Guyana Mission Report: Tribute to a Fallen Soldier

Read more reports at: www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org

Hudson Taylor

God isn’t looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him

Night Medevac

Some of my favorite flying is after the sun goes down and it gets pitch black.  I like it because it is smooth as glass, and after a day being battered around by turbulence, it’s a blessed relief.  But strangely enough I like it because it’s pitch black.  Flying over the deep jungle at night is a strange feeling because there is utterly no light whatsoever.  It’s like flying in a black hole.  You have to act in faith, not because you see anything, but because you trust the air traffic controller (Holy Spirit), and the instruments in front of you (God’s Word).      

Flying Children

The other day our bible worker called me on the HF Radio and asked if I could carry three school children to Monkey Mountain for the holidays.  Since I was already going there, I agreed to the trip.  Ha!!  When I showed up six little expectant faces looked up at me.  Now if you were the pilot, how would you choose who goes, and who stays?  So I got creative.  I lengthened out the seat belts in the back seat and strapped four of them in.  Two skinny little girls shared a seat and seatbelt next to me.  Everyone seated, belted, and happy!

Medevacs Flights

Medevac flights are a wild card in my operational “deck of cards”.  While it’s only part of my mission, it creates some of my most interesting challenges.  A medevac can pop up at any time, and take me clear across the country.  It can delay me, and force me to fly at night.  But at the end of the day, I have to admit that these are some of my most satisfying types of flights.  Few things match the feelings that I get when I’m able (by God’s grace) to get someone to the hospital in time.  BTW – The picture above was a medevac of a 23 year old girl from Chenapau with severe lower abdominal pain.  They suspected it might be an appendicitis.

Prayer & Praise

PRAISE: We’ve sold a couple airplanes, and now we have the money for a new engine for N9113M!

REQUEST: Please pray that the work would progress quickly, and that we would be able to start flying two airplanes full time by this summer.

No, no. I didn’t get a botox

I got a wasp sting just under my right eye.  I went up to the farm one morning to clean some vines off the banana trees.  Evidently some wasps were living in the same tree and were not very pleased with what I was doing.  I just praise the Lord that I didn’t get stung in the eye!


Tribute to a Fallen Soldier

It’s a surreal moment whenever you get the message that someone close to you has been tragically killed.  It’s almost as if time freezes for a split second and you aren’t able to think.  Two weeks ago I got an unexpected text message on my phone that stated that Garnett Gomez (our bible worker and good friend) had been tragically killed while working in Venzuela.

Little by little we began putting the bits and pieces together.  Garnett was trying to make a little money running a shop in Venzuela, in order to support his family across the border in Guyana.  It was only a temporary job that he was doing, just to support his wife and two girls who were attending the primary school in Paruima.  His plan was to move back to Shea Village to continue the bible work that he had begun, but he was waiting for his daughters to raise their grades in school.  They had tried enrolling their girls in the primary school in Shea Village, but the education was so bad, that they felt forced to come back to Paruima for their girls education.  How could I argue that?

Two weeks ago today Garnett was about to close up the store when two masked gunmen rode up on motorbikes and burst into the store, holding everyone at gunpoint while they robbed the place.  As they were trying to make their get away, in a rash split second decision, Garnett went after them and tried to restrain one of them.  Shots were fired, and he died on the way to the hospital.

Its very hard for me to write about this because I worked very closely with Garnett, and we grew to be very good friends.

As with anything in life (even the painful areas of our lives) there are always lessons that we can take away.  And here’s a few things for each of us to seriously consider from this tragedy.

1.  I’ve determined that if someone pulls a gun on me and just wants to take my stuff, they can have it.  It’s just “stuff” and most of us probably have too much junk anyway.  Let it go… Let it go…  Let it go…  The apostle John said: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…the world passeth away, but he who does the will of God abideth forever.”  1 John 2:15,17.

2.  When one soldier falls, others need to fill the gap.  For years, Garnett worked alone on a bible school in Kaikan.  We’re getting close to finishing it up what he began, but now we need to locate some Godly directors for this project.  Please keep this in your prayers

3.  I’m tired of this world, aren’t you??  But we can’t sit back and relax.  We’re in a battle, and before things completely wrap up, this gospel must go to all the world (Matt. 24:14).  The sooner this happens, the sooner, “…the end will come.” and we will be reunited with our loved ones who have passed away.

Let’s keep pushing towards the finish line.  We’re on the last lap. Let’s not give up now.

Missionaries Wanted

We have openings for missionary workers:

@ Bible Workers to do training and evangelism.
@ Construction Workers for different projects around Guyana.
@ Media Worker to help run the video and print work.
@ Pilots and Mechanics to build up the aviation program.

Fill out an Gospel Ministry International Application today and indicate your interest in Guyana

Join the Team

If you 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)

Maintenance

Keeping an airplane ironically requires us to stay on the ground.  Someone once told me that for every hour that you fly, you should plan on spending one hour working on the airplane. I don’t know if this is true or not, but we’re trying hard to keep this airplane in top condition.

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