Well hello! Have you time to stop for a minute, now that it's mid December and a week until Christmas?! "You're having a laugh" as someone used to say because we've seen zero signs of anything festive around here, although we did see a tacky-tinsel shop in Juba:
Here we have just lots of dust and dirt.....it has been a couple of weeks since we had the first few showers of rain: if we can draw smiley faces in the grime on our table that blows through our window in less than an hour after wiping it clean just imagine those dusty feet:
Maybe you'd like to swap shoes with us for a bit, for a spot of HOT sunshine and respite from all the frantic activity we remember from the past, pre-Christmas build up/rush. No Christmas trees or decorations, cards or wrapping, no concerts or candle-lit services, no lists or panic buying, certainly no nice tasty treats or full bellies for this sandal'd person.... he helps us feel grateful for all we do have, however 'low key' this Christmas will be.
So sharing Thanksgiving with these lovely Wycliffe friends recently was a joy...we'll probably see them next week too and enjoy some time together for a small "Birthday" feast, maybe with a bottle of local wine too!
Having had a dull and pretty dismal week here (its feeling somewhat derelict), lots of drudgery in stock-taking and disposing of piles of dusty, out-dated materials, here's a helpful reminder of why we're here, from Finnish pilot Jarkko, on one of his routine days:
“Early
morning I start the pre-flight checks and ensure the mosquito nets are on board
the plane. It is already really hot in Dar es Salaam (35C) and the humidity is awful.
These days we do all the essential pre-flight tasks ourselves, refuelling, etc.
I am so wet after everything is done that I have to change into another pilot
shirt. After that I go to the airport terminal (near the air condition device!)
to meet the medical/evangelistic team, helping them to pass through from
security, escorting them on the short walk to the plane... by the time we
reach the plane I’m wet-through again. During the day I have to drink at least 5
litres of water to survive.
As
I await clearance I see Government jet planes doing preparations, watching a
pair of yellow Chinese-made fighter planes are take off. I didn't become a
fighter pilot, nor an airline transport pilot. Instead I am leaving
civilisation with my antiquated "bodaboda" (three wheeler) Cessna with a small YWAM three
people team, mosquito nets, medicines and lots of Hope.
Sometimes
it is hard to understand ATC traffic language through my headset here at busy
Dar airport. From a big international airport I fly to another world where the
villages of J and K have “airstrips” to land: some parts of the “runways”
remind me of a seabed or a beach. After a day or two of rain a third of K will
be gone, submerged.
The
villagers eagerly welcome us – it was 11 months since MAF were able to visit
last. In the two villages 300 hundred people are treated and about 50
sick people ask to be prayed for, some make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time. Halelu-JAH!
100 mosquito nets are delivered, mostly to mothers with babies, others
for village elders.
Please
remember these Muslim villages for the next year, that we might be able to
provide more constant service. There is a lack of medicine and proper
medical care, with minimal government interest . In J they wanted more mosquito
nets. In K they wanted just help. These villages have only few "non
public" Christians thus far but with
a few more after this recent flight :o)”
Our final D (that must easily be a dozen or so!) is D for DRAFT - we think we shall have a draft copy of the lease for the hangar next week granting CentralAviationServices the right to use the hangar. This should mean that the TanzanianCivilAviationAuthority will grant permission for CAS to begin operations soon! Please keep praying!
Hag Hannukah samakh if you're celebrating (we're so thankful you preserved the Scriptures for us). 43Ccworth of warm greetings to you all,
fondest love in this festive season,
Jez and Carina xx
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