Flat battery and some treasure

Last week Simon was flying a regular Northern shuttle flight around the north of Uganda.  However, all did not go according to plan.  As Simon was planning to leave he realized that the plane wouldn't start due to the failure of the igniter box.  He was able to radio back to the office and organize for another pilot to fly up with an engineer so that the part could be replaced.  Of course, this took some time and as you will see from the photos below there is not a Starbucks (that comment was for you Ian :) or equivalent that you can relax in while waiting.  However, Simon being a lover of wood was not bored while he waited and took off into the bush in the hunt for some unique pieces.  You will see the pile below that he travelled back with.  Not a wasted day at all. :)  Now we just need to see what appears out the woodshop.

A typical landscape of Kaabong District taken from Wikipedia.

 

 

Above and below, Mark Newnham, MAF Maintenance Engineer.  Thankful for our Maintenance Team who keep our planes in great working order.

 

Behind Mark is the other pilot, Greg Vine, who helped to rescue Simon.  We have a great MAF team!

 

Simon's "treasure" which he found scrounging around in the bush in Kaabong district.  Doesn't look like much now but with a bit of Simon magic we will see what comes of it all.

Eventful Week

Some of you might have read the header of this post and thought "what now?" :)  This time it is all good news.

Joshua and Zara had a busy week between an Athletics meeting at another school.  Zara came first in her race.  Joshua said she was way ahead of everyone else.  Great to have encouragement from your older brother.  Joshua, unfortunately, didn't fair as well due to having to race against kids two years older than him. (I guess there was a bit of confusion going on)  However, we were proud of him for going for it anyway.

Last night (Friday) Zara was selected to be in the talent show at her school.  Her and some friends auditioned for a magic act.  It went great as did all the other kids who sang, acted and played instruments.  They were quite the talented bunch and to have all that confidence to do it in front of such a large crowd.

The weather has also changed here. For some reading this post you will find this to be normal where you live but for us the last few months have been hot, hot, hot.  We have now moved from living in a dust bowl to something quite pleasant after having a couple of days of heavy rain.  On Thursday when I went to do the school run the dirt road I use to get there was more like a gushing river bed.  Thankfully we have a car that can handle that and made it without any incident. 

Another momentous occasion is that our wall is up.  It is not pretty but its functional.  There are still bits to be put right but they will happen in time...hopefully not "African" time.  One downside of getting the wall put up was that all our lovely bougainvillea got hacked so now we are looking at a grey wall rather than an array of colour.  However, our grass has turned this week from being brown to green again so colour is returning.

Our faithful guard dog and family pet "Chewy".  She has sure protected us on a number of occasions.

 

Part of our colourful wall before it disappeared.

 

The next layers of bricks going on top.

 

 

Check out the scaffolding...a couple of poles and a few planks of wood.  Health and safety would have a fit here but it works.

 

 Navigating the river to school

 

 

Unfortunately the photo of Zara didn't come out well.  Might get one from a friend that I can post later.

Sunday and Monday

Yesterday we went off to Church as normal.  We go a bit earlier these days as Joshua and Zara are helping on host team.  They welcome people in at the door and hand out the offering envelopes.  They really enjoy it and Joshua is keen that we are never late :)  Below is a visual of them both with their friends.  Apologies for the quality of the photos...still need to get new camera.  Thank goodness I have one on my phone.

 

 Joshua and Andrew with the offering envelopes.

Zara and Katrina welcoming people into church with their smiley faces

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we learned that whilst we were at church we had an attempted break-in to our house.  Thankfully the three men didn't get in and Chewy, our dog, scared them off.  We are in the midst of putting in new security measures round the house but our landlady has not picked the fastest workers.  For now we will need to have a guard on the compound while we are out.  Thankful that they didn't poison Chewy and she was able to give them the fright of their lives.   Please pray for our protection but we are also thankful they didn't break in while we were at home.

 

 

On a more positive note we had a treat after a trip to the Dentist...an ice-cream from KFC. Joshua and Zara are on half term so we enjoyed the delights of a Western franchise arriving in Kampala.  It feels quite surreal walking in there but I think we will get used to the occasional visit.

 

 

Oreo ice cream....It was a highlight for sure.

 

 

Then we just made it home before a wind storm came through and threw up all the dust into the air.....We couldn't see much beyond our house clearly and had to shut all the doors and windows...we were hoping for rain but only got a few spots.

 

 



A long awaited update

December and January were rollercoaster months for us in the life of our family.  However, things are looking brighter in February and so we are glad about that.  This morning, as I was preparing for Bible study next week (we are beginning a new study on Women of the Bible) looking at the life of Hagar I was reminded that God is El Roi, the God who sees.  Sometimes in our lives we just need to know that God sees us and understands where we are at.  We serve a God who is not stand offish but intimately involved.  We see that clearly in Genesis 16 and 21when Hagar is in the wilderness.  That same God that saw Hagar is the same God that sees you and us.  Hallelujah!


Family Update

Simon has had some issues with his back again.  Thankfully the pain has subsided but we continue to pray for healing for him and that he will have no further problems. 

 He has not had much time for the woodshop in recent weeks but he was able to tinker a bit on Saturday which was good therapy for him.  You never know what he is going to produce next out of a piece of wood. J

Joshua had a chest infection last week but thankfully we had a Doctor staying with us to help out with some training and so she was able to inform us as to which medication to get.  A trip to the doctor can be a whole morning event.  It sure saved us a lot of time.  He is doing much better and more like his usual self.

Joshua loves to swim, play football, have fun with friends and read.  He is in team A for swimming where he gets to compete in the school’s swimming galas.  The part he doesn’t like is sitting waiting on his race to come around J  Joshua can always be found reading if there is any downtime.  A book seems like an extension of his body at times.  He comes out with the most amazing facts on animals and people.  The good part is he educates us along the way J

Zara just loves life to the full and has a lot of joy.  She got an award at school for swimming and like her brother she is a fish in the water.  She loves playing with friends and making up games to play.  Just yesterday our guest room was like a hideout.  Not sure exactly all the rules of the game but it sounded like fun. 

Work Update

Since Simon returned from his Mum’s funeral he has been busy with flying.  Just last week he flew to South Sudan near the Darfur area.  He was flying back a family who had been taking some time out in Kampala.  The flight was too long to do there and back in a day so he did an overnight in Northern Uganda before heading back home.

A new plane has been added to our fleet of aircraft.  There was a ceremony yesterday to celebrate this and pray God’s blessing over it.  Our planes are busy flying each week to Congo, South Sudan and Northern Uganda.  We are blessed by the safety God has given over the years and know that prayer works.  Hope to have photos to show you soon.

Continue to pray for Simon as he juggles his role as Pilot and Safety Manager.  The days can be busy and full but thankful there is always some slack time somewhere in the week….well most of the time J

I (Pam) have been busy this past month.  For the past two weeks we have had guests in our home.  We had some fun times with them and enjoyed sharing stories together.

Last week the guests who were staying with us were from MMCT (www.mmct.org) and Tumaini Counselling Centre. I was able to be a part of the training to upgrade 4 people to Peer Responders.  This was an honour and privilege.  We spend two afternoons in preparation for it.  The training went well on Wednesday and we now have four new people as Peer Responders who are now qualified to de-brief people who have gone through difficult times or situations.  We now have 6 qualifed Peer Responders with MMCT in Uganda (including myself) and one trained who lives in South Sudan.  Pray for wisdom for each of us as we meet with different people with different challenges.

I am also continuing to teach the Bible, which I love, to three different groups. I have teammates who help me in this which is a blessing.  We are continuing with two groups in 1,2,3 John and will start a new series with the third group next week on Women of the Bible.  Tomorrow we will celebrate the weeks we have spent in 1 Corinthians with a brunch and sharing time.  Pray that we will be encouraged by each other.
Hope this gives you a snapshot of some of the things we have been up to in the last few weeks.  It sure has been full. We are thankful to all of you who uphold us in prayer on a regular basis.

In loving memory of Bethli Wunderli

At Bethli's funeral there was a slideshow of photos that his sister, Monika, put together in her Memory.  I thought I would share some of them on the blog especially for those who could not be there. I have also included some of our own.

We are thankful for the many who could attend the funeral and share stories with the family of how Bethli impacted their lives or how they got to know her.  We are thankful for all the cards that were sent, emails that were written and sms's that came our way and to the rest of the family.



Bethli with her parents and siblings.  She is the one standing next to her Mother.



Their wedding day - Fritz and Bethli Wunderli

Monika, Therese and Simon in PNG

 

The Wunderli Family along with Bible Translators in PNG

Bethli in her Profession as a Nurse

Grosi showing Zara some gardening skills

 

Lots of fun and laughter with the grandchildren

 

Grosi and Joshua walking along the airstrip at Kajjansi Airfield, Uganda

 

 Born - November 29th 1939 

Present with the Lord - 4th January 2014

 

Psalm 103:4

 

Thankful!

We are thankful to all of you who have sent us messages in this past week since Simon's Mum went to be with the Lord.  It would have been great to have been able to write back to you all individually but that would be quite the task :)  So accept our sincere thanks from our blog.  We appreciate the memories and stories you have shared of your time with Simon's Mum whether that be recently or in years past.  Amazing to see the way she has impacted people's lives.  Thank you also for your prayers in these last weeks - they make a difference!

The funeral will be tomorrow (Friday, 10th January) in Meilen, Switzerland.  Simon was able to get a flight home this week so he can be with the family and attend the funeral.  Pray that it would be a blessed time for the family during these days as they spend time with each another.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Present with her Lord

In the early hours of this morning around 2am Simon`s Mum, Bethli Wunderli, went to be with Jesus.  After some years of battling with cancer the Lord took her home today.  We are thankful that she is no longer suffering and that her heart`s desire was to go "home".  As Joshua prayed tonight she is now with Jesus and is happy there.  Please pray for the family back in Switzerland as they organise the funeral and for the whole family during this grieving time.

We are thankful for the testimony and legacy she leaves behind.  She will be missed greatly by many who knew her but we know that one day, for those who have a relationship with Jesus, we will join her in that Heavenly home.

Thank you for all those who have written, called or sms`d during these days.  We are thankful for your care and concern.  I will keep you updated with further news as and when we get it.

Thanks for interceding!!!