"Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink," was what I remember my dad, quoting the poet, saying about being in the Navy during WWII.

About a month ago, that was the same here! For about five to six days the city water stopped coming in the water line to our house, or to most parts of the town in which we live. We saw big tankers delivering drinking water to homes everywhere. Three days after the water stopped, Mr. Shrestha, our landlord, told us that there was no more water in the cistern on our property either. So, the water tank on the top of the roof (which supplies water to the bathrooms and shower to his family on the ground floor and us on the second floor, and with what we use to wash clothes) was the last! He had called to order water, but we would have to wait our turn. So, we started recycling all water used at the sinks for flushing toilets.

Well, that same Friday night it started POURING into the wee hours of the morning. The drainage system of the neighborhood couldn't handle all the rain water; a new problem of this year. So, water, dirty water, was backing up from the drain into the Shrestha's open courtyard at the back of the house. The courtyard quickly filled up with about 5-7" of water and flooded into the rooms of their house. From our bedroom window upstairs, we could hear them trying to scoop the water out in buckets, but to no avail. The water just kept rising! The rain finally stopped and everyone went to bed. Meanwhile, the water had also backed up in the front courtyard. When we woke in the morning, we found 4" of water inside our front entrance way that had come in under our front door.

As the Shresthas were helping me clean out that water Saturday morning, the landlord's son jokingly said, "if it rains tonight, we will be doing this same thing tomorrow." And sure enough! It poured again Saturday night! More water in both houses the next morning.

So, we had too much dirty water downstairs and no water upstairs! By now, the tank of water had been depleted. Therefore, Mr. Shrestha pumped the rainwater they had collected up to the tank to use Saturday and Sunday, while we waited for our turn for a tanker to bring water to our house. Finally Monday morning water was delivered. The major crisis was over.

We learned that because the monsoon rains were late, the farmers who needed water to plant their fields had broken the water lines into the city and diverted the water into the fields to plant the rice! About a week after all this happened, the lines were fixed and water came again into the city lines.

During that week, I saw something that really caused my eyes to tear up. On our way to work as we drove through in the communities out of the main city area, a big water tanker was parked on the side of the road. It was bringing water to people who lived in those areas! The people were lined up for about a block with their 2 buckets, each waiting their turn to get water from the delivery truck. They were so happy, standing in line waiting! They had big grins on their faces! They could get WATER! And I thought of the stark contrast of how the Shresthas and we had ordered and used a full tanker of water just for ourselves for the week! We didn't have to wait in line just to get 2 buckets of water! And even though we were conserving as much as we could that next week, (partial showers, only washing the most important clothes) it was nothing compared to getting only two buckets for each household.

That scene re-enforced my thanking God every day for water. And I asked God to help me not to take it for granted! Another interesting thing happened. My attitude about the water coming into our house changed. I'm not resentful for the inconvenience! Since the problem hasn't been fixed yet, I realize that whenever it rains hard, water will come in! And now I don't get upset by it! AMAZING!

Thank for your prayers which help us deal with the challenges we face!

In Christ's love,

Carole

PS. As I finished writing this journal, today we had the heaviest rain this year! Nearly two feet of water built up in the front courtyard outside our front door. The landlord had to have someone come and pump it out. Until then, we were housebound! God was gracious to me and I didn't get upset, too much!