PFR

This morning on facebook I posted about our water situation and I thought I would explain a little more here. Since being in Arcoverde we have never been without water, although we have been without running water over half of our days here. We arrived in the middle of the drought season and thankfully it is about to be over (according to everyone we have talked to).

Lack of water, especially running water, seems to complicate things quite a bit. For example, cleaning is difficult. Any kind of cleaning; washing dishes, laundry, ourselves, our hands, vegetables, the floor, etc... We do not usually think about how water affects our every day lives. In order to flush the toilet we need to fill up a bucket of water, lift the lid off the toilet and pour it in. When we are without running water we usually ask around the house who has to go to the bathroom so we can all go around the same time and use one flush. Yeah, that sounds gross...that is because it is gross. So naturally we do not feel very clean. Especially since we all take a bath in the same 8 liters of water every night.

But the thing is; we do have drinking water and we do have water. We can usually buy water pretty easily (besides yesterday and today). We have a Planet Earth DVD on water that shows people traveling 3-4 days in the desert trying to find water. We are not even close, not even anywhere near that desperate. Plus we have money to buy water, lots of water. If we really wanted (and I don't), we could spend the $3 it costs for 20 liters of drinking water and use that water all the time. We are very blessed.

God is using this time (hopefully short time) without water in our lives to better understand the people in this region. We can live as they live and see the value of their lives. Just as starting with the weather is an easy conversation starter so is using the water situation.

We know that God has reasons for this time in our life and we are doing fine. Our family has grown very closer the last couple of months and we have learned to appreciate so many benefits that we have in life.