We've really wanted to share some pictures of our first several days here in Papua...but unfortunately our digital camera card reader is buried somewhere in a pile of stuff that we have yet to sift through.  I hope it turns up soon!  But in the mean time.....I thought it would be neat to share this video that the Chief Pilot's son made about what MAF does here in Papua.  He did a great job showing not only what the MAF pilots do every day, but also the people we are serving, and how we are serving them.  So here's the video....

One nice perk of living here is that we're relatively close to the beach. So we're planning to go check it out tomorrow with our friends Daniel, Joy and Zoe. Last week Heather and I sat down with our program manager for a pretty thorough orientation. We got to hear specifics about all five active MAF bases here in Papua. It is amazing how many places we serve from our five bases. There is a map in the office of the airstrips scattered throughout Papua, and there are literally hundreds. Right now, I am blessed to be training with our language school friends, "the Daniels" Daniel Perez and Daniel Geaslen. We are enjoying living close to them here on the base. Because the Daniels got here before I did, they started off their orientation here with a focus on flight. And because I am the third, and one of our instructor pilots is home on furlough, I will be focusing on aircraft maintenance for our first couple months here in Sentani. Though a bit of a bummer when I thought I would be jumping into an airplane very soon, it is actually a very good thing. I will be more thoroughly equipped with the knowledge and experience I need when it's time to do maintenance and inspections on the field. And soon enough, it will be time for me to jump in the airplane!