Monday, August 3, 2009

2009 August News Letter

Tower Problem Repaired: Remember I shared with you about the rust holes in one of the legs of one of our towers? That problem has been repaired at very little cost and effort. It was something I thought would be a major job and would involve taking the tower down and being off the air with two antennas. Someone pointed me to a link on the internet where my friend, Jim Hulse (head of a company called “Towers for Jesus”) had come across a similar problem. He showed how he solved his problem by welding a bigger pipe around the damaged section of tower. We then contacted a tower engineer in South Africa, showed him pictures of our problem, pointed him to the website and asked him for his advice. He answered by saying the solution was acceptable, but gave some further pointers on how we could improve the patch. Armed with this knowledge, we hired an expert welder who came and did the job in four hours for less than $500!


Debbie’s surgery: But the biggest event for us was a week-long trip to Johannesburg which ended up being four weeks. Over the last few months Debbie has not been feeling the greatest. We could not figure out what was wrong and we kept thinking that she would come out of it and her health would level out. She seemed to have no appetite and was gradually losing weight. Finally, we insisted that our family doctor take a closer look and after an ultra sound, he informed us that it might be time for Debbie to shed a body part. A gynecologist confirmed that her fibroids were at a stage where it was advisable for her to have a hysterectomy. Scheduling was such that we could either have it done immediately, or wait two months. Although it involved a lot of changed plans, we decided it was best to proceed right away. This meant that she would need to recover in Johannesburg for a number of weeks, which clashed with our Global Human Resources meetings which had been planned to be held in Swaziland. The venue of the meetings was subsequently changed to Johannesburg. Debbie is feeling much better, her appetite has returned and she is gaining back some of the weight she lost. We are praising the Lord!

But the timing of Debbie’s surgery was even more amazing! Would you believe that it fell on our 30th wedding anniversary, June second? The hospital marketing department got wind of it and brought her a beautiful arrangement of flowers. The next day I visited the surgeon’s office, which is in the same building. The receptionist seemed interested in hearing about the flowers, to the point where I said I knew who might have been instrumental in making the arrangements. With a knowing smile she admitted to leaking the information. Indeed, it was a good PR move… I’m letting the whole world know!





Our Close Friends Leave Africa: Another advantage of having Debbie’s operation early was it allowed us to spend three weeks with our friends, Ray and Sandy Alary. Ray was instrumental in our coming to Africa when our time in Sri Lanka ended. Since then we have gone camping, hiked, played games and made ministry plans together. So our friendship grew quite close over the past nine years. Much to our disappointment, Ray accepted the position of President of TWR Canada and was leaving Southern Africa on the first of July. At that point they were in a temporary house, so we moved in with them and kept each other company. Since we were so close, I was asked to help with their farewell. I not only served as MC, but impersonated Ray in the skits. I told him he was going to be well roasted and roasted he was! It was a time we will never forget! To play the part I started the event as my normal self, but returned as Ray, with my hair cut like his (short!) and also cut off my beard. He has somewhat of a crooked nose, so I made mine the same with a piece of tape. I didn’t even tell Debbie my plans to cut my hair and beard, so she was totally surprised! I’m just glad she’s a good sport, or I might have found myself in the dog house.

Yes, our life in Africa isn’t boring!


Your friends in Swaziland!