THE LION'S

See the Lion of the tribe of Judah .. . has triumphed"

BOB

&

DAWN

IN
ZAIRE
AFRICA

BAIRD

Elizabeth, Rachel & Joshua

January 1993

KEEPING BUSY
We have been missionaries with African Christian

Mission for 11 years - and 9 of those have been here in

Zaire. You remember that in 1990 when we returned

from furlough we began working in Bukavu. I. Bob,

continued to work inthe TEE program, and Dawn took on
the responsibilities of supporting the out-station mission
aries. This issue of the Lion's Line will describe her work.

To support out-station missionaries means to take

care of whatever needs they have that cannot be met at

their location. In the case of all of our missionaries, that
means everything from fresh meats and vegetables, to car
parts and building supplies, Italso includes taking care of
any work they need done on their passports and the
constant need for medicines.

The connection between Dawn as the Support Per

son and out-station families is our Flight Program. We
havetwo stations inthe north whichget a flight everytwo
weeks on a Tuesday, and one station south of here that

gets a flighteveryweek on Friday. Theseare called freight

flights.

To begin with, Dawn is supplied with 3 checks from

each family, made out for a certain amount, and signed.
These checks she keeps and cashes as she sees the needs

or as a particular family might ask for money on a flight.

The exchange rate now is 2.200,000 Z's {Zaire currency)
to $1. so Dawnisdealing in billions of Z's. Each family has

its own money bag, which must mean that

Dawn has become a "Bag Lady"???
Eachfamily has a supply of order forms
which they fill out and send to Bukavu, The

wife of our pilot makes a copy of these to

reserve the weightfor those thingsand gives
the original to Dawn. As she gets these
orders, she makes a master list, separating
the food into; vegetables and eggs, fresh
meats, and store items. Dawn has 6 Zairians

who work in various parts of the buying of

these goods. For example, we have 3 men
who sell fresh vegetables and eggs who
come to our house every Monday and Thurs
day, the days beforethe freight flights. We
have 1 man who sells fresh meat {all the
orders go through him), and the meat is
delivered to our house. Forthe store items.
Dawn makes an estimate as to how many
hundreds of millions of Z's necessary and
goes to town to try to find the things the
people need.
"Bag Lady*

Asshe workstoward each freightflight,

our entrance way and dining room start to

Packing on Flight Day

fill upwith bags offood, sacksofflourand sugar,

cases of soap, and even tires. Sometimes in the
time between flights, new needs will arise and
new requests made over the radio for Dawn to

add, subtract, or find something new.

On the day before the actual freight flight,
when all has been purchased. Dawn starts the
job of packaging, tagging, and weighing every
thing. Each station hasacolored tag. Onthistag
isa place to put the name of the person who will
be getting that particular sack or box, and the
weight. The color code and weight helps our
pilotto properlyload the items for the flight. We
have a large scale outside our back door, so
everything has to be hauled to the scale and back
to the front of the house again.
When this iscomplete. Dawn then makes all

of herfinal entriesintothe computer, gets a final

total for each account, balances each account

Balancing the Accounts

physically, and prints out a statement for each

family. Then we carryit all down to the truck and

haul itoverto the pilot's housefor the nextday's

flight. Every Monday and Thursday are big days
- the days before the flight. By the time every
thing gets to the pilot's house, it is usually 3 4
p.m. But just as soon as the pilot returns to
Bukavuand copies are made of the orders. Dawn

is back at it again, working toward the next

flight.

By her ministry. Dawn is a part of the work

of each of the out-stations. She is the unseen

partner in all of the things that they are involved

in. Without the Support Worker, there would
not be Out-Station Missionaries.

Another thing Dawn is involved in is the

monthly ladies meeting we have hosted in our
home for the last two months. The ladies from
Weighing up the Load

the area churches gather for a time of praising

God,fellowship, singing, and hearing the Word
of God.

Area Women's Meeting

Note:
9

We had a great Christmas.

The Lord was present for His
Birthday Party. We received a
lot of nice gifts we wanted, and
things we needed from you. But
when those things went through
the process of getting here, they
lostanyidentity! Wedon'tknow

S ?
fi

a.

O 0^ IJ C >
t) 5i

s;

who sent what! So we want to

thank you all who remembered

us at Christmas, and God Bless
You!

1/1

fN

(o //

THE LION'S
"See the Lion of the tribe of Judah .. . has triumphed"

IN
ZAIRE
AFRICA

BOB & DAWN BAiRD

Elizabeth, Rachel & Joshua

im

October 1993

CONSISTENTLY
Hebrews 13:18: 'Jesus Christ is the same

yesterday and today and forever.'

Iam very impressed with all of you Preachers, Sunday
School Teachers, Nursery Workers, Choir Leaders and
Members, Secretaries, and Committee Members, all of

you who week after week steadfastly continue to do the

things that keep the Church going. Since becoming a
Missionary, I have never been in your position with a
Church. Not that I have avoided it, but in Zaire, with the

programs we are involvedin, they necessitate traveling. In

America we are required to travel and visit all of you and
go to conventions and mission meetings, so we are not
consistently in one place. But every Church Ivisitthere are
you working hard, week after week, being very consis
tent. Likethis verse about Jesus, we can depend upon Him
because He is always the same. The Church can depend
upon you! Ican imagine that sometimes it is real hard for
you to keep going, every Sunday, but you do! And on top
of the natural wear-out, you have to contend with the
complainers, spoiled beyond belief, who cannot be pleased.
So these few lines are your recognition from the Baird
family. Thanks for the newsletters you've put together,
the Sunday School lessons you've taught, the sermons
you've preached, and the committee meetings you have
attended. Thank you for being there for the Church,
CONSISTENTLY!

Furlough Time
We are very happy to be back in the States. We are living
in Morris, Illinois, out in the wide open countryside exactly
where we wanted to be. We have really gotten back into
being Americans with all of our running around.

Joshua, who is 13 now. Is in 7th grade at Saratoga School

here in Morris. He is in the school chorus and plays club
soccer. His soccer team has 4 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie. We

love going to hisgames and he reallyenjoys playing. He isalso

involvedwith the youth group and the youth choir at the First
Christian Church.

Rachel, who is 19, is a freshman at Lincoln Christian

College. She really loves it and had a tremendous start to this

year. She had to take her ACT tests on the day that Freshman
Orientation started. With her score, she won a Presidential

Scholarship which really helped out with tuition. During

Orientation she was asked to speak to the new freshmen at
chapel and President McNeily was so impressed that he asked

her to speak to the Board of Trustees when they

had their annual meeting. She loves going to LCC
and, with her experience, she has been an encour
agement to many who are away from home for
the first time.

Calendar
October

10th -

Elizabeth, our oldest daughter, who is21, has

lived with Dawn's sister. Holly, in Phoenix since
April of 1991. Well, we are all rejoicing because
on the 8th of October she is coming to livewith us

14th-16th 27th 28th -

and will remain until we return to the field in 1994.

30th-31 St-

Dawn, and 1won't tell her age, isgetting back

into singing again on a regular basis. She has
several accompaniment tapes that she is practic
ing with, and has started singing specials at the
churches that we are visiting with. She has also
joined the choir here in Morris, which gives her the
chance to work with them on a weekly basis.
Dawn has purchased and is studying material to
prepare herselffor the occasionswhen she would
be needed to speak at a church function. She is
also working part-time with Quality Home Health
Care. Inthis job she spends time in the homes of
people who need help due to illness or age. This
isasatisfyingjobforherand it helps out financially,

Erie, IL

National MissionaryConvention
Shabona School Career Day
Coal City Lion's Club
Bettendorf, lA

November

24th -

ACM Meeting, Paris, IL

Kentucky Christian College
Joliet, IL
Chillicothe, IL
Coal City High School Political

28th -

Orion, IL

8th - 9th 11th- 12th 14th 21st -

Science Class

December

5th -

Centralia, IL

too.

Bob,that's me, and without an age reference,

is doing a lot of work on the new computer that
we purchased to take back to the field. We have
to keep up on all our correspondence, work up
financial reports for the past term, do newsletters,
and continue to keep all of our finances in a
manner acceptable by the IRS. He has been doing
a lot of calling, and calling back to get speaking
dates for all of our supporters. This furlough Bob
will be doing most of the traveling and speaking
on behalf of the family. The reason for this is that
we need to keep Joshua in one place consistently
for his emotional well-being. This last term was
very hard on ail of us and the resolution for Joshua
is staying in one place.

January

9th
16th
22nd-23rd

Morrison, IL

LeRoy, IL
Council Bluffs, lA

February
5th - 6th
12th- 13th
27th

Greentown, IN

Dyer, IN
Moline, IL

March

4th - 6th 6th 7th - 8th -

Now that we are back in the States, it is a lot

llliowa Ladies Fellowship

Sterling, IL
ACM Meeting, Chapel, Rock, IN

easier to get in touch with us. Ifyou would like to

do that, we are at:
9470 Lisbon Road

Morris, Illinois 60450

phone: 815-942-6321.

June

26th - July 1St -

Little Galilee Christian Camp

Forwarding
Prayer Requests

Agent
You all know that we have a

fantastic Forwarding Agent, Larry

Comer! Well, Larry has requested
that we look for a replacement for
him while home on furlough. We
were really disappointed to hear this,
but with Larry's small engine repair
and business bursting at the seams,
and the work that he is doing in the
Church at Casey, he was being pulled
in too many directions. So we are in
the process of finding another FA and
Praise God for Larryand Carol Comer

1.

PraiseGod for allof our supporters and especiallyfor

the First Christian Church of Morris for the waythey

are taking care of us this furlough.
2.

Safety for our family as we travel.

3.

Joshua's continued adjustment to the American

school system.

4.

Decision to do home school or not for Joshua next

term.

5.

Raise additional support.

for their service to the Kingdom and

to us. Probably by the time we write
our next Lion's Line we will have the

new F.A. But, until that time, Larryis

still handling all the funds as usual.

Furlough
C

Address
Ol ^

Bob and Dawn Baird

9470 Lisbon Road
Morris, IL 60450

fv

tM

Phone: 815-942-6321

01 Tj- '

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