Joe Wiatt from Faith in Practice called this morning while we were preparing to leave Mayalan for Guatemala City. Joe asked us to pick up one of his volunteers who had become very ill, along with an accompanying doctor, from the region of Isabel where they were conducting a large medical clinic.
I suggested we meet at the airstrip in Rio Dulce as it was the closest. He agreed. I flew with my family, Jennifer, Genna and Beto, to Guatemala City where they departed to complete some errands. I then filed a flight plan with the Aeroclub (an exclusive aviation club in Guatemala) for the flight to Rio Dulce. I also added fuel (which we purchase exclusively from them, and have for years).
Joe called while I was preparing to leave Guatemala City and told me that they had to take a boat to the airstrip at Rio Dulce due to road closures (I believe).
Upon landing at Rio Dulce, I was asked by the guard where my permit to land was. I indicated that my flight plan, filed at the Aeroclub in Guatemala City, was permission. The guard then said that the strip was owned by the Aeroclub and that nobody could land there unless they were a member or had special permission. He said we would not be allowed to take-off.
I explained to him that:
(a) I filed my flight plan AT the AEROCLUB in Guatemala City and nobody there seemed to think it was unusual that I had filed for Rio Dulce. I even asked for route and weather information.
(b) This was a medical emergency and I was not in a mood to debate the issue. At my request, the guard called a representative of the Aeroclub in Guatemala who informed me that we needed to have permission to use the airstrip.
At this point, I was considering the ramifications of simply ignoring the guard and taking off, as he did not appear to be armed.
Just then, a member of the Board of Directors of a local missionary aviation organization A.G.A.P.E., and a member of the Aeroclub, took the phone and re-explained the situation to the woman in Guatemala City, using much better Spanish than I. The lady demured and we all expressed gratitude to the gentleman. My thanks to you Señor!
After we finished loading the patient and accomanying doctor, we departed, flew across Lake Isabel, over the southern pass into the valley that leads up from sea level to Guatemala City (5,000 feet above sea level.)
The ambulance met us at the Aeroclub fuel pumps. The patient and doctor departed and my working day was complete! I did take some time to visit personally with the folks at the Aeroclub office. They asked me to coordinate with them in advance before we do any more emergency medical flights to Rio Dulce. I told them that I would. We´ll strive to plan our emergencies more carefully in the future.
Please say a prayer for Leeroy, the volunteer.
As of this update (3/4/08, Progress Day) Leeroy has is recovering nicely in the U.S.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Missionary Support Flight - February 27, 2008
Last night, as we were finishing dinner dinner, three men came in off the path out of the dark and up to our porch. From the light of our single 12 volt florescent tube, I could tell they were definitely not from Mayalan. Although they were Mam speakers and had Mayan features, each was dressed in a clean white shirt, black dress pants and dress shoes (with socks).
As it turned out, they were pastors working with the the Evangelical Church of Guatemala and had come to visit the C.A.M. (Central America Mission) church here in our little village. They were trying to find a good way to return to Huehuetenango, near where they lived. They asked me if I would take them there. I had a flight planned to Guatemala City to provide a flight to a volunteer engineer working on a hospital rebuilding project for Faith in Practice, so dropping these brothers off in Huehue would almost be on the way there.
The weather in the morning, being very bad, caused us to delay for a couple of hours, but we eventually departed Mayalan for the flight to Huehue. The flight took 35 minutes. It would have been at least 8 hours by road. My other flight from Guate was canceled so I returned home from Huehue.
In Huehue, we stopped to look at a Piper Aztec that had run off the end of the runway and hit the cement block wall that was constructed at the very end of it. At the last minute, the pilot had swerved to the left and hit a small burm, where the landing gear broke off, the props were bent and the right wing-tip punched a hole in the block wall. Huehue is a 6,000 feet above sea level. Because of the altitude, the speed of landing aircraft is somewhat greater than what appears on the air speed indicator, sometimes making landings more challenging than at lower altitudes. We do not know what caused the accident.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
MedEvac - February 26, 2008
Called by a village leader in San Pedro Cotija, a rodless village on the Rio Cotija, to pick-up a very sick five-month-old baby girl.
The flight from Mayalan to San Pedro Cotija took .1 hours.
Upon landing I examined the child who seemed particularly quiet, swollen and feverish. Lifting her eye lids I could see that her eyes were rolled back and she did not respond to prodding. The husband, mother and child were loaded and I was assured by the leader that all the pigs and horses were secured and not near the airstrip.
During the climb, the child revived and screamed for the entire .5 hour flight. After landing in Coban, I got a local driver (cab) to take us to the hospital where I dropped them off and asked the husband to try to contact me after the examination. I went from there to the local market for some supplies. The husband never contacted me and I departed a few hours later for Mayalan.
View Larger Map
The flight from Mayalan to San Pedro Cotija took .1 hours.
Upon landing I examined the child who seemed particularly quiet, swollen and feverish. Lifting her eye lids I could see that her eyes were rolled back and she did not respond to prodding. The husband, mother and child were loaded and I was assured by the leader that all the pigs and horses were secured and not near the airstrip.
During the climb, the child revived and screamed for the entire .5 hour flight. After landing in Coban, I got a local driver (cab) to take us to the hospital where I dropped them off and asked the husband to try to contact me after the examination. I went from there to the local market for some supplies. The husband never contacted me and I departed a few hours later for Mayalan.
View Larger Map
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
GCA Auction Dinner Fundraiser - Sat. April 26
What is more entertaining than Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis?
As elegant as an evening dinner cruise?
Could raise even more
money than selling bricks for a hospital?Join us on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 5:30 pm for our Sixth Annual Charity Auction Located at Concordia College on Geddes Rd. in Ann Arbor, Riverside Student Union
Individual Auction Dinner Seats are only $50.00
Free babysitting on campus!
Event Schedule:
5:30PM Registration & Silent Auction
6:30PM Dinner
7:00PM Live Auction Entertainment by Roger Julie, RIA Auction Services
Map to Concordia: [click for a map to Condordia]
Click Here to Purchase Tickets or to Sponsor: 
Please register TODAY so that we will have plenty of food for everyone.To RSVP and/or Volunteer or to donate an item call
Tammy Burgess at (734) 846-4092
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Sharing the Gospel in Mam (Mayan)
Great Commission Air provides life-saving emergency medical transportation and support for Christian missions in remote areas.
We also show the love of God by sharing the Gospel with whomever we can. We have been blessed to be able to share with church leaders using a device call a "Proclaimer Audio Bible". This box is like an amplified MP3 player that will run on sunshine or with a built-in crank generator. It plays the books of the new testament and is available in many languages, including Mam (pronounced "mum"), a Mayan language common in our village.
A neighbor stopped by last Sunday afternoon asking about some medicine we are helping him obtain. We ended up talking about the homily he heard in church that morning. The tone of his message, 2nd Timothy Chapter 4, was similar to the recorded sermon we had just listened to from our own pastor, Steve Murray. We compared notes in Spanish and I read it in English.
Knowing he was a Mam speaker, I brought out a "Proclaimer Audio Bible". As you can see in the attached video, my friend listened intently and agreed that it was a very good translation. Mam is the first language to many in our village and they need to hear the Gospel in this form, one that they know intimately.
My new friend took the device with him so that he can present it to his Bible study group at the Catholic church next Sunday. Many older members of that group speak very little Spanish and will welcome hearing the Gospel in this professionally done translation.
Thank you for helping to make this ministry possible!
Please continue to support this ministry with your prayers and donations.
http://www.GreatCommissionAir.org/donate.php
We also show the love of God by sharing the Gospel with whomever we can. We have been blessed to be able to share with church leaders using a device call a "Proclaimer Audio Bible". This box is like an amplified MP3 player that will run on sunshine or with a built-in crank generator. It plays the books of the new testament and is available in many languages, including Mam (pronounced "mum"), a Mayan language common in our village.
A neighbor stopped by last Sunday afternoon asking about some medicine we are helping him obtain. We ended up talking about the homily he heard in church that morning. The tone of his message, 2nd Timothy Chapter 4, was similar to the recorded sermon we had just listened to from our own pastor, Steve Murray. We compared notes in Spanish and I read it in English.
Knowing he was a Mam speaker, I brought out a "Proclaimer Audio Bible". As you can see in the attached video, my friend listened intently and agreed that it was a very good translation. Mam is the first language to many in our village and they need to hear the Gospel in this form, one that they know intimately.
My new friend took the device with him so that he can present it to his Bible study group at the Catholic church next Sunday. Many older members of that group speak very little Spanish and will welcome hearing the Gospel in this professionally done translation.
Thank you for helping to make this ministry possible!
Please continue to support this ministry with your prayers and donations.
http://www.GreatCommissionAir.org/donate.php
The Rice Family
Great Commission Air supports Christian missions and provides life-saving emergency medical flights in the most remote parts of Guatemala. The Rice family (Robert, Jennifer, Beto and Genna) live and work in the remote Ixcan Region of north-central Guatemala. With no running water, electricity, sewer system or other conveniences, life is sometimes difficult. But most of the time it is a lot of fun to be in His service and to share the love we all have for each other and the people we serve.
Here is a short video including a tiny view of our home and our kids. I hope you enjoy it, incomplete as it is. Thank you for helping to make this ministry possible.
Please continue to support this ministry with your prayers and donations.
http://www.GreatCommissionAir.org/donate.php
Here is a short video including a tiny view of our home and our kids. I hope you enjoy it, incomplete as it is. Thank you for helping to make this ministry possible.
Please continue to support this ministry with your prayers and donations.
http://www.GreatCommissionAir.org/donate.php
Missionary Support Flight - February 13
Great Commission Air supports Christian missions and provides life-saving emergency medical flights in the most remote parts of Guatemala.
This video was taken as we prepared a flight for the missionary school, ALAS, run by Greg and Helaine Walton. This small but very advanced school is located deep in the mountains north-west of Coban, Guatemala, an area very difficult to travel to on the ground.
On this flight the cargo included all sorts of supplies, food, school equipment, batteries for a solar system, Greg himself and a few dozen baby chickens being held on the lap of the most recent volunteer to arrive, Marlisa C.
The aircraft operated by GCA is a real life-line to villages and missions.
Thank you for helping to make this invaluable service possible!
Please continue to support this ministry with your prayers and donations.
http://www.GreatCommissionAir.org/donate.php
This video was taken as we prepared a flight for the missionary school, ALAS, run by Greg and Helaine Walton. This small but very advanced school is located deep in the mountains north-west of Coban, Guatemala, an area very difficult to travel to on the ground.
On this flight the cargo included all sorts of supplies, food, school equipment, batteries for a solar system, Greg himself and a few dozen baby chickens being held on the lap of the most recent volunteer to arrive, Marlisa C.
The aircraft operated by GCA is a real life-line to villages and missions.
Thank you for helping to make this invaluable service possible!
Please continue to support this ministry with your prayers and donations.
http://www.GreatCommissionAir.org/donate.php
MedEvac - February 2, 2008
Vera, a Belgian midwife and volunteer working with Vivir en Amor (Live in Love) in the very remote Mayan village of Pojom (Pohome), called us to see if we could help transport a pregnant Mayan woman, her patient, to Huehuetengano (Way-way-tenango) for treatment of preclampsia. This potentially deadly condition affects some women late in their pregnancy and prompt treatment is always advisable. We happily agreed to do the flight.
The nearest airstrip, in Ixquisis, was several miles away from Pojom. The road between them was frequently so bad that people had to walk over a very tall ridge that separates the two villages. Today, however, the road was open and that was a very good thing for Vera and her patient! A tough 4-wheel-drive pick-up could make the trip. I flew from our small village of Mayalan to Ixquisis where Vera met me with the patient and her family. We completed the flight to Huehue in under an hour. This would otherwise have been a grueling, bone-jaring eight-hour trip by road.
Getting serious patients like this to the hospital before they are gravely ill is an important aspect of our service. Vera has made other calls in the past and we are very happy to know she is there, looking out for her patients. Vivir en Amor is a Belgian based charity that has really done a lot to support Great Commission Air and to serve the people they live with, providing medical clinics and midwife care.
A map is included here that shows where Ixquisis is relative to Huehuetenango and our home. The red mark to the north is Ixquisis, the one to the south is Huehuetenango. The green house south-east of Ixquisis is our village, Mayalan.
The other yellow marks are airstrips that we serve. The blue ones are airstrips that we have served at one time. Green ones are "newly repaired" airstrips.
View Larger Map
The nearest airstrip, in Ixquisis, was several miles away from Pojom. The road between them was frequently so bad that people had to walk over a very tall ridge that separates the two villages. Today, however, the road was open and that was a very good thing for Vera and her patient! A tough 4-wheel-drive pick-up could make the trip. I flew from our small village of Mayalan to Ixquisis where Vera met me with the patient and her family. We completed the flight to Huehue in under an hour. This would otherwise have been a grueling, bone-jaring eight-hour trip by road.
Getting serious patients like this to the hospital before they are gravely ill is an important aspect of our service. Vera has made other calls in the past and we are very happy to know she is there, looking out for her patients. Vivir en Amor is a Belgian based charity that has really done a lot to support Great Commission Air and to serve the people they live with, providing medical clinics and midwife care.
A map is included here that shows where Ixquisis is relative to Huehuetenango and our home. The red mark to the north is Ixquisis, the one to the south is Huehuetenango. The green house south-east of Ixquisis is our village, Mayalan.
The other yellow marks are airstrips that we serve. The blue ones are airstrips that we have served at one time. Green ones are "newly repaired" airstrips.
View Larger Map
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