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I feel like I'm

I feel like I'm on the dark side of the moon. Late last night I tried to log into my e-mail server in Shell. No response. The same thing this morning when I try. I'm not sure what's going on. Is the power out in Shell? Is the internet service provider having trouble with their internet connection? There's really nothing at all I can do but wait.

I've been in touch

I've been in touch off and on with people in Shell today. Sounds like the weather has been terrible for flying. Lots of rain. I'm getting a good dose of sunshine. I just love it up here in Idyllwild. At 5000' in the pines with sunshine and blue sky. Not too hot, and really nice when the breeze picks up. I am looking forward to rain again, and even had a dream about it the other night. Ellyn and the boys went down to Palm Desert with her mom. They visited some friends there. The boys told me it was 106 degrees there! That's right next to Palm Springs for those who aren't familiar.

Here's what I sent

Here's what I sent out to our mailing list this morning...

"As you know from our e-mail a couple weeks ago, we have made an unexpected trip back to the US. We arrived back in California a week ago.

As a result of some symptoms and a subsequent test Ellyn had in Quito, the doctors there were very concerned about Ellyn's health and suggested we return to the US for further testing.

On Tuesday afternoon we had our first appointment at Loma Linda. On Wednesday Ellyn saw an oncologist and Friday she had an appointment with two surgeons. After some tests the specialist told us we don't need to pursue a biopsy because the test results did not indicate any abnormalities.

Wow, what a long way to go to find out that everything is OK! We are praising God for this outcome and glad to know that we can now head back to Shell. We can't thank you enough for holding us up in prayer. It has been a very emotional two weeks, but we certainly have felt God's peace. We have also been encouraged by many of you who have sent us e-mails.

We will be returning back to Shell as soon as possible. School will soon be starting and we both have work we need to get back to. We plan to stay with Ellyn's parents for another week, and then will drive up to our home church next weekend. After that we'll be back down in Idyllwild until we leave for Ecuador on August 9 or 10."

We enjoyed a beautiful

We enjoyed a beautiful day in the pines. Here's a photo of the little cottage we're staying in at Ellyn's parent's place. I took the boys swimming this afternoon and it was good to get away and do that. Tomorrow Ellyn and I go back to Loma Linda for an appointment with the surgeon. We spent the morning there on Wednesday, and today was like a day off. We're hoping they'll do a biopsy by early next week.

Some things I've noticed

Some things I've noticed after a day in California...

too many choices at grocery store
freeways
paper towels in bathrooms
Dr. Pepper
drinking water from the faucet
not needing exact change
US toilet paper (it's more sturdy)
blue sky
no rain
seedless grapes
sparkling clear pool water
faster modem connection speeds

Well, we're off to

Well, we're off to bed. Probably should just stay up though, since we need to get up at 2:30 AM. With a 6:30 AM flight, getting there three hours early takes on a whole new meaning.

We made it to

We made it to Quito with no problems. For a while I didn't think it was going to be that way. About 15 miles from Shell the van started making an unusual noise. We prayed that we'd be able to make it anyway, and after checking things out, decided to go on. Things got better, and we arrived in good time. Someone with MAF will still need to figure out what's going on with the van, but at least we made it here.

I had another 'scare' this morning. I realized about an hour into the drive that I must have left my Palm electronic organizer on the night stand by the bed. I use it as an alarm clock every morning, and in the confusion of having friends come over to say goodbye, I forgot to check one last time to make sure I had everything. So we stopped in BaÒos and went to the Andinatel office. That's the national phone company, and I was able to make a call there to have my neighbor go check the house for me. Sure enough, it was still there. She put it in an envelope and took it over to the hangar. There was an emergency flight up in the morning, and when I arrived at the MAF office at 12:30 my Palm was there waiting for me. Whew!

So, we're on our way. We're not sure what we'll find when we get to the US, but we know the Lord has us in the palm of His hand, and that's a good place to be. Already we've seen His hand in so many ways in the past week. And even how He was preparing things in advance of us getting the news that prompted this trip. We already have an appointment with a specialist on Tuesday afternoon at Loma Linda, and we're praying that the Lord would expedite things.

By the way, for those of you in the US where it's been really hot this summer. In Shell we've had over 22 inches of rain as of July 17th! More than an inch a day!! That's a lot of rain, but for some reason, we don't seem to mind it. Guess that's a good thing!

Well, I'm ready to

Well, I'm ready to head out of the hangar. I've worked hard all week to make sure that things are ready for my departure. Lot's of documentation about the system and the things I do. I'll still access the system from the States and do all the e-mail administration remotely.

We head to Quito in the morning by road, hopefully by 7 AM. Our flight out of Quito is on Saturday morning. I'm in a bit of shock right now. Going through all the motions, and not really believing that tomorrow we leave. Over the past two years Shell certainly has become home for us.

Bruce says the weather

Bruce says the weather has cleared and planes are being launched. A cadaver in one of them, and Coke in the other. I'm sure that's not far from the truth. He'll be flying one of them. The one with the Coke. Dave, the program manager, is also going to fly. It's not too late in the day to try and salvage what's left, since it's been raining all day to this point.

I wrote a bit

I wrote a bit in here on Tuesday, and I just realized it never made it on the page. Don't know what happened. I wrote a bit about the fact that we're returning to the States, very unexpectedly, for a month. At least we hope it's only a month. For the past couple months Ellyn has been undergoing some tests for a health concern. We've exhausted the resources here in Shell and Quito, and now our doctors are recommending more testing in the States. They say we should have these tests done by December. We're going to head back now to try and get it all taken care of by the time the boys start school. If the test results show a problem, then we'll be in the States for a while longer. At any rate, we do plan to return to Shell.

Bruce just pulled in.

Bruce just pulled in. I'm sure he'll be glad to be home on Friday night. He's going to go eat pinchos with everyone else at Maria's. Good grilled meat with fries. It's the Friday night missionary hangout.

Dan snuck out this

Dan snuck out this afternoon. Made it to Sucua, where our southern most base is. The weather has been bad all week there too. After four landings he was back in Shell. Brian just landed, and now we're waiting for Bruce to get back.

And Bruce is off

And Bruce is off again. Didn't go home for a shower or anything. The weather is finally good, so he's going out for a few stops in the jungle. There are medical emergencies that need to come out and other people that need to go back to their homes in the jungle.

Bruce is back! He

Bruce is back! He made it in around around 1 PM. He seems in pretty good spirits for spending the night away from home. Make that two nights unexpectedly. And yesterday was his birthday.Last night he was stuck out in ToÒempade, the closest Waorani village to Palm Beach. The night before that, he was in Damointaro, the village where just in the last year a Bible Institute was opened for the training of Waorani church leaders.

...and now the weather

...and now the weather is closing down again. Praying a lot for Bruce.

Brian just landed.

Brian just landed.

And the rain just

And the rain just keeps pour down. I'm praying there will be some clearing so the two pilots that are out can make it back in today.

After dinner Ellyn watched

After dinner Ellyn watched a movie with a couple friends. I took the boys over to the Coliseo to watch some soccer. Actually, I watched soccer, and the boys ran around and played with friends. Tonight was the game for third place in the league championships. One of the gringo guys I know is one a team and he was playing tonight.

I found out tonight that it's rained 8 inches so far in the month of July here in Shell. That's a lot of rain in ten days!

The weather has been

The weather has been lousy today. Brian has gone back out with fuel for Bruce, but the weather is so poor I don't think either of them will make it home again tonight. This is really unusual. I'll bet Bruce is ready for a hot shower and his own bed! Brian doesn't seem to mind so much.

Back in the office

Back in the office again. I didn't want to get up this morning. The power went out at 6 AM, and I didn't really want to think about a morning without a hot shower and a cup of coffee. When it was obvious the power was going to be off a while, I walked over to the hangar and shut off the UPSs on the computers. I only left the two servers running. They can run for a long time on the battery back-up. Then I crawled back into bed again for a while. About 7:15 the power came back for a couple minutes, and that was enough to run the pump and get some water. I had a two minute shower and then heated some water on the gas stove for a cup of instant coffee. The morning was turning out alright after all. Just before 8 AM they turned the base generator on, so at least the fridge was running. That was all then. John just went over and shut down the generator, as the city power is back online again.

Brian just pulled in. He spent the night in Damointaro, which allowed him to get one more flight in yesterday. The guy is a go-getter! Bruce also spent the night in Damointaro, but not by choice. The weather was bad on the way to Shell on his last flight, so he had to turn around and spend the night out there. Dan did make it in yesterday right before sunset, about 5:50 PM. He just made it in, and he sure was glad about that.

I'm back in Shell

I'm back in Shell again tonight. It's good to be home. I did enjoy the blue sky and warm sun in Quito, and now it's back to the clouds and rain of Shell. At 8 AM when I arrived at the office for the flight to Shell, I found out the conditions in Shell were zero zero. That's zero ceiling and zero visibility. You've heard the saying "Have time to spare, go by air"? Well, that's the way it was today. I could have left on the bus at 8 AM and been home sooner. But waiting around the office and then flying home is a bit easier than a five hour bus ride. We finally were in the air about 1:15 PM. By the time we were over Ambato we started climbing to get over the clouds. We all put on oxygen masks as we climbed past 12,500 feet. By the time we reached 15,000 feet, we were flying above the clouds. When we got to Shell we were still at 10,000' and it took us a few minutes to descend. As we did, I looked back and could see the clouds we flew over, as well as the hole in the clouds we were going through to get down. I don't know how many times I've been on final to the Rio Amazonas airport in Shell, but it's always nice to be home again.

The server I took up to Quito didn't work out as well as I first thought. I won't go into all the details, but there is a problem with how often it connects to the internet. At between one and two cents for minute phone charges, the way it is now it will add up to as much as $30 in extra charges a month. I need to figure out what's going on, because that's too much. Now that I'm back here in Shell I'm going to set another server up at home to dial the hangar so I can figure out if it does the same thing here. I'm disappointed to say the least.

Woke up to a

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day in Quito. The view of Cotopaxi to the south made me want to get out and take a hike. But I felt too tired to think about that for very long. A late night reading, and then heavy traffic on the street ten floors below at 6 AM was too much for me. I'm dragging right now, and it's only 11:30 AM.

I was really disappointed when I checked the log files on the server this morning to find out that I have a problem with this new system. I'm trying to figure that out now. For the most part it's working well, but it's calling the internet service provider more often than the every thirty minutes I have it set for. That's going to add up, since a phone call is between 1-2 cents a minute.

My server is in

My server is in place here in Quito and seems to be doing well. I'm going to leave it running tonight and see what happens. This is great progress, and an answer to many prayers. As soon as I got off the plane I came over and got it set up. Within the hour it was connecting to the Redlands server, exchanging mail.

I'm up in Quito

I'm up in Quito. The flight up was OK, but it was the first time since I've been down here that I felt queasy on a flight. I didn't even think it was very turbulent, so I don't know what my problem was. There were two patients on the flight. Both of them were newborns, and one of them was in an incubator and on oxygen plus an IV. The baby in the incubator was accompanied by it's father. The mother is still in the hospital in Puyo. The other baby was in it's mom's arms and on an IV. Every time I'm around small children on a shuttle flight to Quito, I can't help but remember them in prayer. And I sure think I know how their parents are feeling, having been there twice with Dustin. When I get a ride on a flight like this I always have mixed feelings. On one hand I'm really wanting a ride to Quito, but on the other hand I wish these patients didn't need to go to Quito, that they could be better. I feel like I'm benefitting from their misfortune. The ambulance was waiting for the plane when we landed in Quito.

I did get an interesting photo on the way up. About three weeks ago the road collapsed by the river Pastaza, and I had a few photos of it. Today when we flew over I took this photo. You can see just where the road fell away and how close the river is to the road. I don't think there was so much earth below the missing road when it first happened. I think they might have pushed some of that over the edge when they were making the new road.

It looks like there

It looks like there are two flights to Quito tomorrow. I've gathered the things I'll need to take for work on the server and have them ready to go. It'll just take me a few minutes to pack in the morning if there is a spot for me on a plane. I'd like to go up for two nights and come back Wednesday. It would be really perfect if the Dell's truck was ready and I could pick that up from the dealer. It means a five hour drive back from Quito, but I'd like to get the truck back to Shell. It's been up there now for four weeks.

The past several days

The past several days we're making up for the lack of rain a week ago. It's been raining a lot since about last Wednesday. If you've read this blog very long, you know that the rain is just fine with me. Yesterday we had a barbeque to go to out at the GMU Camp Mangayacu. Carol, our friend from PNG who is visiting, called us just before we were going to leave, asking if the event was rained out. I laughed and told her no. Rain doesn't stop much around here when it comes to day to day living. There's always a covered area to get under. Here's a panorama photo of the pool at Mangayacu that I put together when we got back home. The pool is built across a stream, and to fill the pool they just close that gate in the dam. In an hour or two the pool is full. The water is cold, but that doesn't stop the kids. Speaking of cold, this month, July, seems to be colder than most. It was that way too the year we first came down here. I know it's winter in the southern hemisphere, but we're less than two degrees south of the equator, so I don't know how much 'winter' we really get around here. No matter what time of year, we get almost the same amount of light each day.

After church this morning the boys and I hung around downstairs. I'm working on a multimedia presentation for our supporters and church, and while I did that the boys watched some TV. They especially enjoyed a tape of animal bloopers. It had a part where a macaw rides some roller skates. Now Dustin has made some and he wants to teach Lucy to skate. That should be interesting. He really likes that bird. Every once in a while Lucy bites him or won't cooperate with him, and that really hurts his feelings.

Taylor sure was talkative this morning. He wanted to know if people work at gas stations have to go to college. I told him you didn't have to go to college to work at a gas station. He said that was good, because he didn't want to go to college. Then he said, "But maybe I will, because I can get better jobs if I do."

He also told me that Luke, his friend, didn't want to get married. Said he thought it was gross. But Taylor thinks it's important for Luke to get married because he's diabetic. That way he'll always have someone with him at night in case his sugar level goes low and he needs someone to help him. At first Taylor said he didn't want to get married, but then he finally said he would like to have kids. He decided that he'd like to live in the same town as me and Ellyn. I wonder if he feels that way since he sees that Ellyn and me live so far from our parents?

I'm starting to plan

I'm starting to plan a trip up to Quito next week. I need to take the e-mail server up there, as well as pick up the Dell's truck. I called up there today to the Nissan dealer, but couldn't get any word on whether or not it was ready. They' ve had it a month now, but had to order the parts from Japan. We've missed having that car to drive whenever we need to. We can check out a van from MAF depending on whether or not it's available. It's not quite as convenient.

The Tour de France starts this weekend, and I'd love to watch it on TV. If anyone as the Outdoor Life Network channel, tape it for me. Please! This is one of the hardest parts of being in Ecuador for me. I really like cycling, and can't get enough of it down here.

Taylor was talking to Ellyn, and later to me, about how he likes it here and doesn't want to go back to the States. I'm not sure exactly why he brought it up, but something has him thinking about that. At any rate, we tend to agree with him. We're quite happy here right now.

The guys started the

The guys started the repairs on the stabilizer that was bent yesterday. The weather was not good for flying, and we only got one flight it, a trip up to Quito and back. One of the planes is through with maintenance, but Dan wasn't able to do the RTS flight. That's a Return To Service flight that takes place whenever maintenance is completed. This flight needs to be an hour long to check out the engine.

It occurred to me

It occurred to me this afternoon that maybe you'd like a look at my work area. I took this photo and added a few notes. Hope this helps as you try to picture me doing my work here. By the way, if you can't tell, I like my job!

I've had a great

I've had a great day of progress today on my Quito server. I've been stumped now for two weeks an a dial-up issue. Last night before going to bed I had an idea as to what might be the problem. Sure enough, that was it, and I now have a working system. Maybe next week I'll be able to get up to Quito to try it out. I am very happy with what I was able to accomplish today. I wish I had been smart enough to figure this out sooner though.

Bruce is back with

Bruce is back with a bent airplane. They were unloading the plane when some guy dropped a 110 pound bag of cement on the right horizontal stabilizer. It put a kink in it. After radioing back to Shell and talking it over with the guys here, everyone decided it was OK to fly it back here the way it was. He made it fine, and now we have a plane out of commission for at least a day while the stabilizer is replaced. Or longer if we have to repair that one and put it back on.

It's a beautiful day

It's a beautiful day in Shell. The rain of Monday and Tuesday is gone. Ellyn took the boys down to the Finca Pigual in Puyo for a morning of swimming. They each invited a friend. Ellyn took Carol Hardin and her to kids along. Carol grew up with us in PNG and was know as Carol Franklin in those days. Her husband, Mike, is a family practice doctor. This is their third trip to Shell. He comes to work during times when the regular docs are home on short furloughs. This time the Hardins are here for two weeks.

Brian Shepson is taking his family back to Quito today. Connie and the two kids head back to the States tomorrow. Brian will head back down to Shell for another three weeks. He's been a huge help this summer, doing a ton of flying. His kids really enjoyed their visit back to Shell, the place where they grew up. Stephanie goes to Wheaton College and Stephen is a high school student nearing graduation. It was really fun to watch them come back and be in their old stomping ground with old friends. I wish I could have done something like that a few years after I left PNG. That's probably one of the big regrets of my life, that I've never been back to visit Ukarumpa. By the way, that photo is a current day photo. When we left Ukarumpa in 1980, I'd say the town was about a third smaller than in this photo. Most of the growth has occurred in the area of the left and lower left part of the photo. It's all Wycliffe Bible Translator missionaries, and quite a large community by missionary standards.

We've got several planes in the hangar, and two flying. Here' s a 180 degree panorama shot.

It was raining this

It was raining this morning when we woke up. Nice. We really enjoy the rain, and it hasn't rained enough lately. I never thought I'd like rain.

I saw a rat yesterday. He was out back, and very slow moving. I think it has eaten some poison. I put some more out where it was. I also think I know how they're getting into the house, so now I have another project to do. I need to cover up and screen an area under the upstairs floor where they have an opening into the floor joists.