First water to isolated community used for baptism

PANDORA—The South Central Texas community essentially has been waiting for water since the beginning of time. When it arrived, it flowed first to Pandora Community Church to fill its baptistery.

Pandora, a community of about 50 homes, once was a thriving railroad town. But when the railroad left, so did most of the people. Now there is a small post office, which soon may close, and the scattered homes, mostly trailers, that make up this community.

None had water connected to it until a few weeks ago.

"Everyone relied on wells, and not everyone has a well," said Silverio Ornelas, pastor of Pandora Community Church.

Some families also use their wells as a type of septic tank system, so the shallow water table often becomes contaminated. Even in the best of times, the water from the wells is so red with sand, families cannot use it even to wash clothes.

Water came to Pandora due at least in part to the efforts of First Baptist Church in Stockdale. Pastor Scott Jones said while Pandora is only about nine miles from Stockdale, it largely had gone unnoticed until a church member, Frances Hastings, delivered Angel Tree Christmas gifts to a two teenaged girls there in 2000.

What she found "crushed" her, Jones said.

"There were two teenage girls and their mother and father living in an overhead camper, sitting on the ground," Hastings related. "One electric cord running from a neighbor's house was the extent of their utilities—no water or bathroom facilities. The girls had dropped out of school because they had no way to clean up and get dressed."

Hastings, the missions council at First Baptist Church, and her Sunday school class discovered an effort had been made to get water to the community a few years before, but it had died out before any progress was made.

The church contacted the state official who had conducted the water study, obtained a copy and met with the water-supply company and county officials.

Told the first step in the process would be a survey of the community, in July 2001, church members undertook the task and found all but one of the 43 households wanted water service.

Money, however, continued to be an insurmountable problem.

While the Stockdale congregation was concerned about getting water to the Pandora families, it was just as concerned about the spiritual welfare of the community. So, the church sponsored a couple of gospel concerts and a backyard Bible club.

While reading her Bible in March 2001, Hastings said, God communicated the need for his word to be heard in Pandora.

"God spoke to my heart as clear as day," she said. "He said to me: 'Pandora needs something much more than water. They need the gospel. I want you to go tell them about Jesus.'

"Is this something I would have decided on my own? Apparently not. I had lived within five miles of this community for 50 years and had never done anything to share my Savior with them."

Hastings began leading Bible studies in the community, and in January 2002, the participants first met in 10-foot by 15-foot building that eventually became a mission of First Baptist Church in Stockdale, called a Baptist University of the Américas student as pastor and became Pandora Community Church.

The church has moved to a couple of donated trailers. The first building, where the congregation sat on seats taken from an old school bus, is scheduled for demolition.

Ornelas came as pastor about two and a half years ago. Lack of water has presented obstacles, he said. Baptisms were performed in a family's above-ground pool supplied with well water.

Also, almost everyone in church went home between Sunday school and the worship service to use the restroom. Since Ornelas lives about half an hour away, he most-often went without a morning cup of coffee, he quipped.

All the while, efforts to bring water to the community continued. Planning and informational meetings held at Pandora Community Church updated the local people about any prog-ress—or lack of it.

Finally, about two years ago, the Small Town Environmental Program agreed to supply a $350,000 grant if the community could provide in-kind investment in the form of labor and equipment that would amount to 40 percent of the grant dollars.

With donated equipment from a Stockdale member and the labor of most of the men in the community, the project finally started moving.

With the church becoming the community center, some of the men began attending the church on Sundays. Jimmy Luna not only began to emerge as the community leader for the water project, but he also began to attend church, as well. At first, his attendance was sporadic, but he has since made a profession of faith in Christ and now awaits baptism.

When the water finally made it to the outskirts of Pandora, the men of the community held a meeting and decided the first water meter to be set would be the church's, even though that meant bypassing several of their homes. They wanted to wait and give it to the church first as an expression of appreciation.

The first water drawn at the church filled the baptistery for the baptism of Eloisa Ramos, a 12-year-old girl.

In large part, the water and the baptism are a testament to the faithfulness of Hastings and those she has enlisted to help the people of Pandora, Jones said.

"We've been who we have been out there for a better part of a decade because of their heart for this community," he said. "This is the culmination of their service—not to just bring water but the Living Water."