Spring 2019

Greetings Family & Friends,

2019 has begun with quite a sense of urgency. Much of our work depends on what the weather dictates. From January through March,and in fact up to a week ago, we were scrambling to stay ahead of the rainy season. Yesterday, the rainy season began in force. Lot’s of rain! The electrical power went out from 1:00pm-9:30 PM. Fortunately, I have a diesel generator back-up at our home and was able to continue pretty much uninterrupted with only a couple of extension cords powering necessary circuits in the house.

COTRM’S three main projects seemed to all be activated at the same time— ultimately tied to the weather! The Latrine Project at CHORCHA demanded that we get materials there before the rains made it impossible! The adult Education Program at Chorcha had to be sidelined while the men of that community are providing manual labor for the building of a new high school .There will be dorm facilities that will serve those students who have to walk from some very rugged mountain areas into the village. It can take up to 3 hours to walk to school, providing that weather conditions are favorable for walking.

The Church rebuild- renovation at El Salto church in Boquete (Pastor Marcos) also required material be delivered and on site so that the roof structure could be built immediately due to the onset of the rainy season. If the rains came early, the work could continue under the roof!

The ongoing work at the Tabernacle of Adoration in the Oma District of San Felix (Pastor Manuel’s church) also needed to have the excavation be completed in a timely manner. We had to hire a backhoe and operator to adjust for drainage of water during the critical rainy season. While working at San Felix it was discovered that an electro-magnetic switch had failed in the pump house that serves the well which was installed there. This caused quite a challenge as we had to have the drilling company come back and assess the problem and correct it! Upon correctly identifying and fixing the problem, it was discovered that the generator they were using didn’t have sufficient wattage to power the pump. A new Dual Fuel (gasoline or propane) generator was put into service. The weather had been extremely dry in San Felix and the aquifers feeding the well had difficulty in the last 1 & ½ months supplying the well with adequate water. After all the obstacles were overcome we were able to pump water and fill the reserve tank with plenty of water again, PTL!

During the time that was spent at the San Felix location, a group called God’s Eyes conducted a 2 day clinic at the church using the facilities to fit people with reading glasses and sun glasses for UV protection; they serviced 160 persons from the community! From our outreach in Chorcha, (10) Ngabes traveled from that part of the Comarca via overland taxi to the San Felix location to be fitted with glasses. The Gospel was incorporated into the outreach for each person and a follow-up for the people who made a decision to accept Christ. Included here in this Newsletter are photo’s below that mark the activities of this “super busy” time and the projects where we invested a lot of our time!