Participants:
Series Code: OTG
Program Code: OTG000008
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00:01 Alaska, America's last frontier.
00:04 The land of vast beauty and endless miles of open wilderness 00:08 Airplanes are the life blood of Alaska 00:12 Only aviation can connect communities, where there are 00:15 no roads, with violent weather and extreme terrains 00:19 make these the most dangerous skies in America. 00:23 Adventist World Aviation has two outposts 00:26 positioned in north and south Alaska. 00:29 Hauling critical supplies, rescue personnel 00:32 and the Gospel message to remote villages 00:35 all across the Alaskan regions. 00:38 Without aviation, these Alaskan villages would be unreachable. 00:45 This is Adventist World Aviation OFF THE GRID 00:50 We want to welcome you to Dillingham Alaska! 00:53 Where it is sunny, cold, rainy and wet and snowy many times. 00:59 Today on "Off the Grid", we feature one of the 01:02 AWA outpost projects in chilly Dillingham Alaska. 01:07 Dillingham is located south west of Anchorage 01:10 sitting right on the Bering Sea. 01:13 Dillingham is one of two locations where AWA 01:17 has stationed a plane under the care of Pilot Wendell Downs. 01:22 Wendell uses the plane to carry out mission work in his area. 01:26 Although we often don't think of needing missionaries here in the 01:30 United States, Alaska has its own dynamics, making aviation 01:35 and mission piloting a vital necessity 01:38 to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ 01:40 Hi, I am pastor Wendell Downs I am the Seventh-day Adventist| 01:44 pastor here in the Bristol Bay area. My churches consists of 01:48 Dillingham and than I have another church 01:51 that is 65 air miles from here. Just south-west of here actually 01:58 It seems sort of strange, that you go just a short distance 02:01 by air, but there are no roads to connect any of these villages 02:04 one to another, so we do use the airplane 02:08 to do any of this type of work. 02:11 Today Wendell is pleased to host AWA's president, 02:15 Ric Swaningson in his district area. 02:19 Pastor Ric has traveled to Alaska to hold evangelic 02:22 meetings in a village that has never been reached with the 02:26 Daniel and Revelation message of the Bible. 02:29 The village of Manikata is only a few miles away from 02:33 Dillingham, but there is only one way to get there, by air, 02:38 Since there are no roads that connect the two villages. 02:43 And that is probably the best thing we get to do here at 02:45 Adventist World Aviation is sharing the love of Jesus Christ 02:48 Here in Alaska we may have a connecting road system 02:54 that goes for only 20 miles, but that is it. 02:58 The next village may be 30 miles out and it is just outside 03:01 of the road system, there is no way to travel and get there 03:04 except for the winter by snow machine maybe an hour 03:07 hour and a half, maybe 2 hours. Again if you have a life saving 03:10 situation, you need to get there Aviation is the only option. 03:14 Our Gospel message is spread by aviation. You can only get there 03:18 We at Adventist World Aviation we specialize 03:21 in reaching the un-reached. 03:22 And that is what we do with our aircraft. 03:24 The agenda for today is to scout out the location where the 03:28 evangelistic meetings are to be held 03:30 and make any last minute arrangements. 03:33 So Wendell and Ric head to the hanger to prepare 03:36 the plane for today's flight. 03:39 Pastor Ric is also a pilot, so Wendell let him 03:43 take the controls today. 03:45 Soon enough, they are in the skies flying over the icy tundra 03:50 Today's flight is not a long flight, only 15 minutes in total 03:55 but strangely enough, there is not a single road connecting 03:58 the 20 mile distance between Manikata and Dillingham. 04:03 The only thing that lies between the two villages 04:06 is melting Tundra. 04:08 In the winter time snow machines can travel back and forth, 04:11 but once the spring comes and the ice begins to melt, 04:15 the ground turns into a sloppy mud-bog 04:18 that's impossible and dangerous to travel over. 04:21 The views from the airplane are majestic and breath taking. 04:27 Today they have great weather, so they can see 04:30 the beautiful vista all around them. 04:40 Soon enough, they reach the Manikata runway. 04:44 This runway is made up of gravel, 04:46 but, it is very well maintained by the village. 04:49 The airport runway is positioned roughly 4 miles away 04:53 from the village. 04:54 Once on the ground, Edward, one of the village police officers 04:58 and the only Adventist in the village is there to pick them up 05:01 in his vehicle, he is going to use the police vehicle 05:05 to transport these evangelists. 05:08 Even within the town transportation 05:10 isn't conventional. 05:11 Since Manikata is a small area, there really isn't 05:16 any need for motor vehicles. 05:18 Most citizens use a 4-wheel, or bike, or snow machines 05:23 to get around. Fortunately Edward was able to use 05:26 the police vehicle to transport the AWA team and all their 05:30 supplies back and forth between the airstrip and the school. 05:35 Manikata is a village of approximately 05:37 450 native Eupic people. 05:41 Within this village, there is only one church called 05:44 the French church, also more commonly known as the Quakers. 05:49 There is however, one single Adventist couple, 05:52 Edward and Rhonda, that live here. 05:55 They desperately crave more Christian companionship. 05:59 Our family is the only Adventist family here in Manikata. 06:03 Our dream is for people to find out more of the truth. 06:11 The meetings will be held in the only gathering place 06:14 the village has, the school. 06:17 The government recently constructed this public school 06:20 for the children of this region. 06:23 The school teachers have agreed to host the meetings 06:25 in one of their classrooms. 06:27 The meetings are to be held after school so the 06:30 class schedule is not to be interrupted. 06:33 The teachers are very gracious to share 06:36 their space and equipment. 06:38 Once all the arrangements are finalized, the team takes a few 06:41 minutes to get to know all the teachers and invite them 06:45 to the meetings as well. 06:46 Wendell, Ric, as well as all the faculty seem very excited about 06:52 the meetings, that are to begin tomorrow evening. 06:55 There are about 450 people that live in this community 06:59 and they need Jesus! 07:00 And we are here to share the love of Christ. 07:03 Adventist World Aviation is not just about aviation. 07:06 We are about leading souls to Christ. 07:08 About bringing the message of Jesus to them. 07:11 We are here to teach them about prophecy of Daniel, Revelation 07:16 It's been an interesting topic for many throughout the years 07:19 and this community is extremely interested. 07:22 However tragedy strikes over night. 07:25 Around 1 am, Pastor Wendell's son's house catches fire 07:31 while he and his family are asleep inside. 07:34 The fire department is able to put the flames out, 07:37 but sadly, the entire house is lost. 07:40 Today sadly we are standing in front of a bit of a tragedy, 07:44 but a miracle at the same time. 07:46 We are here in Dillingham Alaska having evangelistic 07:51 series of meetings here in the area. 07:54 Now I've been in evangelism, an evangelist since 1993 07:58 and one of the common denominators in evangelism 08:00 is that the devil hates what we do. 08:02 He tries to destroy us at levels that are almost unbearable. 08:08 Yet the Lord, Jesus Christ protects us in every way. 08:11 If you can see behind us here, we are standing in front of a... 08:14 really, we are standing in front of a tragedy, 08:16 but yet there is a miracle, that is involved. 08:18 I am standing here with the Downs family, 08:21 Wendell Downs is the pastor here in this district, 08:23 in the Dillingham district. And this is his son and his family. 08:27 Warren Downs and his wife Veriti. 08:30 Warren, you have 3 beautiful girls here and the night before 08:35 the evangelistic series meetings were to open up, 08:37 indeed the devil tried to absolutely distract us. 08:40 In fact he would love to destroy every one of us, 08:43 yet there is a miracle involved. 08:44 Warren, why don't you introduce your family here to us 08:46 and let us know what took place here 08:49 just a night before evangelism. 08:51 My name is Warren, this is my wife Verity. My oldest daughter 08:55 Sarah, Abigail, and Merriam. We were all sleeping peacefully 09:00 in our beds, Friday morning, about 1 am in the morning, 09:05 When we heard a call, I heard a call "the house is on fire", 09:10 I jumped out of bed "what?" "The house is on fire!" 09:14 I couldn't believe my ears. I opened the door 09:17 to hear a loud crackling and see flames outside the window. 09:23 My friend Rasco Cleveland here, who was staying with us 09:27 was telling me "the house is on fire" 09:31 So I quickly ran up the stairs and as I started running 09:36 up the stairs, I called to my wife "call 911" 09:40 And I went up the stairs to the girl's bedroom and bathroom 09:43 Now where is the girl's bedroom? 09:45 The girl's bedroom is in the... what is the attic up there. 09:49 You can see where the most of the fire went in to the upstairs 09:55 When we heard the call, the fire was just going up 09:58 past their window, when I got the call from Rasco 10:02 and went into their room, saw the flames there, 10:06 got the girls out, so we just got them out in their pajamas. 10:10 Than we realized, their coats were all in the entryway here, 10:14 which was on fire, and so we didn't have coats for them. 10:20 None of us had our shoes except I think Rosco had a spare pair. 10:25 But we got out with our lives and we were so thankful. 10:29 God has preserved our lives 10:31 and given us another chance to serve Him. 10:34 Now Warren, I was talking to your Dad the morning after 10:41 I didn't realize, we were staying, our team was staying 10:45 at your father's house and one of the things 10:48 that we were unaware of is that you weren't even there, 10:50 we heard some things in the middle of the night 10:51 we got in late at night and I heard you and I had come in. 10:54 We weren't sure what was going on. The next morning 10:58 I had an occasion to ask your dad, you guys were all sleeping 11:00 down stairs yet and I asked your father what was all the 11:03 racket last night? He told me that, you know, just the night 11:07 before evangelism was to open up his son's house was on fire. 11:12 Caught on fire, and you were there at his house. 11:13 He says, you know it is just a miracle that Rosco was there, 11:17 because, he says I know my family, they are deep sleepers. 11:20 Had Rosco not been there, and had that guardian angel not 11:25 nudge Rosco, you all would of perished for sure. 11:28 And if you can see right there, the girls right there 11:30 in the upstairs. This is a miracle in works, 11:35 Verity do you feel that the Lord was really watching after you? 11:40 Yes, and every time something bad has happened in my life 11:45 Miscarrying my kids, my Dad dying, this, there has been 11:51 a lesson and this time I am starting to get closer to God. 11:54 feeling what love and forgiveness really is. 11:59 We've only lived here a week. 12:01 You only lived there just a week? 12:05 Yes, we are renting this place.. 12:08 I am just learning a lot about God, His love and forgiveness. 12:13 The community embraces the Downs family and pours love 12:18 and generosity on them. Immediately donations, clothes, 12:22 helping hands begin to show up. 12:25 A family that lost everything, is now engulfed with love 12:29 and blessings from their town. 12:31 We just been blessed with the outpouring of generosity 12:35 from people giving everything you know, things for the girls 12:40 and things for us, shoes. We have a thrift store here, 12:44 that said, just take anything you need, come and get whatever. 12:48 so we've been blessed with their generosity. The people at the 12:52 company where I work, a native corporation, that I work for 12:56 volunteered on Friday to help us carry our personal belongings, 13:00 that were salvageable out of the house, 13:02 and take them over to my parents. 13:04 We've been just blessed, they also gave us some money 13:09 we haven't used yet to wash stuff down at the Laundromat. 13:12 We are planning to do that later today. And as time goes on 13:17 cleaning up the smoke damage... 13:19 Although the fire did not consume the entire home, 13:23 everything is still lost. 13:25 The items that weren't scorched in flames were ruined 13:29 by smoke and water. 13:32 Warren and Varity sift through the house, looking for anything 13:36 they might be able to salvage. 13:39 Any items they pull from the rubble, has to be laid outside 13:42 to dry in the sun and air out the smoky stench. 13:47 However despite the material loss, its undeniable 13:51 that God was watching over and protecting this family. 13:54 We got a letter from Rosco about a month and a half ago. 13:58 sharing some of his trials that he had been going through. 14:02 And I wanted to invite him, if he wanted to, to come down here 14:06 and get away from some of those situations that... 14:11 We offered that he can stay with us. 14:14 Rosco, a young man that the family had been witnessing to 14:18 and spiritually mentoring, was temporarily living 14:21 with the Downs family. 14:23 Rosco was the one, that first heard the fire 14:27 and woke the rest of the family up. 14:29 It can truthfully be said that this families' passion for 14:33 sharing the gospel and saving souls, 14:35 literally saved their own lives. 14:38 Had Rosco not been there, the whole family 14:41 might have perished in the flames. 14:43 But because they extended the love of Christ 14:46 and opened up their home, they were able to escape the fire. 14:50 Their ministry literally saved their lives. 14:54 When I first met them, I have gotten kicked out of my house 14:59 the only place I could find, was under his roof, 15:03 so within a matter of 3 weeks, we became close. 15:09 For the first 3 days I was arguing with Warren 15:12 about the Saturday, that it really isn't the Saturday, 15:16 because I grew up in the French church, and believing 15:21 that Sunday is the Sabbath and has come to fully realize that 15:24 Saturday is the Sabbath. 15:27 Through Warren's mentoring and the materials he has given me 15:34 offering me to read, you know I picked up, 15:37 I openly picked it up and I had to discover for myself that 15:42 not only is he saying it, he really believes it, 15:45 but I had to look, I had to read these books and see. 15:48 Even these books, that he gave me to read were pointing 15:52 to the Scriptures, that Saturday is the Sabbath day! 15:55 Rosco, what are some of the biggest problems 15:57 that we are facing in Alaska, and some of these communities 16:00 that are isolated from the rest of society. 16:02 That can only be reached by aviation, what are some of the 16:05 biggest problems, that you see as growing up 16:07 in one of these communities? 16:08 Degradation of morals, addictions, and circumstances. 16:16 You know circumstances you can't help, but I definitely see 16:21 a moral decline in our young people. 16:26 They just stopped attending church altogether. 16:29 We need to especially be praying for those, who are laboring 16:32 in the Lord's work up here. Working so hard, to make sure 16:36 that souls are being won. 16:38 We need to invite you to pray for our families, that support 16:44 what we do in the Lord's work, not only at 16:47 Adventist World Aviation, but at the Adventist Church as a whole. 16:52 The Lord is an awesome God, but every time, I believe every time 16:57 we pray, I believe the Lord dispatches more angels 17:01 So, will you promise to pray, for not only the Downs family, 17:04 but continue to pray for the work, that they are doing 17:06 up here and the work Adventist World Aviation is doing up there 17:09 that we can continue to reach the unreached of the world. 17:12 Reaching areas that can be reached by no other means, 17:15 other than aviation. 17:16 And in spite of tragedy, our family seems to go forward. 17:26 The next day, despite the fire, the team pushes on forward 17:29 with the opening night of the Revelation seminar. 17:32 Despite the huge distractions of the fire, the whole family 17:37 pushes through the obstacles and refocuses their vision 17:41 on the spreading of the gospel. 17:46 Could we pray? Dear Lord, thanks for this day and thanks for 17:49 the privilege of flight and we pray that You bless us 17:52 on the ground. Please bless us in the air. Bless the aircraft, 17:56 angels wings to lift here to help us today. 18:01 We love You and we thank You in Jesus' name, Amen 18:05 They prepare and take flight towards Manikata. 18:10 Leaving all the distractions and stresses behind in Dillingham, 18:48 they head towards the awakening people of Manikata. 18:52 The evangelism series will be held every evening for 2 weeks. 18:57 Pastor Ric has been holding evangelism series for over 19:01 20 years now, yet this is his first series 19:06 where he has to fly a airplane to reach the meetings. 19:10 So this is a new adventure for him. But he definitely sees 19:14 a great need for this project. 19:16 We are on our way to Manokopak about 10 miles from here. 19:23 Just no roads to it. Who would think about 19:27 flying a distance of less than 15 miles. 19:30 That, if you look outside, if you been looking outside 19:35 you'll see that there is nothing but tundra. 19:39 Which is swampy land in Alaska. You can't walk it, You can't 19:44 take a 4 wheeler on it. In the spring when it's melting 19:49 you certainly can't take a snow machine in it. 19:51 with some serious problems. 19:53 So there is just no way to get there. 19:55 There is some river system here, that sometimes work, 19:59 sometimes doesn't, I am told. So really, 20:03 the only way to get there from one village to the next 20:05 is by an aircraft. Aviation is important for soul winning, 20:11 important for delivering products and services 20:14 certainly as well and items of life, but soul winning 20:17 is probably one of the most important things that we do 20:20 at Adventist World Aviation. They wouldn't have this 20:25 opportunity had it not been for the aircraft, so we are happy 20:27 we can fly to them, study with them, we have probably 20:33 5 or 6 souls, who never heard the word of God like this before 20:38 and we certainly want to deliver to them a message of hope. 20:43 And that is what Adventist World Aviation is all about. 20:46 Not just about med-evacing, but it is about hope, 20:48 The best way to deliver a message of hope 20:50 is to bring it to them. 20:52 Because there is just no infrastructure and because 20:57 some of the entitlement programs there is a lot of government 21:00 here lot of government programs of course the educational system 21:03 is government. And you know after a generation of teaching 21:08 our young people that there is no God in the concept 21:11 of evolution. There are a lot of geologists, and just lots of 21:17 global warming scientists coming up here, and of course 21:23 unfortunately the majority of our global warming scientists 21:26 and geologists are evolutionists and so after about a generation 21:31 it doesn't take long, you know 30-40 years, you know the entire 21:35 concept of Christianity is all but gone. 21:37 And we are faced with that right now. The concept of Christianity 21:41 is just about been completely evacuated from, or I should say 21:51 just by attrition has left our community. 21:57 And so mission pilots are... mission pilots and missionaries 22:01 Christians in this area are just in great high demand. 22:10 I am amazed at the thought process of many Christians 22:14 and fortunately they say, well you know, why would you go in 22:18 a state with so few people, you know just because there is 22:23 less than a... less than what there are in some other states 22:26 in the lower 48. Does that mean that those, who live there are 22:31 any less deserving of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 22:34 Once they touch down in Manikata, 22:37 Edward is eager and awaiting them. 22:39 They again pack into the state trooper SUV 22:42 and head toward the school. 22:45 As they bounce down the gravel road, Edward makes a call 22:49 on his radio, which transmits into each home in the village. 23:01 He again announces tonight's meetings for everyone to hear 23:05 in the native tongue of YOU-PICK. 23:07 Since the villages do not have newspapers, TV stations 23:12 or radio stations, each family has a low power radio 23:16 in their home, that they can send out mass messages on. 23:20 It's the easiest and simplest way 23:23 to spread news in the village. 23:26 As they reach the school, a small group has gathered. 23:30 It was good that Edward made the radio announcement 23:33 and reminded everyone of tonight's meeting. 23:36 What we are trying to accomplish here in this small community 23:40 of 450 of course is to lead souls to Christ. 23:43 Many of these folks have been learning a variety 23:47 of different things that may or may not have any connection 23:49 to Jesus Christ. 23:50 Unfortunately our government kind of comes in and takes over 23:54 and leads them in all sorts of directions that are really 23:58 counter intuitive to Christianity. 24:00 So we are here to teach them about the truth 24:03 of our loving Lord and our savior Jesus Christ. 24:05 There is a lot of need here, there is a lot of despair, 24:10 disease, alcoholism is a high problem in most of these 24:13 communities in Alaska. So we are here to bring them hope 24:17 and the truth about the second coming of Jesus Christ. 24:21 It gives them something to hang unto. 24:23 Unfortunately what ends up happening many a times 24:26 the high suicide rate, which is many times 500 times more 24:30 I should say greater than the lower 48, 24:33 or higher than the lower 48. 24:39 Is the theology... Sometimes we teach them 24:43 and I don't say we as Adventist, but as Christians, sometimes we 24:47 come in and we teach them poor theology. As a result of that 24:50 poor theology, they believe that when you die, 24:52 you go right to Heaven. And so well what's the big deal 24:54 of with killing your self. And so sadly it's a big problem. 24:59 Now there are a lot of things going on, alcoholism is a great 25:02 contributor to suicide, so we are here to not just help them 25:05 or help to teach them about our Jesus Christ. 25:08 As the meetings begin, there is a small turn out. 25:12 But again, the AWA team cannot be distracted by obstacles 25:16 or discouragement. 25:17 They must keep their eyes on the goal. 25:21 Their persistence pays off. 25:23 About half way through the evening, the room fills. 25:27 Eager and curious Alaskans listen attentively 25:31 as the mysteries of the Bible are explained to them. 25:34 The book of Revelation is an escape manual, 25:39 an escape book, if you will. What to do in time of emergency. 25:44 Well beloved, I think we have looked at the earth 25:47 and the politics and the world events that are happening 25:50 I think it is time to get the escape manual out! 25:52 Are you with me? And get ready, because Jesus is coming again. 25:56 He is coming again very soon! There is no doubt about it! 26:00 Most American Indians and most native Americans, they believe 26:04 in a Creator, I always believed in a Creator, I was never sure 26:07 exactly who that Creator was, until I found John 3:16. 26:12 And the clear statement, that Jesus is the Creator! 26:15 Than I started looking at it from a scientific aspect 26:18 And that is where I spent the majority of my studies 26:21 in Bible archeology and science, proving the science of creation 26:24 making sure, that it is Jesus, Who indeed gave us life. 26:27 The meetings continue for two weeks. 26:30 The turnout fluctuates. Even Rosco is able to attend 26:34 some of the meetings by flying from Dillingham 26:37 with the Evangelistic team. 26:39 Even though the message goes against what most of them 26:43 have been taught their whole lives, 26:45 the people of Manikata seem intrigued. 26:49 So they keep attending the meetings. 26:53 At the end of the 2 week Revelation and Daniel seminar, 26:57 10 people answer to the call for baptism. 27:00 A wonderful and joyous response. 27:03 Because there was no church or place to baptize people 27:07 in Manikata, the decision was made to fly everyone 27:11 from the village to Dillingham to be baptized 27:15 in the Seventh-day Adventist church there. 27:18 Each plane only holds 3 passengers and the pilot 27:22 so a few trips had to be made. 27:24 But everyone that chose to be baptized was happily transported 27:29 to Dillingham no matter how many trips it would take. 27:33 Everyone was so pleased with the outcome. 27:36 Especially Edward and Rhonda, 27:39 previously the only 2 Adventists in Manikata. 27:42 Now, they have a church family. They are no longer alone. 27:47 They have fellow believers with whom they can worship, 27:51 and seek support from. 27:55 It's been a blessing to have Adventist World Aviation come in 27:58 and bring supplies, the Word, 28:06 and of course the Seventh-day Adventist message. 28:11 We're always blessed to have the pastor from Dillingham come in. 28:21 I wish we could have him more! 28:22 The communities that Adventist World Aviation enter are not 28:26 communities, that you would see on a normal, daily basis. 28:30 We enter communities where, number 1, they can't be reached 28:33 by normal means, and they are communities, 28:36 that have great needs. And so when we at Adventist 28:40 World Aviation go into these communities, what we bring them 28:42 is hope and life and health! 28:45 We deliver many cases of supplies, much needed supplies. 28:48 That you can't get there by normal means. 28:50 And so ultimately, what we end up leaving them with 28:54 Is the hope of Jesus Christ, and His soon return. 28:56 They learn abut Jesus, and they fall in love with Him. 29:05 What you have been watching is areas 29:09 that Adventist World Aviation goes into. 29:13 We go into areas that you can't reach by conventional means, 29:16 Whether it's in Guyana, whether it's in Alaska, 29:18 whether it's in the Philippines. 29:20 We go into areas, that can't be reached. 29:23 We reach the un-reachable! 29:25 The average person doesn't recognize, 29:27 that there are 2 billion people in this world, 29:31 that have never heard of Jesus Christ. 29:32 Of those two billion people, eight hundred million of them 29:36 can only be reached by means like aviation. 29:39 We are able to reach people that would normally, 29:42 under normal circumstances just not be able to be reached. 29:45 And as a result we're able to share the love of Jesus Christ. 29:49 Pray for us! 29:50 We need your prayers more than anything else! 29:52 For more information contact your local station! 29:54 Thanks for watching! 29:55 And ask about ADVENTIST WORLD AVIATION! |
Revised 2014-12-17