Jim and Judys Wycliffe Journey

The McPlumbing Continuum

2017-02-05T13:19:00.001-07:00

A few snippets of a work in process...

Click on the below link to get the whole story.

https://jim-judy-wycliffe-journey.com/2017/02/05/the-mcplumbing-continuum/

Thanks for praying
Jim & Judy McCabe

Doumougou II

2017-02-05T09:31:00.001-07:00

Into the outback and back again. Click the link below for all the details.

Doumougou II

Some times it appears that things get a little bit over loaded. I'm just saying...

Thanks for praying and your encouragement!!!

Jim and Judy McAdventure

New Years Eve McFire

2017-01-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

New Years Eve McBombFire

Jim McPyro New Years Eve Bomb Fire

Jim McPryo panicking because the McFire has gotten TOO big and is threatening the dry desert trees just to the east.

Judy McPyro laughting at the situation, McFearless she is at times.

Jim McFireMan getting flames under control

Calm composure setting in (especially for McPyro)

Happy New Years from Chad

Ouaddai 4X4 Adventure

2016-12-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Dec 7 - 18th, 2016

Ouaddai 4X4 Adventure

Chad, Africa, Eastern Region

After three hours it was my turn driving the Toyota Land Cruiser dodging the pot holes, ruts, craters and massively deteriorated roadside with a 3 -5 foot drop off. This was the paved two lane main highway east through the country. In both directions vehicles were driving as if on a double diamond downhill ski slalom, taking up the whole road and at times jumping off the road to try and find smoother ground. As you might imagine, this is very focused driving. About four hours out I noticed the truck steering pulling to the left. I'm thinking to myself, that's new, why would it be pulling to the left? The light comes on in my mind, a tire is going flat! Right at this point the road is level with the surrounding terrine and I pull off. The tire is destroyed, but still intact. This is why one buys good quality tires! It takes about 15 minutes to change the tire. Our teams always carry two spares. In the process I asked the owner of the Land Cruiser, "In your 20 years of living and working here, do you have any idea how many tires you have changed?" She said no, but in her first year, on one two week survey trip they had 13 flats. She is a prime example of the single ladies who come to work in Chad. The bold, beautiful, courageous, intelligent, enterprising, sacrificing single women who are willing to go and do what so few men would ever think of doing. I'm in awe of these women.

On this trip I was able to help out four teams with upgrades to solar systems, structural housing repairs, plumbing, electrical, automotive, refrigeration and even a kitty door installation. Before you start thinking, wow, he can do a lot, please know it's God using this cracked pot (me). I often find myself in over my head. When possible I email, call or Skype friends who are actually good at these different things and I get advice as I go. Sometimes it's just a prayer, “God, please don’t let me mess this up.” God is good, I am willing, people get helped and we all get blessed for it.

For one lady, I built a wooden box with insulation inside that slips over her tabletop solar refrigerator freezer. It's a beautiful stainless steel fridge, but it's always cold on the outside. That told me it doesn't have enough insulation in its walls. The heat transfer coils are located on the small front and side cut outs allowing me to do this type of modification. Hopefully it will be more efficient now. And it is so pretty!

In this photo I am replacing dry rotted lumber and adding three 4"X4"X20' support beams to the roof, that will allow the team coming after Christmas to install a good sized set of solar panels on the roof.

Vehicles in Chad

With my love of 4X4 vehicles, I have to digress the maintenance now. Below is an example of the bush taxi I took to the far east, near some Darfur refuge camps. In our early days in Cameroon we took bush taxis that were old beat up passenger vans, massively over loaded and going places they never should have. But today here in Chad, there are many of these Toyota Hardtop Troop carriers acting as bush taxis. In general they are the right vehicle for the job; one of the toughest production vehicles made. There were 11 of us in this one. Just as we were heading into the bush we came to a police and immigration check point. They asked all of the men for identity papers. I gave them my passport. After going page by page and back again they said they were sorry, but I didn't seem to have authorization for going into this part of the country. Oh yeah, the special papers I was carrying that were stamped by the the proper gov't office in N'Djamena, These were my authorization for entering this area. They weren't overly happy with these additional papers. They really wanted to see a stamp inside the passport. I also don't know Chadian Arabic, which is spoken more than French out here. I called the teammate with the new fridge cover, who lived 5 minutes away. She was there in four minutes and after she spoke with the authorities, in Arabic, they allowed me to continue. Being able to communicate in the local language sure is important.

So, this Land Cruiser climbing out of a dry river wash is exactly how we did it over and over again on our 4 hour journey. Very steep entry and exit to and from the wash. Our taxi had an excellent driver, but his vehicle had some mechanical problems. The 4X4 system was not operational and his transmission clutch mechanism was slowly becoming disabled. About two hours into our four hour trip the clutch quit completely, meaning it would no longer disengage. This meant each time he stopped he had to turn the engine off, put it in second gear and use the starter to get the vehicle moving and the engine started. He had a very difficult time shifting to a higher or lower gear after that. A diesel engine has low rpm power, so sometimes when crossing the soft sandy wash, the vehicle would sink in. When that happened the engine would slow down and he really needed to down shift to first, but couldn't. Amazingly it kept chugging along and most of the time we made it through. Just twice did it quit while in the middle of the wash. Once there were men waiting to help push people through, (for a small payment of course). The next time was a 1/4 mile wide wash and we were behind a small vehicle that did not have enough ground clearance. It got stuck when the underside of the vehicle started dragging in the sand and the drive tires just couldn't get traction any more. Its called being high centered. Our driver did a sharp left turn trying not to hit them. As he got off the path, we sunk quickly getting stuck right along side the other vehicle. All 11 of us surrounded the other stuck vehicle and tried with all our might to get them unstuck. But we couldn't. They would have to wait for a larger vehicle to tow them out. Then 10 of us got around our stuck vehicle, pushed and got ours free. This only happened three times before we made it across that wash!!!

God is good, all the time. I love this work, but I am wearing out.

Prayer requests:

God, please send a young maintenance couple or family to replace us.

Pray for courage and wisdom for followers of Jesus in Chad.

Pray for Gods words to bring people to Him and help them know Him.

Pray for our funding, we are still at about 75% of where we should be.

Pray for the country of Chad, its in a severe financial crisis and looks to get worse in the new year.

We are so grateful for you our team, we could never do this without you!

Jim and Judy McCabe

Good News from Chad - November 2016

2016-12-03T02:34:00.000-07:00

We are settling back in very well. Judy is enjoying her role again in housing and overseeing the children's resource center. Jim’s busy getting projects organized and started. It takes a lot of time to research all the costs of things and then form a good project estimate. We have a volunteer coming in January and already have many things lined up for him. This week and last Jim has been filling in for the new Chadian general maintenance supervisor who is on vacation. Jim will also be heading out to the eastern border in December to help install solar panels, get a tile floor installed, a roof repaired, a new fridge installed and a second solar system installed. Then in January he will drive with a maintenance team to south west Chad to do a maintenance survey for a national Bible translation association, then to south central Chad to install a cell phone antenna amplifier to help a translation team have better communication. Just a few things he has on his plate!

We are excited about things happening in Chad through God's word in written, spoken, and visual forms. We want you also to rejoice in what God is doing! Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land. Prov. 25:25

Many Adam and Abraham booklets, which were produced here in Chad, are in Switzerland in the hands of a Massalit man. Pray for the Massalit who will get those booklets, that they will be able to read them and that God will speak to them. Many have never seen their language in a written form. Also, pray for the Massalit here in Chad that were recently given French Bibles. The Massalit Bible has not been completed yet. May God build his kingdom among the Massalit! (Massalit are refugees from Sudan)

Transformed by the Word! A Scripture Engagement workshop finished well on October 21^st. 54 pastors and elders of a Chadian church denomination attended this workshop. This is the largest number of participants we’ve ever had! The Spirit of God guided us through the Bible studies. That day the Word of God touched their hearts! Many participants asked God for forgiveness for disobedience and decided to change. Some of these pastors have been at odds with each other since 2002. They met that night (from 10:00PM to 1:00AM) and were reconciled with God and with each other. PTL!! May God continue to help the participants, as they return home, to meditate on His Word, and to invite members of their family and churches to study the Bible with them and to experience the transformation and reconciliation they received!

In three language communities - the storytellers (nationals who are trained to tell Biblical stories) are working very well and we are seeing the impact of their work. In one village, the church is almost closed. The storytellers were invited to that village to narrate stories. The next Sunday the church reopened and the young men were encouraged to come back to the church to praise the Lord. In another village, a film called "Walking with Jesus" was shown and 7 persons came to trust in Jesus. Pray for the 2 men and 5 young women that they will grow in their faith and be led by the Spirit.

Scripture Apps. You should have heard the reaction of the congregation at the presentation of the Kimre NT audio app (and reading app) last Sunday morning! And you should have seen the smile on the face of one brother seeing the audio app on his device, and saying: "Now I will be able to learn to read Kimre!"

Now people are praying that they will be able to find a "Smart" phone JUST so that they can listen to and read the Kimre NT. Last Sunday morning was a special impact moment that the Lord provided for the Gabri-Kimre N’Djamena community. God is using one church member to distribute the apps. He was all smiles last Tuesday morning when he saw the reading app work on his phone after we had created it. And he was even more smiles on Friday when finally, the audio NT app worked on his tablet. Since then he keeps distributing the apps and people come to his home to get them. God’s word is going out! And I am grateful that I can see this happening. I am sure it will arrive in the village as well.

These are just some of the amazing things God is doing through His written

and spoken words in Chad.

Thanks again for praying for us and for Chad.

Jim & Judy McCabe

Wycliffe JAARS SIL

Tucson, AZ April - September

N'Djamena, Chad, October - March

jim_mccabe@sil.org; judy_mccabe@sil.org

http://jim-judys-wycliffe.blogspot.com/

https://jim-judy-wycliffe-journey.com/

Everyone was yelling...

2016-11-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

The taxi driver picked us up at 5:30 AM. We arrived at the station at 5:40 for our 6 AM departure. Our driver parked the car directly in front of the tour bus. There must have been a 50 or more people milling around that bus; some selling breakfast snacks, trinkets and water. Others, I have no idea, why there were there. But it seems everyone was yelling something. The bus driver was revving the engine and honking his musical horn. He was actually slowly creeping the bus forward. As we opened the taxi doors they started shouting "where to, where to!" The taxi driver opened the trunk to get our bags, several people shoved their hands into the trunk to get the bags and kept shouting, "where to where to". I said, "Mongo", and the bags almost disappeared. I had to do some tugging to get my small hand carry I wanted on board and then the bags disappear to the side of the bus. The taxi driver pointed me in the direction of a small table with a man writing in a journal; it was the check in point. He grabbed our tickets, scribbled our seat numbers on them, shoved them back and said hurry, go! The bus was creeping forward honking his horn, vendors were clogging the bus door entry trying for that last sale. I was waving my tickets towards the driver, trying to let him know we are trying to get on board. The bus still creeping forward, horn honking. Judy was behind me, somewhere, I could just barely glimpse her through the throng. She was being propelled by the throng towards the bus door. Then boom, we were there, looking for our seats and trying to find a place for my hand carry. 5:45 AM and it was now moving, not creeping forward. It followed our taxi man as he backed out and we were on our way; 15 minutes early.

: Bus to Mongo, reminded me of the inside of a casino.

Because of your prayers, it was a great trip. We are so thankful for YOU our team. You are impacting lives for Jesus, because of what you are doing. (Praying, giving and advocating for us) Please keep it up! The service Judy and I did allowed our fellow front line colleagues there in the Guera to keep focused on the "main thing", working with their language teams, to get God's Words into three different languages. But remember, these are never just languages, these are people who need to know Jesus in the pure and simple way you and I know Him. We know Him, because of the Bible in our language and the Holy Spirit working in our lives. These remote people groups in the middle of Chad are getting an incredible gift of hearing God speak their language and starting to really understand it. Judy and I have the wonderful privilege of being on the front lines and seeing the results first hand. On Sunday we attended a church that was in three languages, French, Chadian Arabic (2014 dedication) and Kenga (2012 dedication). The singing, the worship, the prayers and the power of the Holy Spirit was energizing. We thank you and they thank you, for your part in making this happen.

: Judy after church in Bitkine

Back to the bus... It was a tour bus! These are brand new here in Chad and used for general long distant travel. Assigned seats, one person to a seat, very comfortable overall and very nice. We were the only non Chadians on board and felt very comfortable. They have thick plush curtains inside covering the windows, very pretty, probably made it cooler inside, but very difficult to see the outdoor scenery or get a foggy idea of where one is. There was working air-conditioning and two drop down video screens playing Chadian or French African music videos. Mostly conservative, so as to not offend the Islamic culture. Then they played a video, "The Gods Must be Crazy 2". It was in English, sub-titled in Arabic. If you haven't seen it you need to. It's roughly 25 - 30 years old, but the Chadians on the bus were laughing so hard it was enjoyable just watching them.

This trip to Mongo took us 6 hours. Twenty five years ago when I first drove a 4X4 on this same road it took about 18 hours. We did an over-night half way back then. It was slow and rough. Progress is being made in many areas.

Its been a month since the last rain, but its still humid with temperature highs 95 - 105F and lows in the mid to upper 80's There is no air-conditioning at the Mongo center, just a small 12v fan in our bedroom. Judy has a spray bottle and we would spray ourselves in front of the fan to cool down. We took bucket showers from well water. It was an adventure!

: End of rainy season, lots of small lakes

The work Judy and I do is not rocket science, its just basic service through maintenance and assistance. If you could imagine your current workload and having to add to that, doing all of the maintenance and repair of the the buildings and equipment you work with, in addition to your job. How much of your actual job might you get done? That is what our translators are up against. Without people like Judy and I, they spend 1/2 of their time just surviving, trying to accomplish work they have no training or skill sets in. They really thank you for sending and keeping us here.

: Pumping water to the tower

: Ab Touyour peak near Bitkine

: African bush water hole

Millet in field

: Trucks on a narrow Mongo road

Thanks for your partnership,

Jim & Judy McCabe

Wycliffe

Tucson, AZ April - September

N'Djamena, Chad, October - March

jim_mccabe@sil.org; judy_mccabe@sil.org

http://jim-judys-wycliffe.blogspot.com/

https://wordpress6628.wordpress.com

Greetings from Chad, Africa

2016-10-17T16:24:00.001-07:00

Greetings from Chad

Yes, we made it. It was a wonderfully safe trip. Thanks for praying for our driving part to the East from Tucson. We visited my dad and other family in Wichita, plus, a supporting church there. Dad is doing very well too. We stayed with our daughter, her husband and family in Hickory, NC for almost a week. Great times with the grands and I helped move their washer and dryer from the basement to the main level. Lots more work than anticipated, but always glad to help. Aren't projects usually like that? For us it’s always such a pleasure visiting family and friends along the way.

Our flights went great with minimal waiting between them. The longer, nearly 9 hours, from Atlanta to Paris seemed to go fast.

The N'Djamena airport looked brand new and it appears to be fully open. It now has an escalator, better lighting, good signage, air conditioning and our experience going through was the best yet. Always amazing to see how many foreigners are coming to Chad. The SIL facility in Chad looks great, as expected. Our old apartment was waiting for us and we are nearly unpacked and settled in. It is good to be back here and see our dear colleagues! Temps are still warm with humidity so we feel like we are in Louisiana. Thankful for the AC in our bedroom.

We will do our best to keep you well informed during this six-month assignment. As always we continually count on your prayers. Here are some now:

*That we stay in good health

*That we maintain a good life balance, spiritual, physical, mental, emotional.

*That neither of us will allow work to push our lives out of balance. (we have a very hard time keeping this one.) Judy will be returning to be the guest apartment coordinator and I to maintenance project manager.

*That our families have peace about our being here for this season.

*That our Wycliffe ministry funding will get back up to 100% . Currently we are at 75%

*That we will be the light and love of Jesus to all we meet and work with.

Please feel free to let us know you are praying for us and in what ways we can pray for you.

Jim and Judy McCabe

Wycliffe

Tucson, AZ April - September

N'Djamena, Chad, October - March

jim_mccabe@sil.org; judy_mccabe@sil.org

http://jim-judys-wycliffe.blogspot.com/

https://wordpress6628.wordpress.com

2016-10-08T15:49:00.001-07:00

7 Days to Chad

We are staying with our daughter Jody and husband Caleb and grand-kids, Violette and Isaac in Hickory, NC. It’s WONDERFUL to be with them! Oct 6 – 15. We fly out of Charlotte the evening of the 15th arriving in Chad Sunday evening the 16th.

While here in Hickory, it’s working out that we can attend the last day of the Overland Expo being held at the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, tomorrow, Sunday the 8th of Oct.Come join us! http://www.overlandexpo.com/east/

A reminder as to why we work in Chad and Tucson for Mexico. There are roughly 7000 languages spoken on earth today. About 1800 of these languages (500 million people) are still oral societies, meaning their language has never been written down. Our organization, SIL, assigns a team or individual to learn the language and culture and create an alphabet. They usually live in a village where it is spoken. We will help them form a language committee to eventually oversee the translation program. Together we translate basic education, health and business booklets. Then the most important project of Bible translation begins. Often in the process some begin to put their trust in Jesus as their savior and a church is begun. Usually the culmination of our contribution is the dedication of the New Testament in that language. Learning to engage the scriptures is a challenge which continues after our translators move on to a new project where the process starts all over again.

Judy and I are support people. We serve the translators, linguists and literacy workers, so they can focus on their specialty. Imagine all the time they would have to take to just survive? This next season in Chad, I will be working on facility maintenance and Judy will be the Housing Coordinator (Guest house/hotel manager) and Chad Child Education Supervisor (more about these in the next post).

I was reviewing the potential maintenance work load in Chad when we arrive. It looks something like this:

* An 8 apartment complex building needs to be re-plumbed. All the old plumbing will be abandoned and properly capped off and all new plumbing will be installed on the exterior, passing through walls and not embedded in the walls where leaks occur.

* The main water line from the water tower to each building needs to be replaced. We will be installing a new internet fiber-optic line at the same time.

* The administration wants to to move the main car and person entry gate from the north wall on a busy road to the west wall on a side street.

* The security wall needs upgrading. Its a 8 – 12 ft tall cement block wall with electric wire running all along the top. I started installing razor wire along the top of the wall, but left before it got very far. I don’t know if its finished. That consists of building the upright steel posts attaching them to the wall, stringing support wires and then installing the razor wire.

* The south entry gate threshold needs to be raised 18 -24 inches because of rainy season flooding entering the compound at that point.

* Village projects. One planned for the end of Oct. and probably others.

* None of this may happen, but some or all of it might. It depends on the branch leadership priorities and the budget they have to work with. I just go with the flow when I’m there. It might be disconcerting not having a concrete plan, but its Africa, things rarely go the way I think they should.

Thanks for praying for us. None of this is possible without you!

Jim & Judy

The times, they are a changing...

2016-07-30T05:52:00.001-07:00

There is a lookout tower in the back ground.

Yes, its the Grand Canyon. Jordan is a fireman there again this fire season. We camped just outside the park, to the east of Tusayan, just in the forest. Its called dispersed camping. Its allowed, even encouraged by the forest service. They tell me its "my" national forest, and I am welcomed to access it, camp, hunt, fish, enjoy it, free of charge.

Now for the real reason I am writing... We must change our "Blog" provider. We have been using www.Blogger.com for years. We have 190 write-ups posted and almost 20,000 page views. But our Chad IT department feels it is a "questionable" blog provider site and will no longer provide access from Chad. So we are hunting for a new provider. I have set up an account with "Wordpress", transferred my write ups from Blogger and starting writing new posts. Those of you who are subscribed to our Blogger site are probably not receiving notices of the new site. https://wordpress6628.wordpress.com

There is a lot to setting up and figgering out how to properly use a new site. I'm on a steep learning curve. If we like it, we will need to "buy in", to gain a whole lot of the features that were free on the old blogger site. I'm waiting on the Chad IT department to let me know if this new provider will be approved, before investing $$$.

We'll try and publish in both providers for a while.

So, that's the news from J&J today.

Two days touring the Normandy coast in France

2016-04-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

We took a couple of days of R&R in France and Belgium.

Who can identify the cross and this location on the French coast?

My next economy truck. It fits a person and a dog, or a person and a child or two dogs or two children or...

Cool looking church with a pipe organ in the balcony.

Here we are hiking up a belfry, that was a jail and now is a tourist site.

Jail door. I want one. This thing is solid for being 500 years old.

View from almost the top.

This young man is one of the Syrian refugees who came over in one of those massively overcrowded boats six months ago. He has an incredible story, but he doesn't see it that way. He is happy to be alive and sorry he can never return to his home country.

Still on the belfry, church in background getting a complete renovation. Another Syrian refugee trying to learn French. He already speaks English, Arabic and Persian. He risked his life trying to get to freedom. Ten of thousands are trying the same thing. Freedom is worth risking ones life for.

This is near the top of the belfry. Its a "key board" for playing the bells. They are all connected by cables. It has been modified to computerized electronics for pulling the cables, but can still be played by hand from this seat.

Finally, at the very top of the belfry. Well... there was still another 50 foot of pointed roof.

The little item at the very top was a winged golden dragon about 18 inches long. Totally unidentifiable from the ground.

Friends we stayed with in Belgium, Paul and Lauren.

The loan red tulip. and Judy's purse in the background. That purse helped us get our lost luggage back. A great story for another time.

This is the North sea, Judy and Jim and our trusted GPS, Joan. Yes, the car came with a name, or at least the talking GPS did. There was a button on the steering wheel that is suppose to allow one to actually speak to Joan, but the artificial intelligence of Joan had already learned how to turn that feature off. She had many similarities to the talking computer, "Hal", in the film 2001 a Space Odyssey. She was very much an independent thinker, who frequently took us on short side trips off the main route. Once, randomly she did a circle around a stone quarry. We don't know why... I am starting to suspect she was testing how far she could go in dealing with these stupid humans. But, she was always polite and rarely showed emotion when I made a wrong turn. Not like the McDonalds menu computer. They actually programed in a cartoon girl who appears on the screen when you make a mistake ordering. At first she is pleasant and helpful, but progressively gets an attitude. The third time attempting the same mistake and she shows an attitude and tells us to go over to the counter and get help. Technology...

It was a tiring blast! Thanks for praying. We are currently in Asheville, visiting our grandkids and their parents.

It's been a great six month assignment in...

2016-04-03T12:22:00.001-07:00

We get on the airplane tonight and head out. We'll be back in the states in a week. Thanks for praying for Judy, she's been down with the flu this week. She's getting better tonight. PTL. With ever changing world situations, we have tight guidelines as to what we can say in a public forum.

You can go here and read about some details of our upcoming voyage.

Walking on hot coals...

2016-04-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

From time to time I encourage people to think about, "is it possible that God might be calling* them to overseas work". I really don't think God calls very many people to do overseas work, but He does call some and for whatever reason some are not responding. (or so I think) Some of our overseas work stories make life seem idyllic, like a south Pacific island, filled with nothing but life long vacation dreams. These stories may compel the readers to want to enjoy the "lifestyle" and be serving God at the same time. The stories may be true, but in reality the life long idyllic vacation dream is not true. Some of the stories just make it sound that way. Maybe its a subversive recruiting ploy. I was doing this with a friend this week and he was looking back at his life and questioning if he had made the right choices. I really wasn't looking to make him feel guilty about his life choices.

I think most of us carry some regret for choices we have made. I know I do. Sometimes we call it guilt, but to me, that implies we did it on purpose. Some of our regrets were simple accidents. Just a bad choice that hurt someone or may have long lasting results. If you love God and are trying to follow the teachings of Jesus, then we receive forgiveness for our blunders. We should be able to forget it and move on. For many it works that way, for many it does not. The regret is great for providing job opportunities for counseling and psychiatrist. But, I digress...

Back to the original story. Here is the idyllic story I told my friend about our lives in Africa. "It is incredible to watch people look at their language written down in a book for the first time. They may know how to read and write in the main trade language, but to see their language written in a book is like seeing a new baby. They are excited and proud and handle it like a newborn. Then to hear them start to read their own language, stumbling at first, but then a new light in their eyes as they realize they can read their language. Then a glow on their face as they start to understand they are reading Gods words, in their own language. God does speak their language. It is incredible.

Doesn't this story just make you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself? Part of a Team, working together to accomplish something great. Well you can be. Just go to www.Wycliffe.org and start the process... I'm doing it again aren't I. I'm recruiting... so here is my excuse for doing it. It is a great life in the big picture. Its idyllic only in the sense that walking on hot coals is fun. Once the really hard parts are over, looking back at the accomplishment is great. This does not apply to just overseas work. It applies to all of our day to day life wherever you are and whatever you are doing. God is at work in everyone of us. Some of us are willing to be worked on, some are not yet. For me, "yet" is the key word. God loves every person on earth, without exception. Many don't know that "yet". For those of us who know God our assignment, whether we know it or not, is to help individuals understand that God loves them, just the way they are, no changes required. God wants a relationship with each person on earth and often God gives us the opportunity to help make this happen. Be it overseas or right next door in hometown America. Both are equally important. They are opportunities for us, not requirements. God does not need us to do anything for Him. He is all powerful. He could do it all in a snap. He gives us these opportunities for our own benefit. Yes, others are going to get good out of it as well, but that's not the only reason God lets us do these things. Our lives are changed for the better each time we, "give in" help people and do that thing God is encouraging us to do. Please don't mis-interpret this to mean we will get punished for not doing these things, it does not work that way.

All of these words are simply saying, enjoy life with God where you are. Don't waste energy wishing you were somewhere else, doing something else. Do what is right in front of you to do and do it with gusto. Choose to enjoy these opportunities. Choose to step out in courage and do what you think God is asking you to do. Not in an impulsive way, but in a relationship with God, asking Him for direction, waiting until you have it and then grabbing the opportunity and doing it. Get walking on those hot coals.

* "Calling" - in this context the word "calling" is being used as a Christianese word inferring that God is encouraging one to do a specific thing. I really don't like the Christianese vocabulary. It is exclusive. It may block understanding of those who are not "in the club" so to speak. But, this time I left it in my story just so I could include this paragraph about the Christianese vocabulary.

McCabe's other March update, 2016

2016-03-12T10:17:00.002-07:00

This is mostly a letter to my brother, but it looked like a good blog post to me, so, here it is. Its gotten HOT here. Actually it got hot in February this year, several 113 degree days. Its only 109 today. We leave Chad, Sunday, April 3 about midnight.

Jim's morning in a Chad village

We fly into Paris at 6 AM, rent a car, drive to Belgium and stay with some friends for a few nights. We'll roam around the capital, Brussels a bit, revisiting the haunts of language school days in 1990. Then... its off to the north west coast of France, Dieppe. Two nights there in a cheep hotel, looking at the Normandy invasion monuments & such. Except for Brussels and Greece we've never really gotten around Europe. We are tired, will be exhausted at that point. I'd like to find a nice deserted beach, where we don't know anyone and recuperate a bit. It'll still be cold there. We fly out of Paris Saturday, April 9th at 1:00 PM. Arriving in Charlotte, NC Saturday night. We will stay at JAARS two nights and drive up to Asheville Monday night. I hope the truck is OK, its been in storage there for the past six months. We spend five nights with our kids then start heading for Wichita. Its a two day, 24 hour drive. We'll be there seeing my dad and step mom, Sunday night April 17th - Thursday morning the 24th. Then we head for LeTourneau University for a Alumni reunion and some meetings with professors about them coming to Chad for some research. Then on Saturday the 23rd we head to Baton Rouge, LA to visit some friends, then Sunday afternoon we head to Houston to visit Judy's sister and some other friends. Then Wednesday morning we head towards Tucson, spending the night in El Paso.

View from our Tucson home.

Then we have the weekend to clean up the house and on Monday, May 2 Jody and family will fly into PHX, rent a car and come see us, probably spending a few days with us, before they head to California to visit Grandparents, cousins and head north up the coast into Washington. They will be on the road a month or so before showing up at our place in Tucson again, then fly out of PHX. Caleb starts his new job in June sometime. I start my new job May 3rd or 4th. Wycliffe Mexico, Tucson office, facility maintenance.

Josh has a Russian girlfriend. He met her in Korea a year ago. She is living in Moscow now, getting a lawyer degree. He hopes to fly into Moscow Sept, 2016 to see her. Jordan starts another seasonal fire fighter job at the grand canyon in March / April. He is officially a senior fire fighter now. He is teaching and leading crews. Yes, life is busy and we feel our schedule is qualified to be declared officially insane.

Thanks for your prayers

Jim & Judy

Just over three weeks to go...

2016-03-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

You are going to be receiving several emails from us in the next three weeks. Well, we hope you will. With all the computer and email program problems we've had these past several months, there are no guarantees. We'll try and get you caught up on what we've been doing. WOW! Its hard to believe its just over three weeks until we get on the airplane to head back towards the USA. The time has flown by. I have this large list of work I'm trying to get completed before returning. But, I know I can't get it all done. I've hired several contractors and day labors to get several jobs done. I have a detailed list of special jobs for my employees. That in itself might take them six months to complete. There is no replacement for my position yet. It may go empty. God is in control.

This prayer request is for calmness and clarity of mind. Peace really. I just want to get done, what God has for me to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here is our Blog link;
http://jim-judys-wycliffe.blogspot.com/

11 hour drive in and 11 hour drive out...

2016-03-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

The first four hours were mostly driving on pavement.

Then just before crossing the river we turned onto a dirt road, paralleling the river. That was the end of the pavement for the day. It was a good dirt road. We just had to watch out for potholes, wash outs and the occasional ruts. Then of course horse drawn carts, donkeys, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, motorcycles, bicycles and broken down vehicles. It's not customary to pull off the road when one's vehicle breaks down. Instead, they generally place grass or brush in the road to notify oncoming traffic to watch out for a stopped vehicle. So why were we on this road, you may be asking???

We were asked to help one of our teams in getting set up in their village location. Their village location is in a remote area south and east of NDJ. The language development work was started there about 20 years ago by another colleague, but has had many interruptions and delays for a myriad of reasons. The new team is a couple of young single ladies, well, they are in their 30's, so its young to me. It's amazing to me, but about 80% of the Wycliffe workers in Chad are single women. Yes, you heard me, single women! These are beautiful, tough, intelligent, tenacious women. I'm a little embarrassed for my male counterparts who are so obviously absent here. Is God just not calling men to this country? I doubt that! So what is going on? Come on men, listen to God and be courageous, like our young woman!

Early morning, looking east out of their compound at the misty, dusty sunrise.

It's a flat, grassy, flood plain, good for growing rice in the rainy season, with dots of trees. You can go for hundreds of miles and never cross a power or water line or cell tower. Yet, in my travels I am amazed that people seem to be everywhere. Small villages of just a family clan or language group who had to move on due to lack of farming land and a new village springs up.

The millet processor

Kitchen processing tools.

Winter millet, just harvested

This particular area of Chad grows rice and millet; both a staple. The millet or rice are pounded into a flour, mixed with boiling water and made into a bread dough of sorts. Rice is mostly their cash crop. They get good rains here, but they traditionally end in October, so it is dry right now in February.

Removing a door lock assembly, the hard way!

Judy and I helped clean, sort, arrange, make some repairs and miscellaneous other things the old home needed. Still much to do but we only had two days. The major reason I went was to help survey a nearby runway that had fallen out of use. MAF and other groups had used it for medical evacuation in the past. There is a church run clinic in that town. MAF gave me the survey information, a measuring wheel, and an clinometer to complete the survey. It was a 500 meter runway but with MAF's newer larger aircraft it needs to be expanded up to 800 meters. The local villages are enthusiastic about getting it back into operation. Three weeks ago Em organized a work party. In just one day 60 people showed up to clear the existing 500 meters of grass, brush and termite mounds. The remaining 300 meters will be a lot more work as several trees and lots of low growing palms will need removing. It's all done by machetes, hand made hoes and who knows what else. They hope it should be completed over the next three weeks.

Old runway section just cleared.

300 meters still needing to be cleared for the extended runway.

Both on our way there and as we returned to the capital, we explored new routes for getting the gals out, in case the main road in is blocked. It was interesting as there are no published maps for this area. We did some Google Earth research and could identify most of the way out. A lot of it is what I call simple two tracks; something a 4X4 truck might take or a motorcycle or wagon pulled by oxen or cattle. We did find a few oil pipeline roads. The Chinese are doing extensive oil exploration and processing in the south of Chad. They make roads as they need them. They do not go from village to village, just from processing plant to pumping stations.

A typical road in the bush

Intersection of a two track and oil company roads.

Every once and awhile we would come to a crossroad. As we were uncertain which was the right one, we'd wait and wait until eventually someone else would arrive and we'd ask for directions. We normally asked two to three different people before settling on a direction. Many people would know the next couple of villages, but for longer distances, like what we were after, they were unfamiliar. But God provided! We never got lost, just had some scenic detours. Fun adventures!!

We encountered a camel herd

There must have been a hundred or more camels in three different herds traveling together. Usually they are herded south when the grass and trees dry up, up north. The herders riding on the camels looked like young teenagers. What a life! One of our other single gals we visited a few weeks back is working with the nomads, just like these. She is helping them learn to read in their language.

A river in the desert.

About half way back we crossed over a river flowing thousands of miles from the rain forest of central Africa, heading for Lake Chad. Just as God's words are the life-blood for the spiritually thirsty people of Chad so the rivers in the desert feed the people of Chad. You, partnering with Wycliffe, are making this spiritual life blood available for Chadian people. We thank you.

Prayer, Motorcycle Adventure Tours and Bible Translation

2016-03-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I love God, try to follow the teachings of Jesus and I like motorcycles. Some of you might say it's a bit more than like, but who's quibbling. God has gifted me as a fixer of things that help people have an opportunity to start and develop a relationship with God. Maybe a bit weird, but it's been a great life so far!

The idea of God using something like motorcycles to help people get to know Him is not unique. He's been doing it since He first invented them. But my involvement in the moto / God / relationship arena is less than a decade old. My newest idea is one I want you to pray with me about. Yes, it's another strange one, but hold your judgement until after praying about it a bit.

In the locations of the world where Wycliffe goes to do Bible Translation they help start a National Bible Translation Organisation. A local group of people who take ownership of the project, develop into the leadership and get the job done accurately and as quickly as possible. One of the challenges most of the National Bible Translation Organisations (NBTO's) face is how to fund themselves. This is a principal challenge the Seed Company was envisioned to meet and they are doing a great job at it. But more help is always needed.

When I went to Cameroon to teach the JAARS Motorcycle Safety and Maintenance course, I learned the NBTO there was looking for additional ways they could generate income above and beyond donations. So this idea # 43..... was conceived. Assist them in the development of a Motorcycle Adventure Tour Company. Now hold your snickering till after you finish reading this. I, (of course) think its a great idea, but I admit there may be some who disagree and they will get back to me. Yes, it is a speciality type program that will require some outside expertise and a lot of start up capital. All of that is well within Gods ability to provide if He so chooses.

So, the prayer request is asking God if "I should spend some time developing this idea". That's all. I don't want to be wasting time working on something I think is a great idea, because helping people, motorcycles and Africa are some of my passions, but shouldn't be one of my primary objectives.

Here is what the idea looks like. Remember, this is a starting point, something to deviate from: The tour company will be fully owned and staffed by the NBTO with outside advisers contracted as needed. The local nationals know the culture, customs and how to get things done in their own country. The NBTO with the advisers will develop the business plan and seek necessary funding to make it a successful venture. They will acquire new good quality 250 cc - 1200 cc duel sport motorcycles from Europe, Asia or the USA, along with maintenance tooling and spare parts. The equipment will be shipped to the NBTO's location. Some of the motorcycles will be assigned to the translators and literacy workers who will in turn be the riding guides for the new tour company. Some of the motorcycles will be carefully preserved and kept as future spare parts and some will be assigned to the tour company for customers to ride. A trailer will be built up locally to haul spare motorcycles, (in case one breaks) tools, camping and personal gear, food and cooking equipment. The NBTO will provide a truck to pull the trailer to accompany and assist each tour.

The average daily price people are paying to take these types of tours is $500. A ten day tour would be $5,000. With an average of ten customers per tour the gross income would be $50,000. These are all ball park numbers, just to get one thinking.

Thanks for praying. We couldn't be doing any of this without you, our prayer team.

Never a dull moment...

2016-03-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

here in Chad! A pressured water pipe broke under our apartment complex, opposite side from us. There are 4 apartments upstairs and 4 down. We are B1, so it was under B4. Jim said it had to be fixed now because there was a flood of water under the floor of her apartment. It was interesting that just the day before I was asking Jim about why he wasn't changing out all the piping in our B-Plex building like he did in the A-plex back in 2013. Most of the piping is inside the walls so when when buildings shift and something breaks it causes a big mess. So, all the piping has to be replaced and moved to the outside walls. He said he knows it needs done soon, but he said it would displace too many people as the 8 apartments are occupied and he would rather have a short term team work on it. (This is a major job, so please pray for a church team to volunteer to do it. Pass the word along!) If you remember pictures of the other job in 2013 you know it is a messy big job and it was a big imposition on the residents. So, this week it is just a temporary fix not the complete replacement job. Pray it goes well, quickly (not normal) and the residents affected can have patience.

A-Plex plumbing 2013

We are going out to a very remote village with one of our single gals, Em... It will take one long 11 - 12 hour day of driving on not so good roads. We may have to have a police escort after the last major town as there have been some bandits who have been causing problems. Sound like a fun adventure? For Jim maybe but for me and the gal, NOT!!! She did the drive last week on a market truck, see the picture below, and she prayed through the Psalms she had memorized the whole way. Wow, I better get started memorizing more of them! Thankfully we don't have to take a market truck. Jim will be driving the group Toyota Hardtop, but the roads will be bumpy!

Market truck. She road in the cab!

And why, you might ask, are we going out there? Two reasons: the first is for Jim to evaluate the old runway in the area for MAF to use. They need 800 meters to land and take off. Right now 500 meters has been cleared, thanks to Em... organizing the villagers to clean it last week. The reason they need to have access to use the runway is her teammate, An..., had severe back issues last time they were there and she has since had surgery in her country so she can't drive on the bumpy roads for several more months. The second reason is to help Em... prepare their house for their to return to living there. Don't know yet what it will involve but she will let us know soon. The Somaraye are very keen on helping the ladies develop their language, so this is a good thing. There was a team there in the 90's who began the work, but the husband became the Chad SIL director so they had to move back to N'Djamena and the work came to a halt until these gals started it up again. Please pray for safe travels and productive time there.

Finally, please pray for several people we know who lost family members recently. 1.) Our former missions pastor, Harry Larson died in India of complications of pneumonia. Pray for his wife Patty and 4 grown sons, grandchildren and siblings. He was a great inspiration to us as new missionaries in the 80's. 2.) Two of our Chad SIL members, Stef and Doris lost a parent also. 3.) The aunt of our apartment cleaner has inoperable uterine cancer and the family would appreciate prayers for her healing and comfort.

So there's a snippet of our prayer requests. I've had a wee cold but thankfully much better today. Jim is fine but pray he doesn't get it.

Thank you for your prayers always and big hugs to all of you. At least you won't catch my cold via email!!!

Finishings

2016-03-05T13:06:00.002-07:00

Judy is writing here...

Getting a $8 cup of coffee at the new Ndj Hilton (Had to try it once)

The last couple weeks I've been reading through old Chad branch member's newsletters before I scan them to make digital copies for our branch history. I can't begin to tell you how in awe I've been as I've read how God has worked in the different language projects and how the work that was started by former members is continuing through others by God's grace. It is like Paul reminding the Corinthians that some plant, some water, and some harvest the seeds of the gospel planted among the unbelieving. It is God who receives all the glory. I Cor. 3:6-9
Some snippets from them: 1994: "HD(name protected) is one of three men currently working on the first-draft of Luke translated into Kenga. He was born into a M family in Pajara, a Kenga village traditionally a stronghold of Islam. After becoming blind, a result of drinking tea poisoned by an enemy, he began to attend a school for the blind run by a mission in another town. There he learned to read French Braille...and there he came to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. In 1974 he felt led to return to his village where he began to preach the gospel and a church was born. Seven years of persecution followed by those who opposed his faith in Jesus. In 1985 the Chad gov't proclaimed freedom of religion. Today, there are more than 70 believers in the church in Pajara."

Fast forward to 2016: Praise God that the whole NT was translated into Kenga through two of SIL members and MD and other Kenga speakers. In 2012 they received their NT in book and Faith Comes By Hearing did a dramatized recording a couple years later. Please continue to pray for literacy classes which are continuing in the Kenga villages.

Keep in touch

Jim_McCabe@sil.org or Judy_Mccabe@sil.org
Chad phone: +23562693864 or +23568287719
Address in Chad: SIL Tchad, BP 4214, N'djamena, Chad
skype: jim_mccabe@sil.org

Giving
For more information on how to contribute financially, contact Jim or Judy directly. Or click on the photo of us to the right. The one that says, "Click here to pray or give."

Earthbag Superadobe home in El Tuito, Mexico

2016-02-28T05:53:00.001-07:00

Its so wondrously / terribly different...

2016-02-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

I wish you could experience some of my life as maintenance manager here in Chad. It's so wondrously/terribly different than life in the US. My descriptions don't do justice, but here's an example! Its Saturday and I'm actually trying to take Saturdays and Sundays off this time around. If you are self employed you will understand. You get to work half days, (tongue in cheek), any 12 hours of the day you want. It's sorta like that here, except the hours I chose to work are just something to deviate from. Now back to Saturday. In the middle of breakfast a security guard comes to my door and tells me there is a water leak at the training center kitchen. So, I quickly finish breakfast and go see what I can see. I already know of two small leaks that I'm hoping to get to next week and thinking one of them must have blown out. I arrive at the training center and see a lot of people scattered around the center. It looks like a church retreat is in process and their breakfast is just finishing up. We rent out the training facility to churches when we don't have our own training programs scheduled. So, I go to where I know a small leak is and it's still a small leak. I go to the next known leak and it's still a small leak. Hum? I see the training center custodian and ask if anyone has reported a significant leak in the kitchen area and he says no. My keys of three years ago are not getting me into the kitchen and the custodian says he does not have kitchen keys either. We both peer through the windows and don't see any leaks. I shrug my shoulders and thank God it's not a big problem.

I go back home and start on my own home plumbing problem. A small leak under the kitchen sink. I think to myself, all I need to do is tighten the joint on the flex line a bit and it will be fine...I say. Do you know how many interpretations of fine there are? I was naively using the simple, "It's going to be easy," kind of fine. So after two trips to the shop to get the right size wrenches I lay down under the sink and apply just a small amount to turning pressure, because it's just an occasional drip which I'm attempting to stop. All of a sudden there is a water snake snapping its wicked head around as the flexline comes off and gushing water is everywhere. I pull my nearly 60 year old body out from its upside-down under-the-sink position and run outside to the wall shutoff valve which is on the outside of the kitchen wall. Oh well, I guess the under-counter cupboard needed a good washing anyway. The nut I was turning had snapped in half. With the water valve turned off, the line detached from the wall, I start to loosen the line at the faucet and it snaps off. GRRR!

Just then there is a knock at the door. It's the training center custodian. He has found the leak. I leave my under-the-sink job and follow him to see it. Wow, am I embarrassed! It's quite the flood coming from the back of the building! The one area I didn't investigate. So I'm thinking to myself, "Where is the shutoff valve for this area?" Over the next ten minutes I turn off four different valves before finding the one that works. After a little bit more probing I figure the leak is actually coming out from under a slab of concrete. This job will have to wait till Monday!

Back to my own plumbing job.

Christmas Greetings from Chad (Y'all)

2015-12-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

The other day I was driving near the SIL center here in N'Djamena, Chad and saw a 125cc motorcycle with a 3 foot by 4 foot by 2 foot high box or trunk bolted on the seat / back fender. This is normal here, but what was in it was kinda funny to me. A very dusty, fully decorated artificial Christmas tree with a few wreaths, garland and more Christmas decorations sticking out of the box as well. Quite the sight for Chad. Wish I had a camera...maybe if I see another one I will get one.

We are in the process of packing for a Christmas week out in the central village areas of Chad. If you click on the link it will take you to a Google map. We will be driving with another couple and a single gal. It should be a 5 to 9 hour drive, depending on??? The area we live in is flat, flat, flat. it takes two to three hours to get to some geography changes, like mountains as we head east.

We are hearing of many who recently received the Savior as they listen to the Good News in their languages. Please keep praying for more to receive this gift from God, Jesus.

Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Italics by us)

We want to say thanks for your prayers and support for 2015. You are making a great difference. We also wish you all a great Christmas season. Jesus is why we celebrate and we all need to try hard to keep Him at the center of it. We pray daily for you, our friends and family. We are currently fine, strong and healthy. Though our computers haven't been too well so sorry for the lack of updates. Hopefully more in the New Year.

Ladies at Tues. Bible Study
Judy enjoys holding the newborn

The Ryhthm of Life - The Gasslers in Cameroon: A thousand+ words about a lack of pictures

2015-11-15T05:56:00.001-07:00

The Ryhthm of Life - The Gasslers in Cameroon: A thousand+ words about a lack of pictures: The old saying that, "a picture is worth a thousand words," is a gross underestimation, especially for the observant and/or loquac...

Hit the ground running...

2015-11-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

and it's a comfortable pace. We learned from the last time around, so we are going to try and not burn out this time. The facility looks just fine. Many of the improvements are still alive and well. Yes, there are still many items I didn't get done last time. Together with my boss, we are slowly compiling a list of priorities. Then we will see what the budget will allow. Judy will be assisting with member care but as yet not exactly sure what that involves. She is glad that someone else is doing housing.

We have been hearing reports about the progress being made in language and scripture distribution. Today we heard that the app for putting the Kenga New Testament on smart phones is ready to be downloaded. This will greatly increase the hearing of the good news in that language. Praise the Lord! More stories to come.

Answered prayer:
Our transition to using French is going great! (This is Jim writing) Judy says it's coming back better than she thought it would.
We are adjusting very well to life in a fishbowl. (apartment complex) Judy seems to thrive in this environment with ladies Bible study, Pilates, prayer meeting, Wednesday dinner with the folks down-under and Monday night Star Trek. I tolerate it just fine...in fact I played volley ball Sunday for the first time in... way too many years. It was great and my new knee did EXCELLENT! Now I just have sore muscles.
There seems to be relative calm in country. It's safe enough that one of our colleagues just made a quick trip (3 days) to the Lake Chad region to pick up some of their belongings. They were required to leave the region in short notice due to security risks in June.
We are feeling productive and content with where the Lord has us.

Requests:
That we remain healthy and strong.
Calm in the country continues.
The translation projects continue at an accelerated pace and the highest level of accuracy.
For our new director as she begins her two year term.

Thanks for being our amazing team who not only pray for us and the people of Chad, but Mexico's people and projects as well. You, through us are touching lives and giving hope.

Our new Chad cell phone numbers are : Judy 1 235 62693864 and Jim's 1 235 68287719. But check with your service provider before calling, as it can be very expensive. Texting is much cheaper.
Our emails have stayed the same: judy_mccabe@sil.org and jim_mccabe@sil.org

Jim's 2nd tie wearing event in three years.

It's for the induction of our new director.

McCabe Prayer Update

2015-10-15T18:35:00.003-07:00

Dear Partners and Friends,

We are praising God for all He did in our last weeks in Tucson before hitting the road again last Friday. So here’s the highlights:

Renters from mid Dec through March
Ticket funds all came in
Shower remodel finished (Jim did an amazing job)
Many other house projects were finished thanks to volunteer hands
Jim’s knee improving nicely
Great visit with Jim’s dad...he is doing so well that he should go off hospice this month
Two good days with our son Josh before he heads back to S. Korea

Prayer requests for last days in the states:

Good quality time with our daughter Jody, husband Caleb and grand kids Violette and Isaac.

Renters for November and April

Finish up any loose ends; remembering what they are!

Chad entry visa's arrive in Asheville before we leave there Oct. 22.

Prayer for next 6 months in Chad

International flight, leaving late Oct. Pray for good flights

French language understanding will come back quickly

Adjust quickly to life there; Stay in good health

Peace and calm in Chad

Productive time until we leave April 2016

Thanks for being our amazing team of partners who not only uphold us but the work of providing greater access and understanding of the Bible for many languages in both Chad and Mexico. You through us are touching lives and giving hope.

Because of this, your trust can be in God who raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory. Now your faith and hope can rest in Him alone. I Peter 1:21

Thanks for praying for my knee

2015-09-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, I had to have another right knee surgery. It was minor arthroscopic surgery where the Doc went in with three small 3/8" tubes, a camera, and tools to remove a floating foreign body that was causing me a lot of intermittent pain. It showed up on the x-rays as a white dot where there should not be one. The Doc suspected it was a small grain of cement that broke off from gluing the replacement knee joint onto the bone over a year ago. He says normally these types of floating bodies will find a corner and scarify in, stabilize and not be a problem. But, because it's been a problem for the past several months and our departure to Africa is coming up fast, we decided to go ahead and try and get it out. He warmed me, its not always successful. The small grains can not always be found. He was not able to find it. Oh well, we tried. Hopefully it has or will soon, find its permanent resting place and not be any further problem. Thanks for praying.
Jim Mc