As you know, we have been trying for a long time to put in a well at our church at Picoco. We started with one group who couldn't dig deep enough because the ground was too hard - they said rock. Fortunately it was a very shallow layer that today's equipment busted right through, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
We finally located a person who was interested in doing a well for us. We met him in a parking lot and sat down for coffee at a little shop and talked. He had only been in the country from Portugal for about a month. He had this equipment and had done alot of wells in Portugal and spoke of all the trials and difficulties getting the equipment in through the port into Mozambique (I can only imagine - we had fits getting some text books in for our school). We like him quite well and asked him if we could pray together and he immediately said "oh, I can't, I'm Catholic." That answer surprised us as we have many dear Catholic f
riends who are most willing to pray with us and we assured him that it was ok and so we prayed for him, his new life in Moambique, his new business and our partnership together. We shook hands on the deal and he went off to work up a quote (after showing us his well rig). We are only his second well and he was disappointed to find out that our OMS was not Organizao Mundo Saude (World Health Organization) as he thought maybe he had struck a vein of gold. But no, a different OMS and certainly not a vein of gold. At the same time, we will certainly give him a good reference among our little network and we pray that God will bless his efforts because he so willingly worked with us.
riends who are most willing to pray with us and we assured him that it was ok and so we prayed for him, his new life in Moambique, his new business and our partnership together. We shook hands on the deal and he went off to work up a quote (after showing us his well rig). We are only his second well and he was disappointed to find out that our OMS was not Organizao Mundo Saude (World Health Organization) as he thought maybe he had struck a vein of gold. But no, a different OMS and certainly not a vein of gold. At the same time, we will certainly give him a good reference among our little network and we pray that God will bless his efforts because he so willingly worked with us.
A couple of days later, we met in the same parking lot and signed a contract and we paid the customary 70% upfront (does that surprise you?....very normal here) and then the rain came. After several days and our check clearing the bank, they started work. The drilling started this morning. We liked our new freind Jose Nunes very much but at the same time, you can't help but think, I'm meeting in a parking lot, doing a contract in a parked car, with a guy who has only been here a month; am I crazy? But we knew that the last two days had been a time of focused prayer by many people in the States, so we t
rusted that he was truly an answer to prayer and that has turned out to be the case. These things are never 'coincidence'!
rusted that he was truly an answer to prayer and that has turned out to be the case. These things are never 'coincidence'!We paid for 50 meters and I was praying for water by 40, so we could penetrate to 50 and not have additional cost. God was gracious to answer and we hit water at 40 meters. From the picture, there was no question when we hit water - the rig doesn't use water but rather compressed air to throw up and out the drilled-out material. When the water came, we cheered and clapped and praised God.
They installed 3 meter sections of pipe at a time, 
re-leveling the equipment each time. The one photo above shows some of the kids watching all the work. This was no small operation - a huge compressor, two big trucks, a special drill rig - by people who really knew what they were doing - it was a pleasure to watch it all and I just love this type of equipment and thoroughly examined all of it to see how it worked, etc. I loved the overall simplicity of it all and have learned to really appreciate that feature of Portguese-influenced engineering. Simplicity and practicality.
re-leveling the equipment each time. The one photo above shows some of the kids watching all the work. This was no small operation - a huge compressor, two big trucks, a special drill rig - by people who really knew what they were doing - it was a pleasure to watch it all and I just love this type of equipment and thoroughly examined all of it to see how it worked, etc. I loved the overall simplicity of it all and have learned to really appreciate that feature of Portguese-influenced engineering. Simplicity and practicality.The last 
picture is hard to probably understand without a few words. As the material being exhumed from the dig changed, they put small piles of material to show the different levels. At the bottom were the two different layers of white sand, a rock layer, a different soil, a different soil, a red rock, then clay, three types. It was all interesting and I wished for a geologist to explain it all to me.
picture is hard to probably understand without a few words. As the material being exhumed from the dig changed, they put small piles of material to show the different levels. At the bottom were the two different layers of white sand, a rock layer, a different soil, a different soil, a red rock, then clay, three types. It was all interesting and I wished for a geologist to explain it all to me.I the background of this same picture, you can see the outhouse for the church and the edge of the church on the left. Everything looks very green (for a change) because of the wonderful rains we've had the last week. I think anything could grow here if we just had consistent rain. There were gorgeous small fields of corn just off the road coming up into Picoco that I'm afraid will be all dried up in a few months but they look incredible right now - knee-high by the 19th of December (well, at least in the southern hemisphere!).
They will continue work tomorrow, but now we need to install the plastic bore hole piping, the inner well piping, cap the well, and then begin to work on the top part (hand pump).
We also brought up some window frames for the church and stoped to have some small metal security tabs welded on them and Pastor Nelio is overseeting installation of the frames. Youth for Christ purchased the frames and we're installing them - we're in a partnership with this particular work and are so pleased with how it is all going. God is good.
Tomorrow the other group is supposed to finish the other well at Intaka - we will check on that tomorrow.
Blessings,
Dave & Ann
"If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." John 7:37-38
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