Things we take for granted

For many years now my sister-in-law, Emie, has been fundraising for World Vision. She is SO passionate about doing everything she can to help others get clean water and I continue to be amazed at the effort she pours into raising funds for that organization. Clean water is something we Americans take for granted. We have it in abundance. Even in times of drought, we take it for granted. Sure, we may try to limit how much we water the lawn or take quicker showers, but most of us don't fret about whether or not there will be water coming out of our faucets when we go to turn them on. I sure didn't anyway.

When we went on the tour of campus last week, the guy leading the tour told us that this part of Mexico was experiencing a 9 year drought. Now, I knew that water wasn't abundant out here, as my father had been out here this past April and was told that showers were limited to 3 minutes. Anyway, we were told that the mission sits above a natural underground water reservoir and that while we need to be careful with our water use, most of the time everything is okay. However, the employee mentioned that there have been times when the water simply wasn't there, that there would be nothing coming out of the faucets, and the mission had to restrict almost everything that required water for weeks at a time until the groundwater source was replenished. Today, we got to experience a taste of that. This afternoon I went to turn on the faucet and...nothing. Nothing but faint gurgling like the sound when air gets into the water line. There was no water. As I began to talk to other people around the mission I found that it was not an isolated problem. Nobody in the compound had running water. I found myself feeling extremely grateful that I had already done 2 big loads of laundry today before the water ran out. And fortunately our drinking water comes from a different source, so it wasn't as severe as what other cultures must experience (we have to walk across campus a couple times a week and fill up 5 gallon jugs to bring back to our home for our drinking water dispenser.) But it's a bit unsettling to realize that something was wrong with our water source to the point where nothing was coming out of our faucets. It made be realize how privileged I truly am.

Thankfully, water was restored several hours later. I don't really know what the scoop is on the water supply. We don't get email updates as things happen here (not everyone has easy access to internet around here). I assume that we may hear about some extra water restrictions tomorrow morning during our daily staff gathering time. Maybe it will end up being nothing more than a pump failing and our water supply is fine. But whatever the case, today was an eye opening experience. I will never look at water the same way again. And I hope you don't either. Take some time today and thank God for some of the things that we so easily take for granted. Water. Clean air. Sewer systems. Education. We are so blessed! Thank you Lord for all of the blessings you have bestowed upon us! And may the people who don't have such blessings receive them soon.