The Big Meeting

Today I had the biggest meeting of the trip which was with the Secretary of Lands. As many of you know we have been working on our land deal for almost four years. Today I got to meet with the guy who is at the top and was able to tell him our story and what we have been working towards.

He could not have been more helpful and pledged his support. He even delayed a meeting until they get all of our land issue on the docket. It turns out that he is a big fan of my Father's radio station here in Port Moresby. Thanks for all your prayers. We should be very close now.

I am flying to meet the other guys in a couple of hours. We will land in Wewak tonight and settle in tonight and will be leaving early in the morning for a mission station way back in the Sepik bush. We have a cure kit for them as well as gifts for the missionary family. We will fly back on a Cessna 206, like the one we own, and then will hike a couple miles through the jungle to the station. There is also an option of jumping in the river and floating down to the station.

Thanks for reading! We will be updating again soon.

We made it!

We landed in Sydney at 10 pm after a fourteen and a half hour flight, and then had a ten hour layover. We decided to tour the town because none of us had ever been there before. We saw the world famous Opera House, several flying foxes (worlds largest bat), and then had pancakes at 2 am. At 8 am we were on a plane for Brisbane and then on to Port Moresby, PNG. The 17th was Mark's birthday so we celebrated it in two countries and three different cities.

It got crazy when we landed in Moresby because we only had two and a half hours to clear customs and catch our next flight. On top of that I (Gary) was waiting for an email or voice message on the sat phone from the ambassador to find out if I should go on to the next town or stay in Moresby to meet with the Secretary of Lands. We couldn't get through on the Sat phone so there was a mad dash to find Internet access. Fortunately, our friend, Robert, has a hangar close by with an executive lounge so we were able to get the message.

After all the madness we found out that the flight to our next town...Madang...had been canceled so Air Niugini put all of us up at the Airways Hotel. (http://www.airways.com.pg/)

Mark and Steve left for Madang at five this morning where they will be meeting up with Markus, our Swiss missionary, and also be meeting with Dr. Illomo at the Madang Hospital to assess their needs.

I have a meeting tomorrow (Monday) with the Secretary of Lands and then will be flying on to Wewak to meet up with the rest of the team. Please pray for me and that this meeting will go well. We have been working on this land issue for three years.

Steve is enjoying his visit so far and has been enjoyable to have on the trip. He said PNG is beautiful and the people are very nice. He has been transporting meds for us and has been very helpful.

I have included a map of PNG so you can see where we are. I am in Port Moresby...the other guys are in Madang, and by tomorrow evening we will all be in Wewak where Samaritan is based in PNG.

Thanks for reading...Tuesday we are headed deep into the Sepik River area. It will be a flight on a small mission plane and then a trek to the mission station where we will be delivering a Cure Kit.

Leaving for PNG

We are in Los Angeles and are just about to board the 747 for Sydney, Australia. We met at the airport, shifted meds to the proper bags, and got everything checked onto the plane. The next time you hear from us we will be on the other side of the world.

Meds for PNG

Today we received a shipment of meds from Heart to Heart International (www.hearttoheart.org) for our trip to Papua New Guinea. We will be loaded down with as much as we can carry and will be leaving tomorrow morning, the 15th of February.

Some of the meds will go to our partners at the Boram Hospital and the rest will go to health outposts including one mission station in the heart of the Sepik. Our friend Steve from Phoenix will be joining us on this trip and we will be meeting up with Markus, our new missionary, once we get to PNG. There will be a lot of adventure and a lot to tell so check back often and don't forget to pray for us.

Mercy Flight

A few days ago we organized a Mercy Flight for a man who's name is John. He is battling cancer and needed to be brought home from a distant hospital. Please join us in praying for John and his family during this difficult time.

Our Mercy Flights continue to be a blessing to families in need. We are thankful for our supporters who make the flights possible.

Samaritan Aviation in the News

Today the local Montrose paper did a story on Samaritan Aviation and Western Skyways. We are thankful for the generosity of our friends at Western Skyways and use their engines in both of our planes. It is very important to have a solid engine when you fly in remote parts of the world. Click here to read the story for yourself: http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2007/02/12/local_news/61.txt

You can also get more info on Wester Skyways at http://www.westernskyways.com

Medical Supplies From Denver

Yesterday I flew across the Rockie Mountains from Montrose to Denver and met with Project Cure (projectcure.org), one of our medical suppliers. I picked up three C.U.R.E. Kits that contain medical supplies for remote health outposts. We will be delivering them to Sepik villages on our upcoming trip to Papua New Guinea Feb. 15-28. The value of the kits combined is $10,500 and Samaritan's cost was $450. That is an excellent deal but is actually the highest ratio we pay for medical supplies.

We also talked about our plans of sending two more shipping containers to PNG this year. We are planning to purchase two 40-foot containers and use them for tool storage and office space once we begin to develop the land in Wewak. One container will be filled with medical supplies and the other will be filled half way with medical supplies. The rest of the space will be used to ship the floats for our Cessna 206 as well as the Palm's personal items.

We are thankful for Project CURE and all our partners who help us stretch the value of each dollar.