Haiti April 11, 2012

This morning we got up to a typical day in Haiti. One of our toilets had leaked like the last time we were here and drained all the water out of our cistern. The good news is that now that we have a well and pump, we can just roll out the generator and pump directly up to our cistern–that seems easy enough. But no–as we began to pump there was a leak in the pvc underground, so we had to stop pumping and dig up the area where the leak was. There was a large crack in the pvc, so after digging and finding it, Chuck G repaired it and then we were ready to pump. Wrong again! When Chuck started to pump, a spark and smoke came out of the pressure valve, and there was an arc between two wires.

After rewiring it, the pump would still not work, so we thought it was the fuses. I called down to David Heady’s (he installed our pump), and he said he had some fuses I could come and get, but that we should first check our fuses with an ohm meter. So Will checked them, and they were okay. We tried again, with no luck, and then Chuck saw that the breaker on the generator had clicked off. We tried it again and–Hallelujah!–it worked. You learn to thank God for everything here–there are no small miracles.

After all that, Lane started the first session of the Pastors’ Conference. Chuck G, Pastor Mark, Simon and I went to Cabrera (a little town about 45 minutes away) to pick up some lumber for tables, some cluster block for the well house, and some tin to cover up the in-ground cistern. It seems like after almost 13 years of working in this country, I would learn to check and make sure I get all the right supplies, but I guess I will never learn. I just assume that what I order and pay for will be put on my vehicle. We know not to assume anything. I needed four 8-foot pieces of tin to cover the cistern. After we got back to Z’Orange, I realized they had given us four 6-foot pieces. Will and I had to piece together the tin to cover the cistern. It’s not real pretty, but it works and looks Haitian!

Will preached tonight and, as usual, he didn’t get to start until after 9 p.m. He preached a great message, and we had a good time as always.