Hello! Another sweaty week has flown by. It is hot and humid here with the very occasional relief of a rain shower or a strong wind. This week Hugo was working on the autopilot in one of the caravans that is in for regular maintenance. He also did some research into MAF's Standard Operation Practice with regards to testing ELT's. The shop is currently waiting for some parts to complete the stormscope installation in one of the 206's. Things take a long time to get here which costs a lot of money in down time. Hugo has also been looking into the possiblity of getting parts here to repair the GNS 430 GPS/NAV/COM so that they don't have to send them to Redlands every time they need to be fixed. Sending them stateside costs a lot on shipping and customs. Some training of the local national staff would also be required as they are trained only on radios. On Saturday we drove up to General MacArthurs lookout point. It is not a long drive, but it is a very interesting drive. As we drove up the road we saw a huge disparity in the homes. There were nice concrete painted houses with fences around next to wooden huts built on stilts with laundry hanging from every available line and bush. Many of the more poor houses also had large satelite dishes sticking out of their roofs. We could see into some of the houses and there was nothing in them but a television against the wall. It is very important to Indonesians to have a television. About half way up to the lookout we came to a military base where we had to stop. There they asked us to put our windows down and leave them down while we were on the base. They also took Hugo's drivers license and MAF ID for safekeeping. They checked out the kids and sent us on our way. The road took us past a number of groups of soldiers going through various different exercises. We didn't dare take any photos though they all had guns.... We reached the official lookout and the gate was locked. So we continued on the road which became very rough gravel and reached a spot where we could look out over Sentani, Lake Sentani and the airport. It was a beautiful view. On our way back we met a vehicle which opened the gates to the lookout and we could go in. Some people were scrambling around quickly putting up the information boards. We didn't think that was for our benefit... A group of men came later and began to look around. They must have been dignitaries of some sort as some of them had personal assistants holding umbrellas over their heads. For the rest our family is doing fine. We are well adjusted to llfe here and have managed to remain healthy. Mikah would like to stay here forever though, she really loves school and her teacher. The boys are growing up and developing a nice friendship with each other. They enjoy their time in the morning with just Mom. Erica is ready to have the baby as the heat is very draining. Thankfully we have been blessed with a good pembantu (househelper). Hugo is still enjoying his work in the hangar and being able to make a valuable contribution to the base here. Well, that was our week, how was yours? Thanks to all of you who have been sending us emails, we love to get them! Selamat Hari Minggu! In His Service, Hugo and Erica Feunekes