The biggest highlight of this past month (January 2012) was our trip interior. Bryan was asked to assist a Bible translator with some electrical wiring, and wanting to expose our children to why we live in SE Asia, work on a helicopter and shop all the time for our missionaries’ supplies, we opted for the whole family to go.

Bryan left a day before to ensure enough time to finish the project. Then the rest of us followed the next day. After nearly 3 hours of flying over a landscape of mostly all trees and an occasional small town or tribal garden huts, we crested a mountain and landed in a valley surrounded by mountains.

Far removed from any resemblance of civilization, this village has been called “the second garden of Eden.” At 2,500 ft elevation, the mosquitoes are few and far between, the temperatures are much cooler than in our coastal town and the vegetation is absolutely amazing and full.

After disembarking from the helicopter, we were greeted by Bryan, our missionary friends and a sea of dark, beautiful faces. These people picked up our baggage and easily hauled it down the 15 minute hike to the village as we slipped and stumbled behind them.

After getting us settled, Bryan returned to work and the kids and I eagerly set out to explore and meet the tribal people. This village has had missionaries working with them for approximately 15 years and a young church has been planted. However, only sections of the Bible are in these peoples’ heart language. As a result, the missionary team there presses on to learn the ins and outs of their language and get the New Testament finished.

My kids were free to run about the village and play with the kids. So unlike our neighbors who often grab, pinch and demand things from my kids, these tribal kids were a welcome relief for Andrew and Mikayla who excitedly ran, climbed and played with Tius, Marianna and several other kids.

We were blessed to meet several of the young believers, enjoyed meals with two families -  one of them being an elder of the little church there – and hearing their hearts for the Lord and hunger for more of God’s Word.

The fresh air was a huge help to Bryan’s worsening respiratory symptoms and we all enjoyed actually snuggling under blankets at night and being able to see the stars. This trip was a huge reprieve from the noise, heat, pollution and constant hustle/bustle associated with big city life, and we were refreshed and ready to return to our jobs in support of the ongoing ministry in this and other tribes  after this short stay. We were also reminded of our true passion – teaching and discipling  youth – and  have begun wondering how the Lord can use that amid our primary technical-related ministries.  Yet that for another day…

Indeed, as we boarded the helicopter for departure, I turned and looked at the sea of faces that had come to see us off. A village of people whom I once knew only as coordinates on a chart (thanks to flight following), but now as individual brothers and sisters in Christ desperate to learn more about the GOD whom they worship.  One big family, temporarily separated by distance, culture and language but one day to be united in faith with those from every nation, tribe and tongue around HIS throne.

All our photos and video can be viewed here: https://picasaweb.google.com/flyingAMT/SimpangVisitJan2012

He is almost sitting up by himself and grabbing everything in reach, which of course goes straight to his mouth.

His first tooth is FINALLY popping through after several weeks of pain and misery for us all. We are so relieved! Yet as we started introducing solids, he is only slightly interested. I am desperate for him to start eating something else since he is waking up so frequently at night. Yet rice cereal, carrots, green beans and pumpkin have still not perked his interest. I guess I will keep trying… maybe at 7 or 8 months?

Little Sammy has definitely added some extra challenges to our life here and I have decided I will be living in a fog of fatigue until he is a bit older . Yet his smile and bright blue eyes are loved and adored by all, sibblings and parents included. A real conversation starter, I pray that I will be conscious enough to take advantage of those conversations even though they might not always get real deep with a baby crying, a little girl needing to go to the bathroom and a young boy eager to move to the next aisle. Such is my life right now and knowing (as my wise mother constantly reminds me that “This too will pass” and “to enjoy it in the process”), I pray that I will be faithful in all the small things He has given to me and trust that the rest of those things which I would love to accomplish will fall into place in HIS perfect timing.

While we are very thankful that this license was able to be processed quickly, it is only good through March (as it coincides with our visas which were also only granted through March). At that time, we will have to apply for another visa and mechanic license. So as the Lord brings this to mind, please continue to pray for this. God can move mountains, so I know he can take care of a little paperwork; we are just trusting the outcome to him!  THANKS.

“The Steadfast love of the Lord NEVER ceases, His mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning. Great is HIS faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:22-23

Looking back over this past year, God’s hand has been so evident in our lives. In spite of the challenges, His grace has always been sufficient and we are so thankful for an incredible last year. Here are just a few highlights from 2011.

JANUARY

We also took on the management of our region’s Guest House. (A place for our missionaries interior when they come to town or for other guests passing through.) A challenging task but a great chance to stay involved with all the going-ons throughout our region.

FEBRUARY

The amazing opportunity to teach English and Bible at a local orphanage continued

Plus several medical flights kept our flight team on their toes.

MARCH

A tribal Bible Conference and several flights into tribes from our leadership team meant lots of maintenance for Bryan and the flight team.

APRIL

An exciting month indeed as we not only celebrated the Risen Savior, but also the completion of a Bible Translation into the Lauje Native Tongue.

Boxes of Bibles being flown into the tribe

Receiving a copy of God's Word in their language for the first time.

And on the home front, teaching Andrew how to read, medical needs and Sunday School kept Melissa busy.

MAY

A full month of hosting company allowed for many hours of sweet fellowship with folks from around the world. Bryan also had many late nights with helicopter inspections, overhauls and getting the helicopter ready for an engine swap.

JUNE

Back to the States to await the birth of our third child, we thoroughly enjoyed time with our family and friends, and some much needed down time.

Playtime with Cousins!

Bryan also got to help out with some local outreach and clean-up following a tragic tornado nearby.

JULY

Samuel Joseph joined our family July 10th. Our lives have never been the same since! What a blessing to be close to family at his birth (a first for us!).

AUGUST

All of Samuel’s paperwork was completed just in time and we returned to Central Sulawesi just before his two month birthday. At the same time, our helicopter, which had been grounded the past two months due to a timed-out engine, started flying again with the arrival (FINALLY!) and install of the new engine.

SEPTEMBER

Flying, Flying and more Flying and Shopping, Shopping and more Shopping (supporting missionaries living in the tribes and thus hopefully speeding the spread of the Gospel to hard to reach places).

Some of our tribal church planters

Preparing to pack up a fresh order of veggies

We had fun introducing Sam to all of our co-workers, friends and neighbors too!

OCTOBER

Special times with Uncle James as he visited for two months. We had a great time showing him the sights, sounds and smells of a new country… and the kids enjoyed a constant playmate!

And our baby (Andrew) turned a whole hand old October 26th. Where did the time go?

NOVEMBER

Following close behind, Kayla celebrated her 3rd birthday November 12th.

That amid Christmas play practices with our MKs and at our local church, piano lessons for 15 students and double the normal flying as more and more nationals are eager to use the helicopter to get to their places of outreach faster and safer.

One of our national co-workers traveling to a village that has never before heard the Name of Jesus

DECEMBER

Our favorite time of year (even though it never feels much like Christmas with 90 degree temps) but we enjoyed many great opportunities to let our little light shine.

Wow! What a year!

We are overwhelmed by the way we have been able to see God’s Hand at work in and through us over this past year. It is a true joy to be a part of HIS plan for the people in Central Sulawesi and we thank the Lord for letting us be involved. Thanks to YOU also for helping us make 2011 a year that we won’t soon forget.

Looking forward to another great year in 2012 serving the Lord together! Happy New Year!

]]> http://blogs.ntm.org/bryan-abbott/2011/12/17/a-christmas-update-from-the-abbotts-december-2011-newsletter/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ntm.org/bryan-abbott/2011/12/12/flying-facts/ http://blogs.ntm.org/bryan-abbott/2011/12/12/flying-facts/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:30:25 +0000 Bryan and Melissa Abbott http://blogs.ntm.org/bryan-abbott/?p=1728 I thought it would be helpful to give a bit of a perspective of what an aircraft, or more specifically, a helicopter can accomplish in 10 months.  Remember, we are still in the first stages of developing a flight program in Central Indonesia, so these numbers represent a relatively new program; not to mention that we were without flight service for 3 months due to delays with the helicopters engine.

We have flown 193 hours from January to November.  We have carried 930 passengers and landed 530 times in those same 193 hours.  Some of the passengers were certainly repeats, as we often shuttle people to and from certain areas, but nearly all of these passengers were involved in reaching the people of Indonesia with the Gospel.

A few flights were Humanitarian or Disaster Relief flights and one flight was to assist the local power company in opening a new power grid.  The nature of the work that we do opens us up to many requests from outside businesses. We have requests to fly anything from car parts to tobacco.   However, we have a strict policy on who and what we will fly but we must also maintain good relations with local government offices since they grant us the paperwork that allows us to fly in the first place.  Because of one of our flights, the local power company is now offering a large water turbine electrical generator to one of the people groups we support.  They will even provide training for the villagers so they know how to maintain and support the generator.

A local evangelist visiting a tribe and being greeted with a traditional dance

All in all the vast majority of our flying is missionary related, whether flying missionaries, their kids or their supplies.  We not only support western families, we also support several local evangelists as well as several indigenous missionaries that are working to plant churches in villages outside their own.

Our helicopter flies about 90 MPH, so for every hour it flies it passes over an average of 90 miles of jungle and mountains, or 17,370 miles in the last 10 months. Now these miles are, as my granddad used to say, “as the crow flies” as roads here are anything but straight and flat, if they even exist at all in some places.  For one of our more regular flights, our missionaries can arrive in less than 2 hours.  If the helicopter were not available, their trip would take over 24 hours, none of it comfortable or enjoyable, especially when kids are involved.

News headlines around the world keep reminding me of what Jesus said in Matthew 24.  I really believe the signs of the times are pointing towards the last days.  Time is our most precious commodity, whether you are part of the 99% or the 1%, we all have the same amount of time to spend each day.  So if we can shave a few weeks off a missionaries yearly travel and greatly reduce his stress and fatigue at the same time, we help that missionary spread the Gospel faster.

We still have a month left to go in 2011, and while December has traditionally be a slow month for flying, we are starting to build momentum as more and more people are seeing the advantage of short flights over the jungle rather than days of walking through it.  We are excited to have a newer and larger helicopter on its way to replace our aging Jetranger.  It will increase our payload dramatically and allow us to easily carry two stretchers for sick or injured patients.  One of the families we service is too large to fit in our current helicopter in one trip, but with the larger, Longranger coming, we will be able to transport the whole family at once, which will save them and Helimission time and money!

Thanks for your continued support and prayers.

Ibu Femmi also serves at our church - shown here helping prepare our Sunday School Class for the Christmas Play

Three months ago, we had asked you all to pray for a tutor for Andrew and Mikayla to help them become more comfortable with the Indonesian language. Well, as always, God provides in the best way and the best time. Ibu Femmi is one of our new national co-workers living in the same town with us until next June when her family will be moving interior to help continue the Bible translation for the Lauje tribal group.  While in town, she was looking for ways to serve and we are blessed to be a recipient of her ministry. A natural with children, the kids look forward to their time with Ibu Femmi and have slowly begun to expand their vocabulary. We thank the Lord for providing an understanding, fun tutor for the kids and also for bringing more co-workers to help spread the Gospel throughout the dense jungles of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Sam, Jose and Max - 3 of the little babies 5 months and younger on our team

Likewise, one of our co-workers’ child has just been diagnosed with the measles. While most are up to date on their immunizations, we have several young babies on our team who obviously cannot yet receive the vaccination. So please pray for protection for Samuel and the other little kids, as well as protection for several of our Indonesian co-workers who have not yet had the vaccination as well!

Beyond health issues, please pray for opportunities for the Gospel to go forth this Holiday Season. Christmas programs, dramas, and even neighbors coming to our door (for the traditional cookies and coke), promise many interactions. Pray we would be ready to give a shrewd answer for the hope that we celebrate this Christmas (towards our “M” cousins) and pray for receptive hearts – that people would go away with much more than just another traditional Christmas cookie.

Lastly, please remember to pray for our families back home this Christmas Season. Many people pray for the missionaries living overseas (which we greatly appreciate!!!) but forget how much a sacrifice the extended families of those missionaries make. The holidays can be a difficult time to be apart, especially from the grandkids, so please remember to pray for our extended family during this time.

Thanks so much!!!

In the same way, we are in a marathon race. The prize will come when we stand before the Lord and hear His “well done.” As the song says, “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.” But this race is not done alone. It is a team effort.  We are just one of the many runners, you another, our co-workers another, the Indonesian church another, and the list continues. We keep stressing this because the longer we are on the field, the more we realize how important each player is in accomplishing this task of reaching the Indonesian people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So if you haven’t heard specifically about us lately, that’s part of the reason why.

However, wanting to keep our teammates informed, we have compiled a brief photo journal of our past three months. CLICK HERE to see what we’ve been up to over the last three months. And thanks again for carrying a baton on our team. One day we will all celebrate the victory around the throne!

A big highlight of September and October was having Uncle James visit.

Uncle James got to see a lot during his time here and even got to celebrate Drew's 5th birthday at a local water park.

Introducing Samuel to the neighbors and our friends was a lot of fun too.

Now nearly 5 months old, the Indonesians can't wait to get their hands on the chubby, bald white baby.

One of our Indonesian Co-workers, Ibu Rone

The neighbor kids fight over who will get to hold Samuel first each time they come to visit.

We were able to jump right back into the ministry here in Central Sulawesi. From helicopter maintenance, to buying supplies for our missionaries living in the tribes, to teaching piano and Sunday School and continuing to build relationships with our neighbors, our life is never dull.

Hanging out with the neighbors after an afternoon of cooking together

Over 100 pounds of vegetables being weighed and packed for our tribal missionaries. Andrew is a great helper!

The Chicken Lady at the local market. She is a God-send as she will help me cut up the chickens for our missionaries living interior. This lady makes my job a lot easier!

Sela and Engel - Two of Melissa's Fifteen Piano Students. She teaches 6 Western MKs, 2 Indonesian women and 7 Indonesian children from our church

The Kindergarten and below Sunday School Class at our church

Bryan loves getting his hands dirty, but despises the associated paperwork. Unfortunately it comes with the territory. For every 1 hour of flying results in 2 hours of maintenance and 5 hours of paperwork.

A tribal church service in one of our service areas. We just helped move another couple into this tribe to help finish the Bible translation

All the houses in this tribe are up on stilts for safety, I think. We will be visiting this tribe for ourselves at the end of this year!

As the tribal works expand throughout Central Sulawesi, so the flight program must also grow. Here is our crew brought together by the Lord, including pilots, mechanics, government reps and oraganization leaders, gathered together for a meal at our house.

Andrew also started Pre-K at home this year. He loves numbers, can already count past 100, write all his letters and is learning to read. Here Andrew is showing off his Level 1 reading certificate.

In the middle of the business, October and November are birthday months in our family. Andrew turned a whole hand old (5) and shortly after, Mikayla celebrated her 3rd birthday! Where has the time gone?

Likewise, we were able to keep up with some of our American traditions with some fall festival fun and a thanksgiving meal with a few of our American co-workers.

Getting ready to decorate pumpkins!

Beanbag toss

An amazing Thanksgiving feast, including a turkey imported all the way from the States. A real treat!!!

And after the feast, all of our co-workers joined us for games and pies.

Yes, those are pantyhose on Melissa's head. The goal: to see which team could knock over all the bottles first using only the rock inside the stockings.

Even Bryan got in on the action... here he is demonstrating how he balanced the coke bottle on its side

And that brings us to December. With drama rehearsals, Christmas events, piano recitals, Christmas visits from neighbors, and a chance to go into a tribal location while Bryan performs some electrical repairs for the tribal missionaries, this next month is promising to be full of blessings as well. Thank you for allowing us to serve here in Indonesia. While not always easy, we feel very privileged to be here and appreciate your ongoing prayers and support!