Friday, August 15, 2008

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.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

congrats, I,ve been lurking and keeping up with your progress. You've given me glimpses into the kingdom... thanks!

P.S. I've got some hammer drill suggestions, if you're going to continue this type of thing.

Dovie said...

Hallelujah! What a blessed sight to see the light in that church. The Head family rejoices along with you in the accomplishments that you have made.

Anonymous said...

WOW! I sure miss Honduras, and this news really makes me wish I could be there. Maybe I'll just have to come back... :)

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS! I am so happy for all of you, workers and villagers. Also, I'm happy for Noemi and her familly. And I'm so proud of Engineers With A Mission. What a high you must all feel.

Anonymous said...

Wow! What an amazing sight to see! I am so blessed by what you all have done and cannot wait to hear more about it! I pray you all have a safe trip back home tomorrow and we will see you soon!
God speed,
Katie

Anonymous said...

I can't tell you how exciting it is to see the light and result of your struggles after watching the journey from afar. I pray that all continues to go well and that y'all have a safe trip back. God bless!
-Kate

Eduardo said...

Congrats PT, I'm glad that everything worked out in the end. Looking froward to hearing all about the trip once EM gets started up this fall.

Anonymous said...

Way to go! With God's help, you've gotten so much done in this short time. Thank you for sharing your pictures and stories on the blog so that we could share your adventure.

Yours because His,
Lynn

Anonymous said...

What a great sight to see! I am so excited to see light from the generator, I only wish I could have seen it in person. You guys have obviously worked very hard over the past two weeks. I am very proud of what Engineers with a Mission has been able to accomplish. PT, thanks for giving us the opportunity to serve our Lord and the people of the villages. Also, thanks to your family for making such a great sacrifice in order to share the love of the Lord. Travel safely. I am looking forward to our reunion meeting.

David F.

Leisel said...

PRaise the LORD! that is SOOO awesome! I am SO proud of y'all and cant wait to see you!