This email contains a lengthy discussion regarding the challenges of two growing organizations doing similar work in the same location. It is becoming increasingly obvious that a move is going to be necessary.  We are praying for wisdom and resources to be able to make that move and spread the expanding services around the country more evenly.  I believe this has God's handwriting all over it and we are excited to see what He has in mind.  I think it will unfold to us very soon. ... Jack

Glossary of terms and abbreviations:

AAS - Adventist Aviation Services
DD - District Director
Omaura - Bible College in the Highlands
ADRA - Adventist Development and Relief Agency
MSA - Mission Support Aviation  - That is us!
AOC - Air Operators Certificate - needed for commercial operations
CAA - Civil Aeronautics Administration
MAF - Mission Aviation Fellowship

November 11, 2006

Hi Jack,
Yea time does fly. But I am enjoying immensely seeing some fruit coming from
the work that has been in progress since my arrival and even before that. God
is blessing in so many ways. It is a privilege to be here as a co worker with
Him.

Last Sabbath we went up into the mountains the other side of Goroka to a
baptism. Steven one of the missionaries we have been sponsoring for a couple
of years now had 6 people there ready to be baptized and a church to
dedicate. The 6 people come from the area where the crazed man swung his bush
knife 3 times through the elder (Jon) who was accompanying Steven down the
road to where the crusade was being held. No injury was sustained by Jon. This
made a major impact on the people there.

There are several others in that area who are wanting to attend church but
cannot walk the distance to the current one. There is ground available for a
new church closer to where Leo tried to kill Jon. I believe as soon as we can
get a church constructed, these folk will begin attending and growing in
Christ.

I took 3 of the nurses down to Boikoa and Wia Wia this last week to do an
immunization round not knowing how I was going to be able to bring them out
again without it costing a large amount of money. They want to come out
tomorrow morning as there is a committee meeting for the LMHS group after
lunch that day. Just before I left work on Friday, the phone rang and a guy
has a full paying load to go down that side Sunday morning early. That was an
answer to prayer. I can conserve the other funds the Lord is granting me for
other important tasks. This last week I had the opportunity to take several
teams out to immunize the kids in Chimbu province. Also we had large supply
packages of medicines for the remote clinics there. On the way around I had
the chance to pick up a number of urgent medical cases. One guy had a spear
in his chest, one had been cut with a bush knife on his arm right down to the
bone. I picked up another elderly woman who was either in liver failure or
heart failure and got her to the hospital.

Later in the week I picked up a baby at Guwasa that was so sick. AAS plane
has been out of action all week with routine maintenance. If we had not been
here with this hired aircraft, that baby would definitely not have lived. I
praise God for the privilege of being able to serve in this way. It is so
rewarding. I found another little girl Thursday who was burning up with
fever. The medical person in that village was away. So we took her back with
us for medical help here in Goroka. I have done one or 2 other medevacs too
this week. I just praise God for being allowed to do this.

We finally got the Kapi radio going this week. Greg went down there twice and
now it is all going and Toni the missionary we are supporting there is able to
talk to the district director and the nurse that is going there later will
have a link to call us for medical emergencies. Toni was telling me that he
now has 8 in the baptismal class and there are now 42 attending church at the
Kapi church. There are 3 other hand churches in the area now. Most are being
led by laymen we are supporting. Pr Tom who is the DD is going to go over
there at the end of this month to run a week of meetings. The laymen will
take meetings during the day and Pr. Tom will have his projector and generator
and run the night campaign for the people in the area. I am just so thrilled
to be a part of this and be able to transport the pastor and his gear and
support Toni and the other guys as much as I can. I have bought a container
up to get some Kerosene for him for the meetings. I got him a loud haler when
I was down in Aus last. And have just bought a box of batteries for it.
These are all little things but it gives an example of what kind of support I
have in mind to help these guys facilitate their missionary work. It is just
so thrilling to be involved and playing the background role I do.

I told Pr. Tom that next year if God allows me to stay around here, He can
plan all the nurture and evangelism in his district he wants and not to worry
about the cost of transporting men and materials to where he needs them. I
will take care of it. I mentioned to him that a couple of the outlying areas
in his district really wanted to see more of him. He is taking me up on my
offer and planning revival meetings in one of those areas before the end of
the year. This is so much what I wanted to do and I am so grateful to God for
the privilege. I know Roger would be glad to do this kind of work if he only
had the time. He admits he hasn’t and it would not get done if it was left to
AAS to do it. They have so many other important things to do for the church
and so many other energy consuming challenges that they face.

When I went in to Ande airstrip yesterday for a commercial back load to get
myself home after delivering passengers near by, I asked about the health of
the villagers. The spokesman there told me that 50% of the kids there died.
No one comes in there to immunize them. The villagers have built a clinic but
no one has come to run it. I have a burden for these people and will ask Nina
at the committee meeting on Sunday if there is any way we can get a nurse down
there and stem the tide of death and suffering.

Yes I need your prayers regarding the future. AAS is doing what it needs to
for its own mission and to consolidate its own future. My work is not their
top priority and neither should we expect it to be really. We will need to
depend on the Lord to open the way for us to continue and for the service to
grow to a point where it can be of benefit to a wider area in PNG. I have no
doubt that God is leading and blessing. Just why we have come up against
these challenges right now I am not clear on. But I am glad we have received
several months fore warning. God has been gracious to us and we need to plan
now, how we can move forward to a point where we can provide nurturing locally
focused services to remote area missionaries all over PNG and not be dependent
on others whose priorities must necessarily be different to ours.

While I am happy to combine resources with AAS in order to spread the
overheads and admin costs between us, I recognize that with how Roger has
changed the mandate the church gave him, I could be seen to be in direct
competition to him on the commercial work front. I am already sensing these
vibes as the coffee season winds down and work is a little less plentiful.

I am wrestling with the thought that if I leave here soon and move on, what
will become of the work that is just getting started around here. Who will
love it and pray for it and spend their best energies nurturing it and the lay
people who are at the forefront of the battle? If I move not too far away, I
can get down some times which will help but not be anywhere near as good as
circulating around there everyday and keeping my finger on the pulse of
things. But If I stick around it is clear to me that work will rapidly be
absorbed by the capacity Roger is striving for and the thought of our being in
competition will come across more strongly. In some ways I feel that if he
wants to really blitz the area around here, it would be best for me to quietly
move out of the way and go somewhere where there is a need not being filled.
Roger’s reticence to allow that to be done under AAS banner is a flag that
helps me recognize that we may have to make other arrangements to be able to
continue to obey the calling of God and move the work forward. It is not a
pleasant thought to me. The management of an organization holding an air
operators certificate up here is quite involved. It would take a lot of my
time away from the missionary dreams I have –as it does for Roger. The
administration side is a significant cost. We would struggle with all this at
our current size and need to build the organization bigger to spread the
overheads more. This is not possible here in Goroka with AAS intent on
supporting rapid organizational growth from the work available around here.

It seems that there are few choices available other than making a start on the
long process of obtaining an AOC and moving forward in co-operation with AAS
but separate from them. Then we would be able to go where we seek the Lord
calling us and the opportunities for service beckoning.

As far as the business side is going, God is blessing in this area too. It
was pretty scary for the first month or two. But there is some cash in the
bank now and Cash flows are positive most of the time. To go forward I
believe I need another pilot. If he were a licensed engineer as well that
would be wonderful. You cannot have an AOC in a one man organization. The
CE and the quality manager need to be different people. You can subcontract
the QM role however. I could do that and subcontract maintenance as well if I
got really desperate. The other thing I need is a turbo charged aircraft.
Most of the know work available is in areas where a turbo would be needed.
Simon is very positive about trying to help me through this difficult time. He
is investigating ways of turbo / supercharging the aircraft we have and the
possibility of selling this aircraft and buying another. He tells me that
MAF will be selling off some of their turbo 206s up here soon. He is amenable
to the idea of buying one for us to use in addition to AEE the current one.
He needs a few more months to be able to finance that though. It would be
good for us to buy one ourselves if it were in very good condition. The
difficulty there is we don’t have an engineer. Simon can do his own
maintenance. If the aircraft was registered in PNG it would be a bit more
involved. I think he has enough contacts up here to make that work though.
Roger is keen to expand the maintenance business here at Goroka and has
already offered the facilities to an outside person to do work here. We may
be able to help support AAS by subcontracting maintenance to them. We would
need to have our own staff though or we would for ever be at the back of the
queue. Our engineer could do work under their supervision as an AOC holder. In
time we could get our own shop. There is so much involved in doing that.
Seems a very big task for an organization our size. Ultimately we would have
to do that though as the organization grows. I think there is enough money in
the account now to be able to fund the AOC development process and get a pilot
engineer out to help me. It would be tight supporting this guy and myself
with this one aircraft especially with what it can carry without a turbo and
with AAS increasing its capacity thus creating a diminishing market share
available to us for supporting his wages. It seems to me that a second
aircraft and a second pilot should all synchronize with moving to a new
location where there is a need we can fill without treading on AAS toes and
where we can put roots down and do what God has laid on our hearts.

Anyways, there’s lots to pray about. I hope one day to be able to afford to
have a guy that comes as a secretary to the CE role and does not have to fly,
but can release me from this burden and can keep all the many records and
activities required up to date.

2 planes should support 3 people quite well and allow for expansion of the
service.

I am praying that God will reveal where He wants us to go and how we should
proceed there.

God bless
Regards
Trevor

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