I was lying on my bed this afternoon (I’ve had the flu for a couple of days) when suddenly there was a rumble and the whole house shook. I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened…I thought maybe I’d finally got to experience my first earthquake.  But when I went outside, it became clear that it was probably worse than a minor earthquake.

Today they moved the huge tank that supplies the home with water. They had a crane in earlier today, and it lifted the tank onto a new cement support that was higher than the old one, which would have provided better water pressure….that is until the whole thing fell over onto one of the dormitories.

The tank itself missed the dorm by a couple of feet (and it missed Miguel by even less than that), but when the cement support collapsed, it took out part of the roof. All things considered, it could have been much worse. There were guys standing all around watching and had it fallen in the other direction, we would probably be mourning a number of deaths. Miguel and one of the boys (Chilli) were standing right underneath the tank when it fell, and they’re not entirely sure how they got out of the way. It’s really just by God’s provision that no one was hurt badly. One fellow had to get 5 stiches on his foot. He stepped on broken pieces of the roof, but he’s fine.

We do, however, have a big problem. When the tank fell, it of course emptied itself of what it was holding…all of our water. Even Miguel smiled for a moment when one of the boys tried to save enough water to wash his shirt. The rest of the water rushed through the bathroom and shower area. As well, the huge tank is now laying on the ground with no support and one of the dorms is missing a chunk of it’s roof.

If you could pray for a couple of things….Miguel is taking this pretty hard. He didn’t get enough advice about the supports, and now he feels that it’s his fault this happened. He was telling me that after the tank fell, he was yelling Chilli’s name and Chilli wasn’t answering. Chilli was okay, but for that moment, Miguel thought that he’d been killed. It’s going to take awhile for him to get over that moment I think.

As well, there is the financial aspect of this. Miguel’s a bit worried about it, but I’m not so much. This is one of the benefits of me being here. I’m able to provide some financial resources that otherwise wouldn’t be available. And this is, after all, Bolivia. When they were talking about bringing the crane back again tomorrow to put the tank back onto it’s old support, I was thinking like a Canadian. I asked Edly how much it was going to cost and bracing myself for the couple of thousand we would have to pay I heard her say, “Well for sure it’s probably going to be $100 US!”

There will be more than that of course. The roof of the dorm will have to be taken down and rebuilt. And we still have to get that tank up higher (at that moment I will find myself standing a considerable distance away…). But I know that God will provide. We have a team coming down from Delisle, SK in August and they have some ministry money available (hear that Myron? Get ready to fix a roof!). But please pray that we will be patient and faithful as we wait on Him for what we need.

There was a good moment tonight. After supper, Miguel and Edly and I were up at the main house, when we heard the guys singing. On their own, they had decided to give thanks to God for His protection. We went down and joined them, and Miguel shared a bit about how he was feeling. I think this experience served to draw everyone a little closer together, which is good.

On a completely separate note…some of my luggage arrived yesterday which was a happy moment. I put on clean underwear for the first time since last Friday. On an unhappy note, our shower was busted and there was no hot water…but one can’t always have everything in life. I am still missing a bag, so if you could pray that it arrives. As well, I’ve been pretty sick for the last couple of days. I’m pretty sure I’ll live, but it’s kind of lame to arrive and then be stuck in bed. I’m off to a doctor tomorrow to make sure that I haven’t contracted some strange South American bug. (That’s a joke Mom….don’t freak out…).

Thanks to all of you who wrote me little notes in response to my last update. You may get a lot of these if it means e-mails for me. I’ll try and write back personally when I get the chance, but please know that they were appreciated.

Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.

Ken