A few prayer requests

It is not very often that I feel the need to post about prayer needs, but this morning as I wait for it to get light enough to run I just can't get these few things off my mind.
First, three weeks ago Colin was trying to remove one of the Land Rover's tires so to fix a flat.  Here in Soroti you have to bring a tire iron and a jack if you want your tires fixed and you have to remove the tire and put it back on.  While he was doing this he managed to hurt his back.  Now three weeks later sitting, laying down, and driving are all painful, to the point where he physically looks like he is in pain.  Please pray for healing for him.  We really have no other way than the healing power of God in this matter.
Second and lastly, the NGO board has not met in about two months and our paper work for our work visa is sitting on their desk.  With the holidays coming it could be another month before they do meet.  Please just pray that our paper work does go through when they come together and the rest of the process is simple.  Having our work visa will allow us to attain legal guardianship of Silas and we can then work on getting him a passport so he can travel with us.  It also means that we will not have to leave country every six months, and at this point if we have to leave Silas can not go with us.
Thanks for all the prayers that are already offered up on our behalf.  We hope everyone enjoys the holiday season!

more stuff we've been doing lately

our chicken, Loretta Lynn, likes to come in the house and pick up all the food that Silas leaves in his wake.  She was given to us as a gift when we went and spoke at a church in Amuria.  Our other chickens are Wynonna and her chicks - the Judds, and our oldest and most loyal chicken is Reba.  We sort of have a country and western theme going on here with our chickens, not really sure why...

Dan demonstrating just how dirty you get with our drilling method.   This drilling method is called  the "cochina" method (cochino means pig in Spanish) in Boliva and the "baptist" method in other places - mainly because you get really muddy and you don't just get sprinkled but you get fully immersed in the mud.

these two snakes were killed at our church.  Colin wanted to hold them up to  show how long they were., but he isn't tall enough to do it justice.  Every snake that is killed is called a cobra, but I don't think we've seen even one true cobra yet.  Not that I'm looking!

Our friend Charla at Veribest ISD sent us Flat Stanley.  Flat stayed with us for a few weeks and toured Teso, hung out around Soroti, did some well drilling, worked in the gardens, went to market, met a lot of interesting people, and then made the long journey back to Veribest, TX.  In the background you can see Soroti Rock, which is the famous landmark for our town.  We'll miss you Flat!

We have been busy drilling wells, but also busy tweaking our drilling method, our materials, and our design.  When you move from one area or country to another you find different materials.  We have had to make some adjustments in our technology to accommodate the heavy use our wells are getting in this area.  As we drill more and more wells in a given area, the use on each particular well will reduce and we will not have to beef them up quite so much.  Here is a homemade piston we are using made from some inner tube, flip-flops (slippers), a bolt, a couple washers, and nuts.  Pretty simple, but it's bringing water to the surface for people to use.