Aibai Airstrip: Trip Update #14

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

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Trip Update #14 - finally Aibai

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19TH:

Good Night All!

We have arrived safley in Aibai! We arose this morning around 4:30am and arrived in Aibai around 6:30pm. A very long and grueling trip! No major problems but the road was full of perils: steep drop-offs, narrow passes, bridges narrower than the dozer...very exciting!

Hopefully some of the pictures we sent came through and you can see some of the fun we had today.

Thank you for all of the prayers offered on our behalf!

Thomas and Jon

Last photos from Kiari:

Fence Posts at the Kiari Airstrip

The Super Cool Yellow Rain Suit

Us on Top - we finally climbed the mountain :)

Photos of the Trip to Aibai:

On the way to Aibai: the dozer and truck (and onlookers)

Big Tree down in the road

Dozer fording the River

Wood Bridge

A Narrow Pass

1 comment:

Ellen said...: Ummmm . . . who thought it was a good idea to send 2 Rodgers brothers on a mission trip???

Just kidding! So glad you made it safely and now can work in Aibai. Hope you get much done in the next few days.; August 19, 2010 at 1:32 PM