I hope that all of you enjoyed a very merry Christmas. Even though there may have been hardship and sadness for some, as Christians, we should find joy and hope for the burdens we bear in the celebration of the birth of our Savior. It is my prayer that the promise of a new year will bring an ever increasing desire for the things of God to you and your family.

In November, I returned to Costa Rica with the goal of finishing the bridge we started building across the Telire River at the village of Bajo Blei in October. I was accompanied from the States by my son John Paul, my uncle Monty Freshwater, Mike Slayman from Maryland, as well as Chris Free and Aaron Sawyer both from Alabama. Once in Bribri, we were joined by David Jones and the usual group of locals that participate in the jungle work.

[See photos below.]

We had planned for 9 days in the jungle to finish the bridge, beginning on a Thursday. On the Tuesday before we were to fly up, we discovered the 800 u-bolts we had ordered to connect the walk boards to the support cables were an incorrect size and unusable. This required the first of many changes to our original plan. The u-bolts were pivotal to the project and without them there was no reason to go to the site. So, we decided to make the u-bolts when the hardware store (the largest chain in Costa Rica) told us it would take 2 weeks minimum to correct the mistake. We decided to buy flat metal bar stock, cut it into 2 inch pieces, drill 2 holes in each piece and weld bolts into each hole. Making the necessary number of connectors (u-bolts) required 1600 bolts and nuts, 1600 2” flat plates, 1600 weld points and 3200 holes drilled. In order to find enough materials in Bribri, we had to use 4 different widths of flat bar stock and 8 different sizes of bolts. With only two days before our flight, we knew we would have to finish making the connectors on site.

Thursday arrived with clouds and rain postponing our flight. When Friday was likewise rainy, once again the flight was cancelled. Saturday we awoke to clear blue skies, but we were told that we could not fly because the helicopter was scheduled elsewhere for Saturday and Sunday. Our 9 days in the jungle had now been reduced to 5. I still felt like if we could get in early on Monday, we had a chance to finish the bridge.

Monday I boarded the helicopter at 7:20am at our hangar in Bribri with part of the team and part of our gear. At 7:40am I stood at the bridge site watching the helicopter fly off, knowing that we would need at least one more flight to get all our people and gear on site. The Ministry of Health was paying for the flights and they were holding medical clinics in several villages near our location for the 5 days we were in Blei. The doctor in charge of scheduling the flights decided to start sending her medical teams into their villages. She ignored pleas from David and the pilot to finish flying in our gear first. We could not begin work or even set-up camp until they flew in the rest of our gear. The only camp site we had was where the helicopter had to land.

Our things arrived on the last flight of the day at about 2:45. Within 30 minutes it began to rain. We had lost an entire day of work, sitting in the sun without food and then had to set up camp in the rain. To add insult to injury, we knew the doctors were sleeping and eating in the school, so they didn’t have to make a camp and they never had any intention of seeing patients the first day.

We began Tuesday still with the hope of finishing the bridge by Saturday. We worked from the time the sun came up at 5:30 am, into the night with lights hung on the cables stretching across the river. We worked through driving rain storms that rolled between the mountains every afternoon. When we finally quit for the day, it was a dark walk to the cold black river for a bath, then a little sleep before the next day started. In the end, having worked as hard as we could, we were not able to finish the bridge or even leave it in a useable state.

Before flying back to the U.S., I met with David Jones’ brother Philip in San Jose. Philip lives at the Northern end of the Talamanca Valley with his wife and three children. He lives in the house that his Father built in the early 1950s. They have no electricity except for the small generator they run about 3 hours every evening. I have been to his house twice in the past year to measure the flow of several small rivers that run near his house. I am trying to help him design and implement a small hydroelectric power system for his house and church. I have never attempted anything akin to this before, so I’m slowly clawing my way up the learning curve. This will allow him to have power all day, which should aid his translation work, not to mention the benefits for his wife. Hopefully, if we can find all the components, we can begin installation in the spring.

If I was not already convinced, this trip made one thing perfectly clear. We are not going to be very effective with our work in the jungle until we have control of our own transportation. That brings me to another bit of bad news I need to share with you.

As you remember, last March we had a meeting with Samaritan Air in Florida. They said they wanted to send their newly acquired Huey along with a pilot to Costa Rica to aid our effort in Talamanca. They also gave me a list of what they wanted done before they sent the Huey. I spent most of the year and all the money we had set aside for purchase of a helicopter on construction of a hangar and living area. Their pilot came and lived with us several months this summer to help on the construction.

The pilot has told me he is no longer working for Samaritan Air. Two weeks ago I got a brief e-mail from the President of Samaritan Air saying they would not be sending the helicopter to Costa Rica. And in fact, he was going to sell the helicopter. He did not however offer to sell it to us and I know that he has had it for sell for over a month.

The bottom line is, we find ourselves almost in the same position we were in last year this time. I say almost because of one little detail. It is true, we didn’t have a helicopter then and we don’t have one now. The difference is, practically everyone in Costa Rica, from the Vice-President on down believes I’m bringing a helicopter to Costa Rica. Samaritan Air had asked me to secure permission to operate the helicopter in Costa Rica. I have talked with the Vice-President and several Cabinet level officials from different government agencies. The local government in Bribri, which in the past has been hostile toward our ministry, has bent over backwards in an effort to be helpful, knowing the great benefit that a helicopter based in Bribri would be during emergencies. After 16 years of trying to establish a good testimony, I’m a little concerned as to how this news well be received.

More than just how the news will be received and the impact on our testimony, we find ourselves once again without the prospect of the one tool that could make the greatest difference toward the spreading of the Gospel message. We have the message, we have the people who desire to take it, we have a population in great need of hearing it, all we need is an effective method of getting it to them.

We need approximately $100,000.oo to finish building the hanger, equipping it for operations and securing the landing area. We need about $600,000.oo to purchase a helicopter and get it operating in Costa Rica. Seven hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money. Is it worth the investment I ask myself. But, you know, churches spend millions of dollars to renovate or build new structures. And why do they decide to build instead of holding 4 or 5 services a week? Because they believe the new facilities will make their work more effective.

Have you ever questioned the necessity of a $700,000.oo investment in Talamanca? There are about 16,000 Cabecar and Bribri Indians in Talamanca. Imagine a town anywhere in the U.S. with 16,000 inhabitants or think about your own hometown. How many different churches do you imagine might be in that town? How many of those churches might be involved in facility renovations or new building construction? Remember, all of those churches are trying to reach the same 16,000 inhabitants. How many unreached might there be in that town? I don’t know, but apparently enough to warrant million dollar investments by the churches in that town. Now consider, 16,000 Cabecar and Bribri, 100,000 Guaymi, spread over thousands of square miles of remote jungle territory and only a handful of people trying to reach them, the answer to the question of whether a $700,000.oo investment is warranted or not should be obvious.

What I am about to say I hope is not misunderstood. Those of us working in Talamanca to spread the Gospel there have made that work the priority of our lives. We greatly appreciate the donations we receive from you. We receive monthly gifts from many of you and those gifts are what keep us operating. We recognize that our ministry is only a small portion of where you invest your life work. You have other interests, responsibilities and priorities in your life that are far more important to you than what happens in Talamanca. Your priorities should be between you and God, and we are therefore thankful that you have chosen to participate to the degree that you have in the work in Talamanca. But, in order for us to buy a helicopter and operate it in the evangelization of Talamanca, we are going to need people not sent to Talamanca to embrace the same kind of commitment to the lost there that we have embraced. We need Christians who’s lives, though rooted and based here, are dedicated whole-heartedly to the saving of souls in Talamanca. In order to buy a helicopter, we are going to need individuals and/or churches willing to take on the same kind of commitment as they would if they were building a facility for themselves. I do not know if that will ever happen to any degree. If it does not, we will never be able to buy the tool we need. The same tool David Jones’ father needed 60 years ago. All I know for sure is, I have committed everything I had to reach the lost in Talamanca.

Please keep us in your prayers. I will have to admit to having some frustration. Having seen the tool we need, having sat in its seat and inhaled the sweet savor of jet fuel, having wrapped my fingers around the collective and cyclic sensing the power waiting to be commanded, having heard the distinctive “whamp” of large rotor blades beating the air into submission, knowing that the doors to effectively ministering in Talamanca were about to swing open, then, having the rug pulled out from under us. It is as though I can almost hear Satan going, “na na na na na na. It’s never going to happen”

But we are admonished by Scripture to give thanks in everything. So, I do. I give thanks that our hangar, though yet unfinished played a useful role in the rescue and recovery efforts during the devastating floods of November in Bribri and all along the Sixaola flood plain. I give thanks for every opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I give thanks for the vision of Talamanca populated by Christians. I give thanks for you who have stood by us and supported this ministry for many years. I give thanks for you who can no longer contribute monetarily, but continue to pray for us and share the vision with others. I give thanks for my family who love me despite my failings. I especially give thanks to Christ for the privilege of serving Him. He saved me from myself and then honored me by allowing me to carry His name. Blessings to you all.