A trip to Panama changes the way two WC students look at a glass of water.
During a mission trip to Panama with Filter of Hope, Worthington Christian juniors Sam Kuch and Zeke Blankenship saw a family marvel over something the two took for granted – clean water.
Moments before, the glass of water had been murky and dirty.
“Most of the people we saw got their water from the rain running down their roof,” Kuch said. “After we showed them how the purification filters work, I distinctly remember one family saying, ‘The water doesn’t taste like our roof anymore.’”
The two shared their experiences during a February elementary chapel as part of Director of Spiritual Formation Jake Ferrier’s series on sharing the Gospel.
Both families made the trip together. Zeke Blankenship traveled with his parents, Amanda and James, and his siblings Lucy, a WC freshman, and Vincent, a seventh grader. Sam Kuch went with his parents, Bill and Amee, and his siblings, Alyssa, a freshman, and Isaac, an eighth grader.
The missionary trip came together almost by accident. Bill Kuch reconnected with longtime friend Keith Back, who serves as Filter of Hope’s Campus Expansion and Operations Director, and his wife Natalie, who serves as the group’s Posture and Staff Care Director. The Backs encouraged Bill Kuch to bring his family on one of the group’s many mission trips.
Each summer, the Blankenship and Kuch families rent a house near Myrtle Beach for a week-long holiday. After praying about it, Bill Kuch was convinced that bringing the family on a mission trip might be a great alternative to the annual vacation.
After the family agreed, someone suggested that the Blankenship family come along. Zeke Blankenship recalls being excited, yet nervous about the missionary trip.
“The main thing I was unsure about was knowing what to say or if I could bring across the Gospel in an understandable way,” Blankenship said.
Filter of Hope began distributing water filtration systems in the Dominican Republic in 2012. Since then, the group has expanded to 11 countries across the Caribbean and Central America. Filter of Hope and a partner organization have distributed 130,000 filters in 70 countries worldwide.
That means 32 million gallons of clean drinking water are available each day in those developing countries.
Despite that progress, up to 3.2 million people die each year from ingesting contaminated water.
Panama doesn’t lack water. The country averages more than 115 inches of rain annually, but much of that water is collected as rooftop runoff and stored untreated.
Filter of Hope uses its purification buckets to explain God’s love. First, they show a glass half-filled with dirty water and compare it to the sin in everyone’s life.
Next, they pour clear water into the glass and explain that the cleaner water represents the good that people attempt to do. It doesn’t matter how much clean water one puts in; the water will still be unhealthy.
Finally, they put the filthy water into the purification bucket, and it comes out safe to drink.
“That’s like Christ taking away all the crud in our lives and making us whole,” Kuch said.
One of the takeaways from the trip is how Filter of Hope uses everyday items as tools for witnessing. When he spoke at the elementary school chapel, Kuch used a box of Krispy Kreme donuts as an analogy to explain the Great Commission.
“When I was a kid, if it was somebody’s birthday, he or she brought in a treat to share with the class,” he said. “If it were my birthday and I brought in a box of Krispy Kreme donuts, what’s the point if I’m just going to eat my donut and let the rest of them go stale? They have to be shared.
“The Good News of God should affect us and make us want to give it to other people as much as we can.”
Blankenship hopes the students he and Kuch spoke to will consider going on a missionary trip. “I think it would be good for everyone to be able to experience something like this,” he said.
Every glass poured now carries a remembrance of rooftops, rain, and the family who marveled at clean water.
“For weeks after I came back, every time I reached for a glass of water, I thought of the people on the other side of the world who don’t have clean water,” Kuch said. “That trip made me completely grateful for what I have.”