tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28897025978676294732012-02-04T19:03:59.899-06:00The worldwide adventures of Pete MyszkaPete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-35970303203349591522012-02-04T19:03:00.000-06:002012-02-04T19:03:59.909-06:00

So I've been back in the States for a month and a half now and I haven't spent more than 5 nights in a row in the same location. Thank God I'm young, single, and have friends all over the place or it would be incredibly stressful and expensive. Although those factors are also partly to blame for my current unsettled lifestyle. My travels have thus far taken me from Madison to Milwaukee, Kansas

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-58499391245251306642011-12-29T13:44:00.000-06:002011-12-29T13:44:40.853-06:00

Well, it was more like 2 nights, and they were in Africa, not Arabia, but it's a good story nonetheless. I had just finished a 7-month stay near Livingstone, Zambia, working with Overland Missions, and I was looking forward to getting home to Wisconsin and relaxing for the holidays. It was a busy several weeks leading up to the day I left and I was flying on a buddy pass so I was hopeful I would

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-74600833456574596252011-09-27T16:03:00.000-05:002011-09-27T16:03:42.531-05:00

I just finished watching the movie "The Tourist" and I couldn't help but think of what an odd parallel it is to my life at the moment. In the movie, Johnny Depp plays an Average Joe from Madison, Wisconsin, who finds himself in completely unexpected circumstances on a foreign continent. Sound familiar? That's basically been my life since May, minus the whole falling in love with Angelina Jolie

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-24986391386067617092011-08-03T05:29:00.000-05:002011-08-03T05:29:30.582-05:00

As I was working in the shop on our Toyota work truck, I was interrupted by someone with the message that one of our expedition drivers had just called the office from Zimbabwe saying that there is a problem with the truck and they can't make it to their destination. This message was the beginning of another one of our epic truck repair stories. I dropped what I was doing and called Joe, the

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-40147720526057834792011-07-30T17:53:00.000-05:002011-07-30T17:53:22.092-05:00

By far the best thing about living here at the Zambia base is the people. With staff, volunteers, interns, AMT students, expedition members, guest speakers, and random visitors, there are so many interesting people to get to know. They come from all over the world, from all kinds of backgrounds, and stay for varying lengths of time and each person brings a unique contribution to our community

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-49848691310426006262011-06-24T01:24:00.000-05:002011-06-24T01:24:21.208-05:00

We as Christians are always asking God to reveal more of himself to us and give us a greater understanding of who he is.  We ask basically the same thing through prayer and the songs we sing, and we are taught about knowing more of God from people who "know more" than we do.  Well, during morning worship the other day, I asked God to give me a better understanding of who he is and what that means

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-62449598504278817212011-06-20T13:47:00.000-05:002011-06-20T13:47:51.863-05:00

After scratching our heads and doing a thorough check over the truck that had brake problems last week, Ciaran and I found the cause.  There is a fitting in the air lines for the rear brakes that is supposed to vent pressurized air when the brake pedal is released, therefore allowing the brakes to stop stopping the truck.  Turns out that this vent had been completely blocked by the nest of a mud

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-76982065147187612142011-06-15T15:08:00.001-05:002011-06-15T15:11:27.489-05:00

There's a lot of people on the base these days and the pantry gets emptied pretty quickly as a result.  Groceries are fairly expensive here in Zambia so we try to send a truck to Namibia every month or so to buy groceries in bulk in order to save money.  Even though it's about 100 miles to Katima Mulilo, Namibia, from Livingstone it's well worth it to send a truck to buy 1,500 pounds of groceries

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-57026943327531921682011-05-22T15:18:00.000-05:002011-05-22T15:18:27.118-05:00

So after about 6 months of being back in the States, I've returned to Zambia.  It feels good to be back.  It's not the same type of feeling like when I was here previously for volunteering or training, when everything felt new and uncharted, it's a feeling of familiarity, relief, and settling in to something I've been prepared for and have been preparing for for a long time. I got to the base

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-59279256214760749792010-11-22T00:55:00.000-06:002010-11-22T01:19:25.815-06:00

I am sitting at one of the dining tables in the main center at the Rapid 14 base as people around me are chatting about AMT, travel, future plans, and random ideas. There is a pile of duffels, backpacks, and carry-on bags by the front entrance all ready to be loaded onto a truck for the trip to the airport. We've been here for just under 3 months and today is the day to go home.Our last

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-45307221149809477152010-11-13T08:24:00.001-06:002010-11-13T13:33:16.137-06:00

That is one of my most favorite movie quotes and it comes from an excellent, epic movie. I won't reveal which movie it's from so if you don't know it, sorry, you might miss part of my meaning. This quote came to mind just today after we finished presenting our final projects and we got the info about what we're doing this coming week.The context of this quote is that a certain group of men are

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-88365905448407279322010-11-08T11:49:00.002-06:002010-11-08T14:25:50.721-06:00

I came to AMT expecting a challenge to grow and develop skills, talents, and gifts I had only seen whispers of in my life in Madison. I came expecting to learn numerous useful ministry skills and to have a lot of fun with a new group of people. I wanted to have crazy adventures in the African bush and do ridiculous improvised hack-job repairs and fabrications in the warehouse. There were a few

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-62398616745583969642010-10-29T15:11:00.000-05:002010-10-29T16:19:07.578-05:00

It was Tuesday, October 5, and we had just arrived in Chilli, a village in the Nyawa chiefdom about a 6 hour drive from Livingstone. It was our second of three expeditions during AMT and we were excited to be there after learning so much in class since the first expedition. We got our camps set up, ate dinner, and had worship around the fire with about a dozen of the local people with us. It

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-61551755450490432212010-10-04T12:14:00.000-05:002010-10-04T13:35:48.005-05:00

It's been getting hot here, and I'm not just referring to the weather.We had the "Guest Speaker" portion of AMT this week and we had three of Overland's long-time staff members speak some amazing messages. They covered a variety of in-depth teachings that I found invaluable to my understanding of our identity in Christ and a greater understanding of what this Salvation is that we have been

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-92025958611887999062010-09-19T07:26:00.000-05:002010-09-19T08:19:01.783-05:00

I've been in Zambia for almost three weeks now but I've only just finished the first week of actual class because of the AMT orientation and the expedition. It's been quite the week and I'm glad for the rest and the change of pace that the weekend brings.This week we finished three of the units of the overall course. In the mornings we had a theology course using the book "The Bible in the

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-48450834627530813782010-09-10T11:08:00.000-05:002010-09-10T11:39:28.667-05:00

The team and I just got back from doing ministry in some villages way out in the middle of nowhere for the last week. A good shower never felt so good.I and 6 other Americans arrived here at the base in Zambia on Wednesday, September 1, and the whole AMT class went out to the villages on Saturday to do ministry in the Simwatechela Kingdom here in Zambia. The local people had gathered from all

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-12534054995646666122010-08-24T17:24:00.000-05:002010-08-24T18:28:18.341-05:00

It's been quite a while since I wrote anything on here so I think I'll give you all a quick update with the "where," "what," "when," and perhaps "why" of my life at the moment.Ever since I returned to Madison from Zambia in July 2009, I have been working full-time for the University of Wisconsin. I took a position in the same research lab that I had worked at while I was a student and I

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-87194827455343845302009-10-05T21:58:00.000-05:002009-10-05T22:01:30.609-05:00

Yo, Overland made a video about the Angola expedition and it's sweet. You should check it out. It goes above and beyond my blog posts about the expedition and it provides an excellent picture of what Overland does and what I was working to support while I was in Zambia. If you look closely, you can see me in the background early in the video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADQMvwZ7Il0PJM

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-73633319065066303842009-07-01T22:29:00.001-05:002009-07-01T22:31:16.105-05:00

(written on the morning of July 1)Greetings from London once again! I am in transit on my way back to the States after being in Zambia for the full 6 weeks. A lot has happened in that time but it still doesn't seem like it has really been six weeks since I was sitting in this very same airport lounge. I'll definitely miss all my new friends and hopefully I'll see most of them again at the

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-65656517619079356382009-06-21T12:40:00.000-05:002009-07-01T22:36:17.329-05:00

We got back from our 5 days in the bush today and I was grateful to have a shower. On Wednesday, we got on the truck and traveled for 6 hours out towards the chief's palace in Nyawa. We cleared a campsite and got everything set up that night and we went out to the palace on Thursday morning. Whatever you think of when you hear the word "palace" forget it when you think about this one. The

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-87776852466844754202009-06-16T10:51:00.000-05:002009-07-01T22:40:40.537-05:00

Today we discovered that we could get pizza from town delivered to the base. It was amazing. Now I can honestly say that I've had pizza delivered to my tent in Africa.I led welding class throughout all of last week and we finished on Saturday. The class was split into 4 teams and each team had to complete a project by the end of the week and their grade would be based on the quality of the

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-65256858729661631122009-06-05T13:34:00.000-05:002009-06-05T14:04:28.700-05:00

Friday has come and two expeditions have gone so the base is much more reasonable and peaceful now. At one point this week we had about 85 people here who were going on various expeditions and now we're down to about 30. I had put in a lot of hours to get the vehicles ready for the Angola expedition and they left on Tuesday as planned. It will take several days of driving until they get to

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-69197324218728705592009-05-31T14:51:00.000-05:002009-05-31T15:03:24.316-05:00

A lot has happened here on the base since I arrived. I've only been gone for a week and a half but it seems like so much longer because there is so much going on here and so many people to spend time with. I haven't been teaching welding yet but I've been helping with the diesel mechanics course with my buddy Ciaran and there are two expeditions leaving this week that I've been helping prep for

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2889702597867629473.post-86269043429175843522009-05-22T12:52:00.000-05:002009-05-22T13:57:57.915-05:00

I did it. I graduated from college, finished my responsibilities on campus, and went to Zambia. I arrived on the base a few hours ago and it already feels like I'm picking up right where I left off. Not all the faces here are familiar but there are several staff buddies of mine that I've been able to catch up with and I'm excited to get to know this new crew of Advanced Missions Training

Pete Myszkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13145129261446342951noreply@blogger.com2