Thank you for your prayers and support. The month of March has been filled with travel. I left Nairobi on the night of the 2nd and headed to Minneapolis. There I met my parents that were doing a training seminar with the team that my dad works with within SIM. From there we drove about an hour south to Faribault, MN which is where my brother Chris was getting married to Stephanie. The wedding was nice went well.

Sunday I road back with my parents to Luverne. The roads were pretty clear and we only had a bit of snow while we were driving. The next week I spent at my parents place catching up with friends and family in the area. I also was able to help scoop snow and get a taste of winter, although it was not long enough to get used to the cold. I also was able to see a lot of people from my home church in Luverne.

On Monday the 14th, I flew back to Nairobi and had a busy week or so before I departed for Doro, Sudan. We flew out of Wilson airport early on the Thursday the 24th and arrived here in Doro late afternoon after making a couple stops. It is quite a bit warmer here than Kenya but not as bad as some years. Today the high was about 103 F on the thermometer in the dining hall. It really did not feel too bad so I guess I am adjusting quickly, which is nice.

I have mostly been focusing on vehicle maintenance so far here on the compound. There has not been anyone really doing that besides me so that is one of my main tasks. I have changed the oil and serviced the pickup. Unfortunately I found one of the front CV axles was completely worn out. I have ordered parts and hopefully they will come on Monday on the flight so I can put them in before I leave. I have also worked on one of the 4 wheelers. The last thing I did Saturday afternoon was get the dirt bike out and get it running. No one has used it since November or December of last year. It actually started up on the first kick, which made me happy, after cleaning it up. There are currently only a few missionaries here on the base which is quite different from the other 4 visits I have made here. Some of the long term missionaries are on home assignment and they did not recruit many short-termers because of the uncertainty with the referendum vote in January. Things in this area have been peaceful and more people are expected to come in the next few months.

Praises:

Safe travel to the US and back and up here to Doro

The heat is not too bad and I seem to getting used to it quickly

The opportunity to come up here and help with maintenance

Prayer Requests:

Continued safety in travel and work

That I can be a blessing to the missionaries and local Sudanese

The right parts would come on the plane on Monday and I will be able to easily install them on the pickup

I actually won’t be here for that as I am leaving tomorrow (Wednesday night) for Minneapolis for my brother’s wedding. Pray that I have safe flights and no bad weather especially since that has been common this winter. I will fly into Chicago Thursday afternoon and then up to Minneapolis Thursday evening. Friday will be driving to the location of the wedding and getting ready for that. Saturday is the wedding and all that that entails and then Sunday I will drive with my parents back to their place and spend the next week with them visiting friends, supporters and family in southwest MN. I will fly back out here on the 14th of March. A little over a week later I will be flying up to Doro Sudan for a brief week and a half work trip. I am looking forward to both of these trips.

The other somewhat exciting thing that happened last week, was that I got to fly up to Loki, in northern Kenya, to fix a plane. One of our 206s that is based there developed a fuel leak in the left main tank. The leak was not very bad, but needed to be addressed before much more flying was done with the plane. I was able to determine where the leak was coming from and get it fixed in a couple of days as well as help the guys with loading and unloading planes up there. It was kind of fun to get out of town and do some work in the field again.

So all that to say I have been and will be doing a lot of traveling in the next month or so. Thanks for your prayers and support in allowing me to serve many different missionaries and help people.

Another item out of the ordinary this past month is that a little over 2 weeks ago I had an extension ladder I was using collapsed out from under me while at work. I was about 20ft in the air working on securing some tarps for our paint-booth and quickly cam crashing to the ground. Praise the Lord I was not seriously injured. I did get a pretty substantial gash in my left shin, I think from the engine crate that I half fell on. One of my coworkers wives is a nurse and I went over to their place in the afternoon after work and she cleaned the wound well and stitched it up for me and it is healing well now.

Praises

* I was not seriously injured in my fall a couple of weeks ago
* The Sudan election went well and remained peaceful

* We have been able to make good progress on the project plane

Prayer Requests:

* Continued peace in Sudan especially as the official election results should be coming out soon.
* From all reports it sounds like the south will become their own country and there will be a lot of work involved in separating and setting up a new country

* Continued safety in the shop and as our pilots fly

Thanks again for your prayers and support,
Caleb

Copyright © 2011 SIM, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you are interested in my work and ministry.
Our mailing address is:
P.O.Box 7900
Charlotte, NC 28241
800-521-6449

The beginning of July, I drove down to Asheville, NC for a high school
class reunion. From there I drove over to Charlotte, NC and attended
the final week of SIMCO (SIM Candidate Orientation). I was accepted by
the board and am currently an appointee as a career missionary with SIM.

Upon completion of SIMCO, I departed on my big “road trip” to visit most
of my prayer and financial supporters. This has been a fun time
reconnecting with many of you and sharing in person how God is working
in East Africa. Thank you for praying for my safety in driving over
7,000 miles so far. I am currently in Spokane, WA where I spent the
last three years of college and have many friends and supporters. I
plan on being here the whole month of September so I will have time to
see everyone and catch up on emails and other things.

Another goal on this trip was to reconnect with other friends and expand
my prayer and financial team. In the next couple of months, I will be
finishing up this trip and continuing to work on growing my support
team. As a career missionary, I require more support than I previously
did as a short term missionary. Here is a basic break down of my new
needs:

Monthly: Support $2,560, Ministry $200
One Time: Outgoing Expenses $5,660, Training $250, Outfit & Equipment
$5,700, and Vehicle $10,000

In order to head back by the end of the year as I’m planning, I need to
have all of my monthly support pledged and have received enough into my
account to cover the outgoing expenses, training, and some of the outfit
& equipment costs.

There are many ways to join my team. I am looking for prayer and
financial supporters. I would appreciate getting an email from you
informing me of your prayer support or intention of financial support.
This will keep me more current on my teams growth and allow me to
communicate more quickly to you. I am currently at about 50% of my
financial support level.

When you give, be sure to include my name: Caleb Klay and account number
065622. All support sent in to this account is tax deductable and you
will receive a receipt from SIM for your records.
You can give online: http://www.simusa.org/
You can also mail in a check to:
SIM USA, INC
P.O.Box 7900
Charlotte, NC 28241

I also have brochures and prayer cards if you are interested. Just send
me your address and I will be happy to mail one or a few few if you have
friends that you think might be interested. I can also email you the
prayer card if you would prefer it as an attachment.

Caleb Klay
caleb.klay@sim.org
429 W. Dodge St.
Luverne, MN 56156
Phone: 605-370-4279 (cell)

SIM USA
www.simusa.org
14830 Choate Circle
Charlotte, NC 28273
Phone: 800-521-6449

Right now I am getting caught up on paperwork and emails that were not time sensitive. I am also working on planning the next few small trips. These trips are primarily to churches here in the Midwest, and I would love to stop and see people along the way. The weekend of Oct 17-18, I will be in the Marion, IN area for a church missions conference. I am also planning on heading up to Fargo and Cavalier ND to visit supporting churches in both of those locations.

As I mentioned in my last News Update, I do need to raise quite a bit more support. I just would like to remind people that are interested in supporting me to inform me of their pledges, once you have decided so that I can keep my records up to date on the status of my support.

One other reminder, when you give, whether online http://www.simusa.org/ or by mail, be sure to include my name and ID #: Caleb Klay 065622 .

The AIM on field media team has made a couple of good videos about AIMAIR recently and posted them on the Internet.http://vimeo.com/5768223 is the newest video with four guys (a mechanic, a pilot, a bush missionary church planter, and local evangelist) sharing how their ministries is part of bringing the gospel to the unreached in remote locations. http://vimeo.com/5682356 was created last year and gives a general overview of what we do at AIMAIR.

Thanks again for your prayers and support,
–
Caleb Klay
caleb.klay@sim.org
429 W. Dodge St.
Luverne, MN 56156
Phone: 605-370-4279 (cell)

SIM USA
www.simusa.org
14830 Choate Circle
Charlotte, NC 28273
Phone: 800-521-6449

The flight to Doro was about 2 hours as well and we landed a little after 2:30 pm. Upon touch down, I knew it would be interesting because all the windows were blasted with mud. The Buffalo got stuck a few times turning around and we spent about an hour watching him taxi/slide at near full power while trying to maneuver into a good location to take off from. This set us back some in loading and so we worked at a feverish pace for the next hour trying to load as much of the Caravan wreck as possible. At 4:30, the pilot informed us that we had to finish now in order for them to have enough time to make it back to Loki, which closes at 6:30pm. That was when my boss asked/ told me to stay because there was not enough seats or space and they wanted someone to dismantle some of the parts that were not going to fit. I agreed, the only problem being I had not brought any cloths or stuff to spend a night or two.
Dr. Rob, the team leader in Doro is pretty close to the same size as me and I was able to borrow a T-shirt and pair of cargo pants to wear to church the next day and to wear when my other clothes were drying. The folks at SIM were very hospitable and had a tent and mattress and sheets as well as soap for me to use so I was set, they also had plenty of food that we had brought up.
Sunday, we road bikes into the nearby village about 3 km from the mission compound and had a nice service with the local believers there. In the afternoon, we took the four-wheelers down to the river and did some exploring and swimming. That evening, we watched part of a sermon on DVD and had a discussion and prayer time before going to bed. Monday, I scrounged as many tools as I could find (they have plenty of building stuff but not much mechanic stuff) and loaded them in the trailer and with the generator and a circular saw (they had metal cutting wheels for it which was a huge praise). I started by drilling out some rivets to give me access and open up the wing some. I then proceeded to do something they don’t teach in school, I cut the wing in two just outboard of the fuel tank. After cutting both wings in half, I tried to remove the flaps but was unable with the limited tools to get all the bolts. I decided not to try cutting until I checked for any more tools and consulted Nairobi. Monday I also helped a little on a small roofing project on the compound. Inn the afternoon, I went through almost everything in the shop/store room and organized all the tools and found a needle nose vice-grip, which I thought may work to get the remaining bolts.
So Tuesday, after consulting Nairobi, I had a list of more things they wanted disassembled and tried with the new vice-grip. Dr. Rob’s oldest son, Robert, also came along to help. We were able to barely get the bolts and after a lot of sweating and effort we had the flaps off and the cargo pod disassembled. I was also able to disassembled the other parts so everything was done there. In the afternoon, I also helped weld up some re bar for anchors for the new wind tower. We also poured the concrete for the four guy wires and the main one for the tower.
Wednesday, was the the day the plane was coming to get me so I went out to the airstrip to make sure it was in good shape since the dump trucks had been hauling in murrum to improve the runway. The piles were still all over the center of airstrip. So Robert and I rode our bikes into town to find the road grader to level things. Unfortunately the grader was stuck and they had sent for another grader. As we were leaving town a huge storm blew in and we got soaked completely. It continued to rain all afternoon so there were two reasons for the plane not to come.

Thursday and Friday I spent helping on other projects. By Friday evening the airstrip was dry enough and and the grader had come out and leveled all the piles. They also brought out a roller so they had packed it as well. Saturday, the plane was behind schedule and did not arrive till about 2:30. They had 4 patients in desperate need of hospital help so they decided to fly them to the hospital in Kurmuk and we spent that night in Doro as well. Sunday morning, we took off at 8 and flew to Pieri to refuel and them on to Juba so Dr. Rob could go to a conference . From there we flew back to Loki and then I caught a commercial flight back to Nairobi arriving at about 6:45 thus ending my long trip to Sudan and back.
Thanks again for your prayers, as you have read the trip was longer and more eventful than I had planed or expected.
Caleb

Thanks again for your prayers and support, they are very important to us on the “front lines”.
Caleb
PS. A few people were confused about when I was in Doro. I was in Doro 2 weeks before the accident, and flew out in a similar Cessna Caravan the Monday before the Accident. I was told that the four wheelers we brought up were a huge help in the accident as 2 land cruisers and a tractor got stuck trying to get to the crash site. Praise the Lord for His timing! There are many other little details in the crash where we have seen how God protected those involved.

Wednesday, Stephen, Dr. Rob’s teenage son who came up on the flight as well, and I hauled bricks with a four wheeler and trailer. We were hauling them from the old hospital, to the compound where everyone stays. We were using the bricks to build a drainage ditch and sidewalks. Thursday we hauled more bricks and continued the ditch and sidewalks till it started raining after lunch. When it rains, it pours and in a couple mins the whole place turned into a lake. So we decided it was a good time to try out the four wheelers in water and mud. They work great and can go through almost anything since they are four wheel drive and don’t have differentials so all four wheels spin all the time at the same speed. This set up would not be good on cement or asphalt but since there is none of that for a very long way, there is nothing to worry about.

Friday we hauled a couple more loads of bricks to finish off the side walk and for the ditch since we were able to see the importance and made a few minor design adjustments.
Saturday, I helped putting up the roof trusses on the new big storeroom and nail the perlins in place. It also rained in the afternoon again so we were not able to get much of the roof on. It cleared up in the evening and we were able to have movie night and showed a movie with the projector and some computer speakers.

Sunday, I joined Dr. Rob, Stephen, Luke and Michal on a 5 mile bike ride to Michal’s village for church. The road was still very muddy and we saw a number of vehicles stuck. We also had to cross the Yabus river by carrying our bikes, it is early in the rainy season so the river is low and only about knee deep. We had a nice time worshiping with the believers there. After church, we visited for a little while then ate some good Sudanese food and then left quickly to beat the rain home. Luke and Michal stayed a while longer and got caught in the rain and ended up taking their bikes back and left them at the village because the road was not ridable at all.
Monday, we packed up and cleaned up everything. The Caravan flew in dropping off some missionaries and supplies and then we loaded up and flew to Yabus, dropped off two guys and then headed south back to Loki.

Thank you for your prayers. To see pictures of my trip check out: http://calebklay.wordpress.com/new-pictures/
Caleb

We just got word that one of AIM AIR’s Caravan’s crashed while taking off out of Doro today, April 25, 2008. Below is a copy of the news/ prayer request just sent out by SIM.

Four SIM Missionaries and AIMAir Pilot OK after an AIMAir went off the runway in Southern Sudan

April 25, 2008: On take off from their stop at Doro (Mabaan county in Upper Nile) the Cessna Caravan went off airstrip the around 11 am. SIM passengers Barb Hartwig, Sandy Ewan, Claire Meckler, Debbie Sardo and AIMAir Pilot Andy Keller have been reported as OK by SIM nurse, Vicki Beatti. Our SIM Sudanese doctor, Angelina Minuel, and Canadian nurse, Amy Winger and UK nurse, Anne Lee are also on site attending to this.

The swerve of the plane and crash was seen by the missionaries as they had just said goodbye to their team mates. They immediately went to the site and found the pilot dizzy but all the rest were initially reported as OK. They were all instructed to lie down on the ground to insure everyone was fine. Dr. Rob Congdon, SIM Sudan medical director, is taking the medical lead on this crisis and is expected to fly to Sudan tomorrow leaving Nairobi at 4 am. All passengers and the pilot have now been moved to Doro station.

Vital signs have been reported back to Dr. Rob Congdon and the reports are all stable.

Claire Meckler reports aches and pains

Debbie Sardo reports aches and pains

Barb Hartwig has a swollen left hand and could have orthopedic injuries.

Andy Keller has a swollen leg and could have orthopedic injuries

Sandy Ewan reports no symptoms.

Our good friend who is a UN liason working with refugee repatriation in Mabaan offered to ask for a UN helicopter airlift out to Malakal. All five will be airlifted to the UN clinic and AIMAir pilot, Jim Stryk and Dr. Rob Congdon will arrive around 9 am tomorrow morning in Malakal to bring the whole team back to Nairobi.

The AIMAIR Cessna Caravan took off from Lokichoggio at about 7 am this morning, stopped to off load goods at Yabus, proceeded to Doro to offload items and pick up Barb Hartwig who has successfully initiated the Community Health training at Doro and Sandy Ewan who is coordinating the opening of the Memorial Primary Health Care Cenre.

This flight was on its way to drop off teachers, Claire Meckler and Debbie Sardo as they were prepared to teach the next session of the Basic Education Learning Center at Thiangrial which starts April 27. There was a refueling stop scheduled and the pick up of our Kenyan education coordinator, Ruth Odenga at Abwong. Ruth has been in Abwong monitoring and evaluating the program there for the past week.

Pray for each of the people mentioned in this report and our partners, AIMAir.

Under His Mercy,

Jo-Ann Brant
Acting SIM Sudan Director