Today was all about real work. Didn't get a thing done on the truck, except that at lunchtime I drove down to see Spencer, who was at work today. Got some very helpful guidance on how to proceed through the next few steps and bought a gallon of a 2-part body filler. And he *may* be the solution to my welding problems. At least he is a possibility, and at $20 per hour it would be way below market rate.
My only hesitation: last time I took a car body to someone for work I got it back two years later, and not even completed. But Spencer runs a successful business and doesn't strike me as that kind of guy.
GM recalled another 2 million vehicles today.
Recall Tuesday.
One in four Americans does not take their vehicle in for recall-related repairs. Some never know about the recall because they're a subsequent owner and don't get the notice. Others figure the car runs fine and their life is too busy for an afternoon at a dealership. Then there are the situations like rental car companies that are under no legal obligation to get the issue fixed.
The latest suit by former players against the NFL is a huge deal. If what they're saying is true, what was done was unconscionable. One former Chicago Bear is saying he played an entire season on a broken leg the team knew about but never told him. They just filled him full of pain killers. He didn't practice all season because of the pain but played in every game that season loaded up on team-supplied drugs.
This morning I met at Starbucks with a guy who is a rep for New Tribes Mission (NTM), a conversation we set up a week ago. He called me because Pathway supports Geoff & Shannon Husa, NTM missionaries who live (with their four young kids) and work with the Mibu tribe in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, a tribe so remote that the only way in/out is by helicopter. They are doing what is called pioneer indigenous missions. Those two adjectives say that a) the Mibu were a previously unreached group and had no knowledge of Christ had never so much as heard the name, and b) the Husas are working themselves out of a job, and after a total effort lasting about 18 years they will leave the Mibu and leave behind a self-sustaining, self governing, and self propagating church.
Note: they spent the first two years living with the Mibu, learning their language, creating a written form for it, and then teaching literacy skills. Only then did they begin doing what we call evangelism (using a very precise methodology that progresses in slow, incremental steps). Most of Geoff's time now is spent translating the Bible into Mibu and doing leadership training. He is NOT the pastor of their church, not even on the leadership group. Though it's measured on a spectrum, heir church is already essentially indigenous.
Anyway, so this guy from NTM was just making contact with a church that supports one of their missionary families. We also recently raised some funds to help with the purchase of a new airplane that will be used by NTM to evacuate missionaries from Papua New Guinea (PNG) if there's a medical emergency. In the case of the Husas that means a helicopter ride out to the airstrip, and then the plane ride to Australia. Three days to treatment would be quick.
Yeah, Geoff and Shannon are committed to their work. And I'm impressed.
This morning I got an email from another mission organization (which shall remain nameless) asking for funds to replace a bunch of computers and peripherals that were stolen from a missionary in Africa. He was in a pretty big city teaching people in the market how to run their businesses more successfully. Someone broke into his guest house room while he was down having breakfast and stole two laptops, an iPad, a remote hard drive, some memory sticks.... This theft of the equipment and the data that went with it seriously hampers his ability to teach good business practices to shop owners in Sumbawanga.
Juxtaposition.
Geoff and Shannon Husa in a very remote area of PNG doing pioneer indigenous missions, are underfunded. A missionary in Africa needs money to replace computers so he can teach business practices.
Guess which one gets my support.
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