I love to live by the quote, "If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you haven't done much today! So win the day, everyday!" I guess I haven't done much today because the last few days of my life have been everything I could have dreamed this trip would become and much more! From confirming that our water filter system is top of the line and changing the lives inside our pilot family, to building houses, to playing football with a bunch of inmates, this week could not have been any more fun than it was!
I will go back to the first couple of weeks we were here. South America is a very strong Catholic nation (for the most part). They are very excited about the Pope being from here so it has definitely lit a fire in all of them recently. Knowing where we were, and knowing that I grew up in a Protestant/Evangelical church my whole life, I wanted to experience some of their culture. So, we saw a huge cathedral and decided we wanted to go catch a mass. Luckily we had met some friends here, Micah and Jocelyn (from Boston), and they actually knew the "Padre" here at the local church. We all loaded up and headed up there. Sadly we were a bit late for mass, but we were able to catch Padre before he headed for his siesta. We introduced ourselves and made a connection that he was actually from Oklahoma and is a big football americano fan! He knew of my brother and I both and was excited Colt was finally on a great team and with an awesome coach with the 49ers. Now this is where the story gets crazy. He reasoning for saying this was because the week of June 15th, Coach Harbaugh, the head coach of the 49ers, would be making a trip here to Piura, Peru, to volunteer for a week. What a freakin small world! Blows my mind! Padre was excited for the opportunity to get us together and do a little work with each other during the time being!
Quick side note: I actually was blessed enough to be recruited by Coach Harbaugh during his time at Stanford. He made a trip down to my state championship game my senior year and just made a huge impact on me and my family. I knew he was a great guy and probably even a better coach just from my short time with him, but man was I just brushing the surface.
A few weeks went by and before we knew it Harbaugh and his crew rolled into the big city of Piura. With him he had some great guys! A couple John's, Scott, Rich, Mark, and several of their sons. All in all, I think there was about 12 of them. We started out of first day of work building a house with these guys and Padre. It was a blast and we were able to complete a house pretty quickly with all of us working at once. We sat around a dinner table that afternoon and shot the bull for quite some time!
The next day, was what we were all really looking forward to. We loaded up in a van and headed to the local prison. Rumor was on the way out there, that the prisons in Peru are known to be quite dangerous and not somewhere you would ever want to be sent. We couldn't bring any phones in so I was unable to post pictures, but lets just say it was definitely eye opening! Alex sat the trip out, but Will, John Mark and I were pumped to embrace this opportunity. I brought a couple footballs along with a few others that Coach brought, and we were off! By the time we went through all the security and entered the "yard", we were embraced with hugs by all the inmates. We quickly found out Harbaugh and his crew had been here before, not once, but several times over the past 4 or 5 years. These inmates looked forward to this day, this day of hope! After putting the guys through a little punt pass and kick competition, we let the games begin! I quarterbacked team blanco, and Coach Harbaugh quarterbacked team azul. It was a heated competition and the competitors inside all of us quickly came out... especially in Harbaugh. He instantly was coaching in the Super Bowl again... Barking out orders and drawing of schemes to shut us down. After a 4th quarter comeback by team blanco, we were looking at a 4th and goal from about the 20. We had made rules that you had to count to "tres alligator" before you could rush the qb, but these Peruvians don't follow rules very well (probably why several of these guys are where they are). With that being said, I was running for my life. I called hut and instantly was running in circles. Finally after a few backwards laterals, I had the ball back in my hands and was running to the sideline. As I'm scanning across the endzone looking for a gringo to throw the ball to, I see a little peruvian who had dropped several of my passes throughout the day. A couple of times he accidentally used his head and eye ball as a third hand. He was destined to catch this pass. I'm getting close to crossing the line of scrimmage, and he was getting close to the soccer goal that marked our end zone. I cocked back and put a little mustard on the ball and said a quick prayer that this kid catch the pelota to tie the game up. The ball was in the air FOREVER, and I felt like Joe Montana throwing a lob ball in the back of the end zone, but with out a doubt my man came up with a sliding catch to save the game. Everyone went crazy! The crowd went nuts! There were chest-bumps, side-bumps, and I even heard "GOOOAAALLLLL".
Well maybe it wasn't quite that intense, but that all did happen. And for those guys that had to go back to their cells afterwards, it was that intense! It was a day out of their cell to play a game with a couple of guys they had no clue who they were! They just knew we weren't from there, and we loved to spend time with them. They didn't understand why we did, because no one else in their lives had ever wanted to, but who truly understands the basis of love? Not me, I just know that's what love does.
That wrapped up our trip with the Harbaugh clan, and then we headed out to Tambo Grande to check out our water filtration system with our pilot family. She informed us that she is loving it, and it is continuing to bless her large family! What awesome news it was to us and instant joy it brought to our hearts. We also were asked to come help the local nurse put on a workshop about health for the children of the community. We were able to talk to the moms about eating healthy and drinking clean water and gave us an opportunity to present to several woman our filtration system. The eyes of these ladies grew very big and couldn't believe it was even possible! They are all wanting one in their house and as many as we can install in their school. Because of that we are about to put our first order in for a new batch. We are thinking each water filter costs right at about $20 to buy, put together, and install in a home. I put on my last blog a video about our project and said I would post a link to how you can donate to us so we can put as many in as possible during our time here.
Overall, it has been a week of awesome adventure and memories I will never forget. We made stories that I can't wait to share with my grandkids someday! Stories that even now, sitting here writing this blog, bring tears to my eyes and a smile like nothing ever has. Thanks so much to Coach Harbaugh and the rest of his crew for taking time out of their busy schedules to come give back to the less fortunate. Because of guys like them, this world truly is a better place. So excited for Colt, and the opportunity he gets to play for a coach like Jim Harbaugh, and get to experience everyday what I got to do for one week. Thanks for all the prayers again! We are all staying healthy for the most part, and waking up everyday with a renewed energy to serve the people of Peru.
I'm not gonna lie, I get very annoyed of hashtags. Even though I use them pretty often, I think they are just extremely uncalled for. But I love one that John Mark uses often and it is just this: #lifeisneverboring. If your life is boring and you are in a rut, make a change! This life we are called to on this earth is not to be boring! It is supposed to be colorful, adventurous, full of risks, and NEVER boring!
Donation information for water purification system:
Below I am going to write a step-by-step process to donate through our account on E-Give. It seems like a lot of steps but it really isn't that bad. I just want to go into detail on everything you need to do. Trust me, it will be worth it. At the end of all of this, please send an email to peruwaterfiltrationsystem@gmail.com to confirm your donation with the amount you donated included. We ask that you do this because there are a few other projects that are also being funded through this account and we want to make sure completely 100% of your donation goes to the water filtration system project. Also remember, all donations are tax-deductible! Thanks again for all your support!
1. Go to the E-Give website (http://www.egive-usa.com)
2. On the left side of the screen, in the "Givers" section, click on "Make a Gift- Sign up Today"
3. Go to "Option 2" by typing in your preferred e-mail address and clicking "Sign-up"
4. You will be taken to a page to input account info. You will need to input your name, e-mail, phone number, address, city, state, zip-code, country, and create a password. Once all the information is filled in, click "Sign-Up"
5. E-Give will now send an e-mail to the provided account to verify its authenticity
6. Go to your e-mail account and click on the e-mail from "makeagift"
7. Follow the instructions on the e-mail
8. After the account is verified, log into your account with your e-mail address and password
9. Once you are logged in, click on "Recipient Organizations"
10. Look for "Peru Mission-Davidson Family", click on the box, and click "Save Organizations" at the very bottom of the page.
11. Next, click "Bank information"
12. Click "Add a New Banking Account"
13. You will need the name on the account, the routing number, and the account number
14. Once all the information is filled in, click "Next Step" and follow the directions.
15. When you are ready to make a donation, click "Make a Gift" on the top right hand corner and follow the instructions from there.
16. After making the gift please send an email confirming how much you donated to peruwaterfiltrationsystem@gmail.com
Thanks again for all your love and support! You are saving lives daily!
Life...never boring. Isnt that the truth. Who says you cant just change things at any moment?
ReplyDeleteThe Harbaugh story, and the inmates story is one we gotta get to Bob Goff...what a story man...ha!