Hi Everyone,
Let me give you an update on how things are going here. We have been swamped with flights—getting medical personal flown into villages and patients needing hospital care out. I've been so busy that until a couple days ago I'd not been into the nearby town of Santa Elena since we returned to Venezuela in July!
I'm happy to report that our airplane is doing great, and I'm so thankful to be flying a more powerful plane. With the new wing tip extensions on I am able to carry an additional 150 pounds of weight and I'm able to fly slower. This means I can land slower and in a shorter distance. For some months we've been working on getting the needed paper work in order to have these put on the plane, and at last it has happened! The extensions make a big difference.
Two days ago I dropped an old man off at his home village. I had flown him out weeks before, a very sick man. I wasn't sure he would live, so I was very happy to be taking him home. After we landed and climbed out to greet his friends he handed me a nice woven pouch with a bow and some arrows in it. He had called ahead by radio and requested someone make it for me. With tears in his eyes and a choked voice he told me, "Thank you, thank you."
This morning I went into two of the shortest strips here. Two teenage boys were very ill with malaria—one of them had two kinds at the same time. The airplane makes the difference between life and death for so many people. It is their only hope for help.
The second strip I'd not been to for some time, and I was concerned that it would be grown up in grass and in bad shape. However, I was delighted to find it looked good and the grass was cut. I thanked the villagers for having the strip in such good condition. They told me, "We keep it up just for you, so when we need help it will be ready for you to land.
Presently we are facing not only the airplane maintenance cost and fuel bill, but the $3500 annual insurance on the plane. It comes due end of this month. We are trusting God to send the needed funds in time so we won't have to stop flying.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
Bob & Neiba