We Will Have Water: Catalina Cabrera

Residents of Las Delicias have lived for generations without running water in their homes, but Catalina encourages her neighbors that clean water is finally on the way. No longer able to walk to the river, Catalina washes her clothes and baths with contaminated water that she buys from a truck. If the water runs out, there is none to drink. The completion of Project Milagro will mean that she will not go thirsty due to lack of clean water.

$50 / month for 10 months will provide the milagro of clean water for one household for generations to come!
Donate Today!

We Will have Water: Ana Lourdes

Ana Lourdes is one of the thousands of community members in Las Delicias that will benefit from the Project Milagro water system. She now buys water from large trucks, but doesn’t know where the water comes from or if it is clean. She only knows that it causes stomach aches, illness, and it's expensive; but she looks forward to the day when she will have clean water in her home at an affordable price.

$50 / month for 10 months will provide the milagro of clean water for one household for generations to come!
Donate Today!

We Will Have Water: Ruth de Lemus

The Infant Nutritional Center is a daycare for malnourished children in Las Delicias and one of the five schools that will benefit from Project Milagro. Ruth de Lemus is a teacher at the Center and is anxiously awaiting the completion of the project.  She knows that clean water will mean less malnurished children at the center.

$50 / month for 10 months will provide the milagro of clean water for one household for generations to come!
Donate Today!

The Loving Legacy of a Father

by Martha Granados de Mancia, ENLACE Communications Coordinator

Francisco Gonzalez "Paquito" and his motherLuis Gonzalez, the father of long-time ENLACE employee Francisco “Paco” Gonzalez, passed away on June 15. It was a sad and emotional moment for many in the ENLACE family as we were reminded of our vulnerability and short life on this earth. However, it was also a moment to ponder on the legacy of a loving father. 

I’ve often heard people talk of God as a father, and when I think of the word ‘father’ I like to think of my childhood days; days when I was wasn’t afraid to express my feelings and sit with him, joking and smiling. Even running around outside, with his care and attention, I hadn't a worry in the world.

To think that we ought to be as children is an unusual thought these days, but it is also very important. Time passes and we often don’t notice that daily routines have captivated our attention, and what we should really be doing is sitting and admiring the life that our Father has given us. The death of Paco’s father put a stop to our normal routine of a work-week at ENLACE. We prayed for Paco’s mother, his sister and for Paco. We remembered the death of his twin brother, Felipe, while Paco was studying in Germany. We stopped. We took time to appreciate Paco’s life and be grateful for his presence in our lives.Some of the ENLACE staff during the funeral

It was beautiful to see Pastors Miguel Duran and Santos Carpio as well as community leaders like Dona Tonita, a lay leader of the Catholic Church in Las Delicas; They were all there in support of Paco, a man who has inspired their lives through his life and work. The Holy Spirit was also present filling us with peace and brought the family a sense of security thinking about Don Luis and his arrival at a place of rest. Luisa Gonzalez, Paco’s sister, said during the funeral ceremony, “My Dad was always happy. He showed us how to see things from a positive perspective and he urged us to remain united.” 

“Don Luis Gonzalez was 92 years old when he went to meet his Lord and his words through his daughter, Luisa, continue to instruct us to see life with a positive attitude while remaining united in love.

VIDEO: Historic Day for Project Milagro

5k + Pi = $4000 FOR THE LAS DELICIAS WATER PROJECT

UW Students at the 2008 Pi Mile RunIt’s a new kind of math they are teaching at the University of Wisconsin! Apparently if you add an enthusiastic engineering student to a 5K run and promise people pie at the end of that race the aggregate sum is $4000 donated to ENLACE’s water project in Las Delicias. That’s math we can get behind!

On April 5^th, 255 students hit the streets of Madison, Wisconsin in the 2^nd annual Pi Mile Run to help raise money and awareness for the ENLACE water project in Las Delicias. Yep, that means a few hundred folks ran to help raise funds for ENLACE and then were promptly thanked at the finish line with a slice of delicious pie. Truly a win-win situation.

Ted Durkee, a mechanical engineering student at UW, volunteered with ENLACE two years ago and helped in the communities of El Tineral and San Martin. The relationships that Ted developed in Las Delicias inspired him to create the Pi Mile Run last year. After organizing a second run Ted explained, “The only organization I considered supporting was ENLACE. Having met and worked with people in the Las Delicias community, it was as easy to be encouraged to raise funds for the water project as helping out a neighbor or good friend."

Creating friendships and forging relationships is a time-consuming process but is the heart and soul of ENLACE. True and lasting change only comes as people listen to God and become connected to their neighbors. It is a great honor to see the impact that such a vision can have locally as well as internationally. As Ted noted in an interview after the event, "ENLACE...provides so many opportunities for people to connect with those in need. You're not just writing a check for some obscure project in another country, you're helping friends.”

The communities of San Martin that will be impacted by this donation express their gratitude to Ted and those at UW. They are also incredibly encouraged by the support of so many friends a world away. That is a gift that will multiply well beyond this year’s run.

To read more about the race, visit the UW website:

See more about Las Delicias and the water project.

 Support the water project.

LAS DELICIAS WATER UPDATE

Many of you have been following the amazing development of the potable water project in Las Delicias. This summer, the church and community concluded a crucial step in the project with the completion of all of the infrastructure at the well site. Multiple groups came from the US to collaborate in the project and were of immense encouragement to the Church and community. Take a minute to view some of the photo galleries from a few of the teams.

TAKE A MINUTE TO WATCH THIS WATER PROJECT UPDATE VIDEO

if you have trouble viewing the video press pause and wait for the video to fully load

QUICK FACTS OF THE PROJECT

project to benefit…

1,950 families

5 schools

10 churches

progress so far…

$260,000 from donors, US partner churches, local church, community, and local government

3 wells, 3 tanks, 1 cistern, well station

left to finish…

14 miles of piping

3 pumping stations

2 well pumps

electrical system

water purification system

community training

estimated cost to finish…

$975,000

PARTNER WITH ENLACE BY CONTRIBUTING $500 TO PROVIDE WATER FOR ONE FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS TO COME

FAITH CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP PARTNERS WITH LAS DELICIAS

A group from Faith Christian Fellowship (FCF) in Clarksburg, West Virginia arrived for the third year in a row to work alongside the Good Samaritan Church in Las Delicias. This year the group was able to do more than make friends while sharing manual labor efforts with church and community members. Pastor John Eklund, outreach minister of FCF, conducted a training seminar for over thirty pastors and leaders in the area on starting and implementing a Celebration Recovery (Christ-centered addiction recovery) program in the area. It turns out that a local pastor has started the program in San Salvador and will be helping the churches in the Las Delicias area walk through the process. In addition, Charlotte Snead, a M.O.P.S. (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) coordinator, spent time with the women's ministry of the Good Samaritan Church having a wonderful time of encouragement and sharing.

john eklund sharing through walter bolanos

pastor luke brugger laying block
community members volunteering by hauling sand to work site

The group also worked at the site of the water wells. They started on a general storage building and a small home for the the caretakers of the property. The youth from the group made some great friends with community members who were volunteering at the work site. Pastor Miguel, his church and the community were overjoyed to continue a growing relationship with the FCF church. Pastor Miguel said that the group came with a servant's heart and did an amazing job of collaborating with and empowering the work of the local church and community.

For information on mission trips click here.

Click here to see a photo gallery from the trip.

Click here to see the new Las Delicias community profile.