“A red letter day!” I really don’t know where that term comes from. Is it good or bad? The one thing that comes to mind is the bible where the red letters denote Jesus Christ speaking.
Hmmmm. Yes. Yesterday was a RED LETTER Edition Day!
We had been thrilled that we found water in abundance down the hole that was drilled but our joy was dampened by what we saw come up. Two days ago, our pump on the new well was installed and up came a very big disappointment. The water was solid grey and smelled of sulfur. It was not a pretty site for us or the Blue Ridge well drillers who installed the well. We let it pump on and on hoping it would change. It didn’t. It was determined that it was a bad well and that we would have to drill in another location. This meant more money we didn’t have to spend. The Blue Ridge boys wanted us to continue pumping the rest of the day and the next in hopes that it would clear up. But no one including the experts expected anything different. By that night we still had grey water.
And so a very frustrating day ended. Exhausted, we retired to our bunks.
A new dawn, a new day brings new unexpected results.
That morning at breakfast we prayed with not so much faith that the water would clear up. Soon after breakfast, Ti Coute came up to the bunkhouse carrying a jug of water. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw his smile. Etienne walked up at that time guessing the same thing.
The water looked kind of clear in the foggy jug. I poured some in my hands. Crystal clear. Joy and shouting rose up in the camp. We all ceremoniously carried the jug of water into John’s cramped office. He wondered at the commotion until he saw the jug and our smiles. I poured it into my hand and declared it well water. Again…Jubilation resounded in the tents of the righteous.
We had all prayed that the water would clear up but none of us really expected it to. Yea, our faith around here isn’t what you would call miracle-working faith. But God works with what he has. John later confessed that he wished that he had also prayed that the sulfur smell was gone. But God is merciful. We’ll keep praying.
That’s how our day started. Through out the day we would get something to rejoice about over and over.
Some team members that came early on this trip, went back home excited and a snowball effect of fund raising began. The avalanche happened yesterday as our day progressed. I’ll let John tell you all about that but it’s BIG.
By 6:50 PM Kenny got all the pipes hooked up to the, now, GOOD well and started pumping water up to our 1000 gallon tank which then fed all of the houses of the village. In four hours all of the village tanks were full and the thousand-gallon tank was over flowing. That has never happened before! Usually the village uses the water as fast or faster than our old well could pump it. An “Alleluia, Praise the Lord!” was in order. “Retiring to our bunks” would not describe the end of our day. I don’t know about the other guys but I was too excited to sleep.
The bright red letters of my bible reads “Peace be Still!” And our storm was stilled.
Definitely a Red Letter Day!
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