Hello from Costa Rica. We arrived back in country almost 4 weeks ago and have hardly had time to catch our breath. After being away for practically 6 months there has been a lot to catch up on. Getting the house in order was first priority, six months of heat, humidity, insects and inattention had wrecked havoc. But some elbow grease and late nights have alleviated the majority of the glaring problems and therefore have taken the edge off the stress levels.

We have already been joined by a team of three gentlemen from Fairview Church of God in Alabama. They helped with putting things back in order and with the construction of some kitchen cabinets. Also while they were with us, we made a trip to Namu Woki. Namu Woki is a Bribri village east of the Uren River where we are planning to hold a medical clinic. I was also told of the need for three bridges over the Katsi River which is a tributary of the Uren. The team and I visited those locations while we were in the area. These bridges are especially important during the rainy season for the school children who live up river.

When the Alabama guys left, we were visited by a couple from North Carolina and their daughter, who is a student at Elon University and doing a semester abroad in Costa Rica. They were kind enough to bring me a replacement hand pump for a well we dug several years ago in Bajo Coen. We trekked up the Coen River to Porfirio’s house and replaced his pump. He and Teonila were very happy to be able to access the clean water that flows just a few feet underground near their hut. Once again they no longer have to drink water from the river. As we were leaving Bajo Coen, I stopped by the school at the request of Porfirio. The teachers at the school showed me the shallow well they have and asked if I could possibly put a pump on their well.

Daisy is planning an evangelistic campaign for May. She has contacted a Pastor from San Jose to speak and has arranged for several Christian singers from Guanacaste to come and participate as well. I think there will be about 20 people total involved in the campaign.

Yesterday several people from the village of Alto Uren came down to Bribri. Dr. Dean, Monty and Darryl will remember Alto Uren. It is a curiosity in that it is a two day climb, uphill both ways. Or the trip could be, as Dr. Dean enjoyed once, an eight minute helicopter flight. We have held a medical clinic there before but it has been several years since I visited the village. Anyway, they came down looking for help to get water to the village school. There are lots of springs in the area but all of them at a lower elevation than the school. This is a project that will require a helicopter, not much flat land anywhere near the village.

April fourth David Jones and I will drive into San Jose and get on a helicopter for the ride into Alto Telire. Some Costa Rican medical personnel are going in and we are hitching a ride. There are five more bridges that are really needful along the Telire River. We are going to locate and measure the exact spot for the next bridge. It will be about half way between the first two bridges we built on that river. Our hope is to get all five bridges measured and then hang cable cars in all five spots until we can get the bridges built. Though not nearly as useful as a bridge, the cable cars at least make crossing possible in the rainy season.

On April 7th, I am going to visit a village in Alto Yorkin. As you are going upriver from Bribri, the first tributary that enters the Sixaola is the Yorkin. The Yorkin forms part of the border between Panama and Costa Rica. The Indian population of Alto Yorkin is Guaymi and Panamanian. I have been told they are in need of a bridge and a medical clinic would be a good idea as Panamanian doctors never visit in that area. 

So that I am not misunderstood, I will reiterate that medical clinics, bridges and water systems are all merely a means of opening the door for the Gospel. In everything we do, we want to be a witness to the truth of what Jesus had to say about salvation and the need for it. In fact, to reiterate once again, if bridges, clinics and wells were my main concern and objective, I would not be worried about a helicopter. The need of a constant presence in all these villages for the purpose of evangelism and discipleship is what makes the helicopter necessary and vital.

While I am talking about aircraft, let me give you an update on the airplane I told you about in the January newsletter. It is a 1956 Cessna 180, a great bush plane and apparently one of the favorites of bush pilots in Alaska. From what I could ascertain from the log books, the plane has only been flown about 400 hours in the last 20 years and only about 10 hours in the last 10 years. We took the plane to have it certified for IFR (instrument flight rules) and discovered that it needed several things in order to pass. We repaired or replace several of the flight instruments, one of the nav/comm radios and repaired a leak in the static system. The total cost was several thousand dollars.

As I said, it is a beautiful airplane and well taken care of. But because of its previous use, it is not really configured as a bush plane. There are several changes I’d like to make as funding permits to make it much more useful for our environment and needs. First, I’d like to install tundra tires  and a larger tailwheel which will allow landings on sand/gravel bars and other rough surfaces, the cost would be ~ $2300.Then to shorten the take-off and landing distance to approximately 400 ft I’d like to install a vortex generator and wing-tip extender kits with a cost of ~ $3500. A set of high impact shoulder harnesses for the pilot and co-pilot as protection when landing on unimproved strips will cost ~ $1200. The bench seat in back I’d like to replace with a pair of jump seats for $1750. This would allow for the removal of the co-pilot seat and right rear seat to accommodate a stretcher. With the jump seat behind the pilot for an attendant, the aircraft could be used for an air ambulance. The final addition of an extended baggage kit would allow for additional room for the stretcher and easier access to baggage while protecting the integrity of control cables, wiring, etc. located in the tailcone. This kit sells for $980. So, for approximately $10,000, we can convert N4599B (the airplanes registration number) to a very useful bush plane. It will of course never do for us what a helicopter could and it will not erase the need for a helicopter. But configured as a bush plane it will allow us to do things that we cannot do at present and there are some things the plane will do better and cheaper than a helicopter.

I am sure all of this sounds very ambitious. Ten bridges on four different rivers, water projects, medical clinics, evangelism outreach, aircraft reconfiguration, landing strip preparation in different jungle areas where possible and of course, the continuing search for helicopter funding. The magnitude of the ambition is made even more stark when one considers the fact our donations are half of what they were last year. A lot more expense and a lot less money, it would seem to be a good source for some degree of consternation. But there is a certain incident that took place a couple thousand years ago in Capernaum that has always provided hope even if somewhat baffling in its particulars.

The tax collectors responsible for collecting the temple tax in Capernaum came to Peter and asked if Jesus paid the tax. Peter responded that of course he did. Peter then went into the house where Jesus was, but before Peter could say anything, Jesus spoke up first. Jesus asked Peter from whom the kings of the earth collected taxes, their own sons or strangers. The answer was obvious, from strangers because their sons are exempt. Jesus then points out that He should be exempt from the temple tax since He was the Son, but in order not to offend, He paid the tax. Up to this point in the story I’m fine. I understand. Now comes the part where I have to scratch my head.

Jesus tells Peter to go to the lake with his fishing pole. Not his net, a line, to catch one fish. Peter is then to look in the fish’s mouth, the first one he hooks, and he would find a coin. Not just any coin, but the exact coin sufficient to pay the tax for both Jesus and Peter. Amazing. Remember when God called Moses at the burning bush and He gave Moses a sign for Pharaoh. God told Moses to put his hand in his shirt and when he pulled it out it was leprous. Then he put it in again and when he pulled it out it was healed. Why didn’t Jesus just tell Peter to put his hand in his pocket and he’d find a coin or maybe just look under his pillow. What is the deal with taking his pole and going to the lake and catching a fish to get the coin out of his mouth. Could it be that Peter didn’t fully realize who Jesus was and what He could do. Look, they had just come down from the mount of transfiguration. What more evidence could you need? If that wasn’t enough to convince Peter, then we are really in bad shape. How pitiful our faith must really be.

Jesus didn’t tell Peter to go stand under the amusement park ride where coins might have fallen out of someone’s pockets. He didn’t say walk along the shore with your metal detector and see if you can find some lost change. He didn’t say throw your net into the water and start cutting open fishes bellies until you find one that swallowed some coins. He didn’t even say go catch a bunch of fish, sell them in the market and then pay the tax. There was absolutely nothing happenstance about the command or the event. Everything was absolute. It was a pure demonstration of Jesus’ power to do exactly what He wants, how He wants with or without any intervention of man. It was a particular coin, in the mouth not the belly of a particular fish, in a particular lake. How can we doubt then when Jesus says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

Thank you all for your support. It is much appreciated. Please pray like the salvation of Talamanca depended upon it.    We now commend you……

John, Daisy, John Paul & James Whited