« March 2002 | Main | May 2002 »

Darryl flew a patient

Darryl flew a patient up from Sucua today. He brought him to Shell so he could be taken to the HCJB hospital here. He had a very bad compound fracture of the lower leg. Also, Bruce, the new pilot started his check rides with Fred today. Fred Schmidt is the chief pilot here in Ecuador. Bruce spent a few days in Quito last week, getting his physical and working on paperwork for his license in Ecuador.

I had a bad

I had a bad allergy attack today. I came home at lunch and fell asleep for a couple hours. That helped, and they are less severe now.

Figuring out the problem with Darryl's computer still eluded me. I was able to get some other housekeeping things done today, including some billing and backing up. I also switched to a new instant messaging client called Trillian. Instead of running three programs -- Yahoo! IM, AOL IM, and ICQ -- I can just run Trillian. I also can use it with an MSN account, and I'll probably do that tomorrow. The main reason for instant messaging for me is to stay in touch with other MAF people around the world. It really makes my job so much easier.

We're back again

We're back again. The boys are laying on the bed in our room, watching a taped copy of Junkyard wars. Ellyn is doing some e-mail, and I guess when it comes down to it, I am too. All the while we're snacking.

A good time was had by all in Baños. We went to a Swiss restaurant and had fondue. Both cheese and meat, which was very tasty. After lunch we rented a scooter and a four wheeler for an hour and explored Ba�os in a way we couldn't do on foot or in a car. That was a lot of fun, and both boys enjoyed that. Here's another photo.

The dirt section of the road was the terrible, maybe the worst I've seen it. Full of so many potholes. They have been working on two new tunnels and today we went through one of them for the first time. Closer to Shell on the paved part of the road there had been a landslide, but it had been cleared to one lane wide.

I haven't thought too much about the coming week. I still need to figure out what is wrong with the Holland's notebook. It's a mystery to me, and makes me happy I use a Macintosh. Friday will be a holiday, not just for the kids, but the MAF staff also.

It's a beautiful sunny

It's a beautiful sunny morning with lots of blue sky. Wish we could see this more often. We're going to head up to BaÒos for lunch. We'll listen to our church tape in the truck as we go.

I guess I should

I guess I should mention that the Dell's are friends of ours who are in the States. While they are gone we are borrowing their truck. We're getting spoiled and it's nice to have a vehicle to use when we need one.

I was able to

I was able to get the brakes changed on the Dell's truck today. We haven't driven the truck all week because there was a problem with the brakes. Today Ron helped me take off the wheels and check things out. It turns out that the pad were falling apart. Dustin went into Puyo with me and we fortunately were able to find a set of pads. If they weren't available in Puyo we would have had to send for Quito for them. A NAPA auto parts store would be so handy here. Just after lunch we had everything back together and working again.

We had a despedida

We had a despedida (goodbye party) for the Watkins. Rick and Cheryl came to help in Shell for three months. Rick is an aircraft mechanic. He was a huge help while he was here. The party was at the HCJB guest house, so it was real close for us--just across the lawn. Great dessert, coffee, and a game of Dutch Blitz with Sandy and Trish.

Dan called me this morning before I left the house and asked if I could do him a favor. He had to fly today, but needed a job done at his house. Bruce was going to put HF and VHF antennas up at Dan's house and would need my help since Dan would be flying. Bruce didn't have things ready until about 3:30 PM, so I worked on a couple jobs at the hangar. I'm still trying to troubleshoot Darryl's computer and I'm not getting very far very fast. Anyway, Bruce and I were able to put up the pole for the HF antenna and by then Dan arrived home and we finished the guy wires. When a pilot flies on the weekend the radios are important. He has a radio check at 7 AM and 1 PM to see if there are any emergencies. While he flies his wife or someone else flight follows with an HF radio. If it's the wife then it's nice if there's a radio in the house, otherwise she needs to sit at the hangar all day in the radio room. Dan and Sylvia live a mile from the hangar and radios at the house are a big help.

The boys have the

The boys have the day off from school today. There is no public holiday today. It's a Sanity Break for the school. As it turns out, they'll also get next Friday off, and that is a national holiday.

The boys wanted to stay up late last night, and they did. They watched a movie, had popcorn, and played Nintendo. By bedtime at 11 PM, they still didn't want to go to bed, but I know they were quite tired. That was indeed a fact, as Taylor was asleep before I even finished praying with him!

This morning I heard one of the boys get up and start banging around in the kitchen. After about ten minutes Taylor walked in with a breakfast on a tray for Ellyn. Some milk and a piece of toast. What a surprise! A few minutes later he brought me my breakfast too! This from a boy who normally can't get out of bed in the morning unless you work on him for about half an hour. On top of that, he had no school and could have slept in. Go figure!

Didn't go to spanish

Didn't go to spanish class today. Maritza had something else she had to do. I don't remember what. Tomorrow we won't have class as it's a holiday for the two schools and she won't be teaching. I worked on a couple PC's in the hanger here, changing them around. I need one at my desk, and the one at my desk is going to go to Quito for the new e-mail system. I also tinkered on the go-kart here and there, and with the exception of the kill switch, I think it's done for now. Right now there's a huge storm brewing, and I need to head home.

Lois made a great

Lois made a great stir fry for lunch today. She also fried some yucca. That's very tasty and I wish I had that more often. It's not something Ellyn has learned to cook. In Papua New Guinea the people eat the same thing, and there they call in taro. We had an interesting conversation over lunch. Dwain and Lois work with the Achuar tribe. They teach Bible classes and work with the church leaders. Dwain spends quite a lot of time walking the jungle trails from village to village. He often is on the trail for a couple months at a time.

The people they work with used to be know as the Jivaro, which means 'savage'. They shrunk the heads of their enemies. Dwain was saying that the anthropologists think the missionaries change the culture too much. Missionaries do change culture, but only the religion. Most of the Achuar think that is a good thing. The Achuar used to be constantly afraid of dying. They usually never died a natural death, but a death that was a result of revenge killing. The people tell you that they'd be afraid walking down a jungle trail because they were worried about someone trying to kill them. Many Achuar will tell you that if the tribe hadn't heard the Gospel, they would have killed each other off by now. Of course the anthropologists say that the revenge killing was OK, even a good thing, because it kept the population under control. Gimme a break!

I also spent quite a bit of time asking Dwain questions about snakes. He's an expert on snakes and keeps them in cages in his house. He's captured hundreds of snakes over the years, and has been bitten more than once by ones that are venomous. Living in Ecuador, where there are over thirty species of venomous snakes, is just right for him. Right now he doesn't have any venomous snakes in his collection, but he usually does. He supplies snakes for the vivarium in Quito. I have a great dislike for snakes and wasn't looking forward to sleeping in a house with snakes. Thankfully I slept just fine.

One more thing. When they came back from their furlough, they found a couple termite nests in their house. They are constantly battling termites in the buildings in Makuma. How would you like to find a nest like this in your bathroom?!

The MAF pilots don't

The MAF pilots don't use a map a whole lot when they fly. When they do it's a small map that shows the locations and abbreviated names of the places they fly to. The GPS does all the navigation for them. From what I can tell, it makes their job a lot easier and safer.

The boys are in

The boys are in bed and I have a minute to write. A week and a half ago Dwain and Lois Holmes arrived back in Ecuador after a four month furlough. Dwain brought back a new hard drive for his desktop computer and also his laptop, on which he had installed Windows XP while in the US. Over the first four days of last week Bruce and I worked on Dwain's computers. Working on Dwain's computers really isn't part of my job description, but it's something Bruce and I can do to help the Holmes. They live in the middle of the rain forest, and there aren't a lot of options for them when it comes to tech support. We installed the new hard drive and put Windows 98 on it, as well as adding a USB card. The Windows XP machine needed quite a bit of work to get an external CD burner working. In the end, among other things, we found that the cable was bad. By Thursday we were very frustrated with things, but had them working well enough to send them out to Dwain, who had already gone to Macuma on Monday. On Saturday the computers went to Makuma on a flight.

By Monday afternoon this week we got a radio call from Dwain. He sounded just a bit frustrated, and was having trouble getting things going. He wanted to know if I could come to Makuma to help him. I was able to get on a flight going out there on Tuesday afternoon. We worked on things from 3:30 PM until after 9 PM, taking a break for dinner. I brought an extra five gallons of fuel for the generator so we could have power for more than the usual eight hours. They live 45 miles out into the jungle, and there isn't any external source of power. We accomplished most of our goals before heading to bed. I enjoy sleeping in Makuma. It's very dark and much quieter than Shell. I also tend to go to bed earlier there as there isn't that much to do once the power is off.

Today we finished up working on things. I was disappointed in how poorly the wireless transceiver works with the Windows XP laptop. Makuma is the location where we have an e-mail server connecting to Shell by HF radio. Dwain connects to the server in the Radio building by a wireless connection. It's really hi-tech for the jungle.

It was an unexpected trip that had a good ending. I was worried when I went out that I wouldn't be able to help him. Once I'm out in Makuma, I'm very isolated. I can't easily brainstorm with others about the problem, can't access the web to get answers to questions or updated drivers. The most I can do is give Bruce a call on the radio and have him look something up for me. I was able to get things going, but I could easily have stayed another couple days to sort out other questions and problems he had. The bottom line is that now he can use his WordPerfect program (which works better for writing the Achuar language than MS Word) and he can access e-mail from his house.

I arrived back from

I arrived back from Makuma about an hour ago. Dan Rogers picked me up and we came through Copataza and Molino along the way. Picked up a patient and her newborn baby in Copataza. Dropped a passenger off in Molino. I hadn't been there before, and it had an interesting approach. Also a sharp climbing turn on departure to avoid a ridge. I was able to accomplish the things I needed to do in Makuma to assist Dwain Holmes with his e-mail and computer set-up. I'll try to write more later tonight. I was only there for an overnight, having arrived in Makuma at 3:30 PM yesterday.

This article from the

This article from the Miami Herald is interesting. I only just now found out about the story. My friend Sandy keeps telling me terrorists could snatch us here in Ecuador. I know he says that tongue in cheek, bu this story about terrorists in Ecuador is a little too close to home for me.

The guys have not

The guys have not flown today. Instead of being rained out, it was more like they were rained in. The weather was variable here today in Shell, but when it was OK here the weather at the destinations was bad. I've had a similar day with computers. If it can go wrong, it will it seems. The computers on the network are fine. The servers are fine. The problems are with MAF staff computers. And also a person who is with GMU who lives out in the jungle at the mission station in Makuma. Looks like I'll be going out there tomorrow on a flight and spend the night. I worked four days last week on his computers and they were sent out to him over the weekend. He's having trouble getting everything going and wants me to come out and help him. Anyway, it's been a very frustrating day. I seem to have nothing to show for the day and feel like I'm in over my head when it comes to troubleshooting PCs. I'm especially unhappy with Windows ME right now. And XP.

We have water! The

We have water! The guys from the municipal deptartment came by at lunch time and fixed it. I'm guessing the line was blocked and they cleaned it out. There's only a 1/2" line coming onto our compound, so I'm sure it's easy for that to get blocked with mud and debris.

I was on my

I was on my way back from buying milk at the corner store and it started raining. A hard rain. That's good since it's our only source of water. This is so much like Papua New Guinea. When we were growing up we had to depend on rain water that we caught off our corrugated tin roof. We had a couple huge tanks to store the water in. I'm not sure how many thousands of gallons the tanks were, but when the dry season hit, we had to be careful to make sure it lasted. We had a different source of water for dishes and laundry, and that was river water that was pumped to our houses.

This afternoon was the despedida (goodbye party) for Sandy and Trish. We were all at the Finca Pigual in Puya, a place with a restaurant and pool. The lunch was great and afterwards was a short program with skits and a few gifts for them. Ellyn planned and organized the event, including the skits. She was a little stressed about the skits. She wrote several of them and didn't really feel that was her gift. Never mind that, it all came off very well. We all had a good time and I think the Toomers really felt appreciated.

The morning started off cloudy and rainy. Not a good day for a party with swimming. But by noon the rain was gone and the sun came out. For the rest of the afternoon it was warm and sunny, and we had to be careful not to get sunburns. Now again tonight it is pouring rain. This is the weather in Shell. I'll miss it when I leave. Whenever that is.

The boys are starting to get the full experience of an MK. What I mean by that is that people come and go. The Toomers have been good friends of the family and now they're leaving. This summer several other families will be leaving for good. One of those families is the Wynias, and their son has become Dustin's best friend. Having to say goodybe to people is definately one of the low points of being an MK.

I flew with Sandy

I flew with Sandy this morning. We wanted to get some digital video footage of flying in the jungle. With two villages to stop at, we ended up with some good footage and were back by noon. Sandy had one more flight to make, but I didn't go on that one. This was his last day of flying in Ecuador.

While we were out Mateo painted our gokart for us. I'm almost done with that project, and it's about time. I started that back in October. Dustin wants to make a unicycle now.

What else is new

What else is new besides not enough water? We went out for dinner tonight with our good friends Sandy and Trish Toomer. They leave in three weeks for the US where Sandy will become a recruiter for MAF. We're going to miss them. The boys stayed home with a sitter. The boys also got their mid-semester progress reports, and both are doing well. We're thankful for such a good school for them.

We've been getting rain

We've been getting rain for the past 3 1/2 hours. That's a real answer to prayer! The resevoir is filling and I'm pumping water up to the tower. I didn't pump as much before dinner as I wanted to, and the tower tank still isn't full. It's raining enough to bring up the water level in the resevoir, and that's really good news.

I have one 55

I have one 55 gallon drum filled. Now I'm going to pump the rest of the resevoir tank up to the tower and we'll see how long that lasts. Maintenance tells me that half a tank will last the weekend, but I don't think it will.

Another exciting day in

Another exciting day in Shell. We're out of water on the HCJB compound. There is a block in the line from the city, probably because it's only a 1/2" line. People down the street have water, but we don't. I'm filling some thirty gallon drums here a the hangar and taking them up to the house so we have water to flush toilets and wash hands. We will have to look elsewhere for food this weekend, maybe go out. Right now we're looking into getting the fire station in Mera to bring a truck down with a couple thousand gallons of water to dump in the underground resevoir. At any rate it's going to be at least Monday until this get's fixed.

I heard someone talking

I heard someone talking in the hangar today and thought they were talking about a hangar cat. I didn't think the hangar cat is here yet, although we will be getting one very soon. It turns out they were talking about a hangar bat. Mateo knocked it down and Salame gave it a couple kicks to get it moving. Strange to see a bat flying during the day.

I wish Bryant were

I wish Bryant were here tonight. There isn't a cloud in the sky, and there are stars everywhere. This isn't something we get a lot of down here, but it's been this way quite a few nights this week. Bryant was on the work team that came down in February. Unfortunately he didn't get much of a chance to really see the stars here.

You think it's a

You think it's a pain to change a tire on your car? Check this out. The gear rattled on the last couple landing, so John is giving it a close inspection.

I'm sitting here at

I'm sitting here at my desk. I was intending to do a little bit of work on my to-do list from the school board meeting yesterday. That's not happening. I've been busy working on a computer (actually two) for Tukup. Tukup is really Dwain Holmes, a GMU missionary who works in Makuma. Well, he's sometimes in Makuma. He has a house there, but he's often out walking the jungle trails visiting other villages. He works with the local church leaders in the Shuar and Achuar tribes. Anyway, back to his computers. They've been a source of much frustration, for both Bruce and me. But today we're gaining ground, little by little.

The hangar was full this morning, with six planes packed inside. That's getting harder to do, now that Rick Watkins, the visiting mechanic, has finished putting Flint wing tip tanks on two of the planes. That brings the total to three planes that have wing tip tanks. Each tip tank can hold 15 gallons of fuel. The plane from Quito will probably only be here a day or so more. They only found one bad cylinder, and are overhauling right now.

C'mon! Every time I

C'mon! Every time I turn around there are more termite droppings under my desk. If my chair is pushed it, it's likely to get covered to. They keep moving around, so it's different spot under my desk that has a pile. The other day I noticed they had burrowed up through my desk under my mouse pad. They stopped short of going all the way through the pad, but if they had, I wouldn't have been surprised.

The weather is good,

The weather is good, and Sandy was out of here at 8 AM. That's early for a flight, and especially early for him. All six planes are in Shell today. Mike Ross flew the Quito plane down yesterday. He completed a routine inspection on Friday and Monday, but is having trouble with one cylinder, so he brought the plane down to be worked on here. He'll probably take the bus back to Quito today if it's not a quick fix. I'm sure he has plenty of work to do in the office up there.

The rain is gone,

The rain is gone, and the door is OK. Whew!

I hope I didn't

I hope I didn't just break the hangar door. It's been threatening to pour since lunch, and just now it really started coming down, with wind. I pulled the folding door down, and as it neared the closed position, the wind gave it an extra shove. It's wedged against the floor now, and back far enough from the lip that the water is pouring underneath. It's going to be a job to get it open again.

Things are hopping around

Things are hopping around here. A tour group from HCJB came through this morning. Dave gave them a tour of the hangar. Everyone is always impressed when they see the original basket that Nate Saint used. If you're not familiar with that, he figured out a way to circle the ground and drop a basket on a line. As he circled, the basket would descend and stay in a fixed position. The basket we have here in the hangar as a radio in it that he used to talk to people on the ground. Of course each tour of the hangar also includes the obligatory photos with the snakes.

We woke up to

We woke up to a beautiful sunny sky. I looked out the window and saw nothing but blue. That doesn't happen very often here, and I thought for a moment I might be looking out my window in Oakhurst. But then as I listened to all the roosters and dogs, I realized that wasn't true.

I was up way too late last night. I had a ton of things to do. Managed to work on my spanish homework, and double check my taxes. I had already sent them in, but wanted to make sure we really didn't qualify for the child tax credit. I don't, and don't qualify for the additional child tax either. If we had three kids though, we could be getting $1200 back. I'll bet I would have spent at least $1200 more last year if I had three kids.

I should have workd on the school yearbook CD, but ran out of time. I nearing the deadline on that. On top of all that, I'm reading a book by Ted Dekker called Thunder of Heaven, and I would have loved to just lie in bed and read that all night. Ted was a classmate of mine in PNG.

Still no planes flying

Still no planes flying out of Shell...

It's a rainy Monday

It's a rainy Monday morning. We're not going to be flying anywhere for a quite a bit. On top of that, we don't have many planes to fly.

Dan Rogers was on call this weekend. He flew both days. Yesterday he was on a medical emergency flight near the Peruvian border and found a soft spot on the air. As the nosewheel sunk into the hole, the prop struck the ground. This has happened to almost every one of the pilots here. With all the rain around here, soft s are a daily challenge. Sandy left at 4 PM to go get him. MAF policy says that once a prop hits the ground, the plane can't be flown until the engine is changed. Sandy picked up a couple patients on the way back, one of them being a snake bite victim, and they landed about 6 PM. Meanwhile, Dave McCleery was out picking up a couple patients. One of them was in very serious condition, and Dave asked a doctor and ambulance to meet him when he landed. The ambulance was there, but no doctor. The Hospital Voz Andes was swamped yesterday afternoon.

So, our plane is still on the ground over an hour's flight away. It's raining, and we can't get a plane off the ground. We need to send a plane, pilot, and mechanic down to pick up the stranded plane. At the very least they'll take a prop to replace the one that hit the ground. We have two planes down for maintenance. The other plane will be needed to fly to Macas and pick up a lightning strike accident.

Pray for good weather. Pray for safety. Pray for good judgement.

I'm back from the

I'm back from the trip, and what a day it was. A half hour flight to Visui, and then a three hour hike through the steamy jungle as we climbed 2000' to the top of the ridge. It's on top of that ridge that MAF has a VHF repeater antenna, and we went to do some maintenance. Check, clean, repair the solar panels, the repeater, and the batteries. We had to leave at 3:30 PM to make it back to Visui and the waiting plane so that we'd have time to fly back to Shell before sunset. In the end we didn't leave until 3:50 PM, and really had to hustle down the hill to get out of there. As it was, we didn't leave the ground until 5:45 PM, and barely made it back to Shell before official sunset, sometime at 6:20 PM. After sunset you can't land in Shell, or any of the jungle s for that matter. I'll add some pictures somewhere on this site later.

Good weather this morning.

Good weather this morning. We're off to Visui and the repeater.

OK, enough of this

OK, enough of this for tonight. I've got to get some work done on the NSMS yearbook CD tonight. Tomorrow we're hoping to make a trip to the south repeater antenna. That will be contingent on good weather at 7 AM tomorrow. We need to be able to leave bright and early so we have enough time for the hike, the maintenance work, and the return hike and flight. If we make it, you can check back here tomorrow for a few photos.

I received another e-mail

I received another e-mail asking me to answer some questions. Thought you might like to read them.

What exactly do you do?
I am the Information Technology (IT) technician. That means I run the computer network and the e-mail system. It's my job to keep the e-mail coming and going, and the computers working. We have two offices in Ecuador, one here in Shell and one in Quito, and I maintain the computers in both places. We also have an e-mail server in a jungle mission station, and we use HF radio to get the e-mail out there.

Do you get to interact with the people of Equador?
Most of the interaction I get with Ecuadorians is during my work day. There are at least as many Ecuadorians as there are gringos who work in the hangar. I don't know much Spanish, so my interaction is limited. I take a half hour lesson each week day, but it's hard to find the time it takes to really learn a new language.

I want to know if you have a specific prayer list, so I can pray for you.

• I'd like to be an encouragement to other missionaries. Sometimes, because we live almost right on top of each other, and can never seem to get away, that becomes hard to do.
  
• My two boys go to a school for missionary kids. Each year we need enough teachers. Right now we're praying for a kindergarten teacher. We have found someone to teach 7/8, and they need to raise their support by the end of July.
  
• We will be putting a new e-mail system in our office in Quito. You can pray that this will go smoothly.
  

Is there anything happening in Shell right now that makes your job more difficult?
Right now I'd have to say there isn't anything in Shell that makes my job more difficult.

Is it hard to raise your children where you live?
I'm not sure it's any harder to raise kids here than in the US. In some ways it's probably easier. It is hard to be so far from their grandparents though. Because the missionary community is so small here, it can make the choice of friends rather small. That can be frustrating to watch our kids work through, and we pray a lot for them.

What exactly are the major religions of Equador and South America?
The major religions of South America? Off the top of my head, I'd have to say that both the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches are big in South America. Among the indians in the jungles, animism is widely practiced.

It is amazing that you are out there changing the world.
You're right. I think it's amazing I'm out here changing the world. I don't exactly think of it in those terms, but that is true. The great thing is that we all have the potential to change the world around us. For some reason, God has asked me to do that here in Shell.

Third plane of the

Third plane of the day left. Again. Dan left, but came right back as he had a dirty plug.

The Quito plane (HC-BZE)

The Quito plane (HC-BZE) just arrived. It's not a normal shuttle flight, and he's bringing a DAC inspector down here.

Second plane of the

Second plane of the day is away.

The first plane of

The first plane of the day just took off.

Q & A

Josh, the son of a friend of mine, wrote asking me to answer some questions for his AWANA Bible study. I thought I'd share my answers here.

What did it take to be approved to serve in another country?
I needed to be accepted by a mission organization and then get a missionary visa for the country I was going to. In order to be approved by the mission organization, I was required to have a physical exam, psychological evaluation, fill out an application form which required me to write my testimony and a brief synopsis of my life, and meet with a candidate committee.

What's a typical day on the job?
I start my day off helping to get my family out the door. Many days I get to ride my bike or walk with my two boys to their school. I work just across the street from the school.

Once I get to work, no two days are alike. I make sure the e-mail system is running, so I monitor that each day. Many days people have problems with their computers, so I find myself often troubleshooting and repairing those problems. Software updates and file backups need to be done on a regular basis. I also spend some time each day researching problems and keeping up with what's new in the technology world.

What's the biggest challenge of missionary life?
For me it's probably getting along with other missionaries. There isn't a lot of choice when it comes to choosing friends and who to do things with. Another challenge for me is living in a culture where I don't speak very much of the language, which is spanish.

What's the most rewarding thing about being a missionary?
First off it would be that I know I'm doing what the Lord asked me to do. Next, I know the job I'm doing makes it easier for the pilots and mechanics (and their families) to be in a country far from home. Having reliable e-mail service makes it easier to get the job done, and to live far from friends and family in another country. I see myself as one of the chains in the link. I'm not near the end, where the work is being done, but the job I do is still an important one. When I see a small child with a snake bite being flown in from a remote jungle village, I'm thankful I can play a part in making that possible.

Something else, but somewhat indirect, is the fact that my boys are growing up in another culture. That was how I was raised, and I'm glad they are able to have the same experience, as I feel it's valuable.

What was the biggest surprise you had when you first became a missionary?
I thought I was prepared to live in a third world country because of my experience as a missionary kid in Papua New Guinea. I found that wasn't true. I had to make some mental adjustments and get used to living a different culture as an adult.

What has been the most exciting thing that has happened in relationship to your ministry?
One of the things that needed to be done as soon as I returned to Shell in August, 2001 was to install a new e-mail system. The old system was out of date, and the new system meant a big change for everyone involved, including new software on staff computers, not just the server. It took many months of working through problems, but seeing the system running, and working well for us, has been very exciting. This system includes providing e-mail by HF radio to a couple missionary families deep in the jungle. Now that's cool!

I know you work for MAF but what's your role in the ministry?
The job I fill provides communication between MAF headquarters and our field program. Keeping a fleet of six planes operational requires a lot of work and parts. There are standards that must be followed, and parts that are sent from the States. E-mail keeps us working efficiently.

Also, all the documents related to pilots and planes are kept on our computers on the local area network. Keeping the computers and the network operational means that everyone can keep working because they have access to the information they need.

One other thing. Missionaries need to keep in touch with their supporters. We communicate with them as to our progress, and our physical and spiritual needs. Missionaries who have children going to college in their home country communicate with them by e-mail. By keeping the e-mail flowing, I get to play an important support role in the ministry.

Lots of rain this

Lots of rain this afternoon. Big lightning and thunder. Probably should stay off the computer and unplug everything. I'm expecting the power to go out any minute. But it's not. The whole electricity infrastructure is so much better this year than it was last year. We've experienced way fewer power outages, and haven't even needed to run the portable generator. Wow, felt that last one shaking in my chest!

I was coming home

I was coming home this afternoon and realized we have a lot to be thankful for. My spanish tutor asked me to come by her place to see if I could set up an internet connection for her. It was a pre-paid card account, and required a call to Quito. I couldn't get it to work, and I think the phone lines are too noisy to allow the connection. At the hangar we have consistent internet access, allowing us e-mail and WWW. We also enjoy internet access from our home. This is through a satellite connection to Quito, made possible my HCJB World Radio. Compared to the average resident of Shell,
we're spoiled.

On the way home I passed Klaus. He's the surgeon at the HCJB hospital in Shell. I was reminded what great medical service we have here. In fact, we've experienced it first hand two times since we've been here, when Dustin managed to get a couple of severe infections.

So don't feel too sorry for us as we live here in the third world. It could be a lot worse.

I was listening to

I was listening to our church tape this morning with the family. We listen to a tape from our church in Oakhurst each Sunday, as going to the local spanish speaking church is quite a stretch for our still very limited language skills. As I listened to friends' voices on the tape, I felt homesick. Shell isn't really home for me, as much as I like it here.

The ironic thing is that the longer I'm here missing people from home, the more this place seems like home to Dustin and Taylor. How long do we stay? Stay a year or two, and it won't be so hard on them to leave. Stay three or four years, and I feel like we'll be tearing them away from their home. On the other hand, that's the way it was for them when we moved down here almost two years ago.

On a completely different note, it's raining again. Last week was very rainy, so much so that the pilots didn't get much flying done. Several of them flew on Saturday since the weather was better. We need a week of good weather to get caught up again.

It's one of those

It's one of those weeks where I'm glad it's Friday.

I was back in Shell today, and didn't have a long to-do list. But as sometimes happens with computers, that soon changed. I had one PC that wouldn't start. Another that wouldn't connect to the network. Needed to go to an employee's home to set her computer up for e-mail. Set up Bruce's laptop to connect to the LAN and set un an e-mail account for him. Bruce is a new pilot who just arrived yesterday. He's been flying with MAF the past two years in Venezuela. Was reminded that I still hadn't finished setting up the evangelical church in town with e-mail. Bruce and I started that project months ago, but ran into some problems and never finished. Since then I obtained a Spanish version of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express so I tested that today to make sure it would work for us.

On top of all that I managed to figure out just how I'd make the throttle and gas pedal work on our go-kart. I'm excited about how close I am to finishing that project. Ellyn was busy all day decorating for a fundraiser at school. The grades 5-8 put on an international dinner, and many people dressed up with costumes and attended. It was a great time. At the end of that we had elections for the school board for next year. Since I was the only one nominated, I'm the president again.

I thought I'd still

I thought I'd still be in Quito tonight, but I'm back in Shell. It's a bit of a long story, but there were two planes in Quito this afternoon, and both of them went to Shell this afternoon. I had the choice of getting on one of them, or taking the bus back tomorrow. A 55 minute plane ride or a five hour bus ride. Not a hard decision to make. I flew back with Dave McCleery. Also with us was Bruce Wied, a pilot from the Venezuela program who's going to help out here for a year or so.

The flight back was uneventful. Well, I should say it was mostly routine. Dave had flown up to Quito yesterday to bring a patient up. Since it was so late in the afternoon, he was forced to spend the night in Quito. Today the weather was so poor in Shell that Dave couldn't leave Quito until 4 PM. As we flew over the paramo, the clouds came low, too low for us to squeeze under. Dave bank the plane and headed toward the twin peaks of the Ilinizas, and somehow found a way through the weather. The sky was full of clouds and rain, but I did get a glimpse of ash billowing from the 17,000' peak of Tungarahua.

I wish I could say my trip was more successful. I went with the hope of getting one thing done on the e-mail server. I tried that yesterday afternoon, and it didin't do what I was hoping. I spent the rest of the time getting other things checked off on my to-do list, and the trip wasn't wasted. The IT department at MAF headquarters in Redlands, CA is working on a new e-mail system. When they are ready, sometime in early May, I plan to test it in Quito to see if it will work better than what we have.

I'm up in Quito

I'm up in Quito again to work on the e-mail server. I'm going to try something different in the way the server makes connections to the internet. So far this afternoon, it's not working. I have tomorrow to work on it some more, and then I'll head home on Friday. I flew up this morning with Henry, and was the only person on the flight we him. He had flown another missionary down to Shell, along with a visiting family. We have one plane in Quito, and five planes in Shell. The Alas de Socorro office in Quito is across the street and around the corner from the hanger. The hangar is at the south end of the Quito airport. Mike Ross, the other pilot living in Quito, likes to say that the most dangerous part of his job is crossing the street to the hangar. When I'm up here, I eat lunch at a little restaurant around the corner. It's what I'd call a hole in the wall, and lunch will set you back $1.

Taylor had a great

Taylor had a great cross-cultural experience tonight. We had an MAF staff meeting tonight, so it was easier to go out tonight than for Ellyn to cook. And cheaper too. It's a dollar a plate at La Casona de Maria and the boys split a plate. So that means it's $3 for our family to eat! And that includes a bowl of soup and a glass of great fruit juice. We leave stuffed. In fact tonight we brought home a doggy bag for Bandita, our neighbor's dog. So, what was the cross-cultural thing? When they make chicken soup, it often contains things we wouldn't put in our soup, much less eat. Taylor had a chicken foot in his soup tonight. Once he saw that foot, there was no way he was going to eat that soup. Too bad, since it was tasty.

I'm subbing

I'm subbing at the school again today. I spoke in chapel yesterday about being an MK, and transitioning back to the 'home' country. We've had two families leave so far this year, and about three more will leave this summer. Maybe I'll outline what I said, and put it in here, but not right now. I need to get a bite to eat and head off to school.

Yesterday Dustin and I

Yesterday Dustin and I had a neat experience. We were over at the Harcey's house for an Easter brunch, along with the McCleery and Toomer families. Sandy was on call, and about 1:30 PM a call came over the radio in the Harcey's kitchen. It was from a village about 20 minutes out and they asked for a flight to come pick up a sick baby who had vomiting and diahrrea. If it was an adult they probably could have waited until today to go get them, but because it was a baby, Sandy made the flight. I decided to tag along, and then asked Dustin if he wanted to go. I didn't think he would, but because he had nothing else going on, he came along.

We were light, and the plane jumped off the runway after a short take off roll. Climbing at 1000 feet per minute we quickly reached our cruising altitude. When we were five minutes from the village, Sandy took a detour, descending low (and I do mean low) over the Pastaza river. We flew along, skimming over the brown muddy water, below the tree tops, banking with each turn of the river. What a rush! At one point the river split and there was an island in the middle. Sandy pulled back on the yoke and we went up and over, only to quickly dive back down once on the other side. My feet floated off the floor as the plane rushed back towards the river. Soon after that we climbed up, over the jungle again, and circled for a landing.

The village was on the edge of a tree and vine covered cliff. As we bumped to a stop on the dirt, a couple handfuls of kids came running out to see the plane and its occupants. The body odor was strong as they climbed on the wheel and looked in at the blond haired, white skinned boy sitting in the front seat. In less than ten minutes we had the mom and baby on board and were screaming down the runway again, on our way to Shell and a taxi to take the patient to the hospital.