Back in Waxhaw, NC

We arrived home yesterday afternoon after flying for 25 hours from Nairobi, Kenya, through Amsterdam, Netherlands, into Detroit, MI and finally to Charlotte, NC
We landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule.  All (12) of our bags were the first to appear at the luggage pick-up and nothing was missing.   Praise God for the smooth connections, great flights, easy and timely passage through security and customs all along the way.
Our six months is Kenya went very well overall.  We made lots of  new friends and are blessed to have provided a help in their time of need.  Thanks to all of you who made this possible.  

We would love to see any of you if you are in the Waxhaw area.   For now, we begin to unpack and set up the house.

Home phone:  704 843-4661

Kijabe Hospital and R.V.A. Photos

Return Flights!

We now have new tickets which will allow us to fly home before our Kenyan visa will expire.    Thanks for your prayers, and please keep praying for the 8 /9 th as we begin our journey home - for all the connections, aircraft and weather.   We need to hit the ground 'running' upon our arrival with a busy schedule.   Early the following week, we will meet with the JAARS administration to decide whether our financial pledges will meet the required bench mark.   Toward the end of the month, we will also meet with the Samaritan Purse office to debrief.
We look forward to getting settled back in our home -we hope it will be for a long while.  We anxiously look forward to seeing the pets (our dog Bonnie, chickens and cat).
As we wind down here in Kenya, it will be a difficult week of good byes to all our new friends in AIM Air and Samaritans Purse.
We shall keep you all posted of the progress.

Our time in Kenya is rapidly drawing to a close. Since our arrival in August, Karl has been

very busy helping AIM-AIR in the avionics shop while the two regular avionics guys are on

home assignment. He worked with David, a Kenyan man who is learning the trade, and

with Joshua, a young man newly out of school who came from India in August to help for

four months. The shop is a busy one and the work interesting and varied, as AIM-AIR

provides air service for many different Christian organizations around East Africa.

We feel privileged to have been asked to help fill this need for a time. We have always  felt a bit of a “tie” with Kenya. Karl’s parents were missionaries here before Karl was born. Deb’s first short-term mission experience (where she first felt a call to full-time missions) was here, and we came together to help AIM-AIR for a few months in 1992. What a blessing to be useful here again so many years later!

Still, we feel our real calling right now is to return to North Carolina to serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators at JAARS. Our financial support is still lacking, but has improved  significantly in the past month. Thank you so much for praying!   And, many thanks to the very generous anonymous online donor – whoever you may be!

We still must meet with advisors at JAARS in February when we return in order to gain clearance for Karl to start his new assignment in information technology. We still need about $500 in monthly support for us to be cleared for the IT assignment. Please continue to pray for wisdom from God for all concerned.

Much love,

Karl, Deb,

Abby, Johanna,

Helen, & Warren

Under one month remaining

I was reminded (gently) that I have not posted an update on the blog recently (thank you for reminding me!).   It seems to be the case that when the work week gets really busy, there are fewer updates on the blog.

The Nairobi Safari walk, overlooking a small stream.

Work for me (Karl) has not really slowed down in the least since last September.   The time has gone by very fast for the family, and now we find ourselves with a little over two weeks remaining.   We have been told on countless occasions how appreciative AIM Air is for our family coming to help our in the avionics shop for the past six months.   We too are thankful for ALL of you who tirelessly and graciously provide the monthly support for our family to have this opportunity.   Let me assure you, it has not been a vacation!  From all indications, the next two weeks will be like all the rest.

I've had the opportunity (choice of words) to work on 3 Phase compressors, Automatic Generator switching circuits, generator control boards, HF (High Frequency) radios and yes, aircraft radios.  I've endured an FAA Repair Station inspection, several Certificate of Airworthiness Inspections for four aircraft, and counted the radio shop's inventory.  While here, I have the privilege to work with both a Kenyan (full time show technician) and Indian (volunteer for five months, first for AIM from India) technician.

We received news this week that one of the AIM Air radio technicians support has improved and they are planning to be back in Kenya by the middle of February.   Sadly, we will miss them by about one week - as we are tentatively planning to fly home on February 8th.  But we are relieved that the shop won't be without its staff for very long after we leave.    Please keep this as a matter of prayer because we still do not have tickets yet.  Our visas expire February 11th.

We have taken a few weekends to get out of Nairobi to see portions of Kenya.   A few of the highlights have been:  Mount Kenya, Sweet Water Game Preserve and the Nakuru Game Preserve.  In addition to that, we made two trips to the Ngong Hills - a fantastic view of Nairobi on one side and the great Rift Valley on the other.   The winds blow constantly from that altitude, so it tends to be refreshing.   We didn't end up making down to Mombasa on the coast (the kids wanted to swim in the Indian Ocean) because of both the schedule and expense.   Things have certainly got more expensive here than what we recall 18 years ago.  Unfortunately, because we came under a business visa, we were not eligible for resident  discounts on all these attractions.

Last Saturday morning, the family went to a local safari walk where we could finally check off one of the top things on our list - to pet a cheetah.   It was a fantastic experience, one we won't easily forget.  I've never heard a cat purr so loudly, and honestly, the cheetah was very friendly.

#1 on the list - to pet a cheetah!

As we plan the next two weeks, there are just two more sites we hope to visit.  The highest priority will be to visit Kijabe Station, where the AIM mission hospital and the Rift Valley Academy is located.  It is also where my parents lived over 60 years ago when they served with Africa Inland Mission.

Please continue to pray about the remaining support we need to begin our assignment at Jaars in February.   We will meet with the JAARs and Wycliffe personnel office once we get back home to find out whether we have reached the goal.  Just in the past few weeks, God has brought in more of our needed monthly support.  He is amazing, and His timing will always be a mystery to me.

Well, I had better get to work on that last newsletter.   Thank you for following the blog.

More Photos

Photos can be found at the following link at Picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pngradioman/Dec272010?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXcjoXerKSeHg#5556031070571277122

Now that I have figured out this using Picasa, I will post some more recent photos.

A little encouraging news.

Praise be to Jehovah Jireh, our provider!

We received good news that in November, we received 90% of our financial support.

With just two months to go before the decision, our “official” 12 month average is now at 83%.