic there where a second well will be drilled first of the season next year. They have an indoor location for our equipment, which is good because it is important to keep it dry over the next 9 months or so… Until I can come back!

As I think about the water situation at Poxte, a 10 to 20 gallon per minute well serving this many people is amazing. Most of us back home in Washington have one of these sitting in our backyard serving just one home. Yet, these people carry every drop of water they use from somewhere down the road. Some walk for miles for clean water. The have a hard life.

Chris and I are going to be heading toward home tomorrow. We plan on traveling to Flores to stay there, get up Monday morning and go to the Mayan ruins at Tikal. So, we will be tourists for a day. We will catch a Monday night plane to Guatemala City, spend the night at the Howard Johnson’s Inn and be home in Washington Tuesday night.

Jon and Chris Hansen as adapted by Tim Rasmussen.

Volunteers started arriving in early January and in spite of the setbacks, 4 wells were eventually completed and hand pumps were installed. The first well was drilled at Canchacan to the depth of 352′ with 4 gallons per minute. The second well was drilled at Champas Quemadas and was drilled to 204′ deep with 5 gallons per minute. The third well at Pena Blanca was completed at a depth of 302′ and the fourth well for 2010 was drilled at Barillal with a final depth of 165′. Each of the four wells had hand pumps installed.

In addition to the wells in villages, a hand pump was installed in the well drilled last year at Ixyuc and an electric pump was placed in the 550′ well completed last year at Jabonche. The electric pump that was sent in the container for use at Jabonche was missing when the container was unloaded in Guatemala so a new pump had to be purchased.

Also, a pump was replaced in the #4 well at the ICAP campus. While pulling the pump to replace it a pipe failed and the pump dropped to the bottom of the well. After three days of prayers and unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the pump, the Lord blessed and the pump was retrieved!

The automatic transmission failed in our pump truck in Guatemala so we bartered with a local driller to set the electric pump at Jabonche and the hand pump at Pena Blanca. We traded several surplus large pump motors for his pump work and his lathe work that provided new threads on several of our drill tools.

A Deutz diesel engine was installed in one of our drill rigs after it finally arrived in the container it replaced the existing propane engine that was worn and inefficient. The new engine will save over $100 per day in fuel costs.

A 2004 Mitsubishi pickup was purchased this year to help assist in our growing transportation needs. A rebuilt automatic transmission was purchased for the Chevy pump truck.

In addition to the drilling and pump work, our volunteers painted some of the buildings on the Los Pinos and ICAP campuses, built racks to organize and store drill steel, built wooden stools for the cafeteria, provided dental work in several villages and held 5 evangelistic meetings just to name a few. Some medical needs that our volunteers assisted in helping were 2 boys from Barillal that had fevers for 20 days, a man from Canoa that had a disc problem in his lower back. They found a girl from Sabaneta that needs surgery to remove a growth from her face, and another girl from Pena Blanca who won’t be able to walk unless she has surgery on her legs. Water for Life International would like to find help for these children.

The evangelistic meetings led to 22 baptisms. We provided funding for fuel, provided literature, and some equipment for the members of the orphanage church and the ICAP church to continue working where we held meetings.

A big THANK YOU to all of our volunteers; Bob Perry, Dave Rutledge, Bucky Mowrey, Dominic Parmentier, Monte Johnson, Speedy Gonzales, Edgar Dominquez, John Kouns, Ed Pier, Ed Ross, Dennis, Bob Wesner, Alex Nischuck, Dennis Porter, Anna Kriger, Rhonda Beyreis, Dan Fuller, Laura Fuller, Lynette Hayden, Justin Hayden, Blake Hayden, Rebecca Miller, Marcello Martinez, Scott Davis, Bob Horowitz, Mike Conaway, Karen Conaway, Lynn Bartholomew, Kathie Bartholomew, Shane Robins, Donna Robins, Dale Wendt, Norma Wendt, Vic Perger, Cindy Perger, Tim Rasmussen, Annette Rasmussen, Dave Morrill, Aaron Morrill, Gary Bartholomew, and Angie Bartholomew.

This year a significant portion of the funds were provided by three major organizations; Hope for Humanity, Positive Life Radio, and Versacare. We would also like to thank the many individual contributors for their prayers and financial support. Our success depends upon each one that is involved!

What you have done has put a smile on the faces of these children. “Verily I say unto you inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40

We had been told the container shipment would take about 21 days, so Gary Bartholomew was expecting the container would arrive in the second week of January. That week and the next came and went, and still there was no word about the container. Inquires to our shipping agent revealed that the container had been offloaded in Mexico and not put back on the ship. The explanation was vague about why it came off the ship and even more vague about when it would be put back on a ship We were assured however, it would be on the next ship to Guatemala, whenever that would be be!

On January 21, Annette and I left Guatemala. It was a long 23 hour shuttle on and off planes from Flores to Cancun to Houston to San Francisco to Spokane. About a week after we got home, Gary was told the container had come into the country and was in the customs process. At least it had made it into the country.

The container was in the customs process for one week and no word. Then the shipping agent told us that for some reason, the container had been selected for special inventory inspection. The reason behind this selection was unknown, but maybe because it had made an unscheduled stop in Mexico. They insisted on checking on 75% of the contents. There was nothing to do but wait.

Finally on about Feb 15, Gary was told the container would be released immediately upon payment of about $7,000 US. There were the usual charges for storage during the inspection, the inspection itself, and a fee for this and a fee for that. Then he was told that if he waited for 2 more days there would be different supervisor and the fee would be about $500 US less! Gary thought for a moment but realized the extra charges and the waiting truck and the fees would make it about a wash. Gary paid the duty and got the shipment out of that den of thieves as quickly as he could. (I guess the word “thieves” is not politically correct, but that is the word that comes to mind.) The container was 58 days in transit, but he was happy we finally had it, until he opened the door.

Into this place rolled our donated 1942 GMC military 6×6, with the Bucyrus Erie 22W and Gary Bartholomew at the wheel to the spot designated by the mayor of Poptun. He had chosen the location to be near a school which was being constructed but which lacked any sort of sanitary facilities. Gary had taken a quick peak into the outhouse that served the school grounds and found the ground water level was about 4 feet down. The surface seal and the casing would be critical to this well.

The work began immediately, placing timbers under the rig and placing the guy wires for the mast. The rig was started and with Brian Bott, a volunteer from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gary started the familiar process of beating a hole into the earth. Almost immediately there were curious people present smiling shyly but wanting their picture taken. The mayor had provided a water truck and 2 or 3 men were always present to remove the bailed muck in order to keep the area from becoming too muddy. The mayor also provided the necessary guards every night. The security of the rig is always a concern.

Static water level was 4 ft as the drill went down. At first the progress was slow, but soon the rig was making the expected 30- 35 ft per day. The well was cased with steel to 120 ft and then then drilled to 320 ft through the familiar creviced rock. PVC liner was placed to 320 and a pumpset. A test pumping showed 82 gpm with a drop in static level to about 12 ft and then holding there for 25,000 gpm.

With time for this visit growing short and the impending birth of a grandchild at home in Spokane, Gary and Brian drove the rig back to the ICAP campus. The rig was prepared as much as possible for storage through the hot humid summer before another season of drilling in the villages of the savannah lands of NE Guatemala.

If you would like to help us, please contact Gary or Lynn Bartholomew at 509 466 5085