Participants:
Series Code: OTG
Program Code: OTG000003
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00:51 My name is Laura Labore and I am a pilot and a nurse for
00:55 Adventist World Aviation and we are currently 00:58 in Guyana South America. 00:59 We've been in Guyana for almost seven years now and we've been 01:03 in particularly in Mabaruma for about five and a half now. 01:06 One of the things that is so exciting. 01:09 I mean for me personally, I think our team could identify 01:11 with this as well is that living in a community like Mabaruma, 01:16 we're not just there for short term. We live there. 01:18 We've been there five years now. We've gotten to know a lot of 01:21 people. We've built a lot of relationships. There are many 01:25 people there that have been impacted very positively both 01:29 for medical reasons as well as just purely from a relationship 01:33 standpoint. 01:34 Bill and Laura Labore live in Mabaruma Guyana in a small 01:37 house that they rent. They live right in the center of town 01:41 and have constant traffic buzzing all around them. 01:44 Their small home is less than a quarter mile away from the local 01:47 public school and for many students its right in the path 01:51 of their daily commute to school each day. 01:53 One of the areas that we are involved in that we didn't 01:56 really plan on, is outreaching to some of the local children. 02:00 Some of them don't have enough to eat breakfast in the morning 02:03 and when we got here we noticed that they weren't even going 02:05 to school at all and so they started coming hanging out at 02:10 our house, playing with our kids and asking for food. 02:14 And we realized that when they were going to school, 02:16 they were going with empty bellies. Now there's a school 02:18 program at lunch that the US pays for where they get free 02:21 lunch and so what we started is they come in the morning 02:25 and usually we give them bread and butter 02:27 and bananas or some kind of fruit, just the basics. 02:30 And feed them. Have worship with them, if we have time and then 02:34 they go off to school. And they just love coming to our house. 02:37 Not only to play, but also for food and they come to us with 02:41 little tiny things, like band aids for itty bitty bitty 02:44 boo-boos that really don't need a band aid, and 02:47 I think what they really want is just a little bit of love. 02:50 And so I have boxes and boxes of band aids stocked. 02:53 Because I go through them like crazy. I'll go through eight 02:55 band-aids a day some times, with all of them coming saying 02:58 Sister Laura please for a plasta 03:01 and it's been a really good outreach. 03:04 They started coming to Sabbath school now and church. 03:07 enjoying worship and also doing better in their school work. 03:12 They will come back from school excited. They show me their 03:15 exercise book and they say look Sister Laura! Look what 03:17 I did in school today! and so I've kind of I guess taken on 03:21 a motherly figure and even though I thought 03:24 I was busy enough with the two. 03:25 Each morning, Laura's house quickly fills as small 03:29 bare feet make their way up the stairs to her home. 03:33 The children all feel perfectly welcome and have added 03:36 a stop to Auntie Laura's into their daily routine. 03:41 The Labore children have also become accustomed to their daily 03:44 playmates and gladly share their toys and belongings 03:47 with the village children. 03:49 But adding all these extra children into such a small space 03:54 creates a hectic atmosphere. 03:56 Yet, the Labores gladly open their doors to any child that 03:59 to stop by. Some children play, others do crafts, some read 04:05 while others just want to eat. Laura does her best to keep up 04:09 with all the additional hungry mouths. 04:11 Here in Mabaruma there is no bakery, so Laura bakes 04:15 all her own bread that she feeds to the children. 04:18 You are making tortillas? Yah... but they're not round. 04:25 Not at all. It's for lunch. 04:27 Laura also finds sponsors from the United States for some 04:31 of the children's basic needs like clothing and shoes. 04:34 There is someone in the States who wants to buy them some 04:37 footwear. And so I'm going to we drew up their foot, 04:42 I took a picture and we put the picture there and then give it 04:43 to the people so they can know who they are buy for. 04:48 Six children this morning. There will be a couple more tomorrow 04:51 that will come by to get theirs drawn too. 04:53 (child singing) 04:56 Ok you guys ready? 04:58 Laura also has a ministry out of her home. She engages the 05:02 the children to sing and reads Bible stories to them 05:04 each morning. 05:31 Having all these children in her home could easily be a full time 05:34 job for Laura, yet she manages to do all this before 830 in the 05:38 morning when she switches over to her other job, 05:41 being a pilot and a nurse. 05:44 After worship she sends all her children off to school. 05:47 The local children go to the public school, 05:49 while her own go to Annika each day to be home schooled. 05:53 Annika's primary purpose for being in Guyana is to home 05:57 school the Labore children. She took a year away from her 06:00 college studies to move to Guyana and ensure that 06:03 Danni and Micah receive a good education. 06:07 She fills each day with learning activities for them. 06:11 My name is Annika Jenson. I've been here for a little over 06:15 six months now and I'm here to support the missionaries and 06:19 the primary way that I do that 06:21 is home schooling Micah and Danni Labore. 06:23 I'm a Walla Walla University student, and I'm here through 06:25 their student mission program. I've always wanted to take a 06:28 year off and to go abroad and so I was at Sabbath school 06:34 in Walla Walla one day and we ran into Greg and Crystal 06:38 VanFossen through some mutual friends and started talking to 06:42 them and asked if they could use a student nurse down here where 06:49 they were going in Guyana and she put me in touch with Laura 06:52 and I ended up down here home schooling their kids 06:54 and it has been fantastic. 06:55 I know that I am supposed to be here this year and 06:58 it has been fantastic. I think that if I had just muscled my 07:03 way into coming here and done it on my own accord 07:07 then I probably would have been miserable. 07:09 But if you are feeling Jesus calling you and feeling like 07:16 you should go, then absolutely. Fallow that calling and go 07:21 where you are directed. And it will be the best thing. 07:24 I've learned a lot about mission and about love. That it isn't 07:29 a lot of the things that we tag as mission activities about 07:33 going and giving things out or helping the poor you know 07:37 starving child learn how to read and that sort of thing. 07:39 It's more about living, here, and living in a different way. 07:44 Because we live differently. Not only because we are Americans 07:47 but because we are Christians and Seventh Day Adventists. 07:49 And people notice that a whole lot more 07:52 than any other simple act that we would do. 07:55 They see how we treat the children or how the Labores 07:59 treat their dog or things like that. How they just go about day 08:03 to day life. And they notice little things like that, 08:06 more than any of the big things. 08:08 Any of the big events that we could do. 08:11 Having Annika there frees, Laura and Bill so they can concentrate 08:15 on their mission work during the day while they know their 08:17 children are receiving wonderful instruction 08:20 from their tutor Annika. 08:22 I really am happy to raise my kids to be missionary kids. 08:25 I just think there is just so much more that 08:29 they are getting out of life. 08:30 And I've had people in the States that are always telling 08:32 us oh what are they going to miss out? 08:34 You know they are missing out on all the things in America". 08:36 But here they're learning how to climb papaya trees and go in 08:41 canoes and all kinds of wonderful things. But I think 08:43 most importantly is, they're learning to deal with another 08:47 culture. That we're different. We're the minority here. 08:52 They're also learning about giving, on a daily bases. 08:56 Because the needs are so great. And they are constantly seeing 09:00 people in need and getting involved with their needs. 09:03 And so I think that's really important for kids to grow up 09:06 with that and just see the true meaning of sharing Jesus. 09:09 They have the opportunity every single day already in their 09:11 little lives and already because of them, some people are 09:14 in the church and so they are already being good missionaries. 09:18 Danni and Micah are not the only mission kids that are being 09:20 home schooled. 09:22 In fact all three families home school their children. 09:26 I'm home schooling the boys, or I was. We have a home schooler, 09:30 that's a teacher that's here to help with home schooling 09:33 this year and that's been a terrific blessing to us all. 09:36 We tried going to school here, but we didn't learn as much 09:41 as we would in home schooling. So now Tyler teaches us in all 09:45 the subjects except for on-line school we use West Coast 09:50 Adventist Academy and we talk to our teacher every week. 09:54 My main responsibility is tutoring Jake and Zack, 09:58 the Wickwire children in their daily home school routine. 10:01 I had always felt in the back of my mind that mission work would 10:04 be a good thing for me to do before I settled into 10:07 a daily routine of the work and a family life. 10:11 I always felt like it would be good to really immerse myself 10:15 even for just a few months in another culture and feel 10:19 something different then just what I've been accustomed 10:22 to my whole life. 10:23 And that was the main reason that brought me to Guyana. 10:26 A lot of the challenge of being a missionary is learning to put 10:30 yourself last. And it definitely been something that's been 10:32 a growing experience for me. I've had to learn as I go, 10:35 you know and not always worrying about my own needs first. 10:38 But I think it's something I'm gradually learning. 10:41 And something every missionary needs to be open to learning is, 10:45 to put their needs last. To put the needs of the people here, 10:48 your fellow missionaries and anyone you meet before yourself 10:53 because that's the mission. That's the reason you're here. 10:56 The reason I am here is for others, not for myself. Me being 10:59 here really frees up Karen Wickwire at least, so she can do 11:03 other things like go to clinic on Thursdays and be available to 11:06 to pick up the other missionaries so Having more of 11:09 us to do kind of more the mundane tasks enables the other 11:14 main missionaries the adults to do some more important things. 11:19 After Crystal and Annika finish home schooling the missionary 11:22 children they turn their attention to the village 11:25 children. They also tutor a few of them, who are falling behind 11:29 in the public school. 11:31 Education here isn't like it is in the United States where 11:34 you have to have mastered before you're moved on. 11:36 They actually took the no child left behind idea, and they said 11:41 if the United States isn't leaving any children behind 11:44 we shouldn't either. 11:45 And so, whether a child has mastered something or not, 11:48 they're not left behind, they're moved on to the next grade. 11:52 So when I started tutoring the boy that is in standard 6 he did 11:56 not know thirteen of his letters of the alphabet. 11:59 He did not know the sounds of about half of his alphabet. 12:03 So we just had to start with basic reading and he couldn't 12:08 even tell me the names of all the symbols for the numbers. 12:11 So we just started with really basic stuff. His brothers were 12:15 a little further along. And so Anika started tutoring them, 12:18 and I worked on catching the older one up. 12:21 And today he was actually reading probably at beginning 12:25 first grade level. And he knows... they know spotty things 12:29 in between so it's kind of hard. They might not know 12:33 their addition, by they'll know some of the multiplications. 12:36 So it's kind of hard trying to figure out exactly 12:38 what it is that they need. 12:40 The education system here in Guyana is government funded. 12:44 And is a little bit of a relic from when the British were 12:47 in control. And they seem to kind of put the best teachers 12:51 in Georgetown and then out from there ... 12:54 Out here in Region one, it's kind of the backwoods of Guyana. 12:57 And by the time you get here, the class sizes are huge and the 13:02 infrastructure and supplies are ... 13:05 It's really tough for the teachers to teach well. 13:08 And really tough for the kids to pick up on a lot of the things. 13:13 And so it would be wonderful if there was just a pack of retired 13:16 teachers or new teachers who wanted to come down here and 13:19 just help educate. Help teach to read. Help teach to count. 13:24 Since the children all have tutors, their parents can focus 13:28 on other tasks while they are studying. Even the simplest 13:31 tasks take 5 times longer in the mission field. 13:34 We don't have current during the day here. So I have to run 13:38 the generator so that my washing machine will run 13:40 during the day whenever I need to do laundry. 13:42 Karen Wickwire has to do a minimum of four loads of laundry 13:46 a week just to keep up with her, her husband and her two boys. 13:51 However they don't have the luxury of indoor laundry room. 13:55 They must start the generator and plug in the machine. 13:58 They must fill the washer with a hose or buckets of rainwater. 14:02 We mostly rely on the rain water that falls. It comes down on 14:05 the roof and its collected in this bin, this bin, and then 14:09 we've got three more at the back and one up high. Whenever 14:13 we want to get water in the house to drink, we normally 14:16 collect it from either this one, or another one that's around the 14:18 corner, and then we filter that water 14:21 and that's how we get our drinking water. 14:23 The things that I covet here are way different than the ones that 14:27 I do at home. Yah when I go home I look forward to doing laundry, 14:30 because it's fun. You just stick in, open up and it's done. 14:34 It just makes me miss stuff at home, like when I can just turn 14:38 the machine, go do whatever. 14:40 And know that whenever I get back to it, it'll be done. 14:44 Karen Wickwire cannot leave the wash, but must keep an eye on 14:48 load the entire time. After the first cycle she must catch it 14:52 in time to refill the washer with more water 14:55 to complete the wash process. 14:58 Well, if it's a dry season, I can hang it out on the line 15:00 in the yard. And I guess the rule of thumb is if it's up 15:04 before noon, it should dry by four o'clock. Our land lord told 15:08 us that if it's up much after four thirty, it just starts 15:10 getting moist again from the humidity. But if it's rainy 15:14 season, it could sit in here for like three days before it dries. 15:18 All in all a very time consuming task, however it still more 15:23 efficient then how the local villagers clean their clothing. 15:26 They gather at the river and children bathe themselves while 15:29 the women wash everything by hand and beat their clothing 15:33 with wash boards in the brown murky water. Yet surprisingly 15:37 their clothing comes out clean and their whites 15:40 still shine bright. 15:43 Despite all the difficulties that come with living in the 15:45 jungle, all the AWA team members agree that their efforts 15:50 are well worth it. None of them consider it a sacrifice and have 15:55 become very accustomed to and greatly enjoy their way of life. 15:59 While it might hold extra work and have the hassle of not 16:03 having the convinces, they are all very happy 16:07 with where God has placed them. 16:08 I don't think it's a sacrifice to live here at all. In fact 16:11 I think there's lots of lessons. It's a huge blessing! There's 16:13 so many days and I just wake up and just think Oh I just praise 16:16 God for my job. I think I have the best job in the world! 16:19 Even though some days are hard, every day isn't full of 16:22 excitement and stuff and sometimes 16:24 just day to day living here can be hard. 16:26 Everything that we eat, is pretty much made from scratch. 16:30 I can't just go buy tortillas, I have to make them. 16:34 And so it gets... We're busy all day long, but our list of things 16:39 that we've done is very very short at the end of the day, 16:41 just because everything takes so long. 16:43 So I miss the conveniences yes. I miss family. I miss friends. 16:47 But it's really worth it because of all the other things that we 16:51 get to do here. There's no way I could have a job like this in 16:55 the states where I get to fly one day, and do nursing the next 16:58 day and you know washing the air plane the next day and so, 17:01 for a person who doesn't really like scheduled 17:04 in the box type job, its perfect. 17:07 I think ultimately the sacrifices of comfort to be able 17:11 to do mission work is worth it. It may not seem like it at first 17:15 but being able to see some of the impact of what you've done 17:17 being able to... just know that you've helped I think 17:21 ultimately is worth the sacrifice. 17:23 Any day, that I can come home at the end of the day and know that 17:31 even for one person, adult or child, something that I've been 17:36 able to do, because of God given skills to me that can make a 17:41 difference in their life, then that day is a good day. 17:44 And that is fulfilling for me. 17:47 Serving other people, is what God is all about to begin with. 17:52 Everything He does, has to do with service and encouraging, 17:56 helping people. 17:58 I think being a servant means that you will be able to put 18:00 aside what you want, and do what God wants you to do 18:04 to help other people. 18:05 Mission work is so much more about love and about living the 18:09 way the people around you live and following Christ, 18:13 than it is about giving things out or about education. 18:20 That's an important part of it, 18:21 but that comes as a result of living and following Jesus. 18:26 It's actually very peaceful. And it's a good way to live. 18:30 And we do have, I have job satisfaction. And a lot of 18:34 people don't have job satisfaction, they hate their 18:36 jobs and I love it! Because I think, if you completely submit 18:39 to God He is going to take you and help you do what your 18:43 talents are. He knows best what your talents are 18:45 because He's the one Who gave them to you. 18:47 And so if you submit to Him, He's going to take you and 18:51 grow you and make you blossom into something 18:54 that you never thought you could be. 18:56 For our family, the thing that gives us the greatest feeling 19:00 of accomplishment from our time here is just the opportunity 19:03 to show care and compassion to the people that need it the most 19:07 and don't often see it from others. 19:10 A lot of people's lives are going to be changed 19:12 because of the families that live here. 19:19 Just recently we went to Baramita We took a flight there. 19:22 It's about a thirty minute flight from here. 19:24 And as we traveled there, it was very impressive to look out 19:27 the window and see the... what one of our pilots calls the 19:31 "broccoli" out there. There's just no place to land. 19:34 And you can just see there is no road, there is no infrastructure 19:37 to get to these places. Here this place is a thirty minute 19:40 plane flight away, but I would imagine, if you were to take 19:44 a some sort of off road vehicle, you probably couldn't get there 19:47 within four or five days. 19:48 To reach these people is just incredible by aircraft. 19:52 You know, you hear about places like Guyana and 19:55 that are hard to reach places, but you don't really get 19:57 a feel for it until you are actually in the air. 20:00 While we were there, we saw a house that we had built. 20:04 That Adventist World Aviation had constructed. It was a sad 20:07 thing to see that the roof is on and the walls are up. 20:11 But it has so much needs. It needs water. The electricity 20:13 is starting to go into the place. And even after the place 20:16 is built, we're still missing one major component. 20:19 That's our missionaries. Oh the desperate need for 20:22 missionaries to live in that area right off the air park, 20:25 is great. 20:27 The three families in Guyana are looking to expand to four. 20:31 In a village about 30 minutes away the AWA team has built 20:35 another house that lies empty waiting for another 20:39 mission family. In the mean time the local villagers 20:42 wait and hope that the family comes soon. 20:45 They watch and take care of the property 20:47 in hopes of new missionary to come and join them. 20:51 We are in a village today of Baramita. And Baramita is a 20:54 project that we've been working on now for ...Oh, going on 20:58 almost three years really. We began here just doing medical 21:02 evacuations and bring in supplies for the village. 21:05 It's a pretty isolated village. Initially we were told that 21:09 you know we could not talk about our religion here 21:11 or anything like that but we could do the medical 21:13 evacuations and so we went ahead and we did that. 21:15 Really without any purpose other than just being able 21:18 to help them. But as time went on a year and a half of, 21:21 you know literally doing the medical evacuations, bringing 21:24 back even their dead to be buried here which had never been 21:28 done before. Before we came here, this is the first time 21:30 ever they were to bury their dead here in their village. 21:32 It meant very much to them and also you know... just building 21:38 relationships here. A year and half later they said 21:41 "we want you to come here and live among us." 21:43 And to teach them about what we know. And so 21:47 they actually gave us a piece of land which is behind me here. 21:50 And back last year Jud Wickwire our chief pilot and construction 21:56 manager brought a construction team down here from various 21:58 areas of the United States and they built the house that's 22:01 behind me here. And that house has been built specifically 22:04 for Bible workers and medical workers to stay at 22:07 as we minister to the people here in Baramita. 22:09 When we first came in, I remember the day we first time 22:12 flew into this village. We had a meeting with the village captain 22:15 and also Sam Beard, who actually lives behind over here and 22:19 discussed the possibility of coming in here and assisting 22:21 them with some of their needs and I just asked the question if 22:25 we'd be able to bring a pastor in here to actually encourage 22:28 people and talk to them in their homes and such. They had a 22:31 discussion between themselves in Carib and then they came back 22:34 to me in English and said "no we don't really want any 22:36 more religions here. We have one religion here and that's the 22:39 Jehovah Witnesses and we don't feel we need anything 22:41 beyond that" and I said Ok. 22:43 We didn't push the issue too much. So as I mentioned we went 22:45 ahead and we did just the medical and did health talks 22:49 here and had a health seminar here and a few other things. 22:53 But now we've had the invitation to come into the village 22:55 and the only church they have ever 22:57 known here is the Jehovah Witnesses. 22:58 They have one church here. we saw this as a tremendous 23:00 opportunity really to come in here and share more truth. 23:06 I mean an opportunity to talk more about Jesus 23:08 and the plan of salvation. 23:09 And to teach another aspect of the gospel that we believe 23:13 the Jehovah Witnesses don't really share. 23:15 Now the purpose of this house that we built here is very 23:19 simple and very significant. We feel the best way to be able 23:25 share the good news here in Baramita is to have people 23:27 living here among them. Every day, being present here. 23:30 Living out the gospel in their lives. Ministering to them 23:35 medically, ministering to them in terms of opening the 23:37 Bible truth to them and we need a person that actually stays on 23:42 the ground here that can be our contact person when we fly in 23:45 here for weather, to find out if there is any emergencies here. 23:48 Set up a radio here as well that we' d be able to communicate 23:51 by HF. And really just have a presence in this community where 23:55 we can bring medical volunteers in here and they can keep the 23:58 house so that we can have people stay there 23:59 when we bring people in. Keep it in good shape. 24:03 Manage the grounds, but most of all to have a family living here 24:08 among the people and then share the message in that way. 24:10 To actually see the gospel lived out in someone's 24:12 life really says a lot. Even more than a sermon. 24:14 Our team has talked about this village for quite some time. 24:16 We feel that one of the major issues need to be dealt with 24:19 here, are social issues. Alcoholism, sexual issues, 24:27 Family planning, family issues, that are needed to be dealt 24:30 with here. We would be very happy to find a social worker, 24:35 couple, even an individual, who would be willing to come here 24:39 and develop a 12 step program for instance for alcoholics. 24:42 That could be curtailed to this culture. 24:51 Out team is very gracious. They come here and sacrifice their 24:54 lives for as long as 5, 7, 10 years even, some of them. 24:58 They work in condition that most us would consider unbearable. 25:02 But, yet they do it. Out of the kindness of their hearts. 25:05 We need so much here! 25:07 And there is so much work that could be done. 25:09 The easiest way to show Christ to a community 25:12 is living like Christ did. He lived with the people, 25:15 He walked with the people. He spent time with them. 25:17 He could tell them about the kingdom of God in ways 25:20 that they could relate to. He talked about the sower in the 25:23 field, He talked about the way they keep sheep and stuff 25:26 So the way we can share Christ most effectively is to be 25:30 integrated into the community. To walk with them, 25:33 to do the same kinds of activities they do. 25:35 And to become personal friends with them. 25:37 If you look at Jesus and His example in the Bible, 25:40 He always went into villages and healed the physical needs 25:44 of the people first before He shared the salvation message. 25:48 And that's really the method that Wings for Humanity and AWA 25:51 has adopted from the beginning is that have to show people we 25:54 care about them. We have to show love to them first. 25:56 And as we do that then they want to know more about what we know. 25:59 The rest of the world wasn't created for Americans to 26:02 have some place to go as missionaries. 26:04 The rest of the world was created for other people to live 26:07 and love and grow up in and to experience Jesus in their place. 26:10 Our job as missionaries isn't to bring Jesus to these people. 26:13 It's to help them see where Jesus is already at work in the 26:16 places where they are. 26:17 (Music) 26:19 Jesus said, in the great Gospel Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 26:23 that we are to go into all the world! 26:26 Well, Adventist World Aviation is dedicated doing just that! 26:29 There are between six and a half and seven billion people 26:32 now living on planet earth. And two billion of them have never 26:36 heard of Jesus. Of the two billion, eight hundred million 26:40 of them can only be reached like means like aircraft. 26:43 or through aviation support. We go into the un-reached areas 26:48 of the world. 26:49 What we find when we go in there we find death and disease and 26:53 despair. 26:55 What we bring them is hope, health and life. 26:58 And a great Gospel message that Jesus loves them. That there is 27:01 somebody out there, who does care. 27:04 They often ask, why do you do this? 27:07 We say, because Jesus loves you! 27:09 And so the message that we bring them is absolute hope. 27:13 Since it's inception, 1995, AWA, or Adventist World Aviation 27:18 has been able to relieve over thirty five epidemics. 27:20 We've literally flown millions of missionary miles. 27:24 We are relieving the pain and suffering of those who live 27:26 in these remote parts of the world. Helping them 27:30 Will you pray for us! We need prayer more than anything else! 27:33 If you like more information please contact this station 27:36 3 Angels Broadcasting Network Or call the number on the screen 27:40 Thanks for watching! 27:42 (Music) |
Revised 2014-12-17