The big news for this month is that our daughter, Jenny, will marry Oscar Navarro Mata on August 8th in Mexico. They both work at the Centro Evangélico Querétaro and are involved in youth ministry and music.
In June, Dan is attending HCJB Global IT meetings and ICCM, the International Conference on Computing and Mission, at Taylor University. He enjoys this time of fellowship and discussion with Christian computer geeks from all over the world.
Barb and Emily are on summer break from school, and John continues to be one of the top salesmen at a local video store. Emily is a substitute clerk at the local public library. She also volunteers at the HCJB Global Technology Center helping prepare SonSet® pre-tuned, solar radios for mission work.
Imagine living in a country where you can’t access the Internet, watch television, read newspapers and even receive mail. Except for Bangui, the capital city, that’s what life is like for most of the Central African Republic’s (C.A.R.) 4.5 million residents. Their lifeline to the rest of the world is radio.
In 2007, Dan was part of a team from the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Indiana, that spent three weeks installing a shortwave radio station for HCJB Global’s partner, ICDI (Integrated Community Development International).
This past April, Dan and two other HCJB Global engineers from Elkhart returned to C.A.R. to install new regional shortwave radio stations in rural Boali, and the capital city, Bangui. These two installations are similar to the one they installed in 2007.
One of the new stations will help extend the broadcast hours of the existing Christian station into the shortwave bands for nighttime use. Each station only works well during a portion of each day because of how shortwave signals travel through the atmosphere.
The other station was set up in Bangui, the capital of C.A.R., for the national government on behalf of ICDI. By assisting the government in the name of the ministry, we hope to ensure that the door will remain open for Christian broadcasting within the country. In fact, while Dan and the team were in C.A.R., an incident involving a lawsuit against ICDI was dismissed —partly because the presence of the HCJB Global missionaries working on the government station demonstrated that ICDI really cared about the people.
In 2007, when Dan and the team from HCJB Global were in the Central African Republic, installing a satellite system to receive Christian French programming from TWR to be broadcast on the local shortwave station, they were unable to receive a signal from the TWR satellite.
Now, three years later, our team was struggling again for days trying to receive the TWR signal, yet without success. After much prayer, on the last day we could work, the receiver locked onto the satellite with a clear signal in French. We believe that the Lord was teaching us to depend on Him in everything.
We are praising the Lord that ICDI will now be able to use the French programming as they increase broadcast hours with the new station.
While in the Central African Republic, Dan and the Technology Center team visited the first Christian FM radio we helped establish in the country. Radio ESCA (French acronym for may the Lord save Central Africa), has a dedicated staff of volunteers that work outside jobs to support themselves. They do much with what we would consider so little.
The station control console has been used for so long that the paint is worn off as shown in the photo.
The antenna tower should be taller and could use some straightening.
Even with so little they are helping transform their community for Christ. As we are able, we would like to help them to continue and improve their ministry.
I have uploaded a number of photos of the work I am involved with here in the Central African Republic during the month of April. You can view these photos at danhcjb.org/africa.
The work on our projects is going well and I am in good health, although it is not easy because the weather is hot (90s), and things often do not go as we had planned. However, we have already seen that the Lord wanted our plans to change in order to further His work. Please keep me and those with whom I am working in your prayers.
In Our Lord’s Service,
Dan
