Go Beyond

Bill Robins in El Salvador.

Who | Bill Robins

Where I’ve Traveled With Kingsland | I traveled to El Salvador in February 2011.

Why I Helped Drill a Water Well | Actually, I decided to go on the trip to learn more about El Salvador and to learn more about drilling a water well. I have to say I knew so little about this missionary trip that I primarily was going to satisfy my own interests and to see if this could get me started in missionary work.

What I Will Remember Most | All of the men, women, and children we met in the small villages in El Salvador have a desperate need for clean, safe water as they do not have water distribution systems. If water wells are not properly drilled, the people use water from unsafe sources for all of their needs such as cooking, cleaning, bathing, etc.

I will always remember that our small team of Christian men and women, following the direction of the Living Water El Salvadoran staff, interacted and had a positive impact on the men, women and children of all ages in the villages where we were drilling or repairing water wells. Drilling, repairing wells, and educating children about water safety were very important activities our team accomplished. While those activities were important, I personally benefited by interacting with El Salvadoran people of all ages and I also grew spiritually because of the contact I had with other team members. The whole trip was what I would call a “memory maker” as I will always remember the El Salvadoran people we met and our team devotional sessions. Jim Coleman, our team leader, did a great job of encouraging team members to interact with the villagers and each other. He also did a good job of sharing M&M’s with me and others!

How I See Things Now | Our country, our community, and the people I routinely come into contact with are really blessed to enjoy the standard of living we have grown to accept as normal. I hope I have the courage, time, and commitment to put myself in a position to help others who need assistance from Christian men and women.

My Encouragement to Others | I will always remember my missionary trip to El Salvador as every person I met relative to water was extremely happy and very appreciative to have clean and safe water. The most significant realization, I believe, is that the happiness and appreciation those people had could not compare to the emotional satisfaction each member of our team received while on this trip. I believe we all realized that we had helped some of God’s own meet the basic need of having access to safe and clean water.

Missionary work provides the opportunity for anyone to use their talents and people skills to dramatically impact the lives of many less fortunate people. Even a rookie like me was able to piggyback on the information other team members willingly shared — and that is the way it should always be!