baird robert dawn 1983 zaire

8/10/2019 Baird Robert Dawn 1983 Zaire

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

On January 20th wewillhave

completed ourfirst year in Zaire.

We

would like to use this letter as a means

of reporting the

accomplishments

of

this year and

some

projects for the next.

We would

also

like

to

thank each

one

of you for continuing withus during

this time for your prayers and for

your concern. GodBless You.

Thispast yearwas a year of

accomplishments that are really seen

much better from this end of the year.

We located

in

Bomili

and during

the

year repaired

an old

mission home

into

a

comfortable

place

to live. We

have learned

some

of

the

culture and

are dealing

with our African friends

^

more

and

more in a way

l;hcy understand.

This

is beyond

the language, but is

also very

helpful

in the language

part of communication. We

have

and

are

using Swahili more and

more, in

preaching, teaching,

dealing with problems, giving instructions, buying food and

supplies.

Dawn

and the

girls have

gone

on

with school

and

they

have

found

that

they

are

able

to

work well

together inthij

situation.

Elizabeth has

completed

the first

quarter

of

2nd

grade and Rachel the first quarter of

3rd. Dawn

has settled in to

running our

household

inBomili, teaching the girls, having the ladies Bjble

Study,

bargaining for

food

stuffs

and

being the Mission Hostess . That last

job means

that

she

handles

the

housing

and

feeding

for

all visiting missionaries

and

medical

people. Both Elizabeth and

Rachel were

baptized

into

theLord

this year. Rachel loves

to read

and every spare minute you find

her

with

a

book. Elizabeth

has memorized more Swahili Hymns than

anyone

I know andshe hums

or

sings

them all thru

the

day.

Joshua loves

to fly,

he loves

pilots, and

he

has flown more

hours

in our

living yoom chair

than any

other single

pilot

in

Zaire.

We

have removed

a

hill

from oneend of the

airfield,

removed many

trees

from theotherend to clear for

approach

and take off andwe

have

started to fix a problem area

which

is located near the center.

This

year

we

finished

Marks

office and

built

a

guest house near

the

runway. 1982

showed

us that

the

airway

into Bomili

was the only way in or out for supplies. The road ruined the

truck and

the

river sunk

the

boat These events caused us to evaluateour effectiveness as

a Support

Team

located inBomili. From this, thru

prayers, questioning

other

mission

aries, and advice from both

PBT

and

ACM, we

have determined that we should

move

to

Bafwacindi

and

set the

support

center

there

in

conjunction

with

shuttle

flights to Bomili.

Mark

Huddelston

has found

the pattern for

tone

in

Kibali

which is a

tremendous step

for

translation. He is also continuing

to

prepare

his

Babali helpers

to

do

the

bulk

ofthe

trans

lation work. This

method

helps to keep Marks culture out

of the

translation.

Speaking

of

culture, we have gone thru several

bouts with culture

shock,

this will continue

until who

knows when. We have

had bouts

with bugs,

malaria,

worms,

amoebas, snakes, mud,

leaky

roofs,

bad meat, and

food

poisoning. We all have done more than survive

this

first year, we

have grown because God has directed, helped,

forgiven,

comforted, and

turned so much

badinto good. Thankyou Godfor 1982.

- -Now it is 1983

and

we

have

plans, Mungu Aldtaka. We will

move

to Bafwacindi

upon completion of

our

home there and

set

up the

support

center for Haute

Zaire.

The

Huddelstons will

be leaving in April for

furlough

and

we will

begin at

that time

to build an

additiononto their home.

We will

finish both the airstrip at Bomili and at Bafwacindi,

making them safe

and

adequate for the M

Aztec.

During 1983 Iwill be commuting by

motorcycle

between

the

two

locations

to oversee

the

various projects. I will set up a large

vegetable garden, aconfinement operation for chickens to supply eggs and meat and to look

into the

possibility

ofraising

goats and rabbits as substitute meat supplies for our area.

We

will continue with our Swahili studies so that in 1983 we can start effective BibleStudies

with the African Christians. ACM has already recruited another family to

live

in

Bafwa

cindi

to

work with

amobile

dispensary. M is also planning

to

recruit another

family to

live inthe Bomili area to work in

Church

growth. PBTplans to

recruit

a

family

to work with

the

Huddelstons

particularly

inthe

area

of

literacy, this

family

wiU

live

in

Bomili

also. In

1983 our responsibilities

will grow

from one

family

to possibly six.

As in 1982,

1983

will bring many unforseen

things.

We know there will be

hard

work,

frustrations, more culture shock, possibly more

illness,

but there will also bejoy

and

accom

plishments, new friendships, more understanding and more

growth. We

will need Him and

you

as much in 1983 as we did in1982

Continue with

us

For Christ and Unreached Peoples

January 1983

Bob Dawn Elizabeth Rachel Joshua.


2/15

T

LION'S

S ee

th e Lion

of

th e tribe

of

Ju d a h has triumphed

BOB

DAWN BAIRD

Elizabeth

Rachel

Joshua

March 1983

IN

Z I RE

F R I C

And we know that in all things God works for the good

of

those

who love Him, who have

been

called

according

to

His purpose. Romans 8:28

What then shall we say in response

to

THIS? If God

is fo r us who c an be aga in st u s? Romans 8:31


3/15

In January Ed Buell

and

i made a trip to

Kisingani

from

Bukavu via Bomili and

Bafwasende The purpose of this

trip

was

two fold; first It was t ime again to stock up

on

supplies for

Bomiii and secondly we

would

be hand

carrying

the

file

on

the

property in B afw ase nd e to the proper

offices

in Kisingani In

Haut Zaire

the

province of Zaire in which Bomili

Bafwasende and Kisingani are

located

it

was the

main dry

season

This

meant all

the ho le s w er e still t he re but now we

were

b le t o s e e th em nd

we

we re b le to arr ive

in Kisingani

after

only

two

days of actual

travel This trip w as also going to

be

the

last t ime w e w ou ld use th e

Bomili

ro d for

supplies

From this

trip

on the

truck would

be in

Bafwasende

and only

make

the

trip to

Kisingani

and back then

the

supplies

would be shuttled

into

Bomili by air

W hen we arrived in

Kisingani

we

spent

tw o

days

going

back and

forth to the office

that would

be

handling the file At t he end

of

those

two days we found out as usual

that

we needed a no th er p ap er th at w as in

Bukavu so that ended

our

work on

the file

We

then began to buy supplies

our

first

purchase

being two barrels of kerosene

When we

first

arrived in

Kisingani

we

had

stored

some things

out

of the truck at the

home of

our

legal representative in the city

Joseph

Contenapo After

buying

th e

ke rosene

w e

r e tu rned to his

home

to fill the

truck with gas and collect

our

empty gas

barrels fo r our

next purchase

It was Saturday

Jan

15th at about 1:00

P M It was very hot with just a little breeze

It

was

very

dry

since

this was th e

second

month without rain While I was siphoning

the gas into the t ank thru a hose

chamois

and funnel a static spark ignited the fumes

coming

out

of the tank and the

small

amount of leaked gasol ine

When the

fire

started I was

holding

a

funnel

full of

gasoline so

I jumped

away from

the fire

and threw

the funnel

and

the gasoline

away

from me

From that point

on

none

of us

were abl e

to get c lo se

to th e

t ruck again

The fire spread under th e

truck upintothe

bed

where

we h d

the

k e ro se n e nd a

half

full barrel of gasoline and into

the

cab

he c b nd i ts con t en t s were c on s umed

almost immediately There is no such

thing as a

fire

department in Kisingani It

probabl y t ook

30

minutes

fo r the fire to

consume two barrels of

kerosene

the

gasoline

the

whole

t ru ck e xc ep t

fo r

the


4/15

front

bumpe r a nd winch, two

passports,

drivers

licenses, residence cards ,

400 in

cash

and an

asso r tmen t of t ruck tools.

As I look

back

at theincidentsof thatday

and

the

days that

followed, it is plain

to see

how God d id work out all of it for good. No

one was hurt. No

property

damage

other

t han

th e t ruck And

even a s final a s th at

seemed at

the time, the

fire and it s

destruction could not work

against

us .

Working

thru offices here

is

most difficult,

but now

we were really a t t he ir

mercy. It

was

difficult,

but

no

more

than

usual.

We

have since received new

passports,

residence cards,

drivers l icenses,

and we

were even

able

to finish buying the

things

necessary

for

Bomili

and get

them here.

God

does work all

things

out for

GOOD

Wha t

n ow?

The

immed i a t e

ne ed of

course

is the

replacement

of the

lost truck.

lt_was

an

overwhelming

feeling

to

watch

th e t ruck burn up .

It is overwhelming

to

regard the

replacement

of

the truck

along

with our plans to move t o Bafwasende.

Now we are looking at the need to raise

40,000.00. First to replace the truck, and

second to

go

with the plans to move to

Bafwasende. What is

against

us? Poor

economies and high prices Who

is

for

us?

God

Please add

this

m atter to

your

prayers, as a regular daily request. We will

be keeping you informed

as

to

the

way

in

which

God overcomes the

opposition and

works

It all ou t

P.S.

On

February

9th

for

the

first

time

in

the

history of Afr ican Christian Mission a

thief

broke into the home

of a

Missionary

here

in Bomili, us

He

was in every room in

our hou se and we s lept th ru it all.

We

have

s ince recovered the

mos t

valuable

i tems

camera, tape

player, battery pack and

moneybut

he was able to get

rid of a

bun c h

of c lo th es a nd c ann ed foods

from

our

magazine.

Power

m

d

36th Nallonel Missionary Convention, Sept. 27-30,1993, Veteran s Auditorium.

Oes Molnet lows


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baird robert dawn 1983 zaire

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