[Guyana-Mission-Report] Tale of Three Airplanes

This is the true tale of the three little airplanes.... (forget the three little pigs) Six weeks ago I was driving the mission van around Georgetown when my cell phone rang. It was the chief mechanic who was doing the annual inspection on the Guyanese airplane I fly. His first words were "James - I've got some bad news for you". He then proceeded to tell me that they had found all sorts of metal in the oil filter, indicating that the engine was starting to break down. A thousand thoughts swirled around in my mind, but I distinctly remember thinking "Ok Lord... Now What?" The answer wasn't long in coming. Two days later a close friend wrote me a one line email. "Praying for you, Do you want my airplane?" I didn't quite know what he was thinking about, so I called him up. He said that since I had flown his Cessna 182 two summers ago, the airplane had been mostly sitting on the ramp. In fact the airplane was presently tore all apart in its annual inspection. My friend was intending to sell it the moment it came out of annual. That's when he got the email about our airplane and felt impressed to contact us. He'd already had a couple solid offers on the airplane but told us that he was willing to let it go for half the market value if it would be used for mission work. When I hung up, I remember thinking "Great Lord! Now What?" Later that day I happened to be talking to some people on Skype. Unbeknownst to me they had been praying earnestly that God would provide a Cessna 182 for us to use. When I related this opportunity to them, they were ecstatic. This set off a chain of events, and by the end of the day God had provided the funds to purchase the aircraft. In the mean time I was still months away from having another airplane. Again, I wondered to myself "Now what do we do?" But God had already gotten this covered. Another close friend of mine had heard of the unfolding situation and felt impressed to bring his Cessna 172RG down to Guyana so we could keep flying. This last week and a half I've been flying in the new aircraft. It's been a tremendous blessing, and already we've done a couple missionary flights including a medivac of a snake bite victim. So at this moment, the Guyanese airplane that I flew all last year is in Bethany (minus the engine). About a week ago some of our missionary mechanics pulled the engine off and when they removed the cylinders they instantly saw the problem. The cam followers were pretty beat up on all the intake cams and were wearing down the cam shaft lobes. What was causing this? Nobody is sure. As I write this email the Cessna 182 is finishing up its annual and will soon get fitted up for its flight to Collegedale TN where it will get some huge tundra tires for the rough strips down here. Then it will be ferried down to Guyana. I'll continue to fly the 172RG until the 182 arrives, and then continue the work with the Cessna 182. In the mean time we're working on starting a church building project in Shea. We'll fly back to the States near the end of Febuary for the birth of our second child. I'm always in amazement at how God provides for the work down here. He always seems to have just the right solution at just the right time. What an awesome God we serve! Sincerely James & Joy Ash James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842