John Sissom

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Biography

I have been going to a GARBC Baptist church ever since 1957 when I first met my wife. It seems that was a prerequisite to my dating her. That was in Brownsburg, Indiana. We were married in 1959 and in 1961 I went to LeTourneau College (now LeTourneau University) in Longview, Texas .

I was graduated in 1964 with a BSET and the Lord led me to Kokomo, Indiana, where I worked as an engineer for Delco Electronics Division of General Motors until I retired in 1996. When we moved to Kokomo in 1964, we joined Bible Baptist Church and have been members ever since.

In 1973, I was invited to join the Board of Evangelical Baptist Missions and soon became the Corporate Secretary which precipitated a need for additional schooling. I took some classes at Ball State University, Indiana Baptist College and Indiana University, none of which let to a higher degree, just certification in some area.

As a member of the Board, I have had opportunity to visit, tour or work in several exotic locations. The first was a two week trip to Chaguramas, Venezuela, in 1976, where eight men from our church helped to construct several cabins and a bathhouse for the Venezuelan Youth Camping Ministry.

In 1986, me and two other men from our church met three others in Brussels and headed for Timbuktu, (Tombouctou) in Mali, West Africa, where we worked on the Living Water Project (Eau Vive) for five weeks. We spent a few days in Bamako before driving 800 miles across the Sahara Desert in a Toyota Pickup Truck. Eight people in a pickup with 28 boxes, each approx 2 foot cube, plus personal luggage, makes for very crowded conditions, especially in such an environment. It took us two days to arrive in Timbuktu and we utilized a shipping container, placed on the banks of the Niger River, sloping about 6 or 7 degrees, where we placed our sleeping bags for the night. I started out on one side of the container and ended up on the other side with my legs bent up under me.

On the second day, I experienced my first harmattan, that is, conditions where the air is saturated with very fine, powdery sand, making it almost impossible to see more than a few feet. This is NOT a sand storm.

In 1986, that area of the Sahara was in the sixth year of a seven year drought. We saw many carcasses of animals where they fell. Fortunately, we never encountered the remains of any people, although I was told many died in the area.

We did come on the wreckage of a news helicopter along the way. The news crew had been covering the Paris to Dakar auto race in January, 1986, when the pilot flew into a sand dune. They had done a fair job of cleaning up, but the smell of decaying flesh still permeated the area. Apparently not all of the remains were recovered.

Most of my time in Timbuktu was spent in Terre Bangui where the Living Water Project is located. After constructing a fence around the property, my specific job was to use surveyor’s tools and position the markers for each lot that was given to the Mission by the Mali Government. Each “Chief” of a tribe was to be given a hectare of land (50 Hectare were available.) It would be his responsibility to plant and tend a garden there. Our team built four reservoirs, each with a capacity of 250,000 gallons of water, eventually dug five wells (Only one was completed while I was there.)

In March, 2000, I had the privilege of visiting South Africa where I stayed with folks in Capetown, flew to Durban, drove to Kokstad, visited several schools and a camping facility in an attempt to learn how they did it in South Africa to see if we could be of mutual benefit or perhaps learn something from the folks there. We visited the Umfolozi / Hluhluwe Game Park - Hilltop camp where we stayed overnight and did the personal auto tour. We had a braai (cook out to us) with some friends.

In September of 2000 my wife and I flew to Seattle, took a cruise to Alaska 's Inside Passage and then drove down the coast to San Francisco where we flew back to Indy. That in honor of the retiring head of ABWE.

January of 2001, I went back to Bamako, Mali. West Africa, drove to Timbuktu for the 50th anniversary celebration of beginning a missionary work in Mali and attended the Annual Mali Field Conference. When that concluded, I flew with a missionary via his private plane to Gao to visit our work there which included a Bible college. I had not been to that area previously and found it quite different from the other areas of Mali .

While in Timbuktu we went out to visit the Living Water Project. It had been fifteen years since beginning that work. It was amazing to see what the Lord had accomplished with our feeble efforts. There are several buildings so a missionary can live on the project. They have underground refrigerated storage. All of the wells are functioning. Enough vegetables are produced to supply each family who participates as well as adequate surplus to take to the market and sell for profit and it is used to buy other necessities for the families who live on the project. Additionally, there are many fruit trees which have been planted and are producing abundantly. Some trees were over thirty feet tall and all this in the middle of the Sahara Desert. It is an amazing sight to fly over this area and see a small green plot of land setting in the middle of the desert. The government is considering duplicating the project in other areas, but no personnel are available at the present time.

As I flew back, again by private plane, to Bamako, we were cruising at a few feet below 8000. The harmattan was in effect there and it looked as if one could have parked the plane on the sand just about 500 feet below us and got out and walked on the air. This due to the air being so saturated with sand. We did not try.

My last trip of any consequence was in August of 2004 when I flew to Fairbanks, Alaska, to be part of a Survey Team investigating the possibility of beginning a Mission Work in Alaska. It turned out that the couple who was applying decided to go with a different mission, but the work we did in determining possibility and location was beneficial to all of us. They actually took over a work that had been under way for 27 years in Fort Yukon. Fort Yukon is located about 8 miles North of the Artic Circle and as I write this the temp there is -8 F. (It is -3 F here.)

I landed commercial flight in Fairbanks. I took a bush plane to McGrath, then to Russian Mission and back to Fairbanks via McGrath the one day. The next day we flew to Fort Yukon and back. It is quite interesting to see the Alaskan Pipeline from the air. It was difficult to see anything the day we flew to Fort Yukon. I was told there were about 100 forest fires burning at the same time (lightening strikes) and the smoke made it difficult to see more than 500 feet or so. While in Fairbanks, a pastor loaned us his automobile and we drove to Denali to take a bus tour. The last day in Alaska, I was invited to go with a group who wanted to try their hand at panning for gold. A few of us did actually see some color. All in all, I have had several neat experiences due to being associated with the mission.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by John Sissom at registration.