Day 144,143

Mom - Day 144, 143

I tried to write on the blog last night but I couldn’t get on-line. I was so frustrated. I wanted to call Zach and even that fell through. I did speak to Shane yesterday and he said that he spoke to Zach for about an hour yesterday. Zach seemed to be in good spirits. Zach was busy physically working on their outpost. I think that meant making it more tolerable and more secure – remember that not too long ago his team leader got shot when they were fired upon at their outpost.
At the outpost there is a 13-year-old boy helping out. Imagine a thirteen-year-old helping out – he is taking a risk, a huge risk. Zach gave him a pair of gym shoes so that the boy could have something decent on his feet. The thoughts that go through my mind are all of the stories with respect to the Taliban and what they do to people that speak to the Americans or those, even children, that accept items from the NATO forces. It is really hard for me to understand how people could hurt children. I am thinking about some stories at this moment of what the Taliban has done to children but I am afraid to write it down – almost like I don’t want to jinx the boy helping out.
Update info on Zach’s team leader that got shot. He will be recovering for a bit, and then he will go for some R n R and then BACK to Afghanistan. The doctors told him that he was lucky.
Reading the news: Pakistan is now monitoring Google and Yahoo and many others. Some sites have been blocked. I guess there will be Pakistani “officials” that will decide what sites are blasphemous against Muslims. Censorship is so dangerous. For that matter, I also read that China is not allowing their soldiers to blog or even open a blog – for any reason. I feel so lucky to live in the US.
Also in the news, how to mine for the mineral deposits found in Afghanistan. According to the Afghan mining minister, Afghanistan could be self sufficient in a decade. BUT, there are problems like the terrain, the Taliban, the infrastructure – or lack of it, and the big problem of corruption. The investors would have to weigh out the problems – and if they decide to invest, then there will be more heat to the fire according to the extreme Muslims – here are Westerners trying to exploit them. Right now though, it is China that is interested in these mineral deposits. What I find interesting is the Afghan mining minister is assuring a special mining security force, in order to provide some security to these regions. I wonder what that means. I do know that there is a mine in the Logar region – which would be somewhere in the vicinity of where Zach is.

Enough said – I love you Zach – I have even put in prayer requests for you in Canada, I believe in the power of prayer. I miss you ☹
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo