Hello From South Africa

Our flat at Mercy Air called "Rock Flat".



Yes, that is a rock in our kitchen...the



wall is built around it





Sorry about the delay in getting more info on the blog. We had a huge thunderstorm shortly after we got here and it took out our Internet signal and then it took some time to get it up and running again. We have really enjoyed our time here and Tim was able to get the work done he needed to.













Tim and Dwight (pilot missionary for SAMMinistry www.sammintries.org







We have met lots of wonderful new people as the farm Mercy Air is located on has several guest flats that are open to Missionaries to stay at while they are doing business in nearby Nelspruit, medical appointments or just taking a well deserved rest. Yesterday as a special treat Lynn and Dwight Lagore from Mozambique took us on a day long tour of Kruger Park. What an awesome trip! We only covered about 1/5 of the 20,000 sq Km but saw so many animals including 4 of the Big 5...leopard, elephant,rhino,and cape buffalo. plus giraffe, zebra, baboon, monkey, crocodile and more.


Tim and Barb at Kruger Park.....they are the ones on the right!!

We had fun today hosting Tim's co worker Basilio and his family for lunch and a visit.

As you can see Tim is right in his element!!




Tim and Dle .
Basilio and baby, Lydia, Miguel,Maryanna,
Dle and Florindo








These are a couple of projects Tim and Bassilio were able to complete this week.



Propeller assembled




jack stands for lifting the airplane


The rainy season is here and this is a view of the road we have to take to and from home, the rain will soon errode it into deep ruts and gullies. There is new developement going on all over the city and they have tried to come up with drainage solutions but this portion of the road is still

needing wome help.

We will be leaving this week for South Africa, hope to update you when we arrive there

Blessings

Tim and Barb

This blog entry has been a work in progress so it covers things we have been doing over the last three weeks.
Our trip to Tchincombe farm went well. The drive is a bit of an adventure even though the first 100 kilometers is very nice (new) blacktop highway. Once we got close to a little place called Dongue, we turned east and the road sort of disappeared and turned into a trail through the bush. Mostly two ruts in loose sand. We were very glad to have four wheel drive, might still be out there without it! The Toyotas we were driving have a slightly narrower track than most of the vehicles that use the road so we sort of weaved back and forth as we went. Going out the trip took four hours….to go about 200 kilometers…..and the first 100 took about an hour. Slow going in the deep sand.

ROAD TO TCHINCOMBE
Inspite of the drive out, we did enjoy the journey and the visit with Donna and Sterling Foster who run the farm. We got to go for a drive around the farm to look at the cattle that they raise and the way they work with the local people. We also got to see the new airstrip that is under construction. It is hoped that it will be in service within a year.


RELAXING AT THE FARM
We were blessed with the visit from the CEO of MAF Canada, Mark Outerbridge and his wife Colleen and a MAF board member Cheryl Polenenko and her husband John. John and Cheryl stayed with us and we enjoyed getting to know them and hear of their involvement with MAF through the years. Barb was able to join them on a flight to Mokwondo and Kalekembe.

Tammy&Gary, Barb& Tim, Cheryl, Colleen & Mark
I stayed in Lubango as Basilio and I were working on some projects at the hangar getting ready for an upcoming inspection as well as replacing a radiator in one of the trucks and replacing a hot water heater in one of the houses. These type of repairs take a long time because you have to go many places to find the parts and supplies that you need. As Basilio told me, “in Angola a store does not just sell one thing, but many things, maybe food, plumbing parts, shoes and maybe car parts. So we must go and find what we need.” One store where we bought some plumbing supplies sells aluminum ladders, electrical supplies, welding supplies, tile, seeds for the garden and lingerie. Things are growing, we visited at least three new shops that sell some car parts that weren’t here when we came in August…but that means that there are now three more shops that must be checked when looking for car parts! The other custom that slows the search is that all the shops close between noon and two o’clock…..give or take……. Half an hour to an hour. The upside is that the traffic is better when the shops are closed.
This morning we went to an outdoor service at a soccer stadium where 26 newly graduated pastors were commissioned. It was quite impressive but we weren’t able to take any photos as we were seated directly behind the Minister of Defense for Angola and the Governor of Huila Province (where we live). When we came in, the ladies were in front and one of the officials asked who they were with, our friend pointed to Barb and said she was with MAF so he took them to the main grandstand, center stage, directly behind the Minister of Defense. We were honored, (and very thankful as we were seated in chairs in the shade with a nice breeze!) It started before 10:00 and they were just coming up to the message when we slipped out shortly after 12:30.
We now have less than two weeks before we leave Angola. We will be making a side trip to South Africa on our way home. Tim has been asked to do an inspection on a Canadian registered aircraft in Nelspruit. We will be about a week there and then fly into Vancouver on Nov 24.

Prayer Requests

For Tim as he completes the work on the airplane
For swift delivery of parts that haven't yet arrived
Safety as we travel
Our preperations to leave and as we say good by to friends here.

Steve Collins and Barb cooling their feet after a long hike
Senior Ladies group.

We are finally back to better internet service , so I will attempt to update our blog and perhaps send a picture or two.
We are really enjoying all the new people we are meeting. There a couple of regular events every week where this can happen. First is an informal pizza night on Fridays, usually at one of the larger homes on the compound. It is a good place to introduce new people for the first time. Pizza here usually means homemade, and experimenting with new toppings and different kinds of cheese.
On Sunday evenings we usually attend what is referred to as the “English Bible Study Group”. Most everyone that attends speaks some English. Last night as there were new people attending we went around and introduced ourselves and our place of birth. There was quite a variety. Several Canadians, from Ontario to the republic of Saskatchewan. A few Americans. Others were born in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Zaire, Zambia, and Angola. The group included, students, Drs., pilots, mechanics, administrators, professors, teachers, housewives, full time mothers, computer techs., and agricultural missionaries. People take turns hosting the gathering and we usually listen to a DVD sermon and have a discussion and prayer time and of course coffee and dessert.
Saturday we drove back out to Humpata to our friend Steve’s so Tim could repair his fridge. Another lady from Mitcha (our compound) came with us and brought her two little girls. We went shopping at the prassa market while Tim did the repairs. Humpata is known for its gardens and we got lots of nice vegetables and even strawberries. We looked through the used clothes and picked up some nice things for the little girls plus some new panos of fabric for me and a nice large woven basket to use for laundry etc.
Sunday we went to a different church, we parked and walked about ¼ mile into the barrio, past the river where many people were doing laundry and bathing. There were many choirs and a long sermon in Portuguese and Imbundo. We were there almost three hours, so we won’t complain when the service goes over 1 hour back home.
This week Tim is working on installing the support structure for the new style ELT (emergency locator beacon) that is supposed to arrive sometime in November. The plane will be grounded until he finishes, hopefully by Thursday or Friday. If all goes well we hope to go to the farm for the weekend, about a 3 hour drive south from here at Tchincombe. (Driving times may vary depending on weather and road conditions, please check with the locals before setting out.) It is an agricultural mission with SIM, and we are anxious to see it as we have heard much about it and met the people who operate it. We will report back on our trip there.

Greetings to all of you!
It is hard for us to believe that we have been in Lubango for over five weeks already. There are many things happening and the time seems to fly by.
Since we last wrote, we were able complete the 100 hour inspection on the airplane with no major problems. We did have to wait an extra day to do the return to service flight following the inspection as Wednesday the 17th was a holiday here, Heros’ Day, and pretty well everything in the city shut down. Something about “when in Rome do as the Romans do”.
We are waiting for some parts that have been ordered for several “projects” on the airplane. There are some items that need to be changed after so many hours of flying and we are approaching that number.
There is also the emergency locator beacon up-grade to the new style that we are going to start on this week. The aircraft will be available for several days now as we wait for some of the infamous Angolan paperwork to arrive. Permits and inspections by the Angolan Airworthiness Authority seem to be never ending. We are also hoping to figure out a problem with the weather radar system. Fortunately the weather so far has been nothing but clear blue skies day after day after day. Once the rainy season begins, the weather radar is a very important piece of equipment.
Time at the airport get shared between working on the aircraft and working on the vehicles, mostly routine servicing so far but the roads here do take their toll. One of the trucks needs to have a new clutch and rear seal installed. Getting parts here isn’t as difficult as last time but finding the right parts takes some time. We often have to go to several different suppliers to see who might have what we need. When we changed the timing belt on one of the trucks earlier in the month we took the old belt off and took it to the supplier, laid it on the counter and tried new ones until we had a match. No part numbers were involved. Can be challenging trying to get a description of what you want translated into Portuguese and back again. When one of the counter people heard me talking with Basilio in English, he responded in English that the part wouldn’t be in until the following Monday. I told him that his English was pretty good. He responded in perfect English “I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this delay may have caused you.” I’m sure he has had many opportunities to use that line.
Last week we were invited to a BBQ for some buffalo steak. I was excited to think that they would have brought buffalo all the way over here. The light came on when Gary asked if I knew the difference between buffalo (water buffalo) and bison. Water buffalo grilled on an open fire is actually very good.
We have several papaya trees in the compound here, they are the Angolan equivalent of zucchini in Canada, many, many uses but still difficult to give away. Barb even used some to make a curried soup out of that was very tasty. Haven’t convinced her to try making a pie with one yet, we hear that green papaya make a good substitute for apple in pie. The problem is getting shortening or lard to make the crust. We also have mulberries on the compound and we have enjoyed some of those.
Today I, Barb, went to the large city church to help with a seniors program. The regular leader is away for a couple months and I went with Yannie a women from Holland, who volunteered to lead. Four ladies showed up at the hot upstairs room we met in. We had to climb some 20 stairs to to get to the room so you know these ladies were in pretty good shape. We set up chairs and tables set out things for chai and bolo (tea and cake). We started with some exercises, the stairs were our warm up. Next was a a devotion time. A young man came into take pictures, and as he spoke good Portuguese we invited him to finish the reading and then he was invited to share our tea time as well. We finished the time off by trying to do abit of crocheting. I did manage to ask the ladies their names…Victoria, Maria Rosa, Lorinda, and Teresa. They had abit of trouble with my name and finally settled on something like Barbareta. I’m looking forward to going back in two weeks. Yannie and I plan to get together and work on the program abit more.
We have enjoyed some traveling around the last couple of weekends so will try and add a couple of pictures to show some of the country side.
Prayer concerns:
Our Health. There seems to be a nasty tummy flu/infection going around which we have escaped so far. Also it will start raining soon and with rain comes mosquitoes and malaria.
Timely arrival of the parts for the airplane so Tim can complete the work he needs to do.

Kalukembe

This past week ended up being a fairly quiet week with Tim being able to work on a couple things around the house. The airplane inspection that they had planned to do got postponed until this week.
Late Wednesday afternoon Brent asked if one of us would like to ride along with the Drs. to Kalukembe and see the hospital there. They would leave early Thursday and be back Saturday afternoon. Tim encouraged me to go, as it might be the only opportunity I would get this trip. I jumped at the chance. 6:15 a.m. saw us on the way to airport and 8 of us loaded into the MAF airplane for the 45 minute trip. I was beginning to wonder at the speed we were coming into land on the dirt strip until I realized we were doing a flyover to clear the runway of goats and people. A crowd was at the strip to meet the airplane and the hospital personnel took us by road to our Angolan “bed and breakfast”. I had a nice room and comfortable bed with two bathrooms down the hall to share with the rest of the team. There were flush toilets and sinks but no running water most of the time, however large containers of water and usually buckets of hot water morning and evening. Meals were simple bread and jam and coffee or tea for breakfast. A simple soup for lunch and dinner, usually accompanied by rice, noodles and a corn meal mush, as well as either boiled chicken or goat. Condiments were jars of black olives and a very hot spicy relish. I tried it all, but ended up with abit of “Kalukembe tummy” on Friday morning so I stuck to the rice and broth soup or bread. I think I could lose weight on that diet.
After settling in we did a tour of the hospital grounds . I followed the Drs. on rounds to see some of the patients and viewed my first Angolan baby being born. Over the next two days I spent quite abit of time in the surgery watching Dr. Foster with the aide of nurses and students do amazing surgeries under primitive conditions. Here is a partial list of what I saw: bladder repair , orthopedic surgery, removal of tumors, removal of elephantitis skin liesions, dental surgery, prostate surgery, plastic surgery,. The surgery book showed almost 900 surgeries that had been done since January and a good majority had been done by the nurses at the hospital . Dr. Foster is only able to come every couple months and they leave the more difficult cases for him. We had an anethisitist with us who did mostly spinal blocks, but some injected anesthetics as well. The people are very brave and seem to trust the Dr's. I was amazed at the little children that came and how still they would lie as the Dr. performed the procedures. One of the hardest to see was a little 3 year old boy who had fallen into the fire and had severe burns on his head and face. Dr. Foster has been working on plastic surgery for him over the past year. They see many things at this hospital that we would not see in Canada because the people often do not come until things are quite severe. One young women had a ovarian cyst the size of a soccer ball another young women a benign breast tumor the size of my two fists.

I was also able to watch Dr. Bently -Taylor as he taught students and tested people for cardiac problems. He comes every six months and has arranged for some of children to have heart surgery back in Canada.
The three days were a very stretching time for me, spiritually and emotionally but I learned so much and I am so glad I went.
Our friends that we met here last time Gary and Tammi Goertzen have just returned , from Alberta. We are glad to have them here. Tammi and I are going out tommorow so she can show me where to buy some things that I need.

Tim has just returned home from the airport and they completed most of the inspection already today. Thank you for all your prayers for that. It is taking much less time than he had anticipated.

Prayer Request:

For successful repairs to our power generator

Building of strong and supportive relationships between the missionaries in Lubango

For leadership and future direction for MAF in Angola

Dinner and a Movie

This week was an historic one in Angola as elections were held for the first time since 1992 and only the second time in it’s history. There were many preparations in the days leading up to Friday’s election. Some things are universal, many improvements to roads and public services by the government are evident around the city. Last week the president came for a visit and there was an even greater flurry of activity.
There was some apprehension leading up to the election as the last time it triggered fierce fighting between rival parties that lasted for ten years. The actual day here in Lubango was one of the quietest days we have seen since we arrived. Everything was closed, even the outdoor markets, and the taxis didn’t even operate! When we went out later in the day the streets were almost empty.
We did venture out with our friend Dr. Steve Collins who has lived here for much of his life on what started out as a visit to see his home in the village of Humpata about 20 kilometers from here. After a few quick cell phone calls, we were on our way to see the house that the Holden’s are building, a very winding and rough road to a site overlooking the city. Next stop, after having taken on three additional passengers and a dog, was Steve’s home in Humpata where we got to see his small farm. He has about five acres that his guard/farmer looks after for him. He has many types of crops in small areas, wheat, corn, potatoes, several varieties of fruit trees, vegetables, carrots, onions, lettuce, broccoli and so on. It is all done by hand and watered every Monday by a series of ditches and little dams.
Next we proceeded on to Edson and Esther’s home just beyond Humpata for tea with Dr. Steve Foster and his wife Peggy and the visiting heart surgeon from Toronto and his wife. When they had left, we were invited to stay for dinner and a movie on the computer. Esther and her brothers Paul and Jonathan and Jonathan’s dog Rex were our additional passengers.
The plane was in Windhoek for most of the week to pick up Dr. Bently –Taylor, the visiting heart surgeon from Toronto. Basilio and I used that time to do some repairs on one of the Toyota trucks that we use for transportation here. We finished up in time for Basilio to use it to restock the diesel fuel supply here at the compound and to haul water to the hangar before election day.
Brent returned from Windhoek on Thursday with the Dr. and his wife, numerous boxes of medicines and supplies, some cheese for Barb (hard to find here at a reasonable price) and thirty kilos of grass seed for seeding the new airstrip at the mission farm at Tchincombe.
Monday we begin a 100 hour inspection on the airplane, so I will be busy at the airport most of the week.
Prayer Concerns: That all goes smoothly for the 100 hour inspection
Safe Return of the Goertzen family from Canada; leaving Monday arriving Thursday.

Views around and about

Saturday August 30 we headed out to a farm (following Brent) to get vegetables. They were nice and fresh and a better price than we could get in the city. After Brent left us we ventured on up the road abit to see some more of the country and later into town for our first shopping trip on our own...we are getting bolder. I even managed to bargain for a fair price on a pineapple.

The jacaranda trees we see blossoming every where. They are beautiful and they say when they bloom it is only one month until the rains come. Everyone is looking forward to that it is so dry and dusty here, it is a fine dust that covers everything. I understand the need for foot washing in Jesus time when I wear sandals in this country.

Sunday we went to church with our friend Becky. She teaches a Sunday School class of children so I went with her when they were dismissed. We met in a mud house about 10x12 with a dirt floor and only the chairs that children brought for themselves or rocks they could find to sit on. At the end of of the class Becky asked me to pray assuring the children God would understand me in English even if they didn't. Tim stayed in the church where he listened to a sermon in Imbudo translated in to Portuguese, followed by a along explanation of the process for voting in the upcoming election , also in both languages. We also took our own lawn.chairs to church as there are only a few rough narrow plank benches to sit on. I'll include a couple of the Sunday School pictures.
Prayer Concerns:
Thanksgiving for Tim's bites healing and no new ones
Continued safety in traffic
Peaceful election on Sept 5.
Opportunities to show love to local people with sensitivity

Life Day to Day

This is a photo of the little house we are staying in . Brent who is one of the pilots lives next door.
You can see the screened porch of his house on the right edge of the picture. The porch, houses Brents African Grey Parrot, who keeps us entertained with his many voices and sounds. His repretoire includes my voice calling Dexter (the dog we are keeping)---- Tim saying good morning ---Tim's laugh--- Brent's car alarm---Dexter whinning---greetings in Portugueses --and various whistles and other sounds and phrases...his name is Pepe and he is quite amazing.
Our house is quite comfortable and has most things we need. They have put in many new windows since we were here last and all of them open and have screens, which will be even more wonderful as we head into the hotter rainy season in about a month. For now the temperature is moderate (25-28) degrees and cools off to 15 at night, but very dry and dusty. They have also attached an annex with two guest rooms and a bathroom to the house it has a separate entrance or can be accessed through our house.
So we hope to host some visitors during our time here.
Most basic food things are available but the store often seems to run out of items or only carries them occasionally so I will have to learn to stock up. Meat is not abundant and fairly expensive.
There is a mission farm that raises cattle and the MAF group buys one occasionally and butchers it themselves...I was able to purchase some of that. Frozen chicken from Brazil is almost always available and occasionally pork chops. For those of you who didn't figure it out yet "Miolo Da Palete" is beef tongue...I haven't cooked it yet. Lots of fresh tomatoes, green pepper, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, bananas, cabbage and even local strawberries. There is a garden here but the soil is very poor and does not grow all that well.
I have a small front load washing machine and a clothes line...everything dries quickly in the warm dry air.
Everything seems to take a little longer to do here, but I am enjoying the time and the slower pace.

In closing afew prayer concerns:
-Continued good health especially Tim he has a number of mysterious bites for which we can't find a cause or a cure...very itchy
-For Barb that she finds ministry opportunties here.
-For the country of Angola as it has its first election in 16 years on Sept 4
-For Tim as he drives in wild traffic to and from the airport.
-For all the pilots and the aircraft of MAF as the transport various medical and missionary teams around Angola

Today, 28th, I was able to go along on a flight taking two Doctors and two Angolan Pastors to the mission hospital at Kuvango. It was a beautiful day and an hour and twenty minutes of flying. The airstrip at Kuvango isn't finished yet so we flew to a nearby strip where a driver picked up our passengers and took them to the hospital, a forty-five minute trip.

To drive to Kuvango would take two days!

The trees are starting to turn green, the rainy season should start soon. The sky is clear but the air is filled with dust and smoke, making everything hazy. Better go for now.

In Lubango!

We have arrived in Lubango Angola! The trip went well, made all of our connections and were met in Windhoek Namibia by Bernie Thiessen (a welcome site) and he took us to Otjari House where we spent Wed. night. He also took us back to the airport and helped us get through the check in etc. for our flight to Lubango.
All of our luggage made the trip, had to leave one box in Windhoek to be picked up later because of weight restrictions on TAAG Airlines. We were a few kilos over as it was but they were so busy that nothing was said.

We are settling into our house/home for three months. Went shopping for some groceries yesterday. Fortunately Basilio was able to drive us around and help with the shopping as speaking Portuguese was a requirement, or at least being able to read the labels. Barb was beginning to wonder when she asked him if he did the grocery shopping for their family and he said "Oh no, I'm not allowed, I don't do it right". We did manage to get enough to get by for a few days, even if some of what we bought wasn't exactly what we thought we were buying. See if you can figure out what "Miolo da Paleta" is when you are at the meat market?
Many things have changed in five years, there are alot more things available in the shops now, but the prices of things have gone up as well. Traffic is many times more difficult than before. I will have to do several more "ride-alongs" before I have the courage to venture out on my own. The city has changed traffic patterns with more one way streets but it is complicated by the fact that many intersections are closed as they are doing construction and renovations to the streets. No street signs yet, everything has to be done by memory and many of the landmarks I used last time have changed or disappeared.

Brent, one of the pilots & next door neighbor, made dinner for us on thurs., we were able to go to pizza night at Dr. Foster's last night (because Dr. Collins offered to drive us) and tonight we are going to a pot-luck weiner roast at Becky's just up the road.

We are still working on our blogging skills, hope to get the hang of adding pictures soon.
More latter,
God's Blessings,
Barb and Tim H.
Lubango, Angola

Checking the lists!

Boxes are being packed and weighed, re-packed, re-weighed, lists checked to see what is missing.
Where did you (I) put that?
All in all the process is progressing nicely. We have made a startling discovery, we have way too much stuff. It is amazing to look at a few pieces of luggage and think that is all we will have for three months. Equally amazing will be looking at the items that we took and didn't use.

Our visas arrived yesterday by Fedex, many prayers of thanks for that. We are off to Vancouver in the morning and to London on Monday.

Back to the packing

Tim H.

Final Preparations!

We are back in Kamloops after two weeks in Alberta travelling between Calgary, Red Deer, Trochu and Edmonton.



Sarah and Mike are married! Wedding details, planning, preparations and the actual wedding had occupied much of our thoughts and time for the past several months.



The day was beautiful and everything went very well. The week following was spent visiting with family that had come from away and relaxing.



Now we are into the final stages (two weeks) of planning and prepartions for our departure for another three month mission in Lubango, Angola with Mission Aviation Fellowship.



What to take? How much will it weigh? What to leave behind? What sort of things to make arrangements for while we are away? Sometimes it seems overwhelming!



Hopefully we will be able to keep family and friends informed via this blog as to how things are going and what is happening once we actually arrive in Lubango. We will advise when new info is added.

With that, I should dig in to some of the things on my ever growing list.



God's blessings,



Tim H.

Kamloops (for now)