Medevac Flights
Things are finally moving along with the airstrips. The Palawan airstrip in Brooke's Point is now completed, thanks to your support and God's providing for good weather and equipment. Our new missionaries, Sean and Pris Knapp will be taking the Cessna there by next month to support the mission work in that area until we get a helicopter.
The Quirino, Luzon airstrip is also moving along nicely, even with all the set backs with rain and waiting on equipment. We hope to have it done in the next week or so. In the meantime, both airplanes are still being kept a couple hours drive away in a nearby, small airport.
A couple weeks ago Dwayne had the privilege of flying the LIGHT missionaries to Batanes (the island way up north between Luzon and Taiwan) where they will assist the fledgling church in reaching out with medical missionary work. The Northern Luzon Mission and LIGHT ministry have been wanting to place missionaries in Batanes for a long time now, and thanks to this airplane we were able to help them make it happen.
We recently found a displaced tribal group (called Badjao) in the middle of Santiago City and were appalled by their state of living. They remind us in some ways of the mountain people of Palawan--with very poor sanitation, no education, and many don't even know their age, the language of the area, or even how to count. Their place in Mindanao that they fled from is a lawless area where there is alot of fighting between the Abu Sayaf and the military. Tanya immediately enlisted support from the local church members after learning about these people and they are continuing to help weekly with food, clothes, medical help, and education.
Last week, Danny informed me (Dwayne) of a critically ill patient who needed immediate transport to Manila for more advanced medical treatment. I came down with Malaria about that time, but thankfully I was able to take treatment in time and I felt fine by the time I needed to fly. Our airstrip is too short for the Twin Commache at my comfort level so we arranged to land at a private airstrip to the south. They refused our request initially for permission to land but after the local mayor and congressman got involved we were given permission. After loading the patient we had a nice flight most of the way back toward Manila. We had arranged to land at a small private strip south of manila and have someone meet and transport the patient from there to the Manila Adventist Medical Center. As we neared the intended landing strip I could see heavy rain pouring from a big thunderstorm that was directly over the airstrip. I started to divert to another airport that the GPS indicated was to the east a short distance and found nothing but a phantom runway. There was a gap in some of the thunderstorms that allowed us to fly toward the Manila International Airport and we got a clearance and landed there. I dropped the patient off and waited in line for 30 minutes before I could take off again. Even though things did not go as expected I was praising God for working everything out anyway and I still got back home that evening and was able to get things prepared for pouring the cement pad in front of our Luzon hanger that next morning. A group from the Adventist hospital came out and helped us pour the pad.
It's encouraging to see what God has done the last few months, and yet it seems we are barely scratching the surface of what needs to be done. The opportunities come faster than we can keep up with, but praise God He is able to do more than we can imagine possible. We appreciate very much your prayers and support for us and this ministry.
Sean pouring cement pad in front of Hangar
Medevac flight from Palawan to Manila
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