Joseph Lockwood:
Hello Everybody,
I'm am here in Ecuador and doing well so far. The first day or two were a bit of a shock, but now my mind is settling back in. Some how I actually seem to understand and almost speak even a little more of the language than I did last time I was here, which is unusual because I haven't used it in so long. I would appreciate your prayers in understanding the language as two of the three people I spend most of my time with working in the hangar speak even less English than I speak Spanish. Working with someone you cant talk to can get frustrating.
The weekend I arrived was a three-day weekend for the workers down here giving them Monday off. This meant that all regular flights were canceled, and only emergency flights would be available. This also gave me the opportunity to go with them if an emergency flight came up. I was able to go on two different flights; one for a fellow who was shot in the left upper arm with a shotgun at close range (10 ft.), and the other for a young man who was snake bit out in the jungle. The snakes here are not too friendly.
MAF has set up HF radio communication at strategic places throughout the jungle, so when a person is wounded as such, they may only have to travel for a few hours or a day to a communication spot and call in an airplane. Were it not for this radio and aviation work, it could take three days to a week for these people to get medical attention. This has made the difference between life and death for hundreds of people. The hospital here in Shell is the HCJB hospital, which is a Christian missionary organization; so once the people receive medical treatment, they are visited by some pastors and or Chaplains and are presented with the Gospel. MAF is in the process of organizing a program to better keep track of all patients brought in on aircraft so they can have the opportunity to minister and witness to them.
Anyway, it was a great opportunity for me to jump in and catch a piece of the action. I hope I have more opportunities of the same. The pilots down here have been very gracious and almost always let me fly when we go out.
I started my project yesterday of stripping the airplane components for painting. It is a long and tedious task. We are also encountering some engine problems with some of the other airplanes. One was pulled out of service yesterday for a 100hour inspection and ended up having a bad cylinder, which means that it will be out of use for a couple more days. Another aircraft may have a bad turbo on it, and its engine is only 19 hours from overhaul time. If we end up needing to do an engine change then we will be down to only one operational aircraft. We have enough jungle work to keep four airplanes busy right now, so we need as many airplanes flying as possible.
Well, that basically brings you all up to date with the happenings down here. I greatly appreciate and covet all your prayers, and am praying for all of you as well. I will send the pictures separately as the server down here is quite limited in capacity of email.
God bless,
Joseph
(Updated: October 24th, 2005)
