We returned to the Philippines on New Year’s Eve after being away from our regular ministry for a year of training. That was just three very short months ago. We have been getting things ready for the arrival of the new helicopter. This has been more challenging than we thought. Of the 90 days that we’ve been back, Brian has already spent 40 nights away from home!
All of this is finally paying off as today we are working with our partners to pack up tools, parts, food and school supplies for a trip to the city where we are going to stay while we receive and assemble the helicopter.
We expect the helicopter to arrive on Thursday and our broker is confident that we will be able to unload it from the container on Friday. When we receive it, we will have a lot to do and we’d appreciate your prayers as we work hard to get the helicopter operational. The assembly is probably the easiest part of the task. The paperwork and coordinating of inspectors is what we expect to be the difficult part. We have strategically rented a hangar at a major airport so that we can efficiently travel via airlines back and forth to Manila as needed for paperwork. Below is a list of things we are asking you to pray for:
- Safe travel to and from the city. We expect to be traveling many, many hours on switchbacked, mountain roads in heavily loaded vehicles.
- Upright and proper handling of our shipment by the Bureau of Customs
- Safe and uneventful unloading and assembly of the helicopter
- Alertness and patience for Brian and Josh, who will be working out of the corner of a friend’s hangar and the back of a truck – literally.
- Sympathetic officials at CAAP who will assist us in efficiently processing our paperwork.
- Endurance for our families who will be working long hours away from home
- Safety for our missionaries who are in the village right now, without flight service, until we get the helicopter registered.
We appreciate your prayers before and during this exciting time. If you want to know more about what we’re doing please follow us on Facebook and Instagram where we post almost every day.