FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ......

20
4 N E W S L E T T E R Vol. 13 No. 3 SUMMER 2007 FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION Clif and Al AWA PILOT MATH: AWA PILOT MATH: AWA PILOT MATH: AWA PILOT MATH: AWA PILOT MATH: (Continued on page 8) by Clifton Brooks I T WAS 90 DEGREES. I WAS HOT AND SWEATY (seems to be the way that all my experiences in the Philippines start), but flying off the short paved section of the airstrip in Palanan always gave me a thrill that got my blood pumping and forced a little more sweat through my pores than was probably normal. My missionary friend Al was finally back on board with me. I had dropped him off in Palanan along with supplies and complete solar-powered HF radio system several days before, and now it was time to head back to Manila. As we departed the runway, Al asked if we could fly over the new mission station that Philippine Frontier Missions (PFM) had just established. I had already heard a few stories from Al about traveling in this region and wanted to see the area, too. 9 minutes = 9 hours 9 minutes = 9 hours 9 minutes = 9 hours 9 minutes = 9 hours 9 minutes = 9 hours 2 hours = 2 days… 2 hours = 2 days… 2 hours = 2 days… 2 hours = 2 days… 2 hours = 2 days… During the past few days, Al had traveled into the mountains to visit with two young men who, only a few months previous, had been assigned to work in the area with the Palanan Agta tribal group. As their supervisor (and as a pioneer in establishing this new mission station), Al had come back to check on the progress of the work in this extremely remote frontier area. Al backpacked the complete solar- powered HF radio system provided by AWA donors into the mountains. The package included a new ICOM HF radio (capable of communicating with the PFM base in Manila and all the other PFM mission stations), a two-wire dipole antenna, a 12-volt deep- cycle battery (read: “very heavy”), a 50-watt solar panel, a charge controller, a host of wiring materials, six feet of two-inch pipe (for mounting the solar panel), and misc- ellaneous hardware, along with two 12-volt fluorescent tubes. There were, of course, other supplies that Al had carried into the mission station, but this new HF radio set was to form the core of the support structure that would sustain the missionaries during their ministry in this isolated region. I flew a straight-out departure off the south-bound runway and climbed the plane to about 1,500 feet. Al punched buttons on An overloaded Jeepney.

Transcript of FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ......

Page 1: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

N E W S L E T T E R Vol. 13 No. 3SUMMER 2007

FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION

Clif and Al

AWA PILOT MATH:

AWA PILOT MATH:

AWA PILOT MATH:

AWA PILOT MATH:

AWA PILOT MATH:

(Continued on page 8)

by Clifton Brooks

I T WAS 90 DEGREES. I WAS HOT AND SWEATY

(seems to be the way that all myexperiences in the Philippines start), but

flying off the short paved section of theairstrip in Palanan always gave me a thrillthat got my blood pumping and forced alittle more sweat through my pores than wasprobably normal. My missionary friend Alwas finally back on board with me. I haddropped him off in Palanan along withsupplies and complete solar-powered HFradio system several days before, and nowit was time to head back to Manila.

As we departed the runway, Al asked ifwe could fly over the new mission stationthat Philippine Frontier Missions (PFM) hadjust established. I had already heard a fewstories from Al about traveling in this regionand wanted to see the area, too.

9 minutes = 9 hours

9 minutes = 9 hours

9 minutes = 9 hours

9 minutes = 9 hours

9 minutes = 9 hours

2 hours = 2 days…

2 hours = 2 days…

2 hours = 2 days…

2 hours = 2 days…

2 hours = 2 days…

During the past few days, Al had traveledinto the mountains to visit with two youngmen who, only a few months previous, hadbeen assigned to work in the area with thePalanan Agta tribal group. As theirsupervisor (and as a pioneer in establishingthis new mission station), Al had come backto check on the progress of the work in thisextremely remote frontier area.

Al backpacked the complete solar-powered HF radio system provided by AWAdonors into the mountains. The packageincluded a new ICOM HF radio (capable ofcommunicating with the PFM base in Manilaand all the other PFM mission stations), atwo-wire dipole antenna, a 12-volt deep-cycle battery (read: “very heavy”), a 50-wattsolar panel, a charge controller, a host of

wiring materials, six feet of two-inch pipe(for mounting the solar panel), and misc-ellaneous hardware, along with two 12-voltfluorescent tubes.

There were, of course, other supplies thatAl had carried into the mission station, butthis new HF radio set was to form the coreof the support structure that would sustainthe missionaries during their ministry in thisisolated region.

I flew a straight-out departure off thesouth-bound runway and climbed the planeto about 1,500 feet. Al punched buttons on

An overloaded Jeepney.

Page 2: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 20072 FLIGHT LOG

IN MEMORY OF DONOR

BEAMS, DR MARVIN BY STEPHEN & LORENA O’BARR

BISHOP, ROBERT E BY MARY LOU PRIDE

DOWNEY, PAUL BY MICHAEL & JILL DOWNEY

GIBBONS, NANCY BY WILBUR & FLORENCE PAULK

GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

HAMEL, BEA BY HARRY & JOANNA SCHULTZ

HANSCOM, SR, RUSSELL BY DAVID & GAIL REINER

HAYES, PEGGY M BY LEDA C SMITH

HOOVER, HAROLD P BY ESTHER P SHARPES

IRWIN, KENNETH BY DAVID & DAISY IRWIN

JONES, ROSEMARIE ANN BY MARK W JONES

KLINGER, JOHN & LOIS BY NATHAN & JANEL TASKER

KURTZ, JULIE BY HARRY & JOANNA SCHULTZ

NGITNGIT, FILOMENO B BY SUSAN E NGITNGIT

PEARSON, ERNEST & LOUISE BY HEPLER SDA CHURCH

PEARSON, LOUISE BY MARK & EVE GILMORE

PELTON, LLOYD BY DAVID F KUEBLER

PERCHEZ, FRED BY ELIZABETH L GONZALES

RUDDLE, PANSY BY FRANCIS W RUDDLE

SIAS, VESPER & RUTH BY MARY LOU PRIDE

STARLIN, JIM & LARRY BY CHARLENE STARLIN

STARLIN, JIM & LARRY BY HARRY & JOANNA SCHULTZ

STRAMAN, RUSSELL BY MINERVA STRAMAN

SZASZ, ALTA BY GENERAL CONFERENCE OF SDASZASZ, ALTA BY JESSIE & CAROLYN BRAUDAWAY

SZASZ, ALTA BY WILLIAM & JEAN MURDOCH

TOUSEY, ETHEL BY RAYMOND & CHIQUE TABAR

TUCKER, JULIUS L BY MARILYN COUSINO

WATKINS, WILLARD BY MARY LOU PRIDE

IN HONOR OF DONOR

ALLRICH, JOANNE BY EUGENE & GRACIELLA CABALO

KAISER, RUTH BY REGINOLD & JEANETTE EIGHME

PEREZ, MANUEL S. BY FRANCISCA S PEREZ

PIERCE, JAMES H BY PAUL & LINDA PELLANDINI

SOPERS, MARLEY & BEVERLY BY CHARLENE STARLIN

(50TH WEDDING)

MEMORIALS

is published byAdventist World Aviation

and sent free of charge to interestedsubscribers. Send all inquiries or

change of address notices to:

Adventist World AviationP. O. Box 251

Berrien Springs, MI 49103-0251Phone: (269) 473-0135

Fax: (269) 471-4049E-mail: [email protected]

www.flyawa.org

In Canada(please send donations to):

Wings for Humanity Foundation1281 Highway 33 East

Kelowna, B.C. V1P 1M185432 2922 RR0001

PresidentDonald B. Starlin

Copy EditorKevin Wiley

Judi Pearson

Newsletter Layout and DesignMargie Mitchell

Board of DirectorsWilliam Davidson (Chair),

Paul Karmy, Donald Starlin,Bill Tucker, Edwin Vance,

Bruce Wickwire

Mission Statement Adventist World Aviation exists

to provide aviation and communicationssupport to those serving the physical,

mental, and spiritual needs ofthe forgotten peoples of the earth.

Adventist World Aviationis a 501(c)3 nonprofit missionary-

sending agency. Funded by privatecontributions, AWA enables missionaries

to reach the unreachedaround the world.

Vol. 13 No. 3SUMMER 2007FLIGHT LOG

NewFeature!When you see thissymbol you can findmore informationonline at:www.flyawa.org

Page 3: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

FLIGHT LOG SUMMER 2007 3

G LORY AND HONOUR ARE IN HIS PRESENCE;strength and gladness are in his place.Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the

people, give unto the LORD glory andstrength. Give unto the LORD the glory dueunto his name: bring an offering, and comebefore him: worship the LORD in the beautyof holiness. 1 Chronicles 16:27-29 KJV

As you step out in faith, the Lord Jesusopens your eyes to behold Himself workingin the lives of His people. We are enabled tosee His character reflected in those He leadsus to, or in those He leads to us. I am re-minded of this so often that it appears to bemore of a law than a statement. God orches-trates circumstances and events that allowus to see Him afresh. Let me share an ex-ample.

I’ve been planning for the next stage offlight training—the instrument flight rules(IFR) rating. I was advised by my PrivatePilot examiner to start with the Federal Avia-tion Administration (FAA) written exam. I gotready to begin working through the groundschool videos only to discover that the firstvideo in the set was missing.

Since the best place to begin is at thebeginning, I looked everywhere for thatfirst video to no avail. After asking JimHoldeman, I asked Don Starlin if heknew anything about it. He remem-bered that it was missing when LauraLaBore was in training. Apparentlyit had never surfaced.

I called the company thatmakes the series and was toldthat only the original purchasercould order a replacement disk.When things go this way, wehave to be careful not to getdiscouraged. God may be or-chestrating a blessing.

At this point I talked toDon again to find out how toget ahold of the person thathad donated the videos.When I called Mr. M, he was atwork and busy. However, hevery graciously took down mynumber. This in itself was encour-

aging to me. Jesus was never too busy to bekind. As His followers, we are to reflect Hischaracter in all that we do; when we do that,we can brighten someone’s day and maybeeven draw them to Him.

Mr. M called me back the next day, andwe shared a wonderful conversation aboutour Master and Creator. He said he’d be gladto get that video for me and wouldn’t let mereimburse him. This led me to praise Godagain.

A week or so went by, and I received anemail from Mr. M about the video. I calledhim to see what was up. He told me that thevideo series had been updated several timessince he’d first donated the set, so he or-dered the new series to ship to us. But hedidn’t stop there. He told me that he’d pur-chased the complete IFR training pack andwas sending it our way!

This is only one of many examples I’veseen where God’s peoplego above and be-yond to givetheir

by Chris Borcherding

My Best or His!Borcherding Launching Goal $93,578

5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

Still Needed $87,982

Missionaries inTraining:

Chris and Amy Borcherding

PHILIPPINES PROJECT

Borcherding Monthly Support $4,190

$4,190 Still Needed

Chris prepares to introduce another youngperson to the thrill of flight.

best for God’s work. It causes me to reflecton my own life as I hope it does you, too.Am I giving my best to my Lord?

Is God leading you to give your best?

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, orwhatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV.

Page 4: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 20074 FLIGHT LOG

APPROVED!

S WE WRITE THIS LETTER, OUR FAMILY

(Laura’s side, Kopitzke) is gathering at Mam-moth Lakes, California, for a family reunion.Both of us highly value family relationshipsand friends, and so, when we heard thatEVERYONE—uncles, aunts, cousins, cous-ins’ kids, etc – would be there, we were sud-denly very homesick! We could just envi-sion the peach cobbler that Uncle Leonwould bring and the kids running aroundand playing on the living room floor. Whenwe go home for furlough in December, it willhave been over a year and a half since welast set foot on U.S. soil, and we are missingfamily and friends. It is by far the biggestsacrifice in this type of work. Rats, roaches,snakes, mosquitoes, heat and humidity alltake a back seat to missing family. Emotion-ally, it is sometimes hard to get our armsaround the fact that our taxi driver, Smoky,was able to see Micah’s first steps and hearhis first words instead of our immediate fam-ily. This has been, without question, hard.HOWEVER, God has been good, and wekeep marching onin this battle tosnatch souls fromSatan’s dominion.

For those ofyou who havebeen following ourstory, we want to extend our heartfelt grati-tude for staying with us for so long and foryour intercessory prayers on our behalf. Thisquarter, we have some EXCELLENT news!

A few weeks ago, we officially received gov-ernment approval to begin flight operationsin Region 1! God is infinitely merciful in thathe does not allow us to see the end from thebeginning. If we had known that it wouldtake this long to get through the process,we might have shrunk away from the task.Patience is unfortunately not a virtue thateither of us naturally possesses. However,through these experiences, we have grownspiritually, and patience is being devel-oped in our characters, praise the Lord!

Upon receiving approval, Laurawent into motion to locate aGuyanese check pilot to check herinto the various strips in Region 1.On June 25, she was able to ac-complish this task, the last stepbefore our relocation toMabaruma to begin operations.During her check flights, shewas not only able to gain valu-able experience but was alsoblessed with the opportunity to talkwith some of the villagers and village

council members as they heard the airplaneland and came to the airstrip. As she visitedwith them, she explained what services Wingsfor Humanity will be providing for their re-

spective villages.Things are on

the move with re-gard to thegovernment’s sup-port of Wings forHumanity’s pro-

gram as well. Two weeks ago, we had theopportunity to have our second meeting withthe Minister of Health (MOH), Dr. LeslieRamsammy. He met with us for over an hourand a half. The first 45 minutes we spentgetting to know each other. It was so pleas-ant! The original purpose of the meeting wasto discuss the roll out of the vaccination pro-gram we will be assisting the MOH with inRegion 1. There are some logistical chal-lenges involved in getting the vaccines toMabaruma AND keeping them at the propertemperature for storage and transportation.As you may recall from a previous article,electricity in Mabaruma is only available from6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily. This presents achallenge for refrigeration. Dr. Ramsammymentioned that he had a trip planned toRwanda and would return on June 20. Afterthat, he asked Bill to give him a call to set upa time to meet in Mabaruma, where we coulddiscuss this issue with the local staff ANDhe can publicly announce his endorsementof our operation! We couldn’t have askedfor a better scenario as we experienced God’stiming in coordinating this important step.

You may recall our discussion of the

by Laura and Bill LaBoreA

Captain Mazaharally checks Laura into Region 1 airstrips.

A friendly Ocelot nibbleson Laura’s ear.

Page 5: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 5FLIGHT LOG

GUYANA PROJECT

Bill,Laura,

Danielle, andMicahLaBore

LaBore Monthly Goal $3,625

Goal Reached This Quarter - Thank You!5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

2007 GUYANA PROJECT

*$250 monthly provides air and communication service to

Bible workers in one of the unreached jungle villages.

Monthly Sponsorship-10 Villages* Goal $2,500

$2,412 Still Needed5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

LONG, SLOW, and LOUD steamer (ship) thatwe took to Mabaruma last September (SeeFall 2006 Flight Log). Well, it leaves again onJuly 4, only this time we won’t be on it; ourstuff will be! We have to transport all of ourbelongings, (which doesn’t amount to awhole lot, amen!) to the stelling (dock) byJuly 1 in order for it to be loaded on the boatand shipped. Upon arrival in Mabaruma, theSLOW process of unloading the boat willbegin. This can take several days, so we mayjust be “camping” in our house for a week orso! When Bill and Jud stayed at the houseback in May, it came complete with its ownset of house guests (rats, roaches, etc.),which will promptly have to vacate the pre-mises upon our arrival (probably with a littlecoaching ☺). We don’t mind, though! Notone bit! We’re just SO excited to get going

and start the workthat we came here todo.

Yes, it’s true, weare missing familyand friends (evenmore than we missTaco Bell, darkchocolate, and Tar-get), but we are en-ergized as we think

about what lies ahead and what the Lordhas in store. We pray that the LONG pro-cess we have been through will have goodbenefits. We are hoping we can look some-one in the eyes in Heaven and recognizethem from Guyana. Even while we’ve been“stuck” in Georgetown, we have no idea howmany lives God may have used us to touch.We’ve had many people pass through ourdoors and have developed many relation-ships here in the city. Perhaps this is whyGod brought this delay. Or, perhaps it was tostrengthen our characters (that’s never a funlesson!). Whatever the case may be, we arejust happy to be used by Him and VERY ex-cited to see what the future holds.

Cast not away therefore your confi-dence, which hath great recompense of re-ward. For ye have need of patience, that,

after ye have done the will of God, ye mightreceive the promise. Hebrews 10:35-36

Editor’s Note: Bill LaBore was in themidst of retrieving his things from the dockduring a tropical downpour the last time wespoke ON HIS CELL PHONE! Talk aboutGod’s timing—two weeks before theLaBores moved to Mabaruma, a cell towerwas erected, and now we can actually reachthem by phone!

Baramita villagers come to meet the plane.

We are justso excited

to get goingand start thework that wecame here

to do!

Dani and Micah watch the wavesgo by on one of their longjourneys by boat.

Page 6: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 20076 FLIGHT LOG

by Jim Kincaid

Jim Holdeman makes a presentation.

Barbara and Jim Holdeman (right)share a copy of the Flight Log.

S WE TRAVELED THE 20 MILES OF ROAD

from Dillingham to Aleknagik weagreed that we must stop at the home of thechildren who needed a ride to Vacation BibleSchool (VBS) last year. Team Member MistyRowe hopped out of the borrowed pick-uptruck and went to the door. When the chil-dren saw Misty, the excitement in their eyestold us the trip was worth it! The three chil-dren climbed into the truck with us, and wewent the additional mile to the lake.

Peter was waiting to take the children andthe 10-member VBS team across the lake tothe Aleknagik Church. When you have aVBS team that loves to sing and work withchildren, the Lord moves. Seven youth andthree adults made up the Dillingham andAleknagik VBS Team. It was rewarding tosee friendships formed and bonding takeplace between the older and younger youth.

All eyes were glued to the skits portray-ing the life of Joseph. Each skit ended with,“Come back tomorrow to find out what hap-pens to Joseph next.” He was always in diffi-cult situations, but never one that God couldnot handle. The children discovered it wasvery important to rely on God for everything.

We witnessed the awe in their eyes asthey experienced what it was like to grindwheat into flour during the nature nuggetperiod of VBS. In the health lesson each day,Mr. Gross Mouth was the most popular(or not-so-popular) character as he demon-strated what happens when you abuse yourbodies with smoking.

Laughter was heard during the games andcrafts. The action took place twice daily forone week. Aleknagik VBS was held in the af-ternoon, and Dillingham VBS was scheduledin the evening. On Sabbath it was wonderfulto see the children from VBS in church, sing-ing several songs they had learned duringthe week. They became a part of the VBS teamas the story of Joseph was retold and theysang along between the different stories.

The VBS Team experienced other activitieswhich made their mission trip to Alaska com-plete and wonderful. There was the trip toBryan Glacier and a visit to the Heritage Cen-ter in Anchorage. Friends let them ride their zipline, and they climbed to the very top of SnakeMountain. One evening they helped pull fishfrom the nets on the beach. They also enjoyedtwo steam baths—a native custom.

A

by Kathy Rowe, VBS Team Leader, New Cambria, Missouri

What is in store for next year? The oldernative children indicated that they love theskits and want to be a part of the programnext year. Teaching them to lead out andspread God’s word is so easy when youthteach youth. And you know they mean itwhen they make an effort to come to the air-port to say good-bye and tell you they willbe working to earn money so the VBS teamcan come back next year.

What other way is God leading in thismission field? One of the VBS teammembers accepted a position as a task forceteacher next school year in Dillingham. Dur-ing the VBS time, Misty Rowe was able tomeet some of the children and parents shewill be teaching this fall. Several parents toldher that their children couldn’t wait untilVBS each night. We are hopeful that this en-thusiasm will spill over into the DillinghamSDA Church School as God prepares for en-rollment there.

If you would like to be a part of the VBSMission Team, sign up now for what mayvery well be the best experience of your life—working with God.

Alaska VBS Mission Trip 2007

Page 7: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 7FLIGHT LOG

THIS WAS THE FIFTH YEAR THAT A GROUP FROM

Iowa-Missouri presented Vaction BibleSchool (VBS) in the Alaskan fishing villageof Togiak.

More and more people in the village arerecognizing the group, and the reception hasbeen phenomenal. The children who begancoming the first year at ages 6 through 9 arenow 12 through 15 and still coming! What ablessing!

One little boy stayed around us as muchas possible. If we could have, we wouldhave brought him home with us. He wasgiven a new shirt because he hadn’t had achange of clothes the whole week up till

Thursday. Then he asked for a new pair ofpants. When we asked him what kind hewanted, he said, “Lots!”

A person donated some small dollhouses.Two little girls, who desperately wanted one,were very disappointed because they didn’tget one. They were promised dollhouses assoon as possible.

These children are extremely affectionate,giving us more love than we take. It is a joyto share Jesus and His love with them. Thisyear, over 100 attended VBS throughout theweek in Togiak—a village of 816.

Circumstances prevented us from mak-ing our reservations early, and the groups

(one to Togiak, one to Dillingham/Aleknagik) had to be shuffled atthe end, doubling the cost.

In discouragement, FranHansen called Don Starlin on

Five Years of VBS Ministry in Alaskaby Fran Hansen

Thursday, May 24, and asked for prayer. Frantold Don how much was needed. Prayer wasoffered. On Tuesday, May 29, Don calledwith the news that a check had been received,covering the amount needed, and the checkhad been written on May 23. What a testi-mony to God’s taking care of our needs!

Plans are already underway for next year,with tentative venue to include a week atManokotak village.

If you are interested in an Alaskan ad-venture with Christ, there will be opportuni-ties for one- two- or three-week trips.

Next summer plans are also being laid forNative American ministry - VBS in Montana,and a church building project in Idaho.

If interested, contact Fran Hansen at 417-742-4154.

Togiak Church

Eric and crew

Pilot Rod Rau with passengers

Abbyservingfruit.

ALASKA PROJECT

AWA Alaska Aircraft N2019G $54,151

5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

$74,234 Still Needed

$5,872 Still Needed

Dillingham Hangar and Land $100,000

Page 8: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 20078 FLIGHT LOG

his simple GPS. Soon we were on a coursefor the mission station. A crooked, shallow,brown river snaked along lazily below us.Here and there a few rocks formed a rapidsarea, too shallow to navigate by boat. Wewere just passing the foothills leading intothe heart of the Sierra Madre range whensuddenly the GPS showed us to be over thesite. I banked the airplane into a tight turnas Al looked down, trying to get his bearingsfrom the air.

“Yes! That’s it!” he cried joyfully.“There’s the missionaries’ hut. And that’sthe big field on the other side of the riverover there.”

We circled the area, around and around,video-taping and discussing the localfeatures of the terrain. I descended a fewhundred feet until we were down low overthe hut that the new PFM missionaries called“home.” We knew that they wouldn’t bethere yet. It had taken us about nine minutesfrom takeoff to reach their hut, but it wouldtake them over nine hours to get back to thehut by way of the river—dragging their smallboat through the shallow rapids and aroundthe un-navigable sections. (Truth is, theywouldn’t even leave town that day since itwas already after noon. They would leavewith their supplies early the next morning inorder to reach their destination duringdaylight.)

After circling for a bit longer, I advancedthe throttle to climb-power and raised thenose of the plane. The new engine laboredto climb against the high density altitude.

AWA Pilot Math:Continued from cover page. Clif and Al weighing cargo.

We wouldn’t be out of danger in thesemountains until we cleared 6,500 feet.

After another two hours of uneventfulflying, we were back on the ground at ManilaInternational. The airplane had cut this tripfrom a grueling two-day travel that includesa small 3.5 HP Briggs & Stratton poweredoutboard motor on the open ocean, acrowded jeepney on rough two-track roads,breathing bushels of road dust, and a buswhere one inhales more diesel exhaust thanthe U.S. military uses in a smoke screen.

Through a clearing in theclouds the muddy, brown riverwinds through the ruggedmountains in Palanan country.

Congratulationsto the BrooksFamily! BabyCaleb was bornJune 7, 2007.

(Continued on page 19)

Brooks Monthly Support $4,400

5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

Still Needed $916

Clifton, Cynthia,Celeste, and

Carolina Brooks

PHILIPPINES PROJECT

*$750 monthly provides air and communication service to

missionaries working in one of 30 people groups.

Monthly People Group Sponsorship* $22,500

5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

$22,500 Still Needed

5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

Mission Airbase Development $350,000

$110,056 Still Needed

PHILIPPINES PROJECT

Missionary AirbaseDevelopment Budget

Phase I:Property acquisition,Survey, Legal work $100,000Amount received (100,000)

Phase IIDrainage, Fencing,Runway construction 25,000Flatbed crew cab diesel truck 25,000Amount received (50,000)

Phase IIIHangar/Residence, Water, Septic,Electrical systems 200,000Total needed for all Phases $350,000

Completed -

Completed -

Completed -

Completed -

Completed - TTTTThank hank hank hank hank YYYYYou!ou!ou!ou!ou!

Completed -

Completed -

Completed -

Completed -

Completed - TTTTThank hank hank hank hank YYYYYou!ou!ou!ou!ou!

Page 9: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 9FLIGHT LOG

MISSIONARIES-IN-TRAININGMISSIONARIES-IN-TRAININGMISSIONARIES-IN-TRAININGMISSIONARIES-IN-TRAININGMISSIONARIES-IN-TRAININGD, MERILYN, AND FELICIA Brennan wereattending the pre-mission briefing forthe annual Oklahoma Conference-spon-

sored Mexico Mission trip at WewokaWoods Adventist Center. They struck up aconversation with two new participants,Chris and Wendy. The subject of aviationand Ed’s background surfaced. Ed relatedhow he wished that he could somehow usethis experience for ministry. Chris told himthat he knew of an organization that couldpossibly use his experience. Really?

After returning from Mexico, Chris sentEd a link to AWA’s website. After exploringthe website, Ed made a few inquiries. A dia-log with AWA President Don Starlin ensued.It wasn’t long before both realized that theremay be a place for the Brennans as aviationmissionaries in the Philippines, but therewere a few prerequisites. The first was astudy of the workbook by Blackaby andKing, Experiencing God – Knowing andDoing the Will of God. AWA believes thatGod has a plan for every-one and that our first or-der of business is to un-derstand how God revealsHis will to His people. Thestudy became a family af-fair, and they even inviteda friend to join them. Itbecame evident to theBrennan family that theyneeded to change the waythey approached theirministry and how theyserved God. They also re-alized that their lives upuntil now had been agrand preparation forGod’s work.

Ed grew up in Arkan-sas and was introduced tothe world of aviation at ayoung age. His father wasan airplane buff andpassed this on to Ed. It allstarted with flying con-trol-line and radio-control

airplanes and eventually progressed to fly-ing lessons at the age of sixteen. Like manyothers, finances got in the way of complet-ing Private Pilot training, but his love of avia-tion did not waver. Of the many jobs heworked at in the early years, one of themwas at the local airport as a lineman. Ed de-cided to join the United States Air Force,where he became an avionics technician.While in the Air Force, Ed was stationed inthe Philippines. That’s where he metMerilyn. “There was something differentabout her,” commented Ed. “She was a con-servative Seventh-day Adventist Christian,totally unlike any of the girls around thebase.”

Ed grew up without any Christian train-ing and spent the majority of his life notknowing the love of God. Even with Merilynencouraging him to go to church and wit-nessing to him, it still took some time for himto give his heart to God. This finally hap-pened, and Ed was baptized on December

29, 2001—just four months before retir-ing from the Air Force. Mak-

ing up for lost time, Ed hit the ground run-ning. He devoted most of his free time toministry of some sort or other. Whether itwas Sabbath school, Adventurers, Pathfind-ers, feeding the homeless, or helping withevangelistic seminars, Ed was involved. Hewas ordained as a deacon and most recentlyas a local church elder. He did not stop there,however. He went on to present Daniel andRevelation seminars and then was invited to

become a lay pastor for the McAlester,Oklahoma, SDA Church. All of this waswith Merilyn at his side, guiding and en-couraging every step.

by Ed Brennan

PHILIPPINES PROJECT

God Prepares the Way for New

(Continued on page 19)

Brennan Monthly Support $4,789

Missionaries inTraining

Ed, Merilyn, andFelicia Brennan

PHILIPPINES PROJECT

Launching Goal $85,125

5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

Still Needed $3,089

$83,425 Still Needed

E

Page 10: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 200710 FLIGHT LOG

IN APRIL, AAS TRANSPORTED A NUMBER OF

Division and Union personnel to evaluate

Adventist operated clinics. They spent time

looking at maintenance, resources, and

health and safety aspects of the facilities. It

is hoped that a program will be implemented

where churches and individuals can adopt a

clinic to provide the much-needed support.

On top of the mission flying, the local com-

munities are being served regularly, with the

transport of people (including a number of

medi-vacs) and much needed supplies.

Every day up until May at least one mem-

ber of the AAS team was asked, “Nupela balus

bai come wanem time?” (When’s the new air-

plane coming?) Each time, the reply was

“We’ve been too busy to pick up the plane”.

That changed when Roger and Linden

packed their bags and left for New Zealand.

From the factory, Chief Executive, Roger

Millist reported:

“Things are going well over here. We

spent Thursday (May 10) going over the

aircraft and checking that our specifica-

tions have been met. There are a few items

which need to be addressed. The marker

beacon antenna should be installed by the

middle of this week. We also met those we

need to deal with in accounts, warranty

claims, parts and tech publi-

cations as well as working up

a spares package list which we

want to take with us. Friday

(May 11) we completed all the

ground theory training for our

aircraft type endorsements and

are looking forward to flying

the PAC during the upcoming

week.”

An upcoming edition of NZ

Aviation News magazine will

feature an interview with Roger

and Linden with a number of

photos of the new airplane.

The PAC 750, P2-SDB finally arrived, and

following dedication ceremonies in Goroka

and Lae, it went to work. In late June, a stew-

ardship meeting took place at Mussau Island.

A number of delegates needed to be trans-

ported between the Mussau and New Ireland,

New Britain and the mainland of PNG. It helped

that we could take nine passengers, instead

of the usual five that would fit into the Cessna

206. The PAC made a big impression on the

passengers, with one even saying that it’s “.

. . just like flying in a Dash 8!”

Linden Millist, Chief Engineer of AAS, is

pleased by the performance of the PAC.

“This new airplane has been a huge

blessing to the crew at AAS. We continue to

be amazed at its ease of operation and level

of safety. Being able to climb above the

weather and terrain and arrive at the desti-

nation quickly are just some advantages of

the PAC. Our dream is to purchase one more

of these machines, so that one can do full-

time mission work while another is servicing

the community.”

An additional PAC would help AAS in its

effort to be self-sufficient, especially as

many operators are going out of business,

including the regional airline, Air Link that

folded last month.

Linden adds, “Adventist Aviation Ser-

vices sees the enormous task of bringing

God’s message and aid to the people of PNG.

By developing and growing we are going to

be around until Jesus comes.”

AAS wouldn’t be able to function or keep

afloat without the dedicated Adventist

Church members who support us in many

ways, including financially and with their

prayers. About a month ago, AAS received

an anonymous donation with a rule that it

must be used for medical evacuations where

people are not able to pay for the fare them-

selves.

Chief Engineer, Linden Millist at the Pacific AerospaceCorporation factory with P2-SDB:

AdventistAviationServices Teamin Goroka.

DOWN UNDERNew Equipment Down Underby Boris Ambrus

Page 11: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 11FLIGHT LOG

PIONEERS(Adapted from the late Bill Baxter)

Ask and You Will Receive

A SK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE; SEEK, AND YOU WILL

find; knock, and the door will beopened. For everyone who asks receives, hewho seeks finds, and to him who knocks, thedoor will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7,8NEB

Bill Baxter’s “canary,” his yellowAeronca, had been tragically damaged whensomeone who had borrowed the plane wasattempting to land at almost zero groundspeed in a strong wind. No one was injuredwhen the plane flipped, but the damage wassuch that repairs would cost more than theplane was worth.

Could God be allowing this to happen toa project He had so signally directed?Emergency calls kept coming from themountain valleys. The ministerial studentsthat had districts accessible only by airplanewondered how their little flocks weresurviving. But there was no plane. Aftermuch prayer, Bill and Betty decided to try topurchase another airplane with their meagersavings. Trusting God to provide an aircraftfor his return to Montemorelos, Bill caughta one-way ride to San Antonio with Dr. R. A.Drake and his family who had been visitingthe school.

During the six-hour drive, Bill and Dr.Drake had a long conversation about Bill’splans to purchase an airplane. It soonbecame apparent to Dr. Drake that becauseof Bill’s low budget, he was setting hissights on another small plane like theAeronca. Dr. Drake pointed out to Bill thathe should look for a larger plane capable ofcarrying a patient on a litter. Of course thishad occurred to Bill, but he knew that hedidn’t have that much money.

Dr. Drake challenged Billto solicit funds from othersto help him buy a betterairplane. “Doesn’t the Biblesay, ‘Ask and you willreceive’?” challenged Dr.Drake. Sure, Bill had beenasking the Lord to provide,but he hadn’t been askingpeople to give him money.Then, without Bill’s asking forany money, Dr. Drake went on

to say, “I want you to look around for abigger and better plane. If you find it let meknow, and I’ll give $500 toward its purchase.What’s more, I want you to call Dr. JohnWahlen and tell him what I’m doing and askhim to match it.”

Once in San Antonio, Bill started huntingfor airplanes. Armed with a clear impressionthat God had an aircraft in mind, he went tothe airport and asked mechanic ReubenWeiss if he knew of an airworthy aircraft forsale. Reuben pointed Bill to a blue StinsonVoyager that looked like it had just beenwashed and waxed. After looking the planeover, Bill contacted the owner, a Mr. Arnett.

“The price is $2,425 firm,” Mr. Arnett toldhim. While Bill had feared a figure well over$3,000, he knew there would be additionalexpenses such as insurance and oversizedtires for the rough mountain landing stripsin Mexico.

Soon he phoned Dr. Drake. “I’ll telegraphthe $500 to you. Have you phoned JohnWahlen yet?” And so Bill called JohnWahlen, and was easily offered $500 towardthe purchase of the plane. This emboldenedBill to call some of his friends andacquaintances. And the donations came,and came, and came. The Western Unionoffice got to know Bill well as he kept comingto collect the money that generous peoplewere sending for the airplane. All SanAntonio seemed to know that heaven hadopened and was spilling its bounties for BillBaxter’s mission airplane. Some expressedamazement at how God had worked. But Billhimself was not as surprised as he wasgrateful. Bill had asked of the Lord and Hispeople, and he had received.

I’ve been taken aback how quickly we’ve

been able to use this donation. The people

of Papua New Guinea are in real need of medi-

cal assistance; people are dying each day

because of basic problems that are left un-

treated. AAS is always trying to work around

their flying schedule to be able to pick up

medi-vac cases that are in need, and in most

cases AAS loses money on these trips be-

cause of the heavily discounted fare.

In June the value of these donations was

demonstrated when I flew to Kikori (South

West PNG) to pick up some pastors and bring

them back to Goroka for meetings. While I

was waiting in Kikori, we were told that two

men in the village of Woposali were terribly

injured and needed urgent medical attention.

I was able to fly to their village (20 mins) and

bring them to the hospital in Kikori. These

two men got into a fight and ended up using

machetes to sort out their differences. One

of them had his leg cut up, and the other had

severe lacerations to the head (his head was

bandaged up, with just a small hole for his

mouth so he could breathe). The people were

so thankful that AAS came to help the two

men. I ended up surrounded by the villag-

ers, some of which were crying for joy. They

informed me that other mission aviation or-

ganizations turned them down, because they

were not able to pay the charter rate. AAS

on the other hand was able to fly there and

help, by using the money in the trust fund

for medical evacuations to offset the costs.

I feel blessed to be in a country where

there is such need, and that there are people

willing to help. It’s easy to be of service when

the people are so thankful. My favorite kind

of flying is to visit the people no one else

wants to help, because that’s where people

notice that AAS cares. Through this, we are

spreading the Gospel, and that’s the most

important aspect of AAS being in Papua

New Guinea.

Needless to say, I made the two injured

guys sit next to each other on the airplane.

I’m sure they were best friends by the time

we landed in Kikori.

The Stinson Voyager.

Page 12: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 200712 FLIGHT LOG

I

by Jud Wickwire

Mabaruma

N GEORGETOWN, BILL LABORE AND Iboarded a well-used Trans Guyana Air-ways Twin Islander, the only scheduled

air service into Mabaruma. At the time, wewere still waiting for final approval from CivilAviation in Guyana to fly the project airplaneinto the region (that permission has nowbeen granted, and Laura is operational).

Mabaruma, although it serves as theregion’s administrative headquarters, is stillrelatively isolated. Scheduled air service isonly about five days a week and quite ex-pensive. The passenger and freight carry-ing “steamer” makes the 20-plus-hour tripevery seven to ten days, making it prohibi-tive if you are on a schedule of any kind.Travel within the region is limited to smallopen “speedboats” that run on an “on-call”basis, or as soon as there are enough peopleto fill the seats. The boats are fast but costly,and their routes are far from a straight line.To illustrate the cost-effectiveness of theairplane, the six-passenger boat in which wetravelled from Mabaruma to Port Kaitumatook over three hours and burned nearly 35gallons of gas. The same trip in the project’sCessna 182 takes only 30 minutes and burnsapproximately eight gallons of gas. PortKaituma is one of the closer villages toMabaruma, so, with villages farther afield,the advantages of the airplane become evenmore dramatic.

It became readily apparent that the needfor a mission aviation service is much moredesperate than I had even imagined. Noother airplanes are based in the region; con-sequently, there is no inter-village serviceby air at all. This effectively limits the abilityof regional health officials to reach beyondthe core populated areas. It also places thesame restrictions on gospel outreach minis-try. The local pastor is responsible for eightchurches and the areas beyond those; evenif they have been reached, there is no sus-tained support.

As we met with various officials, healthprofessionals, and the local pastor, we dis-covered that there were many capable peopleeager to do what they can to serve the localpopulation, but they are all severely restrictedby a consistent lack of resources. Here is asummary of those we met:

Regional Health Office: In our discus-sions, the Regional Health Officer revealedthat even though there is a new hospital fa-cility being built, she has no evidence thatthere is any plan to furnish it. We were alsotold that they were virtually out of all painmedications.

Dental Clinic: The “Dentec” (DentalTechnician), who works alone, showed ushis fairly new portable x-ray unit and thentold us that he has no x-ray films. He hasbeen requesting films for months with noresult. Also, due to time constraints, he hasbeen unable to continue dental education inthe local schools.

Malaria ControlOffice: Here welearned that they re-cently distributedmosquito nets to anarea experiencing anoutbreak. The actionresulted in a 60 per-cent reduction incases. However, theyonly get enough netsto deal with the out-break areas; conse-quently, there arestill thousands ofpeople without nets,and thus the casescontinue.

Regional Chairman’s Office: AnAmerindian and former village captain him-self, the Chairman oversees the administra-tion of the entire region; he welcomed us tothe area and described our work with themas a partnership. In his office, we asked for acopy of the list of village captains, but hecouldn’t give us one because the drum onthe copier had worn out a few months be-fore, the fax machine had no paper, and theironly printer was reduced to blue ink.

This demonstrates just how limited localresources are and is symptomatic of evenmore acute lack of basic medical and dental

Mabaruma market

Mabaruma

Page 13: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 13FLIGHT LOG

GUYANA PROJECT

$ 1780 Canadian Still Needed

Jud, Karen,Jacob, andZacharyWickwire

Wickwire Launching Goal $80,000 Canadian

$5,000 Canadian Still Needed5 0 %1 0 % 9 0 %7 0 %3 0 %

Wickwire Monthly Goal $4,900 CanadianU.S. contributors use enclosed envelope. Canadiancontributors use Canadian address on page 2.

care in the remote villages. We can’t helpwith everything, but there is so much wecan do with the airplane and our own boaton the rivers to improve the basic health ofthe people, as well as reach out to spiritualneeds of the people of the region.

While we were in Mabaruma, we stayedin the LaBores’ rented house. It’s small butup on stilts with good ventilation. Bill and Iwere pretty comfortable until the rats dis-covered that we had food! They found theirway into everything—chewing, knockingthings over, running up and down the walls,banging around inside the oven, and sam-pling each and every food item. What fol-lowed were several nights of honing my rattrapping skills. Overall, the rats won, but Ihad a couple of small victories, and I plan onreturning prepared to aggressively defend

ourselves from those despicable things!Where we are going to live will be more

difficult. We had thought that we could findsatisfactory temporary housing that wouldsuit our needs, but there is very little avail-able. Because we are working as a team, wewill be sharing a lot of our resources, suchas communications, a generator, and child-care, so we will essentially need to be neigh-bors to function efficiently. On a previousvisit, Bill and Laura discovered a propertythat appeared to be an ideal permanent base.Further investigation proved this to be so. Itis a five acre parcel, and about two acreshave a very gentle slope, which will give usplenty of room for housing, volunteer ac-commodations, and an outreach facility forcommunity work. We will also have room todevelop a large garden area. Produce is sur-

prisingly lim-ited here, andsome of what isavailable isquite costly.For example, ap i n e a p p l ecosts nearly$3.00 (2 ½times morethan in George-town); how-ever, bananasare cheap.

The property has been offered to us forUS$14,000 (down from $20,000 initially). Theacquisition and development costs will beshared between the Wickwires and theLaBores. Our volunteer architect, JesseHibler, from Berrien Springs, Michigan, flewin while we were there. He has been workingon drawings for our housing, as well as thehangar for the Mabaruma airstrip. He wasable to spend some time on the property andwill be able to provide us with an overallplan for the development of the land. Jessehas also prepared full drawings for the 11,000square foot Volunteer Centre to be built inGeorgetown, and while he was there, we sub-mitted the plans to the Engineering Depart-ment for a building permit. We look forwardto getting started on that facility as fundsbecome available.

In the end, we discovered that there areso many ways we can help that any thoughtsor concerns about not having enough to dohave been quite thoroughly put to rest. Ex-pect future writings to include calls for helpin a variety of capacities as the ministrygrows in Region 1. After our visit to the area,we can say with confidence that the overallgoals for the project are sound, and our twofamilies’ skills, along with the airplane, are aperfect fit for the needs in Mabaruma andthe region.

There is no doubt that God has preparedthe way and the timing for this work to bedone. We will take it one step at a time, andwe know that God will provide for our needs.As we are writing this, we are in BerrienSprings, Michigan, attending Summer Insti-tute of Frontier Missions with Adventist Fron-tier Missions. So far, the training has beenexcellent, as has been the fellowship with bothexperienced missionaries and the other mis-sionaries in training. We plan to join theLabores early this fall in Mabaruma.

Mabaruma Hospital underconstruction.

Region 1 MalariaControl staff.

Page 14: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 200714 FLIGHT LOG

Opening of Penero airstrip.

CelebratingtheopeningofthePineroairstrip.

by Jim Holdeman

S O YOU, SON OF MAN; I HAVE MADE YOU A

watchman for the house of Israel;therefore you shall hear a word from My

mouth and warn them for Me. Ezekiel 33:7GQ…GQ…GQ!!! This is not a drill! All

hands on deck!When I served in the navy aboard an air-

craft carrier, we were constantly shadowedby Soviet trawlers and cargo ships. Thesevessels were filled with an array of technol-ogy attempting to eavesdrop on our activ-ity. While innocent in appearance, they werebent on our destruction.

GQ, or “General Quarters,” was a signalthat danger loomed ahead and we were to beat our respective positions, ready to defendthe ship. In addition, we were to assist thosenew to the ship with the serious nature ofthis call to make sure they were in their battlestations. We practiced the drill often. So,when followed by the ominous words, “Thisis not a drill,” a chill went down my spine.The Holy Spirit is now proclaiming the samething. We are to be at “General Quarters,”ready and willing to spread the Gospel. Thisis not a drill. Why?

God has placed us in the “toenails” oftime (see Daniel 2). I am convinced by Bibleprophecy that we are living in the final hoursof earth’s history, and God has purposely

placed us in “the latter days.” What a grand,exciting, yet frightening time to live. Historyis marching toward a climax that the proph-ets, apostles, martyrs, and reformers longedto see—the soon return of Jesus.

B-T Aviation Services recently hosted anAdventist World Aviation board of directors’meeting. This was a historic event for us aswell as for the board. Many of the boardmembers had not yet had the opportunity tosee the Blackwell operation they have so dili-gently supported and prayed for. It was ouropportunity to showcase the facility to thosewho had been impressed by the Lord to fol-low Him through uncharted waters in estab-lishing B-T Aviation Services.

Barbara Holdeman, B-T Aviation’s busi-ness manager, working with the local churchmembers, organized the food service for themeeting. Several AWA board members got a“bird’s eye” view of the airport and surround-ing communities so they could appreciateGod’s wisdom in selecting the location. Theyalso witnessed the impact B-T Aviation Ser-vices has had through health ministry andmission aviation training. A veteran U.S. AirCaptain stopped by to visit and ended upsharing with the board members how hishealth had improved by following Barb’s mealplanning suggestions. He reported that hisnurse excitedly called to inform him that hisPSA represented the largest drop she hadever seen. He was also pleased to report thathis weight is coming down and his energylevels are improving. Missionary candidatesEd, Merilyn, and Felicia Brennan toured thefacility and spent time in fellowship with theboard members.

B-T Aviation was invited by the PoncaCity Presbyterian Church to host a missionaviation evening. Approximately 100 peopleattended. We spent the evening sharingwhat Jesus has done for us and His plansfor mission aviation. B-T Aviation is stronglycommitted to building relationships with allChristian denominations, encouraging themto be active participants in the Great Com-mission.

B-T Aviation participated for the secondyear in the annual Northern Oklahoma Avia-tion Academy’s week-long aviation camp forthe youth in the Blackwell, Tonkawa, and

All Hands on DeckRight: JimHoldeman with oneof the YoungEagles. Below: thevery busy B-TAviation Hangar.

Page 15: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 15FLIGHT LOG

Ponca City area. The Holdemans assistedthe Ponca City Aviation Booster Club vol-unteers by providing flight simulator train-ing for nearly 70 youth, from seven to sev-enteen, who attended the academy. The cur-riculum includes an introduction to weather,aerodynamics, flight simulator training, andbuilding a model hovercraft; the program cul-minates in an EAA Young Eagles flight.

B-T Aviation provided two aircraft andpilots this year. A total of six aircraft partici-pated in the event. Jim Holdeman flew nineYoung Eagles in the Cessna 172, while ChrisBorcherding flew eleven in the Grumman Ti-ger. Chris flew several Northern OklahomaAviation Academy instructors around thearea, as well. It is quite an experience takingchildren for their first flight. We were blessedwith magnificent weather, and the commentsmade by our passengers ranged from exitedto outright hilarious.

A week later, we received letters of appre-ciation from all of the students. They reallytouched Chris’ and Jim’s hearts. TheBlackwell Journal Tribune ran a front pagearticle, showcasing Chris Borcherding sit-ting in the Grumman Tiger with three of hisYoung Eagles. We thank the Northern Okla-homa Aviation Academy for inviting us towork with the youth and for their generousdonation in support of mission aviation.

B-T Aviation recently produced anotherprivate pilot. The superintendent of theTonkawa Public School District successfullycompleted his FAA check ride, thus fulfill-ing his dream of becoming a pilot. Three morestudents are very close to taking their pri-vate pilot check rides, including one of theairport authority trustees.

With a total of twelve students, the Tigerflew over 50 hours in June, and the Cessna150 has been getting a lot of use, as well.There is enough work to warrant two flightinstructors.

Aircraft maintenance work continues to

increase. In the last90 days, we per-formed annuals onthree Piper Arrows,one Beech Muske-teer, one Comanche,one Cherokee 180,one Cessna Hawk XP,one A-36 Bonanza,and one Piper Tri-Pacer. We also in-stalled windshieldson a Musketeer, andan Aero CommanderDarter, as well as a one-piece windshield con-version on a Comanche. In addition, we in-stalled a fuel bladder in a Cessna 182RG andare currently doing an engine change on aCherokee 180. We also acquired and pre-pared a Piper Colt for sale.

In between all this activity, we are makingprogress on AWA-Philippines airplane num-ber two. A Sportsman leading edge cuff, ARTWing Extensions, and Monarch fuel tanksare expected to be ready for flight testing bythe end of August. We have gained addi-tional help from AWA-Philippines formerstudent missionary Steve Wilson. He hasbeen a dedicated worker, prayer partner, andnew friend of B-T Aviation Services.

Lastly, God has allowed us to develop arelationship with another ministry that isstarting a crisis trainingcenter in a donatednursing home facility.We have assisted withmaintenance of thebuilding and grounds.This has provided SteveWilson a place to stay.Steve has been sharingwhat Jesus has done forhim. We also have beenmeeting together forprayer one evening a

week. We are excited to see what God has instore for this ministry.

As you can see, this experience at B-TAviation Services is no drill. God has posi-tioned us for more than overseas missiontraining. Please pray that we will be faithfulwatchmen. And should you answer the invi-tation to join us, be prepared to take up yourbattle station, fully armored in God’s Word.Time is very short, hearts are being touched,friendships are being nurtured, and thoseinclined to respond to the Holy Spirit will belooking for a friend in Jesus. Would that beyou?

All hands on deck!

Far Left: HealthSeminar participantswith Chris and AmyBorcherding, andBarbara and JimHoldeman; Left andbelow: twins preparefor takeoff during theEAA Young EaglesFlights; Bottom: thenursing homehousing the crisiscenter.

Page 16: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 200716 FLIGHT LOG

Sagpangan AirBase Project

AWA Welcomes Director ofDevelopment Dave Pearson

After twelve years of steady growth,AWA is on its way to executing the largestaviation infrastructure initiative in SDA his-tory. The plan includes upgrading and ex-panding air transportation and training fa-cilities to enable evangelism and nativechurch planting in the Alaska, Guyana, Okla-homa, and Pennsylvania Conferences, aswell as the North Philippine Union Mission.God has honored the move of faith with atotal of $1.95 million to date and a Director ofDevelopment to head up philanthropic ser-vices for the ministry.

Witnessing God’s activity and sensingHis call to full-time ministry with AWA, DavidE. Pearson left his seat on the Board of Di-rectors on June 1, 2007, to join the team asDirector of Development. Pearson comes toAWA with 40 years of aviation experience.He learned to fly while a student at Enter-prise Academy in the mid 1960s. Followinggraduation from Pan American University,Pearson gained experience in business, hos-pital, and educational administration beforespending over 15 years in aircraft accidentinvestigation.

In addition to a degree in General Busi-ness and a masters in School Administration,Pearson has completed development trainingwith The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust inVancouver, Washington, and The Center onPhilanthropy at Indiana University.

Dave lives on his grandfather’s farm inSoutheast Kansas with Judi, his wife of 37years, and can be reached at:

Phone: 620-362-3233Email: [email protected] Address:Adventist World Aviation,Midwest OfficeP.O. Box 122Hepler, KS 66746

A S ANOTHER FLIGHT LOG ROLLS OFF THE

press, it’s a privilege to report onGod’s activity in the Philippines.

The regular readers of Flight Log havelikely gathered that acquiring land in thePhilippines is very different from doing so inthe USA. Once the land is acquired, defin-ing and occupying it is very important, so,with this in mind, we needed to start fencingthe air base.

First, we had to settle a land issue with aMr. Alsa. He wanted to keep his land as aheritage for his children. After many meet-ings and a land-swap, the boundaries of hisproperty were established. Another playerwho “helped” acquire land from propertyowners was found to have forged signaturesof at least three property holders. In order toobtain ECC (similar to the Environmental Pro-tection Agency) licensing for runway con-struction, we needed to complete the titlingof two pieces of property. One was Mr.Alsa’s, and the other was a piece of landacquired by forgery. Only with the Lord’sintervention were the realtors able to workout another land-swap so the process couldmove forward.

With these problems solved and a prayerfor wisdom, we started to fence. Since wehad never built fence in the Philippines, wethought someone familiar with the processshould be hired. Mr. Alsa and a crew of fourfrom Sagpangan were contracted to fencethe boundary of his property where it joinedAWA’s. Within a day, it was apparent thatthe Lord had answered our prayer for wis-dom because Mr. Alsa, at the age of 77, wasstill a great foreman, and the resulting fencewas very nice. The speed and thoroughnessthat they displayed was encouraging. Hiscrew was so efficient that now the challengewas to keep him supplied with fence posts!Each fence post was made of concrete with20 feet of reinforcing steel – and we needed1,200 of them!

Again, with God’s wisdom, we were ableto contract two groups to build and installfence posts. Fence post production couldn’tkeep up, so we contracted yet another com-pany to make fence posts. Within one week,Mr. Alsa’s boundaries were mostly fenced.He then asked if we would like his crew to

by Dave and Karen Robinson

David and KarenRobinson

Digging wells by hand.

Setting up the firstwater tower.

Page 17: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 17FLIGHT LOG

continue fencing AWA’s property. He wenton to fence one third of the air base.

Land boundaries are another issue. Noone knows where their lines are. As fencingmoved forward, we were stopped by neigh-bors who thought we were taking their prop-erty. This often caused us to halt our work inorder to assemble the real estate agent andDepartment of Agriculture. They would goover the map and the official survey, andthen we would continue. This process hap-pened about four times. Each time, we wouldpray with the real estate agent, and the Lordwould calm the people. Then we would beable to continue our work. By God’s gracewe fenced the entire property!

Fencing was only one project. We alsoneeded a caretaker’s house. We soon dis-covered the Divine genius exhibited in dis-rupting work at the tower of Babel. Betweenthe language barrier and difference in con-struction techniques, we found it quite achallenge. But unlike Babel, this is God’sproject, so He blessed our inability and al-lowed us to leave the project with a concreteblock house ready for the caretaker completewith running water and sewer. When wetested the shower, all the workers came run-ning to look at it—they don’t have thatluxury. Oh, how we take the gift of clean,safe water for granted in the USA!

With the Lord’s strength and hard-work-ing locals, in three months we removed alltrees from the runway environment, installed225 feet of drainage under the runway, builta land bridge with culverts so we could driveto the north side of the property, plowed andharrowed the runway, installed water andelectric conduit from the hangar site to fu-ture houses, built two concrete pads for thehangar, acquired and installed a storage con-tainer on one pad, completed two wells withwater towers and a water tank for the care-takers house, completed two septic systems,cleared a three-meter fire break around 70percent of the property, installed 2.3 miles offence post and barbed wire, constructed twoentrances to the property (complete with cul-

verts, gate posts, and temporarygates), built the entrance to thecaretaker’s house (also with cul-verts, gate posts, and temporarygates), and built the caretaker’shouse.

Further runway constructionwas not possible due to the localDepartment of Energy and Natu-ral Resources (DENR) agents’wanting some payola, but we toldthem this is God’s money, notours. The Mayor explained tothem that making it difficult forpeople to invest in the commu-nity would only hurt everyone inthe long run, so they relented, butonly three days before our sched-uled return.

The Lord blessed our work inSagpangan. AWA provided workfor many people in the commu-nity, making it possible for theirchildren to attend school. A 10-year old daughter of one workerthanked us because her fathercould now buy pencils and paperfor her to go to school!

In our absence, the facilitiesare being used to house Bibleworkers who are conducting Biblestudies with the community inpreparation for an evangelisticseries this fall. What a blessingthat through your gifts andprayers so much was done at theair base and for the people thatworked on the project!

Pray with us that God will helpus prepare to return and completethe AWA Palawan Airbase. Manymission projects around the Prov-ince are in desperate need of reli-able air support—something thatonly a functioning facility will al-low AWA to provide.

Another propertydispute resolved.

Partially finished caretaker’s house.

Installing culverts.

Moving the heavy concrete fence posts.

The first of two well pumps producing water.

Page 18: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 200718 FLIGHT LOG

At the end of his junior year, Anthonyparticipated in the Pennsylvania ConferencePathfinder Fair peanut drop. He rode in theback seat of AWA’s Hawk XP (which is nowserving in Alaska) and dumped 50 poundsof peanuts onto the ball field, while DonStarlin (from the ground) gave commentaryabout the way missionaries sometimes haveto make air drops of needed supplies in re-mote areas of the mission field.

At the beginning of his senior year atBMA, he took up flight training again withJames Hilliard, a task force dean from WallaWalla College and AWA-PA’s flight instruc-tor for the 2006-2007 school year. At the end

of the year, all of the weather conditions,maintenance issues, and schedules cametogether, and Anthony passed his check rideto become AWA-PA’s first private pilot tocomplete the program at BMA! The exam-iner commented on Anthony’s excellent fly-ing skills, especially on how well he demon-strated his soft-field and short-field landingtechniques.

Anthony is planning to attend AndrewsUniversity, where he will major in AviationTechnology.

Recently, a newer model trailer was do-nated for the airport office at Blue MountainAcademy. This trailer is an added blessing

AWA-Pennsylvania’s First Private PilotA

to the aviation program. It will provide a smallclassroom, office, comfortable lounge, andbathroom.

Blue Mountain Academy is preparing toinstall a new Airport Lighting System thatwas donated by a local business to help keepthe airport up-to-date for the aviation needsof AWA-PA and local pilots. This new light-ing system will include all new runway lights,obstruction lights, rotating beacon, exter-nally lighted windsock, and a pilot controlledlighting system. BMA maintenance depart-ment and local supporters will help with theinstallation process.

dventist World Aviation-Pennsylvania (AWA-PA) is excited about how God has blessed this aviation program. In June 2007, AWA-PA graduated its first private pilot. One of the main

reasons that Anthony came to Blue Mountain Academy (BMA) was the aviation program. He en-rolled in ground school his freshman year, but when he realized that he would not be able to solo untilthe end of his sophomore year, he decided to wait until that time was closer to begin his training.

AnthonyMarcellino

Page 19: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

SUMMER 2007 19FLIGHT LOG

Around the World

60inseconds

AWA KODIAK AIRPLANE #1 GOAL $1,125,000

5 0 %3 3 % 83.5%6 7 %16.5%

NCCF Matching Grant AWA Donors + $375,000 Due on Delivery

$381,736 Still Needed$743,264 Raised

Merilyn grew up in a small town called Sugar Central, near BacolodCity in Negros Occidental, Republic of the Philippines. Surroundedby the sugar cane fields, her dad worked at the local sugar process-ing plant. Her parents became Seventh-day Adventists when shewas a toddler, and she grew up attending Adventist schools. Even-tually Merilyn went to Mountain View Adventist College on theisland of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. It was on summervacation that she traveled to the north and visited her brother andcousin. Her brother worked on the Air Base at which Ed was sta-tioned. It was through mutual friends that they met. Ed and Merilynwere married a year and a half later and shortly found themselvesstationed in North Dakota.

Though moving from the Philippines to North Dakota was a mas-sive shock for Merilyn, her time was well spent. She became a Certi-fied Nursing Assistant and later went on to study phlebotomy andtelemetry; she also received training to become a ward clerk. Merilynenjoys working with and helping patients and finds this is a goodtime to witness. Merilyn also thoroughly enjoys leading out withthe women’s ministries, teaching primary Sabbath school, and help-ing out with song services.

The Brennans have one child, a twelve- year-old daughter namedFelicia. She is a budding artist whose drawings are featured through-out her school. She has a deep love for animals and hopes to be aveterinarian when she grows up. Felicia has visited the Philippineson two occasions and is looking forward to going back and helpingout. She will be using her artistic skills to design the family newslet-ter and help keep it up. She also enjoys writing stories and plans totake a writing course this summer from the local junior college.

Speaking for his family, Ed said, “We have looked for differentways that we could serve the Lord in a full-time capacity and trulybelieve that this is what God has prepared us for. We know that beingcalled to ministry with AWA in the Philippines will be a difficult under-taking, but nothing is too big for our Father. As we move forward inunison with the other team members and God, we look forward tobeing a part of His plan to help spread the gospel to millions of peoplewho have yet to hear it in the Philippines.”

God Prepares the Way for New MITsContinued from page 8

The airplane and HF radio packages supplied by AWA are makinga manifold difference in the support infrastructure of missions inthe Philippines. It’s like the Gospel going forth with the speed of anangel. . . . And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell onthe earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, andpeople. . . Revelation 14:6 KJV.

AWA Pilot Math:Continued from page 8.

AlaskaAWA Project Manager and long-time Alaska Conference em-

ployee Jim Kincaid left the security of denominational employmentseizing the opportunity to assume operation of a strategically lo-cated air charter business in Kotzebue. Northwestern Aviationserves a customer base in northwest Alaska.

The operation is intended to function as a hub from which toconduct ministry to tribal peoples in northwest Alaska. AWA hasleased its Cessna 206 to Northwestern Aviation so that when notinvolved in local mission ministry, it will generate revenue to sup-port ministry at other locations in the state.

PhilippinesLooking to make a difference? AWA is recruiting personnel to

expand support to frontier missionaries in other parts of the Philip-pines. The intent is to develop multiple teams, each composed of aproject manager, a senior pilot and chief mechanic. If you or anyoneyou know has a background suitable for cross-cultural aviationministry contact AWA today.

Papua New GuineaIn celebration of its 70th anniversary, The Quiet Hour has launched

a capital campaign to place a Kodiak in service with Adventist Avia-tion Services. More information can be found online atwww.thequiethour.org.

Kodiak Aircraft ProjectIn celebration of the newly issued FAA Type Certificate, Kodiak

serial number 001 flew to the EAA Convention at Oshkosh! And wethought yellow was great. The Kodiak looks good in most any garb.

B-T Aviation ServicesJust as AWA and B-T Aviation Services were discussing the

need for a complex airplane in which to conduct commercial flighttraining, God provided. A donor in Michigan signed his 1958 twinengine Piper Apache over to AWA. Paint and interior are in excel-lent condition and the instrument panel sports a Garmin GNS 530GPS. The aircraft is also equipped with an S-TEC System 40 autopi-lot. Wing, nose and tail conversions have made the airplane a reallooker for a 50-year old bird.

Page 20: FOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD  · PDF fileFOR THE FRIENDS OF ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION ... As we departed the runway, ... GORDON, SARAH BY LEO & BOBBIE VANDOLSON

VICTORY

Don StarlinPresident

FLIGHT LOG

Adventist World AviationPO Box 251Berrien Springs MI 49103-0251

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE PAID

BERRIEN SPRINGS, MIPERMIT NO. 10

L E T T E R F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T

VICTORY! TODAY THE AVIATION PRESS

heralded that the FAA has issued a TypeCertificate for the Kodiak!

There have been years of blood, sweat,and tears on the part of God’s people, drivento do what no other body has done —de-sign, build, and manufacture a commerciallyviable mission airplane that will, in part, fa-cilitate the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14.

Skinned knuckles and sheet metal cutsproduced blood. Hard days and longnights yielded sweat. No tears were as bit-ter, however, as those shed after the trag-edy on Thursday, June 28, 2007, when atage 68, Bruce Kennedy, Quest AircraftCompany’s Chairman of the Board, died ina landing accident at Cashmere, Washing-ton.

Alone in his Cessna 182, Bruce was re-turning from a visit to the Quest AircraftFactory in Sandpoint, Idaho. He intendedto spend the night with his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren in Wenatchee,Washington. The cause of the accident isstill under investigation.

Bruce was a Christian businessman in abrutal industry. He was a visionary leader

with few peers, and he possessed a God-given skill to make things happen. As Chair-man and CEO, he grew Alaska/Horizon Air-lines to a billion dollar international company.Bruce also served as Chairman of the Boardat Mission Aviation Fellowship for manyyears, but perhaps his greatest contributionwill prove to be Quest Aircraft Company, asit is the one aircraft manufacturing companybuilt solely for the purpose of finishing theGreat Commission.

I had two meaningful conversations withBruce at the Quest Mission Team Meetingthis past May. Bruce saw me across a roomof forty or so people. He made a B-linestraight for me to thank AWA’s Board forvoting to accept the $1.125 million incentivefunds for three more Kodiaks. He then askedme to give thanks for the banquet. The nextmorning I was privileged to eat breakfast withmost of Quest’s Board. Bruce, for my ben-efit, kindly recounted some of the earlyunpublicized hurdles the fledgling companyvaulted to get off the ground. As we parted,I had no idea that would be the last time onthis earth I would shake the hand of thisgiant among men.

According to the Lord’s own word, wetell you that we who are still alive, whoare left till the coming of the Lord, willcertainly not precede those who havefallen asleep. For the Lord Himself willcome down from heaven, with a loud com-mand, with the voice of the archangel andwith the trumpet call of God, and the deadin Christ will rise first. After that, we whoare still alive and are left will be caughtup together in the clouds to meet the Lordin the air. And so we will be with the Lordforever. Therefore, encourage each otherwith these words. 1Thessalonians 4:15-18 NIV

What a thrill it will be to see the look onBruce’s face when he views the multitudesthat are in the Kingdom as a result of hiscommitment to missions.

Bruce, we’llsee you in the air!