Busy Monday

Today we all started early as there were loads of people at the hangar at 7:00am instead of the usual 8:00am. Most of the people were various staff members of Compassion International. You may recognize that name from their heart-wrenching commercials on TV about children all over the world that need a helping hand. We flew about 5 flights of people and cargo into the jungle so the staff members could prepare for a week of church camp for these Compassion kids. We will be flying them all back out in about a week. In the meantime we will be transporting some of the Compassion kids to the camp location called Mashient. Most walk or come in a boat, but there are some that would never get there if they didn't have the airplane. I know that my weeks at church camp as a junior high and high schooler helped soldidify and grow who I am in Christ today. It is a privelege to be able to be part of bringing this same "church camp experience" to some special kids that most people forget about.

After we got all the planes in the air, I was busy working on paperwork and other logistics in preparation for our trip tommorow to Quito. We are leaving tommorow in the afternoon so that I can be there Wednesday morning to get my flight physical done. I will also be doing some written exams hopefully that afternoon, as well as most of Thursday. Needless to say it may be Friday or later before we finally make it back to our house. Although I have a lot of work to do and studying to catch up on, I am really grateful to be in this position - finally pursuing my Ecuadorian pilots licenses.

This afternoon we had a few medevac flights. This man seen above was in bad shape. He was flown out from the jungle a few weeks ago by us, and his condition never improved. So the local mission hospital asked us to fly him to Quito where there is more advanced care. It is hard to say whether he will make it or not. I know that without us, he wouldn't have had a chance at all a few weeks ago and again today. Usually we "track" our patients that we fly out, because they are either in the mission hospital here in Shell, or down the road 7 miles in Puyo. Typically after a few days, or sometimes a few weeks, we fly the patient back home. When they go to Quito we lose track of them because we don't have any dedicated staff persons to check in on them like we do here in Shell. Assuming the patient gets well enough to leave the hospital, they sometimes will return(at least to Shell) by bus.

I went on another medevac flight that got called in right at the last minute. The pilot, Kevin, made the decision to give it a try and fly out to the village of Ipiak and get a snake bite victim that was already vomiting and convulsing. That is an indication of a lot of venom in the bloodstream. After flying for 50 minutes we arrived at the airstrip and tried to land. On the first approach we were unable to land due to rain on the windshield. We couldn't see a thing! So we went around for another try, this time landing in the other direction when there wasn't any rain. The visibility was great on that end, but we had a honkin' tailwind, which made us too fast to safely land. So we did another go around and headed back to Shell without landing, and left the snake bite victim in the jungle for the night. These are the toughest decisions that we have to make. Kevin, the pilot, did the right thing for many reasons. If we were able to eventually land, we wouldn't have had enough time after loading the man to return to Shell due to the closure of the Shell airport at sunset. There was also strong approaching weather almost over the strip, which presumably would have delayed our departure even more. Once again, assuming we could have made it out of Ipiak, we wouldn't have made it back to Shell, and we would have had to stay the night somewhere in the jungle. We would have been out of our element, and our patient that we would have been trying to help would still be without medical care, and now without his family. So Kevin made the right, albeit hard, decision to return to Shell where we landed just before sunset and the airport closure. Keep this patient and those like him in prayer that they can hold on until we can get them to medical care. It does little good giving into the stress and pressure to get a patient out only to make matters worse by becoming a victim yourself or having an accident.

A Real Missionary Kid

We went to Mangayacu Falls today. Sean went there on Father's Day and couldn't wait to take us there. It was a great day! It has been bright, warm and sunny all day and a little trip to the jungle and some waterfalls was just what we needed after a long week! It occurred to me as I looked back at our pictures of the outing that Brooklyn is now truly a missionary kid...

Pork anyone? This is how pork is usually sold around here. This one was in Mera, the next town over. We saw this on our way to Mangayacu Falls and Sean just had to get a picture. I haven't been brave enough to buy our pork this way yet...it can also be bought nicely packaged in one of the supermarkets in Ambato or Quito!

Brooklyn couldn't resist getting in the water. It started with just the shoes and next thing we knew we were taking off her shirt and shorts so she could really get in there! This water was cold but nothing like the water in streams and creeks in Colorado. Not that that would make any difference to our little girl who likes cold showers (warm water is "too" hot) and refuses to sleep in warm pajamas or covered up with blankets.

Mommy came along. Here we are sitting just above one waterfall and you can see another one behind us. They weren't big waterfalls but they had nice deep, clear pools at the bottom of each one...too bad it wasn't a hot springs or I would have been in there with Brooklyn trying to soak my aching, 6-month pregnant body!

Where did she go?

Last night, Sean and I were getting ready to go to bed when Sean asked me where Brooklyn was. We had put her to bed about an hour before and when Sean looked in on her, he didn't find her peacefully sleeping in her bed as she should have been. We searched every place we could think of - the spare bedroom, our bed, under her bed, in her tent playhouse in the living room, both the couches - and couldn't find her! We were just beginning to panic when I stumbled upon a pink lump on our kitchen floor. There she was, head covered by her blankie, sleeping soundly on the rug in front of the sink! Apparently, she had decided that she would like to be just a little closer to Mom and Dad (we were in the living room watching TV) but we must have been laughing too loudly at the show because she had tightly wrapped her blankie over her head. Usually we hear her if she gets up but she was very sneaky this time!

Good News at last!

Sean has finally been approved by the Ecuadorian civil aviation authorities to begin the process of obtaining his Ecuadorian pilot's license. This is nothing less than answered prayer! Probably next week we'll make a trip up to Quito where Sean will take some written exams. He will then be able to begin flying. Once he is back up to standard (he'll do a five-flight "refresher" with our MAF Chief Pilot) he'll do a check ride with the Ecuadorian examiner to get the official license. Obviously there are still some hurdles to be overcome. Sean is back to studying the material he needs to know for the exams. We want to thank all of you who have been praying with us that Sean would be allowed to fly here in Ecuador. God answers prayer! Continue to pray as Sean studies and takes these exams!

Pacayacu

I took this yesterday at a village called Pacayacu. Yeah, I can't say it very well either. It is interesting to see all the different tribes and such in the jungle. At Pacayacu the people, as seen in the picture, are very nice and friendly. The kids are great and a lot of fun to goof off with. I have been to other villages where the people are much different. The seem unfriendly and a bit standoffish.

The realization again of the time and lives we save from flying over miles and miles of jungle is increadible. Our type of air service has enabled these people to have another chance at life and various other opportunities that they might not have had otherwise.

Busy...

Yesterday turned out to be a very fun yet busy day. After morning prayer at work I left with our maintenance man to go up the road about 7 miles to get water. Every Tuesday is "water day." We have water in our house, but we do not use it for drinking and cooking. So there is a well at a christian camp up the road that gives us water from their spring for free. We took jugs for everyone at the hangar that needed water and a few Ecuadorians from Shell. After I got back I worked on some various things around the hangar until lunch.

During lunch I got a call at my house to ride along on a flight. It was awesome once again to see what we do and how. Our chief pilot that I flew with wants me to do some riding along for a while to get familiar with routes, precedures, etc. So I should be doing a few more of these ride along flights where all I do is observe for another week or so. Then they will start putting me in the left seat and getting me back up to speed flying the airplane. Although I just got done flying an airplane thousands of miles from the States, the flying here in the jungle is totally different. When you only have 1000 feet to land an airplane and get it stopped, you better know what you are doing.

After work, Becca had made an awesome chicken pot pie. It was delicious! Later at 7 I went to help teach an English class that me and 2 other pilots teach. Last night was my first time so I was just observing, but next week I will be teaching. It is mostly people from our church, and it is a lot of fun. As with our language school experience, there are a lot of funny mistakes. That is the key to learning a language, being able to laugh at yourself.

Finally I got home around 9 and sat down for the first time that day. It was only a few mintes later and I was asleep.

Today we are working on the driver's license process. We have already been to the police station but the Major wasn't there, so we are going back in just a few minutes. Hopefully he has worked something out from the problems we had last week. We'll see...

By the way, today is the longest day of the year, at least if you are in the Northern Hemisphere. We are in the Southern, which makes it the shortest day of the year for us. Not that it makes much difference. Being only 2 degrees south of the equator, the days and amount of daylight are basically equal every day. We have about 12 hours of light, and 12 of darkness every day.

Father's Day

What a great day! What started out a little rough this morning in the pre-church rush to get going, definetly ended a little more laid back. Church was very good, and we were very blessed by both the worship and sermon. It is such a great feeling to be able to sit in that service and understand everything that is going on. We are beginning to meet a lot of people as well, not just at church but within our community as well. That always helps you take ownership of an experience or lifestyle.

After church we took a bit of a "detour" on the way home just to see where an unfamiliar road led. It was a great time. It really reminded us of when we went for lazy drives back home to the wildlife refuge and such. We were able to see monkeys, farms, the Pastaza River, and we even gave a woman a ride that was walking to the nearest bus stop. We saved her at least 30-40 minutes of walking, and she had already been walking about 30. Again, I was reminded of the isolation that exists here in Ecuador just minutes from my doorstep.

Afterwards we just came home and had leftovers for lunch. I didn't really want to go out to eat, and the dinner of fajítas that Rebecca made last night sounded better than anything. A bit later as the girls started to take naps, I decided to go for a bike ride and see what I could find. I am really glad I went as I found a lot.
I found the trail for these waterfalls leading from the road that I was on. On way way back home I took the trail and about 5 minutes later I found what the sign had advertised. About 4 isolated, clean, and pristine waterfalls called Mangayacu Falls awaited my exploring. I ended up exploring for about 30 minutes there and hiking through the creek. It was a blast and the water was crystal clear. I want to bring my girls back there, I think they will really enjoy it. The building is a dressing room and also my beloved bike can be seen in the picture.


This is the entrance into a nearby cemetary. I liked what it said on the sign so I whirled around and took a picture. Translated it says "Here we are all equal." I thought that was an appropriate message not only for a cemetary, but for life. Here in Ecuador there is a lot of prejudice and inequality. The people here where we live and the indians that we serve from the jungle are regarded as the "lowest" of the people that live here in Ecuador.


What weekend would be complete without some fútbol? I ran across this game as well on my bike ride. I had just rescued the ball from the weeds before this player put the ball back into play. You can find an organized, very competitive game of soccer on almost any day of the week. It is a lot of fun to watch.

May 30-June 8, 2006

I have been wanting to blog a bit more about my recent ferry flight for the past week but it seems I am just now getting around to it. This past week I have been very busy, although I feel like I don't have much to account for it. So anyway, I am going to give a brief "play-by-play" of my 10 day trip. Pour another cup of tea, this turned into a long one...

• Tuesday, May 30: I rode the bus from Shell to Quito and stayed the night at the MAF apartment. Very fun trip on the bus with Loren Holland who's parents used to serve here in Ecuador and now they serve in Afganistan with MAF.
• Wednesday, May 31: I woke up at 4:00 am to catch my 7:00 flight for Miami, Dallas, and then my final destination of Wichita, Kansas. All my flights went well, and I was even stupid enough to forget to put my leatherman in my checked baggage and they "had to confiscate" it in Miami. DOH! When I finally arrived in Wichita at around 5 in the evening after about 10 hours of traveling, my bags were lost, but at least my boss Dan wasn't, as he was waiting at the airport with the rental car to pick me up. He had just finished driving in from Iowa where his family lives. He and his family were stateside to attend his fathers funeral a few days before. We then drove about an hour north to Hesston, Ks where we stayed the night.
• Thursday, June 1: We (Dan and I) started early as we needed to pick up my lost bags in Wichita, return the rental car in Newton, and then pack our little Cessna 206 in Moundridge, Ks. After it was all said and done, we finally went airborn at around 12:00pm bound for McAllen, Tx. Big thanks to Circle K for a nice lunch in a sack. Man, I sure did miss the fine eating of America. (Kidding...) After some "scud running" through Texas we finally made it to McAllen around 8:30 that evening. Once we were on the ground we still could not rest. It wasn't until about 11:30pm that we finally turned out the lights. We was pooped!
• Friday, June 2: After a continental breakfast at the hotel we turned in our flight plan and were airborn by around 9:00am for Oaxaca (Wahaka), Mexico. Once again, we were blessed to bring along a 99 cent heart attack from the local convenience store for our lunch and snacks along the way. Mmmmm! That day's flight was mostly a non-event. The weather was pretty good, the views awesome, and no problems to speak of. We landed in Oaxaca at around 4:00pm with plenty of daylight to spare. We stayed the night with our MAF Mexico teammates that have a base there.
• Saturday, June 3: We were airborn at around 8:30am after a good breakfast of juevos racheros. Our destination was San José, Costa Rica after a fuel stop in Tapachula, Mexico. Well, we landed in Tapachula and got gas, but during our engine runup just before takeoff, we found we had engine trouble. Rather than go into all the details of what it was and why, just read the archived blog posting from that date. Needless to say, we were sad to have to stay in Tapachula and not keep flying, although Tapachula is a very nice city.
• Sunday, June 4: Due to the weekend and a bunch of other tough breaks, our airplane parts would not arrive today. So we went to the mall, watched a movie (Poisedon) and just walked around town. Pretty boring actually.
• Monday, June 5: At around 12:00pm we finally got word that our parts had arrived "near" Tapachula and a few hours later we had them in hand and installed them on the airplane. Everything worked great, but we still had to wait until Tuesday to depart since there wasn't enough time left in the day to fly anywhere.
• Tuesday, June 6: Finally at around 8:30am we were airborn again after a 3 day mechanical delay, which would have taken about 1 hour to fix had we been somewhere with a few parts and tools. Although our destination had been San José a few days before, we now thought it best to press on to Panama City, Panama afte stopping in San José for fuel. This was a very eventful day. We were in the "soup" most of the day and I even got to shoot 2 instrument approaches. After about 7 hours of flying we finally arrived into Panama City, just to find that we had more mechanical problems, but by then everyone had gone home for the day and we had to wait until Wednesday to fix them.
• Wednesday, June 7: We were at the airport at first light to get a handle on our mechanical problems. Long story short, we had more problems than we previously thought the night before, but we got them all fixed and we were airborn for Quito, Ecuador by around 11:30am. This leg was nonstop and very long. After fighting a lot of weather and finally climbing to 16,000 feet, we were able to shoot the instrument approach into Quito and we landed just before 5:00pm. The fact that we got this particular airplane to 16,000ft.was a miracle in itself. It doesn't have a turbocharger like all of our other airplanes in Ecuador, and the manual says it will only go to 14,800ft. If we couldn't have made it to 16,000ft. we would have been sleeping somewhere else besides Quito, because that is the minimum altitude that you can fly that route through the Andes Moutains and stay safe while in the clouds, which we were in.
• Thursay, June 8: At 8:00am I boarded what would be the first of 3 buses to Shell. I was home, finally, by around 2:00pm. We have to leave the "new" airplane in Quito until we can finalize the import and re-registration paperwork.

As I stated before, this is and was a flight I will never forget and I would love to do another one, although Rebecca and Brooklyn might protest. Below is a rough sketch of our flight path. We flew almost 3,000 nautical miles in just under 27 hours. Needless to say my rear end was sore for a while. What was supposed to be a 4 day flight turned into an epic 8 day quest. Thanks again to all of you who pray for us not only for these kind of flights, but for the "routine" flights that we make everyday. Keep it up!

Audrey Isabelle

Well, my new neice is now 10 days old. Isn't she beautiful? I can't believe she's real. God willing, we will finally get to meet her in December. That isn't as soon as I would like, but I do praise God for technology - we get to see her in pictures and I was even able to talk to my sister on Mom's cell phone just two hours after Audrey was born! Back in the day, I still wouldn't even know that she was born - there'd be a letter coming in about another week or two with the announcement. I'm glad I'm a missionary in this technological age and not 20 or 30 years ago!

Welcome to the world, Audrey, we can't wait to meet you!

The brand new gift not long after she was born!

One week old.

Tidbits...

• Sorry for the lack of info this week. I have had computer troubles and have been trying to solve them. Due to some unknown reasons, I lost all of my pictures on my laptop and I cannot seem to dig them out. Luckily I had backed up everything just after we arrived here in Shell, so I won't be losing everything, just about 5-6 weeks worth.
• My pilots licensing drama continues. We have once again turned everything in to the DAC and we may know something in the near future. Hopefully some time next week we will know if they will give me a license or not. Hurry up and wait!
• Tommorow we (MAF) have a guest from Holland coming to visit us for 3 weeks. He just graduated from high school and is thinking about being a missionary pilot. So it will be my job to show him around and teach him everything I can for the next few weeks. It should be fun. We are having him over for dinner tommorow night.
• For those of you that don't know, the FIFA World Cup of Soccer is happening right now in Germany. It happens every 4 years and is probably bigger and carries more prestige than the Olympics. Ecuador is doing very well at this point having won their first 2 games. Even in the sleepy little town of Shell, Ecuador, the passion and excitment is fun to see over a bunch of soccer (fútbol) games. By the way, the Americans aren't doing too good. I think they play again tommorow after having lost their first game to the Czech Republic 0-3.
• This morning at about 5 as Becca and I were sitting around drinking our coffee and talking we began to hear a really funny/wierd chant. What we thought was a tribal procession turned out to just be the new army recruits running through town doing just what our new army recruits do. It was pretty funny to hear it in Spanish, albeit a little un-nerving at first until we realized what it was.
• We have also been working on our drivers licenses this week. In order to do that here you talk to the chief of police. The particular guy here that we talked to earlier this week is very nice, and since we have arrived here about 6 weeks ago the rules and regulations for obtaining a drivers license have already changed. Becca and I got all that we needed the other day except for one requirement. It basically states that as foreigners we have to have our Colorado licenses verified and certified by Colorado and then by the US Consulate here in Ecuador and show it to the government of Ecuador and they will validate it (does that make sense?). I explained to the police chief how our American government is set up, and how the 50 states are all sovereign and independent from the national government and how we cannot ask the national government (in this case the US Consulate) to verify something that a state government has done. They don't have the power or interest in doing that. So, long story short, the ploice chief told us to come back in a week and he would try to have something worked out for us. He is a very nice guy and really trying to follow the Ecuadorian law and fix the ones that don't work. We definetly got the inmpression that he is on our side and want to help us. I guess we will see next week.

Kittens!

More "biological happenings" at the Cannon house. Not all creatures here are creepy and gross! Callie had her kittens last night. It was a fun event and reminded me (Becca) of my childhood spent playing with my cat Butterscotch and her many litters of kittens. Brooklyn loves peeking in at the new babies but it is hard to keep her from grabbing them by their fragile little necks. Callie doesn't really like it when Brooklyn comes around and I don't blame her! While I'm so glad that Brooklyn is getting to see this and enjoy the new little kittens I do worry that the kittens may not survive her overzealous little hands! We're working on teaching her to be gentle and quiet around the kitties but that goes over like a lead balloon. Oh well, guess we'll keep practicing and hope by the time her baby sister comes along that Brooklyn can at least control herself enough not to get too violent with her show of affection!

Arachnids...

Today after church I spent a few hours mowing the lawn and tidying up the yard. I found a few spiders and thought you would all like to see them. But first let me set things straight, I don't like spiders. I am in awe of their intricate beauty, but they still give me the willies. So to take a picture of one, or two is not a big deal, as long as they stay put and don't go crawlin' where they ain't wanted.

I found this one in an empty dog water bowl. He/she (?) is about as big as a small apple and it couldn't get out of the smooth metal bowl. It could sure jump though. When I was done taking it's picture I tilted the bowl down so it could get out and it ran fast and then leaped into the grass of the nearby yard. Also, all those little specks on its thorax (rear end) are baby spiders. I know this because they were moving around when I was taking it's photo.

This is not the best picture of this type because I couldn't get direct light onto it. But there are a lot of these in our potted plants and poinseta tree in front of the house. They have a really neatly shaped thorax and usually have their legs together as shown above for some reason. This one is not very big about like a half dollar coin.

While we're on the subject of biology, come back tommorow for more biological happenings here at the Cannon house.

Los Andes

Yesterday morning we awoke to a very clear and beautiful sky. Finally I was able to capture the whole landscape of the Andes range that lies just to the west of us. If you look at the snow capped volcano on the left, you may recognize it from a previous blog. It is Volcan Sangay, that reaches to just about 17,000 ft. On the far right is the volcano I have been trying to photograph since we got here. It is called El Altar or "the altar." Read more about it below...














This volcano reaches a little bit higher than Sangay, to an altitude of just over 17,200 feet. Both are within a 30 mile radius of our house, making them very close. If you use your imagination with the slope of El Altar above, you can see that at one time it reached much, much higher. In fact, there are deposits and rock fragments from this volcano hundreds of miles into the jungle, indicating a huge explosion. Experts say that if El Altar was still intact, it would dwarf Mount Everest, maybe even topping 40,000 feet. Assuming that to be true, when it finally blew a long time ago, it lost over half of its height, thats amazing!

Home sweet home!

After what proved to be a most unforgettable journey, we finally arrived with the Cessna into Quito, Ecuador Wednesday afternoon. Our flight from Panama took about 5.5 hours and went without a hitch, nice and boring, just like we wanted. I continued the journey home to Shell yesterday on the bus which took 6 hours. It is really nice to finally be home after a 10 day excursion. From the Newton, Kansas area to Quito, Ecuador it took us almost 27 hours of flight time. Of that, I flew 22, of which about half was in the clouds. We had a lot of weather to deal with the whole trip, whereas my coworkers that flew the other Cessna from Quito to Kansas entered 1 cloud for about 5 minutes. The weather had signifigantly changed in those few weeks in between the two flights. Although it was hard being away from my girls for that long, that is a flight I will never forget. I would love to do more of these international flights, although not for a while. I am taking today off just trying to get caught up on life, and otherwise just resting. It still may be awhile before I get to fly again as the Ecuador licensing process continues to drag on. The reason I was able to fly this airplane is because it has an American registration for the time being, thus validating my American lisences and making me legal to fly it. I still have plenty to do with other various jobs I have been given at the hangar. Thanks for all your prayers as we were away and flying the airplane down here. There is no doubt in my mind that they got us here safely.

Quito

Just a quick update. Many of you have been praying and following Sean's journey from Ecuador to the United States and then from Kansas to Texas to Mexico to Panama...well, he's finally back in Ecuador! I spoke with Sean earlier this evening and he is safe and sound in Quito, although he is a bit weary from a long 9 days of travel. I haven't heard many details but he is glad to be back in Ecuador and will hop on a bus headed for Shell first thing in the morning. I expect him home somewhere around 1:00 pm tomorrow (Thursday). Praise the Lord!

By the way, still be in prayer over Sean's licensing issues. There is another important meeting tomorrow at 10 am. Pray for a resolution and that Sean would finally be allowed to take his exams and obtain his Ecuadorian pilot's license.

Panama

Yes...we arrived in Panama City, Panama today about 4:00 in the afternoon after about 8 hours of flying, of at least half was in the clouds. It is a great feeling to be here, and only be 1 flight leg away from Ecuador which we hope to leave for tommorow if all goes well.

Upon landing here in Panama and doing our shutdown check, we found that once again we have a maintenance problem. Once again it is an easy fix, we just have to find the part, which probably is just the ignition switch. The airport here in Panama City is very nice, and very likely has the part, but we will see in the morning when they open. So, that said, hopefully we will be off for Quito tommorow morning and this epic flight will come to an end. Or...well lets just not talk like that yet. We are already sick and tired of hotels, and Dan and I miss our families and homes.

We cannot wait to settle back into our routine and ministry back in Shell. Please continue to pray for us. We are having a great time, and we were able to cover a lot of ground today. We did make a fuel stop in my old stompin grounds of San Jose, Costa Rica but I wasn't able to rubber neck much because I was busy keeping the greasy side down in the clouds and bumps ect. The workload into and out out San Jose was some of the hardest I have ever had. Couple that with dusting off the cobwebs after a year of not flying, and it will make your pulse go up. But like always, flying and arriving safely on the ground is a gratifying experience.

They arrived and it works!

It took all morning and part of the afternoon, but we finally tracked down our "delivery boy" that brought our parts for the plane from Oaxaca. Dan and I soon went back out to the airport and installed the mag harness, and wahlah, the engine runs great. So that said we will be south bound for Panama City tommorow, or San José, Costa Rica for sure if the weather gets bad. It is ironic that all those years of hard work training to become an airplane mechanic are paying off on my first MAF flight, which just so happens to be an intercontinental ferry flight. It was a great feeling to start the engine and hear it purr right along, and rejoice that we diagnosed the problem correctly. So...IF things go well the rest of the trip, I will finally be home on Thursday of this week. Join with us in prayer for the rest of this trip. It is so far proving to be unforgettable in more ways than one.

Still on the ground Tapachula, Mexico

Here I write from our hotel lobby in the southern part of Mexico. In fact we are so far south we are only about 20 miles from the Guatamala border. We were hoping to arrive in Ecuador today, but yesterday after getting gas here in Tapachula we discovered a small problem when we did our engine runup. For those of you who know engine things, it looks like a lead from our right magneto to the number one cylinder is bad, thus causing inclomplete ignition of our fuel/air mixture. To remedy this problem we need to replace the harness on the right magneto. This is a very simple fix, but we are still waiting for parts. Hopefully they will arrive from our MAF program in Oaxaca tonite via bus or airline. Then tommorow we will be off to San Jose, Costa Rica or maybe even Panama City, Panama if we have time. We aren't counting our chickens yet though, as our parts havn't arrived and even when they do, we hope that they actually fix the problem. Although this wasn't part of the plan, we (my boss Dan and I) are doing fine. The Mexicans have been nothing but nice to us, and have done everything they can do to help us out. We have been able to sample to Mexcan food from the northern border, the middle of the country in Oaxaca, and now at the southern border near Gautamala. One of the neatest parts of travel for Rebecca and me is always trying the new foods and beginning to get a glimpse of the culture that food can bring.

Anyway, all that to say, I am fine despite being delayed a bit. Hope to write tommorow a little more south from here, so be in prayer for that to happen.


This is a picture of the Gulf of Mexico just north of Vera Cruz. The sights when we aren't in the clouds, have been very beautiful.


This is the pacific side of Mexico. We crossed the whole country yesterday and the endless beaches continued to be impressive.

Tapa-who-ha?

Tapachula. It's in Mexico almost on the Mexico-Guatemala border and that is where Sean spent the night last night! As you know, the plan was to reach San Jose, Costa Rica yesterday. They apparently had some engine problem - nothing serious but they weren't able to keep going on to Costa Rica. The MAF program in Oaxaca was going to send down the part that they needed on a bus. It will be a very easy thing to fix and they are hoping to make San Jose today. I got an email from Sean last night from their hotel in Tapachula and he sounded like he was still having fun and enjoying spending time in Mexico. While an engine problem may sound ominous, it wasn't a life-threatening problem - and don't forget that if anybody can handle it, it's two well-trained MAF pilots! Some of us would be horrified by the thought of being stranded in a strange city in southern Mexico but when you already know Spanish and enjoy these kinds of adventures....well, Sean is probably having the time of his life! (Actually, I wish I was there myself!)

Brooklyn and I continue to do well. We'll probably go ahead and go to church this morning. Since Sean and I haven't really decided what church we want to become a part of, my biggest struggle this morning is deciding which church I want to go to! I'll probably make the drive down to Puyo, just because I feel the need to get out of the house and go somewhere.

Keep praying!

Tidbits

• A quick email from Sean last night said they had arrived in Oaxaca, Mexico safely. Today they'll fly on to San Jose, Costa Rica. It might be kind of weird to see that place again so soon! They'll spend the night in a guesthouse not too far from where we lived. It's a bummer he'll be there over the weekend - sure would have been fun to walk into the Institute and visit our language teachers and the students that we still know there!
• Brooklyn and I had pizza with some friends of ours last night. I was grateful for the invite since I'm alone and not much in the mood to cook for myself and a picky two-year-old! It seems there is something each day to look forward to. I've been able to spend some time with several of the other missionaries here this week and, if it weren't for that, I'd probably be pretty depressed and lonely by now!
• There is an aviation fuel shortage here in Shell. MAF still has plenty but other aviation companies on the field are asking for loans on our fuel. Last summer MAF actually ran so low that they had to cancel flights and had just enough to fuel all the planes in the case of an emergency. We're still a long way from that, but it goes to show you that you just never know what kinds of things will come up against you when you are operating in a foreign country.
• I read online in the local newspaper of my home area that a "Chili's" Restaurant is coming into town! Wow! First a Super Wal-Mart, then Blockbuster Video, now this? By the time we come home on furlough, Alamosa will be a regular metropolis!
• Brooklyn loves "Milo and Otis." She watches that video everyday and I just don't get how it can hold her attention for so long. Sure, the dog and cat are cute but even the action scenes are pretty dull! Oh well, she's content.
• It is a struggle to get Brooklyn to do anything other than watch videos. I try to limit it to once a day but she is constantly begging to watch something. Yesterday she was doing her best to convince me. The conversation went something like this...

"Mama, I wan mouse." (that's Ice Age, don't ask why)

"No, Brooklyn, you already watched a movie."

"Mama, I wan ducky." (that is another video about a duck)

"No,Brooklyn."

"Mama, I wan cake puppy." (yep, a Strawberry Shortcake video with a puppy in it)

"Brooklyn, no!"

Exasperated,"No, Mama, I don wan 'NO', I wan watch movie!"

That one caught me by surprise and I laughed. Smiling, Brooklyn, gave me her cutest face, "Mama, I wan plane." (that would be "Jay-Jay the Jet Plane.")

He Can Fly!

Quick update on Sean. He emailed me last night to let me know that they did leave Wichita yesterday and arrived in McAllen, TX last night. Sean was particularly excited because he did all the flying. It had been well over a year since he had the chance to fly, so I'm sure he was in heaven for the entire 6-hour flight. Today they will do a 5-hour flight to Oaxaca, Mexico.

By myself

So this is Day 3 without Sean around. Brooklyn and I are doing well. We've kept busy with little projects and outings. We did run the battery out on the truck, though. Brooklyn must have turned the lights on as she was getting out (she loves those buttons) and since the truck doesn't "ding" when that happens, I missed it. That is the second time in a week! Grrrr. Oh, well, luckily we have a battery charger and I managed to hook that up without blowing anything up. I've had to take out the trash and feed the dogs too. I miss my hubby!

I heard from Sean by email last night and he was doing fine in Wichita. Looks like they'll try to head South today - a day sooner than we thought. Keep them in your prayers. If they do leave today that would put them in Texas tonight, Oaxaca, Mexico tomorrow, Costa Rica on Saturday and Ecuador on Sunday!

Drum Roll Please

I finally went to the doctor here in Ecuador. There is a great HCJB mission hospital here in Shell with excellent American and Ecuadorian doctors, specialists, and nurses. Many people have been concerned about what kind of medical care we have here in Ecuador but you may all lay your worries to rest - we've got the best here. And since it is a small hospital staffed with dedicated men and women who also happen to love the Lord, it may be possible that I receive better and more personalized care than I did when I had a baby in the United States. And cheaper - by more than a couple thousand. I paid $8 for my doctor visit plus another $14 for the ultrasound. Someone told us it cost them less than $500 to have a baby here. While I don't concern myself too much with paying medical bills (it will all work out, right?) that makes Sean a very happy man!

So, I have a great doctor. He's an American with a relaxed, laid back style that made me feel very at ease with the whole labor and delivery thing this second time around. By the way, the fact that I know what's coming this time doesn't make it any easier - I know what's coming! Anyway, you are probably wondering about the title of this blog. Why a drum roll for a doctor's appointment? Well, we happened to do an ultrasound...and happened to see what sex the baby is. Yep. I know.

Oh. Curious? Really? Would you like to know? They are only 95% sure. Okay, okay. Now it's time for the drum roll.... it's a girl!