And the land still isn't tilled...

On the plus side of the tillers still not seeing much action, the Congolese guys are beginning to believe me when I told them that the machines are good, but not perfect. When they first came, everyone thought they would just open up all the space in the whole city of Beni for planting, and as we have struggled to get one of them up and running, I think people are finally seeing the truth.

I talked to the director about bringing both machines to the school today and he didn't think it was a good idea. It would be better if only one machine was there and the other stayed in storage. That way, it would force the workers to really take care of that one machine and really learn how to use it vs. till as much land as possible as quickly as possible. I actually like that idea, so now we are trying to fix the tire of the one at the school.

We tried to pump the tire at the house and it didn't work. Then we tried again today and the valve just popped off! Now there is a hole the size of the valve in the tire. No wonder it didn't want to pump up. Anyway, I just sent it into town with someone and hopefully we can fix it. If it works, I'm thinking that should be the last problem, outside of the weather.

It rained again last night, so even had the tiller been working, we wouldn't have been able to use it. We have cabbages that need to be transplanted though so the two guys working with me were using the hoes to break up the soil better and removing all the weeds and roots to make good planting beds the old fashioned way. I raked a large area we cut before so the rotor tiller won't struggle so much and if we have to use the hoes, that will be easier too.

I am beginning to think maybe God is saying don't use the machines, or is trying to teach us a lesson. Machines are good, but they have their own problems. I hope the workers here will be able to respect the machines and use them when it is a lot better to use the machine, and not when it is just easier to use them.