I remember the hard travel I had back in October which involved hours of riding in unsafe public vehicles and 18 hours of hiking to get to our ministry allocation and back to town again. I remember thinking, “Someday perhaps God will provide a missionary flight service.” It was hard not to dream of flying. 
After having to work so hard just to get to my ministry location, I arrived tired and without the supplies I needed to minister and sustain myself for very long. Even back in October, God was starting to do above and beyond what we could dream of. During that time and in the months that followed, God provided the funds to purchase an R-44 helicopter and to have it shipped to the Philippines.
He even provided two pilots to fly for us. But, the helicopter and the pilots were still lacking licenses which would allow them to get airborne. Our pilots made many trips to government offices and we prayed that all the paperwork would come together. It was a long process, but by March, we had every sticker, paper, and license that we needed. Praise the Lord. 
Our family, together with friend, Jeremy, and partner, Vicky Martin, scheduled the first flights to start the New Tribes Mission Aviation program on Northern Luzon.
It was a dream come true to depart and in 10 minutes to have covered what would have taken me 24 hours overland and then in another 10 minutes to have covered what would have taken me 8 hours of hiking. I arrived on location ready to serve the people. We were able to bring big box of newly translated Genesis and Exodus portions, boxes of medicine for the clinic, and enough food to keep us going for a week.
Thanks to the flight program we were able to teach in two locations on Sunday, hold Bible studies every week night, and see the clinic restocked. Due to the flight program, my family and Vicky Martin were able to come and minister to the people as well.
Praise the Lord for providing the helicopter, pilots, and paperwork!Click this link to watch a short video of our landing in the village: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDgHDn8Yy8
A link to the same video for those who have a slow internet connection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1C4DpVH2k
2 comments:
We loved the video and were so excited to see the helicopter land on the basketball court! That will save so much walking, sweating, and carrying to the airstrip, especially in a medical emergency. Thanks for sharing the video! We miss you all.
Hey, glad i finally found your blog! great to see that the flight program continues to help people.
God bless
(this is Kevin Barkman by the way)
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