Category: Blog

Our 2008 Annual Report is now available.

In 2008 ENLACE’s local church partners grew from 11 to 21 churches impacting 45,000 people through 42 initiatives!

Click here to see the summary of yet another year of God’s faithfulness in El Salvador.

Many of you have been following closely the events related to Project Milagro. Some of you have even had the distinct privilege of meeting Pastor Miguel and working alongside his church and community members as they work towards making a dream come true. For more than 30 years the community has been striving to bring clean water to their community where the average family spends up to 30% of its income during the dry season to buy dirty water from water trucks.

2008 was a year of slow progress as the community struggled to legalize the water board and finalize system plans. Many families began to lose hope and motivation, believing that the project would never become a reality. However, over the past few months a number of amazing events have taken place giving the project the renewed energy it needed to continue forward. Here are just a few of the highlights that are happening now:

ADSA Legalized

After years of pushing for the government to authorize their request, the locally elected water board was officially legalized as a non-profit entity late in 2008. They named their organization ADSA, or Association for Water System Development. The legalization gives ADSA the authority to own and manage the water system for generations to come.

Project Hope Partners with Project Milagro

Every year the Women’s Ministry of the Southern California district in the Assemblies of God take on a project. They call this yearly endeavor “Project Hope.” In 2009 Project Hope selected Project Milagro as their yearly project.

 Watch the video.

 ANDA gets involved

On February 3, 2009 a potable water association funded by the Salvadoran government, ANDA, signed a crucial agreement with ENLACE and Project Milagro’s water board, ADSA. ANDA agree to provide more than $130,000 in materials for the first stage of the distribution system.

Watch the video.

Mile-Long Ditch Dug by One HundredVolunteers

 On March 2, more than a hundred volunteers showed up to begin the excavation for the piping to be laid on the first stage of the distribution system. More than 80 volunteers are showing up everyday until the first stage of the piping is complete.In less than three weeks the volunteershave dug a ditch nearly one mile long and five feet deep, outlasting and outdigging the excavator provided by ANDA. The community has never been more committed or motivated to make the miracle happen.

Watch the video. See Picture Gallery.

 JOIN THE MIRACLE!

Now is more exciting than ever to get involved. There is still a long way to go to complete the project and we still need your help to make it happen.

A $500 donation brings water to an entire family for generations to come. Or commit to setting up an automatic payment of $50 /per month for 10 months by clicking here.

Another historic day for Project Milagro! On March 2, more than 100 volunteers gathered to begin the excavation for the piping of the distribution system. More than 65 volunteers will work every day until the first stage of the piping is complete. The community is extremely motivated and excited to get the first stage of  piping underway.

Note: If you are having trouble viewing the video hit “play” and then “pause” to allow the video to load fully.  

Click here to see a picture gallery from the first day of excavation.  

This Sunday El Salvador will go to the polls to elect a new president. Please pray with us that the elections are transparent, fair and void of violence. There has been significant tension leading up to this election as this is the first time since the civil war that an opposing party has lead in the preliminary polls. No leftist politician has ever secured the presidency and regardless of who wins, leaders will face many challenges ahead. Read and hear more about the elections from the following organizations.

BBC

NPR (Mar 11)

NPR (Feb 23)

Washington Post 

This year’s team from Faith Chapel San Diego came ready to work, and work they did! On this, their third trip to El Salvador, most of the team worked many long, hard hours paving a dirt street using heavy rocks and cement. Another part of the group provided dental assistance at various area churches. About half of the team had been to El Salvador before. The other half was comprised of new visitors.

     Among these new members was Rose Necoechea, a dental assistant. She and her husband, Alfredo, dedicated the trip to the memory of their son, a dentist who provided care in the same area in 2007. Mark passed away in 2008 due to brain cancer. To see and work in this area of the world that had such an amazing influence on Mark’s life, was something extremely special to Rose. When a community member, who had been working alongside the team all week, expressed his gratitude at a farewell gathering, it was Rose who felt humbled. He compared their service to the community as following the model that Jesus showed us when he came into the world to serve.

     “It turns out that working on road construction and giving dental assistance was just a small part of the trip,” Rose said. “This was more than a trip. This was a life changing experience.”

The week of February 9 a group from the Orange County Chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA came to visit El Salvador with 2 geologists and 4 engineers. They spent a week near the community of Las Delicias in San Martin helping Project Milagro. Michelle Guarde, the team leader, came to El Salvador in 2008 with a team from Terra Nova Church in Tustin California and felt motivated to get Engineers Without Boarders involved.

The team of engineers and geologists were able to offer input on the project design as well as take health surveys, soil samples, and preliminary water samples of the new well. They interviewed public school directors, the nutritional center director as well as many women in the area. They returned to the U.S. with the goal of raising the $20,000 necessary to build the final tank in the system and return to El Salvador this summer to continue working on the project.

The arrival of the group marks yet another small miracle for the people of the Las Delicias area. These small “milagros” are building off of each other to help make Project Milagro a reality and bring clean water to 10,000 people for the first time.

engineers taking soil samples

A prayerful life is one that seeks God’s presence daily, one that takes Jesus’ words seriously that we should “ask,” “seek,” “knock.” It’s rather amazing that God gives us this possibility—to be in His presence just by seeking Him, revealing to us His will and then not only hearing our requests but honoring them, as well.

I’m constantly surprised that the act of bowing my head, or raising my hands, or falling on my knees before God opens up the possibility that God might visit me, might be present in my own present, and is actively awaiting my requests.

If God has shown us anything here at ENLACE, it has been the importance of prayer. Over the years, ENLACE has grown from a small ragtag group to a slightly bigger, more organized ragtag group. We are currently helping 23 rural Salvadoran churches reach out to tens of thousands of people. Yet every day we become more and more aware that without God’s presence going before us, nothing is worth the effort.

We know God desires wholeness for those around us struggling daily for water, bread, peace, and yet He asks us to pray for change. God must be present in our present in order for meaningful change to happen.

Join us at ENLACE as we join thousands of others around the world in the Global Poverty Prayer Week 2009 hosted by Tearfund International from February 23 through March1. Join us as we seek God together to end the ravages of poverty in our world.

To find out more about this powerful week, watch this video.

You can also post your prayer to end poverty on the global prayermap.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened. (Matthew 7.7-8)

In El Salvador, especially among people from rural areas, there is a common response to the question “Que tal?” or “How are you?” People often say, “Por aqui, siempre en la lucha.” Translated literally, they are saying, “Here I am, always in the struggle.” And from my experience, as a hopeful observer and missionary volunteer, a difficult struggle it can be indeed.

In the communities in which ENLACE works, the lives of the poor can be of constant labor and toil. The result, despite their hard work, is often poor housing, unclean water, lack of basic health care and decent roads. Such living conditions wear down even the most valiant rural resident and bring with them fatalism, selfishness and fear. Communities struggle to survive as its residents often struggle between each other for survival.

Time and again, governing bodies such as mayors’ offices, government ministries and federal departments often create public policies that do not respond to the needs of or capacity of local communities to respond to their visions of change.

As an organization that sees its role to come alongside local churches to help them to transform their communities, ENLACE has increasingly been led to help local churches connect with their local public entities. We have learned that if the local church is serious about wanting to transform its community, it will confront the political realities of injustice and expediency.

It is critical for ENLACE to accompany churches to build just relationships with their local governing bodies so that they respond to the needs and vision of the local community. In our experience, community transformation begins with restored relationships that ultimately lead to effective local organizations and governing bodies that truly respond to a community’s identified needs and ability to manage sustainable initiatives. As ENLACE helps the church to connect to its community institutions, we are continually aware that it is only through just relationships that just policies will be birthed.

Pastor Miguel Duran and Ron Bueno signing agreement with a government-funded water company

Every year the Women’s Ministry of the Southern California district in the Assemblies of God take on a project. They call this yearly endeavour “Project Hope.” We are so excited to announce that the women of Southern California have selected Project Milagro as their 2009 project.

Please take a minute to watch their promotional video.