Back in the tribe

Yea, back to the tribe! Home at last!

We arrived home last Wednesday, and as usual, had an incredible amount of cleaning to do. There were very few people around – mostly because (as we found out later) they are all at their farms. It is the middle of harvest time, and they do all their harvesting by hand, so they are pretty busy. There were, however, about 3 guys here, which was enough to help carry our cargo up from the airplane to the house. It is always nice to have that, seeing as how I have a bad back and it is difficult to do a lot of lifting and carrying.

The few people that were here wanted to visit, and of course we want to visit too. However, we had to set up the beds, turn on the freezer, unpack, wipe off all the counters and do all kinds of things to make the house ready to live in again. So our visiting was minimal as we were working. The weeds around our house were totally overgrown – hence many people coming by and asking if they can pull weeds for us (for pay, of course). So we set up a time to do that, which makes them very happy, because they get some work, which results in some pay, and then they can go downriver and buy things they need at the market.


One of the first things in the house I noticed was that the water level in our batteries was very low – below the plates. I had about 9 liters remaining from the last time I filled the batteries, and I knew that would not be enough water to fill the batteries up all the way. However, I thought it might be enough water to fill up to just above the plates, but I would have to refill the batteries in a few days. I prayed the water would be enough and started filling. When I was done – I had just about ½ a cup of water left! Wow! Thank you, Lord, for your provision of allowing the water to be just enough!

rain catcher

So that meant I would have to build a rain-catcher. I had been meaning to do that for some time. We can’t use water off the roof because of the metal screws in the roof – it would add enough metal ions in the water to destroy the batteries. And the water in the pipes also goes next to metal, so it won’t work either. It was the next day that I was able to build the rain catcher, and day before yesterday I was able to finally finish filling the batteries! Our batteries used up 18 liters of water while we were gone!

It has been really good to see people! We are so glad to be back. I haven’t had time to do any updates until just now. My bride spent the last 5 days preparing the house for living,preparing home-school lessons, and getting the clinic ready for today. I spent the last 3 days preparing my office to be used again – man it was a mess! The others in the house said they don’t recognize my office anymore because it is clean!

What other things did we do? Oh yes, I installed the cell phone signal repeater. That was great! Now whenever we turn it on, we have a strong enough cell phone signal in the house to actually call on our cell phones! Before, it was just good enough to send text messages, and we had to keep the phone leaning sideways on the radio on top of the dresser next to the freezer. If I wanted to have a sure call, I had to hike up the mountain on the other side of the river where the signal is strong. Now we are in a place where we can make or receive an emergency call. I leave the amplifier off normally so as not to use up a lot of solar power.

The other big thing is that I was able to purchase and install a floor covering for the kids room. They said that they didn’t like to play with their legos because they always fell through the cracks in the bamboo floor, so we purchased a plastic/rubber covering for the floor. It is quite nice now!

And my last task before beginning study preparations again is to set up this blog! Hopefully this will give a means for people that regularly pray for us a means of having more timely information.

And as far as the tribal people, they are all up in their fields harvesting rice! Here are some highlights:
•    One lady came by this morning and had some river crabs she had caught and killed. They always kill them right away, but they wait several hours before cooking them. Her husband told me about the wild pigs he shot while we were gone. He said he is out of shotgun shells.
•    Many folks asked if they could buy batteries for their flashlights.
•    There was a kid who had tons of warts covering both of his feet before we left. We gave him medicine to put on the warts every day while we were gone. He came by yesterday and showed us his foot – no warts! Amazing!
•    We gave away a lot of malaria medication the last 3 days even before we opened the clinic, and gave away a lot again today at the clinic.
•    The village chief (I say “village” loosely because they don’t really live in villages) showed me a new kind of pig trap he is making that will not accidentally snare dogs or other animals – only pigs!

And, as always, it is time to get used to the constant attacks of biting bugs!

no more warts!

a new kind of pig trap that only catches pigs

river crab