Nes from Chad

Kel writes:



Well, Christmas was quiet on this end of the big pond. We all decided to have Christmas Dinner on Sunday afternoon, Dec 26, instead of on Christmas day. What a feast the ladies set before us! The 2 new doctors (husband & wife team) from the hospital came to join us. They have a little boy, almost 2 years of age. The last remaining student missionary (from London) also joined us.



New Year (Bon Ani) is a big event here, and celebrations went on thru the night. It’s hard to believe we are in 2011 … so Happy belated NewYear to you all. We tried to get on the internet on New Year’s eve, but no hope of that – lines are too busy.



January 11 is another big festivity – this year was Chad’s 50th anniversary of independence, so they had 2 days of festivity, with various parades in the village during the day on Tuesday, followed bya dinner in the evening, to which certain dignitaries were invited –no, we were not that lucky!



On Monday night our last Student Missionary (from last October’s bunch of 4) flew home. From hot, dry Chad to snowy conditions in London -what a shock that must have been for her. For the duration of their stay, the SM’s live with a reputable family in the village, eating their food, and sleeping outside in the courtyard, like the natives do. I notice the SM’s like it when we invite them to have a meal with us – they are grateful for a change of diet. The one guy that was here last year had fish (caught in the river here) every day. It all depends what the family is used to eating.



Also on Monday we again witnessed how God comes thru for us. We had no fruit for breakfast, so I prayed, and within an hour a fruit seller arrived at our door. God shows us how He takes care of our needs –yours too, dear reader! We can call on Him for any and all of our needs.



It’s winter here in Chad at present. Our days are cloudless, starting out quite cool at 5:45 a.m. daybreak. One needs to wear a fleece. By 9:30 a.m. it’s nice and warm and you shed your fleece and peel off your long trousers and put on short ones. We only saw clouds for one day – that happened to be the day we poured concrete foundations at the hangar (perfect weather for concrete).



Our water supply system has undergone a major repair this week. The tank on top of the water tower was leaking badly. The tower is a reinforced concrete frame with brick-walled tank built on top of the concrete slab. The tank walls are plastered on the inside. Over the years the plaster has eroded, and water leaks thru the wall. On Monday morning we drained the water lines to the houses and our Builder chipped away the lower 42” of plaster and re-plastered the tank, adding a waterproofing agent to the mortar. Luckily Gary has a bag ofthe stuff. So we’ve been hauling water for drinking (filtered), cooking and bathing from a well at one of our staff houses ¼ mile away– what a chore! Rumor has it that we’ll be able to fill the tank tonight – we’ll see.



Josie went to the market with Wendy today. They had a vehicle at their disposal, and from there they will go and spruce up Tammy & Jamie’s dwelling (on Hospital compound) before the latter arrive back from their year-end vacation tomorrow.



Kel had a bout of malaria that started with achy joints (hips, knees,ankles) for a couple of days, then the third evening he shook and shivered with fever. The next morning Gary took him to the hospital where he tested positive. Took all his meds with no side effects, and has recovered nicely after 8 days of meds.



Well, that’s it for this week – until next time. May our gracious Lord bless you in every way. Keep courage, keep praying – and thanks foryour prayers.



We pray for you and yours, also.



Kel & Josie

Happy New Year! God is good!

December 27, 2010

We have had a bit of trouble getting internet here in Chad. But God is good and we have purchased a phone with internet capabilities from a student missionary who returned to the U.S., gotten help from a missionary who returned to Chad after getting married in the U.S., and the internet was accessible when we made our attempt to connect the new phone.

In the meantime – to give some highlights between Kel’s birthday on December 3, and today: We were sick with sinus infections and bronchitis from Kel’s birthday until about the 20th when we rode along to Moundou (second largest “city” in Chad) to go to the market and purchase a motorcycle.

We are now equipped (in our octagonal thatched hut of about 20 feet across) with a 2-burner gas stove, with separate gas bottle, plastic water filter containers that stack (top holds charcoal filters, bottom holds filtered water with a faucet), and a 125cc motorcycle. We are so thankful for the boxes we have received, most recently 2 boxes on December 15. All of the contents are so much appreciated!! On being informed that we live in Bandele (say bahn-de-lay), I quipped that we are in suburbia – a suburb of Bere. Sabbaths we have been riding by “moto” south to a little settlement called Dabgue (say dahb-gay) to hold a branch Sabbath School.

This past Sabbath, Kel and I rode our own “moto”, and the going south was okay. We slipped and slid our way through the thick sand. But returning home was a different story. There was more bicycle traffic, less access to the harder trails on the sides of the road, so we were riding more in the thick sand down the center of the road. Wow, did we ever fishtail our way north!!! I was clinging to Kel and telling him to please ride on the hard trails, and I kept saying that we don’t want to fall! The Lord heard our prayers for safety, and Kel did a marvelous job of keeping us upright. Gary later told Kel that the hot sand is the reason we struggled through.

Thursday afternoon, December 23, Gary and Wendy took Jonathan and Melody and Kel and I to visit the village chief of Bandele. We were surprised to see his home so close to the corner of the compound our hut is in. The chief is soft spoken and very dignified, and brought benches out for us to sit in his courtyard. He chatted with Gary in French, and from time to time he and Wendy would translate a sentence to us. The chief welcomed us as newcomers and offered his help should we need it.

Till next time,

K & J