Flight Sponsorship at Work
For Philippine national missionary Rudy Barlaan, Bible translation is the heart of the matter.
“I believe that the Word of God cannot take root in the heart of people unless it is in their heart language,” says Rudy. And he puts his words into action.
As a member of a Bible translation mission, Rudy has been working since 1971, to get the Word of God into the Isnag language. The New Testament is done, but that’s not good enough for Rudy. “Having only the New Testament in the language is like using only a ‘one-edged sword’ to penetrate the souls of people.” So he’s moving ahead with the Old Testament too.
Easier said than done. For Rudy, that means traveling at intervals to the Isnag village – a trip of one to three days. He takes a bus from his city to another city, then rides to a town. From there, if the river is not too high, he boats upstream to the village. A hike up the mountain takes him to his house.
“I don’t mind traveling to the village by land and river, but I lose quite a bit of time and energy. It will take me at least a day to recover from my travel, plus the time to unpack and get settled to get started in my work.”
And did I mention that Rudy is 69 years old?! But with a doctorate in linguistics and the Isnag language in his heart, he has a mission to fulfill. Not only will the translation be used by his village, but NTM missionaries working in a different Isnag dialect will use a form of his translation for their rough draft, saving years of work.
So Rudy keeps making the trip. At times he’s had enough funds to hire the NTM helicopter to fly him part way, but he’s never had enough to cover the whole journey by air. Now with sponsors like you committing to help, things are about to change.
In December, Rudy traveled the normal route into the village, and he prearranged for the NTM Aviation helicopter to come for him on the 26th. On that day, pilot Zach Keller had a surprise in store. He was going to fly Rudy the whole way home! Zach picked Rudy up 300 yards from his village house and whisked him straight to his home city.
“By air, with the NTM helicopter it only takes 55 minutes to an hour from my house in the village to my house in the lowland,” wrote a delightfully surprised Rudy. “I praise and thank the Lord for NTM Aviation who graciously extends its service to me.”
Then Rudy had a message just for you! “I also thank the Lord for people who make it possible for me to take the NTM helicopter at an affordable rate, saving me time and energy, and sparing me from the stress of travel.”