How Many Cows

We traveled around the village teaching our hosts how to pick appropriate locations for the wells.  The village was larger then I had expected and had a trench system along each street that brought water from a large canal into the village.  The water was all runoff water so it is grossly contaminated.  It was good to see that the villagers were boiling their water but it will be better for them in the future when they can pull the water from the wells.  Hydromissions knows they cannot fix everything- Hydromissions’ goal is to improve a village one step at a time.  Currently, the village is pulling runoff water from ditches. Within the year, they will hopefully have 12 wells pulling water that will be cleaner – although may not be perfect.  Theoretically, if the runoff water has to penetrate through 18 meters (approx. 59 feet) of soil before finding its way into the well (worse case scenario) then it will have been filtered through those 18 meters. If all goes better, a clean water aquifer will be located within the 30 meters (approx. 100 feet) depth that the drill can reach.  Either way, the water will be better then their current source.  I had to learn to accept different things on this trip.  I had to accept the fact that my agenda is not important and I had to serve the host organization I was there to teach.  I had to accept the fact that we cannot “save the world” but only improve it a wee bit. Tajikistan was a lot different for me to serve in then Guatemala but I learned a lot and I value every experience God brings me through.  I had to be patient in Tajikistan and accept that things were not always going to go my way no matter how much effort I put into it.  I know God sees a much broader plan and knows far more then I can ever imagine but sometimes when I am in the rough situations, I easily forget that He is in control.  I wanted certain things to come out of this project – I wanted to hit water, complete multiple wells and really do an “awesome job” based on the standards I set for myself and this project.  I had to stop myself halfway through the project and focus on figuring out what God had me there to do and pull my focus off of what I wanted to do.  I can look back now and see that I need to enter into these types of projects focusing solely on what the host needs and not on my own agenda.