When It Rains It Pours

When it rains it pours, both literally and figuratively here in Hewa. If you've read any of my previous posts you know that we have been getting a lot of really hard rains which is interfering with our airstrip work. 

Yesterday was no different, until it was time to check our email in the afternoon. We received word from our aviation people that during their routine maintenance check they found a part in the helicopter that needed replacing. That part has to be ordered from America and then it will take a while to complete the necessary repairs. On top of that, we only have one pilot right now that can fly the airplane to come in and open our airstrip, and he is booked up until October 18th!

So, all that just means that right now we can not get a flight in here for supplies or for our airstrip to be checked until October 18th. We are trying to arrange a flight with another mission organization, but if that doesn't happen it will be a total of 15 weeks in the tribe without a supply flight. Can you imagine not going to the grocery store for 15 weeks? We did plan for about 9 weeks, but even so we are running low on a lot of things. 

Needless to say it was very distressing news. We are desperately trying to work something else out, but right now it does not look good. If the other organization's helicopter pilot cannot schedule a flight at the same time as our airplane pilot, then we will just have to try to schedule their helicopter to come in and bring us supplies which will be a very large and unexpected expense because we will then have to pay for the NTM helicopter to come back in with our airplane pilot to do the inspection. BIG SIGH. 

As frustrating as it all is. I am certainly thankful for our NTMA pilots and mechanics who do the regular inspection so they can find these problems on the ground before they become problems in the air. Most of you know that I have a slight *cough cough* aversion to flying, but I have full confidence and appreciation for all our pilots do! 

It was a huge freak out moment for us, but anyone who has read this blog for any period of time will know that we have had a lot of those, and somehow God always works it  out. So after the freak out, we have calmed down and are just waiting on God. We know He knows what's best for us. I am just praying that eating only sweet potatoes and wiping with leaves for six weeks is not what He thinks is best for us.