Update on well drilling projeIct.

   WE FOUND WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm excited to let you know that we found water yesterday.
February 26 was a pretty uneventful day as far as the drilling went, everything went very smoothly and nothing went kaput on the truck, we drilled pretty well from right after breakfast till around 7 PM.
   Wednesday, February 27, Ivan started up the truck after breakfast and problems began in earnest, number one, they had pulled out 3 rods the night before, each rod is 20 feet just in case of the well caving in, well even with that it did cave in higher up towards the surface, besides that the bit on the end plugged up, that means even if the bit wasn't plugged the water and air couldn't be blown up out of the hole anyway because of the collapsed part, it took a number of hours to get everything pulled out and cleaned, when all was said and done a seal on the main winch that pulls and pushes the drill head up and down broke and we were loosing about 5 gallons of oil in 15 minutes, it was to strenuous to keep 3 people working at catching the oil and filtering it and reusing it, so we just shut everything down and took the winch apart. Parts were located and a few possibilities arose to get the parts here by Friday afternoon, but with all the clever minds that come around here from time to time................... Brother Stephen Hege, came up with the idea that he could make a seal, and they found a five gallon pail and within an hour they had cut out a seal and put the winch together again, by 4 o clock the machine was up and running, without a drop of oil leaking from the winch. Again, I would like to stress that it was a miracle from God, He loves blessing His children.
   We hit water at about 140 feet and we kept going and by about 8:30 pm we were at 200 feet, lots more water was coming up out of the well then we were pushing down.
   It took about one hour to lift all the rods out and then right away we started putting casing down and at about 45 feet the hole collapsed and we had to lift the casing back out.
   This morning as we speak Ivan is drilling and cleaning out the hole, and we are praying that once that mission is accomplished we will be able to slide the casing down without any collapsing happening again.
   David Ringler has also leveled out a spot where the next well will be drilled, also we set up a tank and started hauling water down from a hole that was dug in the river bed. This well is about a quarter of a mile up the trail towards the church and school buildings, this well will be for the community.
  


This is the broken seal!

This is the new one, simply amazing. And we even made a spare.

   Praise the Lord for His goodness, it has been an exciting time for us who are privileged to be here in Haiti at the moment to experience the excitement and answered prayers of the brothers and sisters that prayed for years and spent huge amounts of money and time here on the trail and in general getting things set up, so that one day (!..... February 25, 2013.....!)  we actually see the rig back into the gate at the base and start drilling a well.
   The road is simply a dirt and rock trail and very windy and rough and rugged, but since Brother David Ringler started out with the bull dozer we have been able to top 21 mph at times with our truck. We were surprised at how fast the digger could actually drive although at times its was still pretty rough and breath taking, like when it scraped the side of the mountain at one point because trail was to narrow or the time I saw Steve's mouth open as far as it could!!!!!! when he saw light under one set of tires on the passenger side rear!!!!
   I would like to express appreciation for all those that have prayed and contributed to this project, most of all through prayer, and also with time and monetarily, God uses each one that is willing to be used to get his work done, and I would like to further encourage you all to keep supporting the cause here, in my short time here I have had to blink back tears a number of times when I see baby's who are so tiny and skinny and then my thoughts go back to Canada and how well taken care of our children are, we might wonder why a well is so important and how it fits into evangelizing and bringing the light into this darkness, but I would welcome anyone over and live in a voodoo steeped culture and where a lot of factors have brought it to the point where simple needs of the children and people are being neglected and a simply pure water well can make such a difference. How can we minister to hearts if we neglect to teach them the necessity of being clean and taking care of the temple of God.
   I want to lift the Name of Jesus as high as possible, His Ways are far above us and we need to be more thankful. A person that isn't thankful has no joy, and we don't have strength when we aren't full and running over with the joy of the Lord.
   Below you will get a glimpse of some of the preparation of what has been happening the last couple weeks leading up to the actual arrival of the rig. All of us guys were privileged to be able to go out and watch in drive in.

Grandpa hired a guy to bring barrels of diesel fuel in from Ti-Goave, it will all be used for the well digging truck.
Note: The saying that the horse always returns to it's stall is true, the dump truck that used to be the missions that got sold in Port Au Prince eventually  got sold back here close to the mission again, and here he is on the yard unloading fuel!!!!

Here you can see David working on the road!!!

 

Couple of us are gluing some pipe into 20 foot sections so it's ready to put into well once we hit water.

 

Just look at that, the boys spent a couple days on the trail with the jack hammer getting rid of huge rocks that were sticking out of the ground quite far.

If you look closely you will notice the road on the left side over against the mountain, its pretty far down at places.

Coming around one of the sharp bends where you look pretty well straight over the edge.



One part of the trail has reddish sandy soil more then rock.

Reminds me of British Columbia, road is quite wide here.

Tried getting pictures of it coming down very steep hills but pictures just don't do justice.

This is them coming down "Jack Rabbit" hill.

 

Here you can see work in progress. Thank you Jesus.

Latest Update, 2:15 PM February 26, 2013.
Well is approximately 90 feet deep.
Hit some hard rock that has slowed the drilling down a little.

Well Digger

The truck is officially on the way to Allegre. Wow, keep the next few hours in prayer for us as we slowly amble along the trail. Picture is of the truck and some of the guys eating lunch on the trail.

Well Digging

An update on the well digging project, we got word that it is not to be that the truck will be able to make it back on Saturday due to something that broke on it as they tried running it before leaving CAM's base out by Port Au Prince. So they are waiting for parts. "Waiting" is a huge part of life here in Haiti. I will keep you all posted, keep praying.

Sent from Jon's iPhone

   I thought I should maybe throw this out to you all, we are all very very excited to let you know that tomorrow is the "BIG DAY'!!!! Anyone guess what that could be???? Lord willing we will see the well digging truck back here late afternoon, after many months and years it seems so close at hand, so could I ask you all to start or keep praying for that specific need? That all will go well tomorrow and everyone will be safe when the truck pulls onto the yard. Thank you all so much, as soon as I'm able to I will post some pictures. "O, what a thrill" !!!!!!!!!

   Well here is my first posting on the Haiti Life Blog and I hope that I can make you feel as if you are right here with us in Haiti and be able to see our everyday life and work as we serve here.
   My name's Jon Hofer and someone has introduced me to you all on the last post, so I really don't have much more to say except that I covet your prayers as I serve here for a short while, especially in the area of language learning. I am still recovering from a nasty virus since I got here on the 12th and I want to thank each of you who interceded for me, I felt the prayers being answered.
   I would encourage anyone who feels led to write a comment and even suggestions of pictures and different things you would like to see and I will do my best to get them for you.

Glenden Hofer.
Cutting a strip of metal of the church roof to make a gutter, so that we can collect the water in the cistern.

Here you can see the gutter hanging on the inside of the building.



Myron Zook.
Hurricane ripped the veranda of the nurses apartment and here you can see the frame work going up for the new one.

The job got done, turned out very good.

Eugene Waldner.
Hurricane damaged the school roof quite badly and new trusses and tin got put on awhile ago, here you can see Eugene is welding on reinforcement bars to the trusses.

Glenden Hofer.
Anchoring the reinforcement bars to the walls. Hope it holds Glenden!!!!!

This is a very common sight here in Haiti!!! Wow always something to fix.

Julian Hege.
Julian did a good job building that ramp, remember as a person gets older its harder to bend down!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Fixing. The road between Petit Goave and the base here in Allegre never ceases to amaze me, !!!WOW!!! scenery is beautiful but the road is rough and it takes 2 to 2.5 hours to travel 14 miles, so you can imagine what the road is like. So by the time we get to the mission base a person is very tired.

Here the boys are digging drainage trenches in the road, actually this is on "Jack Rabbit" hill, preparing for rainy season, this way the water has a chance to leave the road instead of running down and washing the road out entirely.

Steve Simmons.
 I pray, Steve that your ears never get too tired to listen, you're doing good, keep it up.