ZIMBABWE BUSH

Healing Place Church Pastor Dino Rizzo in the Zimbabwe bush.

Should we tell him the elephant is coming?

ROMA, ITALIA: THE FOUNTAIN

Jean and our German friend at the famous fountain.

Anybody have three coins?

IOWA: OUR YOUTHFUL DREAMS

We thought we had it all--including a Cadillac Eldorado convertible.

How paltry our dreams were before we gave our lives to Christ.

How far beyond anything we ever imagined are the opportunities and experiences God has allowed in our lives.

ZIMBABWE: CHAMBUTA REFUGEE CAMP

We called them "Glory Grinders." They ground the maize (corn) into mealie meal which was their staple diet.

Local farmers would bring their maize to the camps to be ground. The machine's efficiency meant they got about 20% more useable mealie meal. The camp charged 20% of the mealie meal for grinding it.

Everybody won!

MANILA, PHILIPPINES: FAITH ACADEMY

Our daughter Susan (the short one in the middle) was the mascot cheer leader for her big brother Dan's basketball team in the Philippines.

Later in West Des Moines, Iowa she was a high school cheer leader at the famous Valley High.

Ask me if I'm proud of her.

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

This new clinic was almost ready to open--with the blessings of the formerly officially atheist government of Uruguay.

They told me they would give us land if we would build a church and a school or a church and a clinic on the land.

"We are grateful," I said, "but I am curious why it is the church is the number one requirement?"

"Because your churches teach the men to marry the mothers of their children and to care for their families. That solves a problem for the State."

PHILIPPINES, VOLCANO MT. PINATUBO

This carabao cart was the only way we could reach some of the stranded people.

The entire area was covered with lahar (volcanic ash) sometimes 30 feet deep. Rivers and ravines were filled in by lahar totally changing the topography.

AUSTIN, TEXAS: DAVID OHLERKING III

When our son David was a lad he made a plaster mold of his hand print.

Here our grandson David III is putting his hand in his father's handprint.

Grandparents love this kind of moment.

MONROVIA, LIBERIA: WITCHDOCTOR'S THREAT

Jean and I stood on the balcony of our fourth floor room and watched as a witchdoctor and his group marched up to the hotel to attack the ministry team. (You can see them in the center of the photo.)

Hotel security stopped them. In defiance, the witchdoctor over and over again would point at one of the flag poles and it would shake violently.

Is the enemy powerful? Yes, but "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world."

The meetings filled the largest stadium every night. Thousands flocked the altars to accept Christ.

EAGLE GROVE, IOWA: FAMILY JAM SESSION

Jean, her dad and mom Harry and Vera Bougher making happy music.

The Boughers were always musical and family jam sessions were a powerful part of their lives.

Jean has sung Gospel music all over the world including in the famed Opera House in Hanoi, Vietnam.

HARARE, ZIMBABWE: THE JACARANDA CANOPY

In October the Jacaranda trees bloom. Their purple blossoms cover the streets like a velvet carpet.

When the British colonized Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) they landscaped and manicured the grounds.

JERUSALEM: THE WAILING WALL

This is one of the world's most historic and significant sites.

HANOI,VIETNAM: REMEMBERING THE WAR

Lt. Col. Paul Kari spent 8 years as a P.O.W. in the "Hanoi Hilton."

Here Paul, Ben Rodgers and I stand beside a monument to the shooting down of now Presidential candidate John McCain's plane into the lake in Hanoi city.

Paul and John McCain were imprisoned together at the Hoa Lo prison (the Hanoi Hilton).






Center: Paul checks out the weapons like the ones that shot him down.

Bottom: Paul by a Vietnam MiG that claims to have shot down 14 of Paul's fellow pilots.

AFRICA HI-5

I love doing this.

IOWA, HIWAY 17 NEAR MY BOYHOOD HOME

Tornado weather!

SAIGON, SOUTH VIETNAM. EASTER 1975

The young couple being baptized in this make-shift tank are new converts.

Their faces beamed as they told me of their new life. "And now for the first time we can sing!"

They had never had reason to sing and had never known the joy of praising God in music.

URUBAMBA, SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS, PERU

We stayed in this mountain inn near the Macchu Pichu ancient ruins in Peru.

It was quaint, full of history, comfortable and altogether delightful.

They have a type of corn-on-the-cob there that the kernels of corn are about the size and shape of a lima bean but with a great corn taste. I've never seen the like anywhere else.

The first time I was here I could find no evangelical churches. Now, our friend Missionary Robert Bariger has planted more than 40 strong churches in this Sacred Valley of the Incas--including one right in Urubamba.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, INTERATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTER

Bona fide heroes.

Rev. J. Robert Ashcroft and Grace were our pastors and fellow missionaries in Brussels, Belgium. Their son John became the Attorney General of the United States.

Bob was a poet in the pulpit. His profound messages never failed to stir us deeply. I still have recurring memories of his words like, "Nobody saw the crippled feet of Mephibosheth as he sat at the King's table."

One of my treasures is a complete set of audio recordings of his messages in Brussels

AFFLICTION

Pastor Sam Henning, son of Pastor Earl Hening who married Jean and me, had a sign on the wall of his office:

Comfort the afflicted.
Afflict the comfortable.

ETHIOPIA

A happy parade of once starving people carrying home bags of food from our distribution point--each bag held enough food enough to feed a family several weeks.

HONDURAS COUNTRYSIDE

These Central American children must forage the mountainsides to find wood for their cooking fires.

The need for wood is systematically eliminating trees in many countries.

In northern Africa it means the Sahara desert moves south several kilometers every year.

In mountainous areas it means stripping the slopes of vegetation which turns rains into landslides and floods.

Life is not easy in the Third World.

PHILIPPINES

Whenever we stopped along the road in the Philippines there would be an instant crowd. We used these opportunities to show God's love.

Here we are in the northern part of Luzon. We gave them a "Jesus Letter," a tract written by Missionary Bill Farrand. It was simple and powerful.

Months later we got back one of the tracts we gave these children from Mindanao which is 700 miles south.

A young mother wanted us to know she accepted Jesus because of it.

We had coded the tracts so we knew this was one we handed out to these people.

How many hands did it go through before it got to the lady in Mindanao who read it, gave her life to Christ, and then contacted us?

I read in His Book that His Word won't return void.

CENTRAL AMERICAN BARRIO

You love her already, don't you?

God let me direct projects that changed her life.

MISSIONARIES PAUL AND JEAN KLAHR

I want to honor these dear friends.

We served together in the Philippines and have stayed in contact over the years.

Paul writes an online devotional called "Klahrs Corner."
It's the first thing I read every day.

You can find it by Googling "Klahrs Corner."

As a sailor Paul was sent on a suicide mission fighting the Japanese. After the war he served many years as a missionary in Japan then completed his career in the Philippines.

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS

Another Coke invested in street kid.
It made us both happy

WHAT’S IN A BLOG?

“A blog can be whatever you want it to be.”

This is the advice I got when I started. At first I wanted it to be a way to update family and friends. Then I wanted it to be a way to share my thoughts about God and experiences with
Him. Now I realize it is also a way to preserve memories in words and pictures.

What wonderful communication tools we have now.

I’ve been writing another book about our experiences as missionaries titled “WALK WITH ME—Through Some Hard Places of the World.” It has thrilled me to recount the awesome blessings God has allowed Jean and me to experience. He has allowed us to see and be part of wonderful events. He has filled our lives with relationships with amazing people from all walks of life.

My first thought was to have the book be full of photos of the events being written about, until I hit the hard reality of publication costs.

Ah, but the blog is free! Now I see the blog as a kind of online publishing of the photos I would have put in the book. Look through the past few months’ blogs and laugh and cry with me. The blog will be sort of a companion to the book.

I intend to continue using the blog to update, share experiences and thoughts, and publish photos and videos.

Just maybe God will use them to call new workers to His harvest fields.

IRIAN JAYA: CANNIBAL VALLEY MUMMY

The chief sitting in the chair is about 400 years old--mummified by smoking him over the cooking fires for years. His skin feels about the same as soft tar.

When I asked the living chief if I could see him he said, "Yes, but very expensive."

"How much?"

"Two dollars."

"I can afford it."

You'll notice the men don't have much of a wardrobe. It's an orange gourd. It's also where they keep their tobacco.

ZIMBABWE CHILD: VULNERABLE INNOCENCE

I've used this photo before and I'll probably use it again.

She is the sweetest child in Africa (except for my three grandkids).

Her eyes are always peeking over my shoulder in the back of my mind. They compel me to do more for more hurting children.

HANOI, VIETNAM: NATIONAL TELECAST ABOUT CHILDREN'S CUP

We are viewing a telecast about Children's Cup on the national television network.

Can you even imagine how thrilled we were?

PHILIPPINES, MANILA: CARDINAL SIN

"Cheers Executive Fellowship Breakfast" was a weekly meeting of government officials and religious leaders hosted by my friend Bishop George Castro.

Cardinal Jaime Sin was seated immediately in front of the podium.

I knew him when he was an Arch Bishop. In those days he used to say, "They won't make me a Cardinal because then I would be a 'Cardinal Sin.'"

Interesting body language.

I don't think my message impressed him

PHILIPPINES< MT. PINATUBO

Another Hi-5.

HI-5 IN HANOI

Kids around the world love to "Hi-5."

I had just given this needy family one month's worth of food.

That always feels good.

PHILIPPINES, BANAWE RICE TERRACES

Jean and I spent some time here. We asked a local official if we could hike back deeper in the mountains and spend a couple nights.

"That could be arranged with the chief--but he would require that Jean spent the first night with him."

Jean wasn't interested.

BATAAN, PHILIPPINES

This monument honors the hundreds of American soldiers
who died in the cruel Bataan Death March.

It was an emotional place for us.

WAMENA VALLEY, IRIAN JAYA

Pork chops anyone? We are at the main village market in this near-stone-age market.

I bought two stone axes here--the kind they used every day.

This is also the place and day I got a good dose of malaria. It was one of those female mosquitos that bit me that evening that got me.

Not much fun having malaria.

About three years later (why did we take so long) Jean and one of our council members prayed for me. Ten years later I have never had another attack of the spiking fevers and ague since that night.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES

My boyhood pastor, Reverend Lloyd Meyer, accompanied me to Asia. It was my pleasure to introduce him to the Philippine First Lady, Mrs. Fidel Ramos, and the Minister of Health Dr. Juan Flavier.

These caring leaders expedited our projects to help the victims of the Mt. Pinatubo volcano.

HANOI, VIETNAM: CHIEF SURGEON

I'm presenting the Chief Surgeon of Vietnam a certificate of donation for a disinfectant chlorine generator system we installed in the main surgical hospital in Hanoi.

He clapped his hands in joy and asked how we knew that's what he needed.

I told him, "befere we left America we asked God to tell us the right equipment to bring."

He explained, "We do 15,000 surgeries every year at this hospital. Our surgeons are good but we lose so many patients to infection.

"Now we can make all the disinfectant we need."

PHILIPPINES: FREE CLINIC IN BARRIO

Some of my favorite projects are free clinics.

We liked to set up in a local church. People come to the church site to get help and find that the church cares and will continue to help them.

The churches always grew as a result.

Where there were no churches we'd start new churches with the clinics.

Parents of hurting children watch the team show the child God's love in medical help. They listen when the staff tells them about Jesus.

VIETNAM, DOWNTOWN HANOI

You've already guessed I gave him what he was asking for--some "dong" to buy some food.

PARIS, FRANCE: NOTRE DAME

She was probably either singing or quoting a scripture in front of the world's most famous church.

Our daughter Susan, now a missionary in Africa has seen a lot of the world. Born in the Philippines, spent years in Belgium, and has spent most af a decade in Africa. And she traveled with us to many other countries

As we watched her grow up it was always evident to Jean and me that she would serve God as a missionary.

Is it okay for parents to be proud of their kids?

ROME, ITALY: THE COLOSSEUM

Jean and a young friend from Germany at the Roman Colosseum .

What a historic place for Christians.

EAGLE GROVE, IOWA

Isn't she pretty?

It looks like I'm guarding my Coke in case another refugee or orphan comes by and talks me out of it with his eyes.

ISRAEL, THE VALLEY OF ELAH

Jean is picking up stones from the same brook where it is said that David got the five stones he faced Goliath with.

WAYNE, MICHIGAN

When I was 8 years old I was playing with matches (I got more spankings for that than anything else) and accidently set the back of this building on fire.

I'm glad they were able to put it out before it did much damage.

You can guess I got a "warm reception" when my parents found out.

ISRAEL, THE GARDEN TOMB

Jean at the Garden Tomb. It's empty!

THERE'S THAT ACCORDION

Dave, Jean, Davy, and Danny ministering in the Philippines.

THE FRED OHLERKING FAMILY

My intended audience for this photo is the Ohlerking family present and future. I don't want it to get lost in a box somewhere again.

Left to right: Fred, Leona, Darwin, Don, David, Damon

ETHIOPIA, FOOD FOR REFUGEES

One of the fleet of trucks we used to carry food to the starving Ethiopians.

Later we learned that government troops were coming in behind us and taking the food away to feed the army.

Worse, they were separating Christian familes and and hauling them to the south psrt of the country to become slaves for the Jesus-haters there.

I had felt like we were doing a good thing by feeding thousands of hungry people at a time. Then I discovered that we were being used to set a trap for them.

At that time the famine and war in Mozambique and the refugee camps in Zimbabwe were largely being ignored by the media so we shifted our emphasis to southern Africa.

When you must choose who you can keep alive, you are also chosing who you will let die.

Not an easy decision.

ZAIRE (D.R. CONGO) ETUI JUNGLE

We had taken video of this pygmy chief and played it back for him to see in the camera view finder.

Moments later he became very agitated. He thought we had captured his soul in that little box. His warriors gathered around with their tiny bows and poison arrows.

I had picked up some little bars of perfumed soap at the Nairobi, Kenya hotel a few nights before. I offered them to him as a peace gift.

He debated a bit and then took them and the crowd left.

Phew!

Later I mused about this chief "selling his soul" for some pretty smelling soap. Pretty cheap.

Both a sermon and a personal reminder about selling our souls.

ZIMBABWE, CHAMBUTA REFUGEE SCHOOL

Happy day!

Close to 500 students celebrate getting their own notebook and pencil.

One child wrote us a thank you letter. "Thank you for the paper and pencil. There are 50 in my class and they had only one pencil for the whole class. Some of us never got to use it. Now we each have our own."