The Harvest Is Great!
The owner of this helicopter in Manila recently approved our offer.
"God is putting a desire in the hearts of these uneducated and primitive people to learn how to live a better life. We praise God for the helicopter that helps speed this work to remote areas, but more missionaries on the ground are needed."
Read these stories in our latest mission newsletter by clicking below:
http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=28aa60752ae03e1525be8fcba&id=ad843e94a9
Keys To The Treasury
Read all the answered prayers from 2016! click here: http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=28aa60752ae03e1525be8fcba&id=2092c6429
A Little Bit Of Honey
So great to hear Honey and Helen's stories of how their families' lives have changed since PAMAS missionaries stepped into their mountain village 3 years ago and introduced them to Jesus! (Just last year a missionary family was finally able to stay full time in their village of Karusuan (thanks to the helicopter which helps with logistics) and hold more consistent Bible studies and literacy school. Amazing what a few short months can do for a village when God takes over!
Read about it here in Sean and Pris' latest newsletter:
http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=aec8b0b36b887ccb50042c7e5&id=4647d07219
(Sean Knapp (with his wife Pris and 2 children) is the pilot and director for the PAMAS Palawan project)
Into All The World
New missionaries for Mindanao project; Church leaders fly to SULADS schools for first time, and more . . .
Read it here! (click here to see all pictures and full newsletter): http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=28aa60752ae03e1525be8fcba&id=e333f161bf
A Story of How God Used You
This is a special letter to say thank you so much for your gifts to this ministry! Since we started fasting and praying with our teams three days each month (for the past few months), we’ve seen a notable change! It seems our teams are growing spiritually and becoming more united, which helps us to serve better. Let me tell you a story of how God worked through you with your prayers and support to answer some specific requests in a recent time of united prayer.
Recently we were getting lower on funds for several months and yet the needs were continually growing bigger. We had upcoming insurance bills due for the aircraft, another shipment of fuel was needed, and a large bill to pay on aircraft parts. All of this was on top of the regular monthly needs and several church building projects. We were confident that God wanted to provide for His work, but maybe something was holding Him back. We decided to pray more specifically and more unitedly as a team during our next session of prayer and fasting. We felt more united than ever as we met together and prayed three times each day. We prayed specifically for an amount of donations to come in the next month which would take care of all the needs. The Holy Spirit also inspired us to pray more specifically for the revival of many neighbors and backslidden church members from our nearby church.
We anxiously awaited the next donation report with confidence and excitement in continuing God’s work with the funds He would provide. We were amazed, and yet not surprised when God answered above and beyond our expectations! First of all, the next donation report showed three times the average amount of donations that had been coming in! This took care of all the extra needs for the month (aircraft insurance, fuel etc) as well as the ongoing monthly needs and projects! On top of that, God provided a large donation that took care of the whole debt on the parts as well as some needed equipment for the new Mindanao airbase project! The rest (and the bulk) of the large donation will go towards an exciting, and big need that you can read about below! And the icing on the cake was that the very next Sabbath the church was full of the specific people that we had prayed for that hadn’t been to church in months and years! This experience has reminded us that no matter what else we do, we must take time for earnest, united prayer with our teams! There is power in praying with others! Thank you for being a part of this miracle with your prayers and support!
We’re excited to share with you another answer to prayer, which is, that with the recent large donation we now have $100,000 towards a helicopter for our northern Luzon project! This is only a third or so of the estimated cost, but it’s a great start and we know that God will provide the rest, just like he's done over and over again! We are looking at helicopters that are already here in the Philippines, and praying that God will lead us to the right one. Northern Luzon has huge areas of unreached people groups, and the efforts being done to reach them are slow going. We are working together with Philippine Frontier Missions as well as local pastors and medical missionaries to help spread the good news to these remote areas, and the helicopter will greatly speed these efforts! We hope to have more news for you as soon as God directs us to just the right helicopter for this work. See below for how you can help!
With all the great things that God is doing lately, Satan is also working extra hard to counteract it! We really value and need your prayers! If you’re following any of our missionaries’ newsletters, you might have read some of the issues we’ve been having with our remote schools and projects. It seems new government regulations are making it harder for us to legally have “informal” schools in the mountains. Along with that is the challenge of some of the corrupt government leaders who are trying to get the missionaries out so they can take the native people’s land without interference. It’s already happening in other parts of the island. If you could visit one of these mission schools you would be convinced, as we are, that God would NOT have any of these schools to be closed, or any of these children to be left without the opportunity to learn of Him and a better way of life! So please remember these schools and the missionaries in your prayers.
We hope that this email will somehow help you realize how important and significant your part is in this ministry and how grateful we are for all that you do!
May God richly bless you and keep you until He comes again!
First Baptism in Karusuan!
HOME!
After many months, the twin engine airplane is finally up and running again and we are back “home” again in north Luzon for a few short weeks! It’s really great to be home after 8 months! We really don’t mind traveling all the time and God has provided many “homes” for us, but it’s always nice to be alone in our home again once in awhile!
RAIN!
Much has happened since we last wrote a couple months ago. We thank you for the prayers for the rain! The drought is over and we are now in full blown rainy season! (however some pilots and workers are wondering if they would prefer to have the drought back!) The gardens are doing great and it’s so nice not to have to haul water anymore! We had to say a sad goodbye to our volunteer gardener, Violaine who returned to France recently, but we are so thankful for all her time and effort in helping us get these gardens off to a good start!
Violaine gardening with LIGHT students
MEDICAL MISSIONARY TRAINING!
Last we wrote we were in the middle of planning a one-month medical missionary LIGHT training specifically to help nurture the newly baptized youth of our area. There were several seemingly impossible challenges that we foresaw and we came very close to canceling it. But we all felt it surely had to be God’s will to have such a life-changing activity while the teachers were available, so we prayed for another 3 days. And through His guidance we decided to move forward in faith. And we are so glad we did! We had 6 dedicated, volunteer teachers and more than 25 students of all ages and backgrounds. One by one God took care of each challenge (students, finances, water, meeting place, approval from the Conference etc.)! He also worked in each student’s life, helping them to grow spiritually and to learn many practical skills, which made us feel that every risk and sacrifice was worth it all! Three of the students who were not already Adventists were even baptized by the end of the month! Thank you so much for your prayers and support that made this and other activities possible!
Students gave all the lectures at a Health Expo as part of their training
POWER OF PRAYER!
Our two mountain mission schools were facing some challenges with the local villagers these last couple months. But as the pressures were mounting on both missionary families in both schools about the same time, and they felt it might be best to just leave, we could only encourage them and pray for them, and for each situation that God would intervene. We praise God that through united prayer, amazing things have happened! One family had already packed their things and taken them to the lowlands and we wondered how we would ever find another more dedicated family to replace them, especially in time for the next school year to start, which was just weeks away. God worked on their hearts and as they went back to spend a few more weeks with the people, they were impressed to fast and pray about their decision. God used the local villagers to explain more to them the true feelings of their people and begged them to stay. We’re happy to say that the family has returned to stay for another school year with new strength and love for the people, and the school is back in session right on time with more students than ever!
BAPTISM!
The other family in the other school (in the newly opened village of Karusuan) decided to join the one-month LIGHT training at our base in the lowlands, since their lives were even being threatened in the mountains by one of the disgruntled villagers. During that time they were spiritually renewed and challenged to return and stay for another school year as well! Their adult students from the mountains continued to grow spiritually (one of them even attended the one-month training with them), and recently 6 of them were baptized! These are the first baptized members of the Karusuan mountain village! The new school year as already started with 30 plus children and many adults as well! What a testimony to what God can do when we unite with others and with Him in prayer! Please continue to pray for the missionaries in these remote areas and around the world that God would give them courage and strength to face the challenges and to continue pressing on to reach more souls for God’s Kingdom! Also pray for more brave souls to join the mission field!
FLIGHTS!
With 4 aircraft flying now, the work is growing! We’ve even started flying in a new area in the very southernmost island of Palawan-- the island of Mangsee that we wrote about in the last newsletter. We’ve made a couple medical evacuation flights for them so far. We continue to pray that we can be a blessing and a light to those people in spiritual darkness. We are taking the necessary precautions, but we do ask for your prayers for safety for our flights to these somewhat dangerous areas. We also ask for your prayers as our monthly expenses are increasing with the added aircraft and flights. Thank you so much for your support that keeps these important projects going!
This remote village has been re-opened to the work of missionaries, thanks to the helicopter
Planting In Drought
Dwayne:
It’s been a few months since we came to Palawan to work on some maintenance of the aircraft. It seems the pace here is always somewhat more intense with so much going on. My main purpose down here has been to get the twin back up and flying, but the progress has been slow for a few reasons. Our helicopter pilot, Daniel left for the USA because his Grandma passed away and after he got back a few weeks later he promptly broke his arm so I am still doing all the helicopter flying. He still manages to help out alot despite having only one arm. Sean and I have been working on getting our licenses in the new Cessna 206 and we finished that up a few weeks ago. I was needing to change a mount that was corroded on the horizontal stabilizer a few weeks ago on the 206, but after pulling the tail apart and looking more closely at it I decided to reskin the left side because it was badly beat up and had been covered up by a rubber rock guard. So this took me a week to finish fixing the tail and get it back together. It will probably take me another couple months to finish the twin with all the distractions, but we're enjoying seeing God at work here in Palawan.
Flying into the Palawan airbase (with no rain for a couple months)
Wendy:
We were so blessed with a visit from some of our videographer friends who came to help us capture this work that God is doing here in Palawan. They came all the way from central Philippines and Indonesia to volunteer their time and skills for God's glory. That was an answer to prayer, and also a busy time as they interviewed all the Bible workers and missionaries and videoed all the projects over a couple weeks. You may have seen some of their initial short videos already on facebook. We are so thankful for this video team and their hard work so that friends like you can see how God is blessing through your prayers and support.
The Hope Channel from Mindanao also come recently to shoot some episodes for their "In This Generation" TV series featuring PAMAS missionaries. We had a fun time with them as well and we pray the programs will be a blessing for many youth.
HOPE Channel, Mindanao pose for a goodbye shot with PAMAS team
Another big blessing came recently with our visitors from France: An experienced farmer and teacher, Daniel Garcia, and his capable student, Violaine Herisson (who has stayed behind in Palawan to help us keep things going). The agriculture seminars and practical demonstrations were held in both our Luzon and Palawan projects and many missionaries, neighbors and nearby church members also benefited from them. Many of us have become more serious about growing our own food now as we have learned new methods that give us hope that we can have more success in the future! With Violaine's help and lots of prayers (through the middle of a drought), we're already beginning to see progress in the gardens!
Violaine and Ruzzel having fun planting banana trees
The garden after 6 weeks, with nitrogen restoring plants.
Gardening has so many blessings and can teach us so much. Of course there is the physical exercise, which brings good health (like we always say around here, "another day at the PAMAS Gym!" The membership is free and it's lots of fun!). But there are so many spiritual lessons we can also gain from the garden. My recent favorite is from Jeremiah 17: 7,8 - especially as we so often face challenges and we get tempted to become anxious. Listen to this great lesson!
We pray for that kind of trust that keeps us from being anxious even during times of "drought" (which is a literal problem we have here right now with very real possibilities that our water will run out). With God's help we try to bear His fruits (of love, joy, patience, peace, self-control etc) and trust in Him even when things may seem impossible. The key is having a daily relationship with God which helps us grow deep roots that keep us connected with Him, the Water of Life.
Dwayne:
Speaking of drought and planting seeds, there are two small islands called Mangsee off the southern end of Palawan that are the last pieces of Philippine property before Malaysia. They have been requesting for awhile for us to visit and consider extending emergency medivac services to them in the helicopter. The main island is no more than a kilometer in diameter if it was a complete circle, yet around 9,000 people live on it- a very concentrated population for such a small island. Most of these people are fisherman or businessmen that trade stuff through Malaysia including drugs and who knows what other illegal products. They have no cell phone service and no medical facilities to speak of. The flight is almost an hour from our hangar. We see this as a possible open door to reach the people of this island who are in spiritual drought.
We finally decided to pay them a visit a few weeks ago. There is a missionary family on another island off the south end of Palawan that have been our contact people to verify and contact us for medical emergencies around many of the surrounding islands there. We often make a couple flights a week to those islands. We planned a trip to pick up the missionary there and continue on down to Mangsee to meet with the people there. It happened to be the missionary's wife's birthday the day before, on Sunday so Wendy and Daniel and Violaine and I left early and spent the afternoon and night with them. We visited a beautiful little, white sandy beach island nearby where we ate lunch and swam and snorkeled. It hadn’t rained for 2 months but we laughed that God finally answered our prayers and sent us some that day. We were all set up with our tents to spend the night on the island but finally decided it might be a bit too soggy so we went back to the main island to sleep. It was still a nice but brief getaway.
The next morning we flew to Mangsee and sat down with the leaders of the island and laid out what their responsibilities would be if we start doing medivac flights down there. They seemed very open. They need a lot of health education and this, along with the helicopter support could be a good opportunity to plant seeds of hope and show them a better Way. Please pray for a missionary family that will be willing to go and help them. The population is primarily Muslim and has five mosques on it and there is a small group of professed Christians as well.
Dwayne speaking to the people of Mangsee
Wendy:
You can see why we enjoy being here in Palawan even though we do miss "home" (in Luzon) after being away for so many months at a time. There's so much going on, and though it has it's challenges, it's great to see and be a part of the progress here. We are blessed with such a great team of praying missionaries with varying skills, cultures, and backgrounds and this helps us to accomplish a lot all at once. With multiple church building projects, a new school, Bible and medical work, and flights going on, we can only praise God for what He is doing. And yet, there is so much more to do. As we've been planting (by faith) in the midst of another drought, we're often reminded to pray for rain-- not only physical, but spiritual. There are many areas still left to be reached and more Holy Spirit power is needed for the work to be truly effective. We ask for your prayers for more missionaries and for the outpouring of God's Spirit on His work. Thank you so much for your faithful support for this ministry. You might also like to see the "Urgent Needs" below and help us pray for God's provisions for the growing needs!
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends it's roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; But it's leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit." Jeremiah 17:7,8
Urgent:
--Funds for one-month LIGHT (medical missionary) training this May in Palawan (sponsorships for students, teachers fares and food, etc)-- ($2,000)
--Fuel for deployment of SULADS missionaries this May with the Helicopter (in Mindanao) ($1,000)
--Funds for restoration of helicopter for East Timor ($35,000)
--Fuel for operating aircraft ($3,000/ month)Continued:
--Wellness Center for Palawan
--Helicopters for Luzon and Mindanao
--Sharing tracts and Hymnals (Ilocano and Tagalog)
--Church/School buildings for Karusuan ($1,000)--Completed, Thank you!
Volunteers Needed:
--Pilots
--Mechanics
--Accountant
--Medical Missionaries
--Teachers
Prayer Requests/Praises:
--One-Month LIGHT training this May (Students, Funds, Rain/Water, Logistics etc.)
--Guidance and Holy Spirit's work in Karusuan and Kabulnukan (unity among village leaders, strength and wisdom for missionaries)
--Wellness Center for Palawan
--God's work to continue forward without delay for lack of funds or any reason
--Provisions for helicopters for Mindanao and North Luzon
--Missionaries needed
Walk By Faith
The amazing thing about a faith ministry is that you're stepping into the Red Sea every month. We have been learning to walk by faith and not by sight. Each month is a new adventure and faith building experience. Though the expenses continue to grow, with fuel and maintenance costs, more missionaries and church plants, somehow His work keeps moving forward. Despite the apparent challenges, we continue to pray for more, as we see the needs of His work, and God has not failed.
The last email we sent was right before Christmas from Montana. We had a nice relaxing couple weeks with my family before returning to the Philippines on the 5th of January. I had mentioned in the email that we had made an offer on a Philippine registered 1973 Cessna 206F for $85,000 and they had accepted that offer. When I got word that they accepted the offer we had only $14,000 in an airplane fund. Within a couple days of our last newsletter that amount had come up to $66,000. This was a big answer to prayer. I told the owner that I wanted to do a more detailed inspection when I returned and then we could work out the payment options.
I spent a day doing a much more thorough inspection and everything seemed to be fine so I asked them to write up a deed of sale and give me their bank account information so I could work on getting the funds transferred. We were still $20,000 short but I thought I would just work on an agreement to pay the rest later as God provided. Right before going to the office the next week to work out the final details, I checked my email and the GMI accountant had sent me an email saying $20,000 had come in the last 2 days of December and that gave us just what was needed. We didn't know how God would provide for the other expenses we had for the month, but we trusted God and proceeded to complete the payment and deed of sale. As an added bonus, the exchange rate went up after we initiated the funds transfer, and as a result we overpaid them by about $700 which they refunded to us. We serve an amazing God.
Another answered prayer came the day I was inspecting the Cessna 206 and I began thinking about how we needed another pilot. I had been in communication with Jason, a young pilot from Papua New Guinea that was in the Philippines learning to fly. He had expressed to me his desire to be a mission pilot about 6 month ago, but I had not heard from him since. I was thinking I should email him and see what he was doing. When I got back home that evening I found an email from Jason saying he had finished his flight training and wanted to work with us. God's timing is perfect, Jason went to Palawan a couple weeks ago and has been flying and working with Sean, and it is a big blessing to have his help.
I have been completing all the licensing requirements for this new airplane and renewing paperwork on the R44 helicopter which has taken a lot longer than we had expected. But we are finally ready to fly the new plane to Palawan this week and start using it for God's work. We praise Him for all these answered prayers.
"In the up-building of His work, the Lord does not always make everything plain before His servants. He sometimes tries the confidence of His people by having them move forward in faith. Often He brings them into strait and trying places, bidding them go forward when their feet seem to be touching the waters of the Red Sea. It is at such times, when the prayers of His servants ascend to Him in earnest faith, that He opens the way before them, and brings them out into a large place." Christian Service p. 277
New Mission Planes
Dwayne Harris
We arrived in Loma Linda 2 weeks ago and I attended the Robinson Helicopter maintenance course in Torrance while Wendy stayed with her brother and family in Loma Linda. We flew up to Montana a couple days ago and will be here for Christmas with my family. Its' nice to be home.
I just received an email this morning regarding a Cessna 206 that has recently come up for sale in the Philippines. We have been praying for a bigger airplane to use in Palawan for over a year and it seems this may be God's answer. We have been operating the Cessna 172M in Palawan for almost 4 years and it has worked well but needs are increasing and upgrading to a Cessna 206 gives us two more seats, 700 lbs more carrying capacity and room enough for a stretcher. I inspected the airplane briefly before returning to the U.S. a couple weeks ago. We prayed about it and made an offer for 4 million pesos which is about $85,000. It was a low offer for a Cessna U206F even in the U.S. but in the email this morning they accepted it. This is very encouraging to us and as God continues to open doors we feel we should pursue it. Having this new airplane would also allow us to take the Cessna 172 to our airbase in Luzon and as God provides another pilot, we would be free to focus more on the Mindanao airbase and eventually base the Twin Commanche there. We have an airplane fund with about $13,000 in it already. Please join us in prayer for God to provide the rest of the funds to be able to purchase this airplane.
Proposed Cessna 206 for Palawan
This last month has been another eventful one. We were supposed to go to Palawan, but when we were coming through Manila during the SSD Division year end meetings I saw Gary Roberts, a fellow missionary pilot and my plans changed. Gary has taken over the Adventist Aviation mission program in Papua Indonesia after the accident that took his dad's life. Gary was heading soon to Austria to pick up an airplane that they had just purchased and was going to fly it back to Indonesia for their mission work. He was planning on flying alone because no other pilots he knew had time to go with him. The Pilatus PC6 that they purchased is an amazing bush plane but it is slow and unstable and takes full attention of the pilot when in turbulence and bad weather which does not leave much time to navigate if rerouting is necessary. Flying half way around the world makes it likely bad weather would be encountered at some point.
I prayed earnestly that God would show me if I should volunteer to go with him. I had three people tell me that next day that I should go help him so I took that as God's answer. I arranged to meet Gary at the airport in Austria on the 18th where the plane was. I found and purchased some cheap tickets from Manila to Dubai then on to Austria. Wendy went as planned to Palawan and helped with a one month evangelism effort our missionaries were holding.
The week my flight left there was an APEC summit in Manila and flights were being canceled right and left because of security reasons the government said. I kept looking at the flight schedules and my flight was one of the few that was not cancelled. On the day of my flight I borrowed my in-laws car and headed into the airport 5 hours before the flight with my friend Andrew who was going to drive the car back. We got half way to Manila and the government had shut half the expressway down and closed the end of it so all traffic slowed to a crawl. 3 ½ hours later we reached the exit that all cars had to take and I decided there was no way I would make my flight at this rate. I told Andrew I would walk the rest of the way. I got out of the car, grabbed my backpack, and crossed over 4 lanes of oncoming traffic and climbed over the fence. I was able to get a taxi on the frontage road that took me the rest of the way to the airport. We departed Manila on time but half way to Dubai a lady had a bad stroke and we had to divert to Mumbia, India. Because of the requirements for refueling an aircraft in India it was 5 hours later before we took off again. By the time we arrived in Dubai my connecting flight to Vienna had just left. The airline would not re-book the flight so I contacted Gary and he suggested I meet him in Greece near Athens as he had an appointment the next day in Slovenia and Greece would be his next stop. I searched and found that the cheapest tickets to Athens was through Doha to Istanbul, Turkey so I purchased the tickets and flew to Doha that evening. I spent the night in the airport and left the next morning for Turkey. I spent that afternoon and night in Istanbul and then flew to Athens on Friday morning. I spent the weekend in Athens at a cheap hotel near the Acropolis and was able to attend an English speaking international SDA church. Half were Filipinos so I felt right at home.
There was another series of obstacles that came up but God worked things out and Gary arrived in Athens Sunday afternoon. The wind was blowing so hard he decided it was best to stay the night in Athens and take off early the next morning. We finally took off at sunrise Monday morning and had a beautiful day of flying over the Mediterranean and across Egypt. 8 ½ hours later we landed in a small resort town along the red sea where we fueled up and spent the night at a beach side hotel where we took a swim before going to bed. We took off before sunrise Tuesday morning for the flight across Saudi Arabia- the longest leg of the trip. We started running into bad weather by mid morning and were picking up ice at 15,000 ft. We finally had to descend to 9,000 to stay out of the icing conditions and we requested to be routed to the south where the weather was better. After several hours of getting tossed around by turbulence we got into some better weather. We landed in Abu Dhabi an hour after dark after 11 hours of flying.
I spent the rest of the week staying with the Adventist pastor in Abu Dhabi trying to get a visa for India (which was our next stop) while Gary flew over to Manado for some meetings. I had time to visit the Grand Mosque on Friday. It has some incredible detail in its architecture and is a most impressive building. Unfortunately I was not able to get the visa in that short amount of time and I had to leave Gary in Abu Dhabi. Gary continued the rest of the way by himself and God blessed him with good weather most of the rest of the way. He has arrived safely now with the airplane in Papua.
Gary making flight plans for the next leg of the journey
One thing struck me after briefly visiting the countries around the Mediterranean and middle east. There are billions of people out there without the hope we have in Christ. Many are chasing after worldly pleasures. Others are seeking salvation through their own works and merits, through rounds of meaningless rituals. God has called us to take the Gospel to the world to every nation, tribe, tongue and people so they can have the sure hope we have in Christ. This is our purpose on this Earth and all of us our called to play a part.
During this Christmas season let us remember the sacrifice that Jesus made in coming to earth that we might have a sure hope of salvation in him. The sacrifice He made on our behalf reminds me that any sacrifices that we may make are very small and insignificant in terms of eternity.
The Power of Prayer and Fasting
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