Participants:
Series Code: NOW
Program Code: NOW210030S
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00:16 This is 3ABN Now with John & Rosemary Malkiewycz.
00:21 Hello and welcome to3ABN Now. 00:24 I know you're going to enjoy this program 00:26 because it's full of action, things that happen 00:28 in a person's life when they commit their life 00:31 to following Jesus wherever He leads. 00:33 Takes them to places probably they never imagined. 00:36 And we had the opportunity of talking to Pr. Bill Townend 00:41 and his wife in the previous program. 00:43 And we are so grateful for seeing a couple 00:47 make a decision to go to a place that they knew very little about 00:51 but they soon discovered it's not easy being missionaries. 00:54 And you know what? Welcome to the program Pastor Bill. 00:58 And I know you've got a lot of stories to tell 01:01 because we heard how you were flying 200 and something days 01:05 out of a year away from your wife flying an airplane. 01:09 So that's gonna have stories that I'm sure will 01:12 make your... I was going to say hair... 01:15 Mine but not yours. Not mine, yes! 01:19 Well, there is a bit there. Yes. And so... anyway... 01:23 Rosemary, you've got a text? 01:26 Well we've got the same text that we had for Pastor Bill 01:30 that we had on the previous program because he has a real 01:33 important reason for these verses. 01:36 And he has his modification 01:40 which he is going to reveal to us. 01:42 This is Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12. 01:47 And the Bible says: 01:49 "For He shall give His angels 01:51 charge over thee 01:53 to keep thee in all thy ways. 01:55 They shall bear thee up in their hands 01:58 lest thou dash thy foot 02:00 against a stone. " 02:02 So what's the modification? 02:05 Well I'll do something which I know you shouldn't do 02:09 to Scripture. Scripture says don't do this. 02:11 But I like to do it and I'm sure the Lord will understand. 02:14 I'd like to change that word stone 02:17 where you dash your foot against a stone 02:20 to plane. That the angels will hold you up so you don't 02:24 dash your plane against a stone. 02:27 And I think that for me that has always been 02:31 a very special verse. 02:33 You know, in our last program... There may be people watching 02:36 who didn't get to see that one yet 02:38 so they'll have to go back onto our catch-up and watch it... 02:41 but you were called to be a missionary pastor/pilot 02:50 and you didn't even have your qualifications for flying yet. 02:53 No. Both my wife and I were very reluctant missionaries. 02:59 And I still had two cross-country 03:04 flights to finish my basic license... private license. 03:08 And so, yeah, we were not ready or expecting to be called 03:12 to the mission field. And the last thing I'd ever 03:15 dreamt of was being a mission pilot. 03:17 Especially in somewhere like Papua, New Guinea! 03:19 Especially in Papua, New Guinea. Yeah. 03:21 You'd been on one flight previously while you were at 03:24 Avondale. What happened with that flight? 03:26 What was that? With your friend you went flying. 03:30 Oh, yes I started... Well, very first flight 03:33 I ever had was while I was a student. 03:35 It cost a full $5. Now when you're a student 03:37 $5 was a big investment. 03:40 And we both... three of us went off and had a flight. 03:45 And it was a trial instructional flight got us going. 03:48 One of those friends, he and I both were in New Guinea 03:52 flying planes together. The other man 03:55 joined the Air Force and was unfortunately killed 03:57 in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. 04:01 So that was where it all started: 04:02 while I was a student at Avondale College. 04:04 But very limited at that time 04:07 'cause students don't have a lot of money to spend on 04:10 learning to fly... or I didn't anyway. 04:12 You had a love for flying from an early age, did you? 04:15 For as long as I can remember. 04:17 I used to dream - literally dream - as a kid 04:19 flapping my wings and flying around. 04:21 What did your mom think? 04:23 Oh yes... well she knew... she knew. 04:26 And so then you were getting a pilot's license just because 04:29 you wanted to be able to fly. Wanted to do it, yes. 04:32 Just wanted to do it. And it'd been stretched out 04:35 over a long time because I got started at Avondale College 04:39 and five years later here I was... still hadn't quite 04:44 finished my license. Umm. Umm. 04:46 And so then the Division called you? 04:49 Yes. Reluctantly you accepted? 04:51 Reluctantly. I think as I mentioned before 04:53 the Division secretary said to me: 04:57 "Bro. Towned, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel... 04:59 you have to come. " 05:01 You knew your position, didn't you! 05:04 I knew where I stood in the church after that, yes. 05:06 And so they got you to finish your license. 05:09 And when you told us last time that you were having to 05:13 do jaunts... They'd just say: "Go fly somewhere" basically. 05:16 "Here's the plane; off you go. " 05:18 You were getting your hours out flying all over New South Wales, 05:21 and Victoria, and South Australia. Yes. 05:23 Very different to where you were going. 05:26 Yes, it was. I mean, those mountains 05:28 in Papua, New Guinea... are notorious; 05:31 they're dangerous. I remember as a child 05:34 being brought up on a farm in Western Australia 05:36 my dad would always have a married man come and work 05:40 for us and they'd stay in a cottage on the farm. 05:44 And one man that came one time was a pilot... 05:47 an ex-pilot from Papua, New Guinea. 05:49 I don't know who he flew for. I just remember hearing 05:53 how his wife was so disturbed 05:57 that he was a pilot in Papua, New Guinea. 06:00 And it upset her so much he finally had to give it up - 06:04 yes - 'cause it was so dangerous. Too many people 06:07 had lost their lives. So it's a dangerous place to fly. 06:11 Papua, New Guinea flying is different flying. 06:14 It's tough flying, and the reason for that is 06:17 because it has very high mountains. Mt. Wilhelm 06:20 is nearly 14,000 ft. high? 06:22 It's tropical so you get big tropical weather happenings. 06:26 Storms and the like. 06:28 And you get because it's in the mountains 06:32 very steep strips built on just any bit of open ground. 06:37 Steep; short. And so you put all that together 06:42 and it really is recognized as one of the 06:45 most dangerous places to be fly- ing airplanes in the world. Yes. 06:49 So for someone with relatively few flying hours 06:54 basically - basic flying - yes, yes - 06:56 flying across the nice areas in Australia... 07:00 Yes. Quite flat. Maybe a few hills somewhere 07:04 but no mountains necessarily... 07:06 to end up in Papua, New Guinea. I know. What was that like? 07:10 That was a challenge, and for the first probably six months 07:14 I spent most of the time just flying around 07:16 with one of the other pilots 07:18 getting a feel of what was going on 07:20 and where things were and how to do it. 07:23 Because you know there are lots of traps for young flyers 07:27 up there, and many a pilot who's found to his sorrow 07:30 that there's a few rules and if you... 07:34 You follow them... otherwise you will find yourself 07:36 in deep trouble. There were some things 07:41 that happened up there that are quite frightening 07:44 that you mentioned - storms and things - that 07:47 just suddenly come over. Yes, yes. And I had a friend, 07:50 a Baptist friend, Marcus who was a pilot up there? 07:54 Emmaus? Yes. They were out of Port Moresby, I think. Yes. 07:59 And they were up there for quite a few years. 08:01 He ended up training pilots - my - for Papua, New Guinea. 08:06 Yeah. But it's a very... It's very challenging. 08:09 You have to... all the different runways. 08:13 You have to become accredited to fly in or out of. 08:17 Without being checked in and out... yeah. 08:20 You can't just go out there: "Well I'll fly off to here. " 08:23 You've gotta be checked into it. 08:24 So what was your position that you were going there 08:27 to fulfill? I went to Papua, New Guinea, 08:30 as what they called at that time a district director/pilot. 08:33 In other words, I had a district which I cared for 08:35 all the mission work in and then I was a pilot as well. 08:41 I used the plane in my district to do my district work 08:45 but I also... the flying was district flying 08:49 and also we did probably more as it turned out 08:53 flying transferring missionary national workers from one place 08:59 to the other and flying VIP's around. 09:02 Medi-Evac? Medi-Evacs and all that kind of stuff. 09:05 Yeah, definitely. What about cargo 09:08 such as peoples' produce and goats? Yes! 09:11 So I've had goats in the plane. Len Barnard flew a calf 09:15 or a cow or something? Yeah, when we were living at... 09:18 The first place I was at there was no road. 09:20 My wife wanted a piano, so I was coming back 09:24 from Port Moresby empty and I loaded the piano 09:27 into the back of the mission plane and flew the piano. 09:31 It was a little Yamaha spinet one. 09:35 But squeezed it in and didn't damage it and got it up there. 09:37 She must have been thrilled! 09:39 Yeah... ducks, goats. 09:42 People? People... bodies. Yes... 09:47 unfortunately. So you know, you had very little experience in... 09:50 Well, you had limited experience in flying. 09:53 So you get there and you said that your plane 09:56 was like your car. So I mean you would have picked up 09:59 fairly quickly being able to fly in that area. 10:03 Yes. Yeah... well my district... 10:07 well the plane - I didn't have a car, obviously - 10:10 but the plane would be parked at the front door 10:12 just like the car would be and I would... In my district I had 10:15 about 7 or 8 strips I think. Different... 10:20 Inside my district. So at those strips were there other 10:23 missionaries located? Like national ministers 10:25 there, and I would have to go and help them with programs 10:28 and supply them and pay them 10:32 and care for them if they got sick. 10:35 Go out and do their baptisms and things like that. 10:38 So it was... And we built 10:42 one, two... three new strips while we were there also. 10:46 When I say we... I said: "We'll build it here" 10:50 and they would do the work. And then we'd have to 10:52 walk in and check it out before we could fly in. 10:55 But... It was all done by hand? Was it all done by hand? 10:58 All done by hand... yeah. 11:00 So how would they do that? 11:02 They would just dig it out. They would have what we would call 11:05 a "working bee" and some of them would go on for a very long time 11:09 before they got the site to where it could be used. 11:12 And once it got to where it could be used 11:14 then the problem was maintaining it. 11:16 Yes. Because they're just not into maintaining anything. 11:19 And so sometimes you'd fly over and the grass would be 11:23 this high. And you'd just have to drop a little note out 11:25 and say: "Cut the grass and I'll come back. " 11:28 Hmm. Hmm! 11:30 They'd have to get rid of rocks and trees? Oh yes! 11:33 and limbs from the side of the mountain. No Bushman! 11:37 Down on the coast, they could put coral on the strips 11:40 and get quite a good surface - yes - all-weather surface. 11:44 But some of these mountain strips... they'll get wet 11:46 and slippery and you just you know... it's interesting. 11:49 Don't want to slip off the mountain! No! 11:51 You haven't got something nice to land on. 11:54 I know you would have a number of stories like 11:57 slipping on the air strip, but you must have some 12:01 stories that I believe will be very interesting 12:05 to our viewers how God really took care of you. Yes. 12:08 And I'd like you to start on your stories 12:10 because I really enjoy them and I'm sure the viewers will too. 12:14 Hmm. Because you know there's an element there that 12:16 it's not only on man's skill 12:18 but there's a God who watches over everything. 12:21 And if we really understand that 12:23 we'll better believe in God 12:27 and what He does today in our lives. 12:29 So Bill... take it away. All right. Well, I... 12:31 Talking about the storms before. 12:34 I'll start with a story that I wasn't going to tell 12:38 but because you mentioned it, Rosemary, I will. 12:41 It was a Sunday morning, and I'd started flying 12:44 at a place called Hoskins on New Britain... 12:47 on the north coast of New Britain. 12:49 And I was to fly from there across to Lae. 12:53 Well, I lighted the plane up, turned on the radio, 12:58 and contacted the Rebaul Flight Service. 13:01 And before I'd said anything they said: "Look, 13:03 we've got a medical emergency. 13:05 It's Sunday morning; there's no one else around. 13:08 Can you do it? " And I thought: 13:10 "Oh, boy... the last thing I want 13:12 with the flying program I've got for the day is to have 13:16 a medical emergency. " 13:17 But I thought: "Well it's not going to look any good if 13:20 anybody listening to radio hears the SDA's decline 13:23 to do a medical emergency. " 13:24 So I said: "OK... where is it? " 13:26 And he said: "Oh, it's at Bali. " 13:28 Bali? Bali, yes. 13:31 Not the Bali in Indonesia. Oh good. 13:33 The Bali which is a little island 50 miles 13:37 exactly off the north coast of New Ireland. 13:40 Ninety degrees from where I wanted to go. 13:42 You're at New Britain? I'm on New Britain, yes. 13:44 And it's this little island out in the salt water called Bali. 13:49 And I said: "Well just hang on... I'll calculate to see 13:53 if I've got enough fuel 13:54 to get out there and then still get to Lae. " 13:57 Well, unfortunately I did. 13:59 So I had to say to them: "Well OK... I'll go. " 14:02 So we could fly for 50 kilometers over the water 14:06 in a single-engine airplane. That was the limit that 14:07 we could do so long as we had a life jacket on. 14:11 So I flew out to Bali. When I got there 14:15 the... 'cause I didn't know what the medical emergency was. 14:19 But the pastor told me... He says: "The Catholic church 14:23 has a little clinic up the way here 14:24 and they have a lady... " This was Sunday morning... 14:26 who's been in labor since Thursday afternoon. 14:29 She really desperately needs to get to the hospital. " 14:33 And so I said: "All right. " 14:35 "You go and get her. I'll get the plane fixed up 14:38 for the stretcher" because she was on a stretcher. 14:41 Which meant I had to leave behind 3 of my passengers. 14:44 Now they were none too happy 14:46 about being stuck out in the middle of the salt water 14:48 a long way from where they thought they were going to be 14:50 by the end of that day. 14:52 But they were good-hearted about it and understood. 14:54 And so we got the stretcher in. 14:58 Did you have to draw sticks to see who stayed behind? 15:00 I can't remember that, but 15:03 maybe we did, Rosemary. 15:06 I'm not sure, but anyway 15:07 we put the lady in. And a nurse had to come 15:10 as well to watch over. And so there was the stretcher 15:14 in the back, the nurse in the back, and myself 15:16 and one of the lucky passengers sitting in the front with me. 15:20 And we took off and headed for Lae. 15:23 I was a bit concerned that if we got into a bit too much 15:26 turbulence we might have some dramas in the back of the plane 15:29 with babies being born and that. But got through to Lae 15:32 and got her off to the hospital. 15:34 I never did hear what the outcome of that story was 15:37 but she was OK. 15:38 So then the next flight was from Lae along the north coast 15:44 of New Guinea down to Popondetta. 15:48 By this time it was quite late, getting late in the afternoon 15:52 or middle afternoon at least. Anyway... 15:55 And normally... And then from Papua, New Guinea, my next 15:58 flight was across to Port Moresby. 16:00 And then I was meant to go from Port Moresby back home 16:03 to my home at Karowagi. That's all over the place! 16:05 Yeah, it was... but that's what happened. 16:08 Normally we like to fly from the north coast of New Guinea 16:11 over to the south coast in the morning 16:14 because by about late morning 16:17 the clouds build-up over the Owen Stanley ranges 16:21 and it becomes very difficult to get from one side to the other. 16:25 As I was flying along the north coast heading for 16:28 Popondetta I could see that there were huge build-ups 16:31 already over the Owen Stanleys and I thought: "Oh, this is... 16:34 this is not going to be good. " 16:36 Landed at Popondetta. Put the passengers down. 16:39 Picked up, my new passengers. Had a full load 16:41 going across to Port Moresby. 16:45 Took off from Popondetta. From Popondetta you climb 16:47 up for about 20 minutes to the Kokoda Gap 16:50 where the Kokoda trial was during the second World War. 16:55 You climb up; fly across the ranges for a few minutes 16:59 and then down 15 minutes into Port Moresby. 17:02 Well as I climbed up to try and get across 17:06 the Kokoda Gap I could see that there were massive clouds 17:09 over the Gap. Now what we talk about a Gap 17:13 the Gap really is where there is a valley - yes - 17:17 and the cloud comes down but doesn't quite get to the bottom 17:21 of the valley. Just sits down & leaves a little gap underneath 17:23 and you can just squeeze through there. 17:25 And there are known gaps all along the mountain 17:28 ranges where if you're lucky you can squeeze through. 17:31 And so to get to the Kokoda Gap you've got to fly up 17:34 the river, through a gap, if it's there, 17:36 and then down the other side. 17:37 Well I got up and I could see that the cloud 17:40 had actually come right down into the gap 17:42 and I couldn't get through at the low altitude. 17:46 So I thought: "Well, I really want to get to Moresby 17:50 and get home if I can. " So I thought: "Well, 17:52 if I can't get through under- neath I'll see if I can climb up 17:56 and get a gap between the clouds 17:59 and get over that. " 18:00 One of the rules of New Guinea is you do not fly in clouds. 18:04 It doesn't matter how well you're instrument rated 18:06 or whatever you never fly in clouds. 18:09 Because clouds they've discovered up there 18:11 have hard centers - yes - and many a pilot has come 18:14 unstuck by just disregarding that rule and flying. 18:18 Smashing into a hard mountain. 18:21 So I started climbing up outside 18:24 the clouds on the north side. 18:26 I was in the clear, and as I got up quite high 18:29 there was a huge cavern in the clouds. And I thought: 18:32 "I think I might... There's a light patch on the other side 18:35 that looks like it might be somewhere where I can get down 18:40 to Port Moresby on the other side. " 18:41 So I went into this big cavern. Not into the cloud 18:44 but into this big cavern in the cloud. 18:46 And I circled around it because you don't fly straight at it 18:49 because if it's not there it's hard to turn away. 18:51 If you fly alongside of it then you can have a look 18:54 and then gently turn away. 18:56 I came past this light patch the first time 18:59 and it was tempting. 19:01 I thought: "Yeah, I reckon there's something there 19:03 but I just need to get a bit higher 19:05 to see whether I can actually, get over it 19:08 and this clear patch is down the other side. " 19:11 So I went around this cavern 19:13 climbing all the time inside this big cavern. 19:16 And when I came back down to the other end 19:18 the cloud had changed. Clouds are changing all the time. Yes. 19:22 And there was now this big billow of cloud 19:24 right, where I wanted to go. 19:26 Now I was struggling 'cause I had a full load. 19:28 I was almost at the maximum altitude 19:31 that this little plane could get itself to. 19:34 And I thought: "If I turn 19:36 to get out of the way of this cloud I'm going to 19:38 stop climbing and probably will lose some altitude 19:40 in return. So I think I will just 19:43 fly through this bit of cloud and just keep on flying. 19:47 It doesn't look like it's very deep. " 19:49 So that's what I did. I flew under this cloud 19:51 expecting just to pop out in a few seconds 19:54 and I didn't. 19:56 I got caught up in a big cumulonimbus cloud 20:01 and the updrafts were hauling us up one minute 20:06 and then downdrafts shooting us down. 20:09 And the rain was pouring down. 20:12 The hail was beating on the plane. 20:14 It was like being inside a kettle drum, you know? 20:16 I was thinking of a washing machine. 20:19 A washing machine! 20:20 And we were getting thrown around. Virtually almost tipped 20:23 right over sometimes, and all I could do was try 20:26 and keep the thing... The turbulence was so violent 20:29 that the door on the plane actually came open 20:32 and the rain and water started coming in. 20:34 I looked across at the little schoolgirl - 20:36 she was a high school student - sitting next to me 20:38 and I looked across at her and she gave me this very genteel 20:41 smile as if to say: "Well, this is pretty bad 20:43 but you've got it under control. " 20:46 I thought: You don't know the half, girl. I'm sorry. " 20:48 And I was struggling. I knew that what I needed to do 20:52 was turn that plane around and get under the heading of 20:54 018. I still remember it. 20:57 And every time I tried to turn it around 20:59 it would just get thrown over. 21:01 And I thought: "Well this is not good! " 21:03 And it got to the point where I just couldn't turn. 21:06 And I thought for the first and only time in my life 21:09 "This is it. It's going to be the end... 21:13 this is the end. " I heard one of the other mission planes 21:16 landing at my home strip 21:18 and I thought: "He will have to tell my wife 21:21 that I'm not coming home tonight. " 21:24 And I had my hand reaching down to take the microphone 21:29 to put out a Mayday call 21:31 when I looked again at the compass 21:34 and it was on exactly 018. 21:38 And how that ever happened I have absolutely no idea 21:41 because with my greatest effort I could not turn 21:44 that plane around without getting terribly messed up. 21:47 I held it on 018 for a couple of minutes 21:50 and just popped out the other side of the cloud. 21:52 Went back and landed back at Popondetta 21:55 and spent the night sleeping on the floor of the school there 21:58 looking out at the stars and thinking: 22:00 "Aren't those stars beautiful! " 22:02 Because... That taught me a big lesson of life really. 22:08 That God has rules just like pilots have rules. 22:12 Pilots have rules just like... And if we choose to say: 22:15 "No, I don't think I need to follow it on this particular 22:18 point" well you accept the consequences. 22:22 Hmm! And I realized I had done it there. 22:25 There was a little rule which I thought I could just 22:27 get away with but it wasn't to be. 22:30 Don't go in the clouds. Hmm. 22:32 So the next morning left early... no clouds. 22:36 Up and over and back. And so it was all over. 22:39 And embraced your wife to say: "I'm back! " 22:41 Didn't have the heart to tell her about it for a little... 22:43 few days after that. 22:46 That would have been a frightening ordeal. 22:48 It was at the time because as I said 22:51 it was the only time in my life - ever - 22:53 that I thought: "Well this is it. It's over for me. " 22:58 And that's a fairly sobering thing. 23:00 It is! That is. It's easy to talk about it - yes! 23:03 When you're confronted with it, you can be sure... 23:06 There was no panic but it was just an acceptance 23:10 or realization that I've broken this rule. 23:12 I shouldn't have done it and here I'm paying for it. 23:15 I hope you never did it again. I never did it again! 23:18 See... that's the same with following God. 23:22 There's consequences in that. There's a message in there 23:24 isn't there? Yes, there is. But sometimes you haven't been 23:27 so lucky as such. 23:29 No. You've obviously survived 23:32 because you're here. Yes! 23:33 But the planes haven't necessarily survived so well. 23:41 No. Things in New Guinea there for a while... 23:43 You know, planes are very reliable things, 23:46 and the mission planes were very carefully cared for 23:50 and maintained. We had our own mechanic. 23:52 He did a brilliant job looking after them. 23:53 But every so often with any machine something goes wrong 23:57 and I seem to get 2 or 3 things. 23:59 But one in particular which I don't think I'll ever forget 24:05 was at Menya, our 1st appt. in the mission field. 24:09 I had a number of centers in my district 24:12 and we were running what we called Camp Meeting 24:14 for the local church members where they would come together. 24:19 No tents or anything but they would build themselves 24:22 little huts to live in for the weekend. 24:25 We'd have this time. And I had the mission president 24:28 and one of the departmental people come up 24:31 as guest speakers. And every couple of days 24:33 I would move them around. I'd be doing meetings myself. 24:36 And at the end of the week on the Sunday morning 24:39 it was time to take them back to Lae where they lived. 24:42 And so I left Menya and I flew across to this little 24:45 strip called Lutherumpia 24:47 which is only when it was a clear day about 24:50 less than 10-minute flight away from my house. 24:54 Lutherumpia was an interesting strip 24:58 because you could not go in there unless you really knew 25:03 what was happening. It was steep; 25:06 it was short; it was in a valley. 25:11 Once you started to make your approach in 25:13 there was no way of turning around and having another 25:16 go at it. You had to get it right, the first time. 25:18 Do we have a photo of that? 25:20 I believe we do actually. 25:22 Hmm... that's it. Where is this? 25:25 That's it there. You come in from the bottom. 25:29 Land up the hill on this bit of gravel stuff here. 25:32 Turn around there and then 25:36 get yourself ready to take off down the hill. 25:38 And miss the mountain on the other side. 25:40 Miss the mountain on the other side and turn out 25:43 down the valley to the left... yes. 25:45 So landed; visited with the folks there. 25:50 Picked up Pastor Peter and Pastor Phillip. 25:53 And there was a missionary and his wife who needed care 25:57 at the Lea Hospital so she was there too. 25:59 Loaded us all in the plane. I also had a bit of food 26:02 which the parents of the boys at our school 26:05 were sending back to their sons and daughters over there. 26:09 And loaded everybody in. 26:13 In the mission plane doesn't matter how many times 26:16 you land or take off in a day 26:18 we always have prayer before you startup. 26:22 So I remember asking Pastor Phillip, 26:24 the mission president sitting next to me, to pray. 26:27 In Pigeon English, they pray, and for some reason 26:29 I always pray that the engine will keep going. 26:31 The engine apparently is a very important part of the plane 26:34 as far as I am concerned. Anyway, we had prayer. 26:36 It is by the way. Well, the problem is, John, 26:38 you're right. Avoiding mountains is another important thing. 26:41 Well, that's true. We had prayer, 26:43 started up, made contact on the radio. 26:46 Everything was good. Put my feet on the brakes, 26:49 revved the engine up to full power to make sure it was 26:52 working OK just to keep the nationals happy. 26:55 And once you take your feet off the brakes 26:57 and start down the slope you can't stop. 27:01 Committed? You're committed to take off. 27:02 As soon as you... within probably 20 meters of starting 27:06 the take-off you're committed to take off. There's no way 27:09 you can stop So over the edge, we go 27:13 approaching the take-off speed 27:15 and I start pulling back on the control column. 27:17 And I pull it back and I pull it back 27:20 and I pull it back and it comes right back on the stops 27:23 and the plane is still picking up speed, rushing down 27:26 the runway. I push the control column in. 27:28 It goes right into the stops, pull it out again... nothing. 27:32 The control column was having no effect 27:35 on the controls of the plane. 27:36 Now I suppose to put it into a car thing 27:40 if you're going down a very steep mountain 27:42 and as you come to a very sharp hairpin bend 27:46 you turn the wheel and it just goes round and round 27:48 and round and round and doesn't actually turn the car. 27:50 That would be an equivalent sort of situation. 27:52 Very dangerous... very dangerous! 27:55 And so here I am pushing this control column in 27:57 thinking: "Why won't this plane take off? " 27:59 "Why won't it respond to the controls? " 28:01 And before I know it it lifts itself off 28:05 and starts flying. 28:07 I have no control over it but it's flying. 28:10 But as it picks up speed once it's left the ground 28:13 it starts climbing. 28:17 And so it got faster and got steeper 28:21 and steeper and steeper until we were sitting back 28:24 looking out at the sky. 28:26 And the stall warning which says that you've got 28:30 probably just a few seconds be- fore the plane actually stalls. 28:35 Yes. You know, when a plane stalls 28:37 it's nothing to do with the engine. 28:38 It means that the wings just can't keep lifting the plane. 28:43 The angle has got too steep so the air is not going over 28:46 to lift the plane. And so what you have to do 28:48 is get the nose of that plane down very quickly 28:50 to get the wings creating lift again to keep you in the air. 28:55 Otherwise, you're just like a brick falling. 28:57 Nothing's responding... nothing's working. 28:59 So... and this is where the first miracle... 29:03 and this to me I still am in awe of it... 29:07 I had one hand on the control column. 29:10 The other hand as you do was on the throttle. 29:12 It was pushed right in for take-off. 29:14 And I thought very quickly: 29:17 "If I slow the engine down 29:19 the nose should sink down. 29:22 Now if I slow it down too much 29:24 it'll just flop anyway. " 29:27 If I don't slow it enough we will smash into the storm 29:29 and stall anyway. I had to pull that throttle 29:32 back to the right engine speed once. 29:34 I had one shot at it. 29:36 I couldn't go uh, uh, you know 29:39 searching it. I had to pull it and I got it right to the spot 29:42 where the nose just fell through and the plane started 29:44 picking up. Now I believe beyond the shadow of a doubt 29:48 I could not do that. 29:50 There was an angel had his hand on my hand 29:53 told me just exactly how far to pull that throttle back. 29:57 Now it's about a 6-inch... anywhere within there 30:00 and just to get it to the right spot. 30:02 And so the engine slowed down; the nose started coming down 30:06 but it kept on coming down 30:10 and coming down and coming down. 30:11 Now instead of looking at the blue sky 30:13 we were looking at the bottom of the valley rushing up at us. 30:17 So I pushed the throttle in again 30:18 and the engine revved up and the plane lifted up again 30:21 and started going back up. And so I pulled it back again 30:24 and it came back down like this. 30:26 And so we wobbled our way out of the airstrip 30:29 revving it up, slowing it down. 30:32 And I decided: "Well there's no way we can 30:37 make it out of this valley to get to Lae. 30:40 I knew that if I flew out of the valley 30:41 made the right as you could see and flew down the other 30:44 valley at the end of that valley there was another airstrip. 30:47 It was flat. It was short but it was flat. 30:50 It was still a one-way strip which meant 30:52 you had to fly in, land, and then turn around and come out 30:55 because it had a huge mountain at the end of it. 30:58 And so... You weighed up in your mind where was the best 31:01 place to go. Yes! What you were doing. 31:03 Yes. And so I started heading off down this valley. 31:07 I'm on my radio talking to the flight service 31:09 telling them what's going on. 31:11 I'm on the mission skid trying to tell them what's going on 31:15 but there was nobody there because it was Sunday morning. 31:17 That was a bit frustrating. 31:18 I'm on and off of the throttle. 31:21 I'm adjusting the flaps trying to find another way 31:24 to set, working the trim. 31:26 I was VERY BUSY, and I think to start with 31:31 my passengers thought that we were just having a bit of fun 31:33 coming out of there and doing this up and down thing 31:36 which we would never do anyway. 31:39 But Pastor Peter who was sitting behind me 31:41 I felt this hand come up beside me and grab the door handle. 31:45 And he was trying to get the door open 31:47 'cause he was going to jump out. 31:49 Who wants to be in a plane that's going to crash? 31:51 That makes sense, doesn't it? 31:53 No... not jump out! 31:55 And I said to Pastor Phillip who was sitting next to me 31:58 I said: "You tell him to sit back 31:59 and put his seatbelt on and you two start praying. " 32:02 Because I said: "I'm too busy to do it right now 32:04 but you two guys start. " And Pastor Phillip turned 32:07 around and gave Peter a bit mouthful, and he sat back 32:11 and then the two of them started praying. 32:13 And it was a blessing that they did. 32:16 Anyway, to make the story... What happened next was 32:22 as we got down the valley and came around 32:25 and the Marawaka strip was right at the end of the valley 32:28 as we came around the ridge to line up to it 32:32 we were down below the level of the... 32:36 the strip was up here and we were down here. 32:38 So I had to make the ups more than the downs 32:43 for the last little bit and hope that I could get up enough 32:47 to get on to the end of the strip. Like landing on 32:49 an aircraft carrier a little bit I guess. 32:52 Again a miracle. Came over the end of the strip 32:56 probably 20 feet above it if that. 33:01 I knew that I needed to get this plane on the ground quickly. 33:04 Now to land a plane usually you need this control column 33:08 because that's what stops you from just crashing. 33:11 It's vital... it's more vital in landing 33:14 than it is taking off. 33:16 I never had that. 33:18 But I knew I wanted to get on the ground because the strip 33:20 was short and I needed to stop. 33:22 So I pulled the power off. The nose immediately dropped down. 33:26 I could see what was happening. 33:29 We were going to hit the ground very hard. 33:32 I pushed the throttle in. The engine revved up 33:35 but it was too late and the airplane hit the ground. 33:38 The wheels - main wheels - splayed up. 33:41 Burst open the cargo compartment. 33:44 I can still see the bags of sweet potato and that 33:47 shooting off down the strip in front of me. 33:49 It hit the ground so hard that the nose wheel broke off 33:52 and it went skidding off down the dirt in front of me. 33:58 The engine was on full power but the propellers were digging 34:01 into the dirt and so the engine stopped. 34:04 And at that point, we bounced back up into the air again. 34:07 After that, I had no control over anything which happened. 34:11 Came down and hit the ground an- other very heavy bounce or two. 34:15 And because of the tailwind that was blowing 34:18 blew us off to the side of the strip, 34:21 down an embankment, turned upside down., 34:24 and came to a stop at the bottom of the embankment. 34:27 And there's? There it is there: the bottom of the embankment 34:31 where the fellow is standing down there. 34:34 We went down there and upside down. 34:38 It's a little confusing when all of this happens 34:41 in a big hurry and then you want to get out 34:43 of an upside-down plane. 34:44 Hmm. Because you take your seatbelt off 34:46 and you immediately fall on the roof which is actually now 34:49 the floor. Yes. You want to get the door open 34:51 to get out and you don't want to be jammed in there. 34:55 So I got my seatbelt off. 34:58 I opened the door; got myself out; 35:00 shook myself down; found that I wasn't in any way damaged. 35:04 But the nationals inside have enough problems 35:07 getting out of seatbelts right-way up 35:09 and they could not work out how to get themselves out. 35:12 And they're hanging upside down! They're hanging upside down. 35:15 Fuel tanks had burst. 35:16 There was gas around everywhere. 35:20 Wanted to get everyone out as quickly as possible. 35:22 Wanted to get everybody out so I went in and pulled their 35:24 seatbelts and they fell on the floor 35:26 which was the roof and pulled them out. 35:29 We scampered up to the top of the airstrip. 35:30 Even the lady that was going to the hospital 35:33 got herself up to the airstrip. 35:35 Shook ourselves down and not one of us had so much as 35:38 a scratch on us. Is that right? 35:40 Hmm! Absolutely amazing. 35:43 It was Sunday morning as I said 35:46 and the church in that particu- lar valley was about to start. 35:51 And there were people coming from the different trails 35:56 to their church up towards the end of the airstrip. 35:58 And when the mission plane came in like that 36:02 this set the valley alive. They were yelling and that, 36:05 and before I knew it there were probably 200 people 36:08 crowding around the strip. 36:11 And Pastor Peter - the one who had tried to open the door - 36:14 was one never to miss an opportunity. 36:16 And so he started preaching them a little sermon 36:21 on Sunday morning instead of in their own church 36:23 and told them: "This was the mission plane that belonged to 36:27 the Adventists. God flies with the Adventists. 36:29 See this terrible crash? We are not hurt. 36:32 God's angels looked after us. " 36:35 And if you go to Marawaka today 36:38 at the end of the airstrip you will now find 36:41 an Adventist church there where we had never been able 36:43 to get a church there before. That's amazing! 36:45 But there's a church there right as we speak today 36:49 at the end of that airstrip as a result of that. 36:51 Now... God allowed you to arrive there 36:56 in a way that nobody could miss. 36:58 Nobody could miss. They couldn't miss it. 37:01 The helicopter came in and took me back over to my place. 37:04 I remember walking in the back door 37:07 and Robina said to me: "Where's the plane? " 37:10 I said: "Oh, I just left it over at Marawaka. " 37:15 Yeah, but how did you get here? Yes. 37:17 But then two days later the Dept. of Civil Aviation 37:22 flew a team out to investigate it. They wouldn't 37:25 land at this strip because none of them had been there before. 37:28 But they flew down the valley into Marawaka. 37:33 When I got out the guy that was leading it - 37:35 an Australian guy, very old and experienced guy - 37:38 he said: "I want to shake your hand because" he said 37:41 "I've been investigating crashes since the days of the second 37:44 World War and I've never had the opportunity 37:46 of shaking the hand of somebody who was in a position 37:49 such as you yourself in there. " 37:51 And... They usually die. Yeah. 37:55 The Department of Civil Aviation at the time 37:58 used to put out a monthly journal on investigating crashes 38:05 and they would look to see what had happened. 38:08 And usually the pilots would get hammered 38:10 for making wrong decisions. 38:12 Well they wrote this particular... 38:13 They don't write all crashes up but they wrote this one up. 38:16 And the heading for it was: "Well Done! " 38:18 And they had nothing but praise for the way that 38:21 it worked out. And I remember saying to the investigator, 38:25 I said: "Look, flying for the mission 38:28 may not be the highest paid job in the country 38:30 but I can promise you it has other advantages. " 38:33 Um-hmm. And he said: "I have to agree with you. " 38:36 And I can tell you here right now 38:38 what happened that day I'll never forget. 38:41 But there was just one miracle after another 38:45 where I saw the hand of God where those people with me 38:50 were just... their lives were saved and I was saved. 38:54 And I just have to thank God for the way that... that... 38:57 And that's why that verse in Psalm 90 there is... 39:01 91... 91 is so special 39:04 because I believe that God does have His angels. 39:07 They ARE watching over us. 39:08 He IS interested in us... in each one of us. 39:11 That's true. I sense it, and those folks with me that day 39:16 sensed it also in a very very fearful way. 39:19 So what did they find out? What went wrong? 39:21 Oh, glad you asked that. I was wondering the same thing. 39:25 We don't really know. 39:26 But I'll tell you what happened. 39:30 About... NO... let me back up a bit. 39:33 Light aircraft have to have an inspection every 100 hours. 39:36 Um-hmm. This plane had been in for its 100-hour inspection 39:40 about 40 hours before this. Yes? 39:44 I had brought the plane in. I hadn't been flying it 39:46 immediately before it and I was going to help 39:49 the engineer... well I DID HELP the engineer... do 39:52 the 100-hourly inspection on her. 39:55 And I just screwed screws... he did the inspecting. 39:58 But he was going away on furlough the next morning 40:01 so he had to get the job finished. 40:03 And when we got down to the back of the plane 40:05 he discovered that... it wasn't me, but one of the other pilots 40:09 had had a tail strike. In other words, 40:11 he hit the tail on the ground when he was coming in to land 40:13 on one of the short, rough strips 40:15 and it had bent the rear bulkhead. 40:18 And so that had to be replaced which was a big job. 40:21 The whole tail had to come off the plane 40:23 and then the bulkhead had to be drilled out and replaced. 40:27 And so we were there till about nearly 3 a.m. 40:30 getting this bulkhead back in place 40:33 and the back of the plane back on 40:34 so that he could go off on his furlough at 8 o'clock the next 40:37 morning. And it would seem 40:41 that when he was putting the controls back together 40:47 for the tailplane, there's a bell crank that comes down 40:49 which makes the elevators go up and down - 40:53 um-hmm - and it's connected by a torque tube. 40:56 And there's a bolt that goes through there. 40:58 Yep. There's a nut and a safety nut on it. 41:00 It seems that the safety nut wasn't put on. 41:04 And over those 40 hours bouncing around 41:07 the nut had come off. And just when we were going down there 41:11 the bolt popped out and that was... 41:13 The bolt was never found. 41:15 The nut was never found but that's the conclusion. 41:19 So they have to assume they weren't there? 41:20 Have to assume they're not there as the cause of the crash. 41:23 That's the only explanation. But it voided the controls. 41:26 Ummm... yeah. 41:28 But it was wonderful the way that God's hand was there. 41:32 And the mission got a brand new plane out of it, so... 41:36 They say all things work for good. 41:38 You can tell the story. 41:40 One of the things you said at the beginning of this 41:45 that you were on your first appointment... so you hadn't 41:47 been flying for very long. By that time I... 41:52 we were still in Menyamya... I probably had about 1,000 hrs. 41:55 Which isn't a lot. No... no. 41:59 Especially in Papua, New Guinea. Yeah. 42:01 But I'd been on this trip dozens of times. 42:04 You know, it was one of the ones in my district that I was 42:06 in and out of a lot. But to do that is 42:08 a marvelous thing with not hav- ing a long time of being a pilot 42:14 but to be able to think - sure - to do what you did. 42:19 And that was recognized. 42:21 I was reading... Oh, now what am I going to do? 42:24 But I just thank the Lord every day. 42:29 So that's one where the Lord preserved your life. 42:31 That's the second story you told where the Lord preserved 42:33 your life. Yes... yes. 42:35 The first one was my own doing, though, John. 42:38 The second one was I didn't have much control over what happened 42:41 or why it happened. God has control when you call Him. 42:45 Doesn't matter what's happening... God is in control. 42:47 And I think we have to accept that: that 42:49 He is the King of the universe. 42:51 Doesn't matter what happens... He is in control. 42:54 Haven't you had a third time where you 42:57 had an accident or nearly had an accident? 42:59 By the way, we've got photos of the plane 43:01 before we go any further. Oh yeah! That was when it was 43:04 pulled back. When I arrived two days later the govt. officer 43:09 had put a rope on it and pulled it back under its wheels. 43:13 The wing looks a bit damaged. 43:15 The wings are damaged; it was upside down 43:17 and you can see the bent pro- pellors & the nose reel is gone. 43:20 Is the top of the tail a bit damaged, too? 43:23 It all happened... Once we went down the embankment 43:25 it kind of happened in slow motion 43:27 because I thought we were just going to pull up 43:29 before it went off because I couldn't steer it 43:33 once the nose wheel was gone. So... 43:34 Oh! Beautiful-shaped propellers! Yes, yes, it's very fancy. 43:39 That's what happens when you get 300 horsepower 43:42 biting into the ground. 43:44 That shows you show strong they are before they break. 43:49 They shear off... they break. Yes. 43:50 So now what was the other thing you were going to tell us? 43:52 Was I going to tell you something else? Yes. 43:54 You had members of your family that did die in a crash? Yes. 43:59 Like I was saying before, in my family there are three boys: 44:04 my older brother Calvin... 44:06 he was in a plane crash in New Guinea. 44:09 He only went flying occasionally as part of his mission work. 44:14 He was a union/departmental man. 44:17 He was in the mission up there 44:19 and would be flying around as part of his work program. 44:22 And he was in the plane with Pastor Laurie Shields 44:26 that crashed at Goroka. 44:28 The four people including Pastor Shields 44:30 sitting on the left-hand side were killed. 44:32 My brother, sitting on the right-hand side survived 44:36 but with very, very serious injuries which he still carries 44:39 to this very day. They had to Medivac him out 44:42 to the San which they didn't do a lot in those days. 44:44 Send him back to city. Hmm. So he was very, very fortunate 44:48 to survive that. My younger brother 44:50 was at Camp Meeting. Was on a Master Ranger 44:56 outing to Kangaroo Island out of Adelaide 44:59 for the youth on one of the days of the Camp Meeting. 45:02 They flew over there. 45:05 Visited around on the island. 45:07 Quite a few youth I presume? Yeah, they flew them over 45:10 in light aircraft... ferrying them across from the mainland 45:13 across and there was quite a crowd. 45:16 And because he was in charge he was the last flight out. 45:23 The weather had turned a bit cold and so he told 45:25 his girlfriend - his fiancé - to go back and wait in the car 45:29 at the airport and he would come on the last plane. 45:31 He was about 21? He was 21. Just engaged to be married. 45:36 Unfortunately, the plane took off 45:39 and spiraled into the ground and my young brother 45:44 and five others on that plane lost their lives. Perished. 45:47 Two brothers as well. 45:51 But for me the anomaly of all of that is 45:55 my young brother virtually never set foot on a plane. 45:58 Flies once and loses his life. 46:02 My older brother goes occasionally 46:04 and gets badly seriously hurt. 46:08 I was flying all the time 46:10 and got away scott free. Hmm. 46:13 So God works in mysterious ways. 46:16 I asked you before what it was that caused that accident 46:19 for your brother to be killed 46:20 and you mentioned it was really an experience. 46:24 From what can be put together 46:26 as a result of what happened it seems that the... 46:28 the pilot took off and never transitioned 46:34 from looking out of the window onto his instruments. 46:37 A very dark night with no stars and that around. 46:41 And become disorientated 46:42 and then just spiraled into the ground. 46:45 Yeah. But there is no way of ever... 46:48 nobody... There was nobody there looking, 46:50 watching, because it was the last one to leave. 46:52 And so we'll never know, but that's the assumption 46:56 that the investigators came to. 46:58 Trusting your instruments is a vital part of being a pilot. 47:02 Yes. Otherwise you can end up upside down 47:05 and all over the place. Absolutely! 47:07 I remember John F. Kennedy's son 47:11 died - yes - because he didn't... 47:16 he didn't actually have instrument rating. 47:19 He wasn't instrument rated I think. No, he wasn't. 47:20 And he was flying when he shouldn't have been 47:22 and it was dark and didn't know where he was. 47:25 And being in a plane: it's not like you're in a car 47:28 where you can pull off and wait till it gets better. 47:31 Once you commit yourself you've gotta go. You've gotta go. 47:34 You know, there's no... You can't just stop and say: 47:37 "Oh no, I made a mistake here. I'll go again tomorrow. " 47:40 Sorry... you've gotta get through this. 47:43 So how did Robina, your wife, take all this what happened? 47:48 Well, I just take my hat off to her, John. 47:52 She... she really 47:57 was... she was living in a place where she could... 48:01 We had no radio; there was no road into there. 48:04 She was on her own and I was away so much 48:08 it wasn't really fair I'd have to say looking back on it. 48:10 And so she really, really... 48:14 She really learned to trust in the Lord, I'll tell you. 48:17 Well, that's an important point! Not that she didn't before 48:18 but she really built her trust in the Lord tremendously. 48:23 I've been in a position where 48:25 I had a broken marriage and I was by myself with 2 children 48:29 and there were good points about it in the fact that I 48:34 learned to have to trust in God. Yeah. 48:37 And with... It was a hard time 48:41 but it was also a good time - 48:43 yes - because my relation- ship with God could grow - 48:47 yes - as I had to trust. 48:49 And the more you get away from the experience and look back 48:52 on it you say: "Oh, thank you God" - 48:55 yes - "that it's coming out this way. " 48:57 So when you look back at all these incidents 49:00 that you had - 'cause I know you would have had many more - 49:02 yes - what comes to your mind now? 49:06 We're talking with you and you're re-thinking: 49:08 what comes to your mind about what happened? 49:11 Well, you don't go out there looking for experiences. 49:15 And I certainly didn't 'cause I'm no hero... 49:19 I'm a chicken-hearted normal human being. 49:22 But I guess we were reluctant missionaries. 49:27 We were in no way looking to go to the mission field. 49:29 But I can tell you what: if you want to 49:33 learn to trust God just follow where He leads you. 49:37 And if you want to have a life that is satisfying 49:40 and full, trust God and just go where He wants you to go. 49:46 Do what He wants you to do. 49:48 Just have His love coming through your life 49:51 because there's nothing like that to live a satisfying life. 49:56 You know, if I look back on my life 49:59 would I have changed anything? 50:01 Yeah, I would have changed a lot 50:02 but God wouldn't. 50:04 And I'm happy that He's had His way with my life. 50:09 Yes. But when you went to Vanuatu after you'd spent 50:13 some years there in Papua, New Guinea 50:15 were you flying there at all? It was interesting 50:18 because when I got there... Vanuatu 50:21 is a whole string of 86 islands. Um-hmm. 50:26 And the mission had a boat which would take 10 knots 50:30 if you were lucky and take a long amount of your time 50:35 sitting watching the ocean go by 50:37 or fishing out the back or vomiting over the side. 50:42 That'd be me! Really! Really! 50:44 As a pilot... You know, I went to New Guinea as a pilot 50:47 so I didn't have to go walk-about. 50:50 I thought: "This is not good. " So I contacted The Quiet Hour 50:54 in America, and they came up with a brand new plane 50:59 for Vanuatu. And I went over and had to fly it out from... 51:03 It was a single-engine... the same one prop that we'd been 51:06 flying in New Guinea and got it out to Vanuatu. 51:09 It's another whole story. 51:11 Yeah, that would have been quite interesting! With that plane 51:14 because it only lasted I think it was 130 hours 51:20 when it came to its end. The plane... it was 51:23 a brand new Cessna 206, yeah. 51:26 You wiped it off? It burned to a crisp! Why? 51:31 I will tell you the story one day, Rosemary. 51:34 You're very rude at telling things like that! 51:37 Yeah... that was another absolute miracle 51:40 down on the island of Tanna on the southern end of Vanuatu. 51:45 So you didn't get another plane after that? No. 51:47 I wanted to ask you. Well I did come home and fly 51:50 for the South Queensland Conference. 51:51 They had a plane and so I was doing their specials. 51:54 They thought they'd better bring you back 'cause - yeah - 51:56 that way they wouldn't lose any more planes. 51:58 And you did AAA? Adventist Aviation? 52:03 In South Queensland. Umm. 52:05 We're going to just pause for a moment and take a break. 52:09 You know, Pastor Bill Townend is talking with us 52:12 about his journeys in an airplane 52:15 and some of the disasters that he had. 52:17 But let me put it this way: he survived! 52:21 And so you know it's good to hear people 52:24 because he continued to fly on 52:27 and do the work that God called him to do. 52:30 But right now I just want to put up our address roll 52:32 so that you can contact us. 52:34 You may want him to tell some stories at your church 52:37 or somehow we have means of ways of doing it 52:39 through the Zoom meetings. 52:43 They are interesting stories and they reveal that there is a God 52:46 who takes care of us. So here's the address roll 52:48 that you can contact us: 53:30 Thank you for all you do 53:31 to help us light the world with the glory of God's truth. 53:36 I hope you got those details. 53:38 Just in closing, Pastor Bill, we talked about flying 53:41 but what about say the souls that have been baptized 53:44 through your work? Tell us a little bit about that. 53:46 Yeah. Well being a district director/pilot 53:50 you tend to talk about the pilot things which are the interesting 53:53 things, but at the same time 53:54 the Lord was working wonders 53:56 with the ministry side of things as well. 54:00 And when we were in Kainantu 54:02 I'm not really sure how it happened but 54:04 suddenly the Holy Spirit seemed to start working 54:07 in the district and we had a big baptism. 54:10 The biggest baptism they'd had in New Guinea for decades: 54:13 Hmm! 240 people baptized at the Konkua School 54:17 in the Eastern Highlands. 54:19 And that really was the start of a big revival 54:23 which swept through the highlands of Papua, New Guinea, 54:26 which culminated in the Sabbath when they had over 3,000 54:29 people baptized on one day. 54:32 It really started in that Kainantu District 54:35 with that baptism of 240 people. 54:37 It was the oldest district that the church had 54:41 in the highlands of New Guinea. It had always been seen as being 54:44 very tough and not much response. 54:47 And then suddenly it just took off. Yeah. 54:50 Praise the Lord! That's fascinating! 54:52 So you were involved in that? I was district director 54:55 at the time and working with all the churches in that area. 54:59 What do you think was the changing point? 55:01 What do you think it was? Do you know? 55:03 The Spirit of God works, I know but... 55:05 I think the Spirit of God does work, and He worked in some 55:07 really beautiful ways therewith people. We had 55:10 a guy that couldn't speak. He was deaf and so he couldn't 55:15 speak, but he could do lightning sketches. 55:18 And he was running branch Sabbath Schools 55:21 doing lightning sketches. 55:23 And his brother kind of interpreted a bit 55:25 while he was doing it. His name was Earpass 55:27 which means in Pigeon his ear was blocked, he couldn't hear. 55:30 Yes. But he couldn't speak either. 55:32 And so the Lord was using everybody 55:35 with the talents that they had or didn't have. 55:39 And the Holy Spirit started working. There was no other 55:43 explanation for it. Hmm! 55:45 I find that really intriguing because 55:47 you know there's lots of things happening in the world now. 55:50 And you know as we look at what the Holy Spirit will do 55:53 for you, if you give your life to Him it's powerful. 55:57 You know, there's power in the Word of God. 55:59 And you going out there with your wife 56:02 you were doing that work. And I know you continue to do 56:05 it now in sharing your stories and the other things that you 56:08 are involved with. We have a very brief time left but just 56:13 what was the work you were doing when you went to Singapore? 56:16 I was president of the Southeast Asia Union Mission 56:19 which took in 7 of the Southeast Asian countries. 56:23 Two of them... You know, there's only 5 Communist countries 56:26 left in the world. Two of them are in Southeast Asia. 56:29 So working in those Communist countries. 56:33 Vietnam and Laos were certainly a challenge and interesting. 56:38 Thailand, where the church has got a very strong emphasis. 56:42 John, you were part of building Phuket Hospital you tell me. 56:45 That's right. That's wonderful. 56:47 And so yeah... it was... 56:50 Looking back on it both my wife and I 56:53 say they were just some of the most enjoyable years 56:56 of our ministry working in Southeast Asia 56:59 and living in Singapore. I can relate to that. 57:02 Going from where you were in Papua, New Guinea, to there 57:05 would be a change. Chalk and cheese. 57:07 Chalk and cheese. Definitely... definitely. 57:10 And the shops! All the shops that Robina could do 57:12 in Singapore rom having nothing! 57:14 One little tin shed that sold tin fish and rice 57:19 to Singapore with its multitude of... That's all they do 57:22 on the island, I think sometimes. Yes! 57:23 Yes, it's the place you go to shop. 57:25 At least it was. Yes... still is I believe. 57:27 It's a wonderfully exciting place. Yes. 57:30 I'd like to hear some more stories from you but 57:32 our time is gone. And what I'd like to say 57:35 is thank you for your wife and you coming on the program. 57:38 And I'm sure the folk have been blessed. 57:40 So until we meet again next time 57:43 may God richly bless you. |
Revised 2022-04-18