Travels With Wesley

As of 5:30 PM in Honduras, the drill stem in still stuck in the hole. They are getting very little rotation because they are getting no circulation of air or anything through the plugged up drill stem. Tomorrow they are going to deattach the drill stem, send a half inch pipe down through the stem and put 200 lbs of pressure (I think that is the number he quoted) down through the pipe and try to clear the drill stem.

Pray for success and pray for the rock the stem is sitting on to give up easily when they get the stem cleared.

Saturday as I said in my last post, the drilling crew pumped the mud out of the well. They had a problem at one time getting the mud out, but finally cleared the blockage, and continued. At about 160-170 feet going back in pumping the mud out, it looked as if there was some water coming up. Not putting any air down, the well still blew out a mud and water mixture. Water was coming from someplace, and they had already drilled through that depth. It could have been that the mud sealed off the hole as it went down, and blocked the seemingly minor source of water. About that time a problem arose with an O-Ring on the drill head, and they stopped work for the day after pulling the pipe out. This morning, Sunday, there was about 70 feet of water in the hole. Water coming from somewhere, but apparently not much flow.

They fixed the drill head and proceeded down again. Between 210 and 220 feet, the drill bit got stuck in or on a rock. While trying to jiggle it loose, a hydraulic hose split, bringing operations to a halt again.

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The hose vibrated against the housing of the control panel until a hole wore through it. A new hose would have to be made Monday and brought back from Teguz. In the meantime, the team would inspect all the other hoses for damage. And, 220 feet of drill stem were stuck in the hole. Hopefully operations would resume sometime late Monday.

On a somewhat negative, yet positive note, even if we don’t hit water, we have provided employment for a few of the men from the village while trying. And the same is true for the renovations to the church. Without this infusion of money, they would likely have no work. Keeping this in mind as an excuse for my behavior (or misbehavior) after delivering food to families in San Lorenzo (paid for by the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church of Central Florida), I decided to do the same for the families in our parish in Moroceli. I purchased 22 bags of food for a list provided by Myra, wife of Rev. Carlos, and delivered them Sunday morning.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Total cost about $224 U.S.

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I realize I will probably face a disciplinary review hearing in front of my Council upon my return, but so be it, I make a good martyr.

Seriously, the drilling operations of the group from Texas do provide badly needed employment for Hondurans as well as the obvious result of proving clean water. I know it is the dream of some of the members of the Texas Water Ministry to be able to drill on a more continuous basis. The benefits are readily apparent, as is the command from The Holy Spirit.

I’ll post some more as well as some pictures later.

Well is at 210 feet as of yesterday afternoon. This morning, Saturday, October 3, they are going to pump the mud out of the well, dry it out, and go back in with the air hammer. Keep praying, I believe water is down there.