SUBJECT: Three Presidents visit Kaikan - Part 1 of 2

AUTHOR: David Gates, his wife Becky, and four of their five children - Lina, Trina, Carlos, and Kristopher, work together with Becky's sister and family, the Burgdorffs, in a medical aviation program in the jungles of Guyana, South America.

DATE: February 4, 1997

PREPARATIONS FOR THE VISIT

During the last several months we have been making preparations for some very special visitors, the presidents of the Division, Union, and Conference: Pastors Israel Leito, Peter Prime, and Lindon Gudge respectivelly. As the date approached, we learned that accompanying them would be Rudy Monsalve, Director of International Development from ADRA International, and Wally Ammundson, ADRA Director for the Inter-american Division.

The formation of a new Pathfinder club with 48 members and an Adventurer club with 22 members added to the excitement of the welcome preparations. Betsy (having acquired experience as a Pathfinder director in Chowchilla, California) coordinated the creation of these two clubs. Never having had a Pathfinder club before in Kaikan, there was a great need for material, scarfs, manuals, and other supplies. Radio contacts were made by Ted (8R1TWB) from Kaikan to myself in Trinidad (8R1DLG/9Y4) and to Pastor Quashie (8R1CJ) in Georgetown. The Conference youth department and treasury responded quickly by forwarding the resources for the purchase of cloth and scarfs. These were flown into Kaikan in preparation for the arrival of our visitors. Due to the shortness of time and supplies, the completion of the uniforms was not possible. However, everyone dressed as best they could and all wore their scarffs. Additionally, a drill team was put together in short time, and spent many long hours practicing. A couple of days before the expected arrival, all Pathfinders scattered throughout the village at 4:00 am to advise everyone that the "Cleanup Day" had arrived. Everyone grabbed bags, and spread throughout the village picking up pieces of trash. The tall grass was cut down, and a park-like beauty was restored to the village. Even the outhouse door was painted and humourously labeled "Tourist Office". Artwork on the outside advised that visitors should drop by to "Hear the monkeys", "Listen to a coconut fall", "Watch Floor-ah and the fauna", and receive a "Free paper inside". On the inside of the outhouse door, a final note invited visitors to "Come back again soon".

OUR FLIGHT FROM TRINIDAD TO GEORGETOWN

Due to a change in dates for the graduate class I am teaching for Andrews University here at Caribbean Union College, I found myself not in Guyana but still here at CUC. Determined, however, to follow through with the plan to accompany the administration into the interior, I made an airline reservation to fly across to Georgetown on Tuesday morning just prior to the flight. However, the interest of many CUC students in mission aviation caused me to change my plans to fly commercially and rent a 7-seater small twin aircraft, a Piper Seneca II. Everyone paid their fare, and between everyone, the costs were covered. Since we had to arrive in Georgetowns' Timehri International airport by 5:00am, we decided that instead of sleeping for a couple of hours before leaving, we would just leave early and grab whatever sleep we could after arrival. We left for the airport at 11:30pm, and by 2:00am we were in the air. We arrived at Timehri at 4:00am, and had customs cleared by 5:00am.

We were greeted at the airport by my brother Don with one car, and Brother Winston James, Educational Director for the conference, with another car. We were then driven to Davis Memorial Hospital where I picked up some items requested by my wife Becky, and some medications to take into Kaikan. Then we all drove over to the smaller airport, Ogle, where the air-taxis are based. Already there were the visiting dignitaries, sitting in the lounge. It was wonderful to meet everyone, especially Rudy Monsalve from ADRA Intl who I hadn't seen in years. After chatting for a while with everyone, I stepped outside the lounge to wait on the arrival of the plane to fly us into the interior. Evidently the plane had left very early on a flight and was expected back any second. Finally, the plane, an Islander (8-seater twin) arrived. When the pilot stepped out, both he and I were pleasantly surprised. I was delighted to see that our captain was going to be Dominique Mendes,

Special Welcome to Kaikan

a very close friend of mine, and he was as delighted to see me and have me as his co-pilot. When everyone was loaded, I invited the CUC students and others to join us for a word of prayer before our flight. Elder Leito, our Division president, kindly offered up our petition to God for a safe and profitable trip. As we were buckling in our Union President, Dr. Prime, turned to me and said, "Well David, you finally have been able to get me in a small airplane" Knowing how uncomfortable he has always been in smaller aircraft, I mentioned my pleasure at his presence, but acknowledged how difficult it must be for him to have made that decision. He was quite brave and said that since he had to fly, he was glad to fly with me. That was very kind of him. Dominique picked up an extra pair of headphones for me, and before startup mentioned that his instrument recurrency on his US license had expired, and asked if I could do a partial instrument recurrency check for him on the flight. The

Pathfinder Drill Team

final part of the check (the part involving emergencies and engine failures) could be finished after my return to Guyana next week with no passengers aboard. I was happy to comply. When Elder Leito saw the pilot put on the hood, and me cover up one of the instruments, he tapped me on the sholder and wanted to know what was happening. I told him a proficiency exam was in progress. I assured him that the flight would proceed as normal. I am glad he didn't seem uncomfortable with the explanation.

Very soon the terrain began changing from flat jungle to plateaus with water falls, and then dropped off into the valley where lay the village of Kaikan. I brought the plane down, cirlced over our house, and then slowed it down in the pattern for the landing. On short final approach, I turned the controls over to Dominique who executed a perfect landing and taxied the plane up in front of the pathfinder club and large crowd behind them. The place was absolutely lovely, with the grass cut, a "Welcome to Kaikan" sign in place, and flowers leading up to the church. As we got out of the plane, Pastor Gudge, our Conference President, handed me the bouquet of roses and carnations he was holding for me and asked,
"For the wife?"
"Yes", I answered with a grin on my face, "I haven't seen her for nearly a month and don't be surprised if we don't stick around for whole program"

After everyone was out, the dignitaries were lined up in front of the pathfinder club, where some girls greeted them with

Down the path to church

a kiss and placed lovely knitted wreaths around their necks. Following this, a very unique pathfinder drill team composed of local native children, half of them with black hair, and the other have with long blond hair, performed a lovely drill including paces and musical routines. The drill team maneuvers had a strangely American-Trinidadian flavor to it, and was directed by a tall blond indian by the name of Lina (our daughter). The dignitaries were then escorted by the Pathfinder drill team to the church for the official program.

In the church, songs by the adult church choir, the children's choir, the missionary girls were performed for the visitors. The church and village leaders spoke, and then the visitors had a chance to talk to the church. The church looked so nice, thanks to the new paint job done just the month before by Ted working with the church members. It was a lovely program.

After the church service, everyone walked down to our houses by the river to see the place. We had a radio contact with

The Kaikan SDA Church

Pastor Quashie who wanted everyone to experience the miracle of communications. The visitors saw Ted's nice collection of snake skins on the wall, and came down to our house for a small snack and drink. Dr. Prime stated that he had had difficulty in understanding why we wanted to go live out in the jungles, but at seeing the beauty and joy of the place, he was beginning to appreciate our love for this kind of life. Elder Leito looked over our medical supplies, and drilled us with questions regarding the medical, aviation, and educational work. He especially was delighted by the drive to educate the people in health and bible training so they could then go out to share with others what they had learned. Seeing their delight and hearing words of support proved very encouraging to us. We do so much appreciate church leaders who support the mission of the church to "Go into all the world" and are willing to support those who go.

With 3 more villages to visit, the time allocated to Kaikan ran out and we had to be on our way too soon. With some tears of "See you next week" I said goodbye to the family AGAIN, and jumped in the plane and flew off to Paruima.

PART #2 of this letter will contain accounts of our visits to Paruima, Kamarang, and Phillipi.

Yours in Christ,

David Gates

You may write to David at: gates@andrews.edu

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Last Updated: March 10, 1997