Dear Friends,

If only airplanes could talk… the stories they would tell. 

We recently had the opportunity to travel with Fraser Alekevu, the treasurer of the Trans Pacific Union Mission, to the Solomon Islands. We were very interested in visiting one of Fiji's island neighbors to compare the need for aviation services. In the short time we were there we toured the main government hospital in the capital city of Honiara and met with Civil Aviation officials. We were amazed to see that the majority of the patients in the hospital were suffering from diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. Our hearts were touched to see the suffering of the people in these islands. We look forward to partnering with The 10,000 Toes Campaign which is a health initiative operated by the South Pacific Division, dedicated to educating the people in the South Pacific to make lifestye changes so they can avoid ending up in the hospitals with diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. 

Transportation is very expensive and the distances between islands makes accessing health care very difficult. In the past the Seventh-day Adventist church had operated several planes but due to the high costs and lack of personnel, the planes have long ago stopped flying and now, like Fiji, there is no mission aviation service of any kind operating in the Solomon Islands. We even saw the remains of the Piper Aztec that had been donated by the Quiet Hour in 1970. It had literally served out its life saving lives and spreading the gospel. Here is a very interesting article about the history of Adventist mission aviation in the South Pacific.

Our prayer is that once we have established a mission aviation service in Fiji, MiracleAir will be able to expand to the surrounding island nations where the needs are just as great. This will take even more resources and personnel but when we see the magnitude of the need in these islands we can only wonder what God will do if we are willing to be used by Him. The opportunity to serve and witness for Jesus is endless. We firmly believe that establishing a base in Fiji will make the expansion to the other island nations much easier. 

So what's next? We just recently returned to Canada as our plan is to concentrate on raising the funds necessary to begin the project in Fiji. This will include transporting the plane to Fiji along with importation expenses, building a hangar and housing for missionaries at the airbase. We also need to submit plans for the hangar we would like to build at the Bureta airport on the island of Ovalau. We are working on an initial budget and will be sharing the details very soon. One thing is certain, we are very excited to see what God has done to open the doors and we are more certain than ever that it is God's plan that a new aviation ministry will take flight in these isolated islands.