Todd Luke — October 2023 Update
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers and continued support! In 2023, we built twenty-eight family-owned cisterns — seven in the village of Castilla Brito, eight in Tres Huastecas, twelve in Cristobal Colon, and one cistern in Xpujil. We have now built 667 cisterns that capture, store, and dispense more than 7,000,000 gallons of rainwater per year. That’s over 12,000 gallons per family-owned cistern.
Mission teams from Colorado, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina grabbed buckets, wheelbarrows, and shovels to significantly lighten the load for our local partners. This always sparks the question, “What’s happening here?” Our Mexican partners know how to respectfully and gently answer in a way that points to Jesus as the source and reason for the cisterns, the American work teams, and the uncrushable hope that motivates the crew at the job site and during all of life’s storms.
Allow me to go back to the first paragraph, “Why one cistern in Xpujil?”
In 2014, we built a cistern with and for the Jimenez family of Polo Norte. After nine years and nine payments, they paid off their zero-interest loan and were eligible to request another cistern. An adult Jimenez son living in Xpujil needed a cistern for his family. He agreed to all the normal obligations, so our crew members built the cistern. They were paid with funds attained by the Jimenez family’s loan repayments. In other words, a portion of the original 2014 cistern donation keeps on giving. Basically, it was “recycled” through the loan repayments to pay the cistern builders in 2023.
Prayer requests:
1) An abundant harvest for our Mexican partners who are also full-time farmers.
2) Lord, help us find the financial support needed to meet the cistern demand.
3) May God call mission teams to join us in February, June, July, and August.
Come join us in 2024. Contact me to get things started.
Muchas gracias.
Todd Luke
224-808-9825
Read more about Todd Luke’s cistern ministry in Mexico HERE.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts to support the mission and ministry of Todd Luke. All gifts of any size are welcomed to help with the cost of building cisterns. You may make a gift HERE by selecting Mexico Cistern Ministry under Donation Designation or by sending a check to our office.