November 30,2009

Once again this blog entry was started almost two weeks ago, but with internet difficulties among other things it is now really mid December. As in most months, we have had a variety of visitors. We usually do not mention everyone that we are able to extend hospitality to each month, but we are finding it to be a large part of a ministry of encouragement that we feel called to do here. Pictured below is one of the short term missionaries from Flying Mission in Gaborone that was in Maun for a few days helping with a youth activity for handicapped children. He was able to go on a flight with Colin to see a bit of the Okavango Delta while here.
In addition, there were two people staying in the flat for over two weeks while doing a job here on a house Flying Mission has in Maun. Jack and Jacob did an incredible job repairing the house and property in that short time.
Colin has continued to stay busy flying and building relationships with people from not only Botswana, but all over the world.

This year for Thanksgiving, we were once again invited to a gathering with the American missionaries servicing through the Love Botswana Outreach Mission. There were 20 of us that had dinner together, complete with turkey and all the trimmings. Even though most of us had put in a day at work, we gathered together that evening to give thanks and observe our American tradition together.

Julie's last day of teaching was December 4. The last few weeks were extremely busy with final assessments, report cards, and end of the year activities. She was able to arrange a field trip to a local game farm and lodge with her students as it blended perfectly into the natural resources and tourism units the class had just completed in Social Studies. Below are just a few photos from the outing.

The last week of November was when the school ended afternoon enrichment activities. Julie had a final Bible club with games, a video, and birthday cake for Jesus. On that Friday, it was "Prize Giving" at the school. There were all kinds of special events and music along with every student getting an award (prize) for some achievement in the school year. The photo to follow is of Julie's class holding their awards. With mixed emotion, Julie turned in her resignation after feeling that the Lord had other ministry needs for her to participate in while living in Maun. Trusting that the Lord will provide financially in other ways, she will still stay connected with the children at school next term when she continues the Bible club there.
The evening after "Prize Giving", we participated in a children's outreach with friends from our church and our Flying Mission team mates, Keith and Cheryl Kowalski. It was quite a wonderful evening that began with face painting, group games, and food for the children.




The guys did all the cooking outside the hall we were using, and at the same time visited with parents that were dropping their children off for the evening. Many parents ended up staying the whole evening.

Keith's parents were visiting from Canada, and dove in to help where ever needed.

Above is our friend Brit (left) and Keith's parents, Louise and Tim.

Beside fun games and great food, there were skits, singing, and a Veggie Tales video. In addition Cheryl returned as the wacky Professor Praise from our last day camp outreach in August. Of course she had a scientific object lesson to do with a meaningful spiritual message.

There were 72 kids that attended the event that night and we hope to do more of these types of activities in addition to Bible clubs in the schools during the coming months.

Knowing that we had a young pilot friend, Jake, from Alaska was coming to Southern Africa for a month and working his way to see us, we decides to do a day trip into the Moremi Game Reserve on a scouting trip. The Moremi Game Reserve is only a few hours from Maun and people from Maun often go there on a day trip. We had traveled there in August of 2008 for one night, but went to the northern portion of the reserve. We left early one Saturday morning and found we can travel the southern region of the park and back again in a 12 hour day.

The highlight of the day was an encounter with a Cape Buffalo herd of bulls.

It is spring/summer time here and not only did we see lots of wildlife, but also many young animals too.

Impala mothers and babies

Zebras are black with white stripes....if you were wondering

A few new animals spotted on the drive were the Red Lechwe pictured first below and a few Tsessebe pictured next.

As always, there was a tremendous variety of birds everywhere and we identified a few more to add to our list. We also got some clear pictures of ones that we have seen before, but never could get a good snapshot to show.

Lilac Breasted Roller

Hooded Guinea Fowl

This is a Black Stork above. They use their wings to cover their whole body blocking out the sun light to be able to see the little fish in the water.

A White Stork above. I would have called it a "Half and Half".

Below are the meat eating Marabou Storks.

Above is the Spur winged Goose
Below a Black Smith Lapwing Plover

By 1 o'clock that day we reached the camp ground known as Third Bridge. We drove across the hand made bridge, ate a picnic lunch, relaxed a bit and then headed on back home.

On December 3rd, our friend from Alaska Jake arrived from his his travels originating in Capetown, South Africa, and through Namibia. He then went to Livingston and Victoria Falls in Zambia before coming to see us in Maun. Unfortunately he had a return ticket already purchased, and by the time he got to us he could only stay three nights. Jake is pictured below by the C210 on the Thursday he arrived in Maun.

That Friday was Julie's last day of work and we had a Christmas fundraising event for orphans we had already planned on attending that night, so first thing Saturday morning we headed back to Third Bridge in the Moremi Game Reserve.
It was a great day for game viewing, and we saw lots of the same animals mentioned in previous blogs. Some new ones we had not seen before or as closely were a couple predators.

Above is a black Back Jackal
Below are two Cheetah

Below is a Spotted Hyena with a radio tracking collar, a female with pups to feed obviously.

There was a family of warthogs close to the road, but the little babies moved so fast and would not stand still that all our pictures were rather blurry. We did get a good picture of the father boar though.
At mid morning we stopped at a lagoon to have a tea break. The pool was full of hippo and we counted at least 15 grunting and bobbing while we enjoyed the morning sun.

When we reached Third Bridge, we ate our picnic lunch and as we were relaxing before the drive back home a herd of elephants wandered on through the camp.
When surrounded by elephants it is good to hide quietly under the trees. Though when hiding from elephants, it is not wise to hide under a sausage tree (Jake with a sausage tree seed below), as the seeds are a favorite food with the elephants. The seeds also weigh about 10 pounds and frequently fall from the tree. This is Africa, danger all around!
Some follow up items from previous blogs.... More airplane tail registrations.

Debra, Misheck, and baby Briane are all doing well.

Briane is now one month old and is as big as a 3 month old baby.

In thinking of the blessing of Misheck, Debra and their little son, we want to thank God for the gift of His son. Also the blessing of our family, and so many friends here and abroad that have enriched our lives over the years. Though for most of you we are far away this Christmas season, please know we are thinking of you and feel truly thankful for you all. We also wish you the best of everything in the New Year.

October 31, 2009

As you can see by the date posted for this blog, we have been working on this posting for a couple of weeks. We are not even going to try to explain all that we have been doing, but we will try to cover some of the highlights of the last month.

October began with a little neighborhood excitement for Colin when the children from next door came to him for help with a snake in their house. The parents were away, and the children had no phone to call them with. He gave their folks a call, and when they got home Colin and the Dad moved the refrigerator to uncover a poisonous Puff Adder. Colin had a heavy walking stick with him and killed it. Just a few days ago, Colin encountered another Puff Adder at the airport. It was on the airport ramp right where passengers come out to board the planes. Fortunately it was early, 6am, so the tourist missed this African adventure.

3.5 foot Puff Adder under the fridge.

Small 2.0 foot Puff Adder on the airport ramp.

Being away from our family and friends has been hard at times, especially now that we are using a less expensive internet service. Communication has been difficult and we particularly miss using skype to talk with our two sons. Zachary turned 27 years old this October and it was hard to even get a phone call to him. A little over a week later, we were able to share in a friend's 27th birthday with a small group of friends from church. It was not the same as being with our own son, but it was nice to feel we have a group of friends here in which close friendships have developed. It does help to fill some of the gap distance creates when missing loved ones back home.


The day after Tendai's birthday we drove to Gaborone for meetings and Julie had to get dental work done. The national elections had just been completed and all through the country people were celebrating the victories of their party affiliation. On the streets throughout Gaborone, cars full of people were wearing their party colors as they let their joy be known.

Are you old enough to remember when we could ride in the back of a pick-up in America?

The drive down to the nation's capital was interesting. We always enjoy the scenery and experiencing the unusual business and road side signs along the way.


On our way back, we decided to spend a couple hours driving through the Khama Rhino Sanctuary north of Gaborone. As always, the wildlife and birds were plentiful.

Mother and baby White Rhino resting in the shade.

Another mother and baby pair, along with Lappet Faced Vultures.

Springbok

An immature Martial Eagle

Crested Francolin

Crimson Breasted Shrike

White Browed Sparrow Weaver

Julie is getting very close to the end of the school year. Her students have made wonderful academic and social gains each term. They recently worked very hard on a small group cooperative learning project on the national parks and reserves in Botswana. They all felt exceptionally good about their accomplishments when the project was completed. The project display boards are up on the wall behind them is the picture to follow.

Julie is feeling that at the end of the term she should be more involved in direct care ministries in the community, so she has put in her resignation. We are trusting the Lord to provide for the missing income and will be tightening our budget belt so that she can follow this ministry direction. She will continue the Bible club at school, and hopes to do other children's ministry in a few other places.

Our local church continues to be a blessing, and we really enjoy the fellowship and diversity there. In the picture below, the Sunday school children are sharing a song with the congregation before going to their class.

A little girl born of parents from India with Julie at church.

Every week, there seems to be some special gathering to attend with people we have met through church. Julie was able to attend another baby shower and fellowship with the ladies that gathered for the celebration. This has been a month of babies to celebrate.


Our missionary friends living north of XaiXai were surprised by the birth of their son 6 weeks early on the 30th of October. They happened to be in another village for a mission gathering, so fortunately they had cell phone access. Julie received a call at 7 am that morning to see if Colin could fly up to get Ilse, who was in labor. Unfortunately, Colin was in Gaborone. Dries called there and Colin with a medic scrambled to get airborne. At 8:30, Colin was on the taxi way preparing to take off when the message came through that the baby was born at a remote and rugged hospital in Gamare. Our friends barely made it there by car, driving well over the speed limit. They decided to wait a day before moving the baby to a better hospital, but a torrential rain storm moved in that night and complicated things even more. Finally, early evening on the 31st, Ilse and the baby were airlifted to Gaborone where their new son (Cordre pictured below) is still in the hospital. Dries and the couple's three year old daughter spent a few days with us in Maun regrouping before going back to the bush to secure their home before rejoining Ilse and Cordre. Dries came back through Maun a few days later and the family is now together in Gaborone. Please keep this dear young family in your prayers and that little Cordre can grow strong quickly so that he can be released from the hospital.


Shortly after the cancelled mercy flight to help Dries and Ilse, Colin was still in Gaborone when a call came in to do a mercy flight from Maun to Francistown. He and the same medic took off to transfer a critically ill woman to the better equipped hospital in Francistown. Colin was not able to return home that day and ended up overnight in Francistown.

Medic Colin with the patient in the C207 headed for the hospital in Francistown.

Tail of the C207 and the FMS ambulance in Francistown, Botswana.

The following weekend while Misheck was over doing the gardening, when Debra called him to let him know her water had broken and their baby was on the way. Colin was flying, so Julie and Misheck jumped in the car to go get Debra and take her to the Maun hospital. The picture below is of the couple entering the maternity ward.

Their baby boy was born that night and was so big (over 9lbs.) that an operation was needed to deliver him. The picture to follow is of Debra and Briane the next day.


Misheck's sister-in-law and Julie were allowed to see Debra and the baby in her hospital room, but because she was sharing the room with five other mothers the men could not come in.

Misheck and his brother were allowed to hold baby Briane in the lobby of the ward. As you can see, Misheck is a very happy and proud father. Colin was able to help the couple take Braine home from the hospital four day later. When leaving the hospital Misheck carried the baby while walking beside Debra. Colin carried all the bags and blankets a few steps behind which enlisted many stares. Colin just smiled proudly saying, "I am the grandfather!"

Unfortunately, the work permit papers for Misheck will not be approved so we are still praying for a way he can get the proper documentation so that he can bring his other two children still in Zimbabwe here. He so wants his family to be together. Please keep his situation in prayer also. Both Debra and Misheck have to live here knowing that any day they could be picked up and deported without the proper paperwork. Just when you think Zimbabwe couldn't get any worse, the meltdown continues. There is a real possibility of open warfare which would mean a horrendous genocide by the insane President Magabe. Please pray for the long suffering people and recovery of Zimbabwe.

Most recently, Colin offered the services of FMS to support one of the other local mission groups. They were motivating young people to raise money for an old man that had been living in a tent for the last ten years in Maun. The two young people pictured below raised the most funds to by bricks to build the man a house. They were given a two hour flight see trip for their efforts.


Colin continues to fly consistently and the airport is still humming with tourists coming and going from the Okavango Delta. One day while getting the plane ready for a flight, he heard a grinding crunch sound. Just before stopping on the ramp the retractable nose wheel collapsed on this C210 seen below.


When hand painting the stripe on the taxi way at the airport (below) it helps to have a deft touch with a paint brush and good hearing. With the dry air and 100 degree temps the paint would dry as fast as it was put down, all the painters had to do was jump out of the way occasionally. Does your back hurt looking at this picture? Ours does.


As a continuation of last months blog showing the identifying tail numbers of the planes here, we decided to included a few more.








And of course we can not forget SAN, the C210 that is the second plane Colin flies for FMS. Pictured below, Colin is in the shade of SAN as he waits for the next flight.

Our rental house is feeling more and more like a real home these days. We seem to be gathering more keep sakes from our time here. Colin is pictured with his "road kills" below. (Actually, friends gave us some unwanted horns and Colin had them put on plaques.)

We are still not sure what our future holds, but one thing we can say is: "By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with us..." Psalm 42:8