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Monthly Update

I hesitate to even call this a monthly update. It's been several months since I last communicated to all of you in the way of an e-mail update. Things seem to be so busy, and I've been trying to get this out the door for the past week. When we first tried to imagine a life here in Shell, we thought we'd have a leisurely life with lots of time to read and relax in the evenings. After all, there's no TV (at least not in English) in Shell, so how late could one stay up? And it's a small town in a third world country, so how busy could we really get? Whew! Were we naive. Life here can get just as busy and hectic as life in the US, let me tell you. Doesn't matter where we are, Ellyn and I always seem to find more than enough to do.

Since I last wrote my parents have been here for a visit. They came in the middle of December and stayed for two weeks. It was good to have them spend time with us, and I know they really enjoyed Christmas with their grandkids. We were glad for the opportunity to show them around Shell. Now they have a better picture of where we are, what we do, and what it's like here for us.

The boys are gearing up for Carnaval. This is the Ecuadorian version of Mardi Gras. It's a little different than the New Orleans version, and Ecuadorians celebrate this holiday by dousing each other with water. Walking down the street, you become fair play for children and teenagers hiding in doorways and waiting on balconies with buckets, balloons, local versions of the famous Super Soaker, and anything else that will hold water long enough for them to take aim and let fly. And of course Dustin and Taylor love to participate in this holiday with great enthusiasm! So much so that they've already begun buying water balloons and having water fights with the other kids in the neighborhood. It's such a big deal here that next Friday the kids at Nate Saint Memorial School will have two hours of class, then two hours of water games and a water fight before they go home to have the afternoon off from school. And, they get the following Monday and Tuesday off from school.

In January a new MAF family arrived in Shell. Steve Dunbar is a pilot/mechanic. this is great news, since we really need a couple more pilots here in Shell. Right now we have two full-time pilots, and they stay very busy. It's going to be many months before Steve is checked out to fly into all of the short jungle airs, but his on-the-job training will begin as soon as he gets his Ecuadorian pilot's license. That should be sometime next week. Steve and Kristen are working full time on getting their house ready to live in. They will be renting a house in Shell, and living off of the MAF base. Ellyn has gotten involved in helping Kristen decorate and set up her home. Tomorrow she's going over to help with some painting. This is almost like Trading Spaces!

I'm staying busy keeping the e-mail system going. I had a major problem at the end of December, with the motherboard going bad on the e-mail server. It was a long week, and at the end of it I had set up a temporary replacement server and we didn't lose any e-mail. This week I've been able to install two new motherboards into computers and am ready to start the move to a new e-mail system that will serve us for the long haul. This will also mean a change to the HF radio e-mail server in Makuma. It looks like there will be a fair amount of 'computer juggling' going on. I'm hoping and praying for a smooth transition.

We value your prayers as we continue on in the ministry here. Thanks for being part of our team.