Wells

The well drilling equipment is currently stored at our Khongolote church property and the team is supposed to start drilling tomorrow. It has been quite a long battle to get this work going. We start drilling at Intaka tomorrow and when that is completed, we will move the rig to Picoco and start drilling there. The first day is mostly set up and obtaining the necessary water needed to operate the equipment. This is a dream long in coming and we are so appreciative of all the wonderful people who have gotten behind this effort. We will get pictures! What is especially neat are the vacation bible schools who took this on as a project - we look forward to reporting on this and the impact these wells will have on the people and the children of Intaka and Picoco. Pray with us - the soil at Picoco has some rock and the equipment we have may not work real well. We are praying that we'll be able to slide the auger between the rocks, and right into a nice layer of fresh cool water! So, pictures to come! The picture I have uploaded is an example of the type of wells we are putting in.

Yesterday I had a flat tire - noticed it in the driveway. I pumped it back up with an emergency pump I carry and found a nail in the tire. We drove to the tire store this morning and they plugged it for me. It's quite efficient how they do it here. I parked on the sidewalk outside the tire store, they came out and jacked up the car and took the tire/wheel off. The young man then over-inflated the tire and stuck it in a big tank of water and found the nail. He then pulled the nail right out and inserted a plug without ever removing the tire from the wheel. He overinflated again and tested in the water - oops, another nail. Repeated the procedure (no more leaks!) and put it back on the car. The entire process was 15 to 20 minutes and we never had to get out of the car except to pay. It's the second repair I've had at this particular place and it rates way high on my customer satisfaction scale. I'm not surprised at the nails - we drive on dirt / sand roads more than pavement and often through trash and debris. It's a wonder we've only had this problem twice actually - and I think that is because nails are recovered and re-used vice thrown away. A used nail has value here.

We are trying to put together a plan to travel to Nampula this weekend to check on one of our pastor-trainers and visit Antonio in Macuba. The plan is to travel with Melvin and Sharon - we will probably fly as it is about as cheap with the high price of fuel and won't beat our car to death on the two-day grueling drive. We've reserved a missionary conference center area in Nampula for our annual ECC training week (January) and we want to check it out. It will be good also to see Paito, Maria Nelsa and baby Ana.

Today I was reading in devotions, John Chapter 9, about Jesus' healing of the blind man. A great story but I saw it in a different light this morning. A man, blind from birth was healed by the Incarnate God-man. He was a blind beggar, uneducated, and yet, the very creator of the universe healed him and then we watch this 'social outcast' dumb-found the 'intellectuals' and the 'religious' of the time. The healing itself is amazing, but then to watch this man's life miraculously transformed as he finds himself in the courts of the elite, proclaiming that he may not know about all their theology and their political positions, all he knows is, "I was blind and now I see". And the Pharisees call him a disciple of this man Jesus (whom he hasn't seen yet), and we watch the blind man become more and more bold as God's spirit empowers him. After what would seem to be an impossible time for this man being confronted by the elite, he is cast out into the streets again and Jesus then finds him. He recognizes Jesus' voice, sees him for the first time, and we see a beautiful revelation of who Jesus is to the man and his beautiful final response: "and he said, Lord, I believe, And he worshiped him". Indeed, the elite were blind, and the blind could see.

We are to make disciples. That is our calling, and you don't have to be wise, educated, or trained to make disciples. This blind man confounded the best of the best in that society because his faith was real, practical, and personal. And we see the same model working today as people turn their hearts towards Christ in Mozambique in record numbers - we just need to pray to the God of the harvest for workers, for the field is ripe for harvest.

Blessings to you!

Dave & Ann

"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" He [the formerly blind man] answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee." And he said, Lord, I believe, And he worshiped him.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I am come into this world that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."" John 9:35-39