Goertzen Family

A teeny piece of no consequence.

2011-10-18T07:11:00.003-06:00

I think that one of the things that I continually struggle with, and I do believe I have mentioned this before, is remembering that what we think is normal here, is probably not normal back in Canada, or lots of other places for that matter. This is my excuse for not having updated our blog since whenever we last updated it. Thank you all for your patience and understanding and not rolling your eyes too far into the backs of your heads.

A couple years ago we bought three new gas stoves in Canada to send here to replace the three old ones that were in the houses here on the compound. We thought, lets get quality, lets be patient and wait to get what we want and they will last a really really really long time. I mean when you pay for quality you get quality, right!? Am I right? Who goes out and knowingly pays for junk and expects quality? Soooo we bought good Canadian stoves from a good Canadian store and guess what happened for two whole years? Nothing, they worked fine, well sort of, they worked fine when we had power to run the glow plugs to light the oven, but that's a whole other story, maybe even two stories. That's right! They worked fine...until last Friday...when all three of them packed it in at the same time. Literally, within minutes of each other, makes cooking seven pizzas a little problematic. Oh well, we are in africa, where necessity is the mother of invention. The next day we hauled out one of the old ones, because we sold the other two, because why in heavens name would we ever need them again right!? It's not like we bought junk or anything to replace them. Well it turns out that the one we kept is missing a part, not a big part, it's just a little part, a little teeny part, a part that normally minds its own business and does its work without calling attention to itself or asking for any glory. It was however, missing, and guess which part in a city of over a million people you can't find?? You got it! Our teeny weeny little part, our part of no consequence, except for the fact that our stove absolutely will not function with out it! So maybe I underestimated the importance of this part, what can I say? I'm just a pilot! It's not like I know how to fix stuff, like gas stoves or toasters or vacuums or clocks or computers or solve complex algebraic problems! Cut me some slack I'm just an old-ish pilot...of sorts. At this point our gardener comes over and says, "hey, I think I know where we can get one of those teeny little inconsequential parts." Or something to that affect. We hop in to our truck, the gardener and I, and head off down the hill to drop off the toilet at his house. Don't worry about not understanding that, it's a whole other story, it just puts us further along in the stove story. After dropping off the toilet he starts to give me directions to where we are going to find our part. We head down from his house and cross the road into one of the bairros. A bairro is where people live and where there has been no city planning in regards to house and street location, as well as absolutely no development of any supporting infrastructure. We were passing a relatively nice place and I asked Ze if this was the place? He said no, it was around the corner, so we continued around the corner. Around the corner was a track leading across a "stream", a stream that replaces the lack of infrastructure. I seriously contemplated lifting my feet as we crossed it and thought about how to sterilize the truck later. I actually thought, "My poor truck!" After we crossed to the other side Ze tells me to stop, which I did, because I am trained to follow the instructions of the person who regularly occupies that seat. Ze gets out and heads over through the tall grass back to the "stream". I was thinking, "What, now? You couldn't wait till we got back to the house to use the bathroom?" In the end I figured if you gotta go, you gotta go. At that point he jumped the "stream" thankfully, and picked something up off the ground, in the bushes and weeds beside the "stream" Really? Seriously? are you kidding me? It was a controller from an old broken gas stove that the local kids had been recycling into its various elements and guess what was on the end of it? Our little teeny piece of no consequence. At that point what else can you do, but nod your head and go, "Of course that's where we would find the part to fix our stove, beside a "stream" in a bairro."

*please note that this story has not been edited and therefore any grammar or spelling errors are the sole responsibility of the author and do not reflect in anyway on the intelligence and beauty his wife.

Heading home

2011-04-23T02:14:00.002-06:00

Well, it looks like we will be heading back to Canada next week for a bit. Tammy`s dad, who has been deteriorating health wise for the last few years, passed away yesterday (April 22). The emotions are mixed, we are sad to see the ol`curmudgeon leave us, but happy to know that his suffering is over and that he is in the presence of his Lord. I am thankful for the part he has played in my life and all the time we were able to spend together. Whether it was teaching me the finer aspects of NASCAR or patiently explaining to me once again how some sort of mechanical system worked, even when he saw that my eyes were glazing over and I had no idea what he was talking about. Thanks dad, we love you.
Ironically, we had sent Tammy`s passport to Canada to get her next visa for Angola on Monday, so we are waiting to get it back from the courier so that we can head back to Canada. It is hard to be so far away from our kids and family when there is such sadness in our hearts. Always that Angolan visa process is affecting something in someway! Most likely Tammy will stay for a month or so and I will stay for a couple weeks and then return to Angola.
We look forward to visiting with those that we can, but ask that you will forgive us if we can't spend time with all of you.

"But his visa is expired."

2011-02-23T07:22:00.003-07:00

Is it that time already? It seems like just yesterday that I lost my passport and suffered a prolonged bout of insanity...wait a sec that was yesterday! No not really, I was just fishing for a more dramatic start to this posting.
Actually when I look back on what has happened in the last few months things have continued on their normal abnormal course. After we got back to Angola we were thrilled to learn that my (Gary's) residency visa was ready in Luanda. This will hopefully make our visa adventures a little less frequent. Whilst in Luanda to get the visa my kidneys decided that they were tired of packing around some extra weight and therefore ejected a couple stones they didn't want anymore! I guess the bright side of the whole experience was getting to observe first hand the level of medical care available in Angola. The doctor was actually pretty good, she got me IV'd up and on pain killers right away, but whilst I lay writhing on the examining table she merrily continued to see other patients in the same room, I re-assured them that I wasn't dying...yet. All in all it went pretty well.
After getting back from Luanda we discovered that Matt had done a number on his knee that would require surgery. The choice was get it done right away in Angola and be laid up for six months recuperating with a cast or wait a month and a half and have it done in Windhoek where he would be walking on it the same day. It also worked out that Tammy and Matt's visas would expire at that time so why not kill two birds with one stone. ( Just so you all know, no birds were harmed in the writing of this blog.) The surgery went well and the visas arrived on time and we headed back to Angola eager to be in our own house again.
The crossing of the border went reasonably well considering that there were seven of us. We were traveling back with some good friends and a new couple has come with MAF to work at one of the mission hospitals. My passport was the only one that caused any real problems. The conversation with the immigration officer went something like this.

Immigration Officer,"I see that your visa has expired"
Gary, "Yes that particular one has expired, but I am in the country on this other visa"
Immigration Officer,"Yes, but I see that your visa has expired"
Gary, "Yes that particular one has expired, but I am in the country on this other visa"
Immigration Officer,"Yes, but what worries me is that your visa has expired"
Gary," Yes that one has expired, but this is the new visa they have given me to use and it hasn't expired."
Immigration Officer, "Hmmmmm, but it is only a piece of paper?"
Gary,"Yes, that is what they give until the actual plastic card arrives, it takes a long time for the card to come."
Other Immigration Officers,"That is true, it takes a very long time."
Immigration Officer,"But his visa is expired."
Other Immigration Officers, "Yes, but that is not his visa, the piece of paper is."
Immigration Officer,"But his visa is expired."
Other Immigration Officers,"Look, it is fine, he can come and go as he pleases with the piece of paper!"

At that point I am not sure who stamped my passport to let me in, I am just glad that they did.

Back in Africa

2010-10-07T02:08:00.003-06:00

This may come as a surprise to those of you that heard we were just back in Canada! We want to thank all of you that so willing hosted us, feed us and encourage us while we were home. To the rest of you our sincerest apologies for not being able to catch up with you, we would have loved to see and hear what is going on in your lives. There truly wasn't enough hours in the days we were in Canada to accomplish all that we wanted to. In the future we hope to be a little more faithful in keeping all of you up to date in the comings and goings of the Goertzens in Angola!

Our first story starts even before we got back to Africa. It is a saga of trust misplaced and redemption unwarranted. Of a man, his wallet...and an airport. It all started on a cold rainy Friday afternoon in the English countryside in a tiny Renault Cleo, that's a car, from Europe, more specifically...France. It was loaded to the brim with the luggage of two weary travels heading out from a conference that had been fraught with intrigue. (Sounds better then saying it was just a program managers meeting for MAF, don't ya think? ) The negotiations had been exhausting but had yielded several excellent contacts and opportunities. The trip to the airport was uneventful as they drove through the ever present rain and even managed to negotiate that parking lot known as the M25 highway in relatively good time. My driving partner, we'll call him Steve, cause that's his name, pulled up in front of terminal 5 at Heathrow airport where we proceeded to unloaded my luggage, 3- 25 kilo bags, one carry-on and a computer bag that could have doubled as a steamer trunk. What can I say, I like to pack light. I said good bye to Steve, cause that's his name, and pushed my trolley into the terminal to get out of the rain, amongst other things. As I approached the check in counter I reached for my wallet and passport. It was to be a memorable moment as time slowed, the lights seemed to dim and the voices of my follow airport dwellers became strangely muted. It was like my hand was moving in slow motion from pocket to pocket searching for that black folio containing my travel documents and identification. The search was to prove to be in vain, for the wallet was no where to be found. The terminal began to spin crazily as I came to grips with the situation. No wallet, no passport... I quickly spun the trolley around and headed outside to see if Steve, cause that's his name, was still outside. The Cleo was gone, having beat a hasty path to Terminal 4 to catch a flight to Entebbe, Uganda. I whirled the trolley around as deftly as Barishnikov twirling a prima ballerina from the Bolshoi and headed inside to make a plan. I decided to give Steve a call, cause that's his name, but in the best twists of the cold war we hadn't exchanged contact information to minimize our traceability. It was looking like that had been a mistake. I had no way to contact Steve. I spun around and headed outside the terminal and into the rain again to see if Steve had returned in the Cleo to pronounce, "Good thing you aren't in charge of the Maltese Falcon, or the Royal Jewels or something important. Here's your wallet go catch your flight!" It was only a fleeting fantasy, I was not to see Steve or the little french Cleo again. I spun the trolley around and made for the terminal. The porters were beginning to wonder if I had developed a case of vertigo with all the trolley spinning that was going on. The stench of panic was becoming unmistakable, my mouth was dry, my palms were sweaty and my heart was racing. PULL yourself together man! This is no worse then the time you arrived in Luanda with the trots and there was no paper in the stall. THINK MAN, THINK!! Once again I whirled the trolley around to head outside and assess the situation. The trolley was beginning to protest like a bull at a rodeo desperate to throw its rider to the mud, but I wasn't letting go, there was too much at steak...or stake. Once again outside in the rain I gazed over to where we had loaded my bags onto the trolley. There was something laying on the ground. Flaunting all airport regulations I abandoned my luggage and headed across the road, making sure that I first looked to the right so as not to get clobbered by a London cabby. My heart raced as I approached what could turn out to be somebodies trash. It WAS somebodies trash...MY TRASH, MY WALLET, face down on the soaking pavement having been completely ignored by countless people and driven over by who knows how many cars? Everything was inside, Id, credit cards, passport with the all important Angolan residency visa. As I recounted this tale to my wife she had these words for me, "I worry more about you when you travel then the kids!" I have to admit she has reason to be that way, but I pray a lot and that helps. I prayed a lot that day. I really believe that God protected my wallet that day, cause He cares about even the little things.

It's about time...we made a post!

2010-04-19T13:05:00.006-06:00

We were waiting for something interesting to put up on the blog and I think we have finally come up with something.

We would like to introduce to you our first grandchild:

Richard Teagan James Evans
7lbs 14oz
Born: April 16, 2010

With mom Kait

Richard, Kait & Teagan

Grandpa & Grandma Goertzen

With Uncle Matthew

Life is an amazing thing isn't it! One minute you're worry about acne and what is going to happen to your hair, maybe that was just me, and the next thing ya know you're a grandparent. I'm not complaining, just remembering how many people said one day you're gonna turn around and BAM, you're telling some young whipper snapper that life is gonna happen fast. The truth is, is I wouldn't change where we are in life at all. God has blessed us in ways that we could never have imagined as teenagers. It is exciting to watch Kait and Richard with their son and see the pure love and joy that he brings to them...amongst other things. God is good!

On another far less interesting, but none the less exciting note we were excited to find out that Gary's residency visa for Angola is ready. This is indeed good news. The process isn't totally complete, but this is a HUGE step forward. Once the visa is in his passport he will have to make a quick trip back to Angola to get finger printed and photographed and sign some more papers. As well, we will be able to now apply for a visa for Tammy, because she falls under Gary's visa and one for Matt. Even though Matt is not returning with us, he is under the age of 18 which allows us to apply for one more visa under Gary. God is good!

Be it ever so humble....there's no place like HOME!!!!

2010-03-02T00:12:00.003-07:00

Wow!! After an odyssey lasting almost three months we were finally able to make it back to our home in Lubango early Saturday morning. Apparently at 1:32am to be exact, because that is when Brent, our other MAF pilot, says he looked at his clock when we knocked on his door to wake him up to get the key to get into our house.

The drive from Windhoek to Lubango was one of the most eventful trips we have ever had. Tammy almost got hit when she was making a right turn by someone that decided to pass her on the right in an intersection. That certainly got the heart going, fortunately there was no collision. We were also bringing back a truck that we had bought online last November from Dubai, Matthew was torn between who to ride with...not really, the new truck won! We discovered at a police check point that in the fine print of the temporary Namibian transfer license you are not allowed to carry passengers or goods, $50US dollars later we were on our way. Matthew was thoroughly enjoying the fact that I now had a receipt that was emblazoned across the top with, "ADMISSION OF GUILT"!!

Later that day we arrived in Ondangwa, which is a town in Namibia about 50km from the border with Angola. At the motel where we stayed that night the clerk led us to our rooms and upon opening the door to our room quickly discovered that the man already asleep in the room did not want to share it...ooops. The following day we set off for the border with all of our documents organized and ready to zoom through and head for home. Okay, okay I know some of you are laughing, zoom through the border!? Riiiight! Well the immigration part went smoothly and the police part went smoothly, but the customs ...not so smoothly. About four hours later we were on our way to pass through the gates to Angola. On the Angolan side immigration went smoothly after we discovered that Tammy had had her purse stolen on the Namibian side, fortunately our passports weren't in it or we would have been caught between the borders with no documents. I don't even want to think about how that would have gone. The police part went smoothly, customs...not so smoothly. Three days later we were on our way home at 5:30pm after they gave us our documents minutes before the border closed on Friday. Yahoooo only 360km to go and we would be home!!! In case you are wondering why it took 8 hrs to complete what normally is a 3 1/2 hour drive for some of you, there is a reasonable explanation. First of all, it was dark and you have to slow down for all the people and animals,which I guess you have to do in the day as well, its just harder to see them at night. Secondly, it's rainy season which means you actually have to drive on the road instead of in the ditch, which is normally in much better condition, but is now filled with water. One 95 km section took about 4 hours to navigate of which one 20km part took an hour and a half. We are hoping to drive out on this same road with my (Gary's) mom in April. It's not that I don't like my mom, I love her a lot, we just thought that after she went skydiving with us the last time she visited we needed to come up with another memorable experience.
All said and done, we are thrilled to be home for the short time we have here before heading to Canada. We look forward to seeing you this summer, please let us know if we can drop in for a visit when we are in your area. In the next few weeks we hope to be able to post a bit of a schedule of the places we will be visiting.

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

2010-02-10T13:07:00.003-07:00

This is just a quick note to let you all know that our prayers have been answered and our passports with visas are on their way to us in Namibia!!! This doesn't mean we can stop praying because they are still not in our hands. We have had the experience of our passports wandering around the world for a couple weeks as they tried to find their way back to us. If everything goes well we should see them the middle of next week and then be heading back to Lubango, possibly arriving on that Sunday. We truly want to thank you all for your prayers and notes of encouragement, they have meant and do mean a lot. When we left Angola at the beginning of December last year, we had no idea that we would spend almost three months waiting to return. Has it been a waste of time? Absolutely not, God has used this time to teach us many things about Himself and ourselves that we would have missed if He wouldn't have forced us to sit still and listen. Thank you all again!

VISA update

2009-11-29T09:06:00.003-07:00

"No, no we aren't going to be giving you our credit card balance, that's another kind of VISA. We just wanted to let you know how things are going with our visa to stay and work in Angola. As some of you know this seems to be a never ending process and therefore prayer request. At this point in time our present work visa expired on the 8th of December. We have been working on getting a residency visa since the beginning of June, and have just received news that the process has been cleared through the Angolan embassy in Ottawa and is en route back to Angola for approval by immigration in Luanda. This is fantastic news..."

That is how the last update that I started at the end of November ended without me having sent it out to all of you. Since that day we indeed had to leave Angola for Namibia where we have been "patiently" waiting for an "Ordinary Visa" to re enter Angola. Due to the complications of the Christmas season and the hosting of the African football (soccer) championships in Angola in January,our visa renewals have been somewhat delayed. Although it is difficult not to feel that our time in Namibia has not been a complete waste, we know that God can use whatever situation we are in for His honour and glory. We have had lots of time to think about the amazing ways that God has blessed us through family, friends, supporters and even complete strangers. We have been reminded in many ways that our time here on this earth isn't about ourselves, but it is about glorifying our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

It looks like we should be seeing our passports with visas in the next couple weeks. At this point our passports are back in Canada and we are just waiting for one more document for Matt's visa, which we hope to have in the next couple days. Once that one is issued our passports will go into the Angolan Embassy in Ottawa for a few days and then, Lord willing, they will be sent back to us in Namibia, with and Angolan visa. Hopefully we will have them in our hands somewhere around the 15th of February. This by no means is a done deal, please continue to pray for the process and all the people that are involved in it and in the end that God will be glorified no matter what the outcome.

News

2009-11-11T08:24:00.003-07:00

You have no idea how many times I have started this update and then deleted it because it wasn't up to the journalistic standards that you have all come to expect. In fact the other day I had finally written a little blogging masterpiece only to have it disappear into the blogasphere never to return. It was truly a triumph of humour, emotion and information all packed into one easily readable paragraph and it was gone, snatched away in it's prime. Can you tell I'm still a little bitter?

Anyways, what we really want to share is not about us or my petty little blogging problems. It is something much more important and miraculous! Something that is beyond the pale, something that will stupefy and amaze you! Something that is making you say, "Get on with it man, spit it out, enough with the monumental amounts of hyperbole!" Fine I say, I will succumb to your pestering and bullying and announce that we have an announcement! We, being Tammy and myself, are entering a new phase of life. We are going to be grandparents. There, I said it! Our daughter Kait and her husband Richard have informed us that we will be entering the world of grandparenthood next year, sometime around the end of April. Is that amazing or what!? Sometimes I think this is even nuttier then when we had our own kids. I mean, I didn't have a clue at all about what I was getting into then and now I'm sure I have absolutely no idea! Although we have been able to spend a significant amount of time amusing ourselves with what the little gaffer is going to call Tammy. I mean there are some really great possibilities, none of which I am allowed to share.

Tammy and Matthew will be heading back to Canada in mid-April to welcome this little bundle into the world. At this point we are not sure when I will return, but we are hoping no later then the beginning of June. We are excited about this new addition and look forward to making sure it gets properly enculturated into all things Goertzen!

On the road again...

2009-08-11T10:53:00.004-06:00

We asked Josh what he wanted to do for a last family holiday with us. That could be considered a mistake because we ended up making a trip that covered almost 7000km in our little Toyota pick up. It was amazing, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the memories will be with us forever! Thanks Josh!

The first of five flat tires. This one outside of Okahandja, Namibia.

I hope this one doesn't need an explanation.
We crossed it just south of Windhoek, Namibia.
Yes, it was cold.
You think the roads are straight and flat in Saskatchewan, eh!?
This is somewhere between Keetmanshoop, Namibia and Upington, South Africa.

The Indian Ocean at Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.
Errr...yes it was cold...

Matthew feeling big and powerful.

The whole reason we came to South Africa.
To wear funny belts and have a picture taken with a complete stranger.

Actually, it was to fling ourselves off the world's highest bungy jump.
216m or 710feet
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO.........

Another 2000km of mind numbingly straight, flat road on the way back home.

This is a section of the main highway in Angola between Xangongo and Cahama. The camera is eye level with the top of the road. The "potholes" are even with the top of the tires and the entire truck fits inside.

It was a great idea Josh and I would do it again in a minute. Anyone want to join us?

The last two days of the drive home were without Josh, we left him in Windhoek with our good friend Brent Mudde, who was also flying back to Canada for his holidays. After drying up my tears and the 18 hugs later, we drove off, heading for home and Josh heading to the airport. A few hours into the drive I was thinking about the year ahead, planning it out in my mind - if you know me, then you know that I thrive on making plans....and changing them...I started thinking about the preparations that we needed to start making for our trip back to Canada next year. Then it hit me, Matt will have his 18th birthday while we are in Canada, that he might not want to return to Angola with us after the six month furlough is over. The tears started rolling down my cheeks again, thinking about life without any kids in the house. I got a terrible paniky feeling in my heart, I have very rarely been alone in my 44 years and I really really don't like it - at all. This coming week will be my first real test, Matt is out at the farm and Gary will be flying around the countryside for the next 10 days. I know that this is part of life, to have and to let go. I praise God that our kids are healthy and happy and have a passionate heart for the Lord. I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life, to see how God is going to fill my time.
oh, and for the record, at this point and time in life, Matt promises that he has no plans to ever leave Angola....

Desminagem

2009-06-06T06:19:00.004-06:00

I just returned from a week of flying in the interior, part of which time was spent with the guys from HALO Trust. HALO is an Non Government Organization that works at removing land mines and other explosives left over from Angola's wars. The area that we visited was a place called Cuito Cuanavale where the largest battle in Africa was fought, other than during World War 2. Tens of thousands of mines were laid in fields that cover almost 100 kilometres in length. Daily, the residents of Cuito Cuanavale thread their way through the mine fields to get to their fields of manioc and corn. The danger is extreme to say the least and illustrates the risks that people are willing to take to in order to provide for their families. Every day the workers from HALO head out to remove these weapons of destruction to make things safe again.

Kitted out to go into the mine field.

Don't cross the line of red stakes.

Every square inch of the mine field must be checked, by hand.

I know it is hard to see, but at the centre of the staked area a metal rod is sticking out of the ground. It is attached to what is in the following picture.

Every three metres there is an anti tank mine.
Behind the anti tank mines is a row of anti personnel mines.

Each taped off square contains an anti tank mine, when a sufficiently large area has had all the mines identified, they will be exploded in place.

Your support directly affects the lives of the people of Angola.
Thank you for supporting MAF.

"Desminagem" means de-mining in Portuguese.

Exhaustion

2009-04-12T07:13:00.004-06:00

Well, maybe the title is a little overly dramatic, but the last month and a bit has been pretty hectic. Since our other pilot Brent is still waiting to get his residency visa I, Gary, have been doing all the flying. Which is great, but I must admit I am a little tired trying to keep up with all the other daily things that need to be done as well. Since the last time we chatted I have been to Windhoek in Namibia, twice. Kalukembe, six times, Mukwando, three times, Luanda, twice, Ngiva, Cuvelai, Xangongo, Menongue and Chinhama. Now I realize that most of these places don't really mean a whole lot, but it means I have been away a lot and Tammy has had to hold down the fort on her own quite a bit.Speaking of Tammy, lots of you are aware that she has been fighting malaria off and on for the last year or so. It turns out, after we got some tests in Namibia, that she has never had malaria! Not once, ever?! Go figure. Most likely she had a virus of some sort that was misdiagnosed and then mistreated here in Lubango. Fortunately she is feeling much better now and is back in action.

Most of the flying has been moving medical teams around as well as doing flights for USAID as they do a survey of the flooded areas of southern Angola. A significant part of southern Angola is under water for the second year in a row. This part of the country is known for its' lack of water, so to have flooding two years in a row is devastating. The real disaster is that there will again be no crops to harvest this year. The disaster is coming when last years food add runs out in the next few months. Please pray as we look to help this region of the

country.

I am always amazed as I get to accompany medical teams and see them share the love of Christ as they bring health care to some of the six million people in Angola who have no access to any medical care of any sort. It is heart breaking to see people suffering from simple injuries that turn life threatening, all because there is no health care. We are privileged to be connected with a group of doctors here in Angola and Canada that are giving of their time, energy and money to make a difference for the people of Angola.

Again we cannot thank all of you enough for your prayers and support. You have literally brought sight to the blind, strength to the weak and the ability to walk to the lame, and above all that the gospel.

A view from our house

Sunset in Lubango from our house

Sunrise over southern Angola.

A Tale of Two Cities

2009-02-24T12:14:00.002-07:00

I realize with a title like that I should have a Dickensonian beginning, but alas the only thing similar between this blog and that piece of classic literature is the fact that we both claim to use the english language as our means communication.
The last few weeks have seen me winging around the country, but unable to take any pictures to complement those stories for this particular post. So unfortunately you will have to use your imaginations to add life to the experiences I am going to attempt to describe for you. The first experience takes place in Luanda, the capital of Angola, where I must go every six months to complete my aviation physical. Actually at this point we are probably all grateful that there are no pictures! I thought I would give you an idea of the length of time involved to complete this. There is only one clinic in Angola that can do aviation medicals and every pilot, mechanic and stewardess must have one of these done either once every six months or once a year. Plus they only do these medicals on Tuesdays and Thursdays and you need to be at the clinic by no later then 7:00am. This means I need to fly up to Luanda the day before so that we can leave our base in Luanda by no later than 5:30am so that we arrive at the clinic on time. It's not that the distance is long,it's just that the traffic is horrendous. Anyways, for some strange reason the traffic was light and we arrived early.

5:00am depart from compound
6:00am arrive clinic
6:30am complete paper work and pay $600.00USD for medical
7:00am lab work- 5 minutes
8:40am ECG, Blood pressure and weight- 10 minutes
9:00am Hearing test- 10 minutes
10:00am Dentist- 10 minutes...need cleaning
10:25am X-ray- 5 minutes
12:30pm Eye exam- 10 minutes
1:00pm Final chat and approval by Doctor
1:15pm Call for our administrator to pick me up
3:00pm Admin. arrives. Traffic is horrible
5:00pm Arrive back at compound

Everyone at the clinic is nice, things just take a while to get done. The next day I am up at 4:00am so that we can make the 5:00am checkin for the 7:30am flight back to Lubango. Mission accomplished for the next six months.

I have decided that this post is long enough, so I will share about the second experience in a different city at a later date. Until then, keep your stick on the ice.

To the ends of the Earth

2008-12-22T04:37:00.005-07:00

I had a chance this month to head out into the far eastern part of the country with Dr. Steve Collins and Dr. Jean- Pierre Bretchet to a place called Mavinga. The Portuguese called this part of Angola "The end of the World" and it just about seems like it. From Luanda it's over 1200km away and over 800km from our base in Lubango. The people in this part of Angola are truly part of the most remote and needy. The purpose of our visit was to support a mission station that one of the national churches has started, by doing cataract surgery and providing other medical care. So here in pictures is a trip to the end of the earth.

Mission Hospital at Mavinga

Dr. Steve Collins at work doing eye exams.

Labour and delivery ward Mavinga Mission Station

Labour and delivery kit

Dr. Jean-Pierre Bretchet presenting leprosy medication to the Municipal and Hospital administrators in Mavinga.

Umbundo couple, he is missing an eye and she can't see because of cataracts.

Waiting for the results of cataract surgery

Seeing again!

The Team.
You can't see all of us, but there are 14 of us in the Land Cruiser...
and four chickens under the seats for supper!

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Your gifts and prayers do make a difference, just ask the Umbundo lady in this post! We pray that you will all have a wonderful Christmas and that God will continue to lead and direct as you seek Him even more in the New Year.

I have an excuse...honestly!

2008-10-14T13:47:00.005-06:00

Really, that's the truth, I do have an excuse. I guess the question really is, an excuse for what!? The reality is, is that most of the ladies out there know what I am talking about and the guys have that blank look, you know the one, when you guys are in the "nothing box" part of your brain. The excuse is for why has it taken so long to update the blog after your daughter got married, I mean like it has been over a month since the big day, hasn't it? The truth is that we have been thwarted by our internet connection which is now only allowing us to post anything with pictures...so there! See, I told you I had an excuse. The ladies are now just doing that nodding thing, which means, "yeah right" and the guys...well they are still in their "nothing box" Anyways here are some pics...

Doesn't she look amazing? And I think the bride has grown into a lovely young women as well!

The big moment.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Evans.

The "New" Goertzen Family.

It was a truly amazing day. One that we will treasure forever. We are blessed to welcome a young man to our family that we know will love, care for and treasure Kait for the rest of her life. Besides Richard...we know where you live!

Flying about.

2008-07-27T07:54:00.007-06:00

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!

2008-07-01T08:06:00.003-06:00

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.

Who needs WALMART!?

2008-06-01T08:01:00.001-06:00

One of the things that I, Gary, get to do on a regular basis is to head up to the capital city of Angola, Luanda. Normally I must admit I sort of dread the experience, because Luanda is big, 5 million people, hot, humid, dirty, congested all the things that our little home town of Three Hills is not. This last trip was all those things, but I enjoyed the time that I got to spend with another MAFer, Neil Bittle, as we went around and met with different church groups, mission organizations and businesses and shared our dreams about the work of MAF in Angola. Unfortunately, this means spending long hours in the car as we try to get around the city. I'm not kidding when I say hours, think of a city the size of Red Deer with 5 million people and their cars and trucks and taxis all trying to get to the same place, or so it seems. I decided that to wile away the time I would make a list of all the things that I saw people trying to sell while we were stuck in traffic. The traffic moves so slowly in places the vendors just walk up and down the lanes between the cars seeing what they can sell. So without futher adieu, my list, which by no stretch of the imaginations is even close to complete.

Pants- Shirts- Electric fans- Toy Snakes- Candy- Cigarettes- Umbrellas- Dishes(complete sets)- Shower curtains- Bar Stools- Luggage- Soda Pop(cold)- Juice(cold)- Fruit- TV Remotes- Batteries- Phone Cards- Underwear- Towels- Shoes- Kleenex- CD's/DVD's- Sunglasses- Chiclets- Wallets- Cell Phone Covers- Pad Locks- Pots and Pans- Thermos- Socks- Perfume- Clocks- Extension cords- Trouble Lights- RCA Cords- Organizers/Calenders- Coveralls- Air Fresheners- Bug Repellent- Government Documents- Feminine Hygiene Products- Birth Control Products- Deadbolts- Paint Brushes- Nail Clippers- Rope- Windshield Wipers- Fly Swatters- Car Mats- Deep Fryers- Radios/Stereos- Peanuts- Seat Covers- Newspapers- Hair Ribbons and Clips- Buckets- Dust Pans- Dish Racks- Steering wheel covers- Mosquito nets- Strollers- Coffee tables- Tools- Exercise equipment(tread mill)- Clothes rack- Mirrors- Suits- Scrub Brushes- Bandages- Ash Trays- Electric Razors- Irons- Rechargers- Pens- Pencils- Belts- Carparts- Glue- Baseball hats- Carjacks- Dictionaries- Notepads- Car Side Mirrors(If you see how they drive, this one makes huge sense)- Electrical Outlets- Brooms- Mops- Clothes Hangers- Fluorescent lights- Machetes- Axes- Jumper cables- Camping Tents- Car Mats- Calculators- Toilet seats- Rat Poison- Bread- Toothpaste- Lanterns gas and electric- Electric Fans- Hammocks- Light Fixtures- TV Connectors- Water Purifiers- Air Conditioners- Vases- Outside TV Antennas- Bug Zappers- Planters- Bacalhau(salted cod)- Balls- Pet Leashes- Dog washes...

So, as you can see, who needs WALMART when WALMART comes to you!

It is an interesting thing to watch all of these people scrambling to survive and get ahead. It makes me wonder if they now that it is possible to more then just survive and to try to get ahead. Who is telling them that Jesus Christ died for them and that he loves them and wants them to be with Him for eternity? I hope that all of us, no matter where we are, if we have that relationship with Jesus Christ, will always seek to share about the fantastic news that Jesus died for us and that because of this we can spend eternity with Him in heaven. I am sure that WALMART can't offer that!

Hey now...

2008-05-09T01:35:00.004-06:00

It has been pointed out to us that it has been two months since our last update, to which I thought this can't be true! But alas tis true, my excuse is that we haven't had anything interesting to write about, which isn't really true. I wrote some drafts to post, but just never got around to it, my apologizes to all.
We like to include pictures so that you can all see what we are up to, so I have included the following one.
What is the significance of this picture you ask? Well for those of you who are intuitive, you have already figured it out or have made a pretty reasonable guess. For the less intuitive, like myself, I will explain it for you. The pretty girl on the right is our wonderful daughter Kaity, the young man on the left is Richard Evans, otherwise known to us as "Ricardo", or 'The Boy". Ricardo and Kait have been involved in some form of a relationship for the past five years and they have decided that they would like to make this a permanent arrangement. That's right, there is going to be a wedding in the Goertzen family! Typically, people like to take six months, maybe a year to plan a wedding, but when has our family been known to be normal or typical? The big day is going to be August 30, 2008. We are excited for Kait and Richard and look forward to tormenting him for many many years to come! We are thrilled to have Ricardo join our family and that Kaity already feels like she was born to be part of his family. What does this mean travel wise for us? Tammy is booked to head back to Three Hills this Sunday for about three weeks and then the four of us are planning on coming back in the middle of August for a month or so. We look forward to seeing as many of you as we can, but as you can guess we will be fairly busy with wedding preparations. God is good all the time! We are so very blessed.

The Road to Our House at Mitcha

2008-03-12T05:09:00.003-06:00

Well, rainy season is in full swing which means that everything is green and lush and that there is lots of water in the reservoirs and wells. This brings a mixed blessing in that the road that leads up to the compound where we live, begins to disappear.

Normally our road is a reasonably decent two lane dirt road.

As the season progresses one lane eventually disappears and turns into a small creek bed.

We joke about which side of the road do you drive on in Angola. The answer, whichever side is the best...sorta like Saskatchewan...just kidding about Saskatchewan, but not which side of the road we drive on!

Our road is a main street so there is all manner of traffic on it from small cars up to semi-trailers.

Some days it can be pretty frustrating with the crazy roads and sometimes crazier drivers, but we are thankful that God has brought us here to be a part of his plan at this time for Angola.

An experience

2008-02-20T05:50:00.004-07:00

This post is going to be a little different because I don't have any pictures to illustrate one of the experiences that we have had over the last month, so I will do my best to describe it for you. We spent a wonderful Christmas with Gary's mom, Ruth, although Gary was sick with pneumonia and malaria for much of the time she was here. In mid January we all flew down to Namibia for a relaxing holiday before saying our heart-wrenching good-byes to mom and to Kaitlin. It has been a month already since we saw them off and we are still having a hard time adjusting to Kaity not being here.
Over the past few months we have had a few unwelcomed visitors of the rodent variety. We thought we had successfully tracked down all the little interlopers until we got back from our trip to Namibia.There was evidence that the little critters had returned. We cleaned and searched and cleaned and searched and came to the conclusion that they must have moved on to greener pastures. A few days later we had some guests stay in Josh's room for a couple days. The morning of their departure they commented that we must have a mouse in our house because they could hear it eating the rice cakes they had left open in the room. Which raises some questions about why there was open food in the room to begin with, but I digress. Tammy immediately sealed up the room and the hunt was on! We tipped the bed on its side, nope not under or in there. We spun the book shelf around so we could look under that and behind it, nope not there. That left the closet. All right little mousey we know where you are now! We pulled the boxes out of the closet from the right side, nope not there. The tension was becoming unbearable. I removed some clothes from the bottom of left side, still no sign! That left the little electric space heater in the far left corner. As I reached in, I saw him, his beady little eyes, his twitchy nose, his gray coat, but wait, something wasn't quite right. Why was his head the same size as the entire mouse that we caught last time!? YIKES it's not a mouse! It's a RAT! Oh man that's disgusting, how are we gonna catch this stinkin' rat? Because let me tell you, the great white hunter I ain't! Then we remembered that Brent, the other MAF pilot, has a rat trap. Yipppeee, we just force the little varmit to run over it and BAM the dead is done, no fuss, no muss and hopefully no mess.
I ran and retrieved said device and set it with the utmost skill and treachery, the future of this rat was sealed. We sprang into action and forced the rat to flee in the direction of our well placed trap, we watched with anticipation and anticipated the result. HORRORS!! The trap didn't work, in fact that wretched little pest ran back and forth over it three or four times! Cursed modern technology! Now what? Again we plumbed the depths of our minds and came up with an even more ingenious solution, this rat was quickly running out of options. What was our plan? We would simply borrow the cat that lives at Brent's house, how simple, how creative, how letting the circle of life take its course. The cat was brought into the room, the rat was flushed from its hiding spot, the rat ran, people screamed, the cat watched, the rat ran, people screamed, the cat watched. The rat was quickly running out of options as to where to hide and quickly sized up the situation. In the blink of an eye he made a bee-line straight for the cat and hid under it. The cat, being a cat, did exactly what cats do...nothing. Just sat there and wondered what all the fuss was about. At this moment our gardener, who had been trying to step on the rat, simply reached down and grabbed the rat around the neck and carried it outside, mentioning that this rat had a lot of meat on it. This is where Tammy says EWE and double EWE!! I am sure there is some sort of lesson in there, but I either don't know what it is or I don't want to face up to it.

A Day in the Life

2008-01-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

This update I thought it would be interesting to take you on one of the trips that we do for the mission hospital here in Lubango. Once a month we take Dr. Steve Foster and his surgical team to the mission hospital at Kalukembe. Since my mom was visiting, she came along and recorded the event on film for posterities sake.

Before the first flight each day the plane is given a thorough pre-flight inspection to make sure everything is ship shape. After all we just can't pull off to the side of the road if something goes amiss.

At the airstrip in Kalukembe we are met by staff from the hospital who will drive us the twenty minutes it takes to get to the hospital.

Dr. Steve(with red coat) and members of his team with a visiting doctor from Germany who is considering moving to Kalukembe. That's me hiding in the back on the left.

The mission at Kalukembe was opened in the 1880's as a rescue mission for slaves that were being taken to Brazil. The hospital itself was constructed in 1944.

So what kind of stuff do you see at a mission hospital?
Well, bandages being changed for one.

This young man has lost his entire calf muscle from a gunshot wound by an AK47.

Burns, this young man has been coming for five years as Dr. Steve slowly restores his arm. The burn had welded it to his side like the wing of a bird.

Crocodile bites. That's right! This young boy was grabbed by a croc around his chest. His mother jumped into the water and jammed her arm down the crocs throat until it choked and let go. The boy managed to get out of the water and while the mom was getting out the croc bit her on the leg. She was recovering in the ladies ward at the same time.

The other thing we got to do was go into the operating room and watch a laporotomy(hope I got that right) That's right my mom came in and watched a surgery! We have some great pictures of the actual operation, but my censor said I wasn't allowed to post them. It is truly amazing to see how God uses these men and women to reach out to the people of Angola. The needs are so overwhelming that it can be so discouraging, but we know that God has a plan and that He brought us here not for our benefit, but to bring glory to His name. Thank you for your prayers and notes of encouragement, they really do mean a lot. We look forward to hearing from you and keeping you posted on what is happening here.

Some thoughts and Observations

2007-12-15T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again, every time I sit down to write an update I am overwhelmed by how blessed we are to be part of such an amazing adventure. To have so many people praying for us and being interested in what God is doing in our lives really leaves me with such a sense of awe.

Work over the past few months has consisted of a whole lot of desk work (which is boring to blog about), but never the less essential as far as the program goes! I have been able to get in some flying, moving some national church groups, doctors and nurses, de-mining groups and even our MAF Canada CEO! Unfortunately, I haven't been smart enough to bring along my camera to show you all what we do and where we fly! I promise that I will have some for you in the new year. I do however, have some pictures of some of the exploring that we have been able to do with friends.

Sometimes to the road isn't that good...

Sometimes things need to be fixed...

Sometimes we are not sure where the road leads...

Sometimes we need to take a bit of a break...

But in the end we are always blessed by another spectacular view of God's creation!

This christmas we are thrilled to have Gary's mom spending the holidays with us. She made the three day trip from Parksville to Lubango, without losing any baggage or her sanity! Way to go mom! We pray that all of you will have a Merry Christmas and blessed New Year as you seek and serve our Lord and Saviour.

As the World Turns

2007-10-06T03:31:00.000-06:00

I just noticed that we haven't made an update for almost a month. We were also told that our blog was boring, BORING, can you imagine that! So in an attempt to spice things up a bit I have decided to use a different font! No more boring ARIAL for us! Today we will be using TREBUCHET!. So without further adieu here is our blog in Trebuchet.

Things are going well. Kait got over her malaria pretty quickly, which was a blessing and Tami got back from a two and a half week dental appointment in Windhoek. Took a little longer to get her tooth fixed than expected, plus she gets to go back before the end of October for one more final tweeking. Oh well, what can you say except that things happen a little differently here then back in Canada. I, Gary, finally got my Angolan pilots license and completed my MAF check out on the Caravan.

Working with MAF Canada Chief Pilot Rick Willms.

Approach for landing at Mukwando.
The runway is inside a dormant volcano!
How cool is that?!

Checking the runway at Virei to see what condition it is in.

History in the making, first solo departure!

On Thursday I got to make my first solo trip in Angola! A three hour flight village in south eastern Angola called Mavinga, on the trip was a group from the Norwegian Relief Council that was finishing an aide project they had been doing there. This village has many people from opposing sides of the war living in it and it is good to see that they are working and living together in peace. The following day we took a group of Angolan ladies from one of the local churches out to another village called Chipindo where they spent the weekend helping the villagers in any way they could. It was a privilege to help these ladies as they were helping their follow Angolans spiritually and physically.
Church ladies from Lubango that ministered in Chipindo.

They were planning on returning to Lubango by truck, and I don't mean a nice Ford or GMC extended cab with cushy seats, more like in the back of an International Harvester 5 ton grain truck. They were very happy when we worked out a deal so that they could fly home in an hour instead of riding in the back of the truck for over 12 hours.

Last, but not least we wanted to include a picture of the lastest addition to our family, Dexter

Thanks for taking the time to check out our blog, we look forward to hearing how things are going in your part of God's creation.

Settling in.

2007-09-05T02:45:00.000-06:00

The question we are being asked most by people here is, "How does it feel to back?" Well at this point it feels like malaria for Kait, a trip back to Namibia for Tammy to get a tooth fixed, no Angolan pilots license for Gary, a weekend trip to a friends farm for Matt and Josh meeting someone who likes computer games as much as he does. So the answer to the question is, "The same only different." Kait is doing better and hopes to be able to go with one of the missionaries out to a clinic tomorrow. Tammy's tooth that we thought we had taken care of in Portugal has been giving her a lot of trouble so she is flying out of Lubango on Sunday to Namibia so she can see the dentist in Windhoek on Monday morning. Oh well so much for a root canal costing less here than in Canada! As far as Gary's license goes, well let's just say that this is the bureaucratic process at work here in Angola. The gentleman that signs the licenses is busy in meetings and is concerned that since Gary hasn't flown since January he is a little out of practice. You can pray for these issues that they would be resolved quickly and that Kait and Tammy would be back to feeling 100% again.
Matthew has already been able to go spend 5 days out at a farm called Tchincombe, where some SIM missionaries are running an enormous ranch for one of the national churches. He was pretty stoked about the whole thing and spent his time running around with Jeffrey, who is also 14, hunting and exploring and doing all the things that boys should be able to do on a farm. Josh, being Josh is just as mellow as ever. He has discovered someone who likes computer games as much as he does. The only problem is he is our MAF mechanic and now Gary is going to have to make sure that the two of them aren't distracting each other from the work that both of them need to do!
Over all things are going well. Gary is up to his eye balls in being checked out on the airplane by MAF's chief pilot. This involves lots of work on the ground and about 50 -60hrs of flying in the plane. The goal in the end is to be a qualified MAF captain. After that comes a month or two of training to take over as Program manager in Angola. Meanwhile Tammy is working hard on making the house a home. Homeschooling the boys and figuring out where to buy, what to buy, how much to buy and what to pay! I, Gary, think that she has the biggest job of all.
This post is getting long so we will say good-bye for now. Please continue to pray for us, we notice more then ever the difference that it makes.

Arrival

2007-08-16T02:47:00.000-06:00

After two years of planning and praying and traveling and packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking...we have arrived in Angola with all of our luggage and all five of us! Wow, it's amazing we are so in awe of God and how He works and moves and takes care of us. This is just a short post to let all of you know that we have arrived safe and sound in Lubango, we'll write more soon, when we have settled in a bit more.

We are packing,

2007-08-14T13:37:00.000-06:00

What a lame-core title.
So. As the title says we are packing. Once again.
And by we, I mean them. (This is Kaity, just in case you didn't know.)
So. Tomorrow we are leaving for Angola. And, this means that in the past year we will have lived in 5 houses. That means that every 2.4 months, we would move. Or every 10.4 weeks or every 73 days,or every 350 hours, or every 4200 minutes we would move. Basically, I feel as though we haven't unpacked since last summer (we didn't move till October, but we started packing in August.). Tomorrow, it will be (almost to the day) 5 years since we went to Angola the last time , (not counting the time Dad went by himself.). Things have changed since the last time we were there; There is a pool now. People have moved away, and people have moved to Angola. We are expecting a new addition*. Which makes our family of 5, become 6. We are older. We think we are wiser. We are taller (except Dad and Mom, they haven't grown taller since highschool.). There is a new mall in Lubango. (which is great, because the people are starving, yet they can still make a big mall.)
Anyways. I hope this has been an enjoyable blog to read. Let us know what you think!
Love Kaity.

*the new addition's name is Dexter.
**Dexter is a dog.

Packing

2007-08-01T12:12:00.000-06:00

Another day of packing, that seems to have become a fairly normal phrase in our lives. We are down to our last week here in Portugal and are getting anxious to be in Angola. We are once again living out of suitcases and maneuvering around our huge duffel bags that are ready to go. We went to the train station yesterday to make sure we have the latest schedules and to ask about all of our luggage. The nice gentleman told us that the train didn't really have room for our luggage...since it is really just a commuter train we do understand, but it is funny. So our big bags will be shipped by truck on Monday to our hotel in Lisbon, I am praying that we arrive before the bags do. On Tuesday the 7th we will go by train to Lisbon, the next day take a 2 1/2 hour plane trip to England, wait for 6 hours before the 12 hour plane trip to South Africa. A short 4 hour wait there, then a 2 hour plane trip to Namibia where we will enjoy the company of the Knightly family for a few days. We will be doing some crazy household shopping, dishes, pots & pans, a vacuum cleaner etc. before heading into Angola. The length of our stay in Namibia will depend on when Gary Toews (MAF program manager) receives his passport back from the immigration guys in Luanda. I (Tammy) had the last of 4 dentist appointments today for a root canal, it was not as bad as I thought, but I still feel like I have been smacked around a bit. Gary was happy with the bill, it was 180 Euros, which we think is somewhere under $250.00 Canadian that is with 3 x-rays and 4 appointments. Matthew thinks that since it was so cheap my tooth will likely fall out soon...I pray not. Please pray for us as we travel and also that all of our luggage will arrive where and when we need it. We are thankful for your prayers, for the phone calls and care packages, and notes, we have been so encouraged!

Português Sem Fronteiras

2007-07-18T08:39:00.000-06:00

So, today marks a red-letter day in our language training! Our tutor, with endless amounts of patience and perseverance has helped us complete the third and last book in our grammar lessons. What does this really mean? It means that for the moment I don’t have to worry about the difference between a “Preterito perfeito simples do indicativo” and a “Preterito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo”

Now where did I leave that «conjuntivo?»

It means that we shift into more of the conversational part of our studies. Which means I have to worry about not mixing up “cansado” –to be tired, with “casado” –to be married and “cacar” (the second “c” sounds like an “s”) to hunt. Isn’t it interesting how all those words are related? I have a funny feeling that we are going to be wishing that we were back in our grammar books! But then again the whole point of this exercise is to be able to communicate verbally. We have been chatting with people in broken Portuguese, so we are looking forward to improving that skill as much as possible over the next couple of weeks.

That’s right in a little over two weeks we will be on the move again! We are all excited about getting to Angola and getting settled, but as usual we will miss all the new friends that we have made here. God has again be gracious and softened the impact of leaving our home in Canada and giving us new friends wherever He takes us.

I am not sure if we will have another update for you all from Portugal, but if we don’t, the next one will be from Angola YEEHAAAW! Sorry, that’s the Alberta influence coming out!

Recent wanderings

2007-06-18T08:30:00.000-06:00

Things continue to progress even if we are ready or not! We are already counting down the days till we leave Portugal. It is a strange thing to be thinking about leaving when so much time, energy and prayer has gone into getting us here. The language learning continues, it is a real roller coaster of victories and... I wouldn´t say defeats, but reality checks. We are understanding more each day, but speaking the language needs some work. We have met a new couple in our church, he is American and she is Portuguese and they want to meet with us regularly to help us to speak better. I think that they are taking pity on us, which we truly appreciate. God is so gracious.

Last week we were able to sneak off on a trip to Germany. The fares were so ridiculously cheap that we couldn´t pass up the opportunity to go. We were told that it was a good idea to take a break at some point and far be it from me to follow advice. It happened pretty quickly so this is the first chance we have had to tell you all about it. We were able to visit with our friends from Three Hills, Dave and Barb Schulz, as well as Mark and Laurie Wiebe from Kamloops, who both work at Black Forest Academy. It was graduation time so things were pretty hectic for them. While they were busy we were able to go into France and visit with Sam and Cecile Herrmann. For those of you that don´t know, Gary worked with Sam in Three Hills flight instructing. It was pretty cool to catch up with friends from Three Hills and Kamloops in France and Germany. We included some pictures of some of the places we went.

Kandern, Germany- home of Mark and Laurie

Holzen, Germany- home of Dave and Barb

Colmar, France- close to Sam and Ceciles

Zurich, Switzerland- not even close to the home of Matt, Tami and Josh

Matt blazing down the Bobsled run at Steinwassen Park, Germany

Josh being as excited as Josh gets!

Gary concentrating so he doesn´t crash...which he did...note wound on knee, there was another on the other and on both shoulders...must not let the kids WIN!! Oh by the way Harvey, I destroyed my sunglasses in the crash! Actually the lady behind me ran over them, I am going to need to order a new pair...again.

Well it is back to work again and looking forward to the next move to Angola. Hey, one last thing, we want to make a little book with the pictures and birthdays and anniversaries of all the people that pray for and support us. If you could e-mails us that info it would be great, that way we can meet the new people that have joined our team, but we have not yet met and have a face when we pray for all of you. Thanks and adeus!

I just noticed that there aren´t any pictures of Kait! She did come along, but she didn´t hang around with mom and dad, so alas no pics this time. We´ll get her into the next one.

Wow, God just keeps on being God

2007-05-28T10:34:00.000-06:00

It is with a great deal of humbleness and awe that we want to let you all know that we have reached our support raising goals! It is truly fantastic how you have all prayed and given and today we can let you know that we are fully supported! God has done so many amazing things in this time through all of you in so many different ways, we can´t even begin to list them all. This marks one part of the adventure and this by no means, means that we are letting you all off the hook and that we don´t need your continued pray and support. We just wanted to let you know that even though you may think you only have played a small part you have joined together with many others to let God do something awesome! We look forward to seeing how God uses all of us and that includes you for His honour and glory in the future.

Through the eyes of Josh

2007-05-22T09:21:00.000-06:00

Hi everybody, first of all I would like to say that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. In this case my box of chocolates has every kind imaginable. Life here in Portugal is very...different to say the least. For instance, I have never had to take an elevator to take out the garbage before, never seen so many National Geographic movies before, so many cigarette butts on the ground ever, or ridden so many buses that are driven like race cars. While we have been here we have met some people who own a restaurant. We eat there regularily now, but the first time we went there, I ordered a hamburger and thought, hhmmmnn a hamburger, a nice bun with cheese and maybe even some bacon. So I waited and waited and eventually they brought it out, but there was no bun, or bacon, there was only meat and cheese, and then they gave me a fork and knife. It was good, but not as good as a Mount Olive Evangelical Free Church " Cruise Night" burger, good gravy I miss those! All in all, it is not so bad here, I mean other than being bored lots of times, it is kind of fun here. The weather is just as random as Three Hills, except there is no snow, but I do enjoy it here, so anyway...ahh keep your stick on the ice. Josh

Through the eyes of Kait!

2007-05-05T09:15:00.000-06:00

We have turned over the blog to Kait for this update...not sure what we were thinking!

As I sit here, watching a Jane Austin classic, I can´t believe how fond of Portugal I have become. Here are my top 10 reasons why I love Portugal/ living in Portugal.

1. The coffee is stronger, better and generally more enjoyable.

2. The streets are cobblestone.

3. They are more passionate about soccer, than we are of hockey.

4. They have «novellas» (Soaps, soapies, soap operas...) on TV all day long.

5. You can fit more people on a bus.

6. The bus drivers are all former race car drivers. They have two speeds, fast and faster.

7. The streets are narrow and the drivers are fast.

8. The english shows aren´t dubbed, they have sub-titles, which makes learning the language so much easier.

9. There are pastry shops on every corner. On one street there are 10!

10. The Portuguese love shoes more than me, there must be a million shoe stores in Oporto.

Now in my opinion, for every pro there is a con. 10 things I have learned to dislike while here.

1. I get the worst «caffine hangovers» I have learned my lesson, only one «cafe» a day.

2. Though the streets may be romantic, they are annoying to walk and ride long distances on.

3. When they celebrate a holiday they use fireworks, all day and night long.

4. The acting on the soaps is really bad, probably worse than any episode of Degrassi ever recorded...ack!

5. When the buses are loaded, my nose dies, because it gets really smelly.

6. The bus drivers stop suddenly. it is amazing that I have not suffered any internal injuries.

7. I have no con about the narrow roads or fast drivers, except that I fear for my life when a bus zooms past.

8. The english shows all start at eleven at night.

9. I visit the pastry shops on a daily basis, I feel like I have gained 200 pounds.

10. I have no complaints about the shoe stores.

So really I have only 9 cons...wait 8 for my 10 pros. All in all I find this country lovely and beautiful. It has bewitched me and I love it.

Well, there you go, life in Portugal through the eyes of Kait. The boys will be sharing over the next couple weeks...should be interesting.

At Work...no really!

2007-04-03T07:42:00.000-06:00

I figured I should take some time and show you all that we are actually studying and learning portuguese. The following pictures were not staged to hide that we are travelling around the country and living like gypsies.The kids are also working twice a week with the same tutor that Tami and I meet with during the week.

Our tutor says that things are going well and that we are indeed making progress, although sometimes I think she is just being polite. Tami and I figure that after we leave our lesson she collapses in a heap of tears and mourns the destruction we have wrought on her beautiful language. Well, maybe I am being overly harsh, but it sure seems my mouth wasn´t designed to make the sounds I need to. In spite of it all we are enjoying things immensely. God has blessed us and we can´t thank all of you enough for your support and prayers. We are making friends with a family that owns a little coffee shop close to our apartment. We are praying that we will take advantage of opportunities to share the gospel with them.
On the weekend we went into the city to check out getting monthly bus passes for all of us. Where we live is like living in Airdrie outside of Calgary. We caught the bus into the city and found the Transit offices fairly easily. After taking care of the passes we headed to a large shopping mall in another part of the city. We explored a bit had supper in the food court and then headed outside to catch our bus home. Did I mention that it was raining buckets? We waited in the tiny shelter with a bus load...no really...of people. Our bus arrived about 30 minutes later and we all piled on and started to head home. We realized we were on the wrong bus when we saw the town hall for Matosinhos. That´s like catching the bus in downtown Calgary for Airdrie and finding yourself heading out of Calgary for Okotoks. Oooops! The bus driver was kind enough to let us off at the right stop to catch the proper bus. Did I mention it was raining buckets? We waited about 20 minutes in the tiny shelter before catching the correct bus home. We had to switch buses at another stop where we again were in a tiny leaking shelter for 30 minutes till our final bus arrived. We have been enjoying our little sight seeing excursions around the city of Porto...no really! We look forward to hearing how things are going in all of your lives. Until next time «adeus»

Pictures

2007-03-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

We have posted some of our pictures on flickr
Just click on the link above, hope it works. We are hoping to keep adding to it as we figure this all out.

Still feeling like a tourist!

2007-02-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Is this all a dream!?

The view out the hotel window in Lisbon, can´t believe we are actually in Portugal.

10 fifty pound bags and 10 carry on bags to get on the train from Lisbon to Porto. Let´s just say the train guys were annoyed with us for delaying the departure of the train...even though we arrived early in Porto in the end. By the way there is no one to help bring the bags up the four long flights of stairs to get to the platform...yes I´m whining.

Here are a few pictures of the area where we are living.This is our apartment, it´s the ones with the open windows to let in all that warm spring air!

A view from the apartment. Oh look, the trees are green! Yes that is another poke at all you winter bound people!

Some of the streets in our area.
Tami is going to start a website where she is going to post the plethora of pictures she is taking.
Adeus!

Life in language study

2007-02-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hello, here we sit at the internet cafe, which has become a regular hangout since we can't get an internet connection at our appartment. We seem to have gotten into a routine now that we are over our jet lag, I can't remember ever sleeping for 14 hours, ever. A normal day starts with Gary & I walking over to our language tutor's apartment for a 2 hour class on speaking and writing portuguese. We are certainly re-learning our english grammar! Or perhaps learning some of it for the first time....do you know what a penultimate is? I didn't. We have classes every day of the week, with the weekends to practice, or do homework, which seems to take a lot of our time. The kids have an hour with the language tutor, Mrs. Machado, three times a week. They are getting more confident all the time and are working hard at their homework, some days. The past few days they have even ventured out by themselves, once to find some other kids to play soccer with and the other time to go to the neighborhood pastry shop to buy bread and treats. At the pastry shop there is a lady from South Africa who is quite happy to speak English with the kids, I think they will be spending more time there than necessary! In the afternoons Gary & I usually do our homework, this is a huge effort that sometimes takes four hours. We hike about the city to buy groceries and have walked to a nearby mall three or four times. Since we live on a hill, we are certainly getting into shape, which of course means that it is ok to go to the pastry shop regularly! NOT!!!
We have been humbled by the generosity of people here and their willingness to help us as we figure out how to get around and how to just live here. We are equally thankful for those who have sacrificed for us to be here, we keep that in our minds and hearts as we study. Thank you for your letters of encouragement, we miss you all and think of you often. Drop us a note!

We Have Arrived

2007-02-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick note to let all of you know that we have safely arrived in Porto! We are recovering from jet lag and will starting our language training in the next day or two. At present we don´t have internet at our apartment, but as soon as we do we will write a better update. Blessings on you all, God is so good!

Ready, Set....

2007-02-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that it looks like we will be departing for Portugal on February 10 from Calgary. That's right, our passports have arrived and the flights have been booked, so barring any unforseen circumstances we will be climbing aboard a British Airways Boeing 777 at 8:40pm. It has been an amazing journey to this point and we have been so blessed by all of you. You truly are all playing a huge part in us serving with MAF in Angola. Your prayers and support have encouraged and humbled us as we have continued to seek God's leading in what we are doing. We look forward to serving together with all of you as we head to Portugal for language training and then on to Angola! It will never cease to amaze me how God uses natural human vessels to accomplish His supernatural plan for this world. Isn't it awesome!! Remember, if God can use Gideon, who was hiding, He can use you for His glory as well!

D-Day

2007-01-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was D-Day! What does that mean? It typically means it's the day when something exciting is going to happen, for us it was supposed to mean the day we were to head off to Portugal for language training. Well the Lord has decided that He wants us to hang around just a little while longer. Not a big problem, it seems that the agency in Angola that handles passports likes ours so much that they want to gaze on our "non-smiling" faces for a few more days! Fortunately we have learned not to purchase airline tickets until passports are securely in hand. This is actually turning out to be a good thing because it is allowing us to tie up a few more loose ends before we go. Also it meant that we got to go out with Tami's cousins, Arvid & Debbie Nottveit and 3 of their kids to a Newsboys concert in Edmonton. What a blast! We are hoping to head out somewhere between the 10th and 20th of February depending on when we get our passports and whether British Airways goes on strike, seriously, I am not joking! We are learning to trust in God's timing. We'll keep you all posted on the time line as we find out what's going on!

14 Days and counting!

2007-01-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

When I first started this update I was sitting at a desk in Palmer Lake, Colorado where we were taking a language acquisition course before we head to Portugal for actual language training. It is now only 14 days, Lord willing, before we board a plane to take the next step in serving the Lord with MAF. All of the plans and projects that seemed so far off in the future are now just around the corner. We are so blessed by all of the faithful prayers and support that we have received, are receiving and will receive. There are a few things to still complete before we head out such as Provincial exams for Kait, drivers license for Josh, learner's license for Matt, a renewal of an IFR rating for Gary, packing, visiting, dentist and doctor appointments and the return of our passports from Angola so we can go to Portugal. Passport...that almost seems like it's becoming a bad word. We would appreciate your prayers on all of these matters.

Back to the language course in Colorado. Mission Training International has been helping people to prepare to go cross culturally for about 50 years. The staff and teachers were a great encouragement, it was such an amazing time of learning and fellowship. I actually now believe that it is possible, for an old person, such as myself, to be able to learn a second language and be able to speak it!! We met all sorts of interesting, and I do mean that in the most positive sense of the word, people from all over the world who are preparing to serve the Lord in many different places, all over the world. It was such a blessing to meet so many people that are willing to go places and do things for the Lord that are way out of my comfort zone. It was a blessing to hear how God is at work in so many lives and how these people are listening to and following His leading. Our God is such an awesome God!

Again we want to thank you for all your prayers and gifts of support, it humbles us and we pray that we will glorify God with what you all have given. Our monthly support level is still around the 80% mark. Pray with us as we trust in the Lord to take care of this need. We have seen His supply in the past and know that He will take care of things in His time in the future. Please let us know how you are doing and remember that "A heart without Christ is a mission field and a heart with Christ is a missionary"

Basking in Boise

2006-11-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Boise, Idaho! Wonderful, warm Idaho, land of potatoes...

As usual things have been carrying on at a frantic pace, which means for us that things are fairly normal. For the past three weeks we have been in Boise, Idaho for standardization training with MAF US. Well at least Gary has been training, Tammy has been trying to keep the kids on track with their homeschooling, as well as enjoying her time visiting with her friend Claire. The kids have been awesome, and have enjoyed some exploring and Kaity has managed to meet up with some 'friends-of-friends'. It is a small world that we live in! Last weekend we went to the Old Idaho Penitentary, built in 1870 and used until 1973, it made us glad we didn't have to live there! The kids have all been sharing one bedroom, which has gone surprisingly well, this is just another sign that we serve a God of grace and miracles and that many prayers have been said on our behalf!

So what exactly does one do when they are here for standardization training? Well, first of all you get to spend one week in a classroom learning all about the plane you will be flying and how MAF expects you to do things. This translates into lots of homework, studying and test writing. For the next three weeks, you take all the classroom theory and turn it into practical application, learning how to land, takeoff and turn in really tiny spaces. Not so that you can be some crackpot that is off doing nutty things all the time, but to learn what you and your airplane are and aren't capable of doing. They take their forty years of experience flying this plane and give it all to you.

Setting up a low pass to make an airdrop.

Target zone for airdrop

Learning to stop quickly...and safely

We have been so blessed to be here in Boise, Idaho. God continues to amaze us as He blesses us with the opportunity to be a part of building His kingdom. It will never cease to amaze me how He is willing to take such an imperfect vessel as myself and allow me to be a part of His awesome plan for this world.

Finally, a moment to fill you in!

2006-10-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

To say things have been a little crazy the last few weeks would be putting it mildly. Since we last updated you we have participated in a missions conference in Three Hills, stripped and shingled the roof at Tami's parents house, packed up all our wordly belongings and put them in storage and then moved to Boise Idaho for the next four weeks. Tami commented that after 21yrs of being married we can still put all of our stuff into one bedroom and that includes all the kids stuff as well! God has graciously allowed us to be mobile and not get too encumbered with stuff...at least that is what we tell ourselves.

Since we have been in Boise I, Gary, have been hitting the books and taking ground school classes at MAF US that will help prepare me for the unique flying conditions encountered overseas. I haven't spent that much time in class and doing homework since...I don't know when! It has been great, the instructors and staff have been fantastic and I am excited about getting in the plane on Monday and starting to fly. The guys that I will get to fly with are truly some of the best in the world when it comes to flying the Cessna 206. I look forward to soaking up as much of their teaching as possible.
As far as Tami and the kids go they have been settling into the home schooling routine. We are in a two bedroom condo so the kids are sharing a room. They have been just awesome about it, we thank God daily for the amazing kids He has blessed us with.

We do have one thing that you could all pray about. My passport is on its' way to Angola, which typically isn't that big of a problem. However, something has malfunctioned at the junction and it is taking somewhat of a circuitous route to get there. To give you an idea of that route I have included where it has been and where it is as of October 29th.
October 18 Calgary
October 19 Wilmington Ohio
October 19 Toronto
October 19 Guadalhara, Mexico
October 20 Wilmington Ohio
October 20 New York, NY
October 20 Brussels, Belgium
October 23 Amsterdam, Netherlands
October 24 Mexico City
October 25 Wilmington Ohio
October 25 New York, NY
October 25 Brussels, Belgium
October 26 Amsterdam, Netherlands
October 27 Mexico City
October 28 Wilmington Ohio
October 28 New York, NY
October 29 Brussels, Belgium

Some day it will make for a really funny story, which it kind of is right now, but we really need it to get to Angola so they can take care of my work visa. Thanks for all your prayers and support we'll update you next week on how things are going and the saga of the passport. Drop us a line and tell us what you are up to, we would love to hear from you all!

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far
side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.
Ps139:9-10

God's Provision

2006-10-03T14:08:00.000-06:00

I am continually humbled by the way God is providing our needs through the generosity of His people. We have been so privileged to meet new friends everytime we head out on the road to share what God is doing in our lives and where He is calling us to go. This past month we were able to head up to Eaglesham, Fairview and Fox Creek in northwestern Alberta. We had travelled that route in May and were eager to reconnect and also meet new friends. The Lord graciuosly reminds us each time that what we are doing is not about us, but about Him and His kingdom. Every home where we have stayed, every person we have met, has blessed us beyond anything we could repay. God has been so good to us and we pray that we can at least return a part of that blessing to all of you.

Things are really starting to kick into high gear this week, all the planning and preparation for returning to Angola is starting to come together. As you can see by our schedule on the side of the blog we are going to be living out of suitcases until we arrive in Angola next August. This weekend we will be heading to MAF US until the end of November for some advanced flight training. Following that we'll be on Vancouver Island for christmas, back to Alberta for the new year and then off to Colorado for a two week language acquisition course.We will be returning to Alberta one last time for final packing and farewells and then off to Portugal at the end of January for language training. Wow, things are getting exciting and scary all at the same time! Please continue to pray for us, we are continually humbled and blessed by all of your love and care.

We will update you next from MAF US in Nampa Idaho.

Who's in control?

2006-08-24T12:59:00.000-06:00

Since Gary is at a loss as to what to write this month, I thought I would step in and test my journalistic abilities. This is Tami by the way....The summer has gone by way too fast without getting as much done as I would have liked, which means that life is still normal. Some of the highlights of our summer have been summer jobs for Kaity, a life of leisure for Josh, and an all boy's adventure camp for Matt. He wondered what kind of fun would there be if no girls were there to harass!...he loved it inspite. We spent a wonderful weekend with Gary's family at a Balzer family reunion with approximately 60 of our favorite aunties, uncles,cousins and of course Grandma.
We have completed all the to-do-lists that we have procrastinated about for the past 3 years and have sold the house. We are in the process of putting anything that has sentimental value into storage boxes, packing what we think we will need for language school and another lot for Angola and selling the rest. We still have a few big decisions that we are waiting on, like should we spend six months in Portugal or Brazil for lanuage training, spend October & November in Idaho for extra flight training for Gary, do we keep our van, or sell it, blah blah blah....Life is good, God is so good to us! I need to remember on a daily basis that He is in control and although it isn't always easy, He knows what is best and how things will come together for His honour and glory. We appreciate that you all bring us before the Lord in prayer it, really does make a difference in our lives. Balzer Reunion 2006
What a fine looking group!

Another adventure we had was heading off to the Guzoo (Three Hill's Zoo) with Tami's nephews' Jaxson and Carter to pet a Bengal Tiger cub! Who would have thought you could do that in Three Hills let alone in Angola? We thought it was pretty cool that the cub's name was Jaxson as well.

We look forward to catching up with all of you this fall. It has been a wonderful summer, see ya soon!

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Romans 10:14

New Challenges

2006-07-03T20:15:00.000-06:00

It feels as though the months are slipping by quickly as we prepare to go to Portugal in January for language training. So many things to do and get in order before we leave, our level of excitement grows with each day. God continues to bless and amaze us with His provisions through all of you, thank you once again.

June took us to Saskatoon where spent a wonderful weekend sharing with family and friends. We spent an afternoon with Gary's 91 year old Grandma who regaled us with pictures and stories of her youth in Czarist and Soviet Russia. It was exciting to be able to connect with our family history a bit more as we get ready for a new adventure in the future.

We returned to Three Hills where we joined our church for its annual camp out. Good food, good fellowship and a wonderful baptismal service in the river. Also, as it regularily seems to be the case, our family grew to 11 as several teens joined us for the camp-out. What a great group of kids, they help keep the adventure in our lives. The following weekend was Kaity's graduation. Wow, what a hoot, it was a great time of again, looking at the past and dreaming about the future.

The last weekend saw us heading up to Lacombe where the church had organized a fund raiser for us. We spent Saturday doing a walk-a-thon and picnic and then sharing in the Sunday morning service. Gary has taken to throwing chocolate bars into the congregation, it's lots of fun, you should see how alert people become when chocolate starts flying. Thanks to all you Lacombians!?

The picture shows Mitcha compound where we will live. Our house has a red roof and is the one on the upper right hand side of the three. If you like Google Earth you can use the following co-ordinates (14 53'27.70" S 13 29'40.82" E) to find the house and look around the City of Lubango. Is that cool or what!? We'll try to give you a bit more of a tour as we write more.

Times, they be a changin'

2006-05-22T18:42:00.000-06:00

Wow, it sure has been an exciting few weeks. We have been able to travel all over the countryside visiting family, friends and making new friends along the way. We have covered about 4000kms visiting Eaglesham, Fox Creek, Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Abbotsford, Richmond, Nanimo, Lantzville and Parksville. It has been awesome hearing the exciting things that God is doing in these places and a real privilege to be able to share about our work with MAF. Speaking of MAF, we are pretty excited about a change in plans as to where we are going to serve, MAF has asked us to return to Angola. They want us to be ready to head to Portugal for language training starting in January of '07. We now have a deadline to work towards and are excited about how God is going to bring things together.

When you think about us, could you specifically pray some of these things:

Pray that we will be sensitive to Gods' leading as we seek opportunities to share not only about the work in Angola, but also that we would be used to communicate Gods' message of hope for the world.
Pray that we will rest in His provision and timing. God has graciuosly provided 35% of our monthly support. Total monthly support required is $5700.00.
Pray that in this mission Gods' name will be glorified and that His kingdom will be magnified.

We are excited to be heading back to Angola, renewing old acquaintances and friendships as well as seeing what new things God has in store for us. We are eager and ready to go, it is now just a matter of following Gods' leading. Let us know if you, your church or small group is interested in hearing about MAF's ministry in Angola. We would be glad to meet with you.

More details to follow.

Chitokoloki

2006-04-20T14:53:00.000-06:00

So far I am sure that you have been able to pronounce the names of the places that we maybe posted to in Zambia, but this one I am pretty sure has got most of you tongue tied. To help you out I am going to give you my own phonetic pronounciation- "Chee-toe-co-low-key" the emphasis is on the first syllable. Chitokoloki is a Mission Station situated in the Northwest Province of Zambia at a remote location on the Zambezi River close to both neighboring countries of Congo and Angola. There are only two modes of transport for reaching Chitokoloki; first by road and second by air. By road it is approximately 12 hrs or 650 kilometers from the capital Lusaka, a very long and tiring trip as the road condition is extremely poor.The option of travel to Chitokoloki from Lusaka by plane is much quicker and more convenient as there is a landing strip on the Mission and the flight generally takes between 2 and 3 hours. Plans are being made to base an aircraft here to serve the mission hospital. The hospital contains 283 beds divided into three wards. The newest ward contains 85 beds and is used for primary care and treatment. The second ward or "old hospital" contains 88 beds and is used for out patient, lab work, teaching and other things. The remaining 110 beds form the "colony" which is the TB and leprosy settlement. In 2004 the hospital had over 12,000 admissions and saw over 19,000 outpatients. Three community health centers are also supported from Chitokoloki. Within a one hour flight there are a total of 5 hospitals all of which have access to a landing strip. One of the clinics, Dipalata would also like to build an airstrip for better access, and have identified land for that purpose. Other clinics in the area would also be interested in air support. Although the mission station is well equipped, it is remote and would be similar to living in the Northwest Territories. Not temperature wise, but it is in its own little corner of the world. Please pray with us as the leadership of the Flying Mision decides where to base us. We are excited about the possibilities and places where we may end up. Our God is an awesome God and we look forward to serving Him wherever that may take us. When will we be departing? Well the mission would like us sometime this summer. Our support continues to come in and we are very greatful for all of you that give to and pray for us. As the support comes in our departure becomes more of a reality. Our support is in the 35% range so there is a ways to go, but we know that with all your prayers and encouragement God has it all in His control. As the school semester comes to a close this week we are going to be hitting the road, so we look forward to seeing some of you and to making new friends.

Macha

2006-03-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well it certainly is good to chat with you all again. Our winter continues to be a little strange, we keep swinging between crazy warm weather and our typical cold all within a week. Oh well it keeps things interesting that's for sure.
We are just about through birthday season, with Gary being the last one coming up till Tammy's in October. We now have a 17, 15 and 13 year old in the house, wow time sure flies when you are having fun. And we truly are having fun, I can't think of a more enjoyable time in our lives then right now. Sometimes things get pretty nutty with all the travelling and I would be lying if I didn't say there was some friction on the road, but hey what would a trip be without asking, "Are we closer to home or there?"
One of the places that we maybe possibily based at is Macha. Macha is located in the south central part of the western part of Zambia. The main work here would be supporting setting up a communications network called Linknet. Reliable, efficient, secure communications is becoming more crucial to missions and related agencies as they work in remote areas of the world. The ability to respond to requests in hours instead of days or weeks can be the difference in saving a life physically or spiritually.

I Know it looks like it's Mukinge, but it's not.

Thanks again to all of you that are praying for and supporting us. We are reminded daily that this is something that we can't do on our own. The Lord keeps moving people to help out and your care humbles us. We are looking for a group of 31 people that would commit to praying for us once a month. If this is something that you would be interested in joining let us know. We'll be posting more details in the future. Presently we are at 35% of our financial needs thank you for your help.

Mukinge

2006-02-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

It continues to be a real growing experience spiritually as we continue to raise support to return to Africa. My human nature continually worries about how things will all come together. How will it be possible to raise all our prayer and financial support by July of this year? At this point Tammy says that it's supposed to be bigger than what we can do so that God gets all the credit when He supplies all our needs. I'm glad that she is so in tune with God, it reminds me of where my trust is supposed to be placed. At present the Lord has taken care of about 20% of our support needs through the giving of His people. We want to thank those of you that are praying for us as well, without a solid foundation of prayer supporters our work will be in vain. We need to continually shower things in prayer so that our focus stays on glorifying God and not ourselves. We are humbled and blessed by those that have joined in supporting us in so many different ways .

One of the places that we may be posted is at a hospital in northwestern Zambia called Mukinge. The hospital was started in the early 1950's by SIM and contains a nurses training school as well as the 200 bed hospital that acts as a regional facility. We will work supporting the hospital by moving staff and supplies in and out, along with taking care of medivac flights to Mukinge and out to Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. We would also be assisting other missions and the national church with moving their people and resources around the countryside. We are excited about the possibilities of serving here, please pray with us and the staff of the Flying Mission as they seek God's leading as to where we will be based. Just to make sure that I haven't confused people too badly. We are being loaned by our mission, which is MAF, to work with the Flying Mission in Zambia. You can check out either mission by clicking on the links in the sidebar.

Is it winter yet?

2006-01-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again from Three Hills,
After starting the winter with our regular blast of coldness winter seems to have taken a bit of a holiday. To say that the temperature has been mild would be a bit of an understatement. It has been up to almost 20C here in the middle of January, I can assure you that we are not complaining.

Plans for Zambia continue to come together. We have the privilege of speaking in several churches over the next few months and continue to look for new opportunities to share what God is doing in our lives. One of the most frequent questions we get asked is what will we be doing in Zambia? Probably the easiest way to answer that question is to share a little excerpt from a report that Flying Mission made when they were first looking at going into Zambia.

Many have asked what is Flying Mission’s (FM) broader vision in Zambia? As stated ... in FM’s vision statement, it is extending the Gospel of Jesus Christ, building the Kingdom of God. More specifically, FM’s role in building the Kingdom is a support service for the Evangelical community. Aviation is a supporting technology and a force multiplier. FM’s goal is to multiply the effectiveness of the Church, mission and development workers, enabling them to spend more time serving people and less time traveling on very bad roads for long distances. FM believes in proclaiming the Gospel through meeting people’s spiritual and physical needs. FM wants to provide logistical support to those that are developing communities with clean water, basic hygiene, literacy, higher standards of healthcare, better communications and ultimately leadership training within the churches. In this way FM is facilitating the work of spreading the Gospel in Zambia.

God is allowing us the privilege of taking something that we love to do and use it to build His kingdom, in this case specifically in Zambia. We are excited about how God will use us. In upcoming blogs we'll share about the possible places we could be based and how you can get involved meeting the physical and spiritual needs of people in Zambia from right here in Canada or wherever you live.

'nother one from kait

2005-12-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hello.
This is Kaity.
So today I am it is my turn to write on my family's blog/journal thing, and today my "topic" is Christmas time.
So Christmas is about Jesus's birth, how he fufilled prophecies by being born in a stable, (with stinky cows...) and so every Christmas we celebrate that (not the stnky cows).
Anyways, this Christmas we are celebrating with our WHOLE family...thats right..
22 people + one house=CRAZINESS. anyways, so my Dad or mom will probably write a more "official" blog entry but I wanted to say it in my words.

Remember that Jesus loves you
Kaity

It's Cold Out There

2005-12-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
As I sit here typing it's -25c outside and am thinking that life in Zambia sounds pretty good right now! Last month we had a chance to spend sometime in Kamloops, Merritt and Salmon Arm. What an awesome time! We were able to catch up with old friends and hear about what has been going on with them since we were last in touch. It was also great to meet new people and hear about how God is at work in their lives.
God is really blessing us as we share about what He is doing in our lives. It amazes and humbles us as people express a willingness to support us through their prayers and finances. We truly are overwhelmed at the interest and care that has been expressed. We were worried and afraid about what it would be like to go on the road to raise support, but God has once again shown that He is in control and that things will happen when He wants them to happen. I am not sure why I have to keep learning that lesson over and over again, but I do.
We are looking forward to Christmas this year as we will be able to spend it with both sides of our families. Should be a packed house and a lot of fun. After Christmas we'll be hitting the road again to encourage and share about what is going on. Looking forward to seeing and visiting with you all. Gives us a call or write an e-mail we would love to hear from all of you.

An Update

2005-10-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well summer has been over for a while now which means it's time to up date you all again. Since we last shared with you we have had a chance to talk with the Director and the Human Resources Manager with The Flying Mission. We had an excellent talk with them and they have expressed that they would like us to be in Zambia by July of 2006. The amount of flying that they have been doing has tripled since last year, so they could really use us yesterday. The day after we talked to FM we headed out to Vancouver Island and a chance to visit Gary's mom and brother and sister in law as well as an opportunity to share at their church. We had a wonderfull time sharing and encouraging as well as hopefully being an encouragement to all we had a chance to visit and meet. The kids all got a chance to go surfing with their cousins while we were there. That's right... surfing...in water...not on the internet...in October... on the West coast of Vancouver Island...no Gary and Tami just watched!"let's go surfin now , everybodies learnin' how, come on a safari with me..."

Really mom it's not THAT cold!!

See, we're actually in the "warm" as their cousin called it, water.

Matthew smiling after getting washed up the beach from riding a big one...just kidding.

Coming up in November we are going to be making a swing thru the BC interior from the 18th to the 27th and hope to catch up with all our friends and make some new ones. We look forward to seeing a bunch of you then. We'll be sharing more details as the dates get closer.

camp pictures

2005-09-29T14:39:00.000-06:00

that was the theme this summer at camp "a place to belong"

josh and some of the "cldt" girls...no he isnt holding hands with the one girl....

me and my friends... i have the tiara on my head...in case you couldnt recognize me...
AND Matt learned how to wakeboard!!

now we dont have any pictures of mom...or dad...o well
anyways our summer was awesome!
see ya later
Kaity

its from kait

2005-09-06T20:17:00.000-06:00

Hey guys it is I, Kaity the first.
the amazing daughter of Gary and Tammy.
So usually on summer vacation we usually stay home and have a quiet summer, but this summer was anything but quiet. My mom decided that this summer instead of staying in the comforts of home she decided that we were going to go to Camp Chestermere. Now if you dont know my parents worked there back when the earths crust cooled (ok so it was only 20 years ago but come one guys im only 16, 20 years is a long time). So she decided that we would go there. It was a blast sure there were some times when all i wanted to do was stay in the warm and comforts of my bed, but that was only because it was SO cold! So that was fun, i learned alot, had barely any sleep and was generally sick for the most of it. Oh ya mom "dragged" josh, matt, and i to camp. Im joking we were in need of an adventure, so we were the ones dragging her.

ok so you are probably wondering why on earth i have a map of Africa and with Zambia of all places coloured in. Well to thoses who dont know or who havent figured it out Im moving there, yeah my family is coming with me too. Now in order to go to fancy places like Africa we have to do our time, and by that i mean we have to do deputation. Which means that we go to different Churchs and talk to them about what we do and why we do it (if you want to hear that whole spiel you can talk to my parents). So if you want us to come to your church talk to my dad.

anyways...im going to go now...
have an amazing rest of the day
kaity
(aka Kaitlin, Kait...)

What?! It's August already?

2005-08-08T08:17:00.000-06:00

Wow time flies when your having fun! The summer continues to cruise along at a super sonic pace and before we know it, it will be time for school to start again. I shouldn't get to far ahead of myself here and let you all know what has been going on. Tammy and the kids have been relaxing at Camp Chestermere, well maybe not relaxing exactly, but they have been enjoying themselves. Tammy has started to be called "Mom" by the more than 60 staff who are mostly of the high school college age bracket. She is working hard in the kitchen enjoying the fact that she gets to make the mess and NOT have to clean it up. Kait has been a junior counsellor and been placed with some great senior counsellors. She is making tons of friends, no surprise, and continues to grow up way too quickly. Josh is working with the day campers who are usually about 5 years old and come out from 7:30 - 5:30 everyday, hence the day camp title. He's exhausted...hee...hee. How could those little guys have sooo much energy? Matthew has been able to be a camper, babysit two little boys for the Program Director, work as a dishwasher and pretty much join into whatever activities he wants to. I think they are all having too much fun without me. I (Gary) have been holding down the fort while everyone else is off playing. Actually I can't whine. My days are a little different in the summer. I spend about an hour or two at the hangar making sure the reception desk is organized and then I head over to the main campus. I am helping the maintenance guys catch up on the myriad of repairs that need to be done to keep the college ship shape. It's interesting, a new challenge each day. Oh and I got to go to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to represent the school at the world's largest Airshow. I know it was a sacrifice, but someone had to do it.

Support for our move to Zambia is starting to come in and we want to thank all of that are praying for us and have given financially we appreciate your sacrifice to help us. We need to raise $5700/ month and about $30,000 in one time expenses. It's an amount that is daunting, which is a good thing because it forces us to rely totally on God to provide.

We look forwrd to hearing from you and what is happening in your lives.

Blessings.

The Adventure Begins

2005-06-28T20:22:00.000-06:00

It has been an interesting few weeks since our last posting so I will try to bring you up to speed on what has been happening with our household. At the beginning of June we had the privilege to go back to BC and share where God has been leading us. At the time we were talking with the Flying Mission in Botswana of serving with them in Zambia. Well since that time they have asked us to join their work. We are really excited about the opportunity this is for our family. A definite time schedule has yet to be worked out, but it looks like we will be aiming to be in Zambia by this time next year. There is a ton of stuff to do and we would love to come and share with any of you in person about what we will be doing. In the short term Tammy and the kids will be spending the next nine weeks working at Camp Chestermere just outside of Calgary. Tammy is helping in the kitchen while Kait will be a counselor, Josh will be helping with the Day Camp Program and Matt will be taking care of the Program Directors boys during the mornings. Gary is missing out on all the fun and will be continuing to flight intstruct at Prairie Bible College. We would love to hear from you all about what you are doing. I'll keep posting what's going on and hopefully we'll be able to see some of you in person. We are trying to set up a visiting schedule for the fall and winter so get ahold of us early while we still have open bookings.

Welcome

2005-05-21T21:49:00.000-06:00

Greetings to all of you that have taken the time to check out our Blog. At present we are still kicking around Three Hills finishing up school and getting ready for summer holidays. Our plans at present are pretty basic, so it shouldn't take too long to fill you all in on what is happening. We are looking for places that we can share about what we are up to so if you would be interested in us swinging by and sharing at a coffee night with friends, your church or whoever, let us know and we will work something out. Tammy and the kids are going to be spending the summer at Camp Chestermere just outside of Calgary. Some of you will be going that name sounds familiar, Tammy and I worked there when we were first married almost twenty years ago. Boy time flies when you are having fun! They will be there during the week and be home on Saturdays. Gary gets to keep working at the flight school at Prairie Bible Institute. During the second and third weeks of June we will be in Kamloops to visit with friends and hopefully speak to a bunch of different groups. We are still waiting to hear from the Flying Mission as to what their plans for us are. We should hear somthing at the end of May so we would really appreciate your prayers. Bye for now.

Our first venture into blogging

2005-02-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

It seemed that this would be a good way to keep in touch with all our friends as we begin to make preparations to head back to Africa as missionairies with Mission Aviation Fellowship. This first posting is going to be a short one, but as we get things figured out, as far as blogging goes, we'll start to post more info as to how things are progressing. We look forward to staying in touch and hearing how you are all doing.