Living Water

Greetings to you all, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many times over the last few weeks, we have been expecting our rainy season to start "any day." It was early January when it rained the last time. Water is a resource that cannot be taken for granted in Africa. The vast majority of people in our area do not have running water in their homes but in Arusha water is usually plentiful, and most people can get water with buckets and carry it back to their house (usually on their head) without traveling too far. In many areas of Tanzania, however, people must walk a long distance to get water. Before our move to Tanzania, we never really thought too much about water. In the US we turned the handle on the faucet, and we had water for drinking, cooking, or bathing and we didn't wonder whether or not it was safe, and we didn't worry too much about where it came from.

We are fortunate to be on the water line from a large "city water" tank which supplies water to our house for washing, bathing and toilet flushing. However, due to the very high fluoride content, we cannot use the tap water for drinking as boiling and filtering do nothing to reduce fluoride (it seems like a strange problem to have, since we usually think of fluoride as a good thing). We rely on rain water for our drinking and cooking. We had to buy bottled water this week because our rain water reserves ran dry. This is a very small inconvenience.

Some of our friends who depend on rain water reserves to supply water to their houses have been without water for a number of weeks. All of them are very careful about their water use and will "recycle" washing and bathing water for flushing their toilets and watering plants. Even with their conservation efforts, some are running out of water and must find other sources. One friend visited us this week to fill her buckets from our tap. She lamented that her 15-year-old daughter is quite embarrassed that they have to go to their friends' houses to get water.

We were eagerly anticipating the rain, today. Dark storm clouds appeared, the temperature dropped, the wind blew, it thundered, and we removed the clothes from the solar powered clothes drier (clothes line). The girls got their raincoats and boots on and walked around the yard with their umbrellas, but the heavy rain passed by and we received only a sprinkling. We were disappointed, but we know that the rains will come soon to revive the plants and give us and many others the opportunity to refill our empty reserves.

Jesus tells us that whoever drinks from the living water will have eternal life, and we will not be disappointed. While we may have to wait from time to time for water to drink and to wash our clothes, we give thanks that the living water which gives us life is always present. Through his life, death, and resurrection, our sins are washed away by this water of life, and we are uplifted as we are reminded of the eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Blessings to you all,
Dan and Cathy Smith

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Dan, Cathy, Sarah, Emily and Grace Smith
PO BOX 15128
Arusha
Tanzania
http://www.goodshepherdkettering.com/pages/mission.html
smithfam91@yahoo.com
or
missionaries@goodshepherdkettering.com
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