Expo 2018

Expo 2018 was held here on Saturday.  There was a good crowd that showed up, probably close to 500 people.  There were a lot of displays set up in the hangar, and people were able to go for a ride on a helicopter or airplane. 

That was my view from the shade hangar, as I was helping in the food service area.  It was only 13 degrees on Saturday, so it was really chilly in the shade.  

There was a tribal village set up and there were tours conducted through this area.  First of all, a guide went through the steps it takes to get a missionary trained and into the tribe. They go through a number of years of Bible school before they go overseas. Once in the country and in the tribal village, the missionary needs to build a house, learn the customs and the language, and use an international  alphabet so the language can be written down.  At some point they start teaching the people chronologically, starting at Creation, and going through the Bible. They also work to translate the Bible into their language, and also teach the people to read and write.  This process can take 25 years or more. 

After the introduction, we were taken into the first hut and a missionary explained how he and his wife first got into a tribe.  After that, we were divided into 2 groups.  We were given a sheet of paper with some words on it, in English, and in the tribal language.  Then we went into a hut to meet a member of a tribe.  The one we went to, was from Papua New Guinea.  It's the big guy on the left, in the picture below.  We tried to communicate with him, using the words on our paper.  The other group was with an Indonesian couple, and were also trying to communicate with them.  Sitting on the floor of a dark hut, with a "fire" going in the middle, the man sitting in the corner with his bow and arrow, machete, and other tools...was all quite intimidating.  Also frustrating, trying to speak to him.  So this was just a small example of what missionaries go through in these situations.  

After the events of the day were over, we had supper altogether in the hangar....a very good meal of Mexican food.  The couple on the right are actually Canadians, and were in Indonesia for many years, and are now teaching at the Ethnos Canada school in Durham.  The man on the left had been in PNG.

Aviation has made a huge difference in the lives of the missionaries.  Where it used to take days to travel into the tribe, they can now fly in just a very short time.  Helicopters are becoming much more popular, as there isn't a need to build runways, just a helipad.

Expo was a great event, and we were blessed to be able to be a part of it.