These last few weeks have gone by and I am having trouble remembering all we have done.  The last week in March we had guests at our house.  Paul and his wife Ruth were here from the UK and we loved having them here.  Paul works for Global Care and travels all over.  It was so great to meet them as I have been emailing back and forth with him for almost a year.  It was a great visit and I feel like we have known each other for years.  We were so blessed by their visit.  

We got to meet with another well driller here in Uganda and that was so encouraging for both Colin and myself.  He gave us some great advice with the way we are making our drill bits and even offered to help us make some.  YAY!  He will be in the States for 10 weeks so we will be meeting up with him again when he makes it back.  After we had dinner with him we got a call and he wanted us to meet him in Mbale and pick up his welder so we could start making better bits.  We were having trouble with the bits breaking at the weld and it was somewhat defeating.  While we were drilling at Helen's this kept happening.  The welder that we have here is okay, but it just doesn't get hot enough to really create a strong weld.  So having this other welder for 10 weeks will be a huge blessing!  However, getting this welder would mean that we had to go pick it up.  I have driven on some pretty gnarly roads in my 28 years, but the Mbale road takes the cake.  I don't even think it should be called a road at this point.  Just one big hole...100k long.  It took us three hours to drive there in the Land Rover that had no brakes (my husband ROCKS by the way because driving that road with no brakes is not fun).  We were about an hour outside of Mbale when we got a call and found out that the guy that we were meeting was not going to be there until Wednesday...But we had gone that far and turning around was not an option.  Colin was able to get some really good welding rods and I was able to buy out all the dill pickles from one of the groceries stores.  So it wasn't a wasted trip.  It only meant that Colin would have to make the trip again.  It took us even longer to get home, because it was dark and that means the potholes are that much harder to see.  

We started drilling that same week at a new location.  We thought it would be better for the crew if we took a break from drilling at Helen's and got a well that we knew would produce in order to get the morale of the group back up.  With this new welder, drilling at Helen's should be better, and we were told that the rock that we are in means that there is good water below!  So we moved to Imma and Deborah's place.  We were not there for the start, but we knew that Dan was up for the job.  He has been such an answer to prayer!  He has proven himself to be a great leader and works so well with all the guys.  So Dan got to take the lead on this well.  We knew that we would be gone Monday and maybe part of Tuesday, and then Colin was teaching on Thursday in Pingere, and we had a Good Friday service, and Easter Sunday we were going to be heading to Kampala to pick up our friend, Jonathan from Ethiopia, and wouldn't be back to work until Wednesday.  So Dan really was on his own.  I am happy to report that yesterday we put the pump in the casing and by the time we left it was pumping clean water!  There was a point when we were conditioning the well and we were a bit worried that it was going to be silted in, so all the guys gathered round and sang a few songs and prayed over the well, and God heard every word!  Within 10 minutes we were pumping and it never went dry!  Praise be to God!  Below are just a few pictures from the last few days.    

Dan and Colin.  Dan is a HUGE answer to prayer.  He is a wonderful man and loves drilling the wells.  He is not getting paid and has told Colin that he likes doing this because he knows that he is helping his community with a great need, and he knows that it is what he should be doing as a Christian, helping others and giving of himself!  

This is where Imma and other families WERE getting their water.  Both Colin and I  carried  a jerry can back to the drill site at Imma's and I don't know how the ladies do it everyday!  It was one of the hardest things ever, and yet they do it many times a day.

This is Sarah, and she loves to dance!  Any time someone would clap or start to sing, she would come running (and trip and fall along the way) just to get to the "music".  Sweet and wonderful children all around!