June 21, 2009

Yes...we know this update is way overdue! The last two months have been extremely busy! Julie went back to work at the beginning of May and she is pictured above with her class of nine students. She is really enjoying the group of 9 and 10 year old students with their inquisitive and active minds. Science seems to be the favorite subject of the class and the first unit of the term has been mixtures and solutions. There have been a number of messy experiments and project reports to share from each cooperative learning group over the last 6 weeks and it will be hard to move onto a new topic....


In addition to teaching academics, Julie and another teacher at the school have been doing a Bible Club on Monday afternoons. There are currently 15 students in attendance and the students have been enjoying learning how to apply God's word in their daily life. The picture below is of most of the children that are coming to the Bible club.
A highlight for Colin in early May was getting to meet Harry Selby, a famous professional hunting guide that lives in Maun.

The busy season is here for flying, and the flight schedule filled almost every day. Just before Travis left Flying Mission in the middle of May, both Colin and he were shuffling a large film crew from the USA. Possibly some of you reading this may have heard of the show Andrew Zimmere and Bazzare Worlds. The crew was flown into a remote strip to film the San Bushman people. Pictured below was the some of the action on the airstrip when the last plane load arrived on the airfield after two days of getting everyone there.
Filming a San (Bushman) mother and child.

Interviews and getting ready for filming.

Spear received from this San Bushman.

By the time Colin had brought the last load of people and gear from Maun, it was too late to return for the night. Colin took this opportunity to camp out at the airstrip in the C207 for the night.
Shade shelter and sand buckets in case of fire.

A pillow, a blanket and mat, a cooler with sandwiches and a copy of Magnum Magazine
is all one needs for a good camp out.

When the first light appeared the following day, he was able to take off for Maun.


Since Travis left on the 16th of May, Colin has been the only pilot here and has had many nights scheduled to stay at Jack's Camp to save on flight costs. He has enjoyed viewing the birds and wildlife, in addition to building stronger relationships with the staff working there.

A desert tortoise.

Red billed Wood Hoopoe

Red Billed Francolin

Lilac-Breasted Roller

Above, Pied Crows

Below, Yellow Mongoose

Male Steenbok, about 18'' at the shoulder

Above, a birthday party for a member of the staff at camp.

The pilot tent is not as up scale as the client tents, but comfortable enough to pass the time in.



At times, Colin has had to spend a full day at the camp waiting to fly a group out the following day. He has taken some short walks in the surrounding salt pans.
WATER, PLEASE!
Too much time spent in the desert----alone!

And, as always...Colin has had ample time to view the incredible African sunsets.
On May 18, Keith Kowalski arrived a day ahead of the moving truck with his families household belongings. Cheryl and the couples two children and dog drove up from Gaborone on the 21st. Also Deb Spicer, the wife of the FMS operations manager, drove up with Cheryl. Deb spent three nights with Julie while Colin was busy flying and staying at Jack's Camp. During the time Deb was here, Julie allowed a friend to download pictures of Travis water skiing to email him in the states. On the storage "stick" used to hold the pictures, was a virus and the intensive computer virus that shut down the functions of many programs. Even the virus protection program on our computer, could not stop the virus. Fortunately, there was a good IT in Maun that was able to correct the problem. It took 5 hours, but everything was back to normal afterward and before Colin returned to Maun. It was a blessing to have Deb here and to help pray and brain storm through the problem. Pictured below is Deb at Island Safari Lodge the day after the computer was fixed and after church on Sunday. Below the picture of Deb, are two pictures from the set of pictures Travis wanted of water skiing in the Thamalaklane just before he left Botswana. He had told us it was the first time he had ever water skied were they had to get out of the water because of hippos.

Water skiing in the desert, it has its dangers.

Mr. Hippo, one of the dangers.

Now that the Kowalski family has moved to Maun, Keith has been flying as much as possible with Colin. In addition, the chief pilot has been here for two different weeks of training.
June came upon us quickly with all the flying of clients and occasional mercy flights, company coming and going, along with Julie working again. The first week of June started off clear and cool as is usual for winter. As the second week of June began, the chief pilot was here to fly with Keith. Colin was planning on some time on the ground to complete office tasks, as the chief pilot and Keith were going to take the charters. Currently, there is also a C210 here along with the C207. On Monday the8th, an actor from the US was visiting Botswana and a last minute charter was suddenly given to Colin just after arriving at the office in the morning. It meant he would have to overnight at Jack's Camp and there was not enough time to drive back out to our house to pack a bag. He decided he would be fine for one night and loaded the plane with the special guest pictured below. The actors name was Luke MacFarlane and he acts in a show called "Brothers and Sisters."
That evening, clouds moved in all over Botswana and a huge storm sat over the country pouring rain for two full days. This was extremely unusual. Because of the bad weather, Colin ended up stuck out at Jack's Camp until Thursday. The strip was flooded by the first day of rain and a Caravan pilot from another air service tried to fly out. While taxiing, he got stuck in the mud, so the plane was unloaded and with the help of camp staff he was able to get unstuck. The C210 Colin flew out, sunk into the mud halfway up the wheels just sitting parked at the strip.

Stuck Caravan, above
Water logged runway and Cessna 210, below


End of the runway beginning to dry out.

It seems for weeks we have had consistent company visiting with us. So many people have come and gone in the middle of all the other things mentioned above, that we have not kept up with a photo dairy. Our most recent memories consist of three weeks ago, when one of the short term missionaries from Gaborone was here with his family that was visiting from Germany. Two week ends ago the FM IT, Graham, drove up with the flight scheduler for Maun that is based in Gaborone. We were able to get a few pictures from their weekend here. On the way up, they had a major blow out and Graham is pictured below showing the damaged tire.


The office is officially open, and the Maun team met on Saturday to work with Graham and Melly. The chief pilot was here also here and much was accomplished.

Above left to right, Colin, Julie, Patricia, Robert and Keith. The Maun crew.

The latest FMS family to visit was a mechanic and his wife. They were able to spend a few days out at Jack's Camp, and a night with us on the return trip. Colin flew them out to the camp, but the pilot tent was full so he had to fly over to another near by camp called Planet Baobab. He stayed in one of the regular customer huts with a view of the near by baobab trees in the area. Walt, Ev, and Robert


Planet Baobab guest hut.

Below, Baobab trees
We continue to enjoy meeting people from all over the world and sharing with them what the Lord is doing through FM to help people in Botswana.


Colin even got to fly Alexander McCall Smith, author of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, to Jack's Camp. The famous author is pictured with Colin below, along with his wife and daughter.


Things that continue to catch our eye are local people packed in vehicles and in the backs of trucks. Donkeys and donkey carts for transportation, and a different night sky. Not only is the moon upside down, but also the big dipper.

Room for one more?

I wish I'd had a donkey when I was a kid.

We are still enjoying the fellowship at the local church we attend, especially the little children that come from the small houses and huts in the neighborhood.
Innara and Gift continue to be in our lives, though it has been hard to see them as often now that Julie is working and Colin is flying much more. Innara is still growing in the Lord, but her faith is being tested as she tries to find day labor jobs to provide for the two of them. Since she could no longer be under the care of WAR, she has found a small place to live on the other side of town from us. We have been able to help with the rent and some food, but she is still living very minimally. Please keep her and Gift in your prayers, that the Lord will provide a good job for her. There is still an issue of her status in the country, so it makes getting work all the more difficult.

Gift will be 6 months old on July 12. He is sitting by himself and trying to crawl now. In addition, he is cutting two lower front teeth.

Thanks once again to all of you who have taken an interest in what we are doing here in Maun. With the fullness of the last two months, we have not been very good about communicating or responding to emails. Forgive us, and please keep writing as we miss you all. We know that the Lord has placed us here to love, encourage, and help those He has places in our lives. God does nothing by accident, so we look at each person and ask what it is the Lord would have us do to bring them closer to Him. Though it was hard to leave the life we knew behind, we feel there is much we can do here to... "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:12.