A famous American poet once said, with every deed you are sowing a seed, though the harvest you may not see.
In February, when the team from Rolling Bay Presbyterian (WA) was in the middle of shoveling sand and gravel, and chomping down on juicy watermelon during breaks, they could only imagine clean water being produced in the building they were constructing to house a future water plant system in Cantamayec.
Just over a week ago, Living Waters for the World (LWW) completed the installation of the new water plant system, a combined effort between the local Principe de Paz congregation, and members from Pennington Pres (NJ) and Unity Pres (SC).
Hope Anderson, the LWW coordinator for Yucatan, was pleased with the week-long enthusiastic involvement of the church members from Principe de Paz who helped install the system and were taught by LWW how to operate the system and teach the community about the importance of using clean water. She was also encouraged to see the participation of women who she says tend to play a key factor in educating their community about clean water. In addition to education and operation, as part of an agreement with LWW, the local church has organized a committee of leaders who will oversee the running of the water plant.
At the opening ceremony, where an estimated 200 people from the community came, Pastor Irving talked about the real spiritual need and thirst we have for Jesus, our source of living water. During the service, we were humbled to see the completion of this project that started back a year ago. That so many hands were involved to make this a reality demonstrates the working of Christ who brings his people together to fulfill his purposes. Also present at the ceremony were local municipal officials, including the mayor, a physician and social worker.
During the celebration, some of the church leaders wanted to show us a surprise in the garden that Rolling Bay Pres planted at the entrance of the building. To our amazement, among the flowers that the local women donated from their own gardens, was a bed of large watermelons. Little did Rolling Bay Pres realize that a harvest would be produced from the very seeds of watermelons they ate during construction. Like the new, clean water gushing down the system pipes of the plant, the watermelon was an added reminder of how the Lord provides a harvest in his time.
The ambience at the water plant celebration was certainly joyous, and the Principe de Paz church members expressed their deep gratitude for all the deeds and investments that were done to make this happen. We thank the Lord for allowing us to partner with LWW and bringing his body of believers together from 3 churches across the U.S. to serve alongside the church of Principe de Paz in Cantamayec. After cutting the ribbon during the inauguration, we all held our cups up and partook in drinking the delicious water that was extra refreshing in the heat. The seeds sown were many, and the harvest was good.
