Night Flight Medivac

Taking the gospel the furthest corners of Guyana through the use of a small airplane Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Three New Construction Workers We're in the final race to the finish... Most of the materials are on location in Paramakatoi Village.  Most of the preparation has been done, including digging the footings for the church, and making cement blocks.  The only thing they need is time and man power.  Last Friday I flew three guys into Paramakatoi village to build up the work force.  All of these guys pictured are working as volunteers in this church project.  I hope that within the next eight weeks we should have the church pretty well up and ready for use.  I still need to transport 50 more sacks of cement, and food for a small army.  These guys can really eat! Evangelism Equipment for Chenapau The church project in Chenapau just got a boost with some new evangelism equipment  At this moment there are two bible workers in Chenapau village, leading an evangelistic effort and a new church building project.  During the day they are cutting boards with a chainsaw, and during their free time, they are doing personal evangelism.  The new equipment will help them do be able to do an evangelistic series in dialect.   Buying Cement Wholesale Cement is extremely heavy, and very messy to work with...  In this picture I'm buying seven sacks of cement to carry in the airplane out to Paramakatoi.  Because the cement powder leaks out of the bag and gets all over the upholstry of the airplane, I bag every sack of cement in a separate garbage bag.  47 more sacks to go! A young English teacher flies to Kimbia Mission Academy An Early Morning Paddle  After getting delayed the day before by stiff winds and a heavy rain shower, I ended up being forced to overnight in Paruima Village.   The next morning I walked down to the village at the crack of dawn,  borrowed a dugout canoe, and paddled across the Kamarang river to the airstrip.  It was so sublimely picturesque that I risked capsizing the canoe to get this shot.  Hope you like it. Family Fun Some of you have asked for more pictures of the family...   This last week I took a couple hours off and we went down to the park with the girls to play on the swings.  Incidentally it was the same day that I had the night flight.  I had no idea what was happening when my girls were happily swinging.  Amidst all the crazy business of our ministry, we're trying to take special time as a family to do fun things.  Today we took some time to  fly kites at the sea wall.  My little girls are growing up. Night Flight Medivac The plan for the day was pretty simple in principle...  Pick up a load of cement and food for the Paramakatoi church project, and 10 gallons of gas for the Chenapau chainsaws, load up the airplane, and fly 3 1/2 hours to deliver both.   Simple right?  I wish...  Rarely is a flying day simple, and this particular day was no exception.  In fact I didn't even get off the ground until nearly 2pm, which meant I didn't have a lot of extra time to spend on the ground at either destination village.   Halfway to Paramakatoi to deliver the cement, the health post at Philippi village called me on the HF Radio and requested a medivac flight.  They reported that a 55 year old man was running an extremely high fever and had gone unconscious.  They had tested for malaria, but the test was inconclusive.  Since the day was late, and the river extremely low because of the long drought, they were requesting that I divert and fly the patient to the Kamarang hospital.   Because of the lateness of the hour, I realized that I wouldn't make it back to Georgetown by sunset.  Most likely I would have to overnight in Kamarang village where the field hospital was located.  I also realized that I wouldn't have enough fuel to make it back to Georgetown unless I used the extra gas in the back. After dropping off the cement at Paramakatoi, I turned the airplane North toward Philippi to pick up the patient.  Enroute, I tried in vain to contact Kamarang hospital to see whether we could go directly from Philippi to Georgetown so we could perhaps make it just after sunset. Whenever you pick up a really sick person from a village there is generally quite a bit of emotional drama.  The villagers know that when extremely sick people leave in an airplane, they often times don't come back alive.   In this particular situation two daughters openly cried as we loaded their unconscious father into the plane and buckled him in. When we landed at Kamarang the two medex's met me at the runway to assess the condition of the patient.   They took one look at the man and informed me that he needed to be immediately transferred to Georgetown.  Ok!  25 minutes before sunset, I knew that it would be fully dark by the time I arrived back in town, assuming that I could get permission to make the flight.   Furthermore, the only airport with runway lights was the international airport 45 minutes away from Georgetown city.  I called Joy on the HF radio and asked her to call up the Tower in Timehri to request permission for the flight.  Joy called back in five minutes to give me the initial thumbs up.  She then spent the next 45 minutes on the phone working out the details with the ambulance, and getting permission for them to pass through security at Timehri to pick up the patient.   On the flight back to town, the radio was quiet.  Usually the frequencies are humming with commerical traffic, but at this late hour everyone was on the ground, and I was the only local aircraft still in the air.   The air was smooth, and the sunset beautiful.  Except for a few lights from an occasional mine, everything became pitch black.  Sometimes it's best not to see the broccoli that you're flying over!  The lights of Timehri were a welcome sight, and we gently touched down and taxied over to the international ramp to wait for the ambulance.   About 20 minutes later the ambulance arrived, and together we requested the airport duty officer to allow them to drive airside to pick up the patient.   After loading the patient, the ambulance driver patiently waited for me while I moved the airplane to the general aviation parking area and locked up it for the night.  I caught a ride back home in the front seat of the speeding ambulance.   Yesterday I received the sad news that the patient passed away.  Evidently he was hemmoraging in his brain, perhaps from hemmoragic malaria, or an aneurysm, and there was nothing that the doctors could do to stop the bleeding. I always feel sad when I hear that a patient that I carried in the airplane has died.  I wish I could write a fairytale ending to this story and tell you that the man has made a complete recovery and is anxiously waiting to travel back to his family.  Some cases do in fact turn out like this.  But sadly in this particular situation, this is not so.  The Bible says in Isaiah 55:8,9: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." I don't know why the Lord opened so many doors for us, and the patient still passed away.  But I know that we did everything humanly possible to help.  There comes a point in which we have to leave the outcome with God. New Aviation Video Three months ago a volunteer videographer filmed a new documentary video...  You can watch the GAMAS Aviation 2012 video online at Youtube.   If you would like a hard copy of this video and four other GAMAS projects, please email me personally and we can send you some DVD's to share out.   Making a Difference We're trying our best to make a difference in this part of the world... But we cannot do it alone.  We really need an army of people who would be willing to come and start new ministries.  If you can't come but would like to help the missionary work go forward, you can send a tax deductible donation to:  Gospel Ministry International, PO Box 506, Collegedale Tennessee 37315.  Kindly write on a separate note that it is for Guyana Aviation Evangelism project (GAVE)  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend | track the airplane Copyright © 2012 Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Service, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of our last GMR Newsletter Email List Our mailing address is: Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Service 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, . . Guyana Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Flying into the Face of a Storm

Taking the gospel the furthest corners of Guyana through the use of a small airplane Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend New Bible Worker for Georgetown We're starting a new chapter in our bible worker program... Up until now, most of our bible work has been focused on the interior regions.  But we feel that we also need to reach the populous areas of Georgetown as well.  There are many hurting and lonely people who live in the capitol city.  Our plan is to bring on board Mr. Lindee as a trained bible worker, and begin working to plant  a new church here in the capitol city.  If you would like to support this vision, please let us know. 700 Lbs. of Steel This last week my wife sent out a message to pray for me... Here is a picture of the metal that was loaded into my airplane.  It doesn't look to be that much but believe it or not what you see in this picture is about 700 lbs.  These 2"x2" hollow section tubes will be utilized in a hybrid building design that uses steel and concrete block.  Eventually we're looking into getting a welder and welding our own one-day-style church structures.  We need quick to assemble buildings for a number of different projects and we're exploring every angle. New Construction Worker I am amazed at how God brings the right people at just the right time...  Right as we were looking around for an experienced construction worker to help finish the project at Paramakatoi, I received a phone call from Dustin Grinn who introduced himself and offered to help out.  He just called me on a phone patch asking for 80 more bags of cement!  The fun begins! Flying in the Face of the Storm It was a very long day... I had been up at 3:50am so that I could do a "double" trip into Paruima.  It had been a scorcher of a day, and to add insult to injury, my rear seat had given me no end of grief when I tried to reinstall it after the first trip.  But by 3:30pm I was hurriedly offloading my second load so I could beat the sun to the horizon.  The end of my day was mercifully in sight.  That is... until someone informed me that there was a medivac waiting for me 15 minutes over the mountain in Kaikan village.  What do you do?  I knew that I wouldn't make the sunset deadline, but I also knew that the lady in Kaikan really needed medical attention.  So immediately after I launched from Paruima, I called my wife on the airplane's HF radio and asked her to call Timehri Control Tower and request permission to land up to 15 minutes after sunset.  Five minutes later my wife called back, and said that I had up to 15 minutes from sunset.   This was the first Even with this grace period, I knew that it would still be close.   On the flight from Kaikan Village back to Georgetown, I kept the throttle pushed in and was constantly checking my GPS to make sure that I would arrive in time.  About half way back I noticed in the distance that there was a storm looming directly in my flight path.  Usually storms aren't a major deal, but when you're tight on time, every mile out of track that you have to deviate increases you estimated flight time.  I knew that I wouldn't have much time to deviate, so I flew straight toward the storm, knowing that if something didn't happen, I could be in for a real ride!s  About two miles away from the storm I noticed that it appeared to be dissapating.  It literally disolved about 1-2 miles ahead of my aircraft and I flew through the entire area and didn't get a single drop on my aircraft!  While I was watching this phenomenon happen, a still small voice began repeating the words of hymn #529 "Under his Wings, I am safely abiding".  Halfway through the storm, the clouds parted to my left revealing a triangle of sunshine and the most brilliant rainbow.   I know it may sound like small coincidences, but I'm convinced that there is an infinite God who cares about little things, and he takes great delight in opening the way before us.  Isn't that what Proverbs 3:6 promises?  "and He shall direct your path."  Brooks Family flies to Paruima DIIC got a new principal this last week...  The Brooks family flew out to Paruima last Thursday, and are preparing to reopen the industrial school this next year.  They have big plans and big hearts for this mission.  Please remember them in your prayers.   Loading a Patient After flying through the storm... We are met on the ramp with an Ambulance from Georgetown Public Hospital.  They're loading a small 6 year old boy with a broken femur.  He must have been in terrible pain, because the leg was flopping around in spite of the make shift splint.    follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend | track the airplane Copyright © 2012 Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Service, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a member of our last GMR Newsletter Email List Our mailing address is: Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Service 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, . . Guyana Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Please Pray for Flights Today

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm writing this short note to ask for special prayer for James today.  As I write, he is flying to Paramokatoi with the first load of steel for the church.  It's a very long and heavy load, but it is anchored well.  He will be back by 2 PM for the second trip.  I just spoke to him on the radio and he says that although it's early he really needs 30 more minutes of daylight to get the job done.  Thank you so much for your prayers!

God Bless,

 

Joy

James & Joy Ash
121 Durban Backlands
Georgetown, Guyana
011-592-629-5141
http://guyanaaviationevangelism.blogspot.com/

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

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Exciting Updates

Dear Friends and Family

Here's a few of the most exciting events that have happened in the last six months...

Annointing a Toshao – Three weeks ago I received a call from the Amerindian Hostel asking me to fly a dying Toshao (or village captain) back home to Kurukubaru. The gentleman had come to Georgetown because of apparent liver failure, but sadly there wasn't anything medically that could be done for him. They urgently requested that I fly the man back home before he passed away. When I met him at the airport his stomach was swollen, his skin very yellow, and was visibly in intense pain.

The intriguing part of this whole story is that Region #8 is very strong Catholic area, and Kurukubaru is the central hub of Catholicism. The Jesuit priest who lives in Kurukubaru has a very strong hold over the hearts and minds of those in the region. They have strongly resisted our evangelistic efforts, and have made life difficult for our bible workers in the neighboring village of Paramakatoi. But now in an interesting twist of events they were turning to us for help.

Of course we jumped at the opportunity to help. On the hour and a half flight out to the village, I silently prayed for wisdom to know how to minister to the family and the other villagers. The health post had informed me over the HF radio, that the villagers were already at the airstrip waiting for us. Sure enough, when I landed at the mountainous strip, there were about 40 persons waiting to receive their toshao back home.

I cautiously inquired if the priest was around, since I'd never met the man, and didn't want an embarrassing confrontation. They told me that the priest was still in the village which was a mile away.  Then I asked if they would like it if I had a prayer for their toshao. I explained that I was a pastor and would like to pray for his healing. They stood silently there like stone statues while I dug out my Gideon N.T. And a cap full of vegetable oil (since I didn't have any olive oil).  Except for the sound of the wind across desolate looking airstrip, there was not a single sound.  I shared a short sermon about the two types of healing in the bible. I talked about spiritual healing from the sickness of sin. I went on to explain that it was always God's will to heal our sinful hearts, and that we could have the assurance of eternal life. I also talked about healing from physical sickness and disease and that God was able to heal this man from his present illness.

I prayed for both types of healing and and anointed the toshao with vegetable oil. After the prayer, many people thanked me for praying for their leader.  I haven't hear the "rest of the story", but I don't think it was a mistake that I was there that day.  

New Van – After three months of pushing and incessant phone calls and visits to the different ministries, we finally got our new van released from the wharf with a duty free concession.  What a tremendous blessing the van has been!  It saves us huge amounts of time and money in public transportation costs.  We were also able to save $7000 USD in importation duties. Guyana has extremely high import duty on even used vehicles.

Paramakatoi Church Project – We're about half way through the church building project in Paramakatoi village. I took out all the seats in my airplane and "trucked" in 52 sacks of cement from Lethem to Paramakatoi village. I also flew in 108 sheets of zinc for the project. For the last month we've been catching our breath. Our bible worker who is overseeing the project has been here in town. But today he flies back into the village on a government flight. On Wednesday I plan to take four other guys into the village and we'll push hard to finish the church in the next six weeks.

Chennapau Church Project – Just a week ago we heard that the village council at Chennapau officially voted to approve building a new Adventist church. The previous toshao had resisted our request for a church building, since he was a member of another church. But four months ago the village had elections, and providentially they voted in a new toshao who happens to be a fringe member of our Adventist group.   He really wanted to be baptized in the last series of meeting that we hosted there, but couldn't because he was living with a woman who he wasn't married to. In this country, one of the requirements of marriage is having a valid birth certificate. This has been hard for those who want to be baptized, since they can't baptize them without being married, and they can't get married without having a birth certificate, and they can't get a birth certificate without months of paperwork and repeated inquiries. This man felt so convicted and sad that he couldn't be baptized into the Adventist group that he cried. The Lord must have felt compassion toward him because not only has he gotten his birth certificate, but he's also the newly elected toshao of the village. So now we're looking to start yet another church project in this village. But this will be very different from the last two church projects we've been involved in. The village of Chenapau has large green heart trees all around the village, so all we need to do is fell the trees and cut up the lumber to the appropriate size, and let it cure. It will be a relatively inexpensive church.

Shea Church Project – We've almost completed the whole church project. We just need to plaster the outside of the Sabbath School room and the church, and paint the walls.  The we'll be ready for an official church dedication. Thank you again for all those who helped with this project.

Media Ministry – God has been quietly blessing our media ministry. As of this very moment we've burned about 9982 DVD's and about 400 CD's. We now have the capability of burning 4000 DVD's per month. The problem that I'm facing is lack of time. Time, again, and again seems to be our worst enemy. I'm finding it difficult to keep running this vitally important ministry and yet keep up with everything else. Please pray with me for a visionary person to come and expand this ministry, and send DVD's into dark and unentered areas. I'm also looking for someone else who can specialize in producing sermons in audio format.

Print Ministry – For a long time I've had a vision of running a print ministry here in Guyana. With the diverse culture that Guyana presents, we truly need to tailor our literature to the many various people groups.  We have Black Africans, East Indians, Chinese, Americans, Amerindians, and Brazillians, just to name some.  We have virtually every imaginable type of religious belief, including Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Bahai, and other off shoot Christians.  Five weeks ago, a friend of a friend called me out of the blue from the States and explained his vision of seeing a print operation set up here in Guyana.  We talked for over an hour and concluded our conversation with earnest prayer for God's guidance in this vision.  Since that time, God has provided some of the equipment that we need, and a donor to help purchase it.  At this moment there are two high volume laser printers, a folding machine, a paper stack cutter, and an industrial type stapler being prepared for shipping. By God's grace we'll be able to produce and distribute culturally sensitive literature. But once again, we need to find another godly person who can take on this full time ministry

I need to run. I'm presenting our second message on "How to Study the Bible" at the church next to the hospital.

God bless,

James

 

James & Joy Ash
121 Durban Backlands
Georgetown, Guyana
011-592-629-5141
http://guyanaaviationevangelism.blogspot.com/

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

[Guyana-Mission-Report] When it rains... it floods!

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