The Word of the Day is Perseverance

The sun shone hard and hot on the dry, thirsty ground as the team worked for hours on the pump installation. This particular well in the village had been used for years, but it had an open top, meaning that the well was susceptible to contamination from the buckets the women use to draw water and from anything that falls into the well. Not only was the well not clean, but it was also not safe. Three years ago, a woman fell in while drawing water and died. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated event as we have heard of other similar stories of women falling into open wells in other villages. 

That's why this well repair was so unique. Closing the top and installing a pump would not only provide clean water, but also a safe environment for drawing water. The team doing the repair worked tirelessly, and the rest of us observers were all getting hot as the sun rose higher and impatient as the team faced problem after problem, forcing them to put in and pull out the pipes several times to correct various difficulties. The men gathered around the pump to help with the work, the woman gathered under a nearby tree to sing, and  the children gathered around me and Emily to play, jump rope, toss a ball, and throw a frisbee. 

Perseverance was the lesson of the day! Thanks to patience and positive attitudes, the team finally got everything functioning, even though it was hours later than expected. A local pastor stoop atop the pump platform, proclaimed the word of God, and then clean water was pumped for the first time as the village rejoiced and burst into applause and praise. 

As our team sat down to eat when the work was done, we praised God for helping us overcome all the obstacles. I think we all learned a life lesson that day - the joy and satisfaction from persevering through the heat, keeping a positive attitude, and overcoming obstacles to achieve a positive outcome for an entire community.

But the day wasn't over yet! Though very hot and sweaty, we continued on to another village to attend their mid-week prayer service. We arrived around 6:00 to find that they had been meeting together since 2:00 in the afternoon to pray, worship, and hear God's Word. The crowd of adults was around 300 and the children were even more numerous! My heart almost burst with joy when I saw all the children singing and dancing and waving upon our revival. This was the very first village where we started a children's program, and to see its growth and success bo melted and exploded my heart at the same time.

Letting all the fatigue from the day blow away with the light evening breeze, we enjoyed the worship and fellowship of believers in rural Africa, celebrating the gift of clean water and living water all in one day.