Flying was a Dream

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

Plans Change but Things Still Happen.

I had planned to fly to our Isnag village last week, but the pilot was not able to get the necessary license in time so the helicopter had to stay on the ground. With the trip to the village postponed, I decided to make a trip to our newest mission outreach and see how the Christina and the Talbots were doing. Here is an update on my trip.

The trip started out with a ride in a very crowded van.

But we were not as crowded as some vehicles we saw along the way.

The second leg of the trip was in a small red truck.


I finished the trip with a beautiful 2 hour hike to the small village where Christina Canapp and the Chuck and Shannon Talbot are working.

I found the team hard at work learning the Ga’dang language. At first I thought that Chuck was trying to learn about panhandling, but as I listened to the lesson I found out that he was trying to learn how to say, “this” and “that.” Actually it is a bit more complicated that that. In Ga’dang he has to learn this near me, that near you, that not near either of us, that sort of far away, that very far away, and that in past time. Good luck, Chuck! The Lord has provided Chuck, Shannon, and Christina with great language helpers.

Christina is working hard on language too. After her language session she took me on a village tour. It was great to see how the NTM team is making good relationships in the village and how eager the people there are to teach them their language.

Even Jenna has a language helper!

I was hoping that I could be an encouragement to the team, but instead they were an encouragement to me. It was great to see them doing so well.

My trip home was the reverse of my trip in except that instead of riding in a little red truck I rode on the back of a flatbed truck all the way to town.

I arrived home safely and am planning my next attempt to go to our Isnag village in two weeks.

The Reunion

In 1994, we moved to the Philippines to teach the children of missionaries.

Students at the school in 1996

Matt along with his fellow students

Ruth giving a book report

And we had lots of fun times with our new friends.

Erin holding Carrie

Carrie, James, Rachel, Charles, & Toby

Carrie and Sarah at age 5.

Sara now lives in Australia, but last month she and her sisters came back to the Philippines for a visit along with Toby the blond boy in the picture with the puppies.

Toby helped make the picnic fun for everyone.

Matt and Erin married and now serving as missionaries here in the Philippines. It was a real pleasure to have a couple hours with my former students. I am pleased to say that they can all read and do math without taking off their shoes to count higher than 10. Thank you, Matt, Erin, Rachel, Ruth, Sarah, and Toby, for taking time to visit us. We really enjoyed seeing you again.

“Do I look unintelligent?” The Fetcher

This sign was not hanging at the school our children attend, but still, as a fetcher, I feel saddened. I do my fair share of fetching and I hate to see my fellow fetchers discriminated against. I am getting lots of practice fetching.

For example, if Carrie stays after school to help with a bake sale, I have to go fetch her when she is done. Would you buy a cookie from this girl?

And, if Thomas has to stay for a tennis game I have to go fetch him too. The only difference between a dog fetcher and me is that someone throws the ball for the dog to fetch. I, in a manner of speaking, throw the kids out and fetch them too. I keep asking myself why.

This sign made me happy.

No more eye doctor appointments. Just look up your age on the chart, if you can see the chart, and then see what grade you need. By the way, the sales person saw me taking a picture of his chart and told me that it didn’t really work that way. While I was in the hardware store looking at a shelf, the sales person came up to me and told me that the shelf was an instrument for putting things on and gave a demonstration. I had a cup hook in my hand, so I said, “You mean that I could put this hook on the shelf like this?” and put my hook on the shelf. The clerk was happy with how quickly I had learned the proper use of a shelf. I am wondering if I look like an unintelligent fetcher.

January Cell Phone Pictures

I am glad that my cell phone has a little camera in it so that when I see something I want to ponder I can get a picture to study later.

For example, this is a photo I took in a men’s bathroom. There were three sinks and third one had this sign above it. This is troubling! Who lives here? How much does it cost to rent space in a public bathroom? Where does he sleep? Why doesn’t he share his sink?

At first I was impressed by the lack of safety straps and the mass of wires. When I got home and studied the picture I was impressed by the friendliness of Filipinos. I am thinking, “Don’t fall or electrocute yourself just to wave at me.” Later I became alarmed at the dangerous situation. The wood board the guys is sitting on is connected to a wooden pole that is rotted out.

I think I would have said something if I had noticed when I was taking the picture.

This is a picture of our parner Vicky. She is riding around in luxury while all the rest of us use ordinary cars and trucks. Her cab is loaded with Bible teaching materials and clinic supplies which she has prepared to sent to the village overland. Vicky will gladly trade her motorcycle side car for a helicopter which will allow her to take these kinds of things all the way to the village. We are praying that will be a reality in the near future.

It's Christmas Time in Manila

Celebrating Christmas was different for us this year. We missed having our sons, Charles and James with us. We are very thankful that they could celebrate Christmas with loved ones and that God provided for their transportation and work schedule needs.

[James with the Johnson Family]

Charles was able to travel from Boise to Oregon to attend a Christmas gathering with the Bamfords. With James we were wondering if he would be going anywhere right up until the last moment and then his boss gave him 10 days off and we were able to find tickets for him to fly to Michigan and spend Christmas with the Johnson family who very generously opened their home to several missionary kids. Thank you Johnsons!!! Thank you Lord, for allowing the trip to happen!!!

Here in the Philippines, Carrie and Thomas started their vacation by inviting several friends over for a cookie decorating party.

Can you guess which one I did?

Heidi volunteered our family to watch the young children of families who are in the Tagalog language study program so that the parents could have a chance to finish Christmas shopping or spend time together.

Five families generously donated their children and we spent three days reading stories, playing with clay, and getting to know some very sweet children.

On Christmas Eve, our friends the Spicers invited us over for dinner and games. We have known the Spicers ever since we moved to the Philippines 16 years ago, so it is lots of fun to spend time with them.

Thank you Spicer Family!

On Christmas morning I took my post at the front door at 6:30 am and started handing out Christmas candy. On Christmas morning the neighborhood children hit the streets and yell “Mamasko Po!” at every house hoping for a coin or a piece of candy. We prepared 250 small bags of candy and could have used about 100 more.

We are looking forward to 2011. Please pray that in January :
• the NTM helicopter will get its needed paperwork processed so that the flight program can open,
• the book of Mark will get its first check,
• two new families who will be working at Faith Academy find housing.

May God bless you and your family in the new year,
Jonathan and Heidi

Goods To Declare

Besides working on translating the book of Mark we, as a family, have had lots going on over the past few months. First of all, Carrie was asked to be on the girl's varsity soccer team. Good job Carrie! Over the season her team did very well. The season finished up with two tournaments. One was here in the Philippines, and the other was in Thailand. Going to Thailand was a very special treat for Carrie because she got to spend time with a friend of hers who moved there last year.

Carrie plays defense.

While in Thailand the team played soccer, had ministry time, and had tourist time.

It looked like Thomas wouldn't be going anywhere, but on very short notice he was invited

to go to an NTM ministry location in Northern Luzon with some of his friends.

He jumped at the opportunity and spent a week far from the concrete jungle we live in.

Would you believe these boys all have the same birthday?
After the Iwak church service, Thomas entertained some of the people by juggling.

It was something they had never seen before.

Thomas has joined the tennis team and has been making steady improvement. He now beats his dad on a regular basis.

Good job Thomas!

The kids aren't the only ones who have traveled. I made a trip to Bali, Indonesia and another trip to Mindanao, Philippines. The Bali trip was a training seminar put on by NTM. In Bali, I was surprised to find out that although most of Indonesia is Islamic, the island of Bali is mostly Hindu. There were idols and appeasement offerings everywhere.

The traffic drove on the left hand side of the road. I didn't try driving, but I found that crossing the street was dangerous enough for me. I have a lifelong habit of stepping off the curb looking to the left instead of the right.

The NTM meetings were very encouraging. We were trained in people group assessment among other things. My trip to Mindanao was for the Faith Academy School Board. It was good to meet the staff of the school there and hopefully to be an encouragement. Needless to say, I was glad when my travels were over and I could work full time on the translation.