An update at last!!!

Hi everyone!

Wow, its been awhile since I sent out an update . . . shame on me! So what's new? Well, I started work at the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility on August 28 in the OB department, and I'm really enjoying it so far! There is so much to learn! I'm trying to soak up as much as I can from everyone, including the midwives and doctors so that when I head to PNG I'll have a lot more confidence in at least this area of nursing.

 

God has been so good to me since I came here! And I have to remind myself often that God is the one who brought me here and He has a special work for me to do . . . though I'm still trying to find out what it is. The needs here are huge, with a population of 180,000+ and an unemployment rate of 43% and an annual per capita income of less that $6000. This places the majority of the Navajo people below the poverty line.  Drugs and alcohol, domestic violence, and many other issues are common here on the rez, but the people do not easily trust outsiders, making it difficult to reach out to them with God's love. We do have an SDA presence here on the rez, with several different mission projects taking place in Paige, AZ, Monument Valley, UT, Holbrook, AZ, and La Vida Mission in New Mexico. Even here in Chinle we have a church of sorts. We have a building at least, though in need of extensive repairs. The current 'pastor' is a police officer who really doesn't pay much attention to the church, other than to teach the Sabbath School lesson for 2 hours on Sabbath morning. The church here used to be a lot more healthy, but gradually the members began drifting away. Some of these members have been contacted and they tell us that they would still come to church if it weren't for the pastor and his wife. Wow, how sad . . . So, things need to change and I'm praying that I can be part of that change in some way. Yes, it can be lonely here, but God has provided another young lady with a missionary heart to be my friend here. She is the teacher at the little SDA school here in town, and while we don't share all the same likes and dislikes (ie. she is NOT adventurous and dislikes hiking/climbing/etc), we both wish to be used by God to reach out to those around us.

                                                                                                                                                       Someone may be wondering, what about your plans to fly as a mission pilot in Papua New Guinea?  I have not given up on that dream. God has provided an instructor who is willing to come to Chinle to train me as soon as I have an airplane. I'm still waiting on God to provide that airplane, but it looks like we should have one soon .  How soon? Well, only God knows, but I am hopeful that by the end of next month, possibly sooner, I'll be in the air. I plan on talking with the pastor who is in charge of the SDA work on the rez and finding out if I can be of service with the airplane. If there is a need, I will try and fill that need as much as possible. Not only would it give me excellent experience as a mission pilot, but it could also help God's work to progress faster here in the Navajo Nation.

    

One of the biggest blessings of the last four months came just a week ago when I had the opportunity to fly to Houston, TX and attend the Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) conference. What a blessing to interact with young people from around the world who love God and want nothing more than to be used by Him! It was such an incredible blessing! The theme of the convention was "Fill Me: Our Earnest Plea" and as you can guess, studying about and praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the main topic. While there, I saw so many obstacles in my life that I myself have placed. These obstacles keep God from the doing the work that He wants to do in and through me, via the presence of the Holy Spirit. My prayer now is that God will give strenght and motivation to get rid of these obstacles so that He can use me in any way He wants, without self getting in the way. I pray that each one of you will also examine your own lives, identify the obstacles and then ask God to get rid of them so that together all of God's people can receive the promised rain.

Thank-you to all of you for your prayers . . . please keep praying not only for me, but also for our church and our world. Stay in close connection with heaven, for that is the only way to true and lasting happiness! The way may become dark and dangerous, but the destination is worth every sacrifice!

Blessings,

Corrie

Mission Pilot in training
Hope On Wings Foundation

Website: http://www.hopeonwings.org/
Pictures: www.picasaweb.google.com/cosample

Hepler Happenings - an update on what God is doing in my life :)

Hi everyone!

Its time for another update on happenings in Hepler :) For those of you who don't have time to read the whole thing, I'm going to put a list of prayer requests here at the beginning. I would really appreciate it if you would remember these during your prayer time. God is working in marvelous ways, though sometimes He works differently from what we think He should. We have a list of things we think He should do, but we are learning to leave them in His hands, since we know that He will provide what He knows we need and in His time. It is such an awesome journey learning to trust Him completely! Please join us in lifting these requests before God! The more people praying, the better!

Prayer Requests and Praises:

• Small airplane for training purposes - we need a small certified (not experimental) aircraft with IFR certification to get pilots license up to Instrument rating.
• Praise that my parent's house in Edgewood has sold, my brother and his wife and kids will be moving to this area, and we have what we need to finish our house, so we don't all have to live in the 1-bedroom single-wide mobile home!
• Decisions - I'm struggling with a decision of whether or not to get a job as a nurse. The benefit would be that I could get my training done quicker, but it would take away an element of learning to trust God fully for every need. Please pray that if God wants me to get a job, He will make it plain to me and lead me to where He wants me.
• A highly experienced mission pilot and his wife are considering the possibility of joining our team. Please pray that God's will will be done.

The sun has been shining here in Hepler, and Spring is definitely here! The trees are leafing out and the grass is green and growing! Last week I spent most of my time working outside, picking up construction debris that the wind had blown all over the place and then mowing the lawn. On Thursday of last week I got some of the garden planted, but the the worst thunderstorm we have had blew in that night and uncovered some of the seeds. There are signs of growth, though, so I don't think it damaged the garden too badly. That was quite a storm! As we were sitting here in the house, the wind sounded like a freight train and it was so dark it looked like the sun was completely down, even though it was only about 7:15 in the evening. Our mobile home really shuddered and moaned in the 60+ mph wind, but its anchored firmly to rock :) Reminds me of how we are to be anchored firmly to our Rock, Jesus, and when the winds blow, we may shudder and groan, but we cannot be moved!

Towards the end of last week, my parent's home in Edgewood, NM finally sold! My brother and his wife have been living in it, so now they are planning on moving here to Hepler. Ray is very involved with Hope On Wings as well, so it will be very nice to have him nearby. They are planning on moving into the mobile home we are currently living in, so now there is a flurry of activity to get our house at least campable. The water line just got hooked up yesterday, so in the next couple of days we will have a working shower, toilet, and kitchen sink :) There is so much that needs to be done, but only 7 work days left before Dad heads down to NM to help Ray and Crystal move. The last few days have been filled with hanging sheetrock, taping, and mudding . . . I'll be glad when we can move on to the painting! 

Wow, I have now typed three or four paragraphs and then deleted every one of them! There is a lot on my mind and heart and I'm not sure how to share it! The past couple of months have been difficult ones and yet awesome ones! I have had more time to spend with God, and the more I look to Him the more pitiful I see myself to be. I say that I wouldn't choose to serve any other God, but then I look at my life more closely, and realize that self still sits on the throne more often than not . . . and then I get so frustrated because once again I have neglected to give God the controls. He wants ALL of me, not just what it is convenient to give. Its so simple, and yet so hard. But His character MUST be reproduced in me, otherwise He won't recognize me when He comes to take His children home. So now is the time for me to learn these things. I really believe that He has given me this time in order to teach me how to fully surrender so that He can use me. Even though it seems that nothing is going the way I think it should . . . we still have no airplane, no flight instructor, and no funding to remedy either of those problems. I work everyday outside doing things that don't seem to have any relation to being a mission pilot. And yet, every problem that comes my way, every failure, every success, is part of my training. Learning how to lean on God, to give up my perceived right to defend myself, to blend my desires with God's desires, to separate myself from the world, and how to allow God to change me into someone He can use. I don't want anything blocking Him from living in me. 

Anyhow, I don't want to ramble on for too long, lol :) However, I do want to share one Bible verse with you that I discovered not too long ago. Its found in Ezequiel 24:25.

And you, son of man, will it not be in the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters.

Strongholds - everything that I put my trust in (such as training, jobs, money, other people, etc)

My joy and glory - pride, selfishness, looks, intelligence . . . everything that I love more than him.

The desire of my eyes - things I value more than God, or things I do instead of spending time with God . . . could be spouse, books, pleasure, movies

That on which I set my mind - what I think about

God wants to take away all of these things so that He may become my stronghold. He wants to be my joy and glory and the desire of my eyes. And He desires that I set my mind to thinking about Him. Wow. He wants to be absolutely everything to me! He will strip away everything else, all of my security attempts to conform to the world, in order to become the central and leading figure in my life. It can be a painful journey, and I may not understand why He asks me to give up some of the things He wants me to, but it is the only way. What an AWESOME God we serve!

In His service,

Corrie

Our Mandate

God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24

Click on this link to read this and past newsletters on the website.  http://HopeOnWings.org/news.html

Click Here to make tax deductible donation online  This is where you can easily set up an automatic $10 or more monthly deduction from your account or do a one time donation of any size.

OR....

Send tax deductible donations by check payable to:

Hope On Wings Foundation
PO BOX 122
Hepler, KS  66746

Hope on Wings Foundation is a tax exempt 501C3 organization.

--
Corrie Sample

Mission Pilot in Training

Hope on Wings Foundation

PO BOX 122 Hepler, KS 66746

Website: http://hopeonwings.org
Blog: http://corrie5boom.blogspot.com
Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/cosample

Ok, and now on to a little more detail :) 

A Blustery Day

Wow, I can hardly believe that is March 9 already! The wind is blowing outside, the sky is overcast, but we are warm and cozy inside with the fireplace burning brightly in our house, and God's love burning brightly in our hearts :)

So, what have I been up to?? No good, I'm sure someone might say . . . lol. Mainly I have been outside working on the construction project, though at times I come inside and do bookkeeping on the computer. So much as been accomplished on the hangar and homes over the past few weeks that they hardly look like the same places! God is so good!

This morning I worked out in the house part of the construction, mudding the sheetrock that got put up a little while back. I love playing in the mud! And now I'm obviously inside . . . typing this. I'm also working towards contacting the pastors of churches in this area and letting them know that I'm available to come and share mission experiences at their churches. We'll see if I get any response from the emails I've sent out . . . I absolutely LOVE sharing what God is doing, but finding places to share is a challenge for me. But, it is part of my responsibility, therefore I need to just get busy and do it! Praise God that He promises to give the strength!

Most recent - Rainbows of Promise

Dear Prayer Partners,

A quick note before the letter I wrote back at the house. When I got down to the office here and connected to the Internet, I was so pleased to feel the waves of love from the home base. The donations are coming in.  I have not had a chance to check on prices yet but I don't doubt for a minute that God is going to provide the exact amount we need.  At the very least, Rose will travel by plane even if I need to take the luggage on the ship.  I don't mind the ship and have survived it before. THANK YOU!

I apologize for the errors in the last email. I was embarrassed as I looked at the grammar and spelling mistakes when the email showed up in my inbox. I had to rush things a bit and didn't do my usual proof reading.

Dr. Rose slept all day yesterday while I went to town to take care of faxing some paperwork over to Madang regarding our planned series over there and send the email to everyone. She was feeling a bit better by evening and God strengthened her to speak. Again this morning she was strengthened. It is really obvious that without God's strength she could not stand and preach with such power.

This morning's meeting was about the significance of the rainbow. She talked about how the covering that made the ceiling of the tabernacle was the color of the rainbow and it reflected on the gold side walls. I learned that God has instructed us through the Spirit of Prophecy that whenever we teach the ten commandments we must teach about the rainbow as well. God's throne where the law is kept is encircled by a rainbow symbolizing His mercy. The law is about justice and the rainbow is about mercy. We are also told that the angels rejoice every time they see the rainbow because it is the symbol of the promise of salvation (covenant) which centers around His justice and mercy.

The people were visibly moved as Rose talked about the many times God has answered her and encouraged her through the rainbow. By the end of the meeting everyone was expectantly looking to the west for God's sign that He was with them. He did not disappoint them.  Just as we began singing the song for the alter call (I have decided to follow Jesus) a faint rainbow began to shimmer in the early morning light.  As we continued to sing it got stronger and stronger. The part that impressed me was that they were the first to see it and point it out. They were expectantly waiting for it. It continued to be visible through the quiz time up to the closing prayer.  The part I liked was that we did not have to deal with rain. The cloud went on its way without giving us any rain.

It seems that God is working on some hearts here. Some have asked me how they can help Hope On Wings. They are quite proud that they assisted in raising the money for the plane that was purchased from the 13th Sabbath offering in 2008.  They have also asked how they might help us with funds to go on to Madang. We can see God is really working and they are caring for us with tender love. They are very happy that I can come and sit down with them and help them to understand Dr. Rose's needs. Today I helped them understand how they could cut the fruits without contaminating them. Dr. Rose is really sensitive to any germs from the water or surrounding environment. They are eager to learn.  They even brought breakfast for her this morning at 4am!  Now that is love!

So far I have been blessed with good health other than a bit of a sore throat that responded well to eating raw Noni Fruit that grows naturally here. Not the best tasting stuff but it gives immediate relief to the pain of a sore throat.

One way God is stretching our money is that we have not had to pay for anything here. Even the fax I needed to send yesterday was paid for by the local governor who is one of the elders of the Vanimo Town Church.  It just may be that God wants them to participate in this and that is why we had to arrive here with only $60 in our hands besides the US money I could not get exchanged because it was too old.

Unfortunately it is not mango season. I see well developed mangos hanging from the trees but they won't be ripe till after we leave. We have to settle for unlimited fresh pineapple and papaya. Well maybe not unlimited but we haven't run out yet.

One way that I suggested that they help Hope On Wings was to campaign for the money to finish paying for our property here at the airport so someone else doesn't get it before we get the money to finish paying for it.  The need there is for about $5500 to $6000 depending on the exchange rate when we make the final payment.  Business is beginning to pick up here in Vanimo and we will not be able to delay much longer if we want to keep our initial investment.

I am so eager to get out into the bush where the real needs are.  I don't know if that will be possible on this trip.  I was so hoping.  Maybe I will get someone to drive me to Bewani for an overnight if Rose can spare me.  There is land there that has been given to the mission for a laymen training school.  The landowner who gave the land is a member of the Vanimo town church. She is a precious little widow who is now the head deaconess here. What a beautiful servant heart she has!  Yesterday she asked if she could enter the sanctuary to clean the floors. I didn't know so I asked Dr. Rose and her eyes lit right up as she said "absolutely!" 

I would like to get pictures.  I made the mistake of leaving my camera battery charger and spare battery at home so I will only get what I can take with the one battery.  It should be several hundred pictures but I am very careful what I take.

It is really fun to talk with leaders here. They get a real kick out of it when I can name all the villages up the Sepik River in their territory.  Most have never been into the interior so they like to "see it" through my eyes. When I asked in church if anyone would go to work as a volunteer missionary in the bush, one lady quickly raised her hand. She was on the trip I mentioned that Silas took to Green River and is quite a little missionary.  Her name is Florence.  I'll be sure to get pictures of her. She is also the one that wrote the welcome song for us.

The need for the little bush plane is so obvious when I am here and the people are really excited about the potential. The District Director doesn't get to very many of his churches in one year. They are just too inaccessible and spread out.  I believe the time has come and we will need to move quickly if we want to be a part of what God is going to do in this corner of the world. It is an inestimable privilege to be a part of this and will greatly strengthen the faith of each of us who participate.  If we hesitate others will move forward and take our place. God will not let these people go without being warned of His soon coming. The one thing that shows God's love and touches lives the most is a healing ministry accompanied by sharing personal testimony of what God has done for us.  The very thing that Jesus demonstrated with his life.

I love the promise that those who send will enjoy the same rewards as those who go. There needs to be so much more sending!  Dr. Rose was talking this morning about a sermon she heard about needing to THROW more missionaries into the field.  The idea was that there is so much more need we need to be putting all our strength and resources into this work to finish God's work of warning the whole world of the soon to be closed door of mercy.

Thanks so much for the part you play in making this work in Papua New Guinea possible.  This piece of real estate has more "tongues" per square mile than any other in the world and many do not have anyone who knows the special message we share. It is way past time for Laodicea to wake up don't you think?

Keep praying!  God has shown Himself and I saw it with my own eyes this morning in the promised rainbow at the exact time in the program it was expected by Dr. Rose.

In His service,

Jack Sample

Director

Hope On Wings Foundation

P.S. We don't want to forget our needs on the home front. We are about a month behind on expenses there. We are so much in need of getting the BushKing kit as soon as it is available. They are waiting for us here!

Visit our website at http://hopeonwings.org/ to give online or send check to...

Hope On Wings

PO BOX 122

Hepler, KS  66746

updates from Dad while traveling to PNG - Part 3

March 6 - In Vanimo, PNG        Vanimo updates - God is working!!!!!

At last we have Internet in Vanimo. Thanks to the District Governor who is an elder in the Vanimo church, I am able to get this message out.

We are certainly well rewarded for our persistence in coming. It was not an easy road. Starting with the canceled flight in Kansas City, I knew full well that the enemy was doing what he could to prevent our travels and the accomplishment of the presentation of the simple gospel through the model of the sanctuary.  My sister, Dr. Rose, thought she had succeeded in checking her bags all the way through to Port Moresby but I wasn't so sure as each time I tried, they told me it was impossible to get past Sydney without claiming our bags and re-checking them after going through customs.  In Australia, the International terminals are usually quite a distance from the domestic terminals and they have no way to stay on the secure side in the transit.  I had claimed my bag and we were about to head over to the domestic terminal when we both felt impressed to go check and see if her bags were stashed in some room because we had not claimed them.  Sure enough, there they were and the challenges began.  We had 7 bags to transport, each weighing the full 70 lbs. They required us to take them to the transit bus and then after arriving at the terminal, we had to get them in to the check-in desk. Problem number 2 came up when they hear our flight was not leaving till 7am the next morning. We were politely told in no uncertain terms that we could not check them in till morning and we could not stay in the terminal. So we had to find a hotel and a taxi big enough for all our luggage.  It required a minivan or station wagon. Well, we were still hoping that since Rose had checked the bags all the way to Port Moresby that all funds for the excess baggage that she paid in Spokane would cover us all the way to Port Moresby. At 4am the next morning, the taxi picked us up and off we went for the next step in our adventure. Sure enough, they told us that we had to pay another $800 to get the luggage from Sydney to Port Moresby.  I tried to go get money changed but they were closed that early in the morning. Thankfully, I had noticed that two donations had come in that would cover this expense but I had to get them into an account that I had a card for. With a quick call to my daughter Corrie, we were able to spread the charges over two cards and off we went.

Our stopover in Brisbane was where we made the transition back to the International terminal. Unfortunately one of the security guards was having a bad day and decided to make an example of Dr. Rose. He weighed her carryon bag and got all excited about how heavy it was. With his insistence the counter clerks charged her the maximum and when she tried to ask for lenience, they just laughed and told her to throw the bag away.  It was quite the satan party and it was a real challenge for Dr. Rose's sensitive nature.  Several standing around joined in and it was a scene that has not often been seen among those who serve in the travel industry.  We began to realize that someone was trembling when he found that this program was going to be presented in Papua New Guinea and he was pulling out all the stops to keep it from happening.  The cost to get that one bag just from Brisbane to Port Moresby was over $250.00 bringing the total expense for excess to well over $1750 from Spokane to Port Moresby.  I hated to think what I would face when checking in from Vanimo to Port Moresby.  I had thought that the money I was carrying would be there to provide for our trip from Vanimo to Madang and back to Port Moresby but I was beginning to see that my faith was going to be severely tested.  My temptation was to hang on to the money I had planned for the return but I felt impressed that God wanted me to experience the level of faith that required that I spend all to get there and let him handle the return.

At last we boarded the plane for Port Moresby. I tried to comfort Rose by telling here that the welcome we would receive in PNG was well worth all the troubles so far. Thankfully, we had at least one thing to be very thankful for. The customs officials in Sydney allowed us to keep the food we had in our carry-on bags! When we arrived in Port Moresby, we were again fortunate in that they let us keep our food and when I told them why we were there, they quickly ushered us through. As soon as I stepped through the door into the main room and looked outside, there was my good friend Bob Wagi and I knew our troubles were over the the tie being. I was not disappointed in the warm welcome of one of the closest friends of our family.

During our stay with Bob at his home on the campus of Mount Diamond Adventist High School we had many good experiences.  Rose spoke twice and many came forward to dedicate their lives to Jesus.  I went to town to exchange my US dollars to Kina and found out that they would not take any bills older than 2003 or so. So now I had to face the fact that the money I still did have was only half as useful as I thought it would be. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what was in my pocket but I knew it was in the neighborhood of K1200.00 and I was concerned that it would take more than that to get the bags the rest of the way.

Friday morning we got to the airport early enough to be first in line with our mountain of luggage. You can imagine the looks we got as we pushed our carts piled high with bags up to the counter. The girl checking us in was not a happy person that morning and I knew we wouldn't get much mercy from her.  The man helping her was trying to convince her to find a way to cut the costs but finally she gave us a piece of paper to take to the excess baggage counter to pay for it. I stepped up to the counter and hander the paper over to her and waited to see what the Lord would do. She played with her calculator for a while, each time wincing when she saw the total. Finally she told me, "That will be one thousand five hundred fifty five Kina."  God gave me a peaceful calm as I replied, "I don't think I have that much but lets see..." as I pulled the wad of money out of my pocket. I started counting it out and, much to my surprise, I had exactly K1552.00. I said, "Praise the Lord! I still have 2 Kina for him to multiply!"  I had taken some time to talk this over with the Lord and had come to the conclusion that I needed to be willing to spend all that I had to get us there and watch to see what God would do. I have never done this before and have often had some interesting thoughts when watching my sister do this repeatedly when she travels.

So, with all the mountain of luggage on board we boarded the plane for our final destination.  I wondered what kind of welcome we would receive. My brother Silas had told me he wouldn't be able to be there because he still needed to work on the preparations in Madang.  Believe me, I was not in the least disappointed!  Many of my friends from the Vanimo Town church were there to greet me and they took us to a beautiful guest house on the hill overlooking the sea. They planned to clean up the pastors house and have us stay by the church but had not been able to get it done in time so they had paid for two nights in this guest house.

Work went into full swing for setting up the sanctuary and we got it partially assembled for the Sabbath. Our first meeting was Friday night and I hadn't even had a chance to get a shower. They had a welcome planned for us during the first part of the program. They had Rose and I come up and they sang a song of welcome that one of the church members had written the words for. The words repeatedly talked about Jack and Dr. Rose and the words from God we were bringing and how they hoped to get a spiritual feast from them. It was really touching and both of us were crying. Neither of us have ever experienced anything like it and we hope to get them to do it again so we can record it for any time in the future when we might get discouraged.

Yesterday on Sabbath we had the opportunity to do 4 meetings and today we started at 5:30 am with the first one for today. They everybody sprung into action with finishing the sanctuary set-up and fixing up the house for us. I am writing this as they are all doing this work. We are eating very well and apparently they are not expecting us to pay for the guest house they got for our first two days. We feel like royalty. Better yet, we feel like family. There is such a genuine love given freely to us.  There have been nine so far that have come up to express interest in baptism. The meetings are very powerful in their simplicity and I am getting many comments from my friends that they have never heard anything like this even though they have studied the Sanctuary many times. They are thrilled.

I also got to speak with a lady that was actually on the trip that Silas took to Green River that I often talk about. I found that the actual journey they took was different than I imagined. Instead of going by ship to Wewak and then to the Sepik and up to Green, they actually went by road into the bush until they got to the head waters of one of the tributaries of the Sepik. They went down this river until they got to the Sepik at a village that I have visited several times when I lived in Tipas. There are more stories surrounding this trip that will be fun to share in the future. The story I told about the branch of a tree that broke against Silas' back is even more interesting than I had heard.  The 6 inch limb actually shattered into several pieces when it hit him and it was indeed a fresh living branch.  He had no bruises and seem quite unconcerned according to those traveling with him.  It reminds me of Paul when the snake bit him and he just shook it off.  I will take great pains to get the full details of all of this trip when I am with Silas later.  He has not come to Vanimo because he has to get everything set up for our meetings in Madang.

I think I will be going down to the town tomorrow to see what kind of costs we might be facing to go from here to Madang for our next series. We believe God will provide but we must be truthful. We do not have enough money or even access to enough money to pay for the next leg of our journey. I personally believe God has probably already provided for this but I have not had a chance to check any email or accounts since last Wednesday while we were still in Australia. I am hoping to go to one of the elder's houses here to get on and send this email. Hopefully at that time I will also place a phone call or two to family to see if there are funds to move on.

If God should impress on you to assist, there is a way to send us money that will be immediately available and spendable here.  You can send a moneygram from http://MoneyGram.com or at one of the many places such as Walmart where a moneygram can be sent from.  Just tell them it is to go to Vanimo, Papua New Guinea to be picked up by Steven Jack Sample.  Secret question is "Father's Middle Name"  Answer:  "Russell" Please send email to me, Elana (elanamay1981@yahoo.com) and to Corrie (cosample@gmail.com) if you send money as there is no other way I will know to go and check.  The moneygram is very fast and will be available to us both here in Vanimo and in Madang at a WesPac bank office.

At this time I do not know what it will cost.  We need to pay for excess baggage to Madang plus get our own travel tickets.  Then after the meetings there, we will need to get transport to Port Moresby where we have our return tickets in hand.  There will still be excess on the way home but not as much.  We have discussed the option of going by ship but I would hate to put Dr. Rose through that.  I have personally spent a couple of nights on one of these coastal ships and it is the most difficult travel in PNG  if you want to stay healthy. There is smoking on board and the smell of the diesel exhaust mixed with smoking as well as the movement of the ship will take out all but the strongest traveler. We can't afford for Dr. Rose to have to travel this way.  It may be that I can go with the luggage on the ship and she can go by airplane.  It all depends on how God provides.  The ship is a monthly schedule and it just so happens that it is scheduled for the trip from Vanimo to Madang on the exact days we have planned to travel and the same dates we could go by airplane.

Just a quick update on Monday, March 7 before heading for town. We have had a total of 9 meetings so far and God's Spirit is working. There is a solid core group who come. Prayers are needed for the various churches in the area who may have some jealousy as to which church should have hosted the meetings.  The District Director finally came to a meeting last night and I got a good picture of what has been going on. It was great to find that the new District Director is the little brother of another of my best friends in PNG, David Kumbere. David has also claimed me as a brother so the District Director is a brother of mine as well. Also prayers are needed for the required approvals for the series in Madang.  So far the enemy has blocked every attempt to fax the required papers to Madang. I will be going to try again this morning and am probably doing this work as this message lands in your email box if all goes as planned.

Also Rose is feeling a bit of fever this morning. Her eating schedule is very difficult for the people here and they are still learning. They are so loving and so willing but it has taken time to get the understanding across. They now I am just one of them and there is no worries that I will get plenty to eat but Dr. Rose has specific requirements for the time she needs to eat and it can sometimes be very difficult to meet and still get to attend the meetings. They do not want to miss the meetings.  Their love is overwhelming and we are so blessed. We are now in the home by the church that is normally for the pastor. They don't have a pastor right now so the house was empty. It is very handy to be only 75 feet from the church.  I am hearing the ladies outside talking about the meetings and how to take care of dr. Rose. They are so wonderful. It is like I am home. I can't wait till I can share this family with my wife and eventually my daughter as we begin our work here.  The need is so great. I am praying God will provide for the airplanes and pilots  very quickly and we can make our offensive for the Lord to reach all of the people in the bush area of this district.  The District Director is really excited about what we hope to do for them.

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!   I am at the office of the District Administrator, one of the elders of the Vanimo Church. He has helped us greatly by transporting us wherever we need to go. He is allowing me to use his Internet this morning. He just told me that he is very deeply impressed by the meetings. He was weeping this morning when listening to the stories Rose was telling about the times she has seen God's evidence  of being close through the pillars of fire and cloud.  He just told me that the men here don't usually cry but he could not help himself this morning during the service.  It is easy to see by several indications that the enemy really wants to stop these meetings. He tried to keep us from getting here and he is trying his best to interfere now.  Dr. Rose is feeling sick this morning and is currently sleeping as I do the work of finding a place to send our messaged and see what we can arrange for travel to Madang.  Thanks for your prayers!

In His Service,

Jack Sample

updates from Dad while traveling to PNG - part 2

March 2, 2011   (In Australia) - Unexpected's before getting to the land of the unexpected!
Just a quick note saying thanks for the fantastic prayer and financial support. We can feel the prayers on our behalf.  Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare and we ended up having to transport the luggage that Larose thought was checked through to Port Moresby.  This was quite difficult as there is over 400 lbs including the sanctuary model and God-Pods, bibles, medicine and much more.

Actually it was God's impression that caused us to check the room where luggage that is not claimed is held to seem if per chance her bags did not go on as we thought they would. Sure enough, there they were waiting for someone to claim them.  If we had not been impressed to check, we would have arrived in PNG with no hope of all the items God had provided making it there with us. We had quite the fun trying to load all those bags on a cart that would make it so we could move down the corridors with everything in tow. We had to take a bus with all that luggage over to the domestic terminal and then transport it all inside to the desk only to be told they would not check it till the next morning since our flight was not going out till this morning.
They would not allow us to stay in the airport overnight so we were forced to hire a taxi to transport us and our mountain of luggage to a nearby hotel. This morning we were faced with an unexpected $720 in australian dollars to get the luggage on to Port Moresby. The money exchange was not open and I didn't have enough on my cards so a quick call to my daughter was necessary.

The part that humbles me in all this is the so far, God has provided exactly what we have needed through unexpected donations in the last two days. 
We are in great spirits only because we are in "The Spirit." God is blessing us and it has been a delight to be a part of this. I am so thankful I pulled out all the stops to make sure I was on this leg of the journey with Rose and not following her later. I frankly can't imagine how she goes on these journeys by herself.  I am learning a lot!
My heart is overflowing as I realize that in less than an hour I will be boarding for the next to the last leg.  A quick drop into Brisbane where we do NOT need to handle the checked baggage and then on to Port Moresby where I believe we will be met by a great welcoming committee of Bob Wagi and friends.  That will be WONDERFUL!

If God impresses you that we will be needing more before we get though with this journey, the quickest way to make it available is to use our online option. You can send by check however because there are other designated funds that we can use if we know the replacement funds are on their way.  Just email cosample@gmail.com  (my daughter) and let her know it is on its way so she can transfer the funds to an account we have access to on the road.
Papua New Guinea is called the "land of the unexpected" for good reason, but I sure didn't expect the "unexpecteds" to start before we even got there. :)

Under Orders in His service,
Jack Sample
Director
Hope On Wings Foundation
620-670-4475

Our Mandate
God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24

updates from Dad while traveling to PNG part 1

Dear Family and Friends,
My Dad just left a week ago for Papua New Guinea. He will be there for the entire month of March, working with my Aunt Larose who will be presenting two  'Follow the Lamb' Seminars. These seminars are evangelistic meetings that share the gospel through the symbolism of the Old Testament Sanctuary. The next couple of emails are ones that he sent from airports along the way, as well as two from the destination. I didn't expect him to be able to communicate with us, since internet access there is sketchy at best, but we have been blessed to receive these. I hope you will enjoy as he shares some of the blessings and lessons in faith he has experienced along the way so far! 


March 1, 2011   (In Australia) - Sitting in Sydney on the way to PNG
I wrote this note while flying from Kansas City to Los Angeles yesterday and wanted to share it with you. Currently my sister Larose and I are comfortably resting in the International Terminal in Sydney. Our flight out isn't until 7:00 am in the morning so we are planning to hang out here over night if we can since we don't have funds for hotels.

Here is my note...
When traveling on God's journeys, one often meets with unexpected delays and interruptions. Often these become more than minor inconveniences when the interruption threatens to sabotage the entire trip. This was the case on Sunday, February 27 when I was to begin my journey to Papua New Guinea for the planned evangelism with my sister Dr. Rose.

During the previous night the fog rolled in and when I arose at 5:30am I noticed that the drive up to Kansas City was not going to be the pleasant one I had hoped for. The plan was to leave the house at 8:00 am for the 2.5 hour drive to the Kansas City Airport to allow plenty of time to prepare for my 12:10pm departure to Los Angeles via Minneapolis - St. Paul.

I figured there would be no problem with flight delays due to the mid-day departure. Everyone knows the fog lifts by noon under normal conditions. Well after going through all the routines of getting the boarding pass, checking the bags and security clearance, I began the wait, anxiously watching out the window for some sign the fog would lift. I began hearing announcements for other flights that were delayed, or even worse, canceled. Still, with undaunted faith, I waited for the fog to lift before my flight time came. Surely God planned for me to be on that plane after He had provided the funds for the non-refundable tickets didn't He?

I called family members and posted on Facebook and shared the need for prayer. Many were praying that God's will would be done and sure enough, it was! The fog did NOT lift! "What?" You say. "I thought you were going to say that you saw a miracle and the fog lifted just in time for your plane to slip down and land so every thing would be just exactly the way you hoped for.

So what do you do when the miracle you hope for does not materialize and you have to make major changes to your plans? I called the Delta agents and they said they could get me on a flight the next day and on to Sydney a day later, but it arrived 1 hour and 40 minutes after my connecting flight on to Port Moresby so that wouldn't do. With a little walking, I checked at the SouthWest ticket counter and was able to get on a non-stop flight to LA that arrived 3 hours before my outgoing flight to Sydney. Yes, it cost an extra $475 but God had already impressed someone's heart to send a $500 gift just a couple of days before heading out.

I had planned to use that $500 in PNG for the many needs there, but God knew I would need it even before I got started. So back to the question... How do we handle situations where it seems that God does not answer prayers the way we hope He will. For me, it is simple. I have to realize that it just isn't about me! I am not even close to the most important person in God's master plan that would make it so that everything has to go the way I plan for it to go. Is there a divine appointment God has for me on this plane? I don't know and maybe never will. I am simply at peace with the fact that God is in control of my life and even if I had been unable to make it to LA on time to travel with my sister, that is ok.

For me, the important thing is to ask God to give me the peace and contentment of knowing that at all times, He is in control of my life. I want to make a point to be encouraging, affirming, kind and gracious to all who are around me in a situation like this. The ticket agents, gate agents and all who make it their job to make travel by air as comfortable and hassle free as possible. I would not want to be in their shoes on a day like today.

I am writing this as the plane wings high over the darkened landscape. In an hour or so, we will be descending into Los Angeles and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me there. There is nothing quite like being on His mission!
***************
Back to the present.  Thank you so much for your prayers. It means so much to Larose and I to know you are holding us up in prayer. Tomorrow I get to be welcomed to my favorite country by one of my favorite friends and it doesn't get much better than that.
I do not know when I will be able to get another note out as Internet connections in Vanimo are minimal and last time I was there I could not get out at all.
Sincerely,

Jack Sample
Director
Hope On Wings Foundation
620-670-4475
Our Mandate
God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24