Although we thought this was our year to start retiring, it appears the Lord runs a different calendar! We are on
our third work trip in as many months and this time are again with Radio Station KJES in the desert of New
Mexico.
We have been connected with this station ever since their beginning in the early 90's so have probably made
about a dozen trips here. The staff is gracious, kind and helpful and we are blessed to be part of the ministry
here.
HOWEVER, the telephone system that is in place in the radio building leaves much to be desired! It is probably
the same phone that was here in the early 90's and it only works when it wants to which is not very often and
what's worse, there are so many messages in the voice mail system that the “mailbox” is full and when we need a
parts dealer to return a call to us, he cannot do so.
So, we took matters into our own hands and bought a Wal-Mart phone yesterday and hooked it up. Aha, we now
have a phone that can walk! We can take it into the radio transmitter room and into our room down the hall or
even outdoors. This is not a new invention, we know, but it solves a problem we have had in the past when the
transmitter was sick here in NM and we were in another part of the world. The transmitter operator could not
take the phone with him in one hand so that he could do adjustments on the radio transmitter in real time with
the other hand while John was working him through a procedure. (Cell phones do not work here inside the
building because of equipment interference and not outside because of the remote location.)
But still there was the problem of a full up voice mail box. No one here remembered the password or had the
time or desire to fool with it since we had remarked about it several years ago. So we called the telephone
company this morning. A pleasant lady answered and in 5 minutes we had the right information and proceeded
to download the current 35 messages. Hit STAR 98 and put in this temporary password!
We had kidded the staff here through the years about this voice mail problem.....what if a very rich person has
listened to your radio station and wanted to give you a million dollars, but his message is locked forever in the
voice mail box? What if the FCC (government radio organization) is telling you to contact them and if you don't
do so, they will come and shut you down?
Well, we haven't heard those two messages yet....we are working our way through....but we have heard some that
should have been answered.
“My name is Stephen and I would like to know exactly what frequencies you operate on and I want to listen to
your programs. My name is Cindy and I wonder if you have a prayer service I could come to?” And several that
just said “please call back”.
Oh, yes, the pleasant lady at the phone company told us that there was a User's Manual for voice mail on the
Internet and perhaps we would like to read it.
It struck us that there is a User's Manual for life around as well....(hint...starts with a B) in print, on line, in our
house, in the church. Are there some messages being sent to you, to us, that we are not getting? Let's read the
BOOK and check our “box”.
