Aibai Airstrip: Travel Update #18 - International Roof Install Team

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).

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.

(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

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Travel Update #18 - International Roof Install Team

(new pictures posted to Monday's update, too - check the previous update)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24 - Wow, what a long day! It is nearly 8 pm and we are just finishing work and heading in. We got a lot accomplished today but the work was harder than we had expected. We had to build 8 trusses for the roof system. Once completed the truss had to be lifted onto the top of the walls, set in place, and secured. All of that took from 7am and 1pm. After a nice lunch provided by Belinda Richter, we attached cross bracing to the trusses and began securing the roof sheeting. This was a very precarious and difficult job. But we got the entire roof installed and sheeted before dark and then were able to put sheeting on one side of the building using flashlights!

We are tired and are reeeally looking forward to a nice night of sleep.

Only one more day of work in Aibai before we head out. Please pray that we get a lot accomplished on Wednesday!

Thank you for your continued prayers,

Thomas and Jon

Oh...I almost forgot. While hauling more wood to the work site this morning (which we did not dump!)

we took a detour to watch the beautiful sunrise from the top of a nearby ridge. Stunning!