Isen Mulang (pt. 2 of 2)

It was fun to see all of the different cultures from the surrounding province.  MAF actually flies to many of the villages represented, or very near so.

Each area was well known for a certain thing.  Some were gemstones, another was fruit, and yet another was rice and grains.  Look at the intricate decoration on the hornbill beak in the photo above!

There was even an aquatic aspect to the Isen Mulang Festival.  Many boats were made and elaborately decorated.

This dragon was even made to shoot water from its mouth.  It was really cool.  Some of the artistry that went into the costumes, floats, and boats was stunning.  I'm not sure how they did it, or how long it took.  One thing was evident though, the people were very proud to represent their culture and heritage.

Isen Mulang (pt. 1 of 2)

It's been a long time since I've made time to blog.  There are countless factors, mostly just a busy life.  But I've still been taking photos.  Hopefully over the next few weeks I can catch up on a few of the happenings in the last few months.

Every year around May, our city of PalangkaRaya has a large cultural festival called Isen Mulang.  It is comprised of people from all over the surrounding province dressed traditionally in clothes appropriate to their village.

The colors and sights were a lot of fun to witness.  Over the years, I had seen small get together's with this type of dress.  But this year was the first year I actually went to the parade.  I'm usually out flying.

I don't know the significance of any of the clothing and adornments.  However, I do know there were a lot of feathers involved and many beaks from hornbills.

From the Logbook...Easter Trip (pt. 3 of 3)

For some time now, our oldest daughters have expressed trust and faith in Jesus and they desired to be baptized.  I knew the perfect place.  It was an honor and an unforgettable memory to baptize my daughters in the heart of Borneo surrounded by 60 other believers from the local area.

After a quick and memorable baptism, we were able to get a quick family picture.  The whole experience of enjoying God's creation, and being able to top it off with my children's public profession of their faith in a living, loving, and active God will surely go down as a highlight for a long time!  God is good!

From the Logbook...Easter Trip (pt. 2 of 3)

After our Good Friday services concluded, we took a 30 minute drive to a nearby water fall.  Yes, you can drive to this village...but our 1.5 hour flight from PalangkaRaya is a 4 day drive in a 4X4 truck over CRAZY roads.  Not my idea of fun.  True to local style, everyone wanted to come.  We took two trucks and had over 50 people total.  I'll let you do the math on how many people each truck had!

We were 5 minutes into the journey to the waterfall climbing up a steep and muddy slope when we got a flat tire.  Our drivers were prepared and 15 minutes later, we had it changed and continued our journey to the water fall.

The hike to the waterfall from the road was awesome.  Thankfully the local government has made a very nice wooden walkway to access waterfall.  Otherwise, it would have been a near immpossible trail to access the waterfall.

Once we arrived at the waterfall, the fun began, and boy did that cool water feel good!  This waterfall is actually a set of three falls; we were at the largest of the three, the one in the middle.  We had a blast swimming in the pools, hiking all over the place, and generally just enjoying ourselves and our time with the people from Tumbang Olong.  This water fall has always looked amazing from the air when we fly over, but it was even more stunning up close and personal.  God's creation is amazing!!!

From the Logbook...Easter Trip (pt. 1 of 3)

For a few years now, we have been waiting for the timing to be right to make an overnight ministry trip to the village of Tumbang Olong for Easter services.  Finally, everything worked out and we were invited to take both airplanes, and all of our MAF pilots and families for Good Friday services.  It's always fun to have two airplanes, and all of my pictures for the next few days come from my photo taking colleague, Mr. Rogers.  Thanks!  In the photo above, he took a picture of me and my family flying off of his port side.  Flying floatplanes is fun!

Here is our parking spot for the night.  As float plane pilots, you never really relax, even when the airplane is parked.  You're always worried about the river level changing, a rope breaking, someone or something running into your airplane, a float being punctured, etc, etc, etc.  Thankfully, nothing happened and our airplanes were in great shape when we prepared to return home the following day.

Mr. Rogers and I both were invited to share with the local body of believers.  Mr. Rogers shared the night before and then I shared the following morning.  It was a great time to hang out with the people and see such a different lifestyle.  Our kids did great and had a blast running all over the place, being part of butchering a pig, starting a cooking fire, etc.  Life in the village is raw on many levels.

From the Logbook..."Komplikasi"

A few weeks ago already, just before I was ready to take my family on an overnight ministry trip for Easter, we received a call for a patient at a village about 45 minutes north of PalangkaRaya.  Thankfully, there was still enough time in the day to get it all accomplished.  Oftentimes, when we ask what is wrong with a patient, the medical expertise in the village is such that they don't really know, so the patient is labeled under the broad category of "komplikasi" or, complications.  I was happy we could help, because whatever complications this gentleman was encountering, it didn't look pretty and he was obviously in a lot of distress.

Shortly after getting back and sending the man on his way to the hospital, we were airborne again for a village 1.5 hours away where we were invited to minister for the Easter services.  More on that to come in a few days...

From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 5 of 5)

After MCB came with parts to "rescue" us while in Jujang Parit, we were soon airborne in MCD on our way home.  About 30 minutes later, MCB joined up with us and we flew the rest of the way home in a loose formation.

It's always fun to get pictures of yourself while flying.  As we were nearing home, the late afternoon light made for some fun picture opportunities as well.

Nothing like a little "wing over" to get some unique photos.  Don't worry, I would never do this with my normal passengers.  But it was a fun time with my wife to be able to have a little bit of fun with the airplane on the way home.  I love flying!!!

After this short trip to interior Borneo, we were very thankful for all the various aspects of our team that enabled it to happen.  From the teammates that watched our kids, to the policy makers of MAF that build margin into everything we do to ensure safety, to the awesome team I work with in PalangkaRaya that came and "delivered" us out of our plight in Jujang Parit, and the team members that support us financially and prayerfully, this trip would never have been considered without all of those "members of the body" in place.  Thank you to all of you who co-labor with us!

From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 4 of 5)

Because the pilots side rudder controls were rendered useless after the left rudder bar broke, I flew from the right seat and we continued home.  Isaac was able to get pictures of me on takeoff.  Jujang Parit is a "sporty" location for both takeoff and landing!

The river is very short which means we have to actually begin our takeoff roll around the corner.  We begin by applying full power, get the airplane on the step, then we retard the throttle a little bit so that we aren't too fast in the corner, and then when we have rounded the corner we "pour on the coals" and accelerate to flying speed.

As I passed right in front of Isaac's camera I was just about ready to fly...but if your aren't patient and you have bad technique in a place like JPR, you must abort the takeoff and return to your starting point to begin again.  A heavily loaded airplane like the one I was flying demands perfect technique to get out of JPR with margin.

After I passed my pre-determined abort point there was no going back now.  Whatever happens it will occur in front of me now.  Once you are airborne hold a perfect airspeed and initiate your climb above the trees and surrounding terrain.  Have I ever said flying float planes is fun?!  (it's a little challenging too!)

From the Logbook...Survey Trip to Tumbang Tohan (Pt. 3 of 5) MCB to the Rescue!!!

The following morning after waking up in Tumbang Tohan, we ate a breakfast of rice, noodles, monkey and jungle pig.  Pretty good actually, don't judge it until you try it!  Soon afterwards we got back in the canoe, confirmed my recordings from the day before, and then pointed to canoe downstream for a few hours back to the airplane.  The trip back to the airplane was just as beautiful as the day before and went a little faster since we were heading downstream.  After arriving at the airplane, shortly thereafter we were airborne with a destination of Jujang Parit (JPR) about 20 minutes away but on a different river system.  This is the farthest location we serve and one of the most isolated.

(float plane river towing 602.  They don't teach this stuff in school!!!)

After a wonderful 20 minute flight through huge rock formations, over countless waterfalls, and amazing jungle, we made an uneventful landing at one of our most challenging float plane locations.  The river was very high and fast which brings a whole new set of challenges.  Just as we passed downstream of the dock we were going to use I applied left rudder to begin a 180 turn back to the dock and "SNAP!!!"  I knew immediately what had happened.  My left rudder pedal broke and rendered the airplane almost un-maneuverable on a very fast river.  I still had the ability to turn right, which I did and we made it to the ONLY place that would have received the airplane without causing structural damage to the wings, prop, and tail.

Ogasto jumped out of the airplane and onto the river bank and held the airplane in place with one of the wing ropes we have on each wing.  Thankfully, we were in a calmer part of the river as it would have been impossible to hold the airplane in place with one person with only one rope.  A crowd soon appeared and wondered why we didn't park at the dock.  After yelling our explanation to them (they were still 50 feet away) they soon brought one of the motorized canoes to help tow my cripled airplane back to the dock where I could asses the damage and make a plan of action.

The photo above shows us being towed upstream to the dock.  Thankfully that went okay because the small little motorized canoe could barely make any headway against the raging current.  All told, the whole experience from the time the rudder pedal broke to the time we were tied up to the dock took about 5-7 minutes.  But, this is one of those experiences where if just one thing was just slightly different it COULD HAVE TURNED OUT MUCH DIFFERENTLY.  Imagine driving down an icy road and then someone takes your ability to turn left and your brakes away from you...that's what it was like for us.  God was really looking after us.  

Thankfully, I had packed the satellite phone and we soon called home base in PalangkaRaya and informed Issac that we needed some parts.  About 2.5 hours later he arrived in JPR with Mike Charlie Brown (MCB) and the needed parts.  We had them installed shortly thereafter and we were soon on our way back to PalangkaRaya, 1.5 hours away.

Isaac takes some good pictures and while we were fixing the airplane, he took a lot of pictures of the people in the village of JPR.  It is a place far, far away from the complexities of modern life and being there is a bizarre thing, almost like traveling back in time.

All of our meals that we had while on this survey trip were cooked over an open fire like in the picture above.  While we were sorting through the details of our mishap, the pastors wife stopped everything she was doing and got about making us a huge meal before we left.  SO HUMBLING!!!

This time the meat wasn't as exotic as we had enjoyed for breakfast, this time is was just chicken, but it was still good and very appreciated.

There was just enough room to get two airplanes tied up to the dock; the only suitable dock in the whole village I might add.

As always, children turn out in droves to hang around the airplane.  It is always fun to interact with them and get them to laugh.  Thankfully, the weather stayed cooperative and not long after Charlie Delta brought us our parts, we were airborne for home; with a lot to ponder about how people live such different lives than we do, how we had narrowly missed being in an aircraft accident while on the river, and being humbled by the generosity of the people we interacted with.  Such a powerful trip!  Thank you to those of you who pray for us...don't stop!