Report on Richard and Kathy's Visit to States

Above: From left to right: Harold, Kathy and Richard; Barbara and former employee of HCJB Global - Margaret Cook. Margaret arranged her trip to visit her family here in California to coincide with Rich and Kathy's trip in order to meet them personally.

Dear friends of Radio Kahuzi,

Greetings in His Precious Name!

Richard had both eyes operated on two weeks ago and now has 20/20 vision with glasses! What a wonderful answer to our prayers! He suffered with double vision for many years, and last year developed cataracts. So, you can imagine how elated we all are that he will return to Bukavu like a new man!

God is so faithful...He has and will continue to complete what He has begun. As we know, "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to HIS purpose."

The Apostle Paul prayed three times that God remove his "thorn in the flesh", but God chose to leave it there. We are so thankful that after 25 years of blurred and double vision, our merciful Heavenly Father has intervened in Richard's situation so that he can continue to serve unhindered.

We were fortunate to have Rich and Kathy with us for a few days here in California at the BESI home office (July 24-29) before they headed home to Bukavu. We had a blessed time together as a family and were able to celebrate Kathy's birthday and our son-in-law, Jared's birthday together. Here is a picture of Rich and Kathy enjoying a much-loved hot fudge sundae together on the pier in Oceanside during their visit:

As they return to Bukavu, they will be greeted warmly by our dedicated radio staff who have been "standing in the gap" broadcasting the Gospel of His Grace to our faithful listening audience!

With Love and Thanksgiving in our hearts for you,

Keep Looking UP!

Harold & Barbara Smith

EMAIL FROM RICHARD ON HIS WAY HOME TO BUKAVU:
Greetings from Kigali!

Kathy and I arrived in Kigali, Rwanda okay, but lost one suitcase - probably still on the plane as it went on to Entebe, Uganda with Brussels Airlines. We trust it will arrive Saturday evening.

We made a stop at the US Embassy to visit the Cultural Center - sorry, they erased my pictures for security reasons. It is a NEW and modern facility, so we are using the internet via the American Library/Cultural Center here.

It was so great to see each one and ALL this last trip home!! We were ready for the layover here in Kigali, as our plane got in after dark Thursday and we had the last bag to come down the chute about an hour or so later! Then a friend said our name was on the bulletin board for lost bags! The kind of new experiences one does not search to have!

In Elkhart, Indiana we had really good meetings with the technical staff of HCJB Global, who are going to prepare two more FM transmitters antennas for our relay network for several provinces.

The eyes are holding up fine, and Kathy is babying me with the eye drops twice a day for another 10 days.

We hope to make contact with the Cultural Attache - Directrice of the Cultural Center before going on to Bukavu. Maybe we will visit other offices downtown, where they broadcast the daily programs as we do.

Well, we'd better cut and send until another day.

Keep looking UP!

All our love,

Yours in Christ,

Richard and Kathy