Todd and Maria Luke - September 2017 Update

Campeche, Mexico

Dear friends,

Recent natural disasters dominate the headlines.  Stories of loss and heartbreak in parts of Texas, Florida, the Caribbean, and Mexico fill the evening news and our electronic devices. In light of these emergencies, I delayed sending an update. But early this morning, something grabbed me by the neck, pulled me out of bed, dropped the laptop onto my lap, and demanded that I send this letter before the sun gets warm.

The recent hurricanes and earthquakes have put hundreds of thousands of people into temporary situations where clean water is scarce and phone/internet access is inadequate. Welcome to everyday life for thousands of families living in the Xpujil region.

As you know, for fifteen years we have worked side by side with families who always live under challenging conditions. By working together with a sense of gratitude to God, we improve family health by building rainwater catchment systems – each one is family-owned and captures and safely stores over 12,000 gallons of water annually for decades. In 2017, we worked in seven different villages – two for the first time – to build forty-five cisterns for forty-four families and one church. Since 2002, we have built 448 cisterns.

The demand for our cisterns remains very high. Hundreds of families would like to partner with us to help solve their clean water problem.  Please prayerfully consider partnering with us in 2018 or 2019 so that we can reach some of these families. As you think about it, remember these words Jesus spoke to his disciples before he sent them out to work: “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me” (Matthew 10:40).

Now is a good time to start planning a work trip – and to invite a few friends or family members. Give me dates that work best, the possible numbers of trip-goers, and we’ll start talking. Group sizes range from five to ten people. If you don’t have five, we can combine your people with another group that also feels the tug from the Holy Spirit to provide a few hundred thousand cups of cold water for the next few decades to families who thirst for clean water now.

Trips last one week – Tuesday to Tuesday. Groups fly in and out of Cancun International Airport. Try to arrive between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. because we have a five-hour drive to Xpujil. I meet every group at the airport with the rental van ready to go. We build cisterns from Wednesday through Saturday. We usually build five new cisterns and often have the chance to put the roof on one or two others depending upon what happened the week before you arrive. On Sunday, we go to church, visit ruins, and witness a nightly exodus of millions of bats from a nearby cave. On Monday, we travel to a hotel in Playa Del Carmen for a day to rest up before returning to the U.S.

Per person cost is a pretty simple formula: airfare + $600 for Mexico expenses + $600 for cisterns. If those numbers don’t work for your group, then let me know before you count us out.

I hope to see you soon in Xpujil. It’s a great place to get a taste for how God works mundane miracles through regular people willing to come together and work for his glory.

Yours,

Todd Luke
tluke2300@aol.com
cell: (847) 867-0085

Read more about the Luke's ministry by clicking HERE.

THE NEED
Outreach is seeking $4,200 per month for support funds for Todd Luke and $2,000 for the cost of one cistern.