Well Project report

Dear praying friends,
I wanted to thank you for your prayers for our trip to fix the well in the Igunga area. 
Our team consisted of Justin (a new missionary who has joined us here in Kigoma since February), Muhoza (a discipleship student from last year) and Faraja (a young man from the Kigoma town church). We left last Tuesday and had car trouble on the way which delayed us for about 2 hours, but thankfully we were in a bigger town where we were able to find parts. Upon arrival we were welcomed by the locals and Peter and Samweli (both Tanzanian missionaries from Kigoma who have been ministering there). We unloaded the car and after supper we slept in the chapel, on the floor, inside little mosquito tents. 
The next day (Wednesday) we went to see the well and discuss plans with the locals of where to put things like the water collection point for people and the water trough for their animals. Then we made a list of supplies we still needed and drove to the nearest big town (about 45 minutes away) but we broke down on the way. After removing the broken part we hopped on taxi motorcycles and got to town to fix the part. While 2 of the group stayed to see the part fixed and took it back to put it on, Peter and I shopped for hardware and supplies needed. We were able to get the supplies loaded up on local transport and by then the car was fixed. Just before arriving at the chapel we got stuck in a muddy gully that we had to cross. We managed to get out and then we had to do some more work on the car. 
Thursday through Saturday we worked with the locals. We got a base and platform built for the 3000 liter water tank. We welded and installed U-shaped posts in concrete footings for our solar panel tower. We welded our solar panel frame together late into the night. We dug a trench for our water pipes for supplying water to the collection point for people and for the watering trough. We strung out our wire, water pipe and rope and zip tied them together. We lowered the pump into the well and set it at about 86 meters deep. We bolted our frame to the top of the posts and installed our solar panels and wired everything together on Saturday just as the sun was setting so we didn’t know if it was going to work. In the meantime we noticed there was stress/weight on the electric wire so we had to manually pull out the pump and fix a few things before putting it back into the well.
On Sunday morning, at 7:30 AM the pump began to pump water out. The locals were overjoyed and we all walked down there to see the water. It was clear and just a little bit salty (like it had been before). Some government officials were invited and attended the Sunday service. We had a time of thanksgiving for God’s help in providing water. After the service we all walked to the well and one of the government officials thanked us for helping to provide water to the local community. Then we all returned to the chapel and shared a meal together.
After that we packed up and returned to Kigoma. We drove all night and the journey took almost 15 hours because we encountered thick fog for several hours and we had to go really slow. We are thankful we had no more car trouble on the way back.

Thank you for your partnership in the work of the gospel among the Wataturu and Wasukuma tribes of the Igunga area. The Lord definitely strengthened us for the long days of work, back to back.
Grace and peace to you,
Luke Johnson

P.S. For photos you can head over to the blog: www.lukeandgina.blogspot.com