The plan

Thomas and Jonathan Rodgers are preparing for
a 3-week mission trip this August 7-28
to Papua New Guinea (a small island located north of Australia).
Papua New Guinea

The brothers will be working with some heavy equipment the Lord has miraculously provided to finish installing a runway on the side of a mountain at the missionary compound in Aibai, PNG. Aibai is a small village where our friends the Mike Berbin family and a team of other missionaries lead medical, educational, and church ministries.

Both Jonathan and Thomas have experience using such heavy equipment; Jonathan owned a large landscaping company for a number of years, before entering the ministry himself in North Carolina. Thomas learned to operate the equipment while working for Jonathan, and has gone on to use bobcats and bulldozers frequently with his own renovation and property maintenance business. While the runway in Aibai has been "started", it needs to be graded, extended, and then topped with soil from another property to encourage a grass surface and prevent washout.
Partially completed airstrip at Aibai
(the airstrip is located to the left of the Aibai mission compound; note the goats and man standing on the near end of the large airstrip, and the washout lines currently crossing the property)

It will take the men all of their 2.5 weeks on the ground to complete the task, and hopefully will allow the Berbins to see the answer to 15 years of work and prayer, when they fly in and land on the new airstrip. For the first time they will be able to avoid the hazardous road trip to the village when they travel back to Aibai early this fall after their current furlough in the US.


the current method of reaching the Aibai village:
a hazardous mountain trip over washed-out roads
and precarious bridges, through areas favored by theives;
this trip takes 6-8 hours *on a good day*.

The trip is highlighted by the raw beauty of the Papua New Guinea mountains.


How can you help?
Please pray!
-for Thomas and Jonathan to have safety as they travel and work

-for the equipment to work efficiently (no breakdowns!) during the short time alotted for the trip

-for preaching opportunities while the brothers are there - teaching the gospel to some who've never heard

-for safety of their wives and children staying behind in the States

-for financial provision - each brother is raising $4500 to cover trip expenses

Want more information? Email us





Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Travel Update #13 - off to Aibai

As I post this, at 3pm Wednesday here in Greenville, the guys are just getting on the road with the bulldozer entourage. Please be in prayer for a safe journey! - Katie



WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18 - Today was a day of light chores and preperation for the trip to Aibai. Jon and I worked on a generator at the school house, serviced the bulldozer with Jeff and worked on the door of the truck. The window in the truck door had fallen off and was an ordeal to reattach! We had a few minutes to relax this afternoon proir to Wednesday prayer service.
At service Jon was able to preach. His first time through an interpreter! He preached out of Psalm 78 on a family that glorifies God. A very challenging and convicting message.
We are headed to bed a little early since we roll out around 5am. So this will be our last report from Kiari. Our next report should come, Lord willing, from the "megatropolis" of Aibai.
Please pray for our trip on Thursday. It will be about a 10 hour trip. The dozer is a slow moving machine that has to be followed by a support vehicle with fuel, tools and a Boskru - pronounced "boss crew" - see pidgin isn't that hard! Jeff will be our support vehicle from Kiari to Noumani where Matt Crain will meet us and help us get to Aibai. By the time most of you read this we will be on our trip!
Thomas and Jon


Why you need to pray:
 (a pic from a previous year of the road)


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