January Newsletter

Hey everyone! Lots of exciting things have happened in the past few months and I am excited to share.

Some of these things include:

• 2 new engineers joining the LWA January-April mission team bringing the total number to 5

• The remaining parts of the tilapia filter have been found and shipped to Honduras

• A manufacturing line to make our own animal and fish feed for the orphanages farm has been purchased and is being shipped to Honduras

• I’ve began the residency process in Honduras which will allow me to stay in the country for whatever length of time is needed

Fighting Human Trafficking

On January 17th the LWA team arrived at the City of Refuge which is a Christ centered orphanage and at-risk school with a primary goal of preventing and fighting human trafficking. Nearly everything the orphanage does is focused around this. A huge desire is to prevent the problem before it starts and this is done through providing an education and upbringing to children who otherwise would be at the highest risk for exploitation.

 Without a strong family and a good education in Honduras, it is very easy for children to be kidnapped, taken advantage of, and sold into human trafficking. This is the fate of many Honduran children today and likely would have been the fate of many at the City of Refuge.

A huge desire of the City of Refuge is to fight human trafficking more and more each day. A huge way they are able to do this is through growing the resources the orphanage has which allows them to rescue more orphans and provide an education to more and more at-risk children. 

Living Water Aquaculture’s Goal

Living Water Aquaculture seeks to fight human trafficking and rescue more orphans through helping the City of Refuge have more sustainable income. We do this through taking an engineering approach to agriculture to increase sustainability and by providing engineering consulting in other areas that the orphanage needs. 

Mission Trip Plans 

Over the next few months we plan to work on a variety of projects that are centered around growing the orphanage.

One of our main projects is helping the City of Refuge’s farm produce their own animal and fish feed on the property. The farm currently spends around $150,000/yr purchasing feed from El Salvador, and producing it themselves is projected to bring that cost below $50,000/yr. We have currently purchased the equipment needed and are beginning to prepare the property for its arrival. 

The City of Refuge will be able to use the money saved on feed to dive much deeper into sharing the Gospel, fighting human trafficking, and many other things. 

Additional projects we plan to work on include:

• Refining a very energy efficient tilapia filter that has been attached to an existing tilapia tank and beginning the growth of a batch of tilapia in this tank

• Partnering with a solar panel ministry called Sonlight Power to develop a plan for incorporating solar power into the City of Refuge 

• Helping the City of Refuge expand and refine its online presence

• Doing research into a variety of online tools that will reduce the time it takes for LWA to do a variety of tasks

Some additional things we plan to do is to spend time serving the local church here on the property, going on various outreaches to the surrounding mountains, spending time in prayer each morning prior to work, and having a team small group and taking turns leading it.

Prayer Requests

1. Please pray that God would be glorified through the work we do and that we would be given the strength and wisdom to complete our projects 

2. That we would be an encouragement to the Honduran staff and orphans and serve them well while we are here

3. That we would be given humble hearts and offer our lives as living sacrifices to love and serve others 

Thank you to all who have supported this work. It is greatly appreciated and none of this could have happened without you. 

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."

- Romans 12:1

Thank you, 

JD Crawford