Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Creole Programming for Haitians

We broadcast programs in the Haitian Creole language each evening from Bonaire. These programs are currently being produced at Radio Trans Mundial Dominicana. That's the TWR office in the Dominican Republic, for those of you who are "Spanish challenged."

Pictured here is Pastor Joseph Leveille, who translates and voices the Creole version of the Thru The Bible program. Pray for Pastor Leveille and the staff of RTM - DR office as they work on the last year of this five year long Bible survey series.


The men in this photo supervise another 190 pastors that work with Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. Here, Georgina Thompson, the director of the TWR ministry in the DR, is presenting them with 2000 copies of the just printed Creole version of the daily devotional book, "Food for Faith."Posted by Picasa


You can click on the photos to see them bigger.

Monday, September 26, 2005

biking bliss

It's been unseasonable warm here in New Jersey, up until this past weekend anyway. I must admit that Sandra and I found the weather a whole lot nicer than Bonaire at this time of the year. Actually, Sandra has had the flu or something since we arrived here a week and a half ago.

Now that it's getting a little cooler, we'll have to bundle up, especially when I'm on the bike and generating a mighty headwind.

Most of my time on the bike has consisted of going round and round good old Brookdale Park. It's pretty boring, but I can get a much better workout than I do in traffic. I'll probably venture out of the park to attack some hills this week though.

As you can see in the picture, not all of my riding has been out in the sunny spaces of the Garden State.

I thought it was named after The Parkway, ha-ha, but Aunt Teak, down in Neptune, assures me that NJ still has lots of small farms producing luscious Tomatoes, Corn, and Peaches.

We had some fresh corn on the cob on Saturday, Yum!

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Bye Bye BBC


Our fearless maintenance team on Bonaire has just started painting another of our almost 500 foot tall antenna towers. I imagine it will take a couple months to complete the job. First they have to scrape the old paint and corrosion off of the tower parts. They they prime it, and finally they give it a color coat. All this while dangling high in the air, buffeted by the Caribbean trade winds.

Before they started on the tower painting, the guys were busy removing the old 500kw BBC (Brown Boveri & Company) radio transmitter. We haven't used it for quite a few years now. The main circuits of the transmitter were built into a 40 foot shipping container, but the power supplies filled another couple rooms. You can see some of the power supply components, now that the main unit is out of the building.

You can click on the pictures to see them bigger.

On the Move


Our Fall Furlough has officially begun. We're in PA with my parents right now, enjoying the good life at Willow Valley. We'll be heading to NJ on Tuesday for a doctor appointment and to hang out with our son, Richard for a few days.

On the 24th and 25th, we'll be at the Asbury Park Baptist Church, in case you are in the area.

Perry and Sally Zavitz (pictured in Sub-1) are on Bonaire to help cover the work while we are away. They'll be downloading, processing, and preparing all the English programs we broadcast on the big AM transmitter.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Bike Race number 3

Our third mtn. bike race of the year was something of a fizzle, with only five riders turning out. However three of the five didn't ride the last race, so we were happy to see their fresh eager faces.

We turned it into a sporty training ride, with the faster riders waiting or even doubling back to rejoin the slower riders. That way no one got lost or discouraged.

Saturday morning I went around the course with Andre and James to trim a couple trees that were in the way and to mark the course. Here we see James and Andre posting signs at the start of the one mile long serious single track / donkey trail section.


You can click on the pictures to see them bigger.

Andre explains the route.


Here I am flying out from the final single track section. A big thank you to cousin Bud Gillan for taking these action photos.


Here are a few of us hanging out after the ride, with a donkey spectator in the background.

Everyone had a great time and we've already set up plans for a weekly Saturday ride starting next week. We're hoping that we can generate more interest if we don't call it a race, but merely a "fun training tour." I'll be in the States until December but the gang is planning to train hard so as to put the hurt on me when I get back to Bonaire. I do have a bike in the States, so I guess I'd better ride it as much as I can. Posted by Picasa

Monday, September 05, 2005

Planetary Parade Continues

Have you been watching Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky, as I suggested a couple days ago?

It's not too late to get outside and enjoy the show.

A skinny crescent moon will joining the planets Tuesday and Wednesday. I think Tuesday night will be especially striking.

Sky and Telescope has a chart showing what you can expect to see each night. Scroll about half way down the page to see it.

If you have clear skies and a clear view of the western horizon, you might take a look tonight (Monday) and see if you can spot the extra skinny crescent moon down near the horizon after sunset. I looked Sunday evening, when the moon would have been about 28.5 hours old, but I didn't see it in the haze. grrrr Monday evening should be much easier.

Annual Biker Weekend


Our mountain bike race is next weekend. This past weekend was for bikers of the Harley Davidson kind. It's become an annual event, with bikers coming from Curacao and Aruba. Here are some of the bikes parked at Habitat.

Sandra and her cousin, Bud, were snorkeling way out in the deep water off of Andrea 2 the other day when Sandra heard an ominous rumbling. The clouds were looking weird so she thought "tornado" but didn't spot one. Then she looked around for approaching boats, but none were approaching. Finally they realized that it was the 100+ motorcycles going on a tour around the north end of the island.

On Sunday, we were just leaving the TWR studio building when we heard the rumbling approaching and saw an amazing site. The bike parade came from town, rode around the traffic circle and headed back towards town. The bright colors, flashing chrome, and thundering rumbles would have made a great video sequence as the seemingly endless stream of bikes passed by itself, coming and going on both sides of the road.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Planetary Parade

We've been watching Venus and Jupiter getting closer and closer together after sunset in the west for about a week now. They made their closest approach last night.

These planets are pretty bright and if you go out tonight and for the next few evenings, you can watch them pull away from each other.