Politics and Engine Tricks – This Week In Summary

This was a big week at the Flight Service. John flew out for Lusaka early Monday morning and was gone until Wednesday afternoon. Before he left, he told me that the Vice President of Zambia was going to be coming on Thursday. This is election year in Zambia, and she is campaigning to re-elect President Edgar Lungu. That sounded interesting!

When he returned Wednesday, he said he thought the airplane was burning too much oil, so we decided to open it to check out a leak we had noticed. It doing so we found a crack in a cylinder fin (not good). Thursday morning, we also decided to do a compression check, which showed that a particularly troublesome exhaust valve in another cylinder was had finally expired. The leak ended up being nothing, but we uncovered worse problems so John decided it was time to replace two cylinders. We started tearing things apart.

All this time, there were soldiers and police officers coming and going like they had taken over the place (they had), and a crowd was beginning to line the fence. I thought maybe they were there to watch us work, but I soon found out differently.

About the time we were taking the exhaust manifold apart, we heard the helicopters coming. We ran outside with the rest of the crowd. They landed at the other end of the field and the convoy of about a dozen vehicles was soon roaring into the hangar area.

Madame Vice President got out and greeted a bunch of people for the cameras (not mine unfortunately. I got a few photos, but missed some of the more significant plot points.) She went up to our guest apartment with a crowd that looked twice the size of the apartment. While she was up there shaking hands and kissing proverbial babies, the crowd at the fence was being entertained by the district’s welcoming committee, which serenaded the VP for some time. The singing was great, and they really get into their political rallies. They all wore clothes with his name and photo.

Below is a video of their singing, but I don’t know if it will work properly. Videos are about more than the internet here can handle.

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After an hour or so, the entourage and audience went off to hold rallies at a couple local villages. While we were eating lunch, the convoy returned and the helicopters departed. The hanger was quiet and boring that afternoon, with only the sound of James an I clanking wrenches and grunting at pushrod tubes.

Friday morning was another surprise. Late in the night John received a request for an emergency medical transport for a motorcycle accident victim. He has serious head injuries and needs to go to Livingstone for treatment. Since we have the Cessna 207’s engine dismantled (and gliders don’t make good ambulances), we got the Cessna 182 ready to fly.

Then we waited for the doctor to call. He didn’t. At 9:30 this morning, he wasn’t even in to work yet. He didn’t call by lunch time. It’s currently 9:30 pm, and he still hasn’t. Now we’re hoping to finish the 207 in the morning in time for his use, if it’s needed. You can pray for the head trauma patient in Mwinilunga to get proper treatment, and that he finds Jesus.

This evening we went to a gospel outreach meeting at the hospital. Patients who travel some distance usually bring family members with them to care for them. There are dormitories of people from all over the region with not much to do. Some of the local believers and missionaries try to go every week or so to have a service there. The people here, while largely “Christianized”, are still steeped in fear and superstition. One of the workers at the mission was telling us today about how his wife was cursed by their neighbor, and that’s why she can’t walk. They still hold many of these animistic fears; it is like the thorns in the parable of the sower that grow up and choke out the good seed. Pray for the light of God’s word to overcome the lingering shadows of their past.

Our biggest prayer request at this time is that God would show us how to make the most of our time here. We feel somewhat insulated from the people around us because of the language and culture barrier. We do not want to live here for three months walled off from the people here, but it’s a little difficult to serve them. We also recognize that we can have a ministry of encouragement and support to the permanent missionaries here, and that may be more effective long-term. We are trying to take the opportunities we have to interact with the people and try to be an encouragement where we can.

Oh, I about forgot. Another happening from the week was our daughter finishing a puzzle (maybe with some help).

Mwani mwani.