Have you ever thought about what it would be like to not have electricity? What if you had electricity but it was only “on” a few hours a day? How would you feel if you always had to take a flash light with you the bathroom in the night? Or to find your pj’s to get ready for bed?
Up until 3 weeks ago that is how we lived. The village we live in does not have electricity. When we first moved into the village we were the only ones with a generator. As time went on people started buy generators to use. The problem with using a generator is you need to have gasoline to run it, or diesel if that’s the type of generator you have. You would think that gasoline would be cheaper in the Philippines than Canada but that’s not so. It costs about $1.30 a litre. Plus we pay another 30 cents a liter to get it to us. We would use about 120 liters of gas a month. We needed to use our generator to charge a couple large batteries, to charge our computers, to run the modem for our satellite internet, to run our twin tub washing machine, to charge our cell phones and flashlights. Those are just a few things we would use the generator for. We also had some lights in our kitchen, living room, bathroom and office. We only used our generator for a couple hours in the morning to run the washing machine and charge up a few things. Then we would use it for about 4 hrs in the evening to continuing charging things and have lights for showers and eating dinner. The kids never had lights in their bedrooms, so they would use a flashlight when they needed to go in there…if their flashlight was charged, something they would often forget to do!
Throughout the 18 months that we lived in the village prior to our home assignment we would dream of the day that we would have solar electricity. So it became one of our projects for fund raising while we were home. It actually fell at the bottom of the priority list because the cost was so great. We estimated needing about $8,500 for the complete set up. As we were able to raise enough money for our other projects we started seeing money come in for the solar equipment. It was very exciting! We then contacted the Tech Center, a part of NTM, that designs and purchases solar equipment for missionaries. As we worked through the planning of what we needed we soon realized that it was going to cost more than what we had thought to get what we wanted. We worked on reducing the consumption of electricity so we could reduce the number of solar panels and batteries. Finally the best we would do was going to cost over $10,000 plus shipping. We continued to trust the Lord to provide the money.
While we were waiting to see if we would have enough money, we started talking about who would be able to install the solar equipment. The Tech Center sends detailed instructions for installation but it still takes time that Chuck didn’t have. One night we commented on the idea of how great it would be if a guy we knew from before that works at the Tech Center would be able to come and install it for us, it is one of his ministries. Within a couple days we received an email from this very guy offering to come install our solar system as he was planning a trip to the Philippines to do this kind of work. The trip was at his expense, we just needed to buy the solar equipment and have it here ready for him! We praised the Lord for his provision.
Then the Lord provided the money to order the solar equipment! What an exciting day that was for us. Then we just had to wait for it to arrive. We had heard that shipments from the US were taking unusually long to get to the Philippines. So we prayed that the stuff would arrive before Jason arrived to install it! And it did! About 6 weeks after the equipment was shipped it arrived at the flight center, all but the solar panels. But thankfully they arrived 2 weeks later.
Just days after we arrived in the village as a family, Jason, Jonie and Jordan arrived to install the solar system. This involved wiring our house for DC power and some AC power, and installing 8 panels and all the equipment that makes it all work. The batteries needed to be connected and grounding plates installed. Plus many other things. Jason planned for 12 days in here with us and finished in 10 days. He worked 12 hr days in the heat with a house that was still being unpacked and 8 kids under foot along with 5 adults.
Up until 3 weeks ago that is how we lived. The village we live in does not have electricity. When we first moved into the village we were the only ones with a generator. As time went on people started buy generators to use. The problem with using a generator is you need to have gasoline to run it, or diesel if that’s the type of generator you have. You would think that gasoline would be cheaper in the Philippines than Canada but that’s not so. It costs about $1.30 a litre. Plus we pay another 30 cents a liter to get it to us. We would use about 120 liters of gas a month. We needed to use our generator to charge a couple large batteries, to charge our computers, to run the modem for our satellite internet, to run our twin tub washing machine, to charge our cell phones and flashlights. Those are just a few things we would use the generator for. We also had some lights in our kitchen, living room, bathroom and office. We only used our generator for a couple hours in the morning to run the washing machine and charge up a few things. Then we would use it for about 4 hrs in the evening to continuing charging things and have lights for showers and eating dinner. The kids never had lights in their bedrooms, so they would use a flashlight when they needed to go in there…if their flashlight was charged, something they would often forget to do!
Throughout the 18 months that we lived in the village prior to our home assignment we would dream of the day that we would have solar electricity. So it became one of our projects for fund raising while we were home. It actually fell at the bottom of the priority list because the cost was so great. We estimated needing about $8,500 for the complete set up. As we were able to raise enough money for our other projects we started seeing money come in for the solar equipment. It was very exciting! We then contacted the Tech Center, a part of NTM, that designs and purchases solar equipment for missionaries. As we worked through the planning of what we needed we soon realized that it was going to cost more than what we had thought to get what we wanted. We worked on reducing the consumption of electricity so we could reduce the number of solar panels and batteries. Finally the best we would do was going to cost over $10,000 plus shipping. We continued to trust the Lord to provide the money.
While we were waiting to see if we would have enough money, we started talking about who would be able to install the solar equipment. The Tech Center sends detailed instructions for installation but it still takes time that Chuck didn’t have. One night we commented on the idea of how great it would be if a guy we knew from before that works at the Tech Center would be able to come and install it for us, it is one of his ministries. Within a couple days we received an email from this very guy offering to come install our solar system as he was planning a trip to the Philippines to do this kind of work. The trip was at his expense, we just needed to buy the solar equipment and have it here ready for him! We praised the Lord for his provision.
Then the Lord provided the money to order the solar equipment! What an exciting day that was for us. Then we just had to wait for it to arrive. We had heard that shipments from the US were taking unusually long to get to the Philippines. So we prayed that the stuff would arrive before Jason arrived to install it! And it did! About 6 weeks after the equipment was shipped it arrived at the flight center, all but the solar panels. But thankfully they arrived 2 weeks later.
Just days after we arrived in the village as a family, Jason, Jonie and Jordan arrived to install the solar system. This involved wiring our house for DC power and some AC power, and installing 8 panels and all the equipment that makes it all work. The batteries needed to be connected and grounding plates installed. Plus many other things. Jason planned for 12 days in here with us and finished in 10 days. He worked 12 hr days in the heat with a house that was still being unpacked and 8 kids under foot along with 5 adults.
The day we switched over to battery power was so nice! Then the next day the AC power was hooked up. How nice it was to be able to turn on a light during the day if it was too dark from a rain storm. But the best part of me…was the ceiling fan over the kitchen table! Chuck’s favourite part is having a light in his bodega (shed!)
The silence we have in the evenings now by not running the generator is so nice. Being able to turn on the fan when it is too hot to eat a meal without turning on the generator is even nicer. Sending the kids to their room to clean up after dark means a tidier house! All these things and so many more are such a joy to us. And it’s all because of the generosity of our supporters. Thank you to each one of you who contributed to this project. The money we can save now by not buying gasoline and paying to ship it in to us is a huge blessing.
We especially want to thank the guys at the Tech Center for their help in getting all this equipment together for us. And a very special thank you to Jason for his hard work and long days.
We are so blessed!
We especially want to thank the guys at the Tech Center for their help in getting all this equipment together for us. And a very special thank you to Jason for his hard work and long days.
We are so blessed!
1 comment:
I remember the sound of the generator running 4 hours in the evening in Nigeria when we were there... I hear ya! :-)
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