Kibidula Pilot

2012-02-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

So my sense of the excitement in Lusaka being volatile was not unfounded. I have since heard that 15 people died in the chaos.

Zambia trip

2012-02-14T07:23:00.001-08:00

I had to travel to Zambia with some of our staff for board meetings at Riverside Farm. Somehow one of their vehicles was left here and needed to get to Zambia so I drove it down and we had an uneventful trip of something like 20 hours of driving. For some reason I came down with a serious case of diarrhea which had me very worried about the bus trip home. I figured if I didn't eat or drink anything before and on the trip, I should be ok because there surely wasn't anything left in me to cause a problem. I was right. Having skipped four meals and drinking very little, I was able to make the bus trip without having to stop the bus even once. Zambia had won the Africa Cup Soccer and Lusaka was wild with excitement. Almost scarry but at the very least, highly anoying with constant shouting, wistling and horn blowing. The bus itself was decent and it traveled all night to reach the border in the morning. We had a rush crossing to make it to the other side before another bus left. It was nice to make it home for lunch. It is raining plenty now for which I am thankful. Unfortunately it is also accompanied by hail almost daily which is hard on the garden and crops. Our own board meetings will be in less than two weeks. I think our first visitors begin arriving this week.

Lost and Found

2012-02-07T09:12:00.001-08:00

It was Sunday afternoon and I drove up to where I planned to cut down a few trees. I parked the car in the middle of the road because I new I would be dropping trees right accross the road a little way ahead. I cut the first big tree and then the second and then started on the third but it was leaning back just a little too much and with the wind blowing it leaned into a couple of other trees behind it. About this time dark clouds had come up and there was constant thunder and lightning all around (22 cows died from lightning strikes in a neighboring village last week) I didn't think it was a good idea to leave the tree still standing so I decided to cut the other two trees and let them all fall. By now it was hailing but under the trees the hail wasn't so bad so I kept cutting. Then my saw got pinched. I went and got my little saw and managed to free the bigger saw. By now the rain was coming down by the bucket fulls. There was a steady stream running off my hat and I was totally soaked. After falling the trees I went back to the car, put my saws in the back and sat in the drivers seat and reached for the key to start it... but the key wasn't there! Oh no. I had put the key in my pants pocket forgetting that there is a big whole and the keys no doubt fell straight out and unto the road which by now was running ankle deep in fast flowing muddy water. My keys could be anywhere. I went and looked around the trees I had cut but there was nothing there. I couldn't drive home so the only think I could do was wait. Since I was soaked and shivering by now I decided that I should keep working to keep warm so I went and fell another several trees. The rain was subsiding but the water was now about 8 inches deep and flowing very quickly. My keys could be far away by now. I called my wife and asked her to bring me her set of keys. By the time she came the water was subsiding. I walked down the road and found that a couple hundred meters away there was a spot where the road flattened out and the water got deep before rushing on down the hill. There was no way the keys could have been swept past that point so at least I had a limit on how big of an area I would have to search. Knowing that God knows exactly where those keys are gave me some comfort. With a prayer in my heart I began feeling the ground around my car under the water. A bunch of leaves and sticks and mud were caught behind each of the tires so I commenced pulling that apart hoping the keys had somehow been washed up against the tires. My wife showed up with the spare set (using my mother's car) and so I was able to move my care off the road and then I went back and began raking my fingers through the sand that was under and around where the tires had been and to my suprise and great joy, I found my keys.

By the way, it hailed so much during that storm that even now (tuesday afternoon) there are patches of ice here and there where the hail was washed into drifts. Unfortunetly many peoples crops have been destroyed but we are thankful that we have recieved heavy rains for several days in a row.

rain

2012-02-04T05:31:00.001-08:00

Well, praise the Lord, it is raining heavy and steady. We've even had hail the last two days. I've been cutting down masive trees and having them made into lumber - which is turning out to be thousands of boards. It is a bit of a pity to cut down such masive trees that Kibidula will probably never see the likes of for size again but the trees are around our water source and they are known to be a variety that removes huge amounts of water from the soil every day and this year we have seen a very noticable drop in available water so we carry on. My old Husqvarna 55 is really wearing out so I had to bite the bullet the other day and buy a new saw. They are a bit expensive here but I got a Husqvarna 372 and it is a real pleasure to work with.

I had the opportunety to visit an avocado farm south of Mbeya this week with my family. It is very impressive. The man (who lost his farm in Zimbabwe) has, in just five years, turned that piece of land into a beautiful plantation. He is growing for export to the UK but I suppose if there is any threat to the local market, he could be a threat. Well, he seems to be helpful and has a lot of information and I'm still looking for the Lord's leading on that.

That's all for now. Happy Sabbath everybody. Jason

Thanksgiving

2012-01-31T05:11:00.001-08:00

More than three years ago I started transcribing DVD lectures delivered by Pastor S. Bohr. These lectures number 20 in total and each is more than an hour long. The topic: The 3 Angels' Messages. I initially started transcribing these messages because of its vital importance. I then started teaching these lectures at our local church - my burden was, and still very much is, that Seventh-day Adventists should understand the mission of this end-time movement of God. But, being a mother of three young girls, time was in short supply and I eventually put it aside.

Last year, during 2011, I was so convicted that time is short indeed that I once again started teaching Bible classes at our Lay Evangelism Training Center here at Kibidula. I love teaching and I believe God has given me this small talent for this purpose. But teaching again, now that the girls are bigger, meant I needed to finish transcribing those lectures (with Pastor Bohr's blessing by the way), put it into teacher's notes for myself and compiling a second, shortened version of notes for the students. Well, it all takes time. Many hours of work over months.

But today, to my great joy, I finished!

I am not going to take the time to explain here the frustration of living in the bush far away from supply stores that sell reasonably priced ink for printers or the trials and delays that accompany being a missionary wife and mother in Africa. (Fortunately those are FAR less than the privileges and joys of being a missionary wife and mother!) But living takes more effort here so I had to juggle things quite a bit during the last four weeks while I was teaching at the school every morning, taking care of my home duties, tending to the girls' needs and trying to get the notes ready for translation into kiSwahili. Now I cannot wait to hand these notes over to the man who volunteered to translate it for me (he also uses these lectures to reach out to our Tanzanian youth on campus) and to see him start the last phase of getting these notes to the missionaries in un-entered areas of Tanzania and beyond.

But I know that the Enemy doesn't like that we are working to get materials filled with vital present truth into the hands of the people so I know he will do what he can to cause more delay and troubles. I am writing this post with a prayer in my heart and a request that you will say just one prayer with me to dedicate these materials to His glory and honour and that it may work silently to bring many souls out of darkness into light and into the kingdom of Christ.

I just want to praise Him for helping me to accomplish this project.

Now I am done teaching till later in August when we have a fresh intake of students. I look forward to getting back into a normal routine with the girls - I stopped homeschooling them during this time because, suffice it to say, there just wasn't enough time between the school, them, the house, and the garden. Twalisa continued reading her Bible and some books and in the meantime little Emily (6) is very enthusiastically working away at Math and she loves it! She loves school! (For now) I didn't plan on starting grade 1 till she was 8 but the girl is begging to 'start real school' and 'forget about kindergarden'. I must confess I love having an eager student for a change so I am planning on trying to teach her to read and seeing how that goes.

Thank you so much for your love, care and prayers. It really helps so much more than we can ever express here in public. We face some new challenges now and our time is in short supply these days but my fears and anxieties are soothed by His merciful blessings.

- Pilot's Wife

Accident

2012-01-24T03:30:00.000-08:00

No, it wasn't a car accident. I've been cutting alot of trees and quite a few around some houses. I bought a new chainsaw the other day and on the very first tree I cut, the wind came up stong against me on the last moment. I couldn't stop the tree from going down and the top branches hit directly on a house. I had already evacuated the place so nobody was there but the roof was very damaged. I have a couple of guys rebuilding it now. I am trying to finish up the trees that are near the house before the new roof goes on. The trees are gum (eucaliptys) and very tall and very heavy. The trees yield up to 8 pieces twelve foot long each and in some cases the first branch is 75 feet from the base.

I learned that there is a large commercial avocado farm a few hours drive from here and I'm very interested to go visit it. The owner is appearently very friendly and has heard of us and would like to work with us. We'll see what comes of it.

I haven't mentioned 'til now, we have a new family on campus. Doug and Tamara Schoch and their son Joshua have joined us to head up health education with the goal of starting more direct health work. They have just arrived and will be heading to language school for six weeks starting on Sunday.

Jason

Wake Up Call

2012-01-16T04:54:00.001-08:00

We had a very nice rain last evening and we are so thankful. May it continue to rain enough to replenish the water sources before the long dry season arrives.

On a lighter note....

Have you ever had someone calling you on your phone around 2 or 4 in the morning just to tell you to wake up, it is time to pray? Well, Jason has somebody out there that's really concerned for his spiritual wellness because this fellow started doing this off and on a few years ago until Jason told him that he needs some sleep and I imagine something like 'my soul is doing fine thanks'. I never thought of it again until the evening before last night when it happened again for the first time in a long time: at 2:30 am. 'Time to wake up and to pray!'

I choose to think of this person as really faithful and genuinely concerned for God's people and that he has chosen to concern himself with the spiritual welfare of my husband. Why else would someone call you to pray? You think they would say something really annoying but who can get mad at a call to prayer? :)

Anyways, dear husband is looking for a way to block this person's phone number so he can sleep undisturbed. I wish someone would give me a call to prayer - BUT at 5:30 in the morning of course!

- Pilot's Wife

Logging

2012-01-14T06:23:00.000-08:00

What have I been up to lately? The price of lumber shot up by 80% in a single jump this year and being that we have started building a church for our campus and were needing some wood, I decided it was time to harvest some of our own trees. I started cutting a few trees about two weeks ago and there were alot more than I thought. Some of them were very large - the base being more than twice the length of my chainsaw bar, and have yielded quite a lot of lumber. That was pine. We have now started cutting some eucaliptys. The trees are big and straight with each tree yielding up to 150 boards. I have hired two local little mills which are actually a chinese grinding mill engine connected to a big table saw. They have to cut the logs into quarters by chainsaw to get them small enough to handle by hand back and forth across the table saw. Anyway, that's what I've been doing, in case you were wondering. Jason

drought

2012-01-14T06:14:00.000-08:00

When we think of drought, we think of bare, windswept, sunbaked, hot, dry... Actually last year our rains ended early, like March or so and this year they never really started until well into December when there was some heavy rains including flooding that left many dead and thousands homeless. But since that, we have only had sprinkles now and then. It actually clouds up every day and threatens rain. Today there are heavy clouds and even lots of thunder but barely a sprinkle. The landscape is green and all looks well - except that our springs are still drying up slowly and there is no water in the wells in the village. This month it should be raining daily. I think we had one rain. Anyway, if we don't get rain soon, the season for it will be over and we'll be heading into another dry season without the benefit of spring water. Pray for us. Jason

Happy New Year Y'all

2011-12-31T08:02:00.000-08:00

It has been mostly a rainy Sabbath day. Now we are trying to figure out what to do with the kids this evening. They are itching to do something fun (being New Years Eve and all) So far we haven't come up with anything interesting and now they are getting on each other's nerves. Anyway, since we are ahead of most of you here on Middle Eastern time, Happy New years everybody. May the coming year be a year of growing faith in and love for Jesus. And remember, His coming is sooner than when we first believed. Jason

Why avocadoes?

2011-12-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

Actually, if Jesus is coming soon, why invest at all in anything that won't bring returns within the next couple of years? It is a question that I have had to deal with since becoming director here at Kibidula. I've heard it preached that time is so short and it's like we're on the sinking Titanic - not the time to be sweeping the floors and washing the dishes.

I have concluded otherwise. Yes, I believe Jesus is coming soon, but he is waiting for a certain condition amongst His people and being that He isn't impatient like us, soon may be sooner than we think, but then it could be longer than we think. What I do know is that it is sooner than when we first believe. I also know that there is a work to be done and it is far from finished. I can also tell you by experience that it takes money to run this mission. The trees that were planted decades ago are now helping to meet the financial needs of this place. The trees that I've planted in my garden a few years ago are now beginning to bear fruit. The trees that we plant today will bear fruit in five or so years. If Jesus comes before that, praise the Lord! And I will have no regrets for having planted those trees. And if He doesn't come in five years, or ten years or thirty years, praise the Lord, we will have something to live on and finances to continue the work He has given us.

The story is told of someone asking an old christian man who was hoeing in his garden, "suppose you knew that Jesus would come tomorrow, what would you be doing?" The man paused for a moment as he thought and then he answered, "I suppose I'd keep right on hoeing." And with that, he carried right on hoeing. I believe it is time for each of us to be ready for Jesus to come any time and if we are ready all the time, and we were doing the task that He has given us to do, then we wouldn't need to rush off and try to accomplish some last minute thing. We'd just carry on with the task He has given us.

So I have concluded that the principles of self-supporting ministry are just as valid today (all this much closer to the coming of Jesus) as they were way back in Ellen White's time. And with that conclusion, I am determined to continue to build a solid financial foundation for Kibidula (as elusive as it has been all through the decades). I have decided that avocadoes will be that foundation. Why avocadoes? ask me some time and I'll explain it to you. Anyway, it isn't cheap to get into such a project either but I believe that God will provide and that the harvest will more than repay the investment. So watch with me as we start down this road and join me in prayer for its success.

Jason

Avocado Farmer

2011-12-21T22:12:00.001-08:00

If anybody out there knows of a hardworking, resourceful, inexpensive, missionary minded and successful farmer willing to do battle with the elements on the frontlines in Africa while putting in an avocado plantation of a pretty large size, I have just the place for him/her. I am needing just that kind of person. Jason

work

2011-12-19T02:37:00.001-08:00

I feel a little overwelmed at the moment. There is so much to do. Earlier this year I bought a grinding mill and oil press but haven't gotten the time to set them up. About a year and a half ago I purchased several solar light sets (panel with light) for different staff here who have no solar power. They just arrived recently on my mom's container but it needs time to set up. I took out our old stove when we were given a new one and took it to the shop for an overhaul. It is ready to go but needs to be installed in another staff house. We are in the process of building a chapel/hall and it needs me to get more involved - especially in the area of getting material. We need more lumber and I need to arrange a miller to come in and cut it. We purchased a solar water system for the primary school but it needs a new pipeline put in. All that on top of the fact that we are running very tight financially. I've decided that it has to be a priority for Kibidula to invest in something that will make us self-reliant and I think Avocadoes are the thing - but that needs money, know-how, TIME. And then to top it off, we have scheduled a furlough for next year, bought the tickets and everything, but I'm not sure how things will work out. Just around the house I have a bunch of half done home improvement projects that I barely have time to look at now and then. Anyway, if anyone out there knows of a handyman with too much time and a little extra money, we could figure out what to do with both. Actually, if anyone knows of a millionair who is looking for somewhere to invest, I've got just the place for him. Bottom line, what really need is an expert in growing avocadoes (and a bunch of money). And I'm thankful that the Lord sees all our needs and takes care of us far beyond what we deserve.

Zanzibar

2011-12-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Jason has been updating a bit on our unexpected and fun trip to Zanzibar this past weekend. We were blessed not only with beautiful nature all around and interesting sights and smells but also with good company. We had a good weekend! I did sweat a lot though! On the way back accross the sea in the boat to Dar I was seasick - not nice!! I'm posting some pictures.

Emily with her favorite goggles

Early Morning Exploration on the Beach

Beautiful!

The girls were delighted by all the shells that were everywhere.

Our new friends, Jay and Jason, brought Emily a birthday gift - a Hermit crab! She was trying to be brave holding onto the curious little creature.

Our Miss Personality! She had a lot of fun on the beach.

Resting & Relaxing

Did I mention that Shiloh had lots of fun? The white sand was very fine - it reminded me of soy flour. She would repeatedly roll and play in the sand and run to wash off in the sea.

Happy Beach Girl

For a while now we've noticed that whenever we travel and she encounters bad smells, especially fish smells, she gags. She can't help it! Of course it makes me run for water while trying to distract her from the smell. Well it FINALLY dawned on me to teach her to pinch her nose. For a while she insisted I pinch her nose but that got tiring in the fish market so she had to choose between gagging and pinching her own nose. :)

We had a real QUICK tour of stone town. I love history and these doors are so beautiful. I was carrying Shiloh on my back African style to not slow the group down. That made for lots more sweat! :)

We also enjoyed learning more about spices grown on Zanzibar.

After the spice tour we all received baskets, hats (crowns?) and ties made from palm leaves. This is about the only time Jason would agree to be good and wear a tie. :)

The Mister and his Missus.

We ended our stay on Zanzibar with a meal on the floor in the home of a very hospitable stranger thanks to our guide with lots of contacts. We then made our way back to Dar on the boat where I discovered I lost my sea legs somewhere. Yuck! No, I didn't need to use the sick bag but I sure had to fight the urge all the way while my head was feeling real sick inside. But it was an adventure and it was worth it.

- Pilot's Wife

Zanzibar

2011-12-10T04:43:00.000-08:00

We actually didn't have anything to do with this except to accept. And so that is how it happened. We left out of kibidula at half past three in the morning. We were supposed to stop in morogoro to take some video footage at the Adventist printing press but it turned out to be a holiday so they were closed. We did catch some footage at our book warehouse in Visiga. We arrived in Dar in time to buy boat tickets on the "Kilimanjaro" which turned out to be a very full boat. On the two hour ride over we began to wonder what we would do in Zanzibar since we had not planned out anything. Anyway, we managed to find a taxi big enough for our group of ten and on their advice we crossed to the east coast and found a place to stay at a reasonable price. Today we are just enjoying a relaxing day and tomorrow we head to stone town to to get video footage for the OCI video project. Then Sunday afternoon back to dar, I have business to do on Monday and then home Tuesday.

Sent from my iPad

View

2011-12-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

Accommodation

2011-12-10T04:14:00.000-08:00

Zanzibar here we come.

2011-12-09T04:12:00.001-08:00

Retreat

2011-12-05T21:19:00.001-08:00

We had the privilege to attend the OCI Africa Leader's Retreat at Lake Malawi this past weekend. It was such a timely blessing and refresher for both me and Jason and our hearts are encouraged and thankful. God is good! Otherwise it has been pretty busy here - we had our Kibidula staff retreat and Jason's dad, Frank, came from the US to minister to us for a week. I trust that it was a blessing for all. It was for me. After that Jason went by bus to Arusha to attend the Union year end meetings and we are thankful for the work that was accomplished during 2011 and we look forward to what will be done during 2012. Personally I am very thankful for God's mercies and watchcare over Jason as he travels. And HE TRAVELS A LOT! 18 hours on a bush on the African road is no joke but we are in His service and our times are in His hand so we look to Him in all our needs. I am getting a bit concerned regarding the lack of rain we are experiencing (my impression). I hope we are not headed for a drought. We will have a small team from the OCI office here for a few days to film our ministry and currently we have the wives of all our lay missionaries at Kibidula for a retreat. I pray that I will be able to connect with them and pass on the blessing and encouragement I have received at the lake.

- Pilot's Wife

2011-11-26T20:42:00.001-08:00

Today Kilimanjaro looks impressive. It has been raining heavy all weekend and both Kilimanjaro and Kibo are heavy with snow all the way low down their slope. Even Meru had some snow on it.

Sent from my iPad

Meetings

2011-11-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

I travelled on a bus for fifteen hours Wednesday and arrived in Arusha after midnight. I stayed with friends with whom I used to live many years ago and it is a nice reunion. In the morning Yonah and I went to the Union office where we were both invitees for year end meetings. The discussions are mostly out of my realm but there was some discussion concerning independent ministries and even Kibidula and publishing work that I found it good to be present and even able to defend ourselves a bit. In general I feel that we are well accepted and just being able to familiarize myself with many of them and they with me was probably worth my while coming. After arriving here I stayed up with Yonah until after 2 a.m. Talking. The meetings on Thursday lasted all day. Thursday night we got home late and I ended up chatting with Rachel until midnight. Friday was all day meetings but we got back to the house early evening. Yonah and rachel's daughter, Amina, arrived back from boarding school with several of her friends. I saw her last 12 years ago. It is interesting seeing someone you took care of often in infancy now all grown up. Raspy voice, outgoing and loud, she is the life of the party here. She arrived with her was her cousin who used to visit us at kibidula many years ago and always liked to sit on my lap and teach me Swahili words and little songs. Around midnight last night a whole family of people showed up needing a place to stay (this place is like grand central station with all kinds of people coming and going all the time). Since I was occupying a whole room to myself, I got up and moved to the living room to give space for the family of five in the bedroom. Yonah asked if I remembered the lady. I looked at her and she at me and we both shook our heads. A few minutes later she was talking to one of her kids in a language sounding language which jolted my memory. To my almost horror I suddenly remembered who this middle aged looking woman was. I gaver her a ride in my pickup probably in 1996 from morogoro to mafinga. I had heard her speak her language and its sound had struck me as being so foreign way back then and now her saying a few words brought me back to that day. She was just a young teenager, well younger than me. How did she get to be so old? I guess life does that. I wonder how people see me? I don't feel as old as she looks but I know I am older than she is. This evening I went out with Yonah and his daughter Amina to see Amina's sister Orupa at her school. From the time she was born, she had been my special little friend and now when she saw me she threw her arms around me I was surprised at the feelings of nostalgia that welled up. Except that she is eighteen, she looks like when I used to carry her around as a baby. Of course we have nothing in common anymore and we only stayed a few minutes. Now it is early Sunday morning and I am waiting to board a bus home. Another 15 hour ride. I should rather have been heading to Dar es Salaam to accompany a visitor back from the airport but I am too ready to get home and so the thought of another day of travel was too much. The poor visitor will have to make his own way to the bus and to Mafinga. My two oldest daughters are in Makete now with their grandparents. I talked to them last night and they sounded like they were enjoying it. Jason

Sent from my iPad

2011-11-19T05:25:00.001-08:00

Last evening our dog was carrying on outside so we looked out the window to see what was troubling him. I switched on the porch light and I could see some animal crouching in the rim of the truck. It looked like a cat or something. When we went outside it became evident that there was a massive rat crouching there. With an audience, Pumba became more brave but the rat wasn't going to just be taken. He fought back. Sometimes the squeeling was from the rat and sometimes from the dog. When the rat finally left his position in the rim of the truck the squeeling sometimes came from my mother and sometimes from my wife, depending on which direction he was running. In the end pumba was victorious and we had a hard time getting his trophy away from him.

2011-11-12T06:38:00.000-08:00

The other day I noticed our little LED lights in the kitchen didn't go on when I switched them on. I opened the cupboard door to look at the power supply thingy and saw the little light flickering dimly. Well, I guess that is that, I said to my wife. Fortunately we have normal lights as well and so we carried on with them. The next day I was on the phone and the computer and my wife who had gone into the guest room to put something in the freezer (the whole solar battery setup and freezer is in there) came running in saying something about a battery being melted away. As soon as I could end the call I ran to the room and besides a strong bad smell of burned battery, I was amazed at what I found. Sure enough, half of one out of the four big solar batteries was melted down to the level of the water in the battery and just the post was sticking out. Besides that some of the wires had burned away competely. The whole system was still functioning normally and that the building didn't burn down was a miracle in itself. There had been a large quilted picture that had been taken off the wall for some reason and was actually leaning over the batteries. As it turns out, out of the four batteries, two are unrepairable and another one has a hole burned into the top but I think will keep working. To replace one batterie will cost $320 - in the states! Well, well... It isn't something we planned on or even something I could have known what to do to avoid but I trust the Lord will provide whatever we need. As it happens, someone is coming from the states and working on shipping a container and is buying solar batteries so I'm hoping to get some ordered at the same time as him.

Besides that, life is much as normal. Today there is lots of smoke in the air and we can see fires in two directions. Kibidula is not under any emediate threat though. Also I came down with a nasty cold/flu which is leaving me energyless but I think I'm getting past it now.

My dad is coming next week and we will be having a staff retreat here on campus with him as guest speaker. I hope for a blessing for all our staff. I think we will be driving to Dar tomorrow to pick him up because, besides the fact that he is coming, we have decided that we should visit America as a family next year and we need to get the process going for renewing three passports, buying tickets and eventually my wife needs to get a visa for America. So, for our family and friends, we plan to arrive in Denver early June and be around until right after ASI (mid august) and we'd love to see you all.

Thankful

2011-11-05T06:34:00.001-07:00

I think if we are looking for things to complain about, I could come up with a list of my own. Things like pastors who are on a very laid back schedule, breakfast that comes half way through the day, arriving at the site where you are supposed to build and finding a church already there, rocky soil, etc, etc, etc. But as I drove home yesterday through the rain, I was very thankful for the Lord's intervention in the weather. The fact that the rains stopped for a week and a half before we arrived and started the morning after finishing our last church the night before is definately more than coincidental. Considering the roads that we drove on, they needed a week and a half of drying out before we drove on some of them. I am thankful that we were able to get all ten churches built. I think we have set our expectations too high in thinking that we will leave on Sunday with ten churches and be home for Sabbath the same week after driving over 2000 kms but just the same, we are home with our families and I'm thankful.

Some other things I am thankful for is the fact that I was able to find some super glue in a little village kiosk before my teeth completely fell out. I am thankful that there was some parts of a One Day Church sitting up in Arusha at the ADRA office and they were willing to send me the missing pieces at no cost. I am thankful that even though we were on a steep slope of Mt Kilimanjaro on a tiny plot of land and racing the clock (or should I say the dusk) when the foundation stake puncured a water pipe, we were able to move the church far enough over to get out of area of the water pipe and still finish in three and a half hours. The resulting leak in the pipe was minor and will be taken care of by the village water department. I am thankful that a little blue car only left a little line of blue paint about 4 inches long on the back of the truck. I didn't see whatever damage might have happened to his car but Bill, who was driving behind me, said it looked like his hood ran under the back of my truck and it looked like he sustained a deep gash in his hood. He continued driving along with us and then turned off. And I am thankful for the rain that is helping to reduce the dryness here.

2011-11-02T20:18:00.001-07:00

I guess if that doesn't stir a comment, nothing will.

Sent from my iPad

Troubles

2011-11-02T13:04:00.001-07:00

It started yesterday when someone counted the pieces for the trusses. We were eight pieces short! Then this morning while eating a particularly hard orange, I heard an ominous crack sound in my mouth. Dentures are not the way to go. While driving into Moshi this afternoon, there was a car stopped in the middle of my lane talking to the guy in the car beside him. I honked my horn and he put his indicator on and moved forward and started easing off the road. I passed him and as i eased back into my lane, so did he. This evening while racing against the clock because of a very late start, one of the foundation stakes ran into something hard. After pulling it out, the hole quickly filled with water.

Stay tuned and good night,

Sent from my iPad

Jack fruit

2011-11-01T22:24:00.000-07:00

New church

2011-11-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

My bedroom/old church

2011-11-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

2011-11-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

It is almost five thirty and everybody is stirring. I slept ok except that there were several guys preparing the site right beside us until one this morning. Bill found some bug spray in his car that he didn't know he had and we all sprayed ourselves. I got up at 11 to water a bush and there was sweat running down my back but somewhere in the middle of the night it cooled off and I actually had to zip up my sleeping bag part way. Ok, here're goes church number seven. Have a great day.
Sent from my iPad

2011-11-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight most of the guys (I should say all of them, including bill) want to sleep on the truck. Something about scorpions... There is a tiny shelter with three little benches that composed the original church here. It has no walls but a palm thatch roof. I am going to try my luck there. There are mosquitoes here but worse than that is the fact that it is too hot for sleeping and combine that with mosquitoes means you have to stay covered...

In the morning we will finish up church number seven and then head off toward mount kilimanjaro to build three more there. It is far so I expect to only get one done there. Good night.
Sent from my iPad

2011-10-31T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sunny morning up by Kenya. Got the truck stuck briefly in sand. Bill pulled me out. Probably only get two churches done today. Got to get to work.

2011-10-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

So as it turns out, it took us about three and a half hours and I am now in a hole in the wall guest house. Some of the guys are sleeping on the truck. We are actually on the border of Kenya. I'd send this now but there is no network so you'll see I when you see it.
Sent from my iPad

2011-10-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

So we managed our third church today and almost succeeded in finishing in the daylight. I ended up having to put my headlamp on for the ridge cap. It has been amazingly hot and humid here. I thank the Lord for keeping the rain away. But the sun coming out made the metal so hot you could hardly touch it. My cloths have been drenched with sweat all day. I think our trip to the next sight is pretty long so I have no idea how late we will be rolling our mats out tonight.
Sent from my iPad

Caught!

2011-10-31T05:12:00.001-07:00

I happened to check e-mail when I noticed dear husband is posting to the blog while he's supposed to be building churches so I called him on the phone and asked what's up?! He's building all right but he is also grabbing a minute or two here and there to update the blog to keep people updated on what's going on. They're on their way to build church number four!

- Pilot's Wife

2011-10-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

Did you see our new magnetic stickers? This is our faithful truck that is getting a beating
Bill says, "while we're out here sloggin, we know you're in there bloggin" so I had better get going.

2011-10-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

This is the church we are about to replace.

2011-10-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

2011-10-30T22:18:00.001-07:00

There are heavy clouds and rain on yonder mountains. If it starts raining where we are, we'll never get out of here. It is like a jungle here.
Sent from my iPad

2011-10-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

So we travelled an hour or so to some village where we will build next. There is no cellphone network so I can't send this. We didn't exactly park on site but in a village street. There are dogs laying all around. I slept ok for a few hours in someone's yard next to the street where the truck is parked but grew restless a while ago. I was having strange dreams about being wrapt in a sleeping bag and drenched in sweat. I was rescued by the local imam who called out very loudly that it is nineteen minutes before four. Nobody could sleep then. Bill said we ought to tie the guy to a tree and duct tape his mouth but I don't think that would be a good witness. I am sitting in the truck waiting for everyone to be ready to role.

Sent from my iPad

Long day

2011-10-30T11:08:00.001-07:00

Fourteen hours drive and built one church. They need to invent bug zapping head lamps. The other problem we had is a heavy dew while putting the roof on makes things slippery. We just had some ugali with a tiny bit of greens and now we are heading off to the next site to sleep.

Sent from my iPad

Off again

2011-10-29T08:57:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow we head out for another week or so of building churches. The truck is loaded and ready to go and I just need to get some sleep and then travel the 10 or so hours to our first site. I'll let my wife fill you in on what happens from here. Jason

Long time.

2011-10-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in front of the police station with a little time on my hands. Nothing happens quickly when it comes to police matters. The issue isn't that big. Someone has been stealing trees a few at a time from off our property and the other day things worked out for him to get caught. The problem with catching a thief is that you have to follow through with a long legal process. You get to hear a lot of "come back tomorrow." what a waste of time.

I had fully intended to keep a daily diary type record of last week's church building trip but it turned out to be difficult. We were pushing too hard with too long of days to have the energy to sit down and type something so here is a bit of how it went.

I loaded the truck with some guys the Friday before the trip. The newest batch of churches that arrived recently have some slight variations from the previous version so I had to make some changes in the loading racks to accommodate the different dimensions and especially the foundation stake pounders had to be totally redesigned. That in itself took a whole day. Sunday morning I left home at 3:05 a.m. Bill left around 4 with the crew. I picked up Ezekiel in Mafinga and we drove down to near Morogoro where we met up with a couple of church members who led us down a bumpy road to our first site. unfortunately there was a gully crossing the road about a mile or two from the site and I was not willing to drive the heavily loaded truck through it. It turned out to be just as well because ahead the road was so narrow the truck couldn't have gone anyway so we had to unload one church from the truck and shuttle it over with the pickup. The village was pure Maasai with a nice congregation of around 120 members. They cooked us a nice feast of chicken and rice and were quite dissappointed when several of us turned down the chicken. fortunetly they had some greens too so we could eat our rice with something. The folk from town had brought fruit and lots of drinking water along.

After completing church number 1, we were taken to town were they had arranged for us to leave the truck under guard and they had hired a pickup to join our pickup and carry the tools and one church to another quite remote site some distance from town. By the time we arrived there it was pitch dark. We did some preparation work in the dark (I had forgotten my three head lamps in the truck) and got tired and spread out our sleeping bags on the ground around the tools and stuff and started to sleep. Around 11 p.m. supper showed up and they woke us all up to eat. The food was fine but at that time of day I'd rather have just slept. I woke up early in the morning (I woke up many times but finally decided to give up sleeping) and we got things stiring and within a couple of hours had the church done. I think we got back to our truck around 10 and headed up the road toward Dodoma. I was actually a little worried about rain because the air was very humid and it was cloudy and it actually drizzled a bit. I could see rain falling on distant mountains. It took several hours of driving to get to Dodoma and by the time we got there I could see that rain would not be a problem. They haven't had rain for many months and there is no sign of it coming either.

Dodoma town is an interesting place for me. Actually there is very little reason to have a town in such a place. There is hardly any water around and no mining or other natural resource to speak of. During the communist erra, the government had decided to make Dodoma the nation's capital because of it's central location. I have always refered to it as our capital village. Well, over the past decade Tanzania has put a lot of emphasis on education and it seems Dodoma has become the capital for higher education with 16 universities and colleges. This has brought in a huge inflow of middle class people which has caused the town to grow at a rapid rate. There are huge suburbs all around the town of new and big houses. The growth of the town seems to have exceeded the rate at which the villages can move away so you have this strange mix of big expensive houses and little mud huts with mud roofs (the place is too dry to grow thatching grass so they have learned to make do (and probably keep cooler) with mud roofs). You also see villagers hearding large heards of cows through these suburbs.

Upon arriving in Dodoma I met with some of the pastors and various church members who had requested buildings. They had lots of needs but I only had eight churches left on my truck and that was all I could do. After we decided which locations get a church we had to plan a route that would be the most efficient. It was already late Monday afternoon and we still had eight churches to build this week. It was decided to build one church near town and then drive late into the night on the road toward Arusha and sleep on the site of Tuesday's first church. But first we needed lunch. They took us to some sort of restaurant where they promptly ran out of normal vegetarian food. I ended up eating rice with Mlenda - Something resembling the green stuff on the bottom of a pond but having the consistancy of snot. The road to the nearby site turned out to have a couple of bad places. Going through one dip I ended up with my front bumper on the ground and my back bumper draging on the back but we made it through with no damage. That church built we headed North. The road was bumpy and it took several hours. In the night it looked like we were driving into the middle of nowhere. When we arrived on site, we rolled our bags out around the truck and slept. Two local church members decided to keep guard and they kept up a fire and talked all night. Again we started building early in the morning. As soon as it was light I could see that the area was actually quite heavily populated. In every direction there were these little flat roofed mud huts and cattle kraals. In the morning we found the biggest scorpian I've ever seen on the ground near where we slept. From that site we headed west and a little dust road to a large sprawling village where I actually got stuck in sand for a bit. I had taken a chain along and Bill was able to pull me backward down the slope to where I could take another route. From that village we continued west past a small salt lake. It was fun driving along there because you could drive any speed you want over the dry flat salty dirt without having to follow a road. Soon we reached the Mwanza highway which is paved and we headed in the direction of Dodoma for a little way to our sixth site. We finished that church late in the evening with our headlamps on and while battling a relentless stiff wind. We ate supper and headed back toward Dodoma to sleep.

In Dodoma we were met by a church member who took us to his house. My truck barely fit through his gate and once in his yard there was barely enough room to squeeze in Bill's truck and the guys car. They had prepared a late night supper but we had already eaten. I could see that to go into the house could involve some delay in getting to sleep so the guys and myself decided to sleep on the back of the truck. Hind sight showed that a better night's sleep might have been had in the house as a cloud of mosquitoes descended on us and cause much grief. In the morning the plan was to build two churches near town and then head south west and sleep on the nineth site for an early morning build. As it turns out, we managed to finish near Dodoma early enough and the road south west turned out to be not too bad and also much shorter than they had told us. It is an interesting part of the country, just as dry and dusty as everywhere else but grape vineyards scattered throught the villages. Some of my crew had never tasted grapes before so they enjoyed a first taste. We arrived on a very well prepared site before five and managed to put up a church in just three hours and fifteen minutes. They fed us a nice meal and now we headed down the road for our last site.

We had to backtrack about 25 Kms and then head directly south on a very very bumpy road. This took several hours and finally sometime late in the night we were met by someone standing on the road who led us through some fields and between thornbushes to his mud house. He and his wife were very anxious to give us royal treatment while we were very anxious to get to sleep. Again, all of us decided to skip the mud house and sleep on or around the truck. While we climbed in our sleeping bag the tiny little woman begged us to go inside and she couldn't believe that we would just sleep on the ground outside. So be it. Sometime in the night the wind came up and the dust blew about. I remember touching my hand to my neck and noting that there was a whole layer of sand on it. It didn't matter. I think only Bill and one other guy had seen bath water since we started the trip and a new layer of dust wouldn't make any difference.

In the morning I was tired and sore but we got to work early once again and finished by around 10. This village was actually located on the main road running between Dodoma and Iringa which is near home and we only had 200 kms left to reach Iringa. It didn't make sense to head back to Dodoma and drive the paved road to Morogoro and then Iringa. That would be nearly 600 kms. As it turns out, the road was awful. It took 7 hours of miserable driving to get to Iringa. To add to the stress of it, I was running low on fuel and people had assured us that there would be no fuel until Iringa. We did managed to buy 10 litres of stolen diesel (it had to be stolen because it was sold below market price) about an hour before Iringa and needless to say, we made it out. On the way we had to cross a hydro electric dam and there was a security gate at each end. At the second gate they asked us if we could take a passenger to Iringa. Since we had an extra seat I agreed. She was an older and fairly large woman and within about ten minutes down the road she started falling asleep. The fact that the road was so terrible only made matters worse because she was constantly falling from side to side and poor Ezekiel bore the brunt of it. He tried to get her to take the seat by the door but she was afraid the door would fall open so she wouldn't move.

Anyway, here we are. I am no longer in front of the police station. The young thief's mother got him out on bond and we have to go back to town on Friday when they have to pay us for all the damage done at the police station. Then the case will be dropped. I hope that will be the end of that and I hope the young guy will have learned something.

Done

2011-10-20T02:31:00.001-07:00

It is Thursday. They finished the 10th church this morning and are on their way back home. I am praying for safe travel!

- Pilot's Wife

High Day!

2011-10-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated with Anita Mgeni and Anania as they were married at the Kibidula church. Anita has been a faithful and successful lay missionary of Kibidula for a few years now. But now she got married and will be moving far away and though we are sad to lose her we are happy for her too! Twalisa was asked to be a part of the wedding party and so, just over a week before the wedding, she got measured for her outfit and after a lot of mis-communication we finally arrived at the church for a practice march the day before the wedding. I remember glancing at the watch in the car on our way to church and thinking with satisfaction that we were only half an hour late - great! Now I'll be on time! I ended up sitting in front of the church in the car, listening to the radio, for over an hour before the first few persons arrived. Finally, over two hours later, we left because the sun was down and there's no electricity at the church and the practicing couldn't continue. Marching is very, very important to a wedding here. The marching itself takes a good hour (or very close to it!) and makes up the main part of the marriage ceremony.

The next day, the high day, commenced bright and sunny. Things started rolling early in the Fournier household. With Jason away travelling to build churches and me teaching again this week in our school of lay evangelism I had to try and get three lively little girls looking decent before leaving for class and pray that they still looked decent by the time I got back home 2 hours later! They did. :)

We left to get Twalisa to the appointed house close to the church where she and the other little flower girls were going to get dressed and wait for the pastor to arrive. And let me tell you a bit about waiting for a pastor to arrive... sometimes you wait for a couple of hours and that's on a good day! Sometimes he doesn't arrive for whatever reason and the whole thing will have to be arranged for another day. Talk about stress for the poorer families in the area who have spent money on food to feed the crowd. (And there usually is a crowd: most everybody is welcome at a wedding) But today was a high day for another reason! The flower girls were barely dressed when the pastors arrived! Not one, but two! And early! I had a good feeling about this wedding starting in such a good way!

I went to the church with Emily and Shiloh to make sure I get a seat. Well, it turns out we waited for over an hour anyways for some reason. Guests were sitting outside under the shade on the grass visiting. Finally the bridal party started arriving. The bride was whisked off into a side room of the church where nobody could see her. Then the marching started.... The MC had a lively and running commentary on the marching, even enthusiastically counting out loud to keep them on track with the music. I couldn't help but think he would make an excellent aerobics teacher. :) The bride finally came in while her groom (Emily calls him the broom!) marched from the front to meet her in the aisle all the while looking to the floor. The bride kept to the rules very well and looked very serious and didn't look up. She was so nervous! I could see her body shake. She had a hard time keeping her feet to the beat and she was teased about that! But then I saw her look up and catch the eye of her husband-to-be and she couldn't hide her smile. Yay! A good sign! (For me at least!) I will add some comments to the pictures below. The very lively pastor finally married them when the bride and groom and an overseeing married couple, were all seated and he made sure the crowd was entertained with all his jokes. A good time was had by all and after some more marching everybody made their way down to the cafeteria where the reception was held. More ceremony and songs and marching and gift giving occurred before people were able to fall in line to receive food. It was after four pm.

Some of the little flower girls and boys before the wedding.

Even bicycles were decorated for the special event!

This picture is dark but I want to show the four chairs at the front of the church where the bride, groom and two 'overseers/guardians?' are to be seated.

First the choir marched in.

This is Huruma. She marched in and out escorting the various marching parties. She also sewed the little flower girls' dresses. She has an extra supply of colored rice to add to the flower girls' plates.

Now time for the pastors to march in. Not too fast now! the MC would remind them.

Time for all the young female and male friends of the couple to march in. They end up forming an aisle and raise their hands in blessing as the bride and groom march past.

Some more young friends marching in, these had different dresses on. There were 16 men and women.

Marching, marching.

These little boys were just too cute! They tried so hard to keep time and were all wrapped up in it that they needed a hand to prod them along to the front. The hand belonged to the 'matron' who were overseeing everything - she was marching right beside them!

Finally it was Twalisa and Kiel's turn to march. Kiel is the daughter of Bill & Nanette Ross. Her favorite thing here in Tanzania is to march in weddings!

There she is! She's growing up.

The job of these little girls was to throw colored rice on the floor. They marched to the front of the church and then all the way back out the door. And, may I add, they take very small steps!

Finally the bride emerged from her hiding place. But it would be a little while before she would start marching inside.

Back inside the little girls marched, this time with some boys and the bride in tow. And they were told, much slower this time, much slower!

Here comes the groom and his attendant down the aisle to meet the bride. The groom carries flowers for his bride.

After he handed her the flowers he lifted her veil and peeked underneath. Just making sure he isn't being cheated like that poor fellow Jacob was!

Yay! They're smiling!

After a sermon, songs, signing of a certificate and the ceremony of handing the certificate to the bride and groom and to the overseeing couple they started marching out the church. Notice the decorations that family members hung around their necks.

The flower girls and brides maids ran the last distance to the Kibidula cafeteria in front of the car LOUDLY cheering and waving small branches. I was amazed that Twalisa had energy left to do this... she didn't drink water or have anything to eat for many hours.

A closer shot.

The main table. All the guests sat on benches. There was a soda drink for those at the main table.

Ahh! Food. Yellow & white rice, beans, cabbage, fried bananas, oranges, watermelon.

Emily and her little friend Ezra.

And so lots of memories were made!

- Pilot's Wife

One Day Church Building Update

2011-10-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

Day 3. 6 Churches done. I can only imagine how tired they will be when they get home.

- Pilot's Wife

Church Building

2011-10-15T21:20:00.001-07:00

He took off at 3 am. He is headed to Dodoma area. His plan is to travel there and back and build 10 churches in 6 days. He took all the headlamps he could find and he decided to leave behind the portable showers a friend had sent. There won't be time for showers. I am praying for his, and the crew's, safety.

- Pilot's Wife

Publishing

2011-10-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Of all the hats I have to wear, the newest one and, might I add, the one that I feel most uncomfortable with, is that of being publishing director for kibidula. Right now we are having a four day publishing advisory council in the shadow of beautiful Mt Kilimanjaro. This is the view from the conference room.

Around the House

2011-09-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

Having three girls and two smalish bedrooms for them it is not too uncommon to hear Oldest Daughter sighing for her own room (or space) now and then. She and Middle Daughter have shared a bedroom for just over three years now while Youngest Daughter has had her own room uptil now. Knowing, and seeing, that our daughters are fast growing up, I recognized that they will need a bit more space of their own eventually but what could we do? Jason and I played around with an idea and weighed the pro's and con's and then, Sunday morning, Jason got his hammer and started removing the wooden T&G wall that separates the two bedrooms. Some hours later it was done and the room is so nice and large! The girls will have plenty of 'territory' of their own and yet continue to learn to share and live with each other. This might never work for some families but with grace from above we can make this new arrangement work beautifully. The project is not complete yet - we need to build shelves for clothes and books and a space to hang their dresses yet. This will be our home project for Sunday mornings whenever Jason is home. These photos were also taken by Emily. On another note: Twalisa had her first 'lesson' learning to sew with her mom's electric sewing machine and she did really well! I love seeing the girls grow up! The Lord is so good to us.

- Pilot's Wife

Sticky Stuff

2011-09-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

Jason went to Dar recently to load up roofing sheets for our One Day Church project but it ended up being way too heavy for our truck to carry back to Kibidula and the company supplying the roofing sheets refused to have the shipment split in two so Jason had to rent a larger truck and ship it to Kibidula. He then proceeded to fill the Fuso with lots of boxes of tracts and things for our book office here at Kibidula and he bought 6 large plastic tanks in metal frames for Thomas to use on the sheep farm. He left Dar in the evening and reached Morogoro rather late due to traffic and spent the rest of the night in the truck. (He has spent quite a few long nights in this truck already!) Early the next morning he proceeded on to Kilombero sugar factory where they ship out something like 40 tons of sugar a day (I hope I'm mistaken and that its per week!). This is the smaller factory by the way. Jason needed to buy Thomas some molasses to feed the livestock on the farm and after several hours of obtaining permits and filling in and signing papers he could leave with 8 and 1/4 tons of molasses on the truck. A bit of molasses were leaking down the side of the truck and dripped onto our driveway and our dog was not in the least bit interested in the sticky stuff. I guess never having been on a grass diet he cannot really appreciate the bitter and strong flavor of black strap molasses! Jason used an old 1 liter water bottle and filled it up with molasses for us and boy! even after mixing with a bunch of strong African bush honey it is still strong! So it will last us a while I'm sure. :) Anyway, Jason arrived home safely late that evening (he had to drive slow with his heavy load) and sometime later in the night we woke up with a few drops of rain falling on our metal roof. We love that sound, especially after a few months of no rain leaving the area around us very dry, brown and dusty but that night we jumped out of bed and raced downstairs and out onto the porch to survey the sky. Not a single star was in sight. Jason didn't think it would rain again so our boxes of tracts and books would be safe but I wasn't so sure... our starry skies are brilliant here but not a single one was in sight thus meaning lots of clouds containing water in the air! We decided to try and back the truck up underneath our little plastic car port where we store Jason's bike at the moment. (I know!) We had to lower the tailgate a bit and it just barely made it in under the car port! Jason continued to back up until the cab was up against the car port roof. We headed back to bed and soon after we were blessed with the first rain of the approaching rainy season! I love the sound of rain splattering on our tin roof! The next morning Jason used the forklift to offload the molasses for Thomas. I have no idea how quickly the livestock will go trough that amount of molasses so it will be interesting to see. By the way, the pictures were taken by Miss Emily (5). This blog is becoming a family endeavor!

- Pilot's Wife

Touched

2011-09-18T07:11:00.001-07:00

Over a year ago I took a lady from the Czech Republic to a nearby village to visit an old lady in her little hut. She had promised the old lady that she would send her a bit of money to help. This year, when the group from the Czech Republic came again, she sent along a postcard and a little stack of bills for the old lady in the village. One Sabbath afternoon I took the time and went to the village to visit the old lady wondering whether she was still alive as I hadn't gone to visit her in a long time. I arrived at her little hut and saw smoke coming out the door so I guessed somebody was home. I called 'hodi!' and she answered. So she was still alive! I walked into the darkness of her little outdoor kitchen and there she was - sitting beside a tiny little fire that was burning some corn stalks instead of sticks, eating a bit of ugali (hard corn mush) and some cooked greens. She recognized me and welcomed me. I had a hard time breathing in the smoke of her black kitchen-hut but the Lord helped me and after a while it seemed better. I reminded her of the lady with the white hair that had visited her a year ago and then added that she had sent a little gift for her. I handed her the envelope and the postcard and explained that this card shows where the lady with the white hair lives. Then she stuck her hand into the envelope and pulled out the little stack of bills and I wish I could explain here how she reacted!! She immediately started praising the Lord for remembering her, HER, of all people and for hearing her prayers. She is very alone as nobody visits her so this gift touced her so deeply! To think, she said, God remembered me!! I cautioned her to be wise and to hide the money in a good spot where nobody will find it. I am wise, she said, nobody will take it. I was wondering whether I should offer to buy her a short wave radio or something the next time I go to town but I only thought of that afterwards. I think a radio might help her not to feel so lonesome. Valentina, if you ever read this one day, please know that your gift has touched a little, lonely old lady here very deeply and it demonstrated to her again that the great Lord of the Universe has not forgotten her after all!

- Pilot's Wife

Tooth

2011-09-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

For a few months now Jason has had lots of trouble and pain with a tooth of his. When his mom phoned and said she was coming our way he asked her to bring her dental equipment along. He is so brave! I held the flashlight while mom injected a pain killer into his pallet but I wasn't going to get too close - it hurt just looking at it. And she had a hard time getting the big molar out too. But eventually it came out and after the initial pain went away after a couple of days he has been so thankful to be pain free! Just one more thing we sometimes have to do here in the bush when you're in pain and your name is Jason Fournier. :)

- Pilot's Wife

My New Stove

2011-09-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

I was given a brand new cook stove as a present! It was totally unexpected and so kind. After waiting for a few months it finally arrived in the same container that carried the One Day Church parts. It is shiny white compared to the black one I've been cooking on for over 9 years. It is smaller too but my six breadpans fit perfectly and that's what counts for this lady! Jason had to use our forklift to get it off the truck onto our own truck but once he got the truck to our home it was he and himself who got that heavy stove off the truck and installed. The wife tried to help him move the black one out of the house and on to the truck and I huffed and puffed and almost broke a sweat in the cold winter air but we both knew that I wasn't budging that huge 'ol stove even a millimeter but that's okay. Jason assured me that I was a real help. :) It flashed through my mind that he assisted me through three births without being of much help (no huffing and puffing though) but he was a great encouragement to me so here I am returning the love and favor to him. :) I have baked a few batches of bread in my new oven since receiving the stove and it works great! Thank you!! We are in the process of fixing up our old stove a bit before passing it on to our far neighbors who would appreciate having a better stove than the one they currently have. In the beginning it took me a while to get used to cooking with wood - I was just married and had moved into my first home (the same one we live in today) and now I not only had to learn to cook but I had to learn to cook on a woodstove! Yikes!! I still remember those early loaves of bread - hard as a rock with the inside all raw and other times it had big valleys in the middle of the loaves. :) I love having a stove in our home - I have commented to Jason many a time that our stove is the soul of our home. It keeps the temperature in the home warm all year round, it cooks our food, heats water for the kitchen and the bathroom. Today Jason is painting the stovetop with a special paint for woodstoves to keep the steel from rusting.

- Pilot's Wife

New Stock

2011-09-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

We have received another container full of One Day Church structures in August. It contains 40 churches and Jason will build them over the next few months in different areas across Tanzania. It is so hard to know where to put these churches! There is pressure on us from so many people and Jason's phone rings all the time - even late at night or ridiculously early in the morning - always someone trying to convince us that they are the most needy as far as a church structure goes. :) We are thankful that we were remembered again this year and that we have received some churches. Yes, Jason travels almost non-stop now and when he starts building churches again the travel will increase but it is for the Lord and His flock that we sacrifice our time together and that makes it worth it. I think a lesser reason for so much separation, like trying to make a living, would make it harder for me. While we were in Zim earlier this year a stranger came to us and asked if he could take a picture of us. Only later did I find out that his wife passed away and he had sponsored a church in Tanzania in her honor and he was so pleased to meet Jason in Zim. It touched me and since then I've heard of another person who did the same. It is worth it! Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?! :)

- Pilot's Wife

Update

2011-09-04T03:40:00.001-07:00

I am in dar es salaam after an early morning start to get the czech group here in time to board a ferry to Zanzibar. We made good time and arrived at one p.m. They were all good travelers with only one short stop in nine hours.

The little boy in hospital is doing well after spending the night on a ventilator. The doctor says he had very bad malaria. Considering there technically isn't malaria around our place, I don't know what he had. Anyway, I still praise the Lord for his survival.

And now I sit in my hostel room with no electricity and it is really hot. I have nothing to do until tomorrow, being that it is Sunday and all. So I think I will sleep a bit. Jason

Sent from my iPad

What A Day

2011-09-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

I am so thankful that the two weeks of meetings ended today. Not that they aren't good and all but there is so much else that needs to be done and with all that needs to be done daily to make the meetings to and keep the group taken care of...

Anyway, this morning I took the speaker and translator with the sound equipment and generator to the site. My wife was feeling sick so stayed home with the kids. After set up and things were rolling as they should I was called to look at a child quickly. He was about one and a half years old and overnight suddenly developed a very swollen eye. I thought it best to take him home and maybe we would put a poultice on it. At home while looking over his situation it was noticed that he had quite a fever. 104* F to be exact. We decided to proceed with some hydrotherapy and see what that would do. His fever seemed down although we didn't check the temp at that moment. After he was all dried off and dressed in clean dry pajamas and back in his mom's lap I noticed he was shivering and I commented that his temperature was probably going back up. We were trying to get him to drink some fluids and also got the poultice on his eye. We then took his temp and it was 105* f. Quite worrying. We were discussing what hospital to take him to while still trying to get him to drink. Another temp check and he was up to 106*f. This is enough to kill a little child - no time to play around. We got some meds down to lower the fever. Keep in mind this was all in a period of a few minutes. We had a baby bottle in his mouth with an enlarged hole and he was swallowing the water but with such a high fever he was loosing control and suddenly we realized he was not swallowing nor breathing. I think he was starting to drown in the water we were giving him. There followed an intense few minutes with desperate prayers and a struggle for his life. What a relief when he was breathing again. We jumped in the car and raced for the hospital. His one good eye was dilated and not concentrating on anything and his breathing was very uncertain and weak. I was driving as fast as I could when Anita told me from the back seat to please speed up. The pedal was to the floor. My car doesn't have much to offer. There is construction going on on the road between here and town and they have these barriers across the road and they only allow one way traffic at a time. I passed a whole long line of stopped cars with my horn blaring and stopped short of the gate. It was clear they were not going to let me through immediately so I turned and drove over one of those orange cones and headed down the road. The cone stuck under the car but I new with the rough road ahead it would soon come out. A few kms later we came to the other gate. They were ready for us with big wooden sawhorses across the road. I didn't have time argue and the ditch looked doable so I took it. Anyway, the fever meds began to work and he started to respond to stimulus and by the time we reached the hospital he was looking somewhat better. I was much relieved. When the others went into the hospital I just sat in the car and let tears and prayers of thankfulness flow. Well, I am at home now and he is still in hospital. We still don't know what the trouble is.

I leave for dar at four tomorrow morning with the czech group. A baptism happened today and I have no idea how many were baptized. I know the is much rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents but right now I am feeling very thankful for one little life granted us by the Lord. Well, sun has set and there is lots to do.

Sent from my iPad

Kids

2011-08-30T12:39:00.001-07:00

> The wife just wants to add that we have been clothing the small multitude of children with sweaters and jackets which were lovingly bought and provided by their brothers and sisters from the Czech republic. However more and more children are showing up than we can provide for and quite a few of the young scamps leave their treasures at home when they come to the meetings at night, for whatever reason. I find my heart yearning more and more to take those cold little bodies and give them a warm bath, dress them in some real warm, fuzzy kiddy pajamas and tuck their rough,cracked little feet into some super soft and warm slippers. Not to mention tucking them into a real warm and comfortable bed instead of sleeping on the cold, hard ground on a mat with a worn blanket, if they're lucky. Praying that the possibility of having a childrens' center here at Kibidula will soon become a reality. There are people interested in starting such a program here to help children in crisis. Jesus would do no less I am sure. Please keep us in your prayers as we are seeking wisdom from above.
>
> - Pilot's Wife
>
>

2011-08-30T11:29:00.001-07:00

We have a group from the Czech republic doing evangelism which is keeping us busy full time. Besides that, I let them use our modem so they can do Internet so we are stuck doing all our emailing on this iPad, which, by the way, takes quote some getting used to to type on. Also our inverter burned up last week leaving us with lots of electricity in our batteries but no way to use it. Fortunately my mother is coming from the states soon enough and will bring us a new one.

Our One Day Church container arrived two days ago and it was like Christmas. Someone put a brand new stove on it for us as well as a powered lawnmower. Those things we knew were coming. The girls (us included) did not know that there was a specially doll for each of them. They are enjoying that. There were also other various goodies for work and pleasure. Yesterday, after getting the odc building organized, a couple of us loaded a couple of churches onto the truck and today I set out with some of the Czech group and we built a church today. We will build another one day after tomorrow.

My wife has started teaching again in the school of evangelism after several years of not teaching. She is teaching about the three angles message and righteousness by faith and might I add, loving it. We have been taking turns driving out to the effort to take the preacher and translator and sound equipment. The nights are cold. I wear two pairs of pants, a T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, jacket, down coat, hat and gloves and still get cold and there are about 200 kids dressed in T-shirt and shorts or so all huddled together. Last night I thought it sounded like they were actually some sort of strange choir of coughing - really it was bad.

Well, my wife is home from the the meeting so I'll send this off and head to bed. Jason

Sent from my iPad

Late night out

2011-08-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had to go to Iringa to get money from the bank, deposit a cheque, get my wife's driver's license, get insurance and road license on a couple of trailers and a car and purchase lots of food for the Czech group that was to arrive the same day. Things didn't get off to a good start. First, someone needed a propane bottle exchanged. I put the bottle in the back of my truck and on a bump, it bumped the window which shattered. Where do I get a new one of those?

Anyway, after a late start I got to Iringa and accomplished most of the business. Back in Mafinga I finished up the grocery shopping by dark. Ezekiel and wife fed us a great supper and then we headed home. Not far from Mafinga the little red oil pressure light went on. I emedietly shut the engine off and coasted off the road. I checked the oil but it was full, started the engine again but no change. OK, I'm not going to destroy my engine by trying it so I called for someone to come from Kibidula to tow us home. With quite a lot of money in the car my our particularly pale faces, I felt quite volnerable there by the road in the night so I called Ezekiel to come and join us until the "tow truck" should arrive. He came with his wife and they kept us company until 10 p.m. It was freezing. Kenedy showed up with a pick up and a short chain which we connected, I stressed the need to go slow as the chain was very short and I had no power brakes. He took me seriously and drove VERY slow. It took another two hours to get home with me trying to concentrate on only about 4 inches of chain that I could see between my hood and his bumper through the darkness.

Anyway, this morning we met with our Czech visitors and organized ourselves into five groups. Kenedy changed the oil and oil filter on my car and the problem is solved. I think the filter must have gotten clogged somehow even though it wasn't overdue for change.

This evening we each headed out to our sites to do a trial run on set up to see what is missing or not working right. So far I have reports of one PA only working with one mike. Another generator's pull cord broke. We'll sort that out tomorrow and then start the meetings for real. Pray for us. God bless. Jason

Another little bend in the road

2011-08-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

Somehow they ended up loading the wrong container on the wrong truck after the detailed instructions Jason sent in with the drivers. So now all three trucks with the three containers are in Morogoro and Jason spent the whole night in the car waiting for daylight. Hopefully the forklift (s?) will arrive before noon so they can offload the one container that is to remain in Morogoro and then put the right container on the right truck headed to Mwanza. You have to keep in mind that these containers are each 40 foot long and heavily loaded - it isn't a game. And because Jason's jet-lagged and spent most of the night wide awake it might catch up to him during the day. I guess we can choose to complain and murmur about all these little frustrations or we can, by God's grace, choose to look at it as a school of learning for us realizing that a Wise and very Loving Saviour is in conrol of every thing that touches and surrounds us. May the Lord help us as we are but human and so prone to murmuring.

- Pilot's Wife

Incident

2011-08-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

Oh, I forgot to mention a police ran right into me this morning then a bunch of angry looking police jumped out and surrounded my car and started yelling at me. I realized the whole thing could be very touchy so I apologized for being there and they made me drive in front of them to the station. The commander came out and looked at their crunched bull bars and my dented back door and asked how they ran into me. They all told him loudly that I hit them. Go figure. To get a hasty exit I settled on the spot by paying them 40,000.

Update

2011-08-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

I've just come from America where I went to attend meetings. I first got to spend over a week at my parents house. The first few days my dad was out east and my mom was gone until just the last couple days. Anyway I soon discovered the wonderful tomatoes produced on their farm and I basically ate tomato sandwiches my whole time there. I got to work some on the farm plowing but the ground was soo hard that I kept breaking bolts on the plow. Anyway, I got some plowing done. I also got a bunch of shopping done. One of the items on my list was some form of mobile communication so I could leave my computer at home when I travel and still be able to communicate with my beloved wife. When I went to Romania earlier this year I took the computer and ended up with great network connection in Europe but with my wife having none, it was kind of pointless. I went to Best Buy to look at IPads and see if it is actually something that will connect to the phone system in Africa. The IPad specialist assured me that it couldn't. The only thing I could do was get an American phone plan and pay roaming charges while in Africa. Too expensive. The next day my dad came home so we went back to town to keep working on my list. I saw people with very small laptop computers and decided to look into one of those. When I explained to the guy what I was looking for he asked why I didnt go for an IPad. When I explained the connection problem he assured me that that isn't a problem. The iPad set up for AT&T has a micro sim card and since the African networks use sim cards all I had to do was cut one down to size to fit in and I can connect. Well, I am now the owner of this thing and it is already proving itself very handy for email on the go. I am even getting used to typing on this keyboard that I can't feel.

ASI was great. The totally unexpected happened and my dad was elected president of the organization. We are all proud of him and praying that the Lord can use him in that capacity to bless others. On Sunday my two uncles picked me up in sacrememto and drove me to San Fransisco to catch a plane home. In London I was to have an 8 hour wait butnthe plain was delayed and the gate wasnt listed for most of the time so I sat and read most of the day and played sudoku sometimes. When it was about one hour left I got up and looked at the screan. Still not listed. I got engrossed in another game of sudoku and when I looked At my watch I was surprised to se it very close to the boarding time. I jumped up to look at the screen and it said gate closing. O no. I had to run across the terminal, catch a train, run across another terminal and as I approached the gate the woman called me by name. I cought my plane. Dar has been another story. right after landing I had to jump right into the thick of things. I bought sound equipment for some evangelistic programs happening in a week and began trying to untangle a huge logistical mess of clearing and handling three 40foot containers that don't even belong to us but we have ended up carrying some responsibility for. The main difficulty is that it is hugely expensive but who will pay in the end? Well, as it stands, the containers are out of port and I am sitting out the night in my car in morogoro wide awake with jet lag with a noisy cloud of mosquitos around me. I am waiting for a container to role in within an hour (it is now 2 am) and then we get to unload it. The next two containers should role in tomorrow sometime and we get to pull a few items from one of them before sending them both to mwanza, a city a couple of days drive from here. Then I get to finally go home and see my beloved wife who I haven't seen in several weeks for a couple of days before heading back to dar to pick up a group from czeck who will be doing some evangelistic work here. At the same time we have to get another container out of port and get it to kibidula. Well, pray for me. Jason

Jason

2011-08-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

My husband's been gone for a few weeks now attending the annual ASI meetings
in the States and dealing with other issues in Dar. I really look forward
to having him home again. I praise the Lord that he made it back to TZ
safely. We can't wait to hear all about his adventures and look at his
photos of the family reunion they had in California and of course I want to
hear how ASI went and how Dad ended up being the new president of ASI?!
Shiloh has been faithfully praying, "Help daddy go California" everyday and
she might stop praying that when she sees him again. :)

I spoke to Jason on the phone today and apart from having to deal with
frustrating things like corruption and having to pay for damages to the
guilty party's car in an accident earlier today (a police car smacked right
into the side of Jason's pick-up and of course they were ready to haul Jason
to the police station so he paid for their damages instead of getting into
something far bigger) he is doing okay. Thank you for all your prayers for
us, we need them and we appreciate them very much. I am posting some
pictures our friend Bill just sent me of Jason doing the things he loves
best.

- Pilot's Wife

Vacation

2011-07-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

I think it isn't normally considered acceptable to take your work with you on vacation but... there is just so much to do. The other day I was traveling back from building a church and the thought crossed my mind that if we just took the One Day Church truck on vacation instead of our car, we could build some churches. Of course, I'd have to get that past my wife. We had been planning to go to Matema beach on lake Malawi for some time since our girls have cousins in the country and there probably won't be another opportunity like this so we had planned to meet up with my mother coming from Makete and spend Friday, Sabbath and Sunday at the beach and return home Monday. That night when I introduced the idea to my wife. She wasn't thrilled. Actually she thought of every reason why it wasn't a good idea but after a little while she seemed to warm up to the plan. I called my mom in Makete and she liked the idea too so we packed our bags into the big truck and 4 a.m. Thursday morning found our whole family packed into the cab of the truck, off on vacation. The question still going through my mind was, could they really do it? Of course I know the whole process inside out, but my wife isn't the builder type, and my oldest daughter is only 8. Then there is the group from Makete. My mother is a hard worker and so is her assistant so that's a good start. Cousin Caleb may be 11 but he's barely bigger than my 8 year old daughter. Christina is 13 and a big girl, but can she work? Then my mother found a Peace Corp worker who wanted to go along so that was another girl on my crew. So basically I had an all girls crew except for myself and Caleb.

Friday morning we pulled away from the beach with everybody ready to give it their best. It took less then half an hour to the site which was right by the road. I divided myself between showing people what to do and actually doing work myself. Everybody put their best into the job and the villagers prepared a great lunch. By half past three in the afternoon we had a complete structure and were on our way back to the beach for a swim. Everybody had a great time and I must say that the whole crew worked great even though it was made up of girls. Sunday worked out similar except that the church was to be built at least an hour's drive away and it was rather far from the road. Actually there were roads leading to the site but the place is a jungle and every single branch is of great value. We had to negotiate with the owners of different trees to be able to cut off branches because those branches belong to Cocoa trees which is where their living comes from. Anyway, we made it to the site just as they finished tearing down their little mud and grass structure. Once again we were done by about the same time and another great lunch was fed to us and a good time was had by all. I wish they had more places near the beach where we can build churches on our next vacation. Anybody want to join us for a vacation???

What's Been Happening Around Here

2011-07-04T02:07:00.000-07:00

Warning: A long post!

"I wish my blog would update itself!" Jason said last evening. So I took it that he has been hoping his wife would update his blog for him sometime. Wife caught the hint and so here is a rather long blog entry to tell you about what we've been up to the last few weeks.

Jason has been busy everyday with random things that needs to be done. With two of the executive committee members away on holiday, and no pressing matters at the time, there were no weekly ex com meetings taking place. Irma has returned safely in the meantime and Jean-Luc is still on furlough - we wish him and his family a wonderful time of resting and visiting. The Ross family is also on furlough and plan to return later in September. We are thankful for the Lord's protection over our staff while they travel. Hanne Lise has been visiting her family back home in Norway and we look forward to welcoming her back at the end of this week.

In the meantime things have been pretty busy here for the rest of the Kibidula staff on campus. Thomas and family have their hands full keeping on top of things on the farm. Many lambs are being born and the flock is increasing steadily. However it seems like the soil here at Kibidula is very, very depleted of nutrients and hence some of the sheep suffer from malnutrition. Being out here in the bush it isn't so easy to get a hold of supplements so we depend on the Lord to help Thomas find the needed materials to keep the sheep healthy and happy. They have been bailing hay and making silege non-stop the last few weeks and it is tiring work but the cut fields look great!

The Primary school has been closed for a few weeks during its winter break.

The Agricultural school had its annual graduation in June. We wish all our graduates God's speed as they set out to put in practice what they had learned in the working world. A group of youth from villages in the surrounding areas came and wrote an entrance exam as application to the school. Once accepted they will join our school for a 2 year course in agriculture.

Hosea Mapile has been working with a group of villagers to make firebreaks. It is already very dry here at Kibidula and we had a big fire a couple of weeks ago which suprised us. We are thankful the Lord helped to put it out by turning the wind. Now that they are done doing the prep work by hand and with hoe they are ready to start burning in selected areas starting today. So campus will be a bit smoky for the next week or so until they are finished. We pray that no fires will run away from them. We are also thankful that the government is becoming much stricter regarding bush fires and we have noticed that people are more careful and that fires are less. At the same time dry grass and debris build up year after year where no fire passed through so that when a fire does happen it is much more intense and hot and dangerous. Jason prepared the 'fire truck' this last week. We have it ready every year but this year it was delayed a bit and so after the big fire we had we realized we could wait no longer to get it ready. It is a Unimog truck with a steel water tank on the back. We have a spray pump mounted to the tank which allows us to spray water at the fire for quite a distance. It is very, very helpful especially in a big fire where hands can no longer effectively put out the fire.

We have been buying some avocadoes from the farm and they are delicious! I am not excaggerating at all when I say that Kibidula grows the best avocadoes! It has the consistency of soft butter and makes great guacamole, tomato and avo sandwiches, etc. We do pray and are working towards upping our avocado production to supply the market.

We have sold some trees this week to a logger. The last few years we have planted thousands of trees. The first ones planted 10 years ago are ready for harvest. This beginning harvest will provide a small income for Kibidula's running expenses.

All our Lay missionaries came to Kibidula two weeks ago for a two week intensive training seminar on natural health and remedies. We have two couples on campus from the LIGHT program and they have been doing a fantastic job in training and inspiring our missionaries with simple ways of helping others afflicted with common disease. The focus is also very much on prevention thus they equipped our misisonaries with health banners, translated into kiSwahili, so they can hold health expo's in the villages they are laboring in. If you are wondering whether a health expo is feasable in a very rural, very primitive village I can assure you it is a wonderful thing to behold. I attended a health expo in our neighboring village. It was put up by our students from our Evangelism school. I sat in the back and just watched our students minister to their brothers and sisters and explain to them the health benefits of plenty of pure water, fresh air, rest, temperance, sunshine to kill germs and strengthen the bones, nutrition, etc. I was thrilled! All of a sudden these were no longer the strange ideas of white people! They listened and I believe they took in what was being explained to them by our students.

Our lay missionaries enjoyed their time very much here I dare say, judging by their enthusiastic songs and testimonies. The Lord is with these faithful pioneers as they labor in very difficult areas. Jason and I would like to thank each one of you who are faithfully sending some money to keep these pioneers going. There are medical bills to be paid for sick family members and children to be put through secondary school, etc. These expenses truly loom like mountains before these workers who are basically living on a stipend from us and how deeply thankful they are when we are able to pass your monetary gifts on to them to help take care of these burdens. Thank you!!!

Lay Missionaries and Julie Bower Singing Scripture Song in Church

Our Evangelism school is starting its second annual course for this year. The new students will be arriving today and tomorrow. The LIGHT team will continue for another two weeks providing the same training for these newcomers. Our evangelism course happens twice a year and its duration is 3 1/2 months of intensive training, evangelism and outreach.

Jason has four One Day Churches he wants to build this week. He enjoys building these churches - he always has lots of adventures and stories to tell when he returns. At the moment we are expecting one container of One Day Churches to arrive within the month (or three). We are not having much success in getting the paperwork to move forward so we sent Ezekiel to the northern part of the country to deal with it in person. Corruption is such a frustrating thing to deal with! I do trust that the Lord will let it fall into place at the right time. In the meantime we keep getting applications from churches and companies for these One Day Churches. We try not to discourage the applicants and yet we are very careful not to give them much hope because this year we are only receiving 40 churches (it seems like) and we have over 200 applications. Also we are receiving quite a few applications from churches wanting to build a church somewhere and then fill it with converts afterwards while we'd rather build a church where there is already a company of believers worshiping under a tree or in a classroom. I think Jason is looking forward to returning to the bush to build!

We are expecting a container full of literature to arrive in port this week. This book work has been a blessing to so many people of this country and I pray that these new books will infiltrate many homes to bring hope and healing and salvation.

Kibidula is in need of an accountant! It is quite urgent. Our accountant will be leaving us after years of excellent service! If you, or anybody you know, are interested in doing accounting in a different setting than you are currently in, please keep us in mind and contact us! Check out our website for contact details: kibidula.org. We are also looking for a person who loves doing PR.

On a more personal note: We went to Jason's mom's project in the village of Mago (about 4 1/2 hours from here) just over two weeks ago. We had a nice and relaxing weekend at her place. We attended the Sabbath service in her campus church and then joined the worshipers at the river for a baptism. 17 People were to be baptized that day. It is a nice flowing river and icy cold!

Above: The Campus Church

Below: The Cold River. Pastor Entering the Water.

Our Girls Were Looking On

Two of the candidates were old ladies and I mean old! One lady was just about completely blind. I felt sorry for them as they very slowly made their way into the frigid waters realizing that they had probably never been submerged in water in all their lives there in the mountains. Let alone ice cold water! I could see the water's temperature was knocking away their breath. Finally they arrived in the designated spot and holding onto the pastor's arms with a sure grip. He tried to push them down gently into the water - backwards! One lady grabbed for his shirt and wouldn't go down so he pushed her down. One other young lady didn't go down all the way and the crown of her head was still dry - the water terrified her. He simply pushed her down again until that part was baptized too. :)

The Pastor Pushed the Candidates Down to Ensure Complete Submersion

Christina, Shiloh and I Seated On A High Bank Beside the River

But all ended well and it was a happy crowd that cheered them on and sang hymns to welcome them into the church family.

We have a nephew and niece visiting us here in Africa for three months. They are at their grandmothers project (Jason's mom) but we see them often. We would like to do something fun with them before they return home; we don't know if they'll ever get the chance to come here again while we are here (they are 11 and 13). We are planning to go to Lake Malawi for a weekend to enjoy the sun and the beach and the water. It has been difficult to co-ordinate between us and mom when to go - it seems like there is always something happening either at our place or her end that prevents us from going but I think we have finally agreed that this weekend we should do it!

Last night we made a fire in our fireplace and had the girls bake stick bread. Irma joined us and brought a few small gifts from Switzerland. Those who had big, fat pieces of dough on their sticks had to wait a loooooong time to get it baked about halfway through. The outer shell was often black so you had to eat the inside with peanut butter and honey and continue to bake the other half you had remaining on your stick. But it was fun - family time makes happy memories for all.

Making Snake Bread in Our Living Room

Prayer Request: We are praying about starting medical missionary work here at Kibidula and on a piece of property we bought outside of Dar. Please keep this project in your prayers and once again, if there are medical missionaries out there who have drive and zeal and can start a santitarium from scratch in a challenging environment please give us a call!

Thank you all for your prayers and support for the work going on here. The Lord is blessing and we praise Him.

- Pilot's Wife

Lunar Eclipse

2011-06-15T21:29:00.001-07:00

My wife had just commented that it was so bright outside last night when we got an sms saying that there should be a lunar eclipse during the night. Looking at my watch I noticed it was just about time for it to start so we got up and went to the window to see the moon. Sure enough you could see a shadow coming across the bottom of the full moon. We set the alarm for an hour later and when we got up it was really dark. The dim red full moon was visible near the milky way. cool. Later I woke up and it was all bright again outside. It's the first time I actually saw a lunar eclipse.

Dog doing Better

2011-06-08T07:41:00.001-07:00

Our dog was getting quite sick and seemed to be getting worse so on Friday morning I kept trying to call the vet in Iringa to get his advise but he never answered his phone. My wife found some vets on the internet in Dar and I spoke to a couple of them. It is pretty hard to know what to do long distance so being that I had some work to do in Visiga, I packed the car with tools and stuff and put the dog in and drove down to Dar. An Italian lady looked at him early Saterday morning and took some blood and put him on some antibiotics. We drove out to our property and spent the day with our staff there. In the evening the vet texted me with the results. He is very aneamic and very low on Vitamin B12 and it looks like he had ehrlichiosis, a tick born disease. More meds and a shot of B complex and he has greatly improved. Sunday we stayed at the property and put up a roof over the five containers to keep the rain out and the sun off them. They should be a good storage warehouse for our books now. On Monday I had business to do in town. What do you do with a sick dog in town all day. He was clearly very uncomfortable with the heat. I tried to cool the car down with aircon every now and then. By noon I just parked the car and had Ezekiel stay outside with the dog in the shade of a tree while I did downtown business on foot. Tuesday I had two cars because Bill Ross and family drove down to dar on their way to America and so we needed to take their car home. Ezekiel drove one and I drove mine. We loaded up the tools and some supplies and drove home. Today Pumba is looking pretty much like his old self for which we are very thankful.

2011-06-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

Life is a round of activities. It never stops but on the other hand it is a lot of the same thing. I find I have to spend alot more time on the computer these days. I also have a stack of work in the shop waiting for me. I think I'm the only somewhat experienced welder on campus and there seems to be lots of welding to do. Today I spent all day modifying a silage machine for harvesting elephant grass. It is built too low to the ground. I had to take the wheels off and re attach them so that the machine will ride higher. The machine is very heavy so i had to have a pretty heavy duty modification.

Our dog has been sick the past few days. Yesterday we took him to a vet to see if anything can be done. There are two possibilities. One is that he has a blockage in his intestines somewhere. How do you rectify that out here? We are trying castor oil but so far no results. The next possibility is that he has distemper. He was vaccinated as a small pup but he didn't get his second shot. I hope it isn't that because the outlook is poor.

I myself am not feeling too well. Low grade fever and stomach issues. Fasted all day today. Still have headache and aching body but stomach feels better.

2011-05-23T21:37:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

I am sitting in my room in the YMCA in Dar es Salaam after arriving last night from Europe. I enjoyed the meetings in Romania very much and also the week spent with my dad. I must say my first impression of the Romanians changed somewhat over the week. My first impression was based on the group of teenagers in the airplane that were all loud and dressed like the girls in the Dominican Republic. Actually I found the Romanians I saw the rest of the time to be quite conservative and quite. For the first time I was able to observe Gypsies. On Sabbath a group came to the meetings. The men all dress in black and many of them wear a big broad rimmed hat and most of them have a big mustach. The ladies all wear bright colored clothes with a bright kerchief over their head. On Friday my dad was asked to do an interview on Hope TV down at the local tv station in town. Since I hadn't been off campus since arriving I decided to go with him. When we reached town at some of the stop signs there would be Gypsy kids begging from all the cars. I asked the driver a few questions about them but he didn't seem to know too much except that they speak their own language, they used to be slaves in Romania but were given their freedom some hundred or two years ago, they usually don't have land and live in very poor conditions, they tend to be crooks because they don't have land or jobs, their children don't usually go to school and their origen might be from India. The brightly clad women and the dark skin with thick long black hair might give you that idea anyway even it is were not true. At the tv station the interviewer decided that I should join my dad for the interview. When we entered the studio the airconditioning was on and I thought it was actually a bit cold but after everything got set up they switched the aircon off (because of noise) and turned the studio lighting on. Within a few minutes the place was cooking warm. The interview lasted 55 minutes and by the time it was over we were all soaked with sweat. Unfortunetly, on less you watch Hope TV in Romanian, you won't be able to see that interview anywhere.

Sunday morning I had to leave real early. The bus taking me to the airport picked a group of us up at 2 a.m. and took us in to the town of Cluj. From their I flew to Bucharest and from there on to Zurich. Mark Alt picked me up and took me to his home. I was warmly welcomed by his family and Fritz and his wife came over and we had a pleasant evening together. Yesterday morning I boarded my flight to Dar at about 9 a.m. As I boarded the plain I could hear a strange crying noise in the distance, something like a billy goat in rut. As I got closer to me seat (last row of seats in the plane) the noise got louder and louder. By the time I found my seat, I realized I was to sit across the isle from a Somali who was being restrained by three plain clothes Swiss officers. The paperwork on the seat beside me told me some of the story (from what I could figure out in German.) He had evidently come from Nairobi without a visa and was being returned against his will and he was screaming and fighting the whole time. I could see he was in a desperate frame of mind and all his hopes and dreams of Europe were slipping from his grasp while he was so close. The noise was very disturbing to say the least. Fortunetly the flight was not full and they allowed me to find myself a different seat further away. After the plane took off and he realized there was nothing he could do he stopped fighting and crying and the flight was pleasant after that.

Romania - First Impressions

2011-05-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

The all night flight from Dar es Salaam to Zurich was uneventful. The plane wasn't too full so I had a couple of seats to myself. It is still hard to get a good sleep in a plane though. In Zurich I was supposed to catch my next flight in "Area D." I followed the signes to area D but could never find it. By the time I got down a long corridor down which the arrow pointed, the sign at the other end pointed me back. After doing this exercise a couple of times trying to figure out what I had missed (and meeting other people going through the same excercise), I asked an official looking person where to find area D. They told me there is no area D and that normal procedure was to go through customs, check in from out there and I'd be directed to my gate. I got my passport stamped into Switzerland and checked in from the outside and than stamped right back out of Switzerland into the exact same area I came from. I'm glad they don't charge me a visa for that exercise. I found my gate and shortly was bound for Bucharest. In Bucharest I met another OCI traveler and together we waited for the next flight. This was aboard a small regional commuter that was packed to the gills with mainly non-english speaking travers - mainly a big group of tean-age girls with a few guys that reminded me very much of Latino culture - lots of loud talking, giggling, screams whenever the plane was buffeted the slightest bit and tight fitting cloths. Then as I listened to the conversation I realized that it is Latino culture. And why shouldn't it be? After all, this is Romania - the land of the Romans and the language is based on Latin.

My first impressions of the people are dark complected, thick dark brown hair and brown eyes. I was in for quite a suprise on the drive to the project out here on how the people actually live. The country is hilly and the road is lined on both sides with small, run down houses with narrow yards crowded with little barns, hay stacks, pig pens, big dogs, chickens etc. and stretching back from the house and yard is usually a narrow strip of land (the width of the house and yard) extending back a couple hundred meters or so and is cultivated. The road itself was winding and quite deteriorated. As we drove along we could see herds of sheep and cows on the hillsides watched by herdmen. More common than cars are horse drawn wagons loaded with stacks of hay, bricks people etc. In the little fields were old men and women dressed in the typical old style of eastern Europe (ladies with a skirt and apron and a handkerchief (cloth) tied tightly over their hair) and wielding masive hoes. Many of the yards contain a well with a long pole hinged on a pivot point about ten or 15 feet high that has a bucket on one and and a weight on the other for dipping water from the well. As evening drew on it became more and more common to see mainly old people leading or herding milk cows down the road toward home. All of the above gives a distinct impression that this is very much the third world - all with a european flavour.

The project here is a school and lifestyle center called Hergelia. The project itself is built on a hill with a beautiful view of farmland and a village in the distance. The OCI meetings are well attended with two to three hundred people. I have the privelage of sharing a room in the lifestyle center with my dad - otherwise I think I'd be with the majority sleeping in the livingrooms and corridors of the houses in the village near here (and not getting much sleep, I must add). The weather has been cool but today warmed up nicely so I could take my sweater off by this afternoon. The meals are great so far. The food lines are long. I am enjoying meeting lots of people that I know from before and of course new people. The meetings have been a blessing. I wish all of Kibidula could attend. Until next time that's all I've got to say. Jason

2011-05-15T07:42:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at the airport waiting for my gate to open. That could take a while as it is just past five and my flight is at 9:20. Some of us are getting brave enough to take public transport from Kibidula on the day we fly and so far I don't know of anybody who's been let down. The bus, by the way, seemed to be in more of a hurry than I and we made it to Dar in very good time. The trouble was that I was sitting in the very back corner of a 65 passenger bus and all the bumps seem to be magnified in that possition. At any rate, all is well that ends well.

I am on my way to Romania. My first time there. I will be meeting my dad there and we will spend most of a week together catching the OCI meetings being held there. I'm looking forward to a blessing.

I had the privilage of picking up my mother, her work partner - Denice, my niece - Christina and my nephew Caleb just last week and driving them to Kibidula. It was nice to see family again. My children enjoyed the few days spent with their grandmother and cousins. On the way home I had mentioned to my mom that our trampoline is begining to deteriorate from the intense African sun. The threads that hold the straps that connect to the springs have deteriorated to the point that the straps have begun pulling out. My mom, being who she is, decided to attempt sewing the thing back together. She started mid afternoon on Thursday with an old treadle machine and ended late in the evening after having sewn around the thing four times (about five hours of sewing). That should keep our daughters jumping for another year or two. Next time I'll take it to town and pay someone to do that.

I want to say thank you to everyone who sent suprises to us with my mom - shoes, clothes, food, goodies, cds, etc. While the things are just things, they tell us that you love us and we appreciate it.

Well, I'm not sure I'll have internet in Romania so I won't promise anything in the next week but maybe...

Bye for now. Jason

My Student

2011-05-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Twalisa is my first born child and the first of our three daughters. I started homeschooling her in February of this year after she turned 8 and after we got back from our vacation in South Africa and Zimbabwe and Zambia. She is the kind of girl that doesn't walk around with her heart on her sleeve and so sometimes you have to dig to know what is going on inside. As her teacher I am trying my very best to teach her how to read and write and do arithmetic but there isn't much feedback from her. I know it goes in however so I was waiting and observing quietly to see when and how she would put her new skills to use. It came in a way I didn't quite expect. Jason came in from work the other day and was laughing and asked me if I saw what Twalisa had scribbled on the porch with her sidewalk chalk. I hadn't seen anything on the porch so I went outside with him to have a look. Oh my! She can read alright! She can write alright!

"Emily is bad to me."

"Eme likes to make me mad."

Her younger sister had obviously provoked her on a few occasions throughout the day and she worked through those emotions by scribbling them on the porch. She knows her sister can't read so maybe she wanted us to read it but I don't think so. Her surprise and embarrassment when we pointed to her graffiti was real. We encouraged her to try and think of more loving things to write on our porch. If she is going to get into graffiti we'd rather have it be of an inspiring and cheerful nature! :)

Then last night this same girl got hold of a book. She settled down on the rocking chair in her pajamas and with her favorite pillow and was soon lost in her quiet world of silently spelling and forming words and reading sentences. I love seeing my child grow up and learn and use new skills.

- Pilot's Wife

Photographer

2011-05-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

Emily is our middle child, aged 5. She loves the camera. I have been very reluctant to let her use it and take pictures outside because... well, she's 5 and can drop a camera very easily. Her dad on the other hand is way more relaxed about things like this than I am. So on Sunday her long awaited moment had arrived. He was busy on the computer and (perhaps absentmindedly) said, 'sure, take it.' With a huge grin on her face she ran for the door and was outside snapping away before we could blink our eyes. She snapped a bunch of pictures and, I must admit, it was very interesting to see the world through Emily's eyes. The main focus of her pictures was Pumba, our dog, and he wasn't always in focus but I gladly share the best of her pictures on here because I know a lot of family read this blog and they are always interested in what we, and our offspring, are up to. Enjoy!

- Pilot's Wife

Camping

2011-04-28T10:18:00.001-07:00

My girls have been wanting to do some camping for some time. It just so happens that we aren't very equipped for camping and life is camping enough as it is, wouldn't you think? But at any rate, we borrowed a tent from our friends and set it up yesterday in the woods near our house. We carted a matress and a bunch of blankets out there and something for supper and something to read and it was quite a fun occation - except that the tent was rather small and with all the excitement amongst the children the tent seemed even smaller. After supper and worship reality hit and my wife suggested I take youngest (and most active) back to the house and sleep there and she would spend the night with the other girls. That was fine with me. Back at home Shiloh was full of life. She didn't want to sleep in her bed. She wanted to go camping. I suggested she camp on Twalisa's bed which sounded fun enough so we carried her blankets to Twalisa's bed and got her set up. I went off to bed but when I was about dozing off she called and said she wanted her bed. Fine, back to her bed and me back to mine. Next she decided she needed a pillow. All the pillows in the house had somehow made it down to that tent so I made do with something else and back to bed. Next she had to go to the toilet. That done, back to bed. After I was asleep she realized she had the wrong doll in bed with her. I never found the right doll but she finally accepted the situation and went back to bed, and so did I.

The girls had a great night in the tent. They came home to find breakfast ready and sometime between then and when we went to take the tent down we discovered - Pumba, our little dog had gone to check out the tent for himself, and had chewed off one of the corners where the rain cover comes down to the ground and attaches to a stake. Alas, it was borrowed. We first tried the internet. We would replace the tent, keep the old one and all would be well, except that that particular tent is no longer made and is not available anywhere!!! And anything similar to it - is priced around $400. Bite the bullet we had to, for it was borrowed. First off though I had some pretty good quallity rip stop nylon material of a different color than the tent but between my wife and I and several hours we came up with a repair that I felt we could be proud of. At least the functionality of the tent was back to original if not the looks. Then we had to face our friends. Fortunetly our daughter got to them first and told them all about it so it wasn't like they were hearing about it for the first time. I'm thankful for good friends who are gracious and forgiving and refused to hear about replacement. They are now proud owners of a multi-colored tent by which they will always be able to remember us, and we will always think twice before we borrow anything again!

Hey Bill, thanks.

Camp Out!

2011-04-25T06:45:00.001-07:00

Our primary school students have planned and looked forward to a week long camp out for quite a while now! Today the day has finally come for the excited students. They will be camping in the village of Nyololo Shuleni. They will be reaching out to the adults, children and church members of that village during their stay.

Jason was asked to use the Fuso truck to transport the students, their teachers, luggage and food to the village. As Twalisa has a week off school this week I decided that the girls and I could do with a little excursion and so we ended up going along for a bumpy ride in the back of the Fuso. Needless to say the children were very excited when we arrived at the primary school to pick them up!

We eventually got all the luggage and food loaded.

The children had quite a laugh as Jason pulled them up over the side of the Fuso! Nobody would guess that he has been sick with a high fever last night and was still feeling weak this morning.

Then we were off! The children sang loudly and I am sure people heard us from quite a ways away. Twalisa and Emily had fun helping load the luggage and observing all the happiness and busyness around us.

An hour later we pulled into Nyololo where we offloaded the precious cargo for their one week adventure. Shiloh found a patch of flowers and was quite content to sit and pick them.

Sunday we will go get them all and I'm sure they'll have lots of stories to tell.

This is not the first time our primary school students are going on this type of outreach in nearby villages. It is a very big blessing to us to see how our primary school staff are implementing the principles of true education at our school as outlined in books such as 'Education' by Ellen White. To see these children share the word of God with their own people is amazing. This school may be small and umimportant in the eyes of the world but when it comes to things of a lasting nature this school definitely offers the highest and most valuable education mortals can receive. And the happy faces and loud singing and excitement is the icing on the cake.

Jason is back in bed this afternoon. Hopefully he'll feel stronger again by tomorrow.

-Pilot's Wife

Graduation

2011-04-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

Twice a year our Evangelism School has a graduation. Yesterday was the first graduation for this year. 13 Students have come from all over Tanzania and after four months of study and evangelistic outreach they were happy and sad to graduate and say goodbye.

Each student received a certificate, books and a DVD player (thanks to L.I.G.H.T.), an artimesia plant, etc., to use in their outreach in the future.

Jason was asked to give a small talk from the administration to our students and his emphasis was on why Kibidula exists and why we do what we do.

I gladly share with you the quote he read to our students. I think it explains so well our mission and focus that we, as an institution, have on higher education.

"Christ's life on earth teaches that to obtain the higher education does not mean to gain popularity,

to secure wordly advantage, to have all the temporal wants abundantly supplied, and to be honored by the titled and

wealthy of earth. The Prince of life suffered the inconveniences of poverty, that He might discern the needs of the poor. Christ

might have opened to men the deepest truths of science. He might have unlocked mysteries which have required many

centuries of toil and study to penetrate. But He did not do this. He said nothing to gratify curiosity or to stimulate selfish

ambition. He did not deal in abstract theories, but in that which is essential to the development of character, that which will enlarge

man's capacity for knowing God, and increase his power to do good.

"Those who are ignorant of education as it was taught and exemplified in the life of Christ are ignorant of what constitutes

the higher education. To everyone Christ gives the command, 'Go work today in My vineyard for the glory of My name'.

To teachers the word is spoken, 'Seek for the higher education, for entire conformity to the will of God.

Those who give themselves to learn the way and will of God are receiving the highest education that it is possible

for mortals to receive. They are building their experience, not on the sophistries of the world, but upon principles that are eternal.

"Christian education means the acceptance of the teachings of the Saviour. It includes daily, conscientous

walking in the footsteps of Christ, who consented to come to the world in the form of humanity that He might give to the human

race a power that they could gain by no other means. What was that power? The power to take the teachings

of Christ and follow them to the letter.

"In His resistance of evil and His labor for others, Christ gave to men an example of the highest

education. He revealed God to His disciples in a way that wrought in their hearts a

special work, such as He has long been urging us to allow Him to do in our hearts.

We need the experience that Paul had when he wrote, 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live,

yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,

who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' Galatians 2:20.

"The knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ expressed in character....

.... is the very highest education."

-Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students p. 36

Kibidula operates an Evangelism school that runs for four months, twice a year. We also have a school of Agriculture for young adults that runs for two years. And then we have an English medium Primary school on campus. Lots of education happening here and many students passing through our schools.

In the pictures I am posting you will note different people who participated in the graduation program. Pastor Lomay from the Southern Highlands Conference was our guest of honor.

Hanne Lise Vik, principal of our primary school, gave a message to encourage the students as they leave here and enter into their mission work.

The students sang a poem of thanks they wrote (very traditional here in Tanzania) and then read and presented to the Kibidula administration a letter containing their thanks and suggestions.

Bill Ross blessed those in attendance with some music and the Sayuni quartet (which consists of some of our Agriculture students) also rendered some songs.

After the ceremony the students had their pictures taken and then we all enjoyed a meal together.

Our next course will start in the first week of July.

- Pilot's Wife

comments

2011-04-23T20:49:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems that now my new posts will take comments so I guess we're good to go.

comments

2011-04-23T20:47:00.001-07:00

Why won't this blog take comments. I have tried everything I can to get that option to show and it simply doesn't show. When I figure that out, I'll be happy to recieve comments again. Jason

Recent Family Photo

2011-04-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

2011-04-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

It is Friday evening and Antionette and Emily went to vespers. Twalisa had some attitude and ended up in bed so I stayed home with Shiloh so she wouldn't be home alone.

Appearanty there are some robbers on campus somewhere. The phones were ringing out of our pockets (can't say "off the hook" these days) as the community alerted each other to the fact. I gather that there was a group of five who were looking for some holiday money and decided to take on a small store for some cash. They must have gotten some and ran with it but not fast enough. The story goes that three were aprehended and two escaped but were chased. They seemed to have lost sight of them somewhere on Kibidula. I don't think there is a person around who hasn't heard about it thanks to the celphone era in which we live so these guys are going to have to stay pretty hidden to make their escape.

So far this year at least 100 lambs have been born to our ever growing flock of sheep. We are getting somewhere close to nine hundred of the creatures.

We've had quite a few cows die during this rainy season due mainly to tick born diseases. Fortunetly Thomas has gotten a spray-race built up. All that is missing right now is the fencing to guide the animals through it. That should prove to be a real blessing as far as animal health goes.

This past week I went down to Visiga with a couple of guys and we spent a couple of days moving the five containers by hand into possition on the foundations that were poured during the previous trip to day. It proved to be quite an exercise. Besides the fact that it was hard work, it also rained the whole time. While it is miserable working on the ground in the rain, it was a blessing not to be steaming hot the whole while.

My big blessing this week was to find out that a container of One Day Churches is coming this way. One container may seem like a drop in the bucket as far as need goes but on the other hand it is a substantial project and a boost to the local churches and a blessing for us to be part of it.

Well, I'll get this sent off and wish you all a happy Sabbath.

Website

2011-04-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, Kibidula has a new website. Please check it out at www.kibidula.org and feedback is welcome.

My Week

2011-04-15T08:05:00.001-07:00

It has been a good week. On Sunday I started with rebuilding the fence that used to go around our whole yard and house. I find it helpful to have a fence with a dog or two inside. For one, it keeps the dogs home, and second, the dogs learn that anything inside the fence is their turf to protect. Well, we only got about 50 feet up but that is a good start. On Monday I started working with Thomas on the spray race. This is a device for giving cows and sheep a good high pressure shower from all angles as they run through this tunnel like thing. I've not been able to be on that job full time so I help here and there and do some directing from a distance but the main part is done. It is quite a big project as it involves foot baths, drains, holding corrals etc. On Tuesday I ended up having to drive an hour or so into the bush to pick up a trailer as Bill's back bumper including trailer hitch fell completely off while they were traveling out to build a church. On Wednesday I went with Bill, Michael, Wayne and a couple of other fellows to build a church west of here. It ended up being way out there and took over four hours of driving into the bush. The road was quite bad and we ended up finding a different way home. Still almost 4 hours of bush tracks but not so full of stumps in the road. Thursday we drove equally as far toward the east to build another church. It was really beautiful as we drove down out of the highlands through some incredible scenery. On my horizon is a trip to Romania next month and I believe I might end up taking a quick trip to the States this winter (northern hemisphere summer). All in all, God is good. Have a happy Sabbath. Jason

Busy week

2011-04-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Bill Ross picked me up Sunday morning at 4 a.m. He had in his pick-up a couple of guys that would help him finish putting in the ceiling at the house in Visiga and pour concrete footings on which to place our containers that will make up our book warehouse. Mark Alt from Switzerland, also a Kibidula board member, accompanied us as he needed to get to Dar and wanted to see our property there in Visiga.

I had left the truck in Mafinga last week with an empty container on it. I had asked Ezekiel to get a load of lumber on, which would help pay for some of the trip. I also asked him to take it to the scale to make sure it wasn't over weight. It turns out he ran out of time so the weighing never happened but we had the load of wood.

When we got to Mafinga I discovered the tail lights on the truck didn't work. It took some time to figure out that the earth wire was disconnected. With a late start, we headed toward Dar. Bill went ahead in his pickup and I followed in the big truck. A couple of hours into the trip we had to stop for a piece of equipment that was doing road work. It seems it had run out of diesel shortly before we arrived and blocked the whole road. It took over two hours to get it running again. Bill managed to get past before they closed the road. When we finally got to the scale, it was descovered that we were well overloaded on the last axel. There was a hefty fine on that.

We eventually arrived at Visiga late afternoon (having dropped the lumber along the way) and unloaded the container before proceeding to Dar. Early the next morning we went to load the next container. It had several tons of books and tracts that had to be taken out first, then we needed to jack the container high enough to drive the truck under it. When I tried to put the truck in position behind the container it sunk to the axel and that took us 2 hours of hard work to get it out. (Might I had that the heat was incredible). With the truck out, I decided we had to reposition the container so I wouldn't have to drive off the road to get under it. I managed to drag it with a chain to a better position. It then took most of the morning to jack it up to about five feet off the ground so I could drive under it. After that, all went much easier. We loaded the books and tracts back in and headed to Visiga. The police happened to choose this day for inspecting how containers are fastened to trucks and I ended up paying more fines and enduring lots of threats to send the truck back to Dar or impound the truck. Again we got the books and tracts unloaded and the container unloaded just before dark and again we headed to Dar for the last container. This container was in a sandy area where I couldn't get traction with the truck to drag it and I couldn't get the truck under the container if I had jacked it up so we called in a fork lift. The fork also struggled in the sand and I had to pull him out about five or six times with the truck but we got it loaded on the truck again with several tons of books. (I'm skipping a lot of detail to save time and space)

This time I decided to park the truck and do town business. We pulled out of town at 3 the next morning. There weren't many police on the road and the one that did stop me was friendly. We managed to get to visiga, unload all the books and the container by sun up and drove the rest of the day to Kibidula. Now that the foundations for the containers are poured and all five of the containers are on site, I just need to figure out how to move them onto the foundations. A forklift could hardly be an option as the soil is pretty soft sand. At any rate, I'm sure we'll come up with a plan.

In the mean time, I find myself making mistakes and stepping on people's toes nearly daily and I pray that the Lord can give Kibidula success inspite of it's leader. I am discovering that I have a huge weekness in communication skills. May God give all those who have to work with me special grace and patience to put up with me.

Jason

2011-04-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

This week we had Brendon Church spend several days at Kibidula. He is working on a new website for us. I have to be honest, it is out of my field of expertise but I appreciate the fact that there are people out there who can do and actually enjoy such work. The website should be up in a few weeks. Now the work will be on us to keep the site updated!

I was wondering if anybody out there knows of or would like to take on such a project making a "Canned" type evangelistic series of meetings but one that is actually gospel centered and not doctrine centered. We end up baptizing people who have given mental assent to all our doctrines but really have no clue about how salvation is accomplished. I am begining to think that even most of the speakers and we ourselves have but a shallow understanding of the gospel. Surely what Christ has done for us needs no human effort to complete it but the Law of God will be upheld in the lives of those who recieve His salvation. If we could present this message in such a way that it can be grasped by the uneducated, the villagers, indeed the masses, revival would sweep around the world and the Jesus could come. But I find many people including the majority of conservative Seventh Day Adventists too afraid to embrace this gospel for fear that we neglect the Law. May God help us! But I am tired of our traditional evangelistic methods and don't know how to proceed. Any ideas?

Missionary Doctors

2011-03-27T20:58:00.001-07:00

I have added a new blog to our list of blogs that we follow. I would encourage you to explore it for yourself! (Click on Olen and Danae) These two missionary doctors (the wife in particular) are very good friends of mine and they are now serving in the country of Tc*ad. It is rough and tough up there, they have a 2 year old boy and another baby on the way. They perform emergency surgeries using what limited resources they have available. She performs surgeries, pregnant and very hot, that blows my mind. This young student missionary friend of mine has turned into a very capable doctor! I know the Lord is strengthening and helping them. They have been there only a few months and I know (from experience) that they will go through cycles of adaptation to the surroundings, the culture, and carving out a place of service for themselves which can sometimes tap your determination and strength. But the Lord is very faithful and He always strengthens and enables us to keep moving forward. My prayers are with them and I pray that you will add yours as well. My soul is stirred with deep and thankful emotions when I look around and see so many of our young friends heading to the mission field, whether that is in the hardest and toughest places in foreign countries or at home where sometimes it is even harder to reach the secular heart and mind. May God encourage us all and refresh us with His Spirit. And yes, I pray that many will read this and will respond to the promptings of the Spirit and donate much needed equipment for that hospital in the desert so that they can become a more efficient and powerful lighthouse in that arrid community.

Pilot's Wife

2011-03-25T21:27:00.001-07:00

So What does a director do anyway? That is the question that has been going through my mind every day for the past week. Certainly he doesn't get a fat salary. Well, at least this one doesn't. In the absence of knowing what I should be doing, I've pretty much kept on doing what I've always been doing: This week I unloaded a container full of fertilizer and moved it to another container (I'm still sore), loaded the now empty container on the truck ready to take to Dar es Salaam. I have to pick up two more containers in Dar and move them to our new piece of property there so that has been challenging my mind as to how to load them without a fork left. I spent Thursday and Friday building up a "container jack" which is supposed to be able to lift a container up about five feet off the ground so I can back the truck under it. I have about one more day of work and then I can test it out. Besides keeping busy with that kind of busy work, I've noticed a slight change in other things. For instance, I wake up way early in the morning and can't get back to sleep. Other things like e-mails about people wanting to work here, or visit here. Then there are meetings to be held, agendas to be written up, issues on finances, issues on personell and I've noticed an increase of people needing to talk to me about various matters. Actually, all of those issues were things I dealt with up to now on a certain level but it all seems to weigh a little heavier right now.

If you will all keep Kibidula in your prayers we greatly appreciate it. God has been using this mission station in the past to spread the gospel around Tanzania and I know He wants to increase the pace and bring this earths miserable history to a close. May God help each one of us to feel more the shortness of time and increase our committment to Him.

Changes

2011-03-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

If you have been observant of the content of this blog, you would probably be wondering by now why I call my self "Mission Pilot" considering I don't record any flying. The fact is that I have done almost no flying for the past year and a half due to an overwelming amount of other work that has seemed to be more pressing. The fact is that we are short staffed and have more work that we seem to be able to manage so Aviation has taken a back seat since it is still in a development stage and not a key department in our operations. The need for aviation has not gone away and the ministry potential for it is huge. With that said, I would like to put the word out there that there is an opening for a Volunteer Mission Pilot with training in Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics. Please note that we are a Seventh-Day Adventist mission and will only consider staff of this faith for such a position.

As for myself, I have been made Director of Kibidula Farm and will be carrying the responsibility for the overall program.

While I'm on the topic, it looks like over the duration of this year we will also be having openings for: Primary school head teacher, English teacher (for English as a second language), Accountant, student missionaries in various capacities and maybe a cashier/administrative assistant. Lastly, we desperately need someone who can take up our PR needs such as Website, Newsletter, Promotional Video, and other forms of donor communication.

I will be writing more soon. Jason

Grace

2011-03-10T07:49:00.001-08:00

(Unmerrited Favor)

The other day I was driving to Dar and I saw a 50 km/h road sign so I slowed down accordingly. As I passed the village I began accelerating back to normal driving speed when suddenly from behind a bush jumped a uniformed officer with a radar gun in his hand. I was caught at 73 km/h without an excuse.

"Get out of the car and sign the form and pay the government fine of 20,000/=." I began to follow the instructions when another car came speeding around the corner and was promptly pulled over.

"Pay that guy over there," I was commanded. So I went to the next officer. By then a third car was pulled over and the "next" officer handed me off to a third one.

"Why were you speeding" he asked.

"I wasn't paying attention to my speed."

"OK, you are forgiven."

I wasn't sure I'd heard right. "I would be thankful for your forgiveness" I answered.

"You have been forgiven. You may go."

Why? I hadn't asked for forgiveness. I offered no excuse for my speeding. I was completely prepared to pay the fine. He didn't know me nor I him. His forgiveness was unmerrited on my part. It seemed that he wanted me to go free. And so, I did!

As I drove along, I thought about how much more Jesus wants to forgive us. In fact, he has already paid my "fine." Why are we so reluctant to go free?

That evening after a meal of Chinese stir fried noodles, the parking attendend motioned me back onto the street facing the direction I came in from. Without a second thought I headed away in the darkness toward the YMCA hostel where we would be staying and straight into a a group of military police with automatic weapons over their shoulders. The problem was the fact that I was going the wrong way on a one way! Without an invitation they opened the back door of my car and began trying to climb in but quickly realized my back seat was loaded with luggage and I had my eight year old daughter sitting back there. In the end only one could climb in. I confiscated my license and began directing me toward the police station while pointing out how dangerous a driver I was and how big an offense I had committed. I could only nod in agreement. Finally he asked why I'd done it. I answered something to the tune of - I hadn't intended to break the law, but I had clearly made a mistake and so I was prepared for my punishment. As we continued he began to elaborate on the process of getting the fine paid for. First I would have to submit my license and fill some forms, then the next day I would have to go to court where my case would be read before the court and I would have to plead guilty (or not), and then pay the fine and then back to the police to get my license back. The whole thing would probably take the whole day. As we neared the police station he ordered me to pull over. I knew the procedure. All I needed to do was offer some money which he would pocket and I would be free.

"What do you do?"

"I work at a Seventh-Day Adventist mission."

"Are you a Father?"

"No, I'm a pilot."

"I want to make things easier for you especially with this little girl here in such hot weather, waiting all day and all..."

"I understand, but as a Christian, I would prefer to follow the goverment procedure even if it takes all day."

He hands me back my lisence. "Well, since you are a Father, I'll let you go. Drive down the street and turn right over there."

"Thank you."

His phone rang. His superior wanted to know what he was getting from me. He tried to explain that I was a priest and he was letting me go. The guy asked to speak to me. He told me that I was a dangerous sort and that I needed to learn my lesson by paying te fine to which I agreed and told him I was quite willing but his officer wanted to forgive me. "Well, I'll leave that up to him to decide but you don't deserve it." And he is right. I don't deserve any favour in this world and definetly none in the next but for some reason grace has been extended to me yet again.

Hair???

2011-02-25T20:35:00.001-08:00

Recently I commented on somebody's facebook wall who had a small discussion going on about hair and 1st Peter 3:3. The discussion before I commented was going in the direction of - locked hair (as in dreadlock) being acceptable to christians verses braiding because the above verse seems to outlaw braided hair for christians. It was pointed out that the Bible mentions "Locks" of hair in many places but never negatively so obviously that is ok. I happen to live in a place where it is strongly enforced upon female church members to keep their hair cut very short so as to ensure that no possibility of adornment or plaiting of any kind occurs when it comes to hair. There are a great many women here who religiously cut their hair as short as men's hair so as to comply with the scriptures so they can go to heaven. The points of the verse and it's context is lost completely. We now have salvation by short hair! I commented something to the effect that the real point of the verse is about the heart. It seems that my comment opened up a lot of discussion and I would be curious to read what that discussion was but the host wasn't comfortable with it so it has since been deleted. However in the process it was implied that I don't believe in following the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy literally. I want to state here that I do believe in following the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy in all that it teaches. In fact, I choose not to wear a wedding band because of the same verse. But I still maintain that the issue being addressed in this verse and it's context is a heart issue. "Whose adorning lit it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit whick is in the sight of God of great price." I believe that modesty is addressed here in these verses but the main issue is that we aught to adorn our hearts with the true attributes of christian character. So is all wearing of apparel wrong? NO! That would be immodest. But some clothes are immodest and the lavish expenditure on clothes is not acceptable to God. Is all wearing of metal wrong? I know folk who have some gold in their teeth. It seems to be a good material for tooth repairs. But I've seen one person with one front tooth replaced all in gold and the next front tooth hand a big gold cross embedded into it. The point here was to draw attention to self (at a great expense might I add). The verse specifically mentions gold but not silver. Does that technicality make silver jewelry ok? I wear a watch. It serves a purpose - to keep me from missing appointements etc. Others wear a wedding band because in their culture it serves a perpose. I have no problem with that. Now can we look at the part about hair in the same pattern? Is all braiding (the British use the word plaiting) wrong while any other form of hair care is ok? No. Hair should be cared for and God gave it for beauty and a covering. Many people are caught up in the technicality of the three strands woven together being called a braid is wrong but if you can get your hair into a strand in another way it is ok (technically). If a braid is a practical way of keeping your hair in order, then braid it. If you are doing it to draw attention to self, you are on the wrong track. If a lock is a practical way of keeping your hair in order, then do it. If it is a show, you are on the wrong track. One last point concerning the Spirit of Prophecy and plaiting. While Ellen White lived in a culture and time when basically all girls had long hair and used braiding to control it, she never wrote one word in opposition to it. While she had much to say on modesty, she had little to say about specifics. The overriding principle is Modesty and true modesty is found when one is properly adorned with a meek and quiet spirit - the Spirit of Christ. That's why the verse is really talking about the heart. If the heart is properly addorned then you will find the right ballance on modesty weather it be hair, dress or metal. If the heart is not properly addorned, you can get your hair, dress and metal technically all figured out and right and it won't help you nor those around you one single bit.

As It Happened

2011-02-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

I set my alarm to go off at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday morning so I could get an early start and so it happened that by 2:45 I was heading to Mafinga. It took a few minutes to got Ezekiel awake as his phone was off but after the truck horn blaring into their front yard for a few minutes a young girl answered the door to see what I wanted. The trip to our property near dar was easy as I hit all the gates on the road construction sites open, the police couldn't be bothered to stop me, and I hit all the weigh bridges with no trucks in front of me. We reached Visiga at twelve noon. It took the two of us about 45 minutes to unload the container by hand (I'm getting pretty good at this by now) and then we headed to the city. Since non-resident trucks (trucks that are not registered to do work in Dar) are no longer allowed into town I took the by-pass road toward the airport and stopped at the nearest tire center. The Indian gentleman was very helpful and did a bunch of calling around for me and soon had a set of seven rims coming in a taxi. My choice of tires seemed to be between some 14 ply Ling Long tires from China and 18 ply Bridgestone tires from Japan at about twice the price. I decided that considering the work we do and the terrain we drive on, I'd rather not take my chances with Ling Long. The trouble was that I didn't have enough shillings. I had brought a bunch of dollars to exchange at a Bureau de Change and when I mentioned the issue to the gentleman he said I could pay for the tires in dollars if I wanted. a few more calles to get an exchange rate and all was settled. My business in Dar accomplished (without even going into town) we headed out. It still took three hours in bad traffic just to get out of the area and by then it was dark. My plan was to get to Morogoro for an early morning start home in the morning. We had strapped the tires down to the truck with big heavy truck straps going through the holes in the rims and both Ezekiel and I were keeping our eyes on them through the back window of the truck but at some point I got behind a slow moving truck and in the process of trying to pass it someone jumped on our truck unnoticed and with something sharp cut through one of the straps and threw the tire off and hopped off. As soon as I was passed the slow moving truck I looked behind and noticed the missing tire. I turned right around and headed back and there was a truck stopped next to the road only about 3 or 4 hundred yard back. I stopped in front of them and jumped out. The driver who was standing beside his truck asked if I was looking for a tire that fell of my truck. Yes! "well we saw some thieves roll it down the bank there and head off into the bush." I headed for the bushes and the truck left. In a few minutes I had the sinking realization that the truck had picked up my tire, diverted my attention and dissappeared into the night traffic and I had no way to identify it. And that tire with rim cost about $500!!! I felt sick but what could I do? Anyway, I'm home now and I have enough tires and rims to get the truck on it's six wheels but with no spare. However, I am a firm believer in providence and I am confident that ALL things that happen to me are for my good even if I don't understand it. So I can praise the Lord that He has enough resources to supply ALL our needs.

And then there's Kibidula....

2011-02-23T07:37:00.001-08:00

We've been home so for two weeks and a day. During the first week I got loaded down with all the issues that I almost felt depressed but week two has been better. Not that all the issues have gone anywhere but there is a brighter side to life and I'm trying to see that. Besides the issues at hand, I have spent a few days giving the One Day Church truck a lift. The suspention was too low and too soft so I stiffened it up some and raised the whole truck about 8 centimeters. Also some of the floor boards in the bed were getting rotten so Bill and I replaced them. Next I need to get larger rims and tires for the truck for a little more height and better off-road worthiness.

I've also loaded one of the empty one day church containers unto the back of the International truck and will be driving that down to our new property near Dar tomorrow. I need to get a total of five containers there to build a sort of warehouse for our publishing work. I'm going to try and get the container offloaded tomorrow and look for tires and rims still so I can come back Friday. Hope it works out.

It is raining almost daily but not too much. Mostly just cloudy. Our yard and garden look a sight with all the tall grass and weeds because since we've come home our yard help has not showed up. He sent a note a week ago saying he was taking two weeks vacation. I'm not sure when he consideres he started the vacation. The main issue seems to be that he got caught stealing avocado seedlings while we were away and he is probably hoping everything settles itself out while he spends some time being absent. In the mean time, his partner in crime has returned the seedlings.

Well, enough for now. got to get ready for a road trip early tomorrow. Jason

Thoughts On Zimbabwe

2011-02-13T09:59:00.001-08:00

A strange country that. The main currency is the US dollar. When you spend money, you never know what currency your change will come back to you in. The dollars are not broken down into cents so for anything smaller than a dollar you will have to use Rand or Pula. Usually small items are priced at a dollar or are sold in groups of as many items as it takes to make a dollar. Some places give you your change in gum or sweets. The fact that the currency of the country is foreign makes for an odd situation when it comes to the recycling of money. At a gas station, when I had recieved a particularly bad worn out dollar bill for change, I asked the attendant what happens when the money gets worn out. "Just throw it away." Well nobody wants to be the last user of any money so it stays in circulation and believe me, it gets downright gross.

Another interesting thing I noticed was that while people in the villages are very poor, town seems fairly afluent and everything seems to be quite expensive. My conclusion is that basically there are two systems of living in Zimbabwe. Either you have a job and earn money and live in the real world of buying and selling etc, and that is mainly in towns, or you live in a village, never see money, eat what you grow, and live in a sort of africa of a centery ago. There really didn't seem to be much of an in-between state.

Politically Zimbabwe can be compaired to some communist state of sorts. One man who was showing me where the churches were to be built was actually questioned by the police several times while we were working with him to find out what his connections are and what he is getting from us. But not only that. He recently bought two bags of cement to fix up the house he is living in and the police came to question him about that. When he bought some supplies for his wife to start a hair salon, the police came to question him about that. Everybody is in suspicion of everybody. The government wants to know if anybody is getting help from anyone or anything that smells of opposition. In the villages around, people regularly disappear without a trace never to be heard of again. And yet, on the other hand, there are papers being printed and sold with amazingly bold anti-government statements revealing the terrible attrocities being carried out and putting suspicion on every move the government makes. Go figure!

What is important is that Zimbabweans are open to the Gospel like never before and the church there is the fastest growing church in the world. It is awsome to see how God can take any situation and use it to save people. What a God we serve.

Zimbabwe

2011-02-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

The project in Zimbabwe was interesting enough. We were put up in a beautiful lodge on the Zambezi river just upstream from the great falls. The place was wild enough that wart hogs, baboons and monkeys were constantly around. Elephants could occasionally be seen from the lodge or at the work site. Crocodiles and hippos could be spotted from time to time in the river. I even heard the roar of a lion once.

The building project was mainly centered around building a kindergarten school, primary school and secondary school all on one campus. There was a second campus with just a kindergarten school. I was in charge of building the "bush" churches. These were not the normal one day church that I've been building around here. It is actually a One Day School building made a little longer than standerd to be a church building. The weather gave us some challenges as it tended to rain daily. The churches were mostly each an hour or so away. That, coupled with the fact that it was impossible to get an early start made it so it was impossible to build one complete church per day. As it turned out, we only fully completed one church and the remaining seven all got roofed but were left at various stages of incompletion due mainly to the fact that we started running out of materials for the project. There are more materials on the way and all of them will get complete within a few months by other people.

The one day school is similar to the one day church except that it is a complete building on its own. If the slabs are poured ahead of time, it is technically possible to put up a structure complete with roof, windows, door, black board, desks, etc, hand the keys over to the teacher, and have classes start the next day. Tanzania has been promised a school (consisting of twelve buildings) so at some point in the not too distant future I will get to oversee the building of a complete school campus somewhere in this country which I am looking forward to.

Packing the Car

2011-02-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

O so uninspired! How does one get back into the groove of things after being out for so long?

South Africa was a needed restful vacation and a good chance to get stocked up on some supplies. I also was able to get some work done on the car to ensure a long life of usefulness.

I usually have some sort of internal sense of how much stuff we have and at a certain point I start putting on the breaks as I know our truck will be full. When we left SA the truck was really full. I had a bunch of car parts for different vehicles at Kibidula, a rear bumper and trailer hitch for Thomas' pick-up. Four tires for my pick-up. Over a hundred packages of soya milk, two gallons of model plane fuel for someone, 20 litres of diesel (incase I run into a shortage along the way), plus all our cloths, other food, a major welded tube section for the airplane, and a bunch of other stuff. The fun was just begining. Remember I left two generators, a bucket of tools, and some drills in Zambia for the project in Zimbabwe? Alan Knowles brought that down from Riverside and they served their purpose well. When the project was over in Zimbabwe I had aquired more tools, bunches of clothes, shoes, books, medical supplies and more food from people checking out of the hotel who needed more room in their luggage for curios etc (or brought the items with the intention of leaving them with some worthy cause). Fourtunetly Alan had a trailer and was willing to haul more than his share of stuff back to Riverside. That the customs officials didn't give us grief is a wonder. By the time we left Riverside a week later, we had aquired more books and a dog! By now the project of packing the car looked impossible. My wife began arranging all the stuff out on the sidewalk and I began to fit it in slowly. I figured out that if I dumped the bags out I could fit pack things tighter. The fact that the airplane cabin frame fills the whole back of the pickup didn't make things any easier. The last item in was the dog and he got to ride on the kids laps. He travelled amazingly well with no messes in the car for the two days of travel. At the border he had to sit alone in the car for some time but he never made a peep and nobody looked in to see what we had. My big fear was that they would have me unload the whole thing and that could take hours and I wasn't really sure that I could actually get it all back in again. Fortunately that didn't happen.

Our Safari Adventure

2011-02-13T00:45:00.000-08:00

The Lord blessed us with a nice surprise while we were in Z*mbab*e. (For those who wonder why I hide the country names.... well, there are weird people out there searching for all kinds of weird things and I don't want to be found necessarily.) We were given the opportunity to accompany a group of Maranatha volunteers on a day safari to the neighboring Chobe National Park in Bots*ana. We've never been on a real safari before although the girls and I were born and raised in Africa! We were quite excited and I was a bit nervous about taking the girls an all day long safari with mostly older people. I was praying for a peaceful and uneventful day as far as the youngest, 2 1/2 year old was concerned :) The Lord answered and they behaved very well. First we crossed the border uneventfully (which was very nice! We were tired of crossing so many borders and all that entails) and there was a safari vehicle waiting for us at the other end. What made the trip more fun was the fact that the girls had a guardian angel along which looked out for them at every possible moment. His name is Charles and we met him just a week or so before but as nice a man as you'll ever meet. A childhood girlfriend of mine came along and she is also a missionary in Africa and so we had a really pleasant day together. After driving slowly on the tarmac for a while (the wind blows really strong when you're sitting up high in an open top safari vehicle!) we turned off the road and headed to a lodge where we had a brunch waiting for us. Then we boarded a ferry and cruised down the river. We saw lots of elephant, hippo, birds, crocodiles and a greater kudu. The hippos were close to the boat and I enjoyed the girls' reactions whenever they spotted one close to the boat. There was one elephant who was swimming close by the boat and it looked like he was there especially to entertain us with his dives, splashes, turns, etc.

After the cruise we stopped at another lodge where we had a really nice lunch. At that point we had a near disaster with Shiloh and a very sudden, very runny tummy! But I praise the Lord for giving me calmness and ability to deal with the mess in quick order so that we didn't delay the group much. I am so thankful that we happened to be in the bathroom when it happened and that she was okay again for the rest of the day. I was touched by my friend's offer and insistence on washing Shiloh's pants while I washed her up and got clean clothes ready. No wonder she fares so well out in the bush where I shudder when I think of encountering all those snakes!

We boarded the safari vehicle again and off we were to the bush to look for some more land animals. Once again we saw plenty of antelope, elephants, birds, giraffe, warthog, and even Sable but no lion. At the end of the day as we were heading towards the gate, I silently prayed about seeing lions. I figured that God unexpectedly gave us this wonderful gift of a safari and could He not also include some lions? But I was happy with whatever. Then sure enough! The guide got a call on the radio that lions were spotted. We turned around immediately and then headed down some bush roads at a much faster speed than before. Now it began to feel more like my kind of adventure!

We eventually found the area and headed straight into the bush and there they were! 4 Lionnesses. They were running away from us but one lionness stood still for a moment and posed for all the flashing and clicking cameras. We were happy for such a nice ending to the game drive but we were in for another treat.

As we backed out of the bush we decided to follow the lions and cut them off at the bottom of the area of bush they were running through in an effort to see if we could view them again. Well, that's when we got stuck. And I mean we were stuck really good. Another safari vehicle tried to pull us out but nothing worked. Of course the guides were not about to let us tourists off the vehicle, after all we just saw lions! But when they saw they weren't making any progress and that time was ticking away they ordered everybody off except the children (and their mom of course!) and the very old (some really sweet people, one who was 91 years old but acting more like he was 19 at times!) Most of the male tourists had advice to offer because they have to deal with getting stuck in snow all the time! Well, eventually we got ourselves out of that situation and everybody got back on the vehicle. Now the guide was determined to get us to the border before too long so we sped along the dirt roads and we didn't stop to view animals anymore.

About 20 minutes later, as we passed a herd of elephant, we heard a great flip-flop sound coming from the side of the vehicle. You guessed it... we had a major flat tire. I guessed it was major by the major sound it made. We kept flip-floppiting on ahead until we cleared the elephants and then everybody got off again (and this time my 91 year old neighbor was not giving in to the pressure to stay on board so he hopped off as well) and the big job of changing a big tire started. Twalisa was stressing about being so close to the elephants and developed a stomach ache. Fortunately there was a kind lady on board who loves kids and she spent some time with Twalisa and distracted her. The tire was fixed eventually and we continued on towards the border. What an adventure!

We arrived back at the lodge just after sundown and the children had a great day! I am so thankful for so many kind and nice people who surrounded us during our three week stay at Victor*a Fal*s. I will post a picture of the pre-primary, primary and seconday school that were built by the volunteers. I like it very much and I pray that it will be an eternal blessing to many hundreds of children till Jesus comes again.

Pilot's Wife

We're Home!

2011-02-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

We were gone for two months and it feels good to be back home again. Four weeks in South Africa, three weeks in Z*mba*we and one week in Zambia. We had no health problems and no problems with the vehicle. The Lord is good! We also have a new member in our family. He is 8 weeks old and is hyper active but sleeps well at night and is a real cutie! His name is Pumba. He is a Jack Russel puppy. We are ready to have a pet again so we are looking into getting a fence up around our yard after the first one rotted and fell over.

We are thankful that we had this time to travel and to meet many new people and also that we could play a very small part in getting some churches up in Z*mba*we. The Maranatha volunteers finished a school complex consisting of a pre-primary, primary and secondary school and a couple of churches, besides the seven bush churches. I know it will be a blessing to the people.

We had a pleasant surprise. We met up with old friends of ours who are now missionaries in the Co*go! We haven't seen them in over 2 1/2 years and it was so nice to hear from them about their work and lives up there. They are really pioneering up there!

The girls and I had a wonderful opportunity to go to Botswana on a safari - our first real safari! It was really nice and we had a bit of adventure too! I'll write about that later.

Life continues on for us here now. We covet your prayers. The rains have turned everything green while we were gone!

Blessings,

Pilot's Wife

Update

2011-01-20T00:29:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since we've been able to write. We are in Z*mba*we for three weeks helping out on volunteer mission trip. Jason is out in the bush putting up bush chu*ches every day and I only see him in the mornings and evenings. We're having a wonderful time. We are staying at a beautiful lodge that in located in a national park so there are plenty of monkeys, baboons and warthogs strolling around the place. Shiloh had her apple stolen by monkeys and was quite disgusted. I gave her a second apple and immediately that monkeys were back. I tried shooing them away but that didn't work. I took her inside the room and put her on a little chair by the window and told her to finish her apple. At that moment there was a knock at the door. As I opened the door Shiloh started screaming at the top of her lungs and I turned to look I saw two monkeys jumping at the window trying to get her apple. The little girl was freaked out to say the least but she recovered quickly. While we were having supper one evening we saw two big baboons streak across the lawn and jump onto the balcony of the upper floor and run into a bedroom with an open door. Alan and Jason went running to alert the lady that she had guests. She never even noticed them but it sounds like they got away with some chocolates and other snacks. :)

The girls are having a grand time. There's a beautiful swimming pool in the middle of the lawn and the rooms all face the swimming pool in a semi circle. We are at the very end of the building on the bottom floor so I can watch the girls swim from my room if Shiloh is taking nap for example. They are doing great in the swimming pool. Because we don't have much opportunity for swimming where we are the girls had to make use of these few weeks to up their swimming skills. They now jump in and swim sort of which is great. It can only get better! This afternoon we are planning to take the girls to a VBS at 1pm.

I grew up with a girl called Melissa in a little town in S*uth Afri*a. I haven't seen her in over a decade but had heard that she had become a missionary also in the country of Zambia. Well, I met her here! It was really neat to meet after so many years again and to see how the Lord has been working in our lives. I enjoy visiting in my own mother tongue!

So, dear family members, this is to let you all know that we are safe and doing well. We'll be able to communicate again more regularly since we figured out how to get online here at the lodge.

We love you all and thank you so much for your prayers!

Pilot's Wife

Merry Christmas and Happy Sabbath

2010-12-24T21:33:00.001-08:00

It is a beautiful morning here after a late night thunderstorm (with not much rain). I Just wanted to wish everybody a merry Christmas and a blessed Sabbath - all in one.

2010-12-17T21:02:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that in some parts of South Africa this is the first rain that they've seen in 15 months ending a long drought. The situation was so bad that the media requested that everybody passing through certain towns donate drinking water for the folks. While they are thankful for the rain, in other places there has been so much flooding that many people have lost their homes and a few have lost their lives.

Sunshine at last

2010-12-17T06:57:00.001-08:00

While traveling we had rain and drizzle most of the way which was actually nice because very hot weather becomes rather uncomfortable for long distance travel. Our first few days here had morning sunshine with afternoon and evening showers but begining Sunday we had pretty much straight rain day and night. Not only was it very rainy but also cold. We didn't come really prepared for cold weather. And the kids were getting cabin fever so they would run outside in the rain to play but come back all soaked, muddy and cold and would have to take a warm bath. That also creates tons of laundry. Yesterday evening the sky suddenly cleared and we caught the last rays of sunlight before sunset. Today has been beautiful all day. I spent all morning welding some bird cages for my father-in-law but after lunch we went over to my wife's uncle's place for a dip in the pool. The kids really enjoyed that.

So far I've been keeping pretty busy. I spent one whole day just getting things for the car - new tires, new brakes, new shocks, new timing belt (not installed yet), new driving lights on the front bumper. I got a used bumper for Thomas' car from the wrecking yard with a heavy duty trailer hitch mount. I spent another day putting together a 1000 piece puzzle. Wednesday we travelled to Dundee to visit friends of my wife. Monday I take the car in for some body work. It has a couple of dents and scratches that I would like to get taken care of. That will leave us car less for three days. I still need to get the timing belt put in and a full service done. I can't seem to find a garage that isn't fully booked until next year.

Well, I think I'll sign off here for now. Have a great weekend and a happy Sabbath.