Mary and I spent a week here together, then she flew to Seattle to await the birth of grandchild number seven.  I will be joining her tomorrow night for one week at home.  I hope the baby works with our schedule as she is due July 14th.  It’s such an exciting time in the life of a family, and we are celebrating with our son Kevin and his wife Deborah!

The count for La Gonave was a total of 5522 feet of drilling to complete 23 wells, of which 10 were good.  Although the dry holes were disappointing, we are thankful for the 10 new sources of fresh water for such a needy island.  It’s hard to describe the difficulty of working there; the roads, the heat, the poverty… but we had some very good people to work with, some very gracious communities that fed us and gave us Pepsi and fresh coconut milk.  Mary and I feel pretty beat-up after driving so many miles on rough roads, but also thankful for the opportunity to help.

In a very real way, we thank those of you who remembered us in your prayers.  On June 25th we finished  a 300 foot dry hole in the small town of Zeb Guinea.  It was discouraging, as it was such a hot, thirsty little village at the end of a really terrible road (we used 4 wheel drive on dry rocks part of the way).  The Guts Church men who came to help had gone home, so Mary was driving the support truck loaded with supplies, and about 800 gallons of water and diesel fuel. As she was going in front of me, at a narrow place in the “road”, I saw a big rock suddenly give way and the truck tip dangerously off the side of the road, with a steep ravine below.  I immediately helped her out of the truck, then wrapped a winch line from the rig around the truck to stabilize it.  We unloaded all the water and fuel, and eventually had Haitians help us dig a path in the side of the ravine so I was able to drive it out and back onto the road.  A close call, and thankfully no one was hurt, as many of us were under the truck digging. It’s times like this I think of many of you who tell us you pray regularly for us.  God was listening that day, and He protected Mary.  God also gave her the strength and peace to get back into the truck and drive it out of the mountains and back to the mission compound.

We expect to be back in Haiti the last week of July to continue drilling mainly around the Port au Prince area until sometime in September.

God bless you all.

Mila Eleanor King was born Sunday, July 17th to Kevin and Deborah. Congratulations to all.

We are back in the land of occasional wireless communication, the Habitation Hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  We have been on the little island of La Gonave, Haiti for the last month, and just came over yesterday afternoon, to spend a week working in this area.  We did not expect this break, but heavy rains and the forecast for more made work impossible, so we have taken a week to wait it out.

18 Wells Drilled

Mary and I flew over to La Gonave with Wes Young on May 4th, and immediately got things running.  After 2 weeks Wes left, and Rick Jenkinson came for 2 weeks, followed by Cary Carlisle, Lonny Murphy
and photograper Justin Greiman.  Because of the hard work of these men, we have been able to complete 18 wells, of which 8 are good. The rig is now parked at a Nazarene church high in the center of La Gonave.  Any rain at all and parts of the roads turn into bobsled rides.  After a dangerous ride Wednesday, I decided we must stop till things dry out.

“They Prayed for Us”

So, here we are in Port, doing other work, and taking a little time to relax.  The prayer of a man at a recent well site is bouncing around in my head.  After drilling two dry holes at the Mon Repos Nazarene church, we decided to give it one more try, and as he prayed before we started, he prayed that we would not become discouraged… imagine that, they had been so hopeful that we would find water for their community, and yet they were looking to us and praying for us!  I pray my life might be like that, in the times when I could become dismayed over some problem, Lord please help me to encourage someone around me.

And we did find water in that well!

Note: Curt and Mary are back to La Gonave after doing some repairs on the HHI rig in Port-au-Prince.  They will continue drilling on La Gonave for the next few weeks, before a small respite and then back to work on the mainland near Port-au-Prince.  Thank you for your prayers and support.    – Lisa

Curt and Mary go back to La Gonave, Haiti.

I want to share a very interesting story with you…

About 1980, there was a severe drought on the little island of La Gonave, which is 12 miles off the coast, in the “bay” of Haiti.  The island is about 10 by 35 miles, and back then had about 60,000 inhabitants.  There had been almost no measurable rainfall for about three years, and the need for water was severe.  A consortium of church groups and NGO’s got together, hired a hydro-geologist to study the potential for water, and after attempts to dig and hand drill wells, found a water well driller, and bought a new little drill rig.

I was that driller.  Mary, and our three young kids lived on the island for a few years, in a 28-foot long trailer house in a yard loaned to us by the Wesleyan Church.  We drilled about 35 good wells. After the project was over, we sold the little rig to the Free Methodist church and had it hauled to the mainland of Haiti, where we continue to use it.  My family and I left, and after about a year of helping the pump maintenance program start, I left the island.

Fast-forward about 26 years.  In church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia I saw the hydro-geologist I had worked with on La Gonave.  He came to Ethiopia as a Manager of the UNICEF water program, and was very influential in helping us establish a partnership with UNICEF, which continues on today in Ethiopia.

Now move forward about another 2 years.  Our daughter Kari moved to Tulsa, and happened to see an interestingly named church sign beside the highway.  She decided to check out Guts Church, and started attending.  One day she called to let me know that she had an interesting thing going on at the church.  They were starting a clinic and wanted to do a water project, on a little island off the coast of Haiti called La Gonave… and that they were having a hard time believing that she had lived on that island and her dad had drilled wells on it 30 years ago!

So now, I am the driller for Guts Church Water Project on La Gonave. I’ve done some work with them there for the past 3 years, and Mary and I are going there May 4th to spend a couple months, to drill up to 24 wells.

I took a scouting trip on the island a couple weeks ago, and discovered a few of the wells still working (with different pumps).  I also drilled a well beside one that I drilled 28 years ago that had been filled with rocks.  And I hired the same Haitian man that helped me drill it the first time!

This is an amazing story that God has put together!  Mary and I feel honored to be the ones who get to continue trying to help those people on the island who so desperately need water.  Please pray for us, as the work there is still very challenging, and we are much older now! But God is able to use even us to help.

We do not expect to have Internet access while on the island, so if you don’t hear from us until the first part of July, that is why.  In an emergency, you may contact Lisa (the one who blogs here for us) and she’ll find a way to reach us.

Thank the Lord, the drilling portion of our latest project, drilling 64 wells, is complete.  It was a tough one, involving wells that were as far apart as 145 miles, much of that on rough roads.  We had some significant breakdowns, but no serious injuries or accidents.  Almost all of the wells were good, though some were hard to drill.  But we got it done, with God’s help.

So now the Ethiopian crew is trying to get hand pumps installed.  The seasonal rains have hit, making it extremely difficult to transport sand, gravel, cement and pumps into many sites.  But little by little, we move forward.

Seattle

So, for now I am back in Seattle, enjoying family, running water, consistent electricity, smooth roads, available fuel, fully stocked grocery shelves, fast food, reliable internet, and so much more.  It is a bit overwhelming how much is available.  Home Depot, Walmart, Macy’s, Safeway, Discount Grocery, Costco, to say nothing of the toy stores… It just goes on and on, miles and miles of stores.

As I re-enter our culture, I can’t help but think of those who are looking for some relief from their suffering today.  That mom worrying about what to feed her kids today, the man who is trying to find enough money to get medicine for his sick family, the child seeing his parents struggles to clothe him.

And I see it in both cultures, the family living in a mud house and the family living in a condo.  They both look at those who have more than they do, and wonder why they have to struggle, when  it appears that their neighbor has so much.  If they could just get a little break in life, maybe they could catch their breath and get a step ahead…

“Do What It Takes”

So, today I will try to look around, outside my happy and thankful world, and if I see someone who needs a break, I pray I will do what it takes to give it to them.  If we all do it, the world will be a little better at the end of the day.  I am reminded that regardless of the culture or surroundings, there are people everywhere that need Jesus.

In just a week or two, I will be making a scouting/planning trip to La Gonave, and Port-au-Prince Haiti.  Mary and I are excited to be a part of the work there, and are privileged to be working with organizations committed to easing the suffering through water provision.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Kids Enjoying New Pump, Southern Ethiopia

I just received word that Curt is already in route home as he and the team completed the wells in this season’s project in Southern Ethiopia.  It was drilling in very remote locations and challenging conditions but God provided what was needed each day.  Thank you again for your partnership in this project, whether in Ethiopia, Haiti, Sudan or wherever it is God has Curt and Mary serving those in need of water and hope.

Notes from Curt and Mary

Curt 2/6/11: We have a series of wells to complete about 2 ½ hours south of our base in Senteria.  We drive back and forth some, and spend the rest of the time at a hotel in Yirge Chaffee. (As a side note, you can go to Starbucks and buy coffee from this area by the same name.  If you do, say a prayer for us as we we work in this very area.)  Let me just say, for about $9.40 per night for a room, one gets what one pays for.

We are drilling at about 7800 to 9000 feet above sea level, so the drill rig is struggling, with a great loss of power and efficiency due to the thinner air.  We have also encountered some hard rock, which requires a hammer bit, that requires additional air volume and pressure, so at this altitude it drills much slower.

But we are moving forward, with well #39 out of 64 completed this week.  We are working in remote areas where the need for clean drinking water is serious.  Water sources are scarce, and we sometimes have difficulty finding the water we need to run the drilling operation.  Understandably, the communities are reluctant to see us hauling their water away in our trucks to run a machine they have
never seen before.  But once the work is finished, the communities have been so thankful and have shown their appreciation in many ways.

I’ve been given more Pepsi than I can drink, and we are also given food and coffee as we work.  The communities have been very helpful and we appreciate their efforts to work with us. We normally pray with the community before we start a well.  Often after we have found water and are ready to leave, someone will say, “shouldn’t we pray and thank God for the water you found?”  It is a reminder for me that when some people live so close to the edge of daily existence, God’s providence is very real to them.  Now I may think I have a “savings account” of good health, material blessings, a job, but none of us are more than a breath away from meeting our Maker.  I want to be a living witness to His goodness, and not forget that “all good things come from above,” and not forget to thank Him. I continue to learn from those I seek to help.

2/28/11:  We got the equipment to the furthest site in Bensi, southern Ethiopia. It was a 10 hour trip; we got water at 170 feet today, but before we finished the well (#54 in this season’s project), the rig engine blower drive shaft stripped again (we had taken it from the other rig here in Senteria), making the rig inoperable.  We tore it down (for repairs), and came back to Senteria, arriving in a very heavy rainfall.

Unfortunately we had to decline to drive the rig to one of the 5 proposed sites in Bensi, because of the incredible unsafe conditions; we were able to get an alternate location for that site.  I am determined to stop taking the rig on some of the types of roads we have done in the past.  This week, Solomon saw the the front wheels of the rig come almost completely off the ground as I was going up a very steep road to a well site.

Mary 3/8/11: Thought you’d like to know the project is now finished, and Curt just called me from Frankfurt!  The drilling was finished on March 6, the next day they cleaned and stored equipment, and today flew home. Can you see me smiling?  More importantly, we are praising God for the many communities that will benefit from the wells.  He is to be praised!

New Water Wells in Ethiopia

In the last two months Curt and the Ethiopian team have completed a total of 17 wells with 16 of them being good, producing wells.  This means 60,000 lives will not have to face the sickness and death caused by contaminated water sources (diarrhea, cholera, etc).

Eleven of the wells were drilled with the “new” replacement rig that was shipped in last year (another used Schramm T-64).  It was often tough to reach each of the rural well sites and the drilling was also difficult at times as Curt described technical challenges for the young drillers he trains, such as caving broken rock, very tight sticky clays and also hard rock formations.  Even though it took longer for the drilling the team was thankful for few breakdowns or set backs– the regular flat tires and misc vehicle issues that one encounters traversing the rough back “roads” of the countryside.  Most importantly they were thankful to have success with 16 wells and continue in the progress of providing safe water to these village communities.

Solomon, Nigusse and Samuel will do pump installations and possibly a bit of drilling while Curt has a short visit with family during the holidays.  Please keep them in your prayers as they continue in the work and travel with the equipment.  The work is dangerous and they truly rely upon God’s protection.

Great News

Healing Hands International recently announced that Curt and his wife, Mary, have agreed to come “on board” with them as field directors in their water well drilling  program. This will mean that they are able to be in areas like Ethiopia, Haiti and Sudan drilling wells eleven months out of the year and TOGETHER!  Many of you know that Curt and Mary have often spent 6 months of the year apart as Curt traveled around drilling for Healing Hands and other partners in Haiti and Ethiopia.  We are all very thankful that they will be together again in this service.  They will both be heading to Ethiopia sometime early in the new year.

In His service,

Drilling through Rock

Mary will Return with Curt to the Field

As I sit here tonight in our little 20’ house in the Church of Christ Compound in southern Ethiopia, I am counting my blessings.  Through the generosity of many, our friends, the Dotson’s, made this shipping container into a very livable little box!  My wife bought me a Bose portable speaker system and loaded up her ipod with music, everything from Gaither Homecoming (ok I admit it, I am almost a Gaither groupie) to MC Hammer to Hawaiian to Andrea Bocelli.  Tonight I am filled with both good memories of the past, and great anticipation for our future.

Curt & Mary on the Field

Lord willing, this will be my last stint here without Mary.  Healing Hands International has generously offered to take us on full-time!  For 7 long years I have been gone from Mary and the family up to 6 months annually.  We are thrilled about being together again on the field, and  we hope to be able to provide clean water to many more communities in more countries than before!

Wells and Rigs

I’ve been in East Africa since the last week of October.  We finished 6 more wells in another part of the south, and last week moved our entire operation (including my house) about 200 km to Senteria. After 7 years, there was a lot to move.  Then we drove to Addis Ababa and picked up a rebuilt drilling machine generously donated by Ojard Drilling.  It took us 10 hours to get it back here, and we’ve spent the last few days adapting it for our use, and checking sites.  Lord willing, tomorrow we will drive another 130 km south to an area where we have about 40 wells to drill.  As we have time, we will rebuild the other rig.  After about 350 wells and a few thousand miles over some very difficult terrain, it sorely needs some tender care.

Haiti

Often, my thoughts turn to Haiti and the incredible suffering going on there, even as I am writing.  I just can’t imagine the fear of sickness and death that so many must have.  Thankfully, that is one of the places we will also be drilling, as our schedule allows.

So, as I enjoy the incredible blessings around me tonight, may I never forget those struggling around me, not only in Haiti, but here in East Africa, and in Seattle when I am back there.  There is a sobering passage in the Bible, “…to whom much is given, much will be required…” Let’s use whatever we have been blessed with to help lift those around us.  It’s not always money, it’s not always clean water, sometimes it’s just making eye contact and smiling, and letting the
Lord fill in the rest…

Dear friends and family,

It’s been a while, and now it’s time to get back overseas, to work. It has taken more time than expected to get my paperwork in order and for the rains to let up in East Africa.  But it’s all systems go for tomorrow afternoon, when I leave Seattle for Ethiopia.

I plan to be back in Seattle on December 16th, for our son Kevin’s graduation from law school, which will be a big family celebration culminating with a party at Disneyland!  The grandkids are big enough now to enjoy it, along with our kids and us, who have never grown up enough to not have a lot of fun together there!

We are in the final stages of an agreement with Healing Hands International, so that Mary and I may be full-time in our work together.  It will be wonderful to be traveling and working together, with the difficulty of spending less time with our family.  It seems the more time we all spend around each other, the more we want to.  I am truly blessed to have such amazing kids and grandkids, all of them.

As I wing my way east, it is also difficult to be flying away from Haiti, which once again is in a severe crisis mode, with what appears to be the beginning of a cholera disaster.  Please remember those who are suffering, and those who are working so hard to try to help.  And lets all remember to do what we can to make the world around us, the places we touch and relate to every day, a little better.  With God’s help, we can be an encouragement to someone.

My brother Ed recently suffered a stroke which leaves his severely disabled.  As I talked with him the other day, I told him as the elder brother, we are all looking to him for guidance, as we are all aging, and any one of us could be next.  He thought a minute and then said, from his rest home bed, “ well, every morning when I wake up I say, “”this is the day the Lord has made.  I will be glad and rejoice in it….Even if it hurts!””

I returned from Haiti on August 30th, after 15 days working on LaGonave, the small island near the coast of Haiti.  Guts Church of Tulsa, OK  has a Schramm T64 air rotary rig and equipment there.  It was a real challenge getting around, since the roads are not good at all, and rains once again prevented us from getting to some of the coastal villages which are so needy.  So we worked our way up into the ”mountains”, where 30 years ago I drilled about 35 wells, working with Compassion International.  In fact, I used the same Haitian man who was my assistant back then, Eriant Elistre!

We drilled 9 holes but only 2 were usable, one at a Church of God in Anse a Galets, and another at the Palma Nazarene church.  One of the men who helped me called driving on the roads rock climbing with trucks, which was accurate.  Along with other breakdowns, we had about 8 flat tires.  Good business for the tire shop on the island.

A real exciting event took place the last Sunday we were there. Snaider, Eriant, Jeff and I decided to go up the coast to repair some broken pumps, but were turned away by long stretches of deep mud. When we got back they went late to the church service and Eriant rededicated his life to Christ!  I attended his wedding on La Gonave dome 30 years ago.  A few years after that, his wife left him, and he seemed to have lost his way.  This was a real decision for him to make, and I will continue to pray for him.

Mary and I will be leaving Seattle Thursday and be gone till September 24th, as the culmination of our 40th anniversary celebration.  We are not taking our computer, which indicates our desire to make it a real vacation!

Curt and Volunteer, Kevin Drilling, LaGonave August 2010

Gathering at Well, LaGonave, August 2010

It has been a challenge to try and find fresh water for this camp of around 3900 families, sprawled over some rolling hills just outside of Port au Prince.   It’s been a tough stretch with some unusual drilling situations. The Haitians have stuck with us in the camp, encouraged us, brought us cool drinks, helped anytime we asked, and gave good security at night.  So after watching us work, and listening to us explain everything as we went along, there was quite the celebration when we got water!  Thanks for those of you who prayed for us.

Around 10am today I was about ready to say we just cannot do it, we have to move on.  But Snaider and I stopped for a little while and talked things over, and decided to just move over 20′ and give it one last try.  I am so glad we listened to the gentle nudge from God to keep at it.  The little video is the result! (Click photo for youtube link.)

Celebration at Tent Camp (Well 12) Video Link

ATTITUDE OF HOPE

On another note, as we drove into the camp, a nicely dressed young couple was walking along.  He had a door on his head and she was carrying some supplies.  We gave them a ride to the rig and saw their house just up the hill, plastic stretched over posts.  As I watched them during the day, he worked hard with his roll of wire to make the door work while she gathered rocks to hold the bottom of the plastic walls down against the strong winds.  Occasionally she would pick up a big Haitian hoe and work on their little piece of rocky ground.  I wondered what they were thinking, having lost everything, and starting again with their own little piece of property. They didn’t seem discouraged and that kind of puzzled me.  I hope their love for each other and for God gives them a sense of adventure.  There is that famous saying about attitude can make an ordeal into an adventure (something like that).

Man carrying door to his new tent home

Couple Building their new tent home

ONE MORE TO GO FOR NOW

I’m working on my last well this trip, at a guest house for workers that come to Haiti to help.  I expect to be in Tulsa with Mary to visit our daughter, then back home on our little boat in Seattle next week.  Thank you so much for your prayers, and words and gifts of support.  You have played an important part in this ministry and many people appreciate it.