Mami goes to church
Wendy: We are seeing the Holy Spirit working in these last days. Mami, the biggest leader, witch-doctor, and former antagonist of our work came to church a couple Sabbaths ago! He did not come to get medicine or for any other reason except to learn! He then came again the next Sabbath!
He also interrupted the service for a moment after song service and politely asked if he could ask a question. He asked his sincere question (about Jesus' death--if it was man or God who killed him) and then we missionaries and our local pastors-in-training proceeded to answer him and give him the story of salvation--the shortened version.
He accepted our answer and thanked us and we continued on with the service!
Waiting and looking
Dwayne: Things have been slowly moving along here.
I was in the process of tracking and balancing the helicopter after we had gotten it back together and found I had a bad main rotor damper. That fact has kept me from flying regularly and I am waiting on a good one to arrive from the States. Things have been pretty slow at the clinic with Wendy's work and we have had no emergencies we needed the helicopter for, I have been thanking God for that.
A Husband From the Sky
Good-bye to AFM
Wendy: After six fulfilling years with AFM, I have shifted gears. Throughout the years, God faithfully cared for my financial, physical and social needs, even in very isolated settings, and now He has provided me with a lifetime companion who is also dedicated to mission service!
Dwayne Harris, a helicopter pilot, dropped into our village last year to assist with the work here on Palawan. It wasn’t long before we fell in love and decided to join together in our service to God. The helicopter has already been a great help in speeding the work on Palawan, and Dwayne’s handyman skills have also been very welcome. He has almost finished building a new clinic for us!
Good-bye from AFM
Leonda George: I first met Wendy Guptill, a registered nurse, during one of our furloughs while she was preparing to go to Nepal to help set up a clinic. We spent some time discussing how to set up a clinic in a new location, and though it didn’t end up working out, we were excited at the prospect of my going to Nepal to help her get one started there. In the summer of 2003, we got word that Wendy was free for another assignment due to political unrest in Nepal. Would we be interested in her joining us? Would we! I had been running the clinic alone for over a year along with my family and many other project needs and demands from the Palawano people. I was stretched pretty thin. I was more than ready for some help. So arrangements were made, and Wendy arrived in July.
Flying again
Wendy: I have exciting news… the helicopter is back in the air! Dwayne took it out to Brooke's this a.m. for it's first flight in about 4 months. He needed to get to Puerto for some business so he flew out and then took the motorcycle all the way up there and back and then he'll fly back this evening--all in the same day! (It would normally be a two-day excursion.) He texted me that he made it safely but he'll be back in about 45 minutes so I'll get the details then.
It’s official
Wendy: It's great being back "home" in the mountains and having a wonderful husband to share things with now! As soon as we got here, Dwayne went to work right away on our hut and within a couple days he had a place for our bed (so we wouldn't have to put it up every morning and make it again every night).
He also put in new shelving to make our kitchen more organized and he got my first real oven in the mountains all set up! (I enjoy cooking a lot more these days!) He's also fixed my refrigerator and planted a garden and done a zillion other projects around the house.
I’m home!
Wendy: Well here I am in the land of plenty. I feel so selfish, but not too much! Eating and napping and reading, doing email, reading, and eating some more . . . that's what my days have been filled with! No patients or kids at my door at 6:00 a.m. No night meds . . . It's great! Everything is so clean and convenient and . . . tasty!
Home
I've been with my parents at their new house here at AIIAS for several days now. Michel is here too (she is teaching at AIIAS elementary now) so it's great having a friend here (more like the sister I never had). Everyone I see on campus tells me I've lost weight (which is a bad thing here), thus I have even more reason and excuse to eat more!