 
May
2006
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...
MARK, Goes in to work to find that all the
vehicles bought over the past few years are being sought-out
by the government. Apparently, the customs agent was saving
for his retirement and pocketed most of the fees that should
have gone to thier Uncle Sam. Where does that leave us, you
might ask? Well, that is where the story begins. It began
last August when one of our missionaries vehicle was taken
from him while he was dropping off his children at school.
MARK TO THE RESCUE! Mark began the two week process of negotiating
with them for the return of the vehicle (family of 6 still
without at vehicle). After many trips to the customs office
and many long, tedious converstions trying to negotiate a
fee down, Mark broke them! (at least cracked them) He got
them down from a very unreasonable re-pay (yes, re-pay, as
the fees had already been paid by us, but stolen) We paid
the fees and got the vehicle back.......OK, that was last
August. THEN, about a month ago, we heard that more of our
vehicles were on a list being sought-out by the local police
staff, of which hang-out on the street corners to capture
the unsuspecting, honest missionary. (The list was made by
the gov't after going through the files of the official that
did the thieving.) Mark then realizes that this is a much
bigger problem then first thought. Since the documents are
all hand done, none of which are on computer, this is a process
that is taking lots of time. YOU MAY ALL BE ASKING WHY WE
DECIDED TO RE-PAY THESE FEES? WE ASK THE SAME QUESITON. The
only way to get our vehicle out of hawk, was to pay it. HARD
TO SWALLOW!!! Mark obtained a local attorney for help. She
was very helpful but we found out she too had some tricks
up her sleeve. After agreeing on a fee, this too was a negotiating
process, Mark recieved a bill for the agreed price, plus a
19% sales tax. After calling her on the extra fee, she told
Mark that the tax was negotiable and that if he wanted to
save the 19% he could forfeit the reciept so she would not
have to pay the tax. Mark could not believe his ears. Here
he was trying to pay a debt to the gov't for a foul official
and she was doing the same thing. After not sleeping for days
over the distrustful attorney saga, he agreed to have some
words with her. Before going back we prayed about it. Once
in her office, she changed her tune and she agreed to the
original charges. PTL. FYI...As of yesterday, four more vehicles
are back on the list. Please pray for Mark and the people
involved with all of this. This is just part of what he deals
with on a daily basis.
MARK PRAISE: Mark has been helping
to dig a well for a village called "Bangeeti". Pray
for them as they are wanting to begin a pepper project and
needed a water source to get it on it's way. This is a Christian
village and Mark has had some really good, stable contacts
with them. This has been a huge encouragement for Mark.
A FUNNY MARK STORY IN THE MIDST OF A BURGLARY ATTEMPT....About
2:00 in the morning Mark hears a loud pop. He listens for
a moment then thinks it was just a branch falling on the tin
roof. Then, another pop! He then thinks he should get up and
see what it is. He does not turn on any lights, just in case
it is a thief. He stumbles around and finds his work boots
next to the bed, throws them on and takes off for the door.
Stumbling and tripping about, he realizes he has them on the
wrong feet....yeah, go ahead and laugh, I did! Anyway, He
decides to change into his tennis shoes in case a chase pursues!
He turns on the closet light and gets situated. He walks into
the kitchen and sees a body working on the outside of the
window. Since the light was on outside, Mark could see him
but the thief could not see Mark. So, Mark is a foot from
the guy and staring right at him but can't do anything. Mark
feels like punching him through the window, but realizes that
if he did so he would have to fix the window tomorrow. Good
call!! So, he and our little black dog go for the back door.
In all the noise of the unlocking of doors, the thief got
away. FYI, we had a German Shepherd but she died just a month
before. Guess word got out as we never had any problems when
she was around.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...
DEANNA, A very hectic day today as Mark is
out in the village scouting out a new missionary house. I
do the finance for the missionaries and today just happens
to be a busy one. A missionary calls in to say they need guesthouse
reservations for tonight. Five minutes later, another missionary
calls for yet another room. My last room available out of
14 rooms. This missionary if sick and needs to come in for
medical reasons. I have a missionary volunteer sitting in
front of me as we discuss her month-long bout with amoebas
and malaria. She is still not feeling much better and began
a new medication that makes her ears ring. (those of you that
have taken Quinine know what I'm talking about!) The weather
is heating up and the humidity is rising. Getting very uncomfortable
for everyone, especially those that are not feeling well.
I then take a call from a new missionary who has questions
about her financial forms. After completing her form, she
then brings it to me for any re-imbursements she has. The
form is to be printed and placed into an envelope, for "privacy
act" reasons. She states that the printer next door does
not have the disc needed to upload the printer into her lap-top
so she can print the form. (Mark has placed this disc next
to the printer too many times to count) I guess we must have
a gov't official in our midst???
It's noon and I begin wrapping-up my day and head for the
door. I am met by my long-time friend, Ayssa.(most of you
know her) She had been diagnosed with high blood pressure
by a missionary doctor friend about a year ago. I began supplying
the medicine for her back then since her husband only gives
her food money, and that is even a stretch. The past few months
she has been really weak and having chest pain. So, today
I took her by the hospital. A very interesting, to say the
least, way of running things. For a country 90% illiterate
they expect people to understand the system. Ayssa had spent
three days at this same hospital just a few days back and
never got anywhere. I went and got her in and out, obtaining
an appointment within an hour. While we where waiting in the
craziness, I looked around for folks that looked lost. I was
handed paper after paper and asked for directions. One pregnant
gal and her mom walked up carrying a large plastic mat, a
bucket of belongings and a small bucket of food. They sat
down for at least 10 minutes not knowing what to do. I then
walked over and asked if I could help. They were looking for
the maternity hospital which is about a mile away. I walked
them back out to the road and placed them back in a taxi with
directions. Most people from the bush can't even speak French,
let alone read it. I was very overwhelmed by the amount of
sickness in the short amount of time I was there. Meningitis
is rampant right now. Pray for this and Malaria. These preventative
sicknesses will continue taking lives with such poverty. Menengitis
vaccines are being done but there seems to be a new strain
that is not covered by the vaccine. We also expect this to
be another famine year.
PRAISES FOR JEREMY AND STEPHANIE.
Jeremy was ranked top sales person in his region at his job
in Phoenix. We are so very proud of him!! Jeremy seems to
be very happy at his job. He has a lease with some friends
that expires mid-August. Please pray for him as he will be
seeking direction in housing and also whether or not college
will be in his future.
Stephanie has been accepted to California Baptist University
in Riverside, California. She will be arriving in Tucson in
June, ahead of us. She is still very excited about her future
school/career goals. She wants to persue a teaching career
as a high-school English teacher.
We all thank you for your love and prayer support. We plan
to be stateside in August to get Stephanie settled into school.
We have speaking engagements and travel plans for a debriefing
conference in Virginia, in mid-October. We will be living
in Tucson for the five months we are there. We are looking
forward to spending our last Thanksgiving and Christmas with
the kids as we begin preparing for the "empty nest".
Please pray for us as well as the kids as we all will be transitioning
to our new lives.
God bless you all and we look forward to hearing from you,
and hopefully seeing you very soon.
Love
from our family to all of yours.
BECAUSE OF HIM,
Mark, Deanna, Jeremy (in the US) and Stephanie
ledlow@intnet.ne
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