Well Drilling

Thank you all for your prayers. We have been busy the last few days,
drilling and flushing a well.

Not far from the town we're staying in, there is a small village. A
few years ago, we helped a local team drill a well with local methods.
The well worked fine, until recently when it stopped working. When we
opened it up, we discovered that it had filled with gravel. We're
still not quite sure how it happened. We tried for a whole day to
flush out the gravel in the well, but we were unable to. So we decided
to dig a new one. We hired the same team, and spent an entire day
drilling the well. We did not use our machine, since we didn't have
time to get it ready.

The local method is hand dug. But not with shovels...with a drill.
Basically the equipment consists of a 6 inch handmade drill bit,
mounted on a 9 foot pipe. Then there are 4 handles that attach to the
pipe. Four guys grab hold, and spin that thing around. Slowly, with
quite a bit of pressure.The mud pump pumps water through the drill
bit, lubricating the bit, and pushing the cuttings up to the surface,
where they flow down into a pit. After 7 or 8 feet, they attach another
drill stem section, and keep going. Those 5 guys rotate shifts, and
spent about 10 hours drilling that well. By the then of the day,
they'd gone 42 meters into the ground. I tell you what...that is back
breaking work. I would be hard pressed to find another set of 5 guys
that would be able to work that hard, and still have a smile on their
faces at the end of the day. But they were pretty much wiped out. It
was incredible to see them do it. I took lots of pictures and video,
which I will put up on the blog when I get home!

Then a few days later we took a generator and an electric pump to the
well, lowered it in, and flushed the entire water system for about 2.5
hours. When the water was starting to look clear, we pulled it out and
dumped some bleach down in it. We'll go back in a few days and set the
hand pump.

The whole village was overjoyed to have water again. The women had
been walking over a mile to muddy water to drink, ever since the first
one broke. It provides great opportunities to talk about the Living
Water!

It's hard to believe that I have just a little over 2 weeks left in
this country. My time has flown by here. God has given me many
experiences, and taught me many things. I have much to be grateful
for!

And thank you again for all your prayers. Without your prayers,
nothing really can happen out here. Because people like you are
praying, we can stay healthy, have water, and have great conversations
with people about the True Way.

A few prayer requests:

-That the city water would come so that we don't have to keep buying
handcarts of water

-That the team here in the Swamp would continue to unite in one
purpose and passion

-That there would continue to be peace in this region, and that the
enemies of God would not rise up and cause trouble.

-That God would give me strength and endurance to finish my time here

-That God would work through us and the conversations we have with people

-That in all things God would be glorified!

God bless you all!  Hope to see many of you this summer when I'm back!

---Josh