An Amazing Life - Julia Klassen

On Friday we celebrated the life and homecoming of my dear friend and mother-in-law, Julia Klassen. She was 89 going on 29. It was my privilege to preside at her commital. The following are excerpts from my comments:

"Because we love her so much and because she is such a huge part of our lives, there is sadness, loss, and grief over her passing. To say that we will miss her is to understate the size and legacy of her life. There will be a void in our lives from this point forward that no one else can fill. We will reach for her physically and she will not be there. We will speak her name and she will not answer. We will expect to hear her beautiful voice and spirit that have been silenced. All this will be hard.

The void will be partially filled by all the love she gave to each of us and the stories of her life that we will tell for years. This is as it should be.

This is a day of celebration from two perspectives. We were blessed to be loved and cared for by this amazing woman and her amazing life. Mom would not want to us to grieve for long. She would want us to celebrate and party in her honor. Let's not disappoint her.

Second, she is now safe in the arms of the Jesus she loves and serves. What a great day! She has no pain. She is free to dance like we know she can. She and her husband Elmer are reunited! They have some catching up to do, but there is no shortage of time. What a reunion! What great joy!"

I am blessed to have the world's best mother-in-law. While I miss her, I will see her again! Amazing!

Mapastepec - Anticipation

What a great day! The 50,000 people in Mapastepec all know a great new solution for safe, affordable water has come to town! The Baptist church hosting the system continues to work tirelessly spreading the word to their community. They ran health and hygiene training classes for six hours! They conducted classes for everyone from adults to toddlers. The classes were full of excited and grateful people. These were best organized and most effective classes I have experienced to date. Well done!

When we arrived at the church we were told the three radio stations in town wanted to interview us. Mario Avendano, our National Director and I were hustled to all three stations. If you don't think that bringing water to a community like this is needed or appreciated, you should have been with us. It was exciting and great fun. At two of the interviews, people showed up at the radio stations to learn more.

Amazing! We are expecting record crowds and a major party at today's inauguration.

Mapastepec, Mexico

This is a very exciting day! I am in the Mexico City Airport catching a flight to Tapachula later this evening. Tomorrow we will drive to the community of Mapastepec to visit our newest water system. On Friday we will inaugurate the system at the local Baptist Church in the center of the city. We are excited about this for several reasons. As you can see by the map, Mapastepec is about a four hour drive from our office in Tuxtla. Moving out of the city is a first for us. The other first is that we are installing this system with five satellite distribution points at nearby Compassion Projects. This is also a first! The Compassion children will receive free water and the surrounding communities can purchase water. We believe this expansion of our current model is replicable in similar communities in all three countries. I can't wait to share more of this story with you in the next couple of days as we hit the streets big time in Mapastepec.

80 Million Gallons Distributed!

Wow! HWI hits another significant milestone. One day in late July, as thousands of people across three countries were purchasing our water, we hit 80 million gallons! What a great achievement!

We congratulate our Church Partners who serve their customers in such a meaningful way every day that they come back day after day.

Roughly right, this translates to over 31,500 gallons per day over 6.5 years! We give God all praise for how he continues to bless the work of this, His ministry.

We are counting the days until we hit 100 million gallons! There will be a countdown and a celebration when we achieve that milestone. Thanks to all of you who make this minstry possible! We appreciate you!

Paul Skiles - A Giant of Faith and More

For over two years, it has been on my heart to visit the most influential person of my spiritual life and journey. On Friday, July 31, I was able to achieve this goal. Here you see Paul Skiles with his beautiful wife Maxine. Their daughter Paula took this photo. While I am physically taller than Paul, there is no way I can measure up to his stature as a leader and a man of faith. The integrity and consistency of his obedience and faithfulness are unmatched.

Paul Skiles gave himself and his talents and gifts unconditionally to all of us who were teenagers in the mid-1950's in the Northern California District of the Church of the Nazarene. He was an amazing musician, trombone player, arranger, and leader of the best youth choir that ever was. That is a fact! Because of Paul, we were all part of something so special and meaningful that we can never forget it. Over 50 years later we would all do it over and over again. Further, he was an incredible athlete and softball player. He is also an incredible husband and father. Most important, he loved us unconditionally and gave us everything he had for many years. As many know, he went on to accomplish many great things.

We had the privilege of visiting together for a couple of hours. It was such great fun and blessing. Tons of stories, experiences, laughs, and memories. What a privilege! Most important, I had the privilege of sharing with Paul his influence on my life and how much his prayers and love contributed to my spiritual life and development. What a great time we had! I hope to have more times like this with Paul and his family in the days ahead. But if that can't happen, I will treasure this experience forever. Thank you my friend for who you have always been to me. I am so grateful for you!

My Amazing Wife and Marcus

My wife Joyce is amazing in so many ways! In June she completed the Avon Breast Cancer Walk of 26 miles. Many of you made this possible for her. Two weeks ago, she was with me in Mexico for our National Conference shown here with her friend Nahun, manager of our water system in Jiqipilas. They are Buds! But most important there is Marcus.

Over nine years ago Joyce entered into a mentoring relationship Crystal, Marcus's mother. Crystal is a troubled lady who has brought crises on herself throughout these years, including giving birth two sons out of wedlock. Joyce has stood by her through it all, supporting her and providing guidance while being a friend. Crystal has made many promises to her two sons which she has never kept. The boys are now in the custody of their grandfather in Colorado, while their mom is in Kentucky. One of those promises was that Marcus could go to Elitch Gardens on his eighth birthday. Joyce was determined that this young man would not suffer another in the long line of disappointments and failures of his mother. Joyce kept the mother's promise and spent yesterday taking Marcus on the rides and buying him souvenirs at the amusement park. She also had a birthday cake made with this name on it. This smart, good-looking young dude was blown away. He will never forget what Amazing Joyce has done for him. Honey, I am so proud of you for this act of love and generosity. You are "simply the best"! Wow!