November Men's Trip 2007

 

   While Monica was recovering from her spinal surgery we made a special trip back to Mexico to complete a couple of water projects there. The team consisted of Joe Wells, Mike Green, Shawn Nelms and myself. We were very blessed to have Shawn Nelms with us because he is a fireman with a lot of training and experience with pumps and their operation. This was Shawn's first trip to the canyons.

  The first project we began was a well in the village of Choguita for the outreach center to the Tarahumara. This was the well that Marcos and I started back in February of this year. I had to postpone this project until I could get the right equipment to do the job. In August I acquired a gas powered water pump and adapted it to the manual well rig that I had built the previous year. With this new setup we were able to "water-jet" a well very quickly. Also, the special bit and water pressure made a hole big enough to install a 4-inch casing all the way to the bottom of the well. We drilled down to the bedrock through many layers of sand and gravel. The drilling had to be stopped the first day because the water was too thin to lift the gravel out of the well. A two-hour trip south had to be made to pick up a bag of bentonite from the guys that drill for Mexico Medical Missions in Sisogichi. After the casing and pump was installed we pumped 15 gallons out of the well and afterwards it was refilling within 30 minutes. This time of year is the dry season and for us to get water was a miracle in itself. We give God the praise and glory because this is the first well and second completed project here in the Creel area.

 

Click on the pics.

       

 

                

 

  

 

 

The next project we completed was at the village of Guaguitare, where we did the first water project back in July of this year. We were able to install a 2400 liter tank on the top of the mountain overlooking the village. This tank will gravity feed water down to the village. The children can now walk around to the back of the school, turn a faucet and receive clean drinking water.