A mouse in my bed, a 3-wheeled car, and sweet little lies...

CREATURE IN MY BED:  I’m not a huge animal fan.  As my Miami roommate, Ashley, will attest to, I’m not big into petting the ducks around our apartment complex or greeting the lizards that walk up and down the outside walls.  While I sometimes refer to Ashley as a Dr. Dolittle or a St. Francis of Assisi, I don’t think she would even want to have the little creature that I woke up with in St. Thomas in her bed.  A few months back, I was on the island of St. Thomas (part of the U.S. Virgin Islands), and I was in a decent hotel – not a huge resort, but not a run-down motel with a toothless person checking me in.  It was like a business-hotel, not on the beach but in a good location.  I went to sleep in the bed, and I specifically remember doing what I sometimes do – I pulled open the covers, untucking the quilt and the top sheet and also glancing across the white sheets to make sure they at least looked clean.  I get really warm at night, so untucking the hotel blanket and top sheet is necessary so I don’t sleep like a tight mummy and wake up sweating.  I tell you this because I know for a fact that there was nothing in my bed with me when I went to sleep at 11 pm. 

Well, I woke up 7 hours later, got out of bed, and when I turned around to pull the top sheet and the quilt back up to the pillow, I noticed a small dark spot on the white sheets, about halfway down the bed.  I don’t sleep with my glasses on or contacts in, so I couldn’t quite see what it was.  I bent down, squinting to see what it was… IT WAS A DEAD MOUSE!  $%%^*^#@%%&^!!!!

I gasped and jumped back.  I can’t remember what I really did, but I know I didn’t scream, nor did I even think to be concerned if it was maybe still alive.  It was dead, but sheesh – what if it suddenly woke up when my nose was 6 inches from it trying to figure out what on earth it was.  I think I walked into the bathroom and walked back out to verify that this was reality.  It was.  So I took my Blackberry and snapped a photo of it. Here’s a close-up of it, in case you’re interested (this picture makes it look gigantic... it was really just a small mouse, but still it was a MOUSE IN MY BED!):

I calmly got ready for the day in the bathroom, always using caution when walking by the thing on my bed, as if it would suddenly arise and start running around.  I was calm and collected when I went downstairs to show the front desk lady the photo.  She screamed and jumped back, and eventually the owner came out.  He’s a staunch, serious man (an Arab businessman, typically not the most warm of people), so he wasn’t really apologetic, which was a little annoying but is fine.  I work with Arab customers on a different island, and culturally they are just most serious people and not warm – not a bad thing, just a difference.  So anyway, he was mad and immediately called some people, one being the exterminator, and when I returned at night they had me in a different room.  Later that day, my customer at the hardware store told me I could report it to the Department of Health, but honestly it’s not like they planted a dead mouse in my bed.  I’m not gonna go get sue-crazy over something they didn’t do intentionally.  It’s important to show grace and understanding to others and let down our pride and power-trip tendencies…I just asked for a new room.  It was pre-paid for, so I suppose I could have received free nights for my next stay, but I didn’t even follow up with that.  I probably won’t stay there again.  I did see the Orkin truck there that night when I returned.  Apparently when you spread mouse poison powder, they take it and carry it with them, eating it slowly and thus dying slowly.  It was really cold in the room, and so my theory is that this little guy was half-dead, eating his poison and slowly dying.  His discernment to avoid humans was way off, so he got cold in the room and just climbed into bed with me, nuzzling under my rear!  Never a dull moment…

ROBBED OF A WHEEL: In May,  I was in Aruba for just a regular visit to check in on my 4 customers there, presenting new promotions and products and selling, selling, selling.  I was staying at the Westin Resort.  This is a nice resort on the beach, high-rise hotel along with a parking lot guarded by 24-hour security.  The first morning there, I somehow misplaced my rental car keys so I was using the spare that Avis Car Rentals gave me (at a fee…).  Let it be known that I got there on the first night, checked in, went up to my room, unpacked and went to sleep. The next morning I could not find those keys for the life of me.  I don’t typically misplace things, but it happened.  Oh well.  But that was nothing compared to the following morning when I walked down to the parking lot to drive to my customers’ stores.  So I walked toward my Kia Picanto (this car is a small hatchback, about the size of a roller skate), got in the car, and pushed the gas.  SCCCCRRRRRAAATCH.  “Oh no, I have a flat tire and I don’t know how to change these things by myself.”  Dang.  So I got out of the car, walked around to the back passenger side to look at how flat the tire was – and I didn’t even have a tire!  Someone robbed a wheel off of my Kia Picanto rental!  The car was sitting on the axle.  WHAT IN BLAZES?!?  So, I told the security guard (wondering how on earth someone robbed a tire when I’m in a secured parking lot), and the police had to come and I gave a statement and all of my information.  The police gave me a ride to the Avis (first time in the back of a cop car – in Aruba!), and they gave me a new car.  Note that Aruba is a really safe island.  I don’t want people to just think of the Natalie Halloway murder or the Anna wheel-robbery and worry.  I mean, as we know you have to be careful everywhere, but Aruba is so touristy and protected, especially the areas I stay in, that I don’t want to paint a picture of danger.  It was probably some delinquents who wanted to do something daring.  I still don’t wander around at night alone, but I wouldn’t do that in Green Bay, Wisconsin, either.

The funniest part is probably that I drove a few feet on 3 wheels!  Remember I approached my car from the left side and did not notice that a wheel was even missing, so note in this photo the scrape marks on the ground – oops:

My manager always says NOT to take out the rental car insurance, so all of the times I’ve declined rental car insurance in the past 3 years to save the company money... about all of that savings was what it took to pay for the lost keys and wheel replacement.  Seriously this car is like the size of a lawn mower, but nevertheless the wheel was about $300 and the spare keys about $150.  I was upfront with my manager, and thankfully he told me to just expense it, that it wasn’t my fault and these things happen.  So I’m grateful for that.  As I write this, I am actually on a plane flying to Aruba right now, staying again at the Westin, so I’m smiling thinking to myself “ensure your car has all 4 wheels before driving here this time around.”  Never a dull moment…

LYING MY WAY THROUGH THE ARUBA AIRPORT:  Last story of the day.  I’m not proud of it, but I basically had to put on an act and play along with the Aruba Airport staff in order to make a flight on my Aruba trip back in July.  (There’s a lot of business there, so I’m there about every other month, hence the number of stories from the island).  I tend to be under the wire when catching flights.  I’m so accustomed to traveling and what’s more traveling internationally, that I get laissez-faire about it.  I arrived to the airport 75 minutes before take-off for my flight back to Miami.  I only had a carry-on, and I knew that even though Aruba has the convenience of passing through U.S. Customs in their airport before getting on the plane (which saves times because U.S. Customs in Miami is usually chaos), I only had a carry-on and thought I’d be fine.  Well, note to self, Saturday afternoon flights in Aruba need more time to pass through security.  Looking back, it was crazy to think that that was ample time, because you have to pass through Aruba passport control, Aruba security (where you take off shoes, remove liquids and electronics, etc.), U.S. Passport Control, U.S. Customs, and another security (shoes off, liquids, etc.) before you can finally arrive at your gate.  I got to the ticket counter and he printed my ticket and told me I might not make it because customs was full with numerous flights all going out in the next few hours.  Well, I hate doing this, especially because it was my fault, but I said “Darn, are you sure?  Well, do you think since I’m Executive Platinum and travel all the time and only have a carry on, that you can somehow get me through quicker?  In Miami they have 'priority' lines for those heavy travelers like me...”  (I know, how horrible is that?!  But I had to try…I was working on a Saturday and just wanted to get home and not have to overnight again).  He told me he couldn’t really do anything, but that I could ask people if I could go ahead of them in line (ya, right…).  So, I had to try.  I got through the first security, and as I was putting my shoes and belt back on, a tall slender black Aruban gentleman came close to me and said “Anna?” I said “Yes.”  And he said “C’mon let’s go.”

So we were off.  As we rapidly walked he looked down at me and said “Ok you gotta play along with me, be nice to the people, talk to them, and just play the part.”  I said “Oook..”   So we got to a the entrance of U.S. Passport Control and it was PACKED.  I mean people were way passed the sign that said “You need at least 2.5 hours from this point to make your flight.”  I had never even seen that sign before.  I followed him passed the people lined up in the hallway until we got to the room where the line did that winding thing, about 10 windings, and hundreds of people.  I wish the guy could have just let me cut straight through, but I deserved to feel awkward and have to suffer a little.  We wound through the people for a couple rows, and then we’d stop and he’d yell – basically to no one, “Hey!  Hey!  Is he there? I think I see him!”  Readers – there was no ‘he.’  At one point this Aruban airport authority looked down at me and said “Is he bald?”  And I just quietly said “Umm, yes.” LOL!!  He was pretending I had a person up front who was waiting for me!  We kept walking, and he said “I think I see him.”  And I just lowered my head in shame and said, “yeah, me too.  He’s up there.”  LORD HAVE MERCY!  Haha!  Oh my goodness, and the people just always moved aside, obeying his authority.  I stayed on his heels as we weaved through the people.  At one point, we were almost to the front, and he called one of his co-workers over to talk to him in Papiamento (a language they speak in Aruba).  The guy looked at me and said in English, “Yeah they just went through ma’am, just stay where you are and you’ll find them after this.”  So anyway, after getting through a line that should have taken 90 minutes in 15, I got through U.S. Passport Control and was headed to U.S. Customs and the final security.  There was my Aruban tall guy again, waiting for me.  HAHA!! I couldn’t believe this was happening.  I felt so bad.  I mean most people are vacationers and are good about allowing themselves hours before their flights and probably had time, but it still is not fair that I got to do this, and I acknowledge that.   So my guy went with me through U.S. Customs, which was simple since I had no checked luggage, and we arrived at the final security check.  He said “c’mon almost there.”  He motioned to another worker, spoke to him in Papiamento, and the other guy looked at me and asked, “Are you with Argentine family?”   Oh my gosh what a non-truth.  Liar!  But what was I supposed to say?  I couldn’t even say ‘yes’ at this point, I just shook my head yes with my head hung in shame, and I cut in front of about 12 more people.  I arrived to my gate as the final people were boarding.  Wow.  I still cannot believe that happened.  I feel really bad and hesitated to even blog about it because when something is not truth, it’s a lie; therefore the nonexistent bald guy and Argentine family were lies… but it was pretty funny, so I had to share.  This next time in Aruba, I will arrive to the airport 3 hours early this time around.  Or maybe 2.5 hours is enough……

Thanks for reading!

-Anna Banana

Guatemala - Living Water International May 2013: Water wells and hygiene classes and Love in action

In May, I was back in Guatemala for a week of vacation with Living Water International to drill a water well, give hygiene classes, and share a love that I’ve learned through understanding and knowing Jesus and His love for mankind.  I was back in the same area of Guatemala, called La Máquina, with the same drill leader (Manolo) as last time.  This trip was the same routine as last year – driving from the main city of Antigua on Sunday after church for 5 hours until we reached La Máquina where we would wake up Monday morning at 4:45 am to start drilling and teaching in the community.  This trip was also, though, very distinct on numerous levels.

WHO IS LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL?

I’ll start with briefly describing the purpose of Living Water International, a Christian non-profit organization based out of Houston (www.water.cc).  Living Water International (LWI) exists to, first and foremost, spread the Good News – the Gospel – of Jesus Christ to those in need.  They do that by helping empower North Americans to travel abroad and meet a physical need (of water) while also not forgetting the spiritual need that is so much needed throughout the world – to know God and understand what he really did through Jesus Christ, and let Him cleanse and transform you for His greater purposes.  LWI focuses on Jesus Christ being the living water for us, a water that never runs dry and that quenches all thirst.

REMEMBER YOU CAN CLICK ON PICTURES AND THEY ENLARGE.

Living Water also empowers locals in their native countries to be a part of this movement.  LWI is located in Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.  Guatemalans are employed to lead the Gringos (another term for Americanos) on these trips, helping us to help their people.  This year, the hygiene leader was Blanca, a spunky and very motivated Guatemalan woman who was born in Antigua, Guatemala.  The drilling assistant was Manuel, also from the city of Antigua, who just started with Living Water a few months ago and speaks almost no English (but he’s quickly learning!).  Then there’s Manolo, the drill leader who was born and raised in the countryside of Guatemala – right in La Máquina! 

Some of the PVC tubes used in the final stages of drilling the well.  These go deep into the ground.

MEET THE GRINGOS!

Last year I went on my first LWI trip without knowing anyone, but this year I had the privilege of traveling with 2 of my closest girl friends.  One is Kim, my girl from Dallas, who I met when I lived there for Milwaukee Tool in 2010.  Also, Melissa, my friend from the beautiful island of Bermuda, was part of this trip.  You may remember Melissa from a 2012 blog post when I ran in the Bermuda Day Half Marathon, blazing the island with Milwaukee red (jerseys) while running with a bunch of Bermudians from one end of the island to the other.  Kim and Melissa both met me in Miami, and we were able to fly together down to Guatemala and serve side-by-side on this trip! 

From left to right: Melissa, me, Kim!

Also on the trip were a mother and her son from San Francisco, a father and his son from Wyoming, and then 3 business owners/fathers - 2 from Wyoming and 1 from Minnesota.  Ryan Kotula, the owner and CEO of Northern Tool, is from Minnesota and decided to go on this trip when he ran into his friend, Ryan Igo of Igo Construction, on a vacation in Grand Cayman Island last year.  I’m not sure exactly how the father and son from Wyoming or the other Ryan (also from Wyoming) decided to go on the trip, but they all knew each other and were connected in some way.  They are involved in the oil drilling up in Wyoming, so the water well drilling sparked an extra interest in them.  So do you think, with the owner of Northern Tool on the LWI trip to Guatemala, that I was able to not talk about tools for a week?  Haha, no.  It’s ok though, luckily Ryan Kotula and Northern Tool are big believers in Milwaukee tools…it was all positive conversation.  Also on the trip was Sarah, a lady about my age who works at the LWI Headquarters in Houston, who was on my trip last year, so that was great to be with her again!  Needless to say the group was diverse – 4 young women (3 single…Sarah’s married), 2 pairs of parent/child, and 3 other grown men.

Some of the guys drilling.

IN THE COMMUNITY

We drilled in Community C-2.  Last year I was in C-6.  The communities are all in a line along the 2 major rivers in this area of the country, so they are just simply named C-1, C-2, etc.  We drilled the well at the future site of a clinic.  C-2, four years ago, had a well drilled at their primary school, and they had now requested that one be drilled about 1 mile down the road (remember the communities are literally in a line – one road – along a river) at the future site of the clinic.  We arrived, introduced everyone, prayed together (in Spanish and English) and the drill team got to work.  I, not by choice, was on the hygiene squad for this trip.  I will be honest when I say how reluctant I was, but 1 of the 3 of us (Kim, Melissa, myself) had to be on Hygiene, and Kim and Melissa wanted to drill since it was their first trip.  I had drilled last year, and so I agreed to hygiene.  The water well is the highlight and the ‘cool’ part of the trip, so I prayed for humility and a positive attitude and for God to really use me on Hygiene.  Honestly, from here moving forward I will always do Hygiene.  I LOVED IT!  I was honestly in my element, and of course hygiene is where I should be.  With my corazón latino (Latin heart) and passion for the culture and speaking Spanish…and the fact that I think I will someday be a teacher…of course I should be on the hygiene side…duh!  That is where my passion and talent is best-served.  It was awesome…spending time with the children and explaining simple hygiene concepts and facts that we take for granted, having snack and recess with them, talking to them about their families, praying with them, walking them home at the end…it was all such a blessing.  Like Debbie (the San Francisco mom), Sarah, and Blanca said – we felt like we got more out of it than the children!  Two examples of what we taught are the following:



Flies are dirty.  When we do not use bathrooms or latrines or the ‘pits’ in the ground to go potty and poop, flies eat the poop and then can enter our houses (or outdoor kitchens) and land on our food, contaminating our food.  That’s why it’s important to 1. Cover your food and 2. Defecate in the proper places.

Here is the hygiene team, modeling how to properly use the water well (me).

Many things can turn the clean water from the new well being drilled into contaminated water.  1. Animals roaming around the well. 2. A dirty bucket. 3. Not covering the bucket of clean water. 4. Animals drinking out of the clean water in the bucket.  We guarantee that the water in the well is clean when it comes out, but we need to take care of the well and keep the area clean and use caution when pumping out  water.  

Chicas bailando!  Girls dancing!  We were on a little break, stretching and dancing around.

In the morning we had 150 students from grade 1 to grade 5, and in the afternoon we had 20 middle schoolers and a few women from the village.  We used lots of visuals to make the teaching more real and to keep their attention. 

We used a fake rubber fly, Play-Doh, and glitter to show how easy it is for germs to spread.  The fly landed in the Play-Doh (poop) that had glitter (germs) on it, then the fly went and landed on people’s hands and people’s food, spreading the glitter (germs) everywhere it went.

We also taught on how to treat diarrhea.  We used an empty Gatorade bottle with a face painted on it to represent a child.  There was a hole in the bottom, and we showed clean, clear water leaking out (represents healthy pee), then added a little dirt and shook it up in the bottle (representing a sickness internally) with the dirty water leaking out (diarrhea).  Then we showed what happens when you take diarrhea medicine (it clogs up the hole and the contaminated stuff in your body does not flush out) versus what happens when you just let the diarrhea run its course while still hydrating with a simple ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) of salt/sugar/water (essentially Gatorade…which keeps you hydrated and eventually cleans you out).  Dehydration is one of the most common ways that children die in underdeveloped countries.  We ended by giving them all a double-sided plastic spoon that shows the correct sugar:salt ratio to put in one glass of water. 

These are just some of the lessons.  We also ended every lesson with a story or parable from the Bible.  We did a little bit of dancing and singing, too (thanks to Milwaukee Tool for allowing me to bring my battery-powered radio that plays an iPod!), as well as lots of time in the hot, sweltering sun teaching children how to throw Frisbees and blow bubbles for the first time in their lives.  And of course, lots of fútbol (soccer).  The children humbled us all: their appreciation for us playing with them, their respect for our belongings and the crate of balls and toys we brought (they would gather together and peer in the crate and get excited, but not take anything), their need for love and attention (sometimes lacking at home due to typically large families…among other reasons), and their willingness to be in school and to learn and to want to participate in what they’re being taught.  Needless to say, the children captured my heart.  And, I hope, gained knowledge from the hygiene lessons and felt the love of Jesus through the Bible verses and stories and time we shared together.

ONE REASON LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL STOOD OUT TO ME

I’ll share one brief reason why LWI stood out to me when I started doing my research on organizations last year.  It’s one thing to go and do a good deed, whether in the U.S. or traveling to an underdeveloped country, and leave feeling fulfilled because you met a need and made an impact and were also most likely humbled and changed.  But sometimes you don’t know if the work you did will stay long-term.  Now, there’s an element of faith that plays a role, where you don’t question everything and take steps in faith when making a decision.  But, it is also necessary to use your wisdom, common sense, and due diligence.  I had heard about many well-drilling organizations that do not follow up after drilling a well somewhere in the world, and the wells dry up, break down, sometimes within months, and the physical need you went to meet was terminated.  LWI has maintenance teams in every country who go around to already-drilled wells and maintain them.  Sometimes they break down, and sometimes the aquifer that was drilled into did not have as much water as anticipated (usually aquifers will hold enough water to last for over 50 years).  One project the LWI Guatemala Maintenance Team is doing right now is going around and changing older wells from galvanized pipe to PVC pipe.  They recently found that the iron content in the water was a bit too high, so they’re changing all of the piping.  Now, it’s sometimes a really good thing in these underdeveloped areas of the world to have water with high iron content in it as iron is hard to come by in some of their common foods, but it’s more important to understand how the people will react.  The high-iron water tastes funny, therefore the people will assume it’s not pure and clean anymore, and they tend to go back to their old, shallow wells that taste better but that are contaminated.  The maintenance team in Guatemala is currently fixing this issue, while a Guatemalan woman working on the LWI hygiene team spends that week in the same village, teaching more hygiene to the women and children while their well is being maintenanced.  Instead of just forcefully telling these people to drink the water whether it tastes funny or not (which they could do because it’s not contaminated, but we know they won’t because it simply tastes ‘not right’ to them), LWI meets them where they’re at, changing galvanized pipe to PVC pipe, knowing that this will ensure more people using the well with the pure water.

This is one of my favorite pictures of taken with me in it - ever.  We were walking the 1.5 miles straight down the dirt road from the drill site at one end of the town to the elementary school on the other.

MANOLO’S STORY

I’d like to share a bit about Manolo’s testimony.  Manolo is 29 years old and was born and raised in La Máquina.  He grew up getting sick and witnessing friends and family getting sick because of drinking the contaminated water.  About 4 years ago, Living Water came to his community – C-2 – to drill a water well at the elementary school. This would be the first Living Water well and first guaranteed, deep well that would be drilled in C-2.  He was one of the local guys helping out the Gringo team and Guatemalan drillers employed with LWI.  He inquired with the drill leader, Jaime, about getting a job with LWI.  Jaime, who was and still is currently the director of Living Water International of Guatemala, told him that they were not hiring anyone right then, but he gave Manolo his number and told him to call in a year because they may be expanding and need drilling assistants.  Well, about a year went by and Manolo was even debating moving to the United States, to find work and better support his Guatemalan parents and siblings from afar in the ‘land of opportunity.’  But, this didn’t happen and one day he decided to randomly call Jaime.  Eventually, Manolo was hired as an assistant drill leader to Jaime!  Manolo knew no English, but that changed quickly.  Four years later, in June of 2012, Manolo became a drill leader, leading a team of Americanos, using the English he slowly but successfully learned through those 4 years and also using the knowledge of drilling and the drill rig and the earth that Jaime had diligently trained him in.  Without going into too much detail as I do not know the complete story, Manolo will tell you that working for Living Water was the best thing that ever happened to him.  His relationship with his parents, notably his father, improved immensely, and he got out of a job he was doing in Guatemala for outlaws who used violence and people at their expense.  He has said that he went from sometimes having a gun in his hands and witnessing terrible evil to leading groups of North Americans to selflessly serve and meet a need among his people.  God truly plucked him out of darkness and placed him on a solid rock, through Living Water.  Last year, on my first trip, I was a part of Manolo’s second-ever group where he was the lead driller.  It was neat to see him as a leader with his Guatemalan people, especially to see him this year in his own community where he grew up, C-2.  The way he spoke from the heart on our last day in C-2 during the well dedication ceremony – speaking about how grateful we, the North Americans, were for the hospitality of the community all week, how grateful he was to his people for showing love and patience to him through all of his years living there (on his off-weeks, he still goes home and lives in C-2 and will now use the water from this new well as it is about 50 meters from his parents’ farm), and finally how grateful he was to God for providing this opportunity to work for Living Water and more specifically to be able to drill in his community surrounded by his family.  God is using Manolo to touch the lives of both his Guatemalan people and countless groups of Gringos that come and go throughout the years.  Needless to say, if Manolo ever decides to get a visa from the Guatemalan government and travel for the first time to the United States, he will have people welcoming him into their homes from all over the country. 

That's Manolo, in the  blue t-shirt.

GOD IN THE DETAILS, PIECING EVERYTHING TOGETHER

Now that you know about the North American group I was with, know about the community, and about Manolo, I want to share how the details all fit together beautifully.

So, I really feel that many things worked together for the good of Manolo’s community in a way that is more profound than your typical LWI trip.  First of all, Manolo being able to drill in his own community was an encouragement for the entire community being united on a deeper level than before.  It touched our hearts in a deeper way to witness this.  Ryan Kotula, the owner of Northern Tool, and Ryan Igo, the owner of Igo Construction, saw a need they could meet with their resources  – Mr. Kotula in relation to Manolo’s family and Mr. Igo in relation to the children of the village.  They found out that I would be returning to Guatemala in July for work, so they asked if I could be a deliverer of some stuff for C-2.  The fact that almost no child has a soccer ball in the community will be changed, because Ryan Igo shipped 40 soccer balls to my Miami apartment that I deflated and brought to Guatemala in July.  Then, Ryan Kotula saw the need Manolo’s father had for a set of hand tools on their farm, so he had me pick up a big tool chest from the Northern Tool in Miami and take it down to Guatemala.  These 2 Ryans also discussed helping to fund the clinic that C-2 is currently raising funds to construct.  I’m not sure of the progress on that, but knowing that those who have resources and desiring to use them for those who do not have is serving like we are called to – like we are expected to.  Ryan Igo talked about raising funds for C-2 in a few short months to fund the entire clinic – funds that would take the C-2 community over 3 years to raise (typically in these situations, the people will save some money, do some building of the clinic, save some money, do some more building…and it takes years to complete a project).  It is not often that CEOs and owners of U.S. businesses go on these trips.  But the fact that a much greater physical need than a well was needed on this trip is no coincidence and men with these resources were placed on this trip.

“ … From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”  -Jesus (via Luke 12:48 in the Bible).

Manolo has dedicated the last 4 years of his life to Living Water, traveling back and forth with Americans week after week, being away from his family most of the time, coordinating and preparing communities to receive the well-drilling and hygiene-teaching teams.  It has gone full circle because not only does Manolo’s community of C-2 now have 2 wells, but they have received some physical necessities (tools, water, potential financial assistance with the clinic) due to people on the team who have the resources to meet those needs and felt compelled to give out of their abundance.  And what a blessing it is to have my job where all I do is fly, so I could check 4 huge suitcases full of soccer balls and tools and other necessities - free of charge.  And just the fact that I went back to Guatemala for work 6 weeks after this LWI trip was pretty awesome timing.  Lastly, while I just mentioned so many physical needs met, the interaction of Guatemalans and North Americans hugging and playing soccer together and listening to each other and praying for each other has so much purpose – it brings joy where there is sometimes sadness, it brings light where there is sometimes darkness.  We are truly humbled to remember everything we have in the U.S., physically, and so many times we are also humbled to see the faith that some of these people live on because they don’t have all of the physical stuff and all of the distraction we have that turns our eyes off what is important – love, a selfless serving love that is perfectly displayed in the life and death of Jesus Christ:

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” –Jesus, via John 15:13.

 In conclusion, I write all of this not to say “go drill a well and go do some good deeds and you’ll get to heaven.”  God is not keeping a tally of our good deeds that will be weighed on our deathbed to determine what we deserve after we pass.  Jesus came as a sacrifice for mankind – to take the place for all of the imperfection we have.  We don’t work on perfecting ourselves – we simply surrender to this truth that brings freedom to our lives.  We don’t do good expecting something in return (whether you think it’s karma or blessings or self-gratitude or your ticket to heaven) – we do good because we simply want to and feel compelled to.  Whether it’s listening to a lonely person open up, or walking a 5k while raising funds for breast cancer research, or helping your next door neighbor, or crossing the U.S. border to serve in another country – let’s serve out of pure love, without expectations, understanding that a perfect Love was displayed in Jesus.  Then, if details like free soccer balls or tools fall into place, we celebrate even more.

C-2 Living Water Guatemala Drilling Team, May 2013

Thanks for reading, everyone!  Love you all!
-Anna Banana

Yah mon! Jamaica mon!

Yah mon!  No kidding – that is what they say, males and females, to each other in Jamaica…all the time…in every conversation.  Earlier this year I was promoted into a new role with my traveling sales job, and I acquired a few more countries under my sales territory: Aruba, Curacao, Suriname (NOT an island!), and Jamaica.  I’ve been to Kingston, Jamaica, a few times now, and it has really grown on me!  It’s a tough market for business and you have to be careful in the city of Kingston, but I have been pleasantly surprised in many ways.   Geographical note: ‘toursity Jamaica’ is a 4 hour drive on the other side of the island – Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.  Kingston is the capital and the heart of the business there.  Here are some experiences I’ve had thus far:

WATA, not WATER.  I don’t think there’s a soul in Jamaica who pronounces ‘water’ like we would in the States.  It sounds like ‘wa – ta.’  And to top it off, the biggest water & juice bottling company is called Wata!  It’s very common in Jamaica to drink ‘Cran Wata’ instead of bottled water or juice.  I enjoy not-so-sweet beverages, so I really like it because it’s like watered-down cranberry juice or Gatorade.  Here is a picture of some Cran Wata (pronounced “crahn wah-tah”):

My first trip = Bob Marley’s birthday.  As much as I love culture, the fact that Bob Marley’s birthday fell on my first day in Jamaica back on a trip in January did NOT, unfortunately, mean I was able to experience any of the parades or festivities that were going on there.  He’s an icon on the island, and there were a few events and tributes to celebrate him, but I played it safe in my hotel that night.  I had my share of Marley’s music, though, during the day in the taxi.  All they played on the radio was Bob Marley – sounds like the Jamaica we might think of, huh?!  Well, I’m sure my Jamaican customers and taxi guys would want you to know that Bob Marley is NOT all they listen to.  Here is a song I heard on my most recent trip, last week, and I really like it.  It’s by a Reggae artist called Sizzla.  It has a unique sound to it, using some sort of African maracas (according to my taxi driver) in the background.  Just click the link to listen:

Jamaica Jerk Chicken is NOT always spicy.  That’s right – ‘jerk’ is a way of cooking the chicken, not just the spicy sauce they put on the top.  I went to the well-known Scotchies Restaurant in Kingston with my customer on my January visit, and they explained that jerk chicken is cooked on real pimento logs from the pimento trees, and it takes on that ‘smoky’ flavor while they add seasonings during the cooking process.  If you add the spicy sauce to the top of your chicken at the table, it is still called jerk, but there’s another name for the sauce itself.  Maybe double jerk chicken...I can't remember.  Here are some photos of the chicken being cooked on the logs and also the meal with a myriad of sides (plantain, fried dough, etc) (Note that you can always click this pictures to see the images closer-up):

Socacise Exercise Class – too advanced for my own good:  On my trip to Kingston in March, I stayed at a Wyndham hotel.  It is not my favorite, but one perk is that it has a huge gym connected to it where locals pay to use it, and there’s an exercise room to hold classes.  Well, I got off the treadmill and decided to go up by the weights and the exercise room to stretch.  I peeked in the room because the music was BOOMING.  It was full of Jamaican women dancing to Soca music with an instructor.  If you’ve ever heard Soca music, you’ll know what I mean by BUMPING.  It’s this really, really fast-paced Caribbean music that is similar to the Latin ‘merengue’ style of music, but faster and more spontaneous.  It’s all over the islands and I, therefore, have heard many, many, many Soca songs over the past 2.5 years.  Some of it is a bit vulgar, but some is really funny and good and has actually grown on me!  It’s different than your Caribbean calypso music that’s laid-back with steel drums that you hear on a cruise or at the beach bar in the sand.  It’s very fast-paced and you jump around…if your joints are in working order and you’re nimble enough, you can do actual moves, like they were doing in the class.  But LET ME TELL YOU – that was OUT OF MY LEAGUE!  Please know that I am NOT a two left-footed girl with no rhythm.  I’ve taken lessons and am an OK salsa/bachata/merengue dancer…but Soca?  Forget about it.  I was one of the youngest in the room, and whether it mattered or not I was the lightest-toned skin in the room, and I looked horrible.  These older Jamaican women were busting it up in there!  Haha, and the annual Carnival celebration (that goes on throughout every island of the Caribbean one week / year) was coming up, so everyone was getting ready to dance in the streets for that.  Sometimes I just stood there and watched because the instructor was moving her hips or shaking her boo-tay so fast that I couldn’t even tell what the move was.  Everyone else followed her fine, but WHEW not this Americana!  It was cultural, to say the least, and I’m glad I tried it!!  They told me to come back next time, but I didn’t feel comfortable making any promises on that. 

Here's a picture of my FAVORITE Jamaican customer, Clover Thompson, who is the general manager at SCL Ltd.  She and I meet and sell power tools during the day, and she helps my loneliness at night by taking me to really neat restaurants around Kingston.  This is us after a Milwaukee/SCL Breakfast Workshop with contractors:

Well, before I go on and on, I’ll stop writing.  I’ll write about the language and accent in Jamaica (they speak English and Patois) next time..  Everyone have a wonderful day – and as they say in Jamaica – RESPECT!  (pronounced ‘res-peck’).

Bless up,

Anna Banana

Milwaukee Tool Latin American Summit - fishing with the Argentines, translating for the Venezuelans, and breaking language barriers!

Hi Everybody!

Whew, it's been ages since I've written, but here I am.  2013 has been off to a great start.  Three weeks into January, the Latin American Team (my team) for Milwaukee Tool had our FIRST ANNUAL LATIN AMERICAN SUMMIT!!!  Summit = cumbre in Spanish.  There's your word for the day.  We had customers in Miami from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.  Since my territory is a bunch of fairly small islands (and also the small country of Belize), I didn't actually have customers there, so my job for the week was to mingle with everyone and be there to educate on the product during information sessions, discuss our overall Latin American goals, and just share the Milwaukee love.  This was me in my element - conversing with people, getting to know them and their background, and putting that in a Milwaukee setting where I could be a bridge between Milwaukee and the customer on a very cultural level.  Milwaukee has only been heavily investing in the Latin American region for a couple of years, so it is important that the customers know where we're going, their significance to us, etc.  The highlighted task of my week was being able to break that language barrier!  You guessed it, I spoke Spanish most of the week.  There were a few customers there who did not speak any English, so I was able to both translate and interpret (which are different things).  There were alot of Milwaukee corporate people there, from the President to many of the Product Marketing experts, and most of them are Americans who live in Milwaukee and do not speak Spanish. 


The final night we had a dinner with about 70 of us in one big room, when I had already sat down and noticed that Cesar, a customer from Venezuela who didn't speak English, sat down at another table near the President, a couple of VPs, and a couple of 'Gringo'  product marketing guys.  I was thinking to myself, "Oh no, there is a language barrier to break!"  So I went to sit by Cesar the that table.  Sounds cheesy - I know - but that is what went through my head!  As I started to eat my salad, I told Cesar that I could interpret for him during dinner, and that bite of salad was practically the last thing I ate, because I was breaking language barriers for the next 2 hours!  It was intense, and I left the dinner both a little hungry and exhausted from thinking/speaking so much in both languages, but I loved it.  We did everything from talk to the VP of the Test & Measurement Tools about how the tools aren't selling well because Milwaukee T&M Tools don't come with cases (apparently Venezuelans want cases for their voltage detectors and fork meters) to discussing with the CFO - yes the CFO - about the Venezuelan exchange rate and how the U.S. Dollar was so devalued because of restrictions that Chavez was putting on importing.  It was intense, to say the least, but I really enjoyed it, and I think alot of issues/questions were cleared up during that dinner.

One of our 5 days at the cumbre (remember that's the Spanish word for 'summit') was a leisure day, and all of us Milwaukee team members were assigned a team to go with on a 50-foot fishing yacht for a deep-sea fishing trip.  They put me with the Argentines.  Let me tell you, the Spanish they speak in Argentina is a very different accent, one of which I really haven't been exposed to, so my brain was being challenged to understand their accent and colloquialisms, even though I would say I'm pretty fluent in Spanish.  And, I learned that I will never go deep-sea fishing again.  I tossed my breakfast up over the side of the boat 3 separate times.  I've never felt so nauseous in my life.  It was kite fishing and it was a windy day, and I guess that type of fishing tends to entail lots of boat-rocking.  I caught a couple of the Argentines 'tossing their cookies' too, so I wasn't alone :). The worst part was probably that we didn't catch a THING!  Oh well, they had fun and got to see Miami Beach from the ocean. 

Here is Team Milwaukee Argentina - we caught no fish :(

Here is the Milwaukee Latin American Fishing Team!  A few of the countries represented here: Puerto Rico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama.

PICTURE THIS: I'm sitting at a table eating lunch on the last day of the summit with 2 Argentines, a Mexican, 2 Ecuadorians, 1 Colombian, and Salvadorian, and a Guatemalan.  All speak Spanish (including me with my knowledge-base learned during my year in Spain), but all have different accents and different ways of saying things.  My adrenaline seriously was rushing, I remember clearly, when we were sitting there just chatting about the cultural differences from country-to-country.  We discussed how to say words like 'straw' in Spanish and phrases like 'Teacher's Pet' in Spanish, and it was seriously different in almost every country!  Usually the Ecuadorian understood the Guatemalan, but it was sort of humorous because that wasn't the word that he was use back in Ecuador.  I guess a small example would be an American hearing the word 'loo' for bathroom.  We may know what it means, but we'd never use it because it's an England English word. That's the kind of stuff I love, and it is what brings me so much joy through this demanding but amazing job. 

Overall, the week was really, really productive and beneficial for Milwaukee as far as training, explaining our long-term goals, and strengthening those relationships.  For me culturally - It. Was. Awesome.  I can't explain where this passion for the Latin culture and Spanish Language comes from.  I'm from a small, predominantly-white farm town in the rural Midwest, but I love and embrace the Latin Spanish culture and language.  It is truly a gift God has given me, to be able to speak the language well and then embrace the culture and take such an interest in its people.  And what a blessing to be able to use it in my job like I do.

Thanks for reading!  Hasta la proxima (See you next time)!!!

-Anna Banana