Return from Guyana

Thank you for praying for us during this trip to the Guyana mission field.  We have safely returned after traveling over 4000 miles and spending 45 hours in the air (one way) in 13 days.

We experienced a mechanical problem one morning after departing from Laramie Wyoming and returned back to the airfield to check it out.  Turns out the propeller governor had stopped working and wasn’t increasing the pitch on the blades to make us go faster.  Kind of like being stuck in 1^st gear and not able to shift into second.

The Lord blessed us with a family 60 miles away in Cheyenne that took us in while we waited for a new part.  They came and got us, gave us a place to sleep, and fed us.  We played music together, sang together, had worships and fellowshipped together for 3 days.  It was wonderful to have time to rest and get rejuvenated before continuing westward.  We were very thankful for their loving kindness.

The next obstacle was bad weather in Oregon, our final destination.  After checking the weather report, we decided to divert to Walla Walla Washington for the weekend because Oregon had 60 mile per hour winds with rain, ice and snow.  Another family took us in, the brother of James, and we spent a wonderful weekend there taking off to Oregon on Sunday with clear skies and good weather.

The Ash’s have now had their new baby, Juliana Elise, born Friday, March 26 and she’s a cutie.

Today we are finishing up a week of camp meeting here at our place and have been blessed by the Lord many times over with a better understanding of the book of Joel and end time prophecy.

I have news from Guyana that 65 people have been baptized after an evangelistic series held by Dr. LaRose McClusky in Paruima village and 8 of those are from DIIC college there where I installed the solar energy system.  When we had left the village of Shea, 10+ people had asked for bible study and 2 had asked to be baptized as a result of evangelistic meetings held there by James and Joy Ash.

Please continue your prayers for the people in Shea as the devil is bringing in false doctrine through other churches.  They are even paying people $50 to be baptized.  What a sham and an abomination.  James and Joy held evangelistic meetings there before we left to provide a foundation for those people so they would not be led astray.

Gary Lewis is now flying after Kyle and team put the new engine on his airplane and work is continuing in Bethany to build an airplane hanger so they will have a sheltered place to work.

A special thanks to our new friends in the British Virgin Islands, Jean and Phillip, Clive and Marshay, for showing us God’s love, dinner, to and from the airport and helping us get through everything smoothly during the trip in the Caribbean.  We pray God will bless the health ministry they have recently launched there.

I can tell you that the prayers offered by many during this trip were answered by God.  He listened and acted.  Everything from protection, guidance, and bringing pieces together at the right time all happened during this trip.  God brought people together who needed the connection, and he also brought parts, supplies, and assistance when they were needed.  It was awesome to see God work!!

The idea that prayer is not essential is one of Satan's most successful devices to ruin souls. Prayer is communion with God, the Fountain of wisdom, the Source of strength, and peace, and happiness. Jesus prayed to the Father "with strong crying and tears." Paul exhorts believers to "pray without ceasing," in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, making known their requests to God. "Pray one for another," James says. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Hebrews 5:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; James 5:16.  {7T 42.3} 

In God’s Service,

Brandtley

Blind Missionary?

Hi Everyone,

Wanted to give you an update on how the mission work is going – I arrived in Guyana Feb 5^th and immediately went out to Bethany with parts to fix their inverter.  It takes a while to get there because of the ride through Georgetown, then a 45 minute boat ride over the rough channel outlet that goes to the Atlantic Ocean and another 30 minutes up the river to Bethany.

We had the inverter running Sunday morning and I then made the trip back Monday morning for a flight out to the jungle village of Paruima where we installed a new solar energy system over the past 2 weeks.  The batteries for the system are about 120lbs each and still need to be flown there by plane – all 8 of them.  So it will take 2 or 3 flights to get them there in the airplanes we fly.  Once they are installed the system will be operational.

Yesterday, before I left to come back here to Georgetown, a blind Ameridian lady who is a very sweet Christian told me she would like some more M-Grain essential oils.  My wife had treated her with this oil when we were there last year for a migraine she was experiencing at the time.  She told me the reason she needed more is because she was using it to treat other people when she goes on missionary trips. 

I couldn’t believe it – here is a blind person going on mission trips!!!  Her faith in God is a tribute to the rest of us for sure!!

She told me one time she was going to go on a mission trip and the day before people said they had no outboard engine or fuel for the boat.  She felt discouraged and was deciding not to even try to go.  That night, she had a dream that someone was outside her window, and she asked who it was, and a voice said “I am”.  It said “I will provide the boat, engine and fuel, I want you to go on the mission trip.”

The next morning, there was a boat, engine and fuel and she was able to go on the mission trip. 

When we provide ourselves willingly in God’s service, He is able to guide and direct us, personally.

I read this from the Desire of Ages yesterday…

 As Christ lived the law in humanity, so we may do if we will take hold of the Strong for strength. But we are not to place the responsibility of our duty upon others, and wait for them to tell us what to do. We cannot depend for counsel upon humanity. The Lord will teach us our duty just as willingly as He will teach somebody else. If we come to Him in faith, He will speak His mysteries to us personally. Our hearts will often burn within us as One draws nigh to commune with us as He did with Enoch. Those who decide to do nothing in any line that will displease God, will know, after presenting their case before Him, just what course to pursue. And they will receive not only wisdom, but strength. Power for obedience, for service, will be imparted to them, as Christ has promised. Whatever was given to Christ--the "all things" to supply the need of fallen men--was given to Him as the head and representative of humanity. And "whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." 1 John 3:22.  {DA 668.4} 

I am encouraged by the blind missionary lady that her faith and trust in God is so great, she is able to reflect God’s character of unselfish care for others when she could have a very legitimate reason for staying home.

Tomorrow, we are going to replace an engine with a new one on one of the mission planes.  Should have it flying by Thursday if all goes well.  Keep us in your prayers please.  It has been down since January 10^th and there are a lot of evangelistic meetings being held right now.  Ministers, bible workers and supplies need to be transported to and from these places in the jungle interior and the airplane is the only way to achieve this efficiently.

May God Bless you and guide you as you daily choose to follow Him,

Brandtley

Cessna 182 Has Been Donated for Guyana Work

A lot has happened since the trip down to Guyana in November.  A Cessna 182 was acquired through a partial donation and I flew back to the United States on November 22^nd to fly it to Kelso Washington for a head to toe inspection.  This airplane has fixed gear and has a stronger engine which is better suited for the rough and short airstrips in Guyana.

It is with gratitude to God as I see people all over the world stepping up to the plate to work in service for the salvation of souls in any way they can.  They may not be on the front lines in a foreign country but if they were not doing what they can, then the missionaries in the foreign country would be without support.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul describes the body of Christ as having many gifts of the Spirit.  Not all have the same gift, but all work in unison with Christ.  When one suffers, we all suffer …”or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” 1 Cor 12:26.  What is so incredible is seeing the body of Christ all working together without any human leader orchestrating it all.  Jesus is doing it with His people – all over the world!!

The aircraft mechanics in Kelso are donating their time to correct, fix, and prevent problems with the 182.  If they didn’t do that, there would be no airplane in shape to fly down to Guyana. 

In the meantime, almost every day for the past two weeks I have received boxes of food, supplies, parts, tools, books, literature, and various other things to be flown to Guyana for the missionaries to use or distribute there. 

Daniel 11:32 says “…the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do [exploits].”  Well let me tell you, I am seeing God’s people being strong and they are “doing” a lot to further the work of salvation.

It is truly a joy to be working for God.  Matthew 11:28  says “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

I can testify that it truly is easy and the burden light.  It is because Jesus said “…the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10.  The Father does the work of converting and saving souls.  We are simply His servants. 

I ask that you pray for the missionaries in Guyana – James & Joy, Gary & Toni, the Mandigo family, the Sisson family, the Kennedy family, the Wilson family, the Smith family, and other single people who are sacrificing a lot each day to serve.  There are many more names dotted along the path from Oregon to Guyana who are helping the work, without pay.  They need your prayers as well.

In closing, I want to wish you God’s grace and His peace from our family to yours as we come to the end of 2009.  What is coming up in 2010?  Stay awake.  Keep watching.  We are getting closer to the fulfillment of prophecies in Daniel and Revelation.  Prepare your characters and your heart by keeping your eyes focused on Jesus, the Christ.

The 182 should be ready in about another week or so.  I’ll then be flying it and the supplies down to Guyana.

God’s Blessings be upon you,

Brandtley

Blessed doing His work

The Lord is good and has been blessing the work we’ve been doing. The 172 engine has been removed and found that the camshaft intake lobes were wearing badly. It was placed on David Gates airplane and flown back to the states. The Maule cylinder was replaced and magneto cleaned so now its operational, and N5150U received civil aviation authority to fly in country for 6 months. We have been getting up at 4-5am and retire around 11pm. Lots has been accomplished in very short order.

We’ve just returned from Southern Guyana where N5150U was used for its first medical missionary flight. A snakebite victim was airlifted out of the village of Shea and transported to a hospital in Letham. This was the only airplane in the region that was available and flying.

Yesterday, we helped a Christian family in Letham fix their Cessna 206 where the nose gear bolt sheared off and caused the nose gear to partially collapse. So, it was out of commission to make the flight.

Since the 206 will be down for repairs and then will go into annual, Gary said we should serve the area and become known for medical flights. This will show the people we are here to help and then they will be more open to hear the gospel.

So, Gary asked me to head back to the states hopefully on Sunday to get a 182 that is being purchased and fly it back down. The key is to get it down here right away because the rainy season is coming. The 172RG has small tires and cannot go into some of the airstrips once the rains soften the ground.

Thank you for your prayers, the Lord is answering them and has kept us safe, well, and fully fed.

We are truly blessed in doing His work.

Brandtley

Florida to Guyana

The Lord is wonderful. There is no doubt in my mind about His willingness or ability to deliver those who chose to be His servants.

In the Caribbean and Guyana it is law that no single engine airplanes can fly after sundown, or before dawn. So, we took off from Florida at 4:30am because we had headwinds and that meant a 6 hour flight to Turk Island for fuel and another 5 ½ hour flight to Beef Island (British Virgin Islands) for the first days flight.

We arrived in Turk Island and the process there was very quick, the people refueled the planes quickly and the turnaround in customs and immigration was also quick.

That was good because we landed at Beef Island about 10 minutes before sundown. Praise the Lord!

Our next step was to figure out where we would spend the night. Being in the mission field there is not much money to go around so we were thinking of spending the night under the wing of the planes. Since 911 however, security has been tightened at all major airports as well as many smaller ones so it was doubtful this could be done. But, it was worth asking.

Gary first asked if we could move the Cessna 150 tail dragger onto the grass to keep it from moving in the wind since there were no tie downs where we had to park. The airport people came over to talk with us and asked where we were from and what we were doing. We told them these were missionary airplanes and were headed to Guyana. They asked what religion we were affiliated with so we said we were Seventh-day Adventists. The man brightened up and said “I’m a Seventh-day Adventist too!!”.

As it turned out, he took us all into town and paid for the majority of our hotel. We shared our faith together prayed with he and his wife. His desire is to fly in the mission field and already has his pilot credentials. So we now have contacts at Beef Island who want to serve the Lord.

The next morning, we could not leave as early as we did from Florida because customs and immigration did not open until 7am. However, arriving early we refueled the airplanes so at least that would be done. We took off at 7:20am.

Arriving in Greneda for fuel was going to be a little more challenging since we had to refuel, go through customs and immigration, and then file a new flight plan to Guyana. Since my airplane is faster than the Cessna 150 I went ahead and started refueling. When Gary and Kyle landed we went inside to clear customs. The turnaround was good and we got back in the planes. The 150 departed first, but my clearance was delayed about 20 minutes. This was going to be close.

I had to wait for another aircraft coming into Greneda before they could release me. Finally, I was given permission to takeoff. I flew the plane at full throttle all the way to Guyana and arrived 9 minutes before sundown and the 150 arrived 3 minutes before sundown.

This is truly providential because how can you even start to predict a landing time that close to sundown after flying for 8 hours and stopping for fuel, not knowing how long it would take for customs and immigration.

My prayer during the trip was simply “Lord, I’m in your hands, and I trust you”. He did not fail to clear the path and move the hearts of those we would talk to as well as keep his angels close by to safeguard the airplanes.

God is worthy to be praised. We made it to Guyana.

Brandtley

British Virgin Islands

Just thought I'd post an update, Brandtley, Gary and Kyle decided to overnight on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands instead of Puerto Rico, because they would be that much closer to thier destination, and have a shorter flight today. Now they are in Granada fueling up for the last bit of their journey to Guyana. They are hoping to get there before sundown. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28

Carrie

Guyana via Puerto Rico

In just a few short hours Brandtley and two other pilots from Gospel Ministry Gary Roberts and Kyle Kennedy will take off from Florida flying in their little airplanes over the ocean for the next two days!!! The only envious bit is that they are staying the night in Puerto Rico. I have always wanted to go there… Please keep them in your prayers.

Carrie