water pump & babies

I think my house hates me.  Since I moved in back in January, my landlords have painted the indoor walls, fixed the closet floor that had a hole to the ground below, replaced all of the plumbing, cleaned out my water tank, built up my exterior wall, and painted the wall and gates. And now my water pump is busted.  So I've been scooping water out of the tank outside with buckets since Sunday, and I'm still waiting for news about when the landlords are going to replace the pump.  

My first thought was to find a place to shower everyday and just eat out so I wouldn't have to do dishes, but I've since then realized that living this way is really not that difficult... It's just like camping, and probably half of this country lives without indoor running water. Everything just takes a little bit longer, and I have to allow time to fill up buckets from the tank out back. Half a bucket of water flushes the toilet, and I can bathe/wash my hair with just one full bucket. This is the ultimate way to conserve water.  And as far as washing dishes goes: one bowl of soapy water + one bowl of clean water for rinse #1 + another bowl for rinse #2 (because no one wants to eat off of soapy dishes) = clean dishes. Easy.

On to ministry updates...

I'm currently working with 3 pregnant teenagers.  Two of them are from the bridge and spend their time sniffing glue all day and sleeping at the night shelter.  I have very little hope for the poor little babies, but I'm going to do everything I can. Tomorrow, I'm taking them to the OB-GYN in the afternoon, and hopefully the doctor can help convince them to lay off the glue a little bit...

The other girl isn't a street kid, but she just turned 17 and is 7 months pregnant.  She and her boyfriend are really great kids, but they come from very poor families and are struggling to make ends meet. They have a room where the boyfriend works, and Skip and I have been helping them out since December. They bought a twin bed and an old stove, and we loaned them money to buy a propane tank. We've given them clothes and kitchen stuff, but other than that, they literally have nothing. This is currently weighing on my mind because I just heard about a big missionary garage sale that's happening on Saturday. In a country full of so many poor and needy people, I hope there is some good reason for missionaries to be selling their things instead of giving them away to people like this couple who really need them.