11:54 AM (MT): This is just a quick note over a terrible internet connection to let you know that we are at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, awaiting our flight to Amsterdam (then Minneapolis, then Boise!). The team from Summit church just landed; we will fly out on the same plane in a couple of hours.

We went to church this morning and had our good-byes with all the folks in Nyankunde whom we have enjoyed so much. MAF then flew us across the border to Entebbe, the nearest international airport.

We look forward to seeing our families soon!
Doug, DaveB, John, Keith, and Brian

Greetings to all from Kazi Nginda. Kazi is the MAF foreman here in Nyankunde and he leads his men well. When we need something from Lowes or Home Depot he goes to the market to get us nails, or up to the hospital worksite to borrow it from Richard for us. He is unstoppable.

As we wind up our Wednesday workday, we realize we only have two more full work days plus a partial workday with a packup/cleanup day on Saturday before we begin our long journey home Sunday. While all of us wish we were progressing a little faster on our various projects, we are pleased at what God has privileged us to be a part of. The woodshop is nearly secured and wired, the generator house is close behind, the hanger has been made more functional, and a number of steps have been completed on the second house. We are all very grateful to be healthy, sleeping well, and eating very well. We are enjoying each other’s fellowship as well as that of others we have met here.

Today we enjoyed watching six bats flying around the hangar while we ate lunch. We have cleaned out their dungeon, recovering it as the storage room it was intended to be. Now they are frantically trying to find some new dark place to hide out during the day. During the course of the trip we have also seen quite a variety of lizards, geckos, monkeys, huge centipedes, less-than-friendly African bees and ants, okapis, and other things we don’t encounter at home. People here are much less isolated from critters than Americans.

Last evening before dinner at Ruth and Richard Dix’s place, Richard took us on a tour of the hospital rebuilding project he is leading as a part of the ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. Digging the footings for the foundation would take a backhoe operator a couple of days back home, but here the project has been in process for weeks with manual labor. Then we took a sobering look through most of the rest of the mission station housing and other buildings. This was once a thriving station with the hospital, MAF, and other ministries serving the Lord and the people of the region. Now, there are dozens of buildings in various stages of disrepair. We walked through one building which had the tin roof stolen only seven years ago. Trees have rooted in the walls and foundation and completely destroyed the structure. The level of service done by the station as a whole is a mere fraction of what it was before the war and tribal conflicts. We hope that our work can be a small step in restoring the Lord’s work in Nyankunde.

One highlight for us has been sitting together outside the hanger after the sun goes down. We enjoy some great fellowship and most nights there is a wonderful view of the night sky since there are virtually no artificial lights for miles.

Thank you for your prayers, which are being answered every day. We look forward to being home with our families in a few days.

DaveB, DaveJ, Brian, John, Keith

We just flew to Epulu, where we will have an overnight rest at a beautiful riverside game reserve. Everyone is feeling healthy today. Doug, our other Congo “newbie”, pens our update today:

“Jambo” from Nyankunde, Congo, from Dave J., Dave B., John, Keith, Brian, and Doug! Our mission is going very well. We feel blessed to be here representing all of your love toward the people of the Congo.

We wake up around 6am, have breakfast, bible study, and then get busy working. We finish work around 6pm and then go to the home of other missionaries who make our meals and take good care of us (Ruth and Richard). We are amazed by the spirit of the people here. The missionaries are filled with God’s love and are dedicated to His work. From the pilots, to the local staff, to the many others that we have met along the way, we have been blessed to meet them all. They have inspired us greatly.

At night the plane’s hangar serves as the center hub of activity. The generator gives us some power, but it’s not too long before we’re in bed and sleeping. We’re isolated, so there’s not much around us. We walked to the village next to the mission station and saw people living in grass huts. They smile and wave with a hearty “Jambo”! We greet our brothers and sisters here in the name of Ustick Baptist Church and extend your love and greetings to them. At night we hear them singing gospel tunes in Swahili. The songs are the same ones we sing in church, another reminder that God speaks all languages and listens to the praises of His people around the world.

As a first-timer to Congo, I am very impressed with the mission team. All of the men work very hard, and they’re very knowledgeable about so many things. They are amazing to watch as they use their gifts to honor the Lord here in Africa.

We thank you for your prayers and your support. Without your love and support we couldn’t be here. We pray for you that the Lord blesses you and keeps you while we are away. Additionally, we are so thankful to our families for supporting us and sacrificing for this mission. We love you.

Pray that God continues to reach out to the people of Congo in miraculous ways.

Things are a bit different this year on the food front as each evening we gather around the table of Richard and Ruth Dix, who are overseeing the rebuilding of the hospital and doing some medical training. We enjoy more-or-less American food and great fellowship.

We made more progress on all the projects today: wiring, woodshop preparation, painting, pressure washing, generator enclosure, etc. The weather has been mercifully considerably cooler than last year. This is another of many things for which we are thankful. Please pray for good health – John and Doug were hit with stomach bugs in the last few hours, but are feeling a little better now.

Greeting from the Congo

Everyone is healthy and doing great. We had a little bit of slow start due to the fact we were so tired from the trip. We are now working very hard and many things are getting done. Yesterday the generator was set in its new home and the brick walls are going up around it. Today the big job was getting water to house #2. We needed the water so we could use our gas powered pressure washer to clean the house. This was a big job since had to set a tank plumb it in. All the water has to be hand poured into the tank mounted ten feet above the house. We do have lots of help from the local MAF staff. The block enclosure is almost done around the generator. Other jobs like installing glass blocks in some rooms to allow light have been done also.

We have settled into our home in the MAF hanger with all the comforts of home. We have nice beds, flushing toilet, shower, and all the clean water we want to drink. We have had great food and no one is going hungry. The weather has been in the 80’s with only 1 heavy rain storm Monday night.

The locals are very friendly and always have a smile and a warm welcome. Working with the local staff is a real privilege as they work hard always willing to do anything to help out.

Thank you for your prayers as they are answered all the time as by our successes so far.

Serving our Lord,

Dave B, Brian, John, Keith, Doug and Dave J.

We made it to Entebbe, Uganda, where we are now waiting for the MAF plane to take us to Congo. We had a few tense moments when most other passengers had picked up their baggage and left the terminal and we had not seen any of ours. Then all 12 of our crates came in right at the end, all in good shape.

While we were waiting on the plane in Amsterdam to leave for Entebbe, the crew discovered a mechanical problem which resulted in a long wait and finally a plane change. We arrived in Entebbe at ~2:00 AM, five hours late. We decided to just stay in the terminal rather than cross customs into Uganda and get a hotel as per the previous plan. While this actually saved a fair amount of money, we are a bit less “bright eyed and bushy tailed” than we would otherwise be.

We are enjoying one another’s company and feel very glad to be here safely with all of our baggage. We are grateful to God to for the privilege to be involved in this work and very much appreciate your prayers.

John, Doug, Keith, DaveJ, DaveB, and Brian

And another quick update from March 1, 11:00 AM Boise time:

After a short delay for rain, Lary (resident MAF pilot missionary) loaded us up and flew us to Bunia, where we quickly cleared immigration. Then another quick ten minute flight whisked us to Nyankunde. We greeted the ten national MAF staff and other community members whom we met last year. We got settled in, gave DaveB and Doug a quick tour, sorted out our tools and equipment, and got in a couple of hours of work.

Because of our problems with the Amsterdam – Entebbe flight, we are all dog tired and looking forward to a LONG night’s sleep.

This is the second year UBC has sent a team to work with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) to help rebuild a mission station heavily damaged in ethnic warfare in 2002. The team members are:

• Dave Babcock (new this year)
• Brian Clark
• John Dalrymple
• Dave Jacobsson (MAF missionary pilot in Congo)
• Doug Schoenborn (new this year)
• Keith Tucker

This year, in addition to preparing more missionary housing, the team will install a generator and establish a woodworking shop. Another Boise team from Summit Church (formerly Second Baptist) will immediately follow the UBC team, together providing four full weeks of focused rebuilding progress. We hope this will be a big step in enabling MAF to re-establish their operations in Nyankunde, where they will be far more effective in their ministry than in their current situation.

For a wealth of information on MAF’s work in east Congo: http://www.maf.org/congo_edrc

We thank you for your interest and ask prayer for:

• Effectiveness in the physical work
• Team unity
• Ministry to MAF local staff and the Nyankunde community
• Safety

We encourage you all to join us as we will be having a real special day coming up this month during our Sunday School hour on November 15!

You are officially invited to join us during this special presentation from our Juarez Missions Team. It will be an all church Sunday School hour at 9:50am in the Activity Center. The 2’s, 3’s and 4’s will be having regular Sunday School in their classrooms. We will not have opening in the sanctuary so take your children in these age groups directly to their classrooms.

The mission team will be sharing about their experiences as they worked together with IFM (International Family Missions) missionaries, Mark & Candi Pryor and their staff. Come see their pictures and slides, listen to what great and mighty things the Lord did as they share their testimonies! You have been a part of this team as you’ve prayed, as you’ve encouraged this team or as you’ve given your support through finances of other ways! THANK YOU… now it’s time to hear their story and who knows maybe you will be a part of the next team to go?!

Come be encouraged, be challenged and be inspired together as part of God’s family!

On this visit to Juarez, we went to a Colonia, which is basically what we would call a subdivision.  When we first turned off the main road, we were surprised by how nice the houses looked.  While driving through the initial rows of housing, however, our hosts informed us that these were homes built by companies for some of their workers.  After passing these initial houses, we came to an open area, and then to the rest of the colonia where the poverty was apparent.  Houses are built out of pallets, and use whatever items they can find to break the wind and keep any body heat inside.  In some cases people had found some wood or tar paper, in others there were sections of wall made out of newspaper draped over the wood of the pallets.  A few fortunate people had found cinder block and were able to build with that.

We were greeted by Pastor Abel, his wife Erica, and other staff of the church, Luz de Vida.  What wonderful, God-fearing people they are!  Despite many difficult issues (including their health), they continue to stay committed to doing God’s work in the colonia, and are even in the process of starting a “daughter church” in another area.

We split into three groups, and began walking through the houses, delivering invitations to whoever we could find and telling them to bring their friends and families.  We weren’t sure how it would turn out – while the people are hungry, it was also cold and windy (it had even snowed on the nearby mountains).  At the designated time, only about 30 or 40 people had arrived.  Operating under the assumption that God is in control, we kept moving forward, and as time progressed more people began to trickle in.  Then more people showed up.  Then more.  By the time everything was in full swing, we had about 150 people from the colonia eating hot dogs, watching a puppet show, listening to music, playing games, talking with us, and hearing God’s word.  All this on a cold day – amazing!

We are going back to the colonia on Friday and going door-to-door to meet and pray with the people in their homes.  Please pray that God will help us reach the hearts and of the people we meet, and that many souls will be added to His kingdom.

Children of the Colonia