Drill Deeper

The ministry organization that I am a part of…Hidden With Christ Ministries…is involved with many projects here in Tanzania. One of these projects is digging wells in Maasai land. I have been involved with this current well project.

About four months ago Hidden With Christ Ministries hired a well digging company to go out to a village in Mto Wa Mbu (river of mosquitoes) to drill in the area the government’s water officials had studied and said was the best place to find water. After drilling they did not find water.

But that is not the end of the story…only the beginning. Rita, the president and founder of this ministry…a woman of great faith…prayed and asked others to pray. The drilling company said we could choose a different spot and hope to hit water…but would have to once again pay the whole cost of drilling in a new spot…no small fee. Rita called me and asked me to tell them to drill in the same spot but to drill deeper…the cost would be a lot less.

I called the company and spoke to the man in charge. He told me that it was not wise to throw money away like that…there was no water in that spot. He did not recommend drilling in a spot where water did not exist. I called Rita back and explained it all to her the way it was explained to me…I am leaving out a lot of the details he shared…his main point was not wasting time and money.

After spending time in prayer everyone agreed that drilling deeper was the right direction to take. Once again I called the drilling company and the man in charge tried to talk me out of it. I told him it was our money and that was what we wanted done…drill deeper. He said they would return to the drilling site within five working days. No one showed up. Months passed and the drilling company did not return. Rita came to Tanzania in February and stayed for a month. During this time she worked on getting the drilling company to go back to the drilling site to finish the job. The day Rita was scheduled to get on a plane to return to the U.S. the drilling company said they would being going out to the site. Since Rita’s plane didn’t leave until 9:30pm we decided to drive the three hours out to the drilling site. Rita, Steve (our handyman from N. Cal) and myself drove out there.

The drilling company said they would be at the site at 9:00am but they did not show up until 4:00pm. The site supervisor tried to talk Rita out of drilling. He practically begged her not to do this…Rita was settled…drill deeper. They had a lot of set-up work to do before they could begin the drilling process. We stayed until 5:30pm praying around the drilling site, but we had to leave in order to get Rita to the airport. We knew someone needed to stay at the site to see that the job got done…Steve volunteered. He had not planned on staying but he did…God bless him. That was Thursday. Steve was there Friday and Saturday too. The drilling had begun but it was a slow process. On Saturday we drove out to Mto Wa Mbu because I was speaking at a church conference. After the conference we went to the drilling site to pray. The workers said they would not be doing any drilling on Sunday. Steve really wanted to go back to Moshi and sleep in his own bed and get a change of clothes. We took him back with us.

Early Monday morning I picked up Steve and we drove to the drilling site. We arrived a little after 9am and the workers were already busy drilling. The site supervisor informed us that the job would be completed that day…I was glad because if it wasn’t then I would have had to stay the night. At 11am the water truck ran out of water. The workers informed us they would be returning in three hours to continue drilling.

Steve, Pastor Zablon and I decided to take a road trip. We drove to Kuratu…about an hour away. During our very scenic drive to Kuratu we saw baboon and elephants…so cool. We had lunch in Kuratu and drove back to the drilling site. To our surprise the workers had already returned and were drilling. Almost immediately we were aware that there was a change in the mood of the workers and the Maasai that were standing around. Pastor Zablon asked his brother what was going on. His brother told him right after the workers returned and went back to drilling something was different about the mud and water coming out, but the workers would not say anything. In fact the workers, who had been very friendly and chatty with everyone were now quiet and stayed very close to the drilling equipment. I asked Steve to go and ask them what was going on…they didn’t want to talk to him. Then Pastor Zablon went over to a couple of workers and gathered from their conversation that they had signs of having hit an underground river. Pastor Zablon began to celebrate. I told him that I wanted to hear the site supervisor tell me himself that they hit the river. We waited…and waited…and waited. Two hours later the site supervisor came to me. I asked him to tell me what was new. He told me, “We hit a river.” He showed me the rocks they pumped up…evidence of an underground river. Everyone jumped and cheered…including the workers. Words cannot tell you how much fun and how exciting that moment was.

I sent Rita a text page that said, “Call me when you get a chance.” It was about 4:30am in California. She called me immediately. That was a fun phone call. I gave the phone to Pastor Zablon so he could tell Rita…I think she understood him through the laughter, crying, jumping, dancing, rolling on the ground, and his limited English combined with an extreme accent. :)

I am so thankful to have been there…to see this miracle happen. To see God answer the prayers of His people and bring water where they said there was none. I love the way God does things. The Maasai know that God did this…they know it now.

God still answers prayer and does miracles…just ask the Maasai who will be drawing water from their new well soon.

This well project is going to be a HUGE blessing to people who have to walk very far to a watering hole that does not have clean water. We are now praying for the money to finish this project…the building of the well itself.

We are also praying for the money needed to drill a well on land that was donated to Pastor Mbasha by a Maasai elder. This Maasai elder is not a Christian but trusts Pastor Mbasha as a man who has a genuine heart of love for the people of that village. He gave Pastor Mbasha five acres to build a church. The government’s water officials have already been out to survey the land and their reports show there are good drilling places on Pastor Mbasha’s land.

This is such an exciting time. To see a basic need provided for people who have to walk miles in order to fill up their containers with dirty, contaminated water.

I love being here and watching these exciting things taking place.