“You Would Never Make It”

Excerpt from our June 2011 newsletter

“Begin walking before first light, and walk hard all day long. Spend the night in a small village in the bush. Awake early to spend the second day walking up and down rough trails in the mountainous rainforest of Papua New Guinea. For an Onobasulu man in Walagu village, this is the only way to get to the nearest road. If he takes his family, it will take longer.

One such man looked Beverly Mosley in the eye and said, “You would never make it.” She smiled and answered, “That is right. That is why the JAARS airplane brings me and picks me up.”

The Onobasulu people are excited about working with Beverly to translate God’s Word into their language. But the only way she can get out to this remote village in the Southern Highlands Province is by mission aviation. She travels by plane with her work materials, food, and other personal supplies. “Believe me,” she says, “you would not want to try walking with your study Bible, or a stack of literacy materials, for a couple days through the rainforest.”*

The aircraft pictured above is one of two Kodiak aircraft that serves Bible translation programs like the one taking place among the Onobasulu people. The Kodiak’s specific design makes it very useful for mission work in rugged conditions.

You may remember that Jon helped install some modifications on the second Kodiak before it was ferried to PNG last October. Soon a third Kodiak will be arriving at JAARS to receive these same modifications. Jon has the opportunity to spend the next several weeks helping get this plane ready for Papua New Guinea. Working at JAARS is not our ministry assignment, but Jon will be helpful to both the JAARS and PNG aviation departments. This opportunity also provides Jon with some good experience working on the very aircraft he’ll be maintaining in PNG.

We’ve put thousands of miles on our van this past year visiting friends and churches to talk about our work with Wycliffe. God has given us a wonderful team of people who support us prayerfully and financially. We thank God for them every day. At the same time, we plead with God to complete our team. We had hoped to leave for Papua New Guinea by July, but we still need about $769 in monthly support. Our new goal is to leave by January and to reach this goal we need new opportunities to share about our ministry in the next months. Please pray that God will help us find these opportunities and bring in the needed support. That is our highest priority. In the meantime, we are grateful for the opportunity to support Bible translation by helping prepare this Kodiak aircraft for service in PNG.

*Photo and adapted story by Beverly Mosley. Reprinted with permission from JAARS.org.