Mission Description and Experience

I just read my best friend's latest post from Nicaragua, and he described their mission and some daily issues. I thought I might do something similar.

The air base is about 25 minutes from Pucallpa. The city could be considered large at some estimates of around 250,000, however, it really is a bush/third world city. There are some modern sections, but most of it looks like shops and neighborhoods in the third world. The drive is about 5 to 10 minutes of paved road, then about 15 to 20 minutes of dirt/rock-ridden/hard-on-the-suspension road. No wonder cars look old here. Before you get to the base, you enter the village of San Jose, which has a population of about 5,000 and our own Adventist Church of about 75 members.

The base is surrounded by a fense and a locked gate to keep out intruders. I would guess that the base is about 20 acres, though it is hard to tell because we have a runway and areas rampent with plant growth. The land is owned by the mission (the local SDA conference). The runway begins at the far end of the base on the western side and stretchs to the eastern side before sloping down to the lake that passes by. The two-plane hangar/tool shed/storage/office sits slightly on top of the base near the middle overlooking the lake. Director Edie and Administrator Emilio's house, which also doubles as a small dormitory, sits by the gate on the northern side. Beto's (the bust pilot and mechanic) house, which is also my house because I'm house sitting while he is gone for a month, is next to the hangar. There is another house on the southern side, which will probably be the Donesky's house (the new bush pilot and family) when they arrive within the next couple of months. My future house and that of the soon-to-arrive airplane mechanic and his wife, sits by the lake surrounded by two meeting lodges. Group shower houses and tool sheds also dot the base.

While dissimilar from life in the United States, our air base is slightly cushy compared with other Adventist missions worldwide. We have electricity, two phone lines, cell phones (pre-paid with bad rates), an air conditioned and slightly cool office, dial-up internet (can you remember those olden days when you took breaks between websites), plenty of water considering its the dry season right now, indoor plumbing, gas stoves to boil our drinking water, and Beto even has a microwave though I haven't used it yet. We also have two planes, an old-almost working truck, one tracker, and a medical launch boat.

Though we live in the jungles of Peru in the Amazon Basin, the Lord has certainly blessed us with plenty. Please keep praying for the people of Peru and their daily lives. They struggle to live day by day. We have it so good living in the United States, we don't even have to consider if our families will have enough food for tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers, and I'll write you some more soon! May the Lord continue to bless you. Always remember to trust His with all you have!