An Inflation Lamentation

The past few months have been difficult in various ways. One thing that we have been struggling with quite a bit is our finances. Lately the exchange rate has been in our favor. At the beginning of the year we received about 1,500 shillings for every dollar. Today we are getting approximately 1,650 for every dollar. That's a 10% increase. Because of this it feels like we should have much more money left over at the end of the month but in fact, it is just the opposite. I tried to figure out what was the cause for shortage and came to a startling conclusion. Everything. The price of everything has gone up in the past 10 months. For example:
Sugar increased 20%
Gasoline has increased 19%
Electricity has increased 23%
LP Gas has increased 13%
Pasteurized milk has gone up 68%
And at one store I saw maple syrup increase 90% over night. One 24 oz bottle of the normal cheap kind of maple syrup increased from $3.35 to $5.75 (after factoring in the current exchange rate, that's a 71% increase).
As an American, I expect to see some inflation of goods and services. It seems like the average has been around 3% for a long time. But I was really surprised to see the high rate of inflation here. I can only imagine how hard it must be for many of the Tanzanians who are fortunate to have a job let alone a pay raise to offset inflation.

Please pray that the Lord would provide extra money for us. I have looked for corners to cut and ways to tighten our belts. We are managing with what we have but we are limited in the amount of ministry we can do.
I have been writing about our water project the past few months. I told you how we were promised government assistance in bringing water to our property if we would help dig the trench for the water pipe. Apparently, that was mostly untrue. We did assist in digging the trench for our neighbors. It cost about $800 in total. About $300 of it was spent helping the neighbors dig their trench. This was a very good testimony for our church. The city brought the water pipe and installed it half the length of the trench stoping about 1,500 feet away from our church. When I followed up with the water department they informed me that they were completely finished with the job and they would not be bringing anymore pipe for the trench. The bottom line is that the remaining 1,500 feet will not be free. It's not a lot of money -about, $800 but it is definitely beyond my ability to pay for it before the end of the year.

Pray about this water project please.