This Week

Jonathan and I are happy that it is almost Sabbath. It has been such a
busy week and Jonathan is feeling sick again. He is so tired. I hope he
doesn't have malaria or something.

It's really hot here now. Today it was 105F in the house! That's fast
becoming normal as this hot season is really here now.

Joanne broke her ankle falling off a bad horse. In her words, "he just
wouldn't stop!" She is in a lot of pain. I helped her this morning with
things.

Tomorrow we start church in Bendele for the first time! We put up the
One-Day-Church this week! We are so excited to have this done and start
church there. We will still continue church in Dabgue.

New Church

This week the land papers were finalized for the new Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Nergue Anna (a section of Bere like a "suburb"). The
location is within a five-minute walk of our compound and is well
placed, surrounded by population. A big tree near the church will also
serve as a nice shade shelter under which to do Sabbath School programs
for the kids.

Construction began Monday. Because of the intense heat and sun mid-day,
we decided to break the work up into three half-days: foundation, main
structure, and roofing. People are amazed when they walk by and see a
church structure where there was only a rough field a few days before.
We thank God for the blessing of safety during the construction. And for
the mangoes that gave us energy as we worked.

The days have been hot, about 105 degrees in the shade in the house. Out
in the sun, it is considerably hotter than that, especially when
roofing. But our crew worked well and happily together. Pierre is
especially happy.

I'll try get some pictures and post them soon. Brick walls should start
next week. Matthew is working on getting some benches ordered.

Grounded!

Our Cessna 172 has been working hard. We've been treating the engine as
best we know how. The plane was booked full of flights for the next
three weeks, some of them even international flights. But now the engine
oil temperature sensor is telling us some bad news: oil temperatures are
running abnormally high. The oil filter is also telling us bad news: it
has caught a small pile of magnetic metal shavings. Metal shavings tell
us that something is being slowly chewed to shreds in the engine. Gary
suspects it is a spun bearing.

Now we are grounded. We do not know the final solution, but it will
eventually involve shipping this engine back to the States and ordering
a newly rebuilt one to install here.

What is God's plan in this? Why did this have to happen just at the
point where we are beginning to depend more heavily on the airplane?
When will we be flying again - in four months? in six months? next year?
God knows. And He cares.

We choose to continue work with what resources we have. Please pray for
the ministry here as we face this challenge and continue seeking God's
wisdom for the unknown future. The devil is attempting to discourage us,
but we choose not to become discouraged. "I press toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

Dental Work and Health Talks

Lately I have been more involved with medical work. I have decided to go
to the hospital every Monday morning to listen to the consultations in
the ER. This will help me learn more French and learn more about the
diseases in Chad. It is quite a challenge sometimes though. Only a third
of the time are they even speaking French and often the patients mumble
the words out. I can hardly make out what they are saying sometimes. But
it's good for me and I am slowly learning.

Around 12:15pm I leave and eat lunch, do a few things around the house
and then I'm off again. I'm doing a charcoal health talk every week.
Each week I do it in a different location. A bunch of the SM's at the
hospital have decided to help on a project called, "Project 21". Monday
through Thursday every week we are teaching basic health to the locals.
I have decided to help with this project so my health talk on Monday's
is just one of many health talks that are being presented.

On Wednesday mornings every week we (Project 21) offer free dental
service. I'm helping with this also. 15 or more locals come each
Wednesday to get their teeth pulled. I'm not a dentist of course but
back in December 2009 a dentist trained me how to pull teeth and so I'm
happy to have this opportunity to get comfortable doing this again.

Frederick's First Sermon

I have asked Frederick a number of times if he would present a sermon,
but each time he declined saying that he does not know enough. Well, the
other day, I loaned him one of my two French concordances and explained
to him how to use it. I told him that this is what pastors use to
prepare sermons and Bible studies. Then I asked him if he would present
the sermon the next Sabbath. He accepted.

Today 17.March.2012 Frederick preached his first sermon! The topic of
his choice: The Two Covenants. His presentation was well studied through
and well delivered. It was a moment of joy for me to see how far he has
come in the last couple of years - from being baptized to preaching his
first sermon on the two covenants! I'm sure I'm a little biased, but it
was probably the best sermon I have ever heard from a Chadian.

His closing remarks at the end of the services were: "People will mock
us when we chose to accept the New Covenant. Absolutely, our friends
will mock us because we are Christians. Our families will mock us. But
keep your courage. Be strong. Be persistent. What matters is our loyalty
to God and heart obedience to truth. Maranatha!"

Thursday Tourne

We awoke early and I departed solo just about sunrise to verify the
strip at our next destination. Upon arrival, I circle the strip and note
the location of a few things to avoid: truck ruts at one end, a hole
near the same end, and a few rocks sprinkled around. Determining that I
could land safely with plenty of room, I descended to a smooth touchdown.

Crowds of children and adults came running toward the plane as I quickly
make a radio call and shut down. Walking the runway, I found quite a
number of rocks ranging in size from a few inches to a few about a foot
in diameter. These are not friendly to airplanes. So a whole team of
children lined up across the runway and together we "swept" it clean of
rocks. Rocks and sticks were flying everywhere, almost hitting several
kids. But all went well and a big job was made light and happy by
cheerful volunteering children.

I returned to Bere, fueled up, and picked up my passengers - this time
including Melody! We rolled to a stop, parked the plane, and began
walking toward the big lake, about a mile distant. The health clinic is
in a village on the other side of this lake. Arriving at the beach,
Melody and I are excited to see a large, wooden boat with a motor on the
end. We pile in and wait for our guide to start the motor. We talk about
the hippos and crocodiles that live in this lake. Later we hear about
the mystery monster fish that gives milk to it's babies. Huh?

On the other side, Melody and I meet the people at the clinic and are
offered the usual tea and gato snack. "No tea? How about Coke? What? You
just drink water?" This is the usual response wherever we travel and it
gives us an opportunity to teach these "health professionals" a bit of
simple health concepts.

When they start their meeting, Melody and I go explore a gully/wash and
eat some lunch. Dried bean flakes re-hydrated on bread that Melody made.
Then we walk down to the lake where there is vivid green grass. We
haven't seen such green for months, and it was quite refreshing. The
village children came in large numbers to surround us and to sing and
chant and be happy.

Finally, it is time to go. I had given our passengers a strict time
limit. If we are not at the plane by this time, we can't go home. We
have to stay in this village. Pressed for time, they opted to eat a
rushed rice-and-meat meal in the boat on the way back.

On the way to our their final stop, the pastor again picked up the
French Steps to Christ from the seat pocket. He was always either
reading 1 Samuel or Steps to Christ in the plane. I gave him a copy, and
gave one to the doctor as well.

We part ways with our health team and hope to meet up again in a couple
weeks to finish some more work. But for now, Melody and I need to find a
place to stay in Mondou for the night. It is too late to fly back to
Bere today. Dr. James and Sarah host us wonderfully. We enjoy the luxury
of a shower with running water!

Thank God for safe travels this far. We pray for all the literature left
behind and the influence of conversations and life in the various villages.

Wednesday Tourne

This morning I was served a breakfast with the group. They had rice and
sauce "with eyes" and I had my own little dish of seasoned rice "without
eyes." I was grateful for this meal. The rice was seasoned nicely with
onion and tomato.

I found a tub of half-icky water in the room where we bathed, so I got
my water filter and filled my bottles for the day. I am so grateful for
this little water filter.

The pickup truck for the local government officials arrived and we piled
in. After a quick stop to say hi to the government people, we were off
to the airstrip, maybe 5 kilometers distant. As I did preflight and
verified fuel and oil and security of various components, my passengers
were getting a little impatient about how long this process was taking.
I assured them that this option was better than dying in the bush after
a crash, and they calmed down.

I tried to contact base on the radio, but got no response. I try to
contact the people at our next destination, but no response. Cell phones
aren't working for now. So I take off anyway and head to Tchaguine. We
make good time with tailwinds and find the strip nicely cleared, but a
bit sandy.

While the doctor and pastor do their activities, I walk the runway and
get the GPS point for a newly erected cell tower near the runway. Then I
spend a pleasant few hours with a missionary couple based here. They
show me their solar-powered radio station and their house, designed to
catch and funnel cooling wind from any direction into the central living
area. We share a meal of local beans and rice and then head back to the
airplane.

Now we are bound for Bere, where my wife is eagerly waiting for me. It
was really good to get back home and eat a home-cooked meal. Melody and
I fuel the plane in preparation for tomorrow's travels, then crawl into
bed for some well-needed sleep.