February Newsletter 2023

God has gone before us again. Our July 2022 newsletter gave details on how our property floods and pools at the end of our driveway. Patrick started to pray for God's wisdom and came up with the idea of a dry-well. The ABWE Gambia team prayed, and before we reached out to our supporters for assistance, God inspired Faith Community Church in Dover, DE, to reach out to us, saying, "Our missions committee has been praying for you. Do you have any upcoming project needs?" God did it again, He inspired His people to provide for our ministry needs and funded the dry-well to answer our prayer.

What a mighty God we serve! The funding came just as we had a two-week break between teams. They dug two wells by hand, one bucket at a time, each 20 feet deep and holding 3,500 gallons of water. Our neighbors were happy to fill in the holes in our street with good clay soil instead of the construction trash that is usually thrown into such holes. They dug three-foot sections at a time, put in a mold, mixed the concrete by hand, and bucket-poured the concrete section by section. A plumber came and added two drains at the base of our driveway, drainpipes to the well, and another pipe connecting the two wells. They were then covered with a reinforced concrete slab with access pipes. Unfortunately, time ran short, and the team of 18 arrived. But we will have the project completed before the next rainy season.

Meanwhile, our partners at Omega Church asked Patrick to give a message the day after their church beach picnic. The picnic included games such as an enthusiastic game of tug of war. Thanks to Ashley McConnell and Melissa Amon from the REACH homeschool program, Michele was able to lead a treasure hunt. After Patrick's sermon, he announced his theology class to anyone interested and was overjoyed that 12 people signed up for the class this March.