Water, Water Everywhere... We Hope!

While people in the United States have been busy looking for ways to portray those with whom they disagree as loony, I've been busy with some friends looking for water in Southern Mexico. Two weeks ago I arrived in Oaxaca again to put a drill rig we recently purchased to the test. Our task was to drill a well at the demonstration farm we have been working on in Tlacolula, Oaxaca for about two years. Here's a good picture of our team next to the rig. [dave miller along with his team, tom, mark, and jay] We started drilling on a Saturday, and at noon the following Wednesday, we had reached 20 meters. [that's about 66 feet for you metrically challenged folks] Now if you are like me, you are probably thinking that 20 meters doesn't sound like much. Especially for almost five days work. But on Tuesday afternoon another local well driller came by to what we were doing. He was drilling a well 60 meters deep and he said he was getting about a meter a day. He had been at his well for 50 days and had reached a depth of 50 meters! Once I heard that I was pretty happy. The ground where we are drilling is incredibly rocky. At one point Monday, we were measuring progress in inches, not meters. But we just kept at it. At about 16 meters, we hit a small vein of water. It is not enough to sustain our farm, but all signs point to us finding that kind of water at about 30 meters. [no, they are not resting... they are adding some weight to the drill stem...] The work is not glamourous. It is dirty, time consuming, and tedious. You start early, and you end late. Or you just keep going. But there is a payoff. Eventually. For us and my ministry with Adventures in Life, that payoff will be local farmers learning some new ways to increase their crop yields and better manage their water resources. This will lead to more food on the table, a better standard of living, and healthier lives. In an area where the infant mortality rate is over 10% for all children under five, how can we not look at this as a good investment in God's Kingdom. And a much better use of our time than bickering over politics, the NFL lockout, and why on earth Scotty is our new American Idol.