Several years ago our airplane flight program closed in a region in Asia Pacific. This left many people groups, who we hoped to reach with the Gospel, waiting until we could reopen with a helicopter program. Missionaries continue, as they are able, to make long and treacherous trips into villages where they are learning language and culture or teaching and discipling believers. They are waiting for the helicopter program to become a reality so their work can become something sustainable.
One big step in that direction occurred when Brian picked up a helicopter from the factory, specifically for Asia Pacific, just before Christmas of 2022. Ever since then, though, it has been caught up in one delay after another due to red tape with the importation process.
This week, it finally arrived in our hangar and cleared customs! It has been assembled but still will need to be inspected, demonstrated, de-registered, and then re-registered, re-demonstrated, and re-inspected by the local aviation authorities before we can use it.
When it is ready to fly, Brian plans to travel to Asia Pacific to help our team launch the helicopter program. The pilots and ground team will need training, procedures will be developed, the mechanics will get the shop setup and our missionaries will learn how to use the helicopter effectively for their ministries. This is an exhausting and exciting task for Brian and our whole team. It means that another region with many inaccessible, unreached people groups will gain access to the Gospel for the first time. This is what we want to be about. Thank God for His faithfulness and love for each of us, here and all the way to the ends of the earth!
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