El Salvador

So, I have been horrible about keeping people up to speed as to what is going on with us . . . Sorry! Honestly, I feel like I am writing to Shelley and Lindsey since you are the only two people who may be reading this! We love you guys and hope all is well.

I am heading to El Salvador for an SBU Mission Trip, my first with SBU. Since I am so behind right now and I should be packing (I leave for KC in 11 hours), I have had to resort to cutting and pasting my "support" letter. Sorry! Ladies, please pray for my and my team . . . please pray for my girls (all three) while I am gone! Give Erin a call and some love! I really do covet your prayers and ask that you pass the request on to anyone and everyone. Much love and I will talk to you later!

The Letter:

Hello from Zach Waters in Bolivar, Missouri. Erin, Brynley and Sydney say hello as well. Whether I just saw you yesterday or we have not had a chance to see each other for quite some time, I hope this letter finds you well. Life is as busy as ever here in Bolivar with me trying to keep up with student activities at Southwest Baptist University and Erin trying to keep up with the girls while also managing the University apartments.

I can only imagine how busy life may be for you and so I appreciate your taking the time to let me tell you about a great opportunity that the Lord has brought into my life. This March I will be traveling with 18 SBU students and our team leader to El Salvador, Central America. We will leave from Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday, March 15th and we will return on Easter Sunday, March 23rd.

We have partnered with Living Water International to drill two wells that will provide much needed clean water in two rural villages near Acajutla, El Salvador. Our team of 20 will split into two teams of 10 each day and head to separate villages. Two female team members will be moving from home to home within each village to educate the women as to how to best use the new well. This sounds so simple, “educating” them as to what to do with clean water, but it is a vital part of our project. If, for example, they were to leave a bucket under the well at all times, the chickens will drink from the bucket and contaminate the water. In my village I will coordinate the well drilling. The eight of us will rotate between drilling to hit a clean water source (usually 100 – 200 feet) and hanging out with the villagers and getting to know them. We will probably get to play some soccer! I am very excited to get to work with Living Water International. I encourage you to read more about this incredible ministry at http://www.water.cc/main.aspx.

While drilling the wells and bringing clean water to each village is our goal, our ultimate desire is to get to know the people and build relationships that will allow us to talk with them about Jesus Christ. I am writing to you in part because I believe that you can help our team in this eternal work. I believe that prayer is very powerful. I know that many of you are very dedicated people of prayer. I would like to ask you to pray for me and for our trip. Here are some specific things you can be praying for: 1. Each of our team members will submit to the Lord’s will in all ways during this trip; 2. God will work through the relationships we build and give us the opportunity to encourage the believers we come in contact with and share Jesus Christ with any unbelievers we meet; 3. The drilling will be successful and we will find clean water; and finally 4. The Lord will protect Erin, Brynley and Sydney while I am away for the week. I encourage all of you with children to ask them to pray as well. Please put the enclosed prayer postcard on the fridge or somewhere visible as a reminder.

There is also a financial need for this trip. A lot goes into preparing 20 people to work closely together to drill wells and educate a community in another country. Major expenses include well drilling supplies and transportation costs. We also have incidental expenses that quickly accumulate such as vaccinations, food, housing, educational materials and training fees. I have personally committed to raising $1,455 for my part. As of February 20th, our team had raised $19,952 dollars and still had to raise $20,000. If you have the resources and feel that giving to help fund this trip would be good stewardship of what the Lord has given you, then please consider helping financially. I hope, between what Erin and I give and what our friends and family are able to contribute, to raise above the $1,455 to be able to help the rest of the students on my team. All gifts are tax-deductible and checks can be made out to “SBU Missions” (not to me personally). Please use the enclosed donation card and envelope. If you feel led, feel free to present this opportunity to your home church as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for lifting this trip, my family and me up in prayer. I would love to hear what is going on with you. E-mail is always easy! You can get in touch with me at zwaters@sbuniv.edu. I will be in touch again after we get back to update you concerning our trip. I pray for you and your family as I send this out. May the Lord bless you and keep you and continue to reveal Himself to you.

His-

Zach Waters

Quick

So, Melanie (Erin's sister) just had her baby and Erin went out to Louisville with her mom to help Melanie, Jed and Josiah out for a couple of days.  I have been alone with the girls since Thursday.  I still had to work so I had daycare/babysitters on Thursday (until 2 PM) and Friday (until 3 PM) and then again on Friday night (from 7:15 PM to 9:30 PM) so that I could go to see JUMPER.  

As an activity the SBU students decided to buy all seats to the 7:25 show here in Bolivar.  Don't pay to see it in the theatre . . . if you never see it you won't be missing much.  I was "intrigued" by the students' response to a scene in the movie where the two main characters start to take each others' clothes off and kiss passionately.  The scene never shows any "real nudity" (we see the girl in her bra) but it is a short, aggressive, passionate scene that we know is going to end in sex.  The students all got pretty loud . . . "ohs" and "ut ohs" with someone yelling "This is a school sponsored event?" (with a laugh) . . . more the type of guy that was making fun, not a real question.  I guess I expected more maturity from the students but I am seeing less and less of that lately.  There are some great young men and women, don't get me wrong but as a whole it can be disheartening a lot of the time.  Maybe more on that to come later.

Anyway, I love my girls!  They are so fun and so hard to keep up with!  My wife is amazing to keep from going insane at times.  To all the mothers out there, well done!  Erin gets back tonight and I can't wait . . . not because she will take over the girls again (but that is a blessing) . . . but I have missed her . . . and so have the girls.  I know she had a great time and really enjoyed getting to be there and hopefully help Melanie out.

I am still trying to figure out this whole blog concept so bear with me.  More than anything I am writing down thoughts that I am having when I have a moment to get on and type away but I hope that any friends and family may get a brief glimpse into what is going on here in Bolivar.

2007 Christmas "Letter"

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

Don't you just love the "eWorld"! Sorry for the lack of a personal update and letter to all of you but it was either the simple picture card (with the "link" directing you here) or nothing (which has been the case for the past few years and we are very sorry). Please do us a huge favor; we want to know if anyone actually reads this! So, either leave a comment with your name and a quick word or send us a quick e-mail to say hello! Also, Zach and Erin are both on FaceBook and Zach is on MySpace (not often). E-mail addresses are zwaters@sbuniv.edu and ewaters@sbuniv.edu.

I will be honest, this "Christmas Letter" may be a work in progress since we are heading out to New Mexico for Christmas in the next few hours and I might not have much time before we get there to really write and update people as to what is going on in the lives of Zach, Erin, Brynley and Sydney! I wanted to write a quick something for those of you who get the card early. If this is short when you read it, check back in a few days for the real deal!

For those of you who are better than I and would know exactly what Philippians 2:5-11 says without having to get out the Word, isn't that what it is all about! For those of you who are like me and probably read the reference to scripture, guessed it contained some Christmas verses and did not take the time to look it up, here you go!

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:5-11

If nothing else, we hope you read the above verses slowly and take them to heart. That would mean the most to us for Christmas.

If you are interested, check back in a few days to get more on:

Where are we? (Bolivar, MO)
What are we doing? (Working for SBU)
How are the girls? (Beautiful and time consuming)
And Everything else . . . .

Again, Merry Christmas! May God bless you and keep you and we look forward to keeping in touch!