The bathroom project has been moving forward pretty slowly since Caleb left. Edward doesn’t have much construction experience, Percy hasn’t been here much, and I don’t have much time, so the project is somewhat stalled.
Percy took off most of last week to work in his corn and potatoes. This week he was off two days due to not feeling well, so things are kind of at a standstill. The next step of the bathroom is to tile the exposed walls, something I am not skilled to do with any speed or finesse.
Edward has kept himself busy with fence work when Percy isn’t here. We’ve replaced some posts here and there over the past few years, but the rest are showing their age by falling over where they stood. Edward is digging postholes in preparation of planting new posts. He’s also gathering up old barbed wire and creating a giant pile of rust and tangled metal that threatens to give you tetanus at a glance.
In the last week, we’ve had the well pump blow the union that connects to the outgoing valve of the pump—four times now! We’ve tried a couple of things to address the problem, but we aren’t fully sure what’s causing the problem. However, I think it is because we negelected to put a check valve between the pump and the pressure tank, so the pump was fighting the tank whenever it filled up the house.
The project for today is to redo the bulging pipes where they connected to the pump, place a check valve, and reset the pump. While the well pump is currently off, we are using water again from the upper house. However, it is undrinkable.
I had bleached the whole system at the upper house and had Percy scrub out the holding tank. I left the shock in the house system for eight hours, and it seemed to really improve the smell and taste of the water, which had been tasting a bit sulfury, almost.
Well, what I did not think to do was to shock the line that connects the upper house to the lower. Thus, the bioactive water had sat in that line unused for a few weeks now. The smell of the water is astonishingly bad. It is highly reminiscent of a bad baby diaper.
So, this morning I’m going to shock that line and let it set for a few hours to kill off whatever bacteria has been growing up in the line over the past couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure the bad smell is actually a result of the bacteria in the line having died and releasing the gas of its death, but I’m no biologist. All I’m certain of is that we can only gag when we smell the water. It’s horrific.
After breakfast, I’m headed to Cusco with Alicia. The nine-year-old cousin of Alicia’s granddaughter had brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor last week. She was really well for a day after the surgery, talking to her parents and seeming content. The next day, she entered a coma that she hasn’t come out of in the last week. Alicia’s daughter Johanna told her in-laws that there is a Christian pastor in Izcuchaca who can pray for the girl because he really knows God, unlike the priests.
The parents and grandparents of the girls asked Alicia if she would ask me to come and preach about Jesus in the hospital because they say they know that their sin is why the girl is in a coma now. Then they want to ask if I will pray for the girl to be healed.
So, I’m going to preach this morning to a room full of desperate people who are watching their dear little one fade from this life. I’ve decided to simply share the gospel message, outlining the way for the adults who will be listening to find freedom from sin and death. I do not have a sense of whether or not God will choose to heal the little girl, but I am certain He can use this situation to bring Him glory and to bring good to the family.
Please pray for me as I both preach and talk to these folks. Pray for them that their hearts would understand the Bible message. Pray for the girl Valeria, who is in a coma, and for her parents Elizabeth and Dennis.
This visit is a test of these folks on the power of God. They want to see if He’s real or not. How will God choose to reveal Himself? Will they see Him?
And pray for Percy back home as he tries to get good water back to the lower house this morning. And perhaps for Steph and the little ones as they spend a morning without water—again. 🙂
We need prayer.
Juan David 