Go Beyond

Tonalá, El Salvador

We had a successful second day of drilling today. Early this morning we hit water at a depth of a little more than ninety-feet. It’s always exciting when we reach water and then begin preparing the well, a process that starts with casing the hole and then blowing out all of the silt and gunk until the water runs clear. Although the steady spray of water shooting out of the hole creates a muddy mess, it really is a beautiful sight. We are on schedule to present the completed well to the people of Tonalá in a couple of days. This well will provide clean water to the people of this community for years to come. It’s hard for those of us who have access to water on demand to fully appreciate what a water well means to people who live in places like Tonalá.

This morning as our team gathered for our morning devotional, I received an email from my friend Kara Potts. She wrote to tell me how much she appreciated our recent issue of Go Beyond Just for Kids magazine entitled “All About Water.” Kara meets with four other women for a weekly Bible study. She wrote, “When we talked about our excess we talked about not just feeling guilty about it, but doing something about it! Then along came the magazine.” The magazine arrived at just the right time. As a result of reading about our water initiatives, Kara and her friends decided they could lead their families to engage with being a part of the solution. “Each family now has a jar in their kitchen where every time we make a decision to live with less or buy less than we want, we put the excess in the jar.” That’s something that even kids can understand and participate in.

Kara outlined several ways in which she and her family are cutting back on expenses and then putting their savings in their excess jar. But, here is the really exiting news. Kara continued, “We are doing this to take our excess and purchase a well for a community without water. We know that our five families have enough excess in our lives that we can turn it into a real, concrete, tangible blessing for the ‘least of these.’ Our goal is to have $5,000 by Christmas and give the well as a Christmas gift from our families.” Kara’s email could not have arrived at a better time to encourage our team. Being on the drilling end of this equation is made possible only because of the kind and generous gifts of people at home — folks like Kara and her friends.

The excess jar is a great way for any family to help provide clean water for people who live in places like Tonalá. Every dollar counts and can make a huge difference in the lives of those in need of access to clean water. Why not give jars to family and friends this Christmas and encourage them to join you in blessing people with the gift of clean water and the Living Water. All it takes is filling the jar with your excess.

Notice the boy (right) drawing water from a shallow hand-dug well next to site of new well.

Our friend Clay Lewis and his granddaughter, Marie. Marie was first driller today.

Poster on wall at Agua Viva El Salvador headquarters.