8-21-2001

7:00 PM

We just returned from NOT MEETING, instead we (Billy, Frances, Rich and me) got into Frances’ truck and drove back down to the sound store where Francis explained to the owner what would and would not happen. Francis has stroke, so to speak. The complication was that Billy Graham has a pastoral teaching conference this next week, Monday through Friday and the representative for Graham ministries approached the sound company and requested a system. Because it was Billy Graham, the store bumped us in priority, regardless of agreements. Francis informed the storeowner that the Graham ministries are coming in association with the big picture of the Pure Works Brigade as well as the unification of the pastors and that it was one of Francis’s men who will be finalizing the arrangements, so if they want to keep the gigs, they will give us the bigger system and give the mini system to the Graham gig.

We then left the store and went to the fair grounds, where the final concert will take place on the soccer field, to discuss and clarify the stage location, power requirements and logistics therein.

After half an hour, we left there and went to the local mall and met up with some more folks from our San Mateo group. Turns out that our first gig, this Thursday, will take place on the grass field at this mall. This may require a generator or a power tap off one or more of the outer-mall businesses. This is Francis’s deal to negotiate and figure. I explained that power generators in the States are not known for “even” power supplies, meaning that they often transmit spikes and brown-outs during the course of their use, unless you have paid for a reasonably high-end unit which regulates its output. In a Fourth World country (Zambia has been down-graded from Third World), I should not assume and I do not assume that Zambia has access to “high-end” power generators and therefore we must bear this in mind before we subject our equipment to volatile power sources.

Now for a brief tirade…
What is it with all of the burning and smoldering that goes on 24/7 here? Makes for a gorgeous and rather toxic sunset. As we drove tonight, it looked as though some light fog as over the road…and I thought Frankfurt airport was bad! I have been increasingly sick to my stomach since breathing this air, at first I found the smell peculiar because I couldn’t place the ingredient…but I know now it is smoke, some from wood and mostly from trash.

I couldn’t eat dinner because of the smoke/motion nausea and the permeating smell, so I plan to partake in a health bar from my wife’s packing.