Wow, has it been awhile since I wrote in this blog site... I have it on good word from many of you that several people were following my travels regularly. That's great news! I'm glad so many people can share in my journeys and see the world through the eyes of my lens.
What have I been up to in the last year? Well, quite a bit. I continued welding and last summer my sister visited me. In August my parents and my Grandmother came up for a couple weeks to see all the flowers in Fairbanks and to see the Aurora's. In November I was involved in a short term mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya to rebuild a health clinic. When I returned from that trip I found out that I had been laid off from my welding job during my absence. Was a disappoint in that outcome... yes, but it was also a great opportunity to test all my current skills while helping others directly somewhere else in the world. So, the original purpose of this wanderer is to continue in a new part of the world...
*whew*... and was worried I'd have to settle down somewhere.
My new wanderings will take me to the island of New Guinea. The independent nation of Papua New Guinea has many different aspects that lend my skills quite useful. Since this country is so rugged, the only efficient type of travel is by air and there are many villages with no road system or reliable way to get medical or nutrient to the people who live in these places. Therefore it was decided some two years ago to build an airstrip that is approximately a two day canoe ride and a days hike from the nearest small airport.
Here's where I come in; I will be the Construction manager on the job and I will be driving farm tractors to level grade (I grew up on a farm) and create the final grass landing strip (I worked for a soil testing lab) and be self sufficient with the tools that are available to me, including a welder (well... this should be obvious).
Currently I am returning from a trip to St. Louis (where the LCMS headquarters are located) where I was involved in a one day mini-orientation for my year long missions trip. I also spent a few days visiting with my family and friends back home since I hadn't seen them in almost two years and won't get an opportunity to for some time.
There are many more details to share, and much more work to be done before I leave, but let me leave you with some quick links to more information before I board the last plane back to Fairbanks.
Project information and need
There is a prayer card that should be updated on that website soon... but since this is all moving so quickly it isn't quite up there yet...
Please keep tuned... there is much more to come...
20090318
20080208
Life below -40.
First of all, if you're wondering if I mean Fahrenheit or Celsius, it doesn't matter, the scale of temperature converge at minus forty. Now, to the story:
I awoke in the morning, and as per usual threw on my clothes quickly to go start my car to let it warm up to something resembling comfort when I start driving to work by six-thirty in the a.m.. However, upon my arrival to the out of doors, I was astonished to see my car listing harshly to it's starboard side. This was not a natural position for a vehicle, that much was instantly apparent. A quick stroll around the car enlightened me to the problem: two flat tires on the right side of my car.
This did not instantly appear to be a show stopper as I had in my possession an air compressor and I sorted through the tools in the back of the vehicle, located it, set the psi gauge for automatic shutoff, and attempted to place the compressor on the tire stem. It didn't fit. At all. The cold had shrunk the compressor nozzle sufficiently to nullify my attempts to inflate the tires. I decided I should warm up the nozzle by running it under the warm tap. It worked, the nozzle fit over the valve and the tire began to accept air.
After breakfast, it was time to air up the second tire, as the compressor had shut itself off. I unlocked the nozzle and as the air started draining from the tire, realized that I could not remove it from the valve as the cold had shrunk the
nozzle again. While struggling to remove it, the stress and cold of the environment finally won over the plastic compressor nozzle and it failed. Now I am stuck left holding two pieces of my compressor and no way to inflate my tire.
Not a good position for one to be found in.
After considering the damage I would do to the tire, I decided to drive a mile, slowly, to the petrol station and filled my tire, which held air for me to continue my journey to work.
All in all, quite the mystical journey.
I awoke in the morning, and as per usual threw on my clothes quickly to go start my car to let it warm up to something resembling comfort when I start driving to work by six-thirty in the a.m.. However, upon my arrival to the out of doors, I was astonished to see my car listing harshly to it's starboard side. This was not a natural position for a vehicle, that much was instantly apparent. A quick stroll around the car enlightened me to the problem: two flat tires on the right side of my car.
This did not instantly appear to be a show stopper as I had in my possession an air compressor and I sorted through the tools in the back of the vehicle, located it, set the psi gauge for automatic shutoff, and attempted to place the compressor on the tire stem. It didn't fit. At all. The cold had shrunk the compressor nozzle sufficiently to nullify my attempts to inflate the tires. I decided I should warm up the nozzle by running it under the warm tap. It worked, the nozzle fit over the valve and the tire began to accept air.
After breakfast, it was time to air up the second tire, as the compressor had shut itself off. I unlocked the nozzle and as the air started draining from the tire, realized that I could not remove it from the valve as the cold had shrunk the
nozzle again. While struggling to remove it, the stress and cold of the environment finally won over the plastic compressor nozzle and it failed. Now I am stuck left holding two pieces of my compressor and no way to inflate my tire.
Not a good position for one to be found in.
After considering the damage I would do to the tire, I decided to drive a mile, slowly, to the petrol station and filled my tire, which held air for me to continue my journey to work.
All in all, quite the mystical journey.
20080126
Civil Unrest
So, I'm supposed to be in Africa right now. Turns out, I'm not. Not because there was a financial situation, quite the contrary. I was overwhelmed from the support of the community and the resources that were redirected towards this effort. It was quite impressive. My hometown community raised over a thousand dollars towards my departure, so after it was all tallied there was very little that I had to cover out of pocket.
However, there is more to traveling overseas to a foreign country than simply financial issues. If you've watched the news at all in the last month or so, you know that there has been quite a bit of civil unrest in Kenya. I'm not a reporter, and don't want to add to any of the misinformation that's associated with current events, but basically Kenya held presidential elections the last week of December and they went badly. The incumbent was accused of rigging the elections and then a clan war broke out. Now, after more research has been done, it's starting to appear as if the clans involved had a preconceived notion that this was going to happen, and even more than that, some reports say that what has happened in Kenya the last month was highly orchestrated and planed to start a full blown civil war in the Eastern African country that is usually touted as one of the most stable.
Anyway, the trip has been postponed until all this settles down as the LCMS doesn't feel that they want to send over people to be pawns in someone else's conflict. Given the circumstances I highly agree. The earliest we might be going would be sometime in October, but that's very much yet to be determined.
I would like to extend my thanks to all the participants of the fund raising and organizing. I feel very blessed to have so many people who will support my decisions and do what they can to allow those plans to come to fruition. Thank you.
However, there is more to traveling overseas to a foreign country than simply financial issues. If you've watched the news at all in the last month or so, you know that there has been quite a bit of civil unrest in Kenya. I'm not a reporter, and don't want to add to any of the misinformation that's associated with current events, but basically Kenya held presidential elections the last week of December and they went badly. The incumbent was accused of rigging the elections and then a clan war broke out. Now, after more research has been done, it's starting to appear as if the clans involved had a preconceived notion that this was going to happen, and even more than that, some reports say that what has happened in Kenya the last month was highly orchestrated and planed to start a full blown civil war in the Eastern African country that is usually touted as one of the most stable.
Anyway, the trip has been postponed until all this settles down as the LCMS doesn't feel that they want to send over people to be pawns in someone else's conflict. Given the circumstances I highly agree. The earliest we might be going would be sometime in October, but that's very much yet to be determined.
I would like to extend my thanks to all the participants of the fund raising and organizing. I feel very blessed to have so many people who will support my decisions and do what they can to allow those plans to come to fruition. Thank you.
20071203
Africa update... $$
Well, we just received more information on how much money we raised, and how much the trip is projected to cost. Fortunately, a good portion of the cost has been offset from the fund raising. Unfortunately, it will still be a bit expensive. The ball/silent auction fund raiser came up with about $10,500 profit. So, in that respect, we did quite well. But with the total cost per person of over $3000 to fly there, plus building materials, that puts most people paying about $1200 out of pocket. Because I jumped in on the project late, I'll be required to pay more like $1800 out of pocket. Ouch.
There's still time for me to do some personal fund raising, and my Mom has been hard on that trail at my old Church. They're having a free will donation this Sunday afternoon in order to raise more funds for me to get to Africa. I don't really expect a huge sum from that kind of activity, but every little bit helps. All this really means is that I'm really starting to hope that I don't get laid off from work for going on this trip... but I'd still laugh if it happened. Hey, you have to laugh or else you'd cry right?
I've never done much... or any fund raising before, so this is a completely new idea to me, but I guess because the funds are going through Zion Lutheran, anyone who donates can get a tax ID# and then they can write off that amount from their finances. Makes me think I should donate about $1500 to myself... ;-)
In other trip news, we received the first pictures of where we'll be staying. It's called the Bull's Eye Hotel. Look at the date stamp in the corner of the picture... that's right: '2007 4 13'... what are the chances of that? Of the other three hundred and sixty-four (and a quarter) days it could have been, it just so happened to be taken on my birthday of this year... Boy-oh-boy was I supposed to go on this trip or what?
Oh, it should be mentioned that I found the green stubbly prickly stuff in the foreground surprising... I know, I know.... not all desert... still, you know how it is.
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