BAM Water Project Field Report

Huejotzingo

Location:

19°08’51.9″N 98°23’21.6″W:

“El Centro Familiar Restauración” is a growing church in Huejotzingo, Puebla. They are a vibrant community of believers with a large percentage of youth and children. Up to this point, they have rented the facilities of an old movie theater for their church services, Sunday school classes, and outreach events. They have a vision to build their own facilities. So with the Lord’s leading, they have taken the steps to purchase a plot of land which has been an orchard for generations. Their vision is to now use this land to bring spiritual food to the surrounding people. Through a series of miraculous provision, they now own the land outright.

Our team was the first to break ground in this exciting new step for this body of 2 believers. Being located within a half hour distance to BAM-Center, “El Centro Familiar Restauración” has partnered with BAM to build a cistern on the church property, amidst one of the orchards that are so defining for the scenery of this area.

Initial Contact:

Pastor Mario Velazquez

Construction:

The execution of the project began on Monday, February 9th and was finalized within five days, thus resulting in the cistern’s completion on Friday, February 13th . This turned out to 3 be an ideal situation, as approximately 20 of the church members collaborated each day for construction and ministry with a mission team from Pennsylvania called “Crossroads Community Church” led by Pastor Phil. The soft, rich soil at the orchard made digging an easy endeavor. The cement and rebar foundation was laid, and after the raising of the brick walls, the bottom of the cistern was tiled and the cistern itself was roofed and a hatch installed.

Measurements:

Forming almost a perfect square, the cisterns outside measurements are 3.06m in length and 2.99m in width.

Aftermath:

Supplying water for the entire congregation of “El Centro Familiar Restauración”, the cistern will serve over 200 people once the new church building is completed. We are staying in close communication with Pastor Mario, and have planned two outreach events hosted by their 4 church in June 2015. And we are interested in helping them with construction of their new facilities when the time comes. Upon completion of the project, the church members were able to reach out to the locals near the site several more times, giving testimony and building relationships.

The church, currently meeting in an old movie theater in Huejotzingo, has recently had to face the inconvenience of a leaking roof. The cost to replace the roof will be substantial. However they are not discouraged. They are ever more emboldened to press on toward the vision God has given them to construct the new facility on their property. Despite their financially difficult situation, they take on the new challenge boldly, as the cistern is a sign to them that God is leading them and showing Himself as the faithful provider.

Ministry accomplished:

During the construction of the cistern, the members of “El Centro Familiar Restauración” and “Crossroads Community Church” were able to minister to 15 families, supplying each of them with a water filter, while sharing the gospel with them. Thirty people professed new faith in Christ; we handed out ten mp3-Bibles and three paperback Bibles, which the people of Huejotzingo gladly accepted.

Prayer Requests:

“El Centro Familiar Restauración” is active in supporting two of their congregation as missionaries in the fields of Kenya and South Sudan. They are in prayer now for South Sudan, as there is a fuel crisis and their missionary is spending almost her entire salary on gas, so she has to do with very little food. Also, as a great part of the congregation is difficult to motivate to share their faith, please pray for spiritual awakening within the church, the 6 growth of their spiritual gifts and an evangelism-revival-training, while BAM-Center will continue encouraging them to branch out in evangelism. To end their financial struggle, the church furthermore needs cheerful givers, professionals, and business owners in their congregation able to provide more funding.

One of the families that were reached by the gospel during the construction of the cistern has been attending the church services regularly. However, lately their visits have become scarce since the husband has had to work on Sundays. Please prayerfully ask for a change in his work conditions to enable the family to hear the Word of God and have fellowship with other Christians on a regular basis again.