Young girl helps mother demonstrate how to backflush filter daily to keep it clean

A team of fifteen members from St. Paul Lutheran Church in Northville, MI were scheduled to arrive on Monday, November 1^st, with the intention to start two mission projects the next day -Water Clinics in both Anapra and Kilometer 30 and the building of a house in Anapra. On Monday morning, a text was received, stating only four of the members would arrive by Monday afternoon, as the flight of eleven of them had been cancelled.

With an eagerness to serve, those four members restructured their plans on Monday night and held the first Water Clinic in San Lucas on Tuesday, as planned, giving out the first 30 of 120 high-quality water filters to families who had need of them.

The MOST construction team started a day late but caught up quickly by end of the first day

On Wednesday morning, the construction team got straight to work in getting materials to the building site. By that afternoon, they had all walls built and ready to be raised. Considering they would only have four days, instead of the usual five, the team worked through the day and well into the early evening.

“The family helped when they could,” one of the members of the construction team shared at the end of their second day of building this two-bedroom house, “It was a blessing to get the opportunity to interact with them while we worked on this house that was going to become their home.”

Barbara, MOST leader, holds baby while his mother demonstrates understanding on how to flush the filter

Marisela, a young mother of three, struggles with continuous back pain due to an injury. Her husband works at one of the many maquilas (factories) in Juarez for little more than $40USD a week. For several years, they had been living with her parents, with very little room for their growing family. With a house of their own, which they can add to as time goes by, their family could comfortably settle into their own space as they create a home.

Family and team take a group picture on last day

The Water Clinic team worked together to provide hygiene and safe drinking water instruction to both adults and children. For many, the necessity on hand washing and teeth brushing is not new, but for all who came to the clinics, the importance of clean water and healthy conscious habits was an eye opener. One of the older ladies shared how she lost a daughter to diarrhea caused by unclean water, expressing gratitude for the information on how to keep water clean, how to counter diarrhea with salt and sugar, and much more other helpful information.

While parents received instruction, children too learned on the importance of healthy habits

On the second day of the Water Clinic in Anapra, which was hosted at San Lucas, a Tarahumara woman was among the people registered to receive one of the 30 water filters. The long walk from her village outside of the Juarez city limits was worth it to her, for there is no access to water in the villages in the Chihuahua mountains.

Together, this one team with two missions, successfully completed what they set out to do, despite having an unplanned delay. For the construction team, work continued into Saturday evening, with majority of the team going to help complete the last details in and outside of the little blue house. Towards the end of their last day, Marisela made a request of them -to place their paint-covered hands on the outside wall and form a heart, a reminder of the love God has shown her and her family through these willing servants.

In the end, their missions completed, the team was grateful for the many opportunities to share God’s love and experience God’s love throughout their time at Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM).

If your church is interested in bringing a mission team to Juarez through YLM, you can call Luz Soto, Servant Event Logistics Facilitator, at (915) 858-2588 for more information on how to get on the 2022 Servant Event Calendar!