On Saturday we visited Muyebe, a village about 2 hours from HAU. This was the home of Patrice when she was growing up. We spent some great time with her parents, Wayne and Barb, who gave us a lot of history of early missions in the country of Burundi. It was a privilege to get to know these folks better, who have been serving in Burundi for more than 40 years now. We first met them a number of years ago when we were working on the Sister Connection project. The kind folks in the old homestead treated us to a great lunch when we arrived. Then we spent time walking around to see the medical clinic, the school, and the church that are all results of this mission work. The first missionary in Burundi was John Wesley Haley, who built the house we ate lunch in, and the cornerstone of the church bears his initials as well.
And our friends, Wayne and Barb.
The next day, we went to church in the morning, again to the CLM church in Bujumbura. The pastor who spoke that day had a very moving message that we all need to hear on loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. He reminded me entirely of Dr. Tony Evans, who I have heard also in person.
After church we parted company with our team members, Ken, Michael, Dave, and Patrice, as we began our journey to Kibuye to do some upgrades of the PowerPac and Electrical Service there. It was a ride to be remembered, as a van-load of Mazungas got slammed from one side of the vehicle to the other constantly as we rounded the many curves and dodged potholes that also plague them (the curves in the road). Fortunately these drivers know the roads very well and have made countless trips up and down these hills. We crested mountains in excess of 7,800' elevation to settle down into the highlands where Kibuye is nestled at about a mile high. We could feel the difference in temperature and air quality was quite improved over the city smells and dust of Bujumbura.
Our tasks at Kibuye included increasing the electrical service to the PowerPac to 400-amps to match the internal equipment and meet the loads of the compound. When we were there last year, we did what we could to tune it to the system, but there was just not enough power there for the great amount needed to charge the battery banks. As of this evening, Tuesday, this task is half done. And it looks very professional.
The reconfiguration of the system at Kibuye took all day yesterday and today. Matt and I worked both days well into the nights, last night alone until almost midnight. But as several of us met in the PowerPac this evening at 8pm for a conference call with our colleagues in Washington and Pennsylvania, the very last firmware upgrade finished on the inverters. This is a tedious project that just takes time to complete, along with a lot of patience. Tomorrow, it is our goal to adjust many of the more than 300 parameters in the system, so that we can bring it back on line, while the rest of the team makes preparations to do the second part of the electrical installation upgrade. Please pray that things go smoothly in all of the programming and that the guys working on the electrical project can do so safely. We have some tool limitations as we left some of them at HAU due to the limited van space, but overall we have seen things go together with everyone pulling their share of the work.
We are also going to replace a battery cell that had been damaged in shipment in 2018 when the project went on line. This 318lb. battery is something we don't want to see fall onto someone's feet. While we are doing all of this we are checking the torque settings on the batteries and doing some voltage readings, which are part of maintenance.
Our goal is to have the system tuned and operating at peak efficiency by Thursday, with all of the inverters and wireway covers reinstalled. Then on Friday we expect to head out to Sister Connection, near the town of Gitega, where we installed our very first PowerPac. There are a few items we need to attend to there, so we expect to be there about a half-day. Sister Connection was the basis of the first I-TEC promotional video that still exists on our mission website. If the Lord allows us to complete work on these three PowerPacs in Burundi as planned it will have been a very worthwhile time spent in His service in Africa. The praise belongs entirely to Him, not us, as we are only laborers doing what we can with what we know for His glory.
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