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





Friday, August 20, 2010

Travel Update #15 - Workin' Days

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20: 
Well our first full day of work at Aibai was very busy.
Jon ran the dozer on the airstrip all day. There are a couple of large piles of dirt that have to be removed from the airstrip and a big washout that has to be filled. Jon began by peeling off a 3-4 foot layer of good black topsoil from the larger of the two piles. This topsoil will later be stirred into the clay surface of the airstrip so the grass will be able to grow. After peeling off the topsoil he pushed dirt all the way across the airstrip to the washout. He began to slowly fill in and pack the washout. Tomorrow he will continue with that long process and hopefully be able to finish that before the weekend.
While Jon worked with the dozer I worked on a new school building for Belinda Richter. I dug 12 holes 3 feet deep and then set 12 posts in the holes, in concrete. These posts will sit over the weekend for the concrete to cure and we will begin framing the floor and walls of the building on Monday. This kind of work is something I love doing so I am very grateful to have this opportunity to do this project for the mission group here!
Tonight we enjoyed a nice meal with all of the missionaries here at Aibai. What an...um...shall we say... interesting experience! This is a wonderful group. All of the calories I consumed  at dinner, I think I burned instantly with all of the hard laughter we enjoyed together...quite the experience!
Thank you for your prayers. As we near the end of our trip (only 4 more work days) we need your prayers even more to be able to accomplish as much as possible.
Jon and Thomas

note from Katie: I talked with Crystal briefly last night, and we're both doing well. Just counting the days until our men get back! The guys have a little more availability to call us from Aibai, able to call from their lodging house instead of hiking to church to find cell coverage (although, at the house they have to practically balance on one foot and hold their lip the right way to get more than one bar of service). Now: if I could just wake up in the early, early morning when the calls come through...

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