As the World Turns

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.

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.