Tuesday was the day we had scheduled the second seminar for pastors on the Crown Ministry information on the Biblical directions for handling money. We scheduled it to start at 8:30 at the Nakowa church. As on Saturday, Dr Dan had again let us borrow his screen, laptop, projector and power strip so we could show the DVD material to those who showed up. Dr. Dan took Larry and Bob to the church at 8 with all of the equipment and the copies of the workbooks and other resources.
Jon went back over to the new borehole and turned on the pump to try to fill the new storage tank – it would take hours. Once he had added quite a bit of water to the tank, he drew off a sample, added the reagent and took it to the lab for incubation.
Bob and Larry waited patiently for the representatives of the ten churches to arrive. Since it was scheduled to start at 8:30, we guessed it would actually start at 9:30. Given the turnout on Saturday (6 of the 16 expected) we were guessing 10 would actually show up. We were pleased and surprised that 23 actually showed up. We were introduced and then we introduced the program and started the first lesson on the DVD. As the first lesson concluded and the second was about to start, the electrical power went out (as it does frequently). It is highly unpredictable how long the power will be out when this happens. After a brief moment or two of wondering whether we should wait, send people home, or something else, Larry got up and decided to teach the material directly to them using the workbook they each had. It actually seemed to work pretty well and was later useful in assuring them that they could also teach the same material even if they did not have the DVD’s. Just as Larry finished the lesson 2 material, the power came back on and could be used to show the remaining four lessons from the DVD. It worked out very well. All of the pastors attending seemed very, very pleased with the information and materials and were very eager to provide the information to their churches. The problems addressed in the lessons seemed very common and familiar to them and the strategies for solving financial problems appeared to be quite eye-opening and highly practical. The were very grateful and excited.
Pastor Sichongwa of the Nakowa Pilgrim Wesleyan Church also made a point of telling us to thank the First Wesleyan Church in Battle Creek for the support we had provided toward the construction of their new, much larger church on the land behind the current church. The new church is not yet finished but is much farther along than when we were last here. He took us over to see and take pictures of the new church.
When we finished there, he and a couple of other pastors insisted on helping us carry the screen, projector, computer and other materials back to the mission house. This small act of service seemed completely out of character based on our previous experiences. I think they really did appreciate the information we were making available.
When we arrived back at the mission, we put stuff away and then went straight to the site where we were to join the pipes. Jon had let us know during the middle of the day that, after putting quite a bit of water into the storage tank, he intended to shut off the water supply, cut the water line, and install the new T-junction and valves. We hurried over to find him frustrated and exasperated once again. Dennis, Elisha, RJ and several others were ‘assisting’ him. They had shut the water off as planned. Cut the line as planned. Hooked up the T-junction to the water line coming from the storage tank as planned and it did not leak. Then, they had hooked up the T-junction to the water line coming from the water tanks they have been using. This was the connection we had been most anxious about and had McGyvered an attempted solution for. It seemed to work without a problem at all. Then as they had tried to make the final connection between the T-junction and the water line that would take the water to the 5-in-1 housing units, the connection would not seal. Water leaked everywhere. They’d tried tightening it more – still leaked. Then they’d tried a similar McGyvered solution as had worked on the other end of the T-junction – still leaked. Then they tried doubling up the rubber strip around the end of the pipe but then it would not fit into the gasket of the coupling. Then they tried expanding the coupling. Nothing was working.
Jon was almost ready to give up but dared not since the families in the 5-in-1's would be completely without water. As we arrived, he decided to make one last attempt. He had added a small length of pipe to one of the other arms of the T-junction so the angle of the joint connecting the T-junction to the pipe going to the 5-in-1's had less sideways torque on it. With a little encouragement, prayer, and arm strength, he managed to get the pipe with the extra rubber strip around it into the coupling. Then with considerable effort was able to screw the coupling onto the T-junction and then finally tighten all the couplings with pipe wrenches. He opened the value on the waterline coming from the old towers and nothing seemed to leak, but the water pressure in the line would be considerably greater when we open the valve from the new water tank. We decided to calk the connection on the other side of the T-junction where it had leaked profusely previously and to then let it dry until tomorrow before testing.
We picked up the first water sample we had put in the incubator yesterday. It was positive for coliforms AND for E. Coli – not the news we were looking for. We hoped it may have had E. Coli because the well had sat stagnant for a number of months. More testing would be needed.
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