Well No. 5

Methodist Church and Parsonage in Puerto Indio

 Sponsor - Rotary International/The Rotary Clubs of Decatur, Georgia, USA; Asunción and Lúque, Paraguay, SA

The church at Puerto Indio is located in Alto Paraná, and is a "sister church" to the Methodist Church at Colonia Guaraní.  It is a very humble little church, constructed by the members of the congregation.  Pastor Ben Reyes, the local District Superintendent, and also an MSUM missionary, paid for the roofing material, and the brothers of the church cut the lumber with chain saws from local timber.  They have a strong "can do" spirit"!

Drilling at this church turned out to be a real challenge.  We drilled three holes, and not one was more that 12 meters deep before we hit a very hard basalt rock - which our little drill rig cannot penetrate.  The water table was found at about 10 meters deep, which did not allow us enough water depth to install a pump.  However, we are blessed to have a local water well driller who has "caught the vision" of our ministry here and he agreed to drill the well with his large rig at a reduced price.  The finished well turned out to be one of our best!

Ed drinking the ever-present terere	Linda paints the tanks to serve as billboards for the local church!
Old well at Pastor Eusebio's house - we put a pipe from the water tank at the church to his house.

While waiting for the driller we were able to proceed with the construction of the sanitation facilities.  The brothers at the church worked hard, donating some of there time as an offering - the Paraguay Water Well Ministry was able to pay them for some of their time as well.  Receiving a salary is always a blessing in these areas where work is so hard to find.  The normal pay for a construction helper is $3.00 per day!!

It was a great project, and we enjoyed working with the families there and getting to know them on a personal level.  They are all hard working folks with a true love for Jesus in their hearts.

For those who want to read about the technical details of the well, click here.