Affordable Flight Plan Helps Church Planters

Julie Arnold and her Asian-Pacific teammate Vanny Anthony just moved into a Buru tribal village. To live reasonably comfortably in this tropical island village, fans and lights are quite handy. And voice recorders, camera batteries and laptop computers — all requiring electricity — are essential for diving into language and culture learning. But this island is isolated and remote, far from any power grid.

Julie and Vanny elected to power their jungle home with solar panels. “It might sound simple,” says Julie, “but we ended up buying close to 200 kg [about 441 pounds] of equipment and materials to set it up.”

Then they faced a 30-hour ship ride to get it to the island. Once there, they’d have to rent a truck for the final 6 hours over a very rough road. That wasn’t necessary, though. “We’re so thankful we were able to use the [Kodiak] to fly it all into the tribe,” relates Julie.

But Julie and Vanny are church planters, not electricians. “We don’t know anything about electricity, much less how to wire a house and install solar panels with the associated equipment.”

Regional technology expert Zach Prieb knows electricity, though, and he was eager to travel to the village and help. And because of the affordable flight plan, his wife and kids could afford to come along and encourage Julie, Vanny, and the young Asian-Pacific family also working in the village.

Pilots Patrick “Pappy” Frey and Nomad Nelman once again flew the Kodiak to the island, this time carrying the Priebs and the tools Zach would need to do the wiring job. Since the village is so far from the Kodiak’s home base, Pappy and Nomad decided just to stay and help until it was time to fly Zach and family back.

“Within two days’ time, the three men got our system installed and running,” writes a grateful Julie.

Your involvement in Flight Sponsorship is paying off in ministry to tribal people. As aviation sustains Julie, Vanny, and their co-workers, the Buru people will have thorough and consistent Bible teaching. Believers will grow strong to reach out to surrounding villages who still need to hear the Gospel. Thank you!