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.

May 1, 2009

The picture above is just a funny follow up from our last blog posting about how horrible the road to Kasane is to travel on. This photo was on the front page of the local newspaper as an April Fools Day spoof, though the caption states that the "road is no laughing matter." We agree.

As always, we fully intended not to let so much time laps between postings but we are staying so busy it is hard to make time to communicate all that we have been doing. Much of our time has gone to providing hospitality to other missionaries. Some of our visitors live further out in the bush communities and they come to Maun to do shopping and business. After years in living bush Alaska and needing to rely on the hospitality of others when we went to town, it is nice to be able to help fellow servants of the Lord. In addition, we have been able to support other Flying Mission pilots and personal when they come here for special charters, mercy flights, or just to visit Maun and the outlying areas.

The house and yard continue to be a blessing to all of us living here. We have a new neighbor in the flat next to Travis and he is a young pilot flying for Mack Air, named Kari, and he is from Sweden. Now that it is fall time (with the mornings and evenings being cool in the mid 50 degree range) the cement fire pit is used fairly often by us all. There is something very relaxing and pleasant about watching the wood burn and cooking over the coals.


Colin continues to build friendships with the fuel workers at the airport. Now that they all know he has a camera, when ever a new person is hired they ask to have their picture taken with Colin and then he gives them a printed color copy. Gomes is the newest person hired, and he has also been attending the same church as us.Julie has been enjoying the woman's fellowship from the church and was invited to attend a birthday tea for one of the women who turned 80 years old on the last day of March. It was a small gathering, as most of the ladies from church were working. Those that worked dropped by in the afternoon to wish this dear lady a blessed day.
Another special event that we were both invited to in early April, was the marriage of our neighbor to one of the three main chiefs for this area. It was a huge affair that actually lasted a few days. Julie ended up attending the first day reception by herself as Colin had a full day of flying. It was a lovely gathering on her families plot with lots of traditional foods and entertainment. The wedding tents were then moved the husband's family plot the next day, and the activities continued. Though we miss seeing our neighbor on a regular basis now that she has moved to her new husband's home, we continue to talk by phone and they have both been by to visit a few times since the wedding.


The same week end of the wedding, Julie also attended a baby shower for one of the Love Botswana missionary families that had a beautiful little girl while we were in Zambia in March. The temperatures were perfect for an outside gathering on the Love Botswana Outreach Mission property. Most of the ladies that attended the shower also go to the flourishing church established by the mission over a 20 year period. While the new mother was opening gifts, everyone enjoyed passing the baby around to cuddle and admire. And of course, the food and fellowship was awesome.


Innara and Gift are still doing well, and Innara continues to grow in her understanding of God's love and provision. She eagerly reads the Bible we were able to give her, and has been highlighting verses that speak to her heart with encouragement. The pictures below were taken when Gift was 3 months old and sixteen and a half pounds! On this particular visit, we were able to bring Gift some larger clothes as he has been growing so rapidly.
When ever Innara refers to Colin, she calls him "the grandfather." The title seems to fit him!
When Gift got tired and started to fuss, Innara just tied him onto her back with a towel and he went fast to sleep. This is how most of the women here carry their babies.
Our first Easter here was spent at a community sunrise service in the garden of an older woman that attends our church. The garden was by the river and it was a cool crisp morning with a diverse group, that all joined together for praise and worship. The sunrises and set sets here are always beautiful, but the Easter sunrise seemed extraordinary and emphasized even more so the awe and thanksgiving we felt for what the Lord has done in our lives.


After the service there was a wonderful time of fellowship, along with hot-cross-buns and tea in the garden.


The rest of the day was quiet and rest filled. Later, Travis joined us for a simple dinner of braiied (BBQ) chicken and a fresh apple cake for desert.

A few days after Easter, Julie was asked to help with a Bible camp being held at the Island Safari Lodge near our house. Our good friends own and operate the lodge and the camp ground with the large pool near by, was ideal for a camp retreat. There were twenty six students from two local schools, ages 7 to 13 years old, which attended the three nights and four days of camp. There were lots of fun team activities, new songs to sing about Jesus, Bible stories and verses all with the major focus being on the love of God and how He answers our prayers. The students were organized into four small groups with a leader to have discussions and prayer time with. The last picture in the set of photos is of Julie with her small group. Everyone at the camp slept in tents provided by the lodge and got a T-shirt that said, "Enjoy Jesus Christ" with the main memory verse from John 10:10...which says, "Jesus has come to give us life". The camp was a great success and by the end of our time together, no one wanted to go home. The way it all came together with all those involved in preparing for the camp, was truly a testimony of Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty." The spirit of the Lord was deeply felt by all of us there and we are all planning to do another camp over the next school break in August.










While Julie was having a great time being a part of the Bible camp, Colin was off flying in and out of Jack's Camp with an overnight complete with the usual Makgadikgadi Pans sunsets and huge spiders to fearlessly face inside and outside of his tent.


While the C207 was in Gaborone for maintenance, a C210 was used for the charter work. Colin was able to return to Livingstone in Zambia and flew over the ferry crossing we traveled across on the Zambezi in our recent trip in March. The Zambezi River and the Okavango Delta rivers have been experiencing a major flood. The ferry landing in the pictures below are higher than when we traveled and it was closed for some days after our trip due to the volume of water flowing from Angola. That water is all headed our way and expected in Maun by the middle of May.
The picture above is of the pilots wing mounted mirror used check to see if the landing gear is up or down.

Top of picture above is Kazungula, Zambia. Bottom shows the landing in Kasane, Botswana.

Above: Kazungula Zambia, below is Kasane, Botswana

The weekend after the Bible camp, we decided to travel to Nxai Pan National Park. The entrance is just about an hour and a half drive east from here, and then it is about another couple of hours driving north on a sand track road. The local paper had just printed a cover photo of a lion visiting a campsite in one of the other parks near by (see below) and our sense of adventure was stirred. It was also our last opportunity to get away for a couple of days, as Julie is returning to teaching along with the increased flying that Colin will be doing when Travis leaves the middle of May. The last night we were camped, we had lions and a hyena in the camp ground but they chose to investigate the elaborate set up of trailer tents next to us. Julie slept through all the commotion...
Since Colin has yet to do any hunting here with a gun, he has become very proficient in shooting game with his camera. Below are just a few shots of some of the animals he got while we explored the park. There were other parts of the park we found intriguing included in the photos below.
Steenbok above, Springbok below

Below are pictured Baines Baobabs; the Baobab trees painted by Thomas Baines in 1847. Thomas Baines was originally part of David Livingstones missionary/exploration party. In comparing the trees with the paintings only one limb has broken off in One hundred and sixty two years.




Above: Gemsbok

Below: Shower/toilet facilities at Nxai Pan campsite. Note solar water heaters and concrete cones with sharp steel stakes sticking out to discourage elephants from "taking showers" (also discourages late night beer drinkers).

Above: Kori Bustard
Below: Giraffe at sunset



Above: Impalla buck
Below: Impalla doe


Above: Colin says "Wow big pile of poo, Elephants must be close."
Alternate title: "A poo in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Below: Snail shells in the desert.


Above: Black backed Jackal
Below : Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk

Above: Elephant at the pan (water hole).

Above and below: Mud covered elephants in light of the setting sun.
While in Nxai Pan we had gathered a lot of grass, butterflies and bugs in our radiator. This with the fact that our radiator had been "serviced" with water only and no coolant, made our vehicle over heat on the way out of the park. After stopping we noticed this small (nine inch) Kalahari Tent tortoise stuck in the sand track not ten feet to our front. Praise the Lord we had to stop or he'd have surely been flattened. After cooling off a bit we added more water and removed the majority of butterflies and grass and had no more trouble on the way home. Colin has since taken to servicing the car himself where possible.


The new Flying Mission web site has been launch, so check it out at: www.flyingmission.org, it has all the current personal and projects listed along with many great stories of what the Lord is doing through this mission. In addition we are always thankful for your faithfulness in praying for us and for those we are ministering to while here in Botswana. Please keep Mmatshimo in your prayers, she has had to have numerous teeth pulled recently and is waiting on other test results as she has not been feeling quite right for a while. A screening for cancer was done over a month ago and she is still waiting to here from the doctor. We wanted to go to the hospital with her and discuss some other tests with the doctor, but she wants to wait and says she is trusting to God about her health... Also, please continue to lift Innara up in your prayers. She needs to find her own place to live and a job to provide for Gift and herself. She can no longer be protected by the organization WAR. We have been helping her some, but can not support her. There is a possibility she can move into a small flat with no electricity nearer to us, and there are some other Zimbabweans that we know living in the same place who will help watch over her. Hopefully, we can get something worked out soon because she has been in a temporary flat for the last few days but it is in a bad neighborhood...Misheck and Debra are doing well, and have been blessed with a better living situation through friends of ours. Additional work has been scarce for them, but the new housing and plot are free of charge with a good area for growing a garden to eat from. Both of them are such a pleasure to be around. Despite hardships in their lives, they continue to do just as the Lord states in 1 Thess. 5:16-18, "Be joyful always; pray continually; and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."