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catan. As you can see from the picture, the
ROS bay is now very similar to a standard
Yucatan Reverse Osmosis and Softening
(YROS) configuration.
Special thanks go to JerryVaughan, Dave
Howell, Jerry Goode, Harlon Mills, George
Plouffe, Tom Pierson, Jerrold Dykstra, Joe
Vincent, Mark Tew, and Pierce Buford for
the 2012 work weekend.
Work weekends are usually scheduled in
late October or February. If you would like
to volunteer to participate, please contact
me at
ralph.young@livingwatersfortheworld.org.
Ralph Young, an elder at First Presbyterian Church
in Paducah, Ky., is a CWU 103 lead instructor, lead-
er of the Design Sub-team and LWW’s Network and
Sustainability Services Coordinator.
By RALPH YOUNG
Every year, the LWW Technology Team
schedules a work weekend to get ready for a
new year of Clean Water U sessions.
In the past, these sessions have done rou-
tine maintenance on the water buildings,
painting, and board repairs. At times, the
team has undertaken larger projects such
as running underground cable for electrical
service and increasing the size of the drain-
age piping in the Mexico building.
This year’s work weekend was particu-
larly productive: Outside painting of the
Mexico Building was completed, several
building leaks around the steps and roof line
were repaired and another coat of sealer was
added to the roof.
This is the latest configuration of Bay 5, Mississippi Building.
The ROS board in Bay 2 resembles the standard YROS board.
Work weekend brings facilities up to date
Improvements continue to be made with
the pump operation at Lake Andrew and
the storage tanks on the roof. A float switch
has been added to the tanks, so that the wa-
ter filling the tanks will be cut off when they
are full.
Previously, our warning system was an
observation by someone that water was
running off the roof!
One of the other goals of the weekend
was to get each board configured as close to
the standard board illustrated in the Clean
Water Handbook.
The Reverse Osmosis and Softening
(ROS) board in Bay 2 of the Mexico Build-
ing, in particular, did not represent what
teams would be constructing in the Yu-
Close call in Ecuador doesn’t deter MarkVanciel
Vanciel
6
On February 26, which was one day after
his retirementf from 30 years as a parole of-
ficer, MarkVanciel of Visalia, Calif., traveled
to Quito, Ecuador, with other Living Waters
for the World volunteers,
Jesus Garcia and
Jay Salyer of Lemoore, and Jay Bartow of
Monterey.
Seven hours distant, at Tulcan,
the highest city in Ecuador, on the border
with Colombia, they scouted several new
sites.
Five days later, Mark felt ill. Suspecting
“Montezuma’s revenge,” he took a Cipro
and went to bed. Within hours he became
violently ill and was feverish. The next day
he felt somewhat better and went about a
near-normal day.
When he was still suffering that night,
fellow volunteers insisted Vanciel go to the
local hospital for evaluation. The attending
doctor diagnosed appendicitis and planned
surgery. Upon learning that Mark had a
heart condition, the doctor advised that the
surgery be performed in Quito so that his
heart could be better regulated.
A four-hour ambulance trip later, the
ing physicians came to less than $10,000
which was covered by travel insurance.
Having been supported by the prayers
of his home church throughout the ordeal,
Vanciel wrote a thank-youmessage tomem-
bers of the Presbyterian Church inVisalia.
“This could have turned out much
worse than it did,” Vanciel wrote. “I ended
up in a state of the art hospital, with excel-
lent medical staff. I could feel your support
allaying my fears.
I just wasn’t worried. I
had confidence in the process and am
sure of a speedy recovery.
“So, although the first two weeks of
my retirement have been quite eventful,
I look forward to new ways to serve God.”
Six weeks later Vanciel led another team
to Guatemala.
Mark Vanciel of Visalia, Calif., is a lead instructor
of CWU 103 and a member of LWW’s Guatemala
Network Coordinating Team.
doctors at Quito con-
firmed that Vanciel
had a ruptured appen-
dix and immediately
did a laparoscopic ap-
pendectomy. During
the two-hour surgery,
Mark experienced a
cardiac
arrhythmia
initially
controlled
with medication.
The
arrhythmia
recurred, and only after a call to the Mayo
Clinic and resumption of his original medi-
cation was it finally terminated. Seven days
later, he was released from the hospital to
fly home.
The seven days spent in the hospital
in Quito, the surgery, and all the attend-