Sharing Good News

[i]

Mark 16:15 

Tree of Life Version (TLV)

¹⁵ He told them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature.

Saint Francis of Assisi is often depicted as taking this great commission in Mark literally when he preached the gospel to the birds and other creatures. Most of Christendom has considered the commission as meaning take the gospel to every human of every race, gender, language, status, and locality. Most Christians, however, have not necessarily considered the commission as applying to them personally.

The Adventist church has a huge worldwide educational system. One of its goals is to bring the gospel to its students. Every once in a while, we as teachers in the system were encouraged to bring the gospel to our students—to make the gospel an integral part of the class content. I puzzled some and laughed a little about bringing religion into factoring a polynomial or integrating a trigonometric function. That was way beyond my creativity, and I was not willing to contrive artificial applications that would not bless anyone. At one point I did publish a paper suggesting how infinity is one aspect of God.[ii]

In my first teaching position, Ikizu Secondary School in Tanzania, teachers were expected to conduct a 10-minute worship during each day’s first class period. That period was actually 10 minutes longer than the other class periods. Since I always had a first period class, I became accustomed to reading a text and commenting on what this text said to me.

Later on, when I taught at the university level in the system, I found it fulfilling to take the first 5 minutes of any class to read a text and explain the significance I found in it. Some students criticized me for doing so; however, many students told me that they gained much when I did this. I also gained a personal blessing.

Lord, thank You for asking me to proclaim Your gospel in my world.

[i] https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/catholics-commemorate-the-feast-of-st-francis-of-assisi/

[ii] http://www.institutechristianteaching.org/vol_01/vol_01.html see “The Finite, the Infinite, and God” pages 29-46 (1989)

Be Shrewd as Serpents& Harmless as Doves

[i]

Matthew 10:16 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.

In the 1960s I was a missionary in a recently independent country of Africa. I quickly found out that the term missionary was regarded as derogatory. Missionaries were considered to be spies who would report any deviation from colonially established norms to the authorities. This could mean that the offender might be meted out punishment for deviating.

The country was doing its best to establish its own values and divest itself from those imposed on it from abroad. Since most colonial powers regarded themselves as Christian, so-called Christian standards were considered superior to heathen standards. Any practice that appeared in local life that was not western in nature was branded as heathen and hence undesirable in Christian living. Thus Christians were regarded as weak citizens who supported the colonial power.

On the coast of Kenya is a massive fort that was used during the slave trade era. It was built by early Portuguese invaders and was known as Fort Jesus. Many political prisoners during the colonial era were kept in the deep dungeons of this fort. After independence some of these political prisoners became popular leaders. I heard many a political speech that included a statement, “What did Christianity bring Africa? Fort Jesus!”

Instead of calling myself a Christian missionary, I started identifying myself as a Maths Teacher at an Adventist high school. Did it make any difference? Probably not, although when I talked with government officials, they did seem to accept me warmly and immediately. Another reason was that I always tried to speak to them in a local language, no matter how poorly I spoke it. I think it showed that I accepted their values.

Dear Lord, help me to always accept people inYyour  love.

---

[i] https://www.explore254.com/kenya/listing/fort-jesus

Christmas Letter

Christmas 2016

Last year Christmas day found us in Madagascar. Our very dear friends Pam and Gideon Peteresen invited us to climb the mountains to the east of the Zurcher Adventist University (UAZ) campus. We had a student along since none of us speak Malagasy so he could translate for us. We crossed the highway and walked down into the valley where we crossed a very angry looking river on a couple narrow logs.

Sylvia Crossing the River on Logs

Then we hiked along a narrow mud ridge separating two rice paddies. We passed several homes and some communal graves. We climbed the steep slopes of the mountain until we finally came to a grass covered meadow that sloped fairly steeply back towards UAZ.

Wil in Front of Our Flat at UAZ

While eating our delicious lunch we idly watched a tropical thunder storm pouring rain on the UAZ campus then realized that it was coming directly towards us.  However there was nothing we could do to escape its path. In due course we were soaked to the skin. The trails were all on red clay, which now became extremely slippery, and our shoes built up great layers of clay.

At the University Gate

We spent three months at UAZ as English teachers to the freshman and sophomore students. We also toured a rain forest and a dry forest, both of which sported several Lemur species.

Ruffed Lemur

In many ways our stay in Madagascar reminded us of our 5 year stay in Tanzania way back in the late 1960s. If you wish to read more about our experiences in Madagascar, please see the Sojourn to Madagascar entries in December 2015 and January to March 2016 blogs at http://wils-thoughts.blogspot.com.

Two Ring-Tailed Lemur Babies Riding Piggy-Back

We found the people to be very friendly and helpful. The 150,000 Adventists in Madagascar are quite conservative and often spend all day Sabbath at their churches. UAZ is serving an essential role in providing leaders for the church and its missions in the Indian Ocean and increasingly to the Francophone portion of worldwide Adventism. It was a great privilege to have a brief chance to help their program. If you are interested in volunteering in Madagascar, contact Pam Petersen at headinghomesoon@gmail.com

One of Several Churchs Founded by UAZ Students

Allée des Baobabs in Madagascar at Sunset

Returning From the Trip to See the Baobabs and Lemurs With the Bairagees

On our way home from Madagascar we spent 17 days in and around Cape Town, South Africa. We spent most of the time with long time friends. We toured Butterfly World on our way to climb Paarl Rock. Joy didn’t feel up to climbing, but then, spurred on by our example, she and Rodney joined us at the top where we had a grand panoramic, if smoggy, view of the Western Cape including Helderberg Mountain and Table Mountain.

Rodney & Joy with Sylvia on Paarl Rock

Joy and Rodney are Pam’s parents. On Sabbath Lincoln, Rosemary, and Gwen hosted a potluck with his Sabbath School class. Many of the members are our friends, so it was a great reunion.

African Penguins

The first part of the next week we tried to visit Cape Point but picked a holiday to do it, and half of Cape Town was also trying to get there, so we watched kiteboarding at the Cape’s most popular beach instead. We also stopped at a breeding colony of African penguins. They were called jackass penguins when I was a kid because their call sounds like the braying of a donkey.

With Rodney & Joy in Kirstenbosch Gardens

We reveled in the beauty of Kirstenbosch Gardens that specializes in the beautiful and rich Cape flora. Heather took us out to a posh resort in Arniston where we were able to tour Cape Agulhas and the area surrounding the southernmost tip of Africa.

With Heather at Arniston

The next Sabbath Gideon had invited us to his mother’s home in Ottery, a suburb of Cape Town. Gideon and Pam had come from Madagascar especially to see his mother since she was very sick with cancer. The whole Petersen family showed up, and we had more excellent food than we could eat. We toured Cape Town in the afternoon with Pam and Gideon.

Lincoln and Rosemary took us around to their special sites during our last three days. We drove through four beautiful mountain passes and stopped for lunch at Gideon’s Famous Franschhoek Pancake House, not to be confused with the Gideon in previous paragraphs. We also got to pet alpacas and llamas. Now it’s your turn to figure out what the difference between them is.

With Lincoln & Rosemary Feeding Alpacas

Against my better judgment, I allowed myself to be elected the president of the Fellowship of Adventist Missionaries to Africa (FAMA) at the meeting held in 2014 at La Sierra University. Just before we went to Madagascar, our very capable editor passed away. So in Madagascar I spent a lot of time and energy trying to get the FAMA address list. Then I sent out several Newsletters mainly to apprise our members of our next meeting in Fletcher, NC.

We left home on May 17 to drive to the FAMA get together which started on June 2. We headed towards Indianapolis and then south to Tennessee and eventually our niece’s home in Roanoke, Virginia. En route we got to visit relatives and very good friends. When we didn’t overnight with people we knew, we “camped” in Walmart parking lots. We were driving our F-150 pickup with a cap on the back that covers our bed. We suffered from some very cold nights as well as some extremely hot nights in these parking lots.

FAMA Meeting in Fletcher NC 2016

Thanks to excellent help from many sources, our FAMA meetings were very spiritually rewarding and allowed us to form new friendships as well as renew many old ones. The meetings lasted from Thursday night until Sunday morning, the first weekend of June. When we left there we drove south from Fletcher and paid a very brief visit to new FAMA Newsletter editor, Lorna. She is proving an excellent editor with lots of new ideas and artistic talent.

We continued south to Orlando, Florida. In April we had spent a weekend with a group that facilitates Bible translations in many parts of the world where the Bible is still not available to people in their mother tongues. We stopped at Wycliffe to see firsthand what was happening. Wycliffe Associates has pioneered a radical new translation technique that relies on native speakers of these languages. The average time for translating a Bible has been around 25 years per language and is very expensive. The old technique is too expensive because translators must be supported by others all this time.

 The new technique produces a very passable gospel of Mark in the target language in about two weeks. It uses a computer printer to produce a copy that is passed out to Christians who speak the target language. These critique it and then encourage and support their translators who, with due diligence, can turn out the New Testament in less than a year and the whole Bible in two years. Since the expenses are borne by the local churches, they feel an integral part of the whole production. We are very excited by the obvious blessing of the Holy Spirit on their efforts. Their goal of having a copy of the Bible in every language that people want a translation in by 2025 now seems to be a real possibility.

Wycliffe Associates Bible Translators

We got home before our 51^st wedding anniversary on June 27. A month and a half later I, Wil, came down with West Nile Virus (WNV), a mosquito borne disease. It originated in Africa but is now found in almost all of the states in the U. S. The county health department here keeps close track of the spread of the disease. WNV hit me very hard. I remember taking a group from the church to the San Bernardino County Museum on August 18 to see their new mastodon exhibit. I was feeling sick on that day. Then I remember essentially nothing until the second week of October. I was in hospital for three weeks before they finally diagnosed WNV. It is a rare disease in Riverside County, where I was the fourth person diagnosed with it this year. I hallucinated a lot and spoke absolute garbage. Then they put me in a rehabilitation center for another 6 weeks, where I slowly regained my senses and learned to walk again. I lost 30 pounds (14kg) of muscle during those weeks in hospital. I just wish the loss had been around my waist!

Sylvia Supporting Wil in Rehab

The picture was taken after a total of eight or nine weeks in hospital and rehab.

A headache and dizziness have haunted me constantly ever since my memory kicked in again in early October. Recently I had another MRI done on my head to try and pinpoint the cause of the problem. From reading on the Internet it appears that these symptoms may be with me for a year or longer. My family has been very supportive, especially Sylvia and Elwood who have spent long hours day after day with me. I returned home the end of October. Since then I have been to Joshua Tree National Park three times. I don’t have the muscular strength to climb anything, but I do enjoy the hikes that are somewhat level. I also spend time almost every day hiking in the hills around our home. Our dog, Cleopatra, who has been with us for over 15 years, is ailing and has a hard time doing the longer walks.

Thank you for your prayers for our well being and my healing. We covet your further prayers on our behalf. We pray that you will have a lovely Christmas and a prosperous New Year, 2017. We treasure each of your greetings.

Our Address is still:

Wil & Sylvia Clarke

5547 Wentworth Dr.

Riverside, CA 92505

Phone: 951-687-4556

e-mail: wil.clarke@gmail.com

FAMA NEWSLETTER v10 n02

    

 FAMA NEWSLETTER

Volume 10    March , 2016   Number 2

A. Fellowship of Adventist Missionaries to Africa Get Together

1.  FAMA Meetings 2016

2.  Things to do now

B. Reports

C. We Remember

1.  Arthur Eugene Anderson

2.  Rose Stickle

3.  Dr. Robson Newbold

D. FAMA NL e-mail address:  wil.FAMA2016@gmail.com

       FAMA NL member’s e-addresses

E.  Registration Form for our Meetings in Fetcher, NC

* * * * *

A.   FAMA Matters.

1.    FAMA meetings, 2016.

      Details about our next FAMA reunion:

What:       Fellowship of Adventist Missionaries to Africa (FAMA) Biannual Reunion

Where:      The fellowship hall of the Fletcher SDA Church in Fletcher, North Carolina.

When:       June 2 – 5, 2016

Housing:

At Fletcher Academy, next to the church, there will be dorm rooms available in the boys’ dormitory. They have beds and mattresses in them but no towels or bedding. The cost is extremely nominal--and possibly free--for the FAMA event.

There are also many hotels/motels available in the nearby town of Henderson, NC. The manager of Mountain Inn and Suites-Airport gives a discount to people who have something to do with FAMA/Fletcher Academy. The cost will be around $80 to $90 per room with this discount. It includes a continental breakfast with waffles, cereal, boiled egg, yogurt, fruit, etc. We need to let the manager know by April how many rooms will be needed.

You can check at http://www.historichendersonville.org/ for other places to stay.

If you wish to camp or park an RV see http://www.historichendersonville.org/campgrounds_rv_parks.htm

Food: The cafeteria at Fletcher Academy serves three meals a day at very reasonable rates. We are planning a potluck lunch for Sabbath. Usually there is enough food left over after the potluck for supper, too.

Meetings and registration: Registration will start on Thursday afternoon about 3 o’clock in the church fellowship hall. There will be a welcome meeting on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. Several meetings are planned for Friday and Saturday yet leaving time to meet and visit with other missionaries. We will choose new FAMA officers at the Saturday evening meeting. Sunday morning there will be a brief worship and farewell meeting.

2.  Things to do now:

a.   Email us an estimate of your plans for being at our Meetings in Fetcher, NC

It is very urgent that we have an estimate of how many are coming in June. Please email Judy Harvey <brunju.harvey8@gmail.com> as soon as possible, before the beginning of April, and inform her of your plans to join us.

b.   Estimate which nights you will need a room in the dorm and how many beds you will need.

c.   Also estimate how many meals you will wish to eat in the academy cafeteria.

We realize that plans do change, but at least we will have ballpark numbers we can share with the academy. We have a registration form on the last page that you can print and mail.

c.   Invite and encourage other missionaries, former missionaries, and interested people to attend.

d.   If you know of a potential speaker, you or someone you’d like to hear, please contact Wil Clarke at wil.FAMA2016@gmail.com or at 951-231-5402 as soon as possible.( I will not have access to my phone until April 1, 2016.)

e.   Fletcher is situated in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, so you may want to plan on spending an extra few days for a vacation there. For starters see the Hendersonville webpage (http://www.historichendersonville.org/) for suggestions of attractions and activities in the area.

B.  Reports

Please send any news or reports to wil.FAMA2016@gmail.com

We rely on your input for the FAMA Newsletter.

* * * * *

C.  We Remember

1.  Arthur Eugene Anderson

It is with sadness that I write to tell you of the passing of my father-in-law, Arthur Eugene Anderson.  He was 97 years old and died November 2, 2015.  He served in California, Alberta, Burma, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and Ethiopia (1966 to 73).  He was an incredible man of God whose sole desire was to serve his Lord.  I know he will be really happy when he wakes up and sees Jesus.

If anyone wishes to contact his wife Lois, her address is 6100 Orr Springs Rd., Ukiah, California, 94582.

                                                                        Mary Lane Anderson < marylane@bigplanet.com>

2. Rose Stickle

Sorry, that Rose passed away.  What a legacy!!!   What a harvest for Jesus.  Amen and Amen.

                                                                       Jack Blanco < blanco@southern.edu>

It’s nice to see a newsletter again but sorry to hear about Rose’s death.  I was going to point out that the Carolina camp meeting is scheduled for May 29 to June 4.  My husband and I will be at camp meeting at Lake Junaluska near Waynesville, NC.  Unfortunately we will not be able to attend the full FAMA event because of the conflict with camp meeting.  Our pastor friend from DR Congo will be at campmeeting with us and much of the summer.  If you would like to hear about the Train Them 2 Fish ministry in DR Congo, we could spare time to attend and present what is happening in that country.*  For the past 3 years my husband and I have been involved with setting up this ministry, and it has grown so much.  In Bukavu in the South Kivu area, we became acquainted with Pastor Ongasa, the field president whose heart is in evangelism.  We went on a mission trip to this city after Pastor Ongasa planted some bible workers in 11 areas where there were no churches for worship.  We rented some very humble places for them to meet.  The first year 286 new souls were won to Christ and baptized, the 2^nd year another mission trip was arranged, and about the same number of new believers were baptized, and now the total membership is greater than 1,000 (estimated).  The retention rate of the new believers, because of the bible workers and the Holy Spirit, is in the 90 percentile.  In 2014, we organized another mission trip to Kinshasa where the population is about 12 million, but we have only about 6,000 believers in that city.  Many people were baptized during that campaign.  (In 2015, there was no mission trip to DR Congo because we went to the GC session and had a booth for Train Them 2 Fish)

We left bible workers to continue their ministry in Bukavu, and this year, Pastor Ongasa moved to Kinshasa to be the Train Them 2 Fish administrator there.  There is a great need for that city.  Our ministry includes evangelism as high priority and helping the handicapped and others who are in need of learning a trade to learn to be self- sufficient: sewing, basket weaving, and we’ll be adding agriculture and school of evangelism and health courses and other vocational options as we extend this ministry.  34 acres of land were purchased in January 2016, and now we look forward to seeing buildings to be built.

This year we are planning a mission trip of evangelism to Kinshasa in August and are recruiting people to join us to “preach”.

P.S. we live in Hendersonville, NC. About 10 minutes from Fletcher Academy.

                                                                        Karolyn Leonard <kleon2893@bellsouth.net>

* [Editor: We are working to arrange a time to be able to hear them at Fletcher]

Sir, how I lament the passing of Rose Stickle, but also rejoice in you taking the Newsletter reins again.

However much I would like to attend the FAMA retreat in Fletcher, NC, USA, - it is beyond my reach and means as someone who had heeded the call in 1994 and laid the hand on the plough for Southern-Africa as far as the Congo River in 2004 .

In encouragement I attach a report for your interest or records.

My continued prayers for FAMA and its associated missionaries to Africa.

Yours faithfully, - in prayer and purpose,

                                                                        Abraham J. (Johan)  Meintjes, <esprojects@vodamail.co.za>

                                                                        SDA Magaliessig, Pretoria, NC, SAU, SID

3.  Dr. Robson Newbold.

Dr. Robson Newbold died last month. He was medical director at Ngoma in Rwanda during the 1940s and 1950s. We will try to get more precise info from the family to you. His son is also Robson Newbold.

                                                                       Harry Bennett < pvchurch@aol.com> 3009 E 5^th St.,

                                                                       National City, CA 91950, 619-245-5845

D.    FAMA News Letter e-mail address:  wil.FAMA2016@gmail.com   Wil Clarke

      Thank you for sending to FAMA News Letter any email addresses for current or former missionaries to AFRICA (and their children) who might be interested in receiving this newsletter.  Any news on your present or past activities will help to make this newsletter interesting to others in the FAMA family.  It would be helpful if you include information on where and when you served in Africa. African mission stories would also be appreciated.    If you do not wish to receive the FAMA Newsletter, please let us know.                                    -   Wil Clarke

      FAMA News Letter e-mail Search:

                                                                                                

This time around, we have had a huge group of bounced e-mails.  Please help us find the correct e-mail address for the following names:

Gilberto Araujo

Victor and Tonya Awuor

Francis & Retta Chase

Fred D Brandt

Nick & Gail Brightman

Ian & Roger Bothwell

Arnold & Marilyn Boram

Natanael Bernardo

Dilson & Lea Bezerra

Nell Davies

Ken Flemmer

Llewellyn & Renee Juby

Walter Lacks

Helen & Bill Markin

Len & Klaren McMillian

Thomas & Anita Riederer

Harold Sheffield

Cristine Orillosa

Bob Parsons

Hermie and Daniela Munez

Claude & Farida Sabot

Goodwell Nthani

Francis Slate

James & Carol Sutton

Gerhard & Emilie van Wyk

Sebastian Tirtirau

Robert & Lorilee Thomas

Martha Toews

Gary VerStegg

Meds VerStegg

Jerald Whitehouse

E.  Registration Form for our Meetings in Fetcher, NC

Fellowship of Adventist Missionaries to Africa Retreat, June 2 to 5, 2016

Fletcher SDA Church in Fletcher, North Carolina

In July 2014, we had a wonderful time in our get together in Riverside, California. We enjoyed sharing experiences and fellowshipping together. We are looking forward to having a profitable time together in June 2016 and hope that you will be able to come and join us. We are all ambassadors for Christ and His missions, and there are still great needs in the mission field. Africa is dear to our hearts, and we must continue to keep the needs and victories of Africa before our friends. Let us pray earnestly and work diligently so that the missionary spirit never dies in our churches. Please plan to come and join us at this retreat in June 2016.

 Name_______________________________________________ Number in your party_______

Address_______________________________________________________________________

Home and Cell Phone Number(s)___________________________________________________

Email_________________________________________________________________________

Registration Fee- $10 single, or $15 per family. Registration starts at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, June 2, 2016. The first meeting is at 7:00 p.m. These will be in the fellowship hall of the Fletcher SDA Church in Fletcher, North Carolina.

Housing: At Fletcher Academy, next to the church, there will be dorm rooms available in the boys’ dormitory. They have beds and mattresses in them but no towels, pillows, or bedding. Fletcher Academy will let us use the dorm rooms without charge for the FAMA event. But they need to know early how many to plan for. Please plan to make a donation for the rooms. You may contact Marcella for reservations.

Meals: The cafeteria at Fletcher Academy serves three meals a day at very reasonable rates. We are planning a potluck lunch for Sabbath. Usually there is enough food left over after the potluck for supper, too. Each meal costs about $5 per person. They do not serve Sabbath breakfast.

Please register as early as possible (by April 15) so we can give the academy a reasonable estimate of the number of meals and number of rooms needed for their planning. This is important. 

Checks should be made payable to “Judy Harvey”. Please send your information and check to the FAMA Treasurer:

*Judy Harvey

1242 Ruskin Drive

Medford, OR 97504-5213

If you have further questions, contact Judy at 541-772-0773.   You can leave your number for a call back. Email her at <brunju.harvey8@gmail.com>

Registration Fee	$10 or $15
Room Donation*
Meal Costs
Total Cost Estimate

 

*There are several hotels in nearby Henderson, NC.

Attached:

From Abraham J. (Johan)  Meintjes

Johnny’s Incredible Congo River Journey.pdf

The Dark Triangle of Conflict Minerals in the Eastern DRC.pdf

 Send Wil an e-mail if you wish to see the attachments.

Sylvia's Notes From Madagascar 2 - February

Notes from Madagascar: 2

February 19, 2016

            Today is a milestone birthday for our youngest—Fred.  This evening I enjoyed a short visit with him via cell phone—just as he was taking off for a day of skiing in the mountains, assuming the hot weather at home hasn’t diminished the snow there in the meantime.  It is rewarding just to know that he is taking time to do something like that on his special day.

            Meantime I heard from daughter Julia that she and David and her sister, Esther, with husband Craig plan to celebrate with Fred on Sunday.  They will take food for a potluck lunch and play games at Fred’s place (his choice).  Wil and I plan to stay up a little late Sunday night so we can Skype all our children during their time together there.  That will be a real treat!!

            Today we had our own adventure.  Yesterday we spent going to Tana and taking in some of the attractions there.  It was well after 9:30 when we got back to the University and our flat (home here).  I may tell what we did later, but now about today’s events . . .

            Yesterday and today two teams of Zurcher University students participated in a drama competition held in Antsirabe, 35 kilometers south of campus.  The theme this year was “Protecting the Environment,” and each entry was to be an original script acted out by students from the school where it was written.  I heard of this competition the same day that the Language Department put on an original play (in English) for chapel.  Based on some things I heard in that drama, I asked the department chair if I could edit the scripts to be used for the contest.  I just wanted to be sure there were no grammatical or usage errors.  She welcomed my help.

            Well, just last week I finally had a chance to edit three scripts.  Some of our students were acting in these, so Wil and I accepted Pam’s invitation to go with her to the contest so we could show support for our students.  We left soon after 11 a.m. and found the University bus waiting for one last person—Elisha, the student who was director for most of what they were to do once they got to town.

Pam backed up and drove to the house where he stays, and he squeezed into the back seat with two female students and me.  Then we headed south toward town.  Meantime one of the students used my phone to call the bus driver and ask him to wait so Elisha could get on the bus.  We caught up with the bus several kilometers down the road and gave up our extra passenger.

About half way to town, Wil noticed that the heat gauge was at the top—in the red area—and called Pam’s attention to that fact.  Pam pulled the car off the road and moaned, “Why does this always happen when I’m driving?”  The air conditioner had been on full blast, but she had turned that off before we stopped.  Soon, as Wil lifted the hood (bonnet) of the car, we saw the steam rising from the radiator.  The students went to ask for some water at a nearby house, and the lady there graciously helped us with a small bucket full. 

Meanwhile, Pam drank the remaining water in her water bottle, and I dug out the empty two liter bottle I had left in the vehicle the night before.  We filled one bottle from the bucket, and the girls went back for more water.  This time the woman gave them a larger pail and an enamel mug to dip the water with so we could fill the bottles.  Soon we had two bottles full and ready to use once the engine had cooled enough.  As you can imagine, we had a few onlookers by this time, interested in what was going on.  

Waiting for our Engine to Cool

A man in a green SUV stopped by the car and asked what the matter was.  The girls recognized him as one of the people who had been at the drama competition the day before, so Pam asked if they could ride with him since they were to be in the competition, too.  Just then three young boys walked by, each with a slender bamboo pole that Pam realized could be used as fishing poles in one of the dramas to be performed.  So she had the students negotiate to buy two from them. The girls took them and the few props that were with them, got into the green SUV, and rode on into town.

After a while, Wil could start pouring water into the reservoir and watch it bubble and boil out.  When the temperature gauge showed normal, Wil and I got back in the car, and we turned around and headed toward home.  It was too late—and too risky, Pam decided, to try to go on.  The gauge stayed in the good zone only a couple of kilometers, and then it jumped into the red zone.  So we stopped on the side of the road and waited for the engine to cool.

We did this several times, only getting a kilometer or so each time before we had to stop again.  It was 12:30 when we turned around, and Pam was getting hungry.  Fortunately, a boy with a basket full of good looking pears came by and persuaded Pam to buy them.  I was willing to try one, so Wil chose the ripest one he could find and handed it to me and then gave me his knife.  I shared a piece or two with each to stave off our hunger.  Then we drove one or two kilometers before the car got too hot again.

In one place, Pam and I left Wil to write in his journal and look after the car while we took a walk.  We went past a newly planted citrus grove, a plot of small apple trees, an older garden of orange trees, some with flowers and a few bearing fruit, and plots of lemon balm and other plants—quite a variety.  All this appeared to belong to the establishment on the other side of a small valley with ponds of water and rice fields in it.

We saw a couple of large warehouses, a two story concrete building under construction farther in, and in a grove of trees, several red brick houses or other buildings.  We climbed some large earthen steps planted with field rice and at the top came upon two graves, not built in the traditional way, so we began to guess that this was part of a Christian mission.  Beyond the graveyard, a row of new buildings stood, and in the fields beyond quite a number of workers planted, cultivated, or worked on the irrigation ditches around the newly planted fields.  Pam and I each have reddened areas on our skin from being out during the middle of the day.

Back at the car we took another little hop toward home.  Eventually, the bus from the University stopped behind us on its way from town to take the shoppers home that had gone to Antsirabe early in the morning.  Soon the school GMC truck also stopped.  They hotwired the fan to run all the time, and Wil poured more water in the radiator reservoir.  I hopped on the bus, the truck driver promised to stay behind Pam as she drove slowly the rest of the way, and Wil rode along with her.  I didn’t have a key to our house, but before the bus got to the top of the campus, Pam and Wil drove past us.  That was our adventure.  [All’s well that ends well!]