Kirimandagi waiting for a drill

October 25, 2011
Instead of heading down to Masaka today, Davis and I headed back to Kirimandagi to supervise the drilling of the bore hole at the Blessed Primary School. I spent a big part of the day visiting with Naphtal and Grace and to see the school in action. We just kind of hung out and waited. It is a very African experience -- waiting for things to happen. Things run on their own schedules . . . 10:00 means when we get there and there may have been more important relationships (the person in front of me is the most important person) to deal with along the way. So we sat and we waited.

Late in the afternoon the drill and compressor arrived with the crew. They immediately went to work setting up. The crew travels with tents and a kitchen -- they intend to live with their drill while the job is being completed. These were some seriously no nonsense men -- well diggers. The next day they would begin drilling and the compressor would break -- necessitating a journey back to Kampala. The drilling would not be completed until well after I returned to the US. But it was completed and the well is not fully functional. Davis and I headed back to Kampala late in the afternoon. We are hoping for many photos and a DVD of the drilling.

The rest of the team spent the day doing a variety of things. Clair was with me today. Barb, Kathy and Linda had day one of the Women's conference.

Tomorrow we finish up. Davis and I will be back to Kirimandagi; Linda, Kathy and Barb will be finishing up the women's conference, Clair is teaching at Kalangaalo (in my place).

I asked the team to summarize their favorite part of the trip:
Clair: helping a young muslim girl become Christian at the youth rally
Kathy: preaching and working at the Gayaza school for girls
Barb: the children
Linda: wide range and varied

I've been very proud of this team. They worked hard, hung together, were "Gumby" incarnate.

We left a significant gift for Soul Fishing ministries and a personal thank you to our friend Davis.

I had one final insight as I worked this week. I realized that John the Baptist was baptizing on the border between life and death. He was baptizing in the Jordan river near where the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea. To the one side is the life giving flow of the Jordan. To the other side is the body of water where nothing lives (hence "Dead Sea"). Isn't that baptism in its purest form? We cross from death to life. Standing on the boundary.

This is my last journal entry for this trip. I arrived home late 10/27/11. And have already begun plans for October 2012.

I need to finish the book and get it printed and published for my Ugandan friends.

Blessings on your journey,
drbj