Sending Out Team Nicaragua

By Russ Parker, Pastor of Administration 

When was the last time you stood in awe of your kitchen faucet or garden hose as it delivered clean water? Never, right? It’s pretty easy to take clean water for granted. We certainly don’t plan our daily schedules around where and when we might have access to clean water. Virtually everywhere we go, we turn on the faucet and – boom – unlimited supply!

That’s not the reality, however, for the nearly 800 million people around the world who don’t have access to clean water. Eight hundred million people – more than twice the population of the United States, or one in every nine people on earth – don’t have access to clean water. And when we ponder these staggering numbers and how fundamental water is to life, the reality of this issue should move us. Water is foundational to everything. Water is LIFE. The lack of access to clean water seems unjust and an issue of morality.

This July, LBF is sending a team to Nicaragua to partner with Living Water International (LWI). LWI has been at work over the past decade sharing the Gospel of Jesus (the Living Water) and providing clean water solutions to people around world. We are excited to partner with LWI this summer by fixing broken-down clean water wells, teaching lessons on hygiene, and sharing about Jesus in villages across Nicaragua.

Please join us in praying for Team Nicaragua as we prepare for our time of serving this summer!

Pray for Team Nicaragua as they prepare, while they’re there, and upon their return: July 6-13

Water by Numbers

• 783 million people lack access to an improved source of drinking water – that’s 1 in 9 of us.
• In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 40 billion hours are spent each year just hauling water. Most who lack water live on less than a dollar a day, and there’s no way out without water.
• Many women spend 20 hours per week collecting water, some walking 7 miles a day, often for contaminated water. 
• Water-related diseases cause 2.2 million deaths a year; every day, diarrhea takes the lives of 2,000 children in Africa – more than any other single cause of death. Safe water, a toilet, and clean hands could prevent 90% of these deaths. 
• Globally, water-related diseases steal 443 million school days a year. Illness causes absenteeism and early drop-out. Simple solutions can keep kids in school. 
• In the past 20 years, 2 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water. 

Stats from Living Water International. Check them out to see who we’re partnering with in Nicaragua.