In Such A Way

The power is on! Our power lines are energized and homes are being connected to them daily. The batteries are being fed by the diesel generator in part, and, get this, the hydrogenerator too! That's right, we started generating power from water yesterday! We still have some minor bugs to work out, but essentially, we finished on our last possible day!

This is Adolfo's pregnant wife, Waldina. She is cooking by candil. A candil is a kerosene-powered, home made, Molotov coctail style light. The light quality is on par with a large candle. This is what the houses are like at night now. It looks romantic, but it's hard to work or read by, and it's expensive and dangerous to operate.

And here is one of our first electricity-connected buildings. It is a brand new church, built near the place where our generator is. It is lit by three compact fluorescent bulbs that, combined, use the power of one, sixty watt light incandescent bulb. Their light output, however, is much better than a single incandescent, and orders of magnitude better than candils.

The families were gathering for Thursday night church. This is Walter's oldest daughter.

This is Walter's younger daughter (left), and another little girl from down the road.

This is the front of the church which is still under construction.

You can see the glare off the top of my head!

Ryan inside the church, taking a well-earned break at the end of the day.

AJ, Jonathan, Walter, and Sergio are bunched up on the smallest church pews I have ever seen. I am surprised it held their weight.

We have deployed the equipment and it is working. The employees have been trained and will continue to connect houses to our lines, to maintain the system, to educate the villagers, and to sell compact fluorescent light bulbs. Ryan and I are planning to return in October to check on progress, and we will be in weekly email contact with Sergio in the meantime.

I am delighted that we were able to get this far. At times I thought we would not. I am relieved and excited about the future here, and I know the villagers are happy and excited too. That gives me much satisfaction. The guys that we know the best, Walter, Adolfo, and Matilde, are enthusiastic and full of smiles.

My prayer for this work is best described by Mathew 5:14-16 where Jesus said:

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck-measure, but on the lamp stand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify the Father who is in heaven."

May it be.