Tim and Luce Johnson
Tim with Andres, our ASAS pilot/mechanic in Porto Velho.
Christmas 2016
Bibles delivered by the JAARS plane –
Christmas for every people
They Couldn’t Take the Pressure
November found me in Porto Velho again, helping out with the annual inspection on the
JAARS aircraft one more time. Routine tests on the cylinders found three of the six “not handling the
pressure* well,” so they had to be removed and sent off for repairs at our engine shop.
The newest JAARS pilot (not pictured) in Porto Velho finished familiarization in the region,
and is busy with flights to indigenous villages to support Bible translation, equipping and training of
the local church, Scripture use, and medical work. In the past four months, he reports he has flown
102 passengers and around 8,700 lbs of cargo. Thanks so much for your part in keeping all this going.
After the Snake Bite
From the Schrifts’ news: “Now a week later, Nathaniel is walking almost normally
again, continues to improve every day, and seems to have had no other ill effects from the
snake venom. Since he is doing so well, we have plans to head back into the village …”
“We are SO thankful for the amphibian.”
On Thanksgiving evening, Andres and I sat with Nathaniel a good two hours. “I grew up
seeing missionaries needing to spend too much of their time keeping the grass cut on airstrips,” he
says. “Plus these guys (the indigenous people they work with) are spread out up and down the river,
and are prone to move more. We really hope you guys can keep this float plane here.”
The cost of operating our float planes is challenging for a number of reasons. Thanks for
helping us maintain them, and please pray with us that God would provide for them to continue as a
valuable Kingdom resource.
*My favorite aviation geek site tell us that the pressure in a cylinder at combustion is 800 PSI,
so the math gives us several tons trying to make the cylinder head part company with the
engine. The burning gases at combustion are at temperatures of 3,000 to 4,000F, which is
hot enough to melt the cylinder and piston. Not to worry though - a boundary layer of air a
millimeter thick keeps the metal cool – a relatively icy 320F keeps the pilot care free.
(Googled at “Pelican’s Perch #43”)
Steam Roller Still in Future
The recession and political
crisis in Brazil have paused the big
airport project at our headquarters
in the Center West.
In November, we could include in Thanksgiving our Silver
wedding anniversary. So thankful we can say it’s better than
ever, and we appreciate the part that so many of you have
played in our lives.
Our hangar and shop there
continue operating, but it was
necessary to reduce the employee
work force. In Manaus, we have
started doing some accessories, and
have prepared the tools and test
equipment for others. However the
audit we asked you to pray for
awaits some other developments.
Lucas and Perry are graduating together now in December, from John Brown University, and
preparing for their move to his job in New Hampshire, after Christmas with her family.
We are staying here and holding the fort over Christmas, and Jenny will be right back in
school again in January (and in Africa for the summer?). We are thankful she will be here in Brazil
with us for the holidays.
To borrow from C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity - at the end of another year and celebrating
Christmas, “May we all never despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other
(hand), …never mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo,
or mirage.”
Tim and Luce Johnson,
Lucas and Jennifer
[email protected]
skype: tim_j_johnson
US Address:
PO Box 47
Nampa ID 83653
(208)498-0800
www.maf.org
[email protected]
skype: luce.johnson
Brazil Address:
N/A, until further notice