We’re back! and right here: -4.087145,138.939317

So, we’re back in Papua and assigned to Wamena and have been busy:
1. bein’ sick (3 out of 5 of us)
2. unpacking/sorting (combining my single guy stuff w/ household of Beth and girls..their stuff is nicer!)
3. stretching dormant Indonesian language muscles
4. learning again how to live in the Third World (“groceries”, preptime, cleanliness)
5. driving again on the lefthand side.. w/in INCHES of oncoming traffic!!
6. night happens promptly at 6pm, day happens promptly at 550am
7. warmup flights, airwork practice and 2 days of checkrides (for Kevin)
8. homeschool has started for Natalie and Victoria, HIS here in Wamena for Jasmine
9. cleaning all clothes, linens, furniture, kitchenwares stored for over a year in tropical climes
10.getting car running (still, not), bike tires pumped up (2 out of 5 so far), motorcycle (running)…and getting Judah and Tirzah’s tickets ordered for Christmas visit!!

So, we’re getting back in our stride. Beth’s busily making our house on the MAF base into a home and it’s gorgeous and comfortable. The link above is our houses’ lat/long on google.com/maps if you want to see where we’ve gone to. It’s nice and we’ve really enjoyed the welcome from our MAF team here in Wamena as well as the larger Wamena community (Swiss, Dani, Yali, our street food lady, Dutch friends, MAF employees, etc). Enjoying the multicultural fellowship and being blended back into God’s Grand Design to serve Wamena and Papua through our giftings. All for now, we’ll post again soon (I see I never did finish the story of Beth and I, lol)

 

Christmas 2010 Prayer Letter (yep, still playing catch-up)

Dear Praying Friends and Co-Laborers in His Kingdom,
We are exceptionally grateful this year for His gifts toward us this furlough. The wedding was beautiful, the honeymoon as well. We are settling in as a family here in Manheim, while eagerly looking forward to a Christmas Season full of family, fellowship and all the fun things that this holiday brings in the US. Sure, the cold weather is also part of the deal, but we’re coping with oil heating, workouts and plenty of calories as well. Here in Lancaster County, we’re surrounded by Beth’s family and plenty of fellowship as well. The girls are all busy wrapping up this semester and are all doing well in their classes and on the Honor Roll — we are praising God for the Christian schools they can attend while we’re here.
In January, Beth and I will attend the MAF candidacy class in Nampa, ID—applying now as a family at a slightly increased support level and praying to be sent back to Papua to serve. We would really appreciate your prayers as we seek His leading and provision as a family. We all just want to be used by Him. May His Peace be in your hearts and homes as you celebrate the coming of the King in the form of a child. “…a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the King.” (Lk 2:11) Good News for all men! What a high privilege to be called His messengers and deliver this Gift.
Shalom from all of us,
Kevin and Beth
(for Victoria, Natalie, Tirzah, Judah and Jasmine, as well)

 

The Wedding, or what led up to it anyway, pt. 2

Our friendship deepened and grew into a meaningful, long-distance courtship (over the phone mostly). I would occasionally find a chance to stop in Wamena midday while out flying and she would sometimes come to the hangar and bring a lunch. We would talk and I wished I could do that more frequently. I was able to do a few of my airplane inspections in our hangar there in Wamena – that allowed me to spend a few days in a row in lovely, cool Wamena (a nice break from the hangar heat in coastal Sentani) as well as visiting Beth (she’s a fanTAStic cook and homemaker) and getting to know her girls as well. As we wondered and prayed over our future, I prayed. A LOT!! My heart wanted to find a partner to do ministry with and I have always wanted to be a husband and a father, but was not sure where she would come from after all these years – so, my decision to just keep serving in Papua as best I could.

As we discussed our futures and more importantly, asked God to direct us, we saw Him “bending” our paths toward each other. I don’t know any better way to describe it, but HE did lead each of us through our questions, doubts, fears, hopes and give us direct and specific Blessing on our relationship.

So, to cut to the chase, I asked her to marry me one night in early May 2010 just before I was to return to the US for my furlough. She said “yes” – actually, she asked “does this mean we’re engaged now?” and so, technically, I said “yes”. She extended her term another 7 weeks to finish a house she was building (another story of God’s provision) in Wamena. When she came home in late July, I had already met her parents and some siblings in Manheim, PA and we were ready to plan the next step of our lives – specifically, a wedding!

 

The Wedding, or what led up to it anyway

The wedding was beautiful – yep, that’s right, I said “Wedding”! and it was mine by the way… I think I should explain that the courtship, the writing, the meeting, the prayers, the emails, the phone calls… all the way back to the first introduction – all of it takes a lot of explaining. Those of you who know me, know I can be a bit verbose.. I like to tell stories and for some reason, this one is hard to tell in “short form”. So, perhaps what I’ll do is tell it in installments – make it a little more “bite-size”-readable, if there is such a thing:
So, the beginning: I was first introduced to Beth by Dave, her husband. He was a friend of mine flying in Papua w/ another mission organization and the lived in Wamena. I’d heard of the “Clapper family” and I knew Dave from his periodic shopping trips to Sentani. Where I’d usually run into him at a local restaurant or in one of the local stores buying bulk items (canned goods, rice, sugar, tp, etc.) to haul back home to Wamena for their home. One night at Manna House (restaurant in Sentani) I met him and his family – this was probably about 2 years before his accident. I know I’ve mentioned his accident in a blog entry back in 2008 , but didn’t realize how personally that prayer request for his family would impact my life!!
Beth and the children went back to the U.S. for several memorial services after his accident, but returned in October of 2008 to work in Wamena as a English language coach and mentor under a new Visa from the GIDI church. I met her the first weekend they were back coming through Sentani and shared w/ her my mom’s experience of pressing on in her ministry with MAF by coming back to Papua (then called Irian Jaya) after my own dad’s fatal accident in 1979. Specifically, I encouraged her to follow God’s calling and don’t let anyone tell her as a widow that she shouldn’t or couldn’t work there. I know I felt an eagerness to see her continuing to serve Him and wanted to assure her that she AND her children would see God take care of them and be “Father to the fatherless” as He promises. I know because I have seen how He has taken care of my brother and I all these years.
When I ran into Beth and two friends having dinner at Manna house 4 months later, I asked how she was doing and they invited me to sit and eat my ‘take-out’ with them (despite my sweaty, been-building-my-kayak appearance) and the next morning I offered to drive them to the airport for their return flight to Wamena. That evening I got a nice note from Beth thanking me for helping her w/ her bags/boxes at the airport and we became Facebook friends. That led to exchanging occasional emails and notes, then an sms or two. As we got to know each other, I was intrigued and challenged by her – I also remember asking if anyone was praying with her regularly and asked if I could pray before we got off the phone that night. She let me and thanked me and that habit of my praying over her and the family has endured to this day. More in the next installment.

 

These I believe

Found some notes from early ’94 where I was in writing up my own “bottomline” declaration of faith. Here it is :
1. God is God and therefore in charge.
2. I’m forgiven for my failings and heaven-bound.
3. God has called me to live a Godly life as a witness for Him.
4. Church and a church family are key to continual growth.
I remember now I was writing up a collection of things I felt the Lord was teaching me. This predates my call to missions and as such was more interesting to find how my perspective now almost 16 years later has grown/developed. I know others have written more lengthy declarations of their beliefs, creeds, etc. – I just thought I’d share a fun find-from-the-past.

 

Christmas in the jungle ’09

Merry Christmas from green, tropical, darkened “midnight clear,” Just struck me the other day that those shepherds mentioned above in Luke were the first missionaries,” going out to spread the Good News that a Savior is born and they had seen HIM!! Two thousand+ years later and the same Good News go out in a different part of the world in several different languages throughout my flying day. We had a fast and heavy start to the Christmas season flying here in Papua and while the numbers are up (flight-time, passenger load, “frequent flyer miles”), I’m enjoying it. Christ came for these tribes and He has given them a real joy at this time of the year
– they LOVE to celebrate Christmas with all kinds of acara” – programs and feasts. My plane gets filled on the way interior with home-bound students, and Bible school students, and tons of rice for the celebrations; then the outbound leg usually has a few pigs transported to market, and for others to feast on. Live pig “passengers”
at the beginning of this week, and a whole load of already-roasted pig parts yesterday – made the plane smell like a primitive, tribal barbeque: yumm, sabroso, oi-shii; enak!!

Little girl gnawing on a bone

 

Languages and… well, it’s been a while since I posted, eh?

Well, for sure you’re wondering where I’ve gotten to and I am sorry my blogging has taken a back seat to a lot of other activities in the past almost 6 months (that blog w/ a 10 things list is forthcoming, or maybe 5ith coming…) I figured first I’d jump back in w/ a blog entry, then summarize the past for you in a later entry (if you’re still tuned in)…[some of you will recognize classic procrastination when you see it)

So, the language thing..I was out flying toward the mountains the other day, enjoying some beautiful wx and my fine comfy Cessna front row seat behind Continental’s finest engine and I got to thinking about the 4 different languages I’d just been greeted in on the HF radio (4 different interior mission posts checking in to tell me their wx or make requests). So, I came up w/ quite a list and here it is… (all spelled phonetically according to how I learned them and the ones in all caps are all Papuan language groups in some of the areas I fly)
25 LANGUAGES I USE TO GREET IN:
1. Selamat
2. NAYAK
3. Ah-nyo-ha-sayo
4. AH-CHE-MO
5. MU-TEH-JO
6. O-hayo-gozai-mous
7. TEH-JO
8. FOI MOI
9. BOO-BEAR-BA
10. Hola
11. WAH-LAY
12. AH-SBEY
13. SENYE-KOTO
14. BAKA-REE-DO
15. OH-SAI-EEGO
16. AH-MA-NO
17. AH-MAH-KA-NAY
18. KA-ONAK
19. WA
20. NAREH
21. KUSI-PAPU
22. TELE-VBE
23. YEP-MOOM
24. FBU-RU-KA-NE
25. ABBA, ABBA
26. PE-ROPE
So, anyhoo- that’s a longer list than I thought it’d be. And sorta interesting that 22 of them are tribal languages from here in Papua. Mind you, except for #22 and #23 (and #1, which I’m fluent in), I pretty much only know the greeting in those languages – but they sure enjoy knowing “their” pilot greets them in their language when I check in w/ them on the radio or land and get out of the plane there. oh, and of course I forgot “hello” for most of the english-speaking world… and “Dude!” which is for my Cali-speaking friends – as in “dude, I’ve missed you guys” – am SO TOTALLY looking forward to a furlough next year to see you all!

 

Welcome to Okbap – you’ll be here a while

Yep, launched early and w/ a full schedule for Okbap (OKB) and though the weather looked threatening, I was able to get there “under this,…over that… and around.. OH, there it is!” Landed expecting a quick turnaround and the weather to improve.  And as I turned the plane around at the top and idled to cool the engine and turbo down, I watched the fog/mist roll over a ridge to the north of us…3 minutes later, I’m out the plane and the mist is coming toward the bottom of the strip.  5 minutes after I landed, it’s closed the strip completely… so fast and so completely, I can see only as far as the 200m markers from the top.  Rest of the valley and HUGE mountains are completely gone!  oh well, get the plane unloaded, use the ‘facilities’… get ready to leave, it’ll clear.  Nope, still socked in hard.  So I figured it was a good time to walk the strip and inspect it – since the agent and others were not interested in that easy hike downhill and HARD climb back to the top, I went alone – well I had my iPod for company.

Seemed like a good time for some worship music and I’m accompanied down the strip w/ some updated versions of some old hymns and singing along, actually enjoying the forced “slow-down” to my morning.  Since there’s no way I can influence the weather by stewing at the delay, might as well check a strip and enjoy the worship!  Checked midfield and now I couldnt’ see the top of the strip (plane, crowd, all of it gone) and couldn’t see the bottom either – just me, on a strip on a mountain a mile above sea level, isolated! Wow God, this is really cool! (well for a few minutes anyway, I don’t want to LIVE in isolation or singleness)  But it was a very powerful walk downhill, singing and enjoying the hushed beauty of being literally in the clouds w/ some great music (and yes, I was inspecting the strip and making mental notes along the way!)

Got to the bottom and was ready to start up, there were people on the trail headed to the village wondering where did “that” come from… imagine this bald, pilot guy appears out of the mist singing in a strange language w/ plugs in his ears, smiles, waves and turns back to hike back up the strip into the mist again!  Ha! Probably didn’t expect that, did they?  imagine:  “Shouldn’t “he” be in the airplane?  Did he lose the plane and is looking for it?  Why’s he down here alone? What’s w/ the singing?” head-shaking and wonderment, no doubt in my wake…

Heading up the hill, I noticed the little “root beer plants” (prob sasparilla, I don’t know – botany, not my bag, actually) – some strips I walk out here have them growing as weeds on them, pull it up and sniff the roots – ummmmm, root beer!! and quite refreshing too!  And thankful the beat of the songs gives me a rhythm to walk in and this turns into exercise – which i’ve been doing more of lately, so it feels pretty good!  “Kingdom of Love” by Scott Wesley Brown came on and that’s quite the motivating song (always envision the 80s MAF video that went with it) – so I noticed one of the agent guys was pacing me to the side… as I approached the last 200m (remember this is 21% slope at the top!!!) and so I challenged him to a race to the top.  Me and my iPod and he w/ his bare feet.  W/ the entire village cheering and whooping in excitement to see a race, he matched me easily and w/o even breathing hard…. no matter how hard I pushed.  Finally  as I was completely winded and unable to go on, I stopped (remember we’re over 6,000 feet above sea level at the top!) and he laughed and gently chided me “You should not run like that, Mr. Pilot.  You are not fast.  I can do it, b/c I live up here.”   When I went to pat him on the back and congratulate him, he ducked and swatted at me!   Ah, it was such a fun moment!!  We’re at the plane, sweaty laughing, and breathing hard in the chill mountain clouds we’re still engulfed in. I mean, who says that being a missionary pilot has to be all seriousness and technical stuff?  That Petrus is the man!, upon “rocks” like that, the church is being built in there where I fly the little plane each day.

Since I was still waiting on weather, they wanted me to look at and repair a mower that had the wrong part installed, so I got out the aircraft toolkit and took the wrong part off (fixed also 2 incorrect assemblies) and loaded that part in the pod to take to Sentani to replace.  Of course even this half hour was full of murmuring and a huge crowd of witnesses engulfed me the entire time to watch and exclaim over all the shiny tools and stuff that I was using to work.

After over 2 hrs of waiting, the cloud broke up enough and I was able to load the family coming out for medical treatment of the mom and kids and we flew off.  What a morning spent in Okbap hanging out, to slow down and laugh w/ them, teach them a little about what I’m waiting for in the weather,  (and yes, to handle the inevitable village grilling over my marital status… probably they’ve lots to talk about around the fires tonight!!)  It was rich and I’m grateful God lets me be “their pilot” and to spend most of the morning w/ them.

(btw, the Okbap strip is the picture at the top of my blog – that’s me and Mike-Papa-Whiskey (my little plane) taking off on a clear, beautiful day – none of that scenery was seen for most of this story and even on departure, much of it was still obscured)

 

Pamek strip opening, pt 3

Pamek airstrip

Of course the next day, I was very stiff and sore (and Friday was even worse!), but I think the joy and their excitement when we landed on Friday morning safely on “their” strip – built and labored over for 7 years w/ the hope that MAF would come and serve them. The strip is 445m long, w/ a 8% avg slope (15% in the touchdown zone) – it’s hardpacked gravel over rock and very firm.  25m wide in most places, it will easily take a Cessna 206, and w/ a little cutting into the embankment on south side, the Kodiak will have room to go in there as well.  Clarence did the 1st one, and then we walked and inspected the strip, installing 50%, 75%, and 100m markers as we went.  6 huge pits were opened up and all the pork, veggies and sweet potatoes they’d been roasting in the ground were broken out – more dancing, more feasting, more loud, happy whooping and singing – it was chaos and it pulled the heart upward.  What a real honor to be witness to their joy and to be invited by God to be “their pilot” now! I can’t really describe how it encouraged and lifted my heart – this is hardly work!! this is the thing I was created to do, gifted by Him to do as my work and now to celebrate (and yes, dance a little w/ them too!) this event… Dare I even call it “work”?  I don’t know, it seems too good to be true, but I digress – our story should wrap up here before I “muse” too long and lose you…  Need to do 5 landings to get checked out on a new strip and I did those, as well as an abort, and they went well.  Clarence talked me through picking a Key Point to start the approach, an abort point on the approach – how the terrain and winds might work at different times of the day and also the illusions of such a wide, STEEP strip on  end of a ridge w/ valley all around on 3 sides.  It was over too fast and we had to move on (to check another strip) and so we had to go – but I’ll be back in there as soon as we can get the report in and the paperwork approved at the DGAC (Indonesian version of FAA) level.

Pamek dancers and the plane

Oh, by the way, one “warrior” guy told me that they were thankful to have us there and that he was glad too not to be living in “the old ways of our elders”. I asked him to elaborate and he explained their history of fighting and warfare w/ EIP and how they lived as “one people” now b/c the Gospel had made their hearts peaceful. A number of the men grabbed my hand to say they were thankful to finally see “their pilot” come to their village and thanking God that I could now come fly for them too.  OUCH, my heart is full and I can’t believe how much I get to “take away” from this experience!! I’m just a guy who loves to fly, and God wanted to call up from my Navy flying to something “higher” and a “job” w/ eternal value in every days’ efforts.  It was such a blessing to hear him talk about how the Gospel made the difference for them as a tribe, and know how I can use the plane to serve his village now (for their med needs, their students, Bible school guys, etc) – I just can’t wait to get back in there for regular service now!!

 

Pamek Strip opening, part 2

(contd from yesterday)

[PAM} It was plenty wide, firm and steep – to the point of being exactly at the upper limits of our allowable slope for touchdown. A few soft areas, I identified and made the requisite drawings and measurements of the strip as I worked my way slowly UP the strip, not even noticing now that I was still climbing! Accompanied by half the village, I reached the top where they warriors and all had been dancing and singing for past hour-plus waiting to welcome me to the top. It was moving, I don’t know how else to explain it, so full of such hope and excitement and my heart..., my soul really wanted to burst w/ a love and desire to serve them! Oh, it was “rich”!! They had also prepared “bakar batu” (pit-roasted pork and veggies) and were ready to serve it – first though, we had a short devotional from the evangelist there and he asked me to pray and share w/ the people. Did it, it was translated from my Bahasa into Ketenggban and they were whooping and excited again, chattering and then spontaneously whooping, clapping, rattling their bows and arrows, all stood again and the pork and some gifts (produce and a few nokens (net bags) were pressed on me. I ate and in my heart prayed that God would protect my system from undercooked pork, dirt on the peeled sweet potatoes, the fact that we had to use my Leatherman (last used to cut open my planes’ oil filter a week earlier) to cut things for everyone. Soon, time to leave and I was back downhill now (at least at first) headed back toward EIP by – all escorted me singing loudly and running and dancing down the strip to the trail and then sang me off onto the trail. Some following/escorting partway and others turning back to finish the feast up at the top. I paced myself – now remembering my aching legs and the overexertion to get there, prayed for safety and then watched the wx in the EIP valley degrade into low overcast and then it rained on us a number of times off and on. Having told me the trail only took 1 hr for them to get back to EIP, the men mostly ran on ahead, but faithful Samuel (who had carried my backpack from EIP to PAM and still carried the slightly lighter pack, water consumed) stayed just behind me and assisted me all the way back. I needed it, now much tireder I was slipping more and the downhill sections really worked my thighs and my knees – but it passed slowly and uphill sections required more frequent rests and prayer under my breath. Several slips resulted in strong, brown hands that grabbed my arm, or my back or my rear pushing me into the hill, stabilizing me to keep me from slipping over an edge – two edges I looked over after they had stopped my slipping, had a good 400 foot drop straight down!! (rain didn’t make that stuff easier to cross, that’s for sure) Actually begging God to help me have the energy to finish this trek well. Cross the scary “bridge over the River Mek” and I was headed up the last, vertical climb – steeper than the earlier stuff, it was daunting. I worked up it slowly, resting every 15 yds or so to get my breathing and heart under control – I mean, I’ve climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan and it was strenuous and taller, but not this hard (mostly due to longer switchbacks to walk up). I was ready to fall down tired when I got onto the airstrip at EIP and back to the plane. To my utter surprise, the weather had broken open beautifully, sun was beaming down and blue sky at the end of the valley and back toward Sentani to the north!! What an encouraging sight; to top it off, it had only taken me 2:15 to get back. Including a 10 minute stop to troubleshoot an inoperative shortwave radio for the health clinic there. Departed, overflew PAM (actually only 1.8Nm from EIP, so easy to get there and only requiring 3 minutes in the climbout to get there!!) and circled to encourage them before heading on home. ...now we've just got to use that data to land my plane there on Friday..