Flying about.

The last few weeks have been pretty interesting. I, being Gary, have had the opportunity to dust off my pilots license and use it. Normally our other pilot does most of the flying, but this month we had a significant increase in flight requests so I got to help with that part a bit more. One flight took me to the towns of Menongue and Cuito Cuanavale with World Vision International.

WVI is working to help farmers become more self sufficient and move beyond subsistence farming. The program has been very successful and they were looking at starting this program in and around these two towns. One of the interesting side stories was from one of the Angolan WVI staff that had accompanied us. He had joined the Angolan army when he was 16 and had spent a significant amount of his time in the 1980's fighting South African supported UNITA forces in this area. Two of his brothers had died in the fighting and were buried in Cuito Cuanavale. It was the first time he had been back since 1988, it was fairly emotional for him. It is easy at times to forget the suffering of the Angolan people, but the suffering from the war is not a thing of history books for them, it is fresh and it is very real.

A second trip was to Menongue as well, but this time we went about an hour north to a former mission station at a place called Catota. The reason for the trip was two fold. One was to check on the progress of re construction of the station, which the government is doing

and to bring back a daughter of one of the missionary doctors that had worked there until 1953 with her sons and daughter-in-law.

 It was amazing to see the welcome and the joy of the people as they talked about their

 memories of her parents and how thankful they were for their work amongst them. The gratitude and thankfulness was truly stirring.

Since this family left 55 years ago there has been no consistent medical care and for the last 35 years the hospital has been a pile of rubble.

Interestingly the only building that survived was the church building.

The third trip again took us to the Menongue area, but this time farther south past Cuito Cuanavale to the town of Mavinga. This stretch between Menongue and Mavinga saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war, in fact the largest tank battles since World War Two were fought in this area. The fighting split families apart and this was why we were there with the International Red Cross. They had located eight children between the ages of 7 and 14 who had been separated from their parents for up to 10 years and we were going to help reunite them.  

When we arrived at the strip only 4 of them appeared and the guys from the Red Cross quickly asked how much time we had on the ground. They wanted to know if they had enough time to go rescue at least two of the four. Why do I say rescue? In lots of these situations the families that have the children aren't always interested in returning them. It can cause them economic hardship or they are just looking for money to release them back to their parents. We were told that they were only 15km away and that it should only take one hour to get them and return driving in the Land Cruisers. Well, one hour and 45 minutes and 60 km later we still hadn't arrived at the village. We had to turn around and head back to the plane so that we could at least bring the other children back to their families. The chances of reuniting the other children with their family is now about zero. It is hard to accept how our actions can affect those around us in such a profound way. We hope that we will be able to return in October, but who knows where the children will be moved to at that point. The south eastern part of Angola is huge and sparsely settled, there is a reason that the Portuguese called it, "The ends of the world."

We will be back in Canada on the 10th of August and will be returning to Angola on the 8th of September. We will be busy with wedding prep and all that that entails. We are not sure about how many of you we will be able to visit, especially outside of the Calgary area, but drop us an e-mail and we will see what we can figure out!

Happy Canada Day!

It is odd to be celebrating Canada here in Angola and complaining that it's too cold outside! It's true! Last week the boys were out at our friends farm for a visit and when they got up in the morning there was ice on top of the water in the water tanks! This is crazy! We even bought a little wood stove to help take the chill off in the mornings, only thing is we have been waiting three months for the chimney to arrive. So right now we have this cast iron paper weight sitting in the corner of our living room reminding us of how toasty warm we could be! It's kinda funny because by the time lunch rolls around it is warmer outside then it is inside, something is truly out of whack! We hope that you have all had or are having or will have a great Canada Day long weekend.

A strange thing is happening in town that I am not quite sure how to react to. Normally most things don't get me to wound up or anxious, but this has actually got me a little rattled. They are fixing all the roads! That's right, well maybe not all of them, but certainly a large number of them, and it's starting to annoy me! Is that weird or what!? I mean that's a good thing right? I should be happy, no more dodging pot holes and craters and garbage and other cars that are dodging pot holes and craters and garbage. It's like they are trying to turn our city into Red Deer or something even more insidious like...ah like...well ah like...well at the moment I can't think of something. It is strange however, why would these much needed improvements get me all knotted up? They are even fixing part of the road that comes up to our compound, but some demented part of me is glad that they are leaving some of it as an obstacle coarse. I think I need some counseling.

On a ministry note the flight schedule keeps filling up each month. I am amazed how the Lord graciously connects us with those that we can help with the aircraft. This month, so far, we will be doing flights for World Vision, HALO Trust and The International Red Cross as well as some flights for the local mission hospital and some mission agencies. It is an honour and privilege to be a small part of Gods work here in Angola and that he is willing to use us to help accomplish his plans. One thing that you can pray about is the effect that rising fuel costs are having on our ability to provide affordable flights. Last month alone the price of jet fuel rose close to 30%. Pray that we will be good stewards of the money that you all generously give so that it goes to providing flights as much as possible and doesn't get swallowed by rising fuel prices.