Changes at the Fouts’ House

We have talked about our Chaikidors before and how they are become like family to us.  This past week our night chaikidor Ahmad moved on to another job.  We are very happy for him.  He is a young guy with lots of potential to do more than just be a chaikidor.  His new job involves being a team leader for the drivers of a NGO that uses armoured cars.  On his last night with us, we took him out to eat and enjoyed hearing about his dreams and plans for the future.  We reminded him that we wanted to be updated on how his life is going and is welcome to stop by and visit.

Even though we are happy for Ahmad, it has been a rough transition for us this week.  Ahmad knew our family.  He knew what days I would need naan.  He was always out there to meet the kids when they came home late after youth group and walk them to our gate.   We smiled as we would knock on his door in the morning for something and he was just getting up.  We smiled as he and the day guy would talk loudly and with feeling about who should be doing what on the jobs around the yard.  Things weren’t perfect but he knew us and we knew him.  See pictures of Ahmad below.  FYI: He really smiles a lot more than these pictures show.  Afghans don’t really smile for photos.   I think it is a cultural thing.

So now we are breaking in the new guy, Atiqullah.  He is a college student studying engineering, I believe.  His English isn’t quite as good as I had hoped but I guess that is good for my Dari speaking practice.  Our hope is to train him with patience and love as he figures out this new job of his.  I am sure things are very new for him too especially since this is his first job for a foreigner.

Pray for Ahmad and his new job. Pray that God will continue to put people of faith in his life.  Pray for Atiquallah that he will enjoy his new job and we will be able to communicate well.  Pray for the kids who miss Ahmad.  Even though they didn’t talk alot with him, they miss his presence around our compound.

On the Pactec front, pray for Pactec and their relationship with the department of transportation here.  The department is wanting us to do things we can’t.  Pray for wisdom in that.  Pray also for timing on getting pilots trained and getting planes fixed and back in action.

On the ISK front, pray that we will finish strong.  Many students are struggling with grades and behaviour so this has been a hard quarter.  We are thankful for funding from USAID for the next three years.  We are suppose to have a deed to a land to build a new school but the deed is still in process.  Pray we can get that deed and can start on the process of building a new school.  This would really help the cost of the school because the rent we pay is really high.  Pray for the positions that still need to be filled including mine since we will be in the states for half of the school year.   Thanks, T