To go to the mountain airstrips you want to leave
early so you can get your flights done before the winds pick up. We were
scheduled to depart at 6a.m. but due to various reasons we were delayed until a
little after 7. I was riding along with a pilot who has flown out here for many
years and has a heart to really minister to the people. Our plan was to fly out
some supplies and bring back 4 people. En-route we received an important
request. The night before, a lady had died while hiking from one village to
another. The hike was over very rugged terrain for about 60 miles!! The pilot
knew the husband of the dead lady as he had worked for several years in Sentani
(the city where we are living). He was a really close friend that had returned
to his village in the mountains to get married and live out his days there. He
had only been married for 6 months when his wife died on the trail. While en-route
we called our flight planner and got approval to change our plans and help
return the body to the village. To the people here it very, very important to
be buried in your home village and for the relatives to touch the body before
it is buried. So we landed at our original destination and picked up our
passengers and then flew them to another airport and dropped them off promising
to return for them later. We then flew to another airport to pick up the body.
(we didn't take the original passengers there because it is located in really
rugged terrain and it was very likely that the wind would be to strong for a
safe landing by the time we returned from delivering the body). After we shut
down and got out, the husband and the pilot were hugging and weeping for a very
long time. There were about 150 people standing around all looking very sad and
touched. We then flew to our forth mountain airport to return the husband,
another family member and the body. There was some concern for the husband's
safety because if the dead lady's family blamed the husband for her death his
life would be in danger. But he was received well and the in-laws did not blame
him. As the pilot prayed for them, I had a very strong sense of the Holy Spirit
moving. We then returned to pick up our original passengers and return back to
Sentani. After reflecting on the flight we realized that if we would not have
been delayed we probably wouldn't have been able to help because we would've
already been returning with our passengers and not been able to re-route. I
have been working on getting here to fly for over ten years, this was my first
flight in a Pilatus Porter and my first time to see the tiny challenging
airstrips the pilots all over the world go gah-gah over. That part was fun, but
honestly I could do the same thing in back country airports in Idaho. What
really impressed me were the amazing people who are isolated in this amazingly
rugged terrain. God used this day to open my heart a little more and follow the
example of my fellow minister/pilot in sharing Christ's love. Please pray that
I would be able to yield to the Holy Spirit to guide me in this place.
David Kodiak has arrived
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Making Cookies
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Bandung Zoo Trip
Sunday, 18 October 2009
We had a break between language units and went to the Zoo. We saw lots of birds as well well as many tigers and elephants. On the way to the zoo Anne saide she wanted to see a pink tiger and hear it roar. All she saw was orange and white tigers but she did hear one roar. Adelaide loved seeing all the animals and she seemed very happy.
Language Learning
Tuesday, 06 October 2009
We have been working hard at learning the language. In just two months we can actually communicate a little bit. Some days we feel like we are learning quickly and feel good and other days it seems as though we can't remember a single word!!! We have 4 hours of class every day and then we get out in the community and talk as much as we can. It is a hard process but we are doing it and even having fun with it. Our fellow students and teachers are all great and learning with them keeps it fun.
