New faces have joined the work here in PNG, and there have been a number of ministry changes made during our 3-year absence. One thing has not changed, however: Safe, reliable, air transportation is still vital to this country—not only for our translation teams, but also for the local people.
A few weeks ago, the aviation department received a radio call from a remote village saying there was a local woman with a bad infection in her leg. She needed special medical help quickly. Could we come with one of our aircraft and get her out of the village? It took our pilots a couple of days to get into that specific airstrip because of bad weather, but they were finally able to pick her up and transport her to a location where she could receive medical treatment.
Later, Jon was told that it was a three-day walk from this woman’s village to the nearest road. Without the aid of the aircraft, it is likely the woman would never have made it to a hospital. By the time our pilot saw her, she was already too weak to sit up let alone walk on rugged jungle trails for three days. We thank God that our pilots were able to help her in time. We consider it a privilege to not only be part of bringing God’s Word to the people of PNG, but to also help meet physical needs as God allows.
*Photo by Robert Noble
One aspect of our training is to make us proficient in the main method of transportation in Papua New Guinea—walking. There are very few roads in PNG, especially in the mountains. Hiking on often narrow, slippery, jungle trails with logs for bridges over streams and rivers is usually the method used get from point A to point B. So in order that we might experience this part of everyday life for the average Papua 
New Guinean, (and prepare us for our future stay in a village) our whole family participates in the weekly hikes. Sometimes the kids hike with the us, and sometimes they hike separately with their teachers. We’ve found they do so much better when their parents aren’t around to complain to. <grin>
