Written by Luke Hamer
It was one of those days where nothing was going as planned. The sky was overcast and we had been scheduled to fly three missionaries out to Angoram. When they arrived about an hour later than our agreed upon meeting time, we decided to follow through with the 25-minute flight. After we unloaded their gear, just as I was closing the cargo door to return to Wewak, a boat carrying four men came racing up to the plane. One of them was lying down covered in blood-soaked rags, and another was holding an upright canoe paddle with an IV bag attached at the top handle. One of the missionaries asked, “Are you expecting a patient inbound?”, and my answer was no.
They explained to me that the man had been speared in the back. Since this was supposed to be a taxi flight, we didn’t have our medical bag. By God’s sovereign plan, one of the missionaries we were transporting was a former EMT and he got to work dressing the wound. As we finished loading the patient onto the plane, we learned that his name was Gobia and one of the men was a Pastor named Gildon. We took off and headed back toward Wewak while Pastor Gildon held pressure on the wound.
"Maybe this is God's plane"
Once we arrived and transported Gobia to the hospital, I asked Pastor Gildon what had happened. He told me that Gobia had been caught stealing in his village and was speared in his back. Pastor Gildon literally drug Gobia out of the fight and, with two other men, loaded him into the boat. They took him to a small clinic in the next village and a health worker set up an IV, but they still needed to get him to a larger clinic for treatment. As they began to fear that Gobia would not make it, Pastor Gildon stopped the boat and began to pray for a miracle. He recalled as he said, “amen” he looked up and saw our floatplane fly overhead and land in the next lake over. He thought, “Maybe this is God’s plane.”
They rushed toward where we had landed and got there just as I was closing the door. It was a stern reminder that God is always at work and His timing is always perfect. Had we left on time, Gobia probably would have died.
Sharing SA with kids!
Written by Lydia Holcomb
If you have never been to the Sepik river, it’s very difficult to comprehend the remoteness and the desperate need of medical care. How do you explain those details to KIDS, in an understandable way? My husband and I took on that exciting challenge as we were invited to share about Samaritan Aviation at this summer’s Vacation Bible School.
Through prayer we felt like the Lord showed us the best way to convey this message through photos and videos from our recent visit to Papua New Guinea, along with some hands-on activities.
To paint the picture of the difficulty of accessing the hospital, children struggled and laughed as they carried a “patient” on a stretcher through the “jungle,” over obstacles and down a “river” to the hospital, for “many days.” As one little friend got her foot stuck in a box along the journey, it really emphasized the difficulty!
In contrast, Fred used a wheelbarrow fixed with wings and “flew” directly to the village and delivered the patient to the “hospital.” We’ll never forget the pinnacle of that illustration, when cheers erupted as the children grasped the solution to the villagers’ problem—the airplane!! It brought tears to our eyes—they got it!!
We shared with them several stories of rescued people and how we minister to them by inviting the kids to come forward and help us illustrate how Christ’s love is displayed by bringing food, necessities and prayer to the hurting, just like we do with our hospital ministry. It was such a blessing to see their eyes and ears dialed into the amazing work that God is doing in such a remote and needy place.
SA is welcoming another new missionary pilot family onto our team! Nick and Lorraine Mosca and their kids (Edward, Ezekiel, Titus, and another baby on the way) have begun their fundraising. Please keep them in your prayers!
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Contact us:
970-249-4341
contact@samaritanaviation.com