And These Signs Will Accompany Those Who Believe...

Today.  Wow.  How does one put into words the experience we shared today?  The day began with a wonderful breakfast time with the Lehman’s, and then we headed out for another well dedication ceremony in another village.  We were once again greeted with a warm welcome from the men, women, and children of the village.  The children had prepared some songs and a reading for us as the visitors; they even took a day off of school for time with us.  What an honor.  It was touching to see how much work they had put into preparation for our coming.  Shawn (who had connected with the crowd by joking he was the president of the United States... luckily they found this as humorous as we did!) was given the opportunity to explain the relationship between 12Stone, World Hope, and the wells project.  He then invited anyone who wanted to be prayed over to come forward for our team to pray with them.  This is not a common thing in their culture as people might be prayed over in groups, but do not pray one on one.  Many people came forward and we were given the tremendous opportunity to pray for healing in those with stomach, leg, and back pain; vision problems; skin lesions; and even two small children who were unable to speak.  The power of the Holy Spirit was with us, and God moved.  After that time of prayer, we traveled by car near to the old well the women of this village used to walk to for their water.  The cars were not able to go the full way, and we walked about the last quarter mile.  When we arrived at the old open well, we were able to see how contaminated and dirty the water was (see the above picture).  There were actually two women from a nearby village there to get water to take back to their homes.  As they pulled the water up, we were able to see firsthand the brownish-yellow water they used to completely fill two five gallon buckets that they then placed on top of their heads to begin their walk home.  We were tired from simply walking up the trail back to the car unencumbered by heavy jugs on our heads!  What an eye-opening experience.  When we returned it was time to dedicate the well!  The villagers had decorated the fence around the well with palm fronds and flowers and had even tied a string over the entrance.  Amanda was asked to help two children from the village use a small pair of scissors to cut the string.  She then got to help a woman of the village pump the well until it ran with water signifying the well being fully turned over to the village from World Hope.  Needless to say, it was quite a joyful moment for her.  We then passed out bibles in the native language to the leaders of the local churches.  We were also able to give out Bible messengers, which are digitally recorded translations of the New Testament to these same leaders.  We then had another delicious lunch where everyone tried the goat meat today… even those that were too chicken yesterday.  Jeff was even adventurous enough to eat a hot pepper.  We said good-bye, made the drive back to Xia Xia, rested a bit before dinner, and then had another delicious feast provided by the Lehman’s.  We are anticipating yet another amazing day tomorrow.  We will be seeing a well actually being drilled in one village and then travel to another dedication ceremony.  Thank you for your continued prayers over our trip.  God’s power is evident in our week.