Many of you know I always distribute large quantities (80-100 pounds) of individually wrapped candies to all ages when I visit Puerto Lempira.  

As the sole English-speaking, blue-eyed, pale-skinned person in the whole community, I stand out, and I want all my interactions with the people there to be of a positive nature.  

During one such encounter, I met two women and a man who wanted to know more about why I was in Puerto Lempira, asking if this was my first time there. I told them I had been visiting Puerto Lempira for 25 years and then told them a bit about myself.  Fortunately, I had a translator so we could communicate with each other. 

To make a long story short, one of the women had been a Christian and had drifted away into a life best described as like that of the Samaritan women's life in John's gospel. Recently she felt great conviction about her sinful lifestyle and wanted to return to the Lord.  Her two friends were also feeling convicted about their current lifestyles.  

The result was that all three, the two women and the man, wanted to get back on track with the Lord and rededicated their lives to the Lord.  We prayed for each one and encouraged them to return to actively pursue a closer walk with the Lord.  Funny how three handfuls of candy can lead to amazing results when God is involved.

We spent the final week and a half addressing other needs in the community, including installing a water purification system at the local high school. This was something I had been scheduled to do right when COVID hit.  This high school serves 2300 students, and it was a joy to install the chlorinator, providing instructions on its operation. We completed the installation of all the connections for the collection and treatment tanks. Finally, we installed the supply and service manifold and testing equipment. Consequently, the entire student body has sufficient clean, fresh water for themselves and their families.

   By John R. Steinmann