Di-worming

Ya one of the pleasures of tropic living you might say ;-).  About every 6 months or so it's recommended we partake in a simple ritual of downing a di-worming pill.  Well this weekend was that time again, this time however we all woke up Sunday morning with a tummy ache.  Not sure if it was related to the meds or just a coincidence.  Anyhow the special treat from all having a sore tummy is we spent Sunday morning home as a family.  The highlight for Julie and I was the interaction we were able to have with our children after listing to a sermon about our perceived image, projected image and true image. As well tied into that was the different meanings of the word fear, and how it is used differently in scripture.  Not sure why we waited so long to have family discussions like these.  My desire is that we can become more intentional as a family to carry on with further family discussions like our time on Sunday morning (during a different time however as I don't want this to replace our time at Church Sunday mornings).

In other family news the kids continue to do well, working hard at school and getting some well earned grades.  We've been able to enjoy the local swimming pool off and on these past couple months, our trips to the pool seem to becoming less and less though.  I think maybe our internal clocks are still a little bit calibrated for seasonal weather of Canada and Northern States as it seems the desire to go swimming outdoors drops off in these winter months even thought it's still summer weather here.

Next week we are looking forward to a break, as the kids and I get the week off.  We will probably be able to find the will power to overcome that internal clock and go swimming some.  We also are hoping to go hiking up to a waterfall that is near by.  And now that our bikes are all legal to use we might do a family road trip or two to see some of the country side and communities close to Sentani.  So look for some pictures coming in the weeks to follow, as we do our best to document our adventures.

On the work side of things for me.  I'm making progress with the field orientation process here.  I've been able to be involved in a few different inspections and some trouble shooting maintenance issues on a few of our Caravans here.  Sometime in February or March I will have the needed 6 months of maintenance experience for the DGCA (Indonesian version of Transport Canada or the FAA) to approve my Indonesian maintenance licence.  A fellow Canadian MAFer caught me on camera changing out a Ng instrument from PK-MPF.

 

The Ng is an important instrument for pilots.  It tells us the speed at which the compressor section of our engine is running at.  When the instrument is reading 100% the compressor is spinning at 37,000 RPM.  Things can get very costly and dangerous if we have inaccurate or false reading from this instrument along with some of the others that sit beside this one as well.

Since returning from Jakarta last week I've also have a couple days of flying under my belt as well.  There is some work to do after being away from flying for a while, there are some areas that need to be redeveloped and sharpened again.  All of which MAF expects being away from flying and has built into their checkout process time and exercises to rebuild and resharpen the needed flying skills of their new pilots like me.

Blessings
The Dole Clan
Mt. 7:25

Snipits of Papua

Greetings,

Getting to come to Jakarta prompted me to put together a video so I could post it while here.  The following video is a small glimpse into some of what I (Greg) have the privilege of being involved in.  Sorry while preparing the video I realized that I didn't have material that included much of our family and our family life.  In the weeks and months to come we'll try and remedy that so you can also see what life is like through their eyes as well.

Blessings


Sentani From Greg's Eyes from Greg on Vimeo.

Things in Twos

Well it seems that big events/or things we have waited for happen in twos here in Papua.  First it was our stuff arriving and our visa's being ready on the same day back in Sept.  And today it was our paperwork and licence plates showing up for our motorcycles and news that my pilot licence is ready for pick up in Jakarta.

We've been behaving for the most part and only using our motorcycles sparingly to keep the motors from locking up, but now were are legal and free to ride them wherever the roads take us.  Julie is just as excited as me I think about being able to hit the road again with our bikes.  Which means that I will be able to start taking some more videos again now that I will be able to hit the road again.

This weekend I will travel to Jakarta to pickup my pilot licence. Once I have the licence in hand I will have the green light to start flying next week as well which is exciting.  The wait is almost over!!!  And hopefully I can start getting some flying footage to add to our video library.

Quick family update on how the family has been doing.  Julie had her first go around with Dengue about a month ago.  Thankfully she has pretty much recovered from that and has just gotten over a common cold this week.  Franklin and Isaac also missed a couple days this week from the same cold but are doing better now.  So far Jaclynn and I remain pretty healthy Lord willing we can avoid falling prey as well.

Quick MAF update a couple weeks ago while on a ride along we landed in Anggruk and we were met by the tribe dancing and singing.  The part I didn't know at first was our passengers were coming to deliver to them solar powered audio Bibles in their heart language.  I think the group was from Hearing is Believing if I'm mistaken. It was really neat to be apart of the flight that brought in the audio Bibles and to see some of the peoples traditional dances.  Also, our family got to be present at PK-MAF's dedication, a brand new Kodiak that recently arrived from the States. And it was pretty cool when the plane first arrived and meeting the ferry pilot.  Turned out that I had done a couple flight lessons with his daughter back in my flight instructing days. Sometimes the world can be pretty small!!  We are still waiting to hear about which base we will be sent to but hopefully after I have been flying for a few months they will give us that information.

The group bring the audio Bibles

Anggruk

Anggurk on a different day from the audio Bibles.

Gathering around to receive the special guests.