There were many, many obstacles to overcome with this site. Firstly we had to choose a site on the opposite side of town to the other broadcast towers, as the rural community who managed this parcel of land would not allow Diospi Suyana to purchase our needed 12m x 12m lot. This meant we needed to install our own 1km long power line with 13 poles (very expensive!) and we are still awaiting its connection to the Peru power grid (Electro Sur). Sicuani is currently going to air using a temporary generator.
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| 13 power poles and over 1km of line all installed by manual labour (no machines here!). |
For this site we chose a 50 metre high tower (more expense) to
increase the coverage and overcome some local obstacles. From our computer desktop coverage prediction
of the radio signal, we calculate a reach of over 120,000 people for Sicuani
and surrounds.
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| Sicuani FM site with 50m tall tower during antenna installation. |
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| Computer FM coverage prediction for Sicuani. |
If not enough heartaches, just when we went to switch on Sicuani FM, we had satellite interference issues at the same time as some uplink equipment failures. I spent many nights and weekends from October through November assisting Diospi Suyana to help fix the problems remotely from my office in Canberra. We attempted an internet feed for the radio program, but not surprisingly for Peru’s perpetually developing network, this proved frustratingly unreliable and satellite was the only option.
But perseverance and prayer prevailed and we are now on air!☺ This brings the total covered to over a million FM listeners for Diospi Suyana 24 x 7 x 365 days a year. We believe this fulfils the original prophecy over Chris in LifeSource Christian Church back in 1996 (see our first blog here).
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| The second of one of my new design DB FM transmitter racks I had built for Diospi in Italy. |
Life always has surprises just waiting around the corner for us. God's plans are always being revealed.
For our family, 2021 is to be known as our Canberra year. We boarded at YWAM Canberra for 11 months and were blessed to experience community living. It was at its best during our state COVID lockdown when our household community was 50+ people and our kids had a huge 6 hectare property to play on, with another 5 sport loving kids who became firm friends.
We did really enjoy our Canberra church, Fusion City Church, Canberra cycling and bush-city vibe.
But in the second half of 2021, God started to open a new door for us. Chris was given much favour at work and a simple enquiry on our behalf turned into a new employment position for him as a communications engineer contracting to our Navy with his company Nova Systems in Perth. He is on a project upgrading communications systems on our eight ANZAC Class frigates.
Sandi's immediate family reside in Perth all near the Naval base, making this an exciting new chapter for all of us.
God went before us at every step. The move to Western Australia has been easy. We were able to all get WA G2G Passes (permission to enter Western Australia) thru Chris’ new position given his critical work for the Navy. From Canberra we bought a house in Perth (not our normal online shopping purchase! J). We are yet to see the house in person as we are currently in the required 14 day COVID quarantine at Sandi’s parents’ house.
We will miss our family and friends in the east. This includes our eldest son Jake who is living in Sydney.
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| Our 20ft shipping container is collected from YWAM Canberra destined for Perth. |
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| Our family in Canberra airport excitedly ready for the adventure ahead. |
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| We touched down in our new home of Perth on 9 December. |
When we returned from Peru in 2019, our aim was to buy a house so we would have a family base. It has been a different journey to what we anticipated, but we are sure God is directing our steps.
Please pray for us as our family transitions again to a new
place.
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| 🎄 Feliz Navidad! (Merry Christmas!) 🎄 |
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