Interesting Trip to Riwoto

Riwoto, Sudan

Today has been quite an interesting day.  We left for Riwoto this morning.  (It is in the vicinity of Kapoeta.)  Shortly after we got on the main road, the fuel tank fell out from under the seat of Samuel's Land Rover.  He and Kristine were in one Land Rover.  Lanny, Brian and I were in the other one.  We were traveling behind them.  It was a very odd sight to come up on Samuel sitting in the middle of the road holding a dented up fuel tank to keep it from falling over.

 
Fortunately, the Land Rover had a second fuel tank at the back end.  After a bit of trouble, we were able to transfer the fuel from one tank to the other.  A few minutes later we had to tie off the fuel line that led to the lost tank as it was leaking.  Of course we had to re-prime the engine fuel system.  Later, the manifold started to come apart where I welded it yesterday.  We wired it back up to give it more strength.  Later, we had to park for a while to let a river go down so we could cross.

Later, we met an army truck.  The soldiers needed a tire patch, so we gave one to them.  They gave us some goat meat roasted over an open fire.  It was quite good tasting, but a little tough.  We finally arrived here (after getting stuck only once) at about 5:30 p.m.  This was about eleven hours after our journey began.  The distance we travelled was about 100 miles.  

This place is in the middle of a thorn tree covered plain in Taposa country.  Most Taposa men go stark naked.  The appropriate greeting here is "Mata" said repeatedly while shaking hands.  More tomorrow.

Preparing for Trip to Kapoeta

Lohutok, Sudan

We had planned to go to Kapoeta today but we had too much to do first.  Samuel and I had to fix the exhaust manifold on the green Land Rover.  It was hard to get off and hard to weld as it was some sort of a cast material.  We asked Elijah to have someone plant some sweet potatoes to start a garden for the mission station.  This afternoon I wrote a letter.  I also finished the foot board of the bunk bed for the Arensen girls.  We plan to leave for Kapoeta in the morning.

Out of the Silent Planet

Lohutok, Sudan
 
Today, I read Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis.  It was a very good book dealing partly with man's presupposition that there is no God, leading to disbelief.  It was a different theme than most science fiction.

I slept quite a while this afternoon.  My stomach feels a bit troubled but not too bad.

We ate at Samuel and Kristine's tonight.  Kristine cooked some meat that had been left in the freezer by another missionary.  The package was marked with an "E" which we concluded might have meant it was elephant meat.  It was tender and tasty.

Land Rover Repair

Lohutok, Sudan

I spent most of the morning fixing the switch on the Land Rover.  We were unable to start it with the key.  We had to hot wire it all the time.  The interlock system was messed up.  I took off the switch.  This was a difficult job.  I had to drill and chisel a couple of headless bolts.  I removed the steering and fuel shut-off interlocks and put the switch back on.

In the afternoon I read one of my Michigan State Rural Employment Papers.  I also napped a bit.  I cut out all the pieces for the footboard of the Arensen girls bunk bed.  The metal pieces are ready for welding and then drilling.

This evening I will read one or two more of the Michigan State papers.