Klaus arrived at Sydney international airport in the evening of Thursday 22 October with a terrible cold! I hurried him off to his hotel to try and sleep it off as we had and early start the following morning.
Friday 23 October we were on the road at 6:30am for a radio interview at FM94.9 on the Central Coast of NSW. Then we tripped back to Sydney for an interview with Ray Notley of Pioneers followed by two more radio interviews throughout the afternoon - Vision Radio in Brisbane and LightFM in Melbourne made over the phone.
Then to cap a busy Friday off, Klaus presented to Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) in North Ryde. This was well received and so much so, regional Broadcast Media Manager, Nils Ahrens and National Sales Manager, Richard Popple addressed Chris to say this was a fantastic thing we were doing as a family with Diospi Suyana, and acknowledging that we needed to upgrade our R&S ETL broadcast test unit for our work in Peru, they had decided to upgrade it for us gratis!
This upgrade is valued at AUD$25k and is in fact real money for R&S Australia who are a separate business unit to their principle company in Germany, so it comes out of their own back pocket so to speak. This upgrade will enable my ETL unit to operate with the Latin American digital TV standard (ISDB-Tb) and for FM radio work. I was so honoured that day let me tell you!
Another highlight of Klaus’ trip was presenting to Radio Frequency Systems (RFS) in Kilsyth, Melbourne on Monday 9 November. During his one hour presentation, a visible impact was observable on many faces in the packed out training room. At the end, Mick Bennet - Director of Engineering, Broadcast and Defence, stood up to say “Chris, how can we support you?” Moreover RFS had just completed a successful trade show in Peru some 3 weeks earlier, and in fact RFS had riggers in Peru at that time installing a digital television tsunami warning system for the Japanese.
My requirements for antenna systems are yet to be determined (subject to licensing), and I committed to get back to RFS in due course.
Again I was honoured by another key industry supplier for my sacrifice and work with the underprivileged of Peru.
Just prior to the tour, we were approached by a family in Melbourne who’s son Joshua had read Dr John’s book “I have Seen God” detailing the indisputable workings of God to see the inception to completion of Diospi Suyana. They located Sandi from an internet search which amazingly led to them organising a presentation at the Stairway Church.
This also so happened to attract and reconnect old Sydney home-schooling family friends Peter and Kim Kamper, as Peter had travelled throughout Peru and held a special place with him. Peter has subsequently helped with marketing of the Welch’s in Peru mission and Diospi Suyana.
Other presentations of Klaus’ tour included various churches in Sydney (including of course our own LifeSource church and Torchbearers), Melbourne (including the Stairway Church, St John’s German Lutheran Church and YWAM) and the Brisbane area (including Outlook Christian Church, Toowoomba). Of special note, the Toowoomba presentations included a visit of Joan Maxwell, mum of Lyndal Maxwell who has been working tirelessly at Diospi Suyana with John and Martina Klaus since its beginning.
Klaus also connected with our LifeSource Church Latin American friends, and made his 1 hour Diospi Suyana presentation in Spanish. Many of these special new friends of ours are from Peru, and have been amazing in their support of the Welch family and we appreciate and love them very much! It is beyond co-incidence that there is such a significant community of Peruvian’s in LifeSource Church (rather we believe this is a God-incidence).
Further presentations were made to schools, such as Pacific Hills Christian School (PHCS) at Dural, NSW. An amazing connection was made between Dr John and the principal Dr Boyce who shared in a passion for Peru having been there many times himself. In fact he committed to visit us next year in Peru, and furthermore would work toward getting a group of students to visit us on a mission trip!
Prior to our Melbourne journey, a meeting was held on Saturday 7 November at Chris’ parents Tony & Dawn Lonsdale’s home at Tumbi Umbi on the Central Coast, NSW. This included a wide spectrum of family and friends with an interest in Diospi Suyana – a number having already read Dr Klaus’ book “I have Seen God”. There as standing room only and we were very encouraged by the amazing support received.
One more radio appointment was had, this was with Hope Media FM103.2 at their studios in Sydney on Friday 6 November. A presentation was made to CEO Phillip Randall and Engineering Manager Stephen Wilkinson followed by an interview with Dr John and Chris Welch.
Klaus also presented at Chris’s work - TX Australia (TXA) Head Office. This was an important visit to enable colleagues to understand the project which had called Chris to the change after 28 years working in Australian broadcasting, and 13+ years at TXA.
As a finale’ to Klaus’ tour, a visit was paid to TX Australia’s flagship VHF main transmission site before Klaus flew out of Australia on Sunday 15 November. This site was one of a new AUD $4M transmission building in Willoughby which was also one of Chris’ last projects with the company. It sits directly beneath Australia’s tallest free standing lattice steel tower (233m) adjacent the Channel Nine studios.
Chris
