What are some of these other hats that missionaries often wear? That depends on where they live and what things are available in their areas of work. For instance, a missionary might have to be an electrician, plumber, carpenter, brick layer, educational teacher of their own children, engineer or auto mechanic. Without some or all of these hats, the missionary often finds it hard, or even impossible to complete the work that he/she set out to do in the first place. Many times in a third world country you can find a person that hangs out his/her shingle, stating that he/she can do the job that you have at hand. However, upon going to these people you find that much delay and aggravation is caused when the job is not completed properly the first time, second time, third time or even the fourth time. It might turn out that the job is never completed successfully.

There is a term that we as Americans often use to describe the quality or type of work that a person might do. This term is "Shade Tree Mechanic". When we use this term either in a serious or joking way, nothing else needs to be said about the quality of work that the person does. In Madagascar, however, even the mechanics at the major car dealers make the shade tree mechanics in America look really good.

Let me try to relate to you the latest saga of our 1991 Daihatsu Rocky. This is the vehicle that we transported from Kenya to Madagascar back in April of 1997. Before deciding to ship our vehicle, I had made three trips to Madagascar and checked both on the price of vehicles and the availability of parts for Daihatsu Rocky vehicles in the capital city of Antananarivo. Prices for even used vehicles were high at the time. New vehicles were out of the question. I was assured by the local Daihatsu dealer that getting parts to repair the vehicle would be no problem. Those were "famous last words" as the saying goes. Add to that the inability of the garage people to do any job properly and you have a huge mess with no repairs being accomplished on your vehicle.

Within the last year several repairs have been accomplished after many tries and retries to fix the problem that needed fixing. For instance, I took the car to the Daihatsu garage to have the emergency brake fixed. The car was left for two days to give the mechanics time to find and correct the problem. Upon returning to pick up the vehicle I was assured that the problem had been corrected. Before I even got out of the parking lot of the Daihatsu garage, I realized that the problem was still plaguing my vehicle. It felt that the vehicle was trying to drag some large amount of weight. Needless to say, I returned to the garage, got the workers to put the vehicle up on the lift, and proceeded to show them that the right rear wheel turned freely, while the left rear wheel could not even be turned with great effort. Then came the clincher. I reached up and grabbed the left emergency brake cable and gave it a good yank. Guess what? The left wheel was freed of its previous bondage and began to turn freely. After an hour wait I once again tried to leave the Daihatsu garage. This time the vehicle worked properly, since a new brake cable had been installed, only after I had to show them the problem in the first place.

Shortly after this episode the charging system on the vehicle started acting up. I had just purchased a new 100 amp battery. Every morning I would run down the battery after only about 5 minutes cranking. I returned to the Daihatsu garage several times to complain. Each time the vehicle spent two days, and each time nothing changed. I even suggested that they check over the charging system on the vehicle. They refused stating that the problem had to be in another area. To make a long story short, I checked over the charging system and found a broken wire in the voltage regulator. Once I installed a new regulator, guess what? No more problem with the charging system and the battery had plenty of power for starting the vehicle in the 40 to 45 degree temperatures that are common during winter here in Madagascar.

But the most recent battle has been with the fuel tank. It all started about one year ago. I took the car back to the Daihatsu garage for two reasons. First, the fuel tank had sprung a leak. And second, The fuel guage stopped registering the fuel properly. I thought that while the tank was out to repair the leak, the sensor could be removed and repaired or replaced at the same time. This was not the case. The sensor was not repaired. I was given the part number for the sensor and told that I would have to track down a new part outside of Madagascar if I wanted the fuel guage to work. There are no new fuel sensors for Daihatsu Rocky vehicles in Madagascar. Well, since removing a fuel tank to get at the sensor was not a welcome job, I put it off for some time. I just made sure that after driving about 200 miles I would be sure and top up the fuel tank.

This worked well, until one day I noticed that the tank had sprung another leak. I removed the tank and took it to a local garage, not the Daihatsu garage. By this time I was tired of doing their work for them, and them being paid for my work. While the tank was out of the car being repaired, I removed the sensor to find that the float had come off of the sensor. Therefore, the rod that was supposed to register the fuel in the tank always stayed at the bottom. I also noticed that the connection inside the sensor was not good. Upon fixing these two items I regained the fuel sensor for the fuel tank. It only took about one half hour to repair and I did not even have to look outside of Madagascar for the parts to repair it. To be truthful, I do not think that the Daihatsu garage even removed the sensor when they repaired the tank.

Since that time, the tank has sprung several more leaks. I finally gave up trying to repair the leaks and started looking for a new fuel tank. This shows just how naive I really was. After all of my previous dealings with the Daihatsu garage, I thought that I could buy a new fuel tank for the vehicle. It did not happen. Instead I found a used tank and now the tank problem is a thing of the past.

Why take up so much space in a newsletter to write about car problems? Because, it is problems like this that often times hinder the missionary from doing the job that he/she was sent to the field to do in the first place. Missionaries need vehicles that operate properly if they are going to not spend all of their time fixing vehicles instead of teaching the lost. Making it possible for the missionary to be able to teach the lost by fixing the vehicle is "All in a Days Work". Even if that days work streaches out to be several months of effort to fix one simple problem in the U.S..

W.B.S. update
Since the last newsletter we continue to search for a post office box that can be used for the W.B.S. lessons that will be sent to the United States. This is Madagascar and quite different from the United States. For instance, I have a box in one of the local post offices. At this post office there has been a sign hanging on the door for several months advertising boxes for rent. So, I thought, it should be no problem to get a box for the exclusive use of W.B.S. However, upon asking, I was told that presently there are no available boxes. I was awe stricken. There was a sign on the door advertising boxes for rent. Furthermore, I could see plainly with my own eyes that about 20 boxes were standing open, not being used. Upon stating this fact to the postal worker I was told, "yes there are boxes, but we do not have any locks for the boxes." Who ever heard of having a post office with boxes but no locks for the boxes. Only in Madagascar.

The big paper push
The process for renewal of the Rosie family visas has stalled in one of the governmental offices. It has been over a month since I first applied to this office. Each time I return to check on the status of our paperwork I get the same answer. The papers are still not completed. This office has to approve the papers before they can be taken to the next office. Which may take as long or longer to complete their part of the paper push process.

I already applied for and received a temporary extension for three months that will allow us to stay in the country legally while I continue to seek our new visas. This temporary extension will expire on June 28, 2001. However, this will only be the first of three or possibly four temporary extensions that will be needed before the visa renewal process in finally completed.

Two years ago, we finally received approval for new visas in the month of November. This was some ten months after I started the visa renewal process. Then in November, upon receiving our passports with the new visas stamped in, I find out that our new two year visas are only good for another fourteen months. I thought they would be dated starting from November onwards. But, this was not the case. They were dated back to the date when the last visas expired.

Pray for the Ratovohery family as they visit France, Switzerland and the United States in the next three months.

Pray for the Rosie family as we take on an even larger portion the the work here in Madagascar during the absence of John and Esther Ratovohery.

Pray for the five bible study groups that meet weekly around the Antananarivo area. Pray that souls can be touched, and Christians can be strengthened because of these times of added teaching during the week.

Pray for the Cuneo family as they are away from their home in Pennsylvania. Pray that they can help us and the work here through their act of service in Madagascar.

The children are now busier that ever. The Cuneo’s came with their two children (Emily and Bryan), so when school is not in session, the children are finding many different things to keep themselves busy. There is no end to the noise around the house. Havilah is having fun with Emily and Brian. They like to use pieces of plywood to build houses in the back yard. Kit is also having fun. He is constantly wanting to play "Horse" with Dan Cuneo and myself out on our basketball court or see who is a better "Big Game Hunter" on the computer.