Piercing the veil of digital silence

As of today at about 3pm Liberian time we have the satellite Internet connection working. This has been a struggle for the last 2 trips here. Getting all the right pieces, navigating the confusion of satellite service providers to find the best price. But God was in charge of it all. Not only did we find a service provider that is providing service that is very good for a very good deal, he also helped us to get it all up and running with minimal expense.

I have put in a few satellites in the States but it really hasn't been my main thing, so my experience with them is very limited, especially these giant dish things. I was doing my best to get it put together with all the knowledge I had, and with the limited Internet connectivity, trying to use google to search for what I needed with not a lot of success. We had called some professional installers to come out but they kept delaying.

I was learning new stuff around every corner, from putting the feed horn together, to pointing the dish it was all pretty new to me. At one point I was searching for a needle and a magnet so I could make a compass to point the dish with, fortunately, as God would have it, one of the people here had a friend who happen to put a compass in her luggage for her when she came over. Our first effort at pointing the dish was very bad, we were way off. I did some more reading, stayed up till 2 or 3 the first 2 nights researching and working. Finally I think I have it figured out, how to point the dish, how much elevation to give it, and all that. Well Kiley, Jeremy, Amos and I working on it, getting it aimed just as close as possible, calculating, figuring, adjusting... and we get no signal at all. Not even a hope of signal.

It was very frustrating, I was tired and getting worn out. I had been praying really hard that God would guide me in figuring out how to make this satellite connection work because I think it will be so important for our future efforts here. But to no avail. Then Tammy, Brook, Kris, Amos and I were sitting around the office, trying to think of what to do next. I was readily admitting that I had reached the end of my knowledge and experience and did not know what to do. So Tammy says, we just need to pray, and we did. I said a prayer to God to give me the knowledge we need, I had said this prayer many times that day, but now it we were gathered together praying together. We know God doesn't need the Internet, but we do and we want to use it to His glory. He honored our prayer.

After the prayer I opened up a users manual and on the page in front of me was a calculation that I had never seen or heard of before. It was exactly what I needed. I went and adjusted the dish and immediately got a signal. Within a couple of hours we were online. It was definitely God. It was great! Here it is: