The doctor sat down at the battered school desk to begin his day in the clinic. His hand-lettered name plate — scotch taped to a piece of folded cardboard — read “P. Dalam,” identifying him as a doctor of internal medicine. Patients sitting in the room around him shyly waited their turn.

The doctor and six of his colleagues, all Asia-Pacific Christians, had signed on to bring medical relief to the Taliabo people. It was a world away from their ordinary sanitary medical facilities in a large city with many modern conveniences.

Here, they were shocked to find pigs roaming freely. The Talilabo village, on a small island in central Asia-Pacific , is well known for its many lepers and a population rife with skin disease. The people bathe infrequently — in the river, often with no soap. The village has no internet, cell service, or power.

Even the “pay” was different: Villagers loaded down the doctors with lots of fresh fruit like mangosteen and durian (an expensive, stinky fruit that most Asia-Pacific people love best of all!)

Decades ago, missionaries with Ethnos were invited to come live among the Taliabo, learn their language, begin Bible translation and establish a church. But the missionaries left for various reasons. Then one of the first believers, who was a great leader in the church, was lost at sea during the treacherous ocean voyage between islands. The small church is still immature and lacks a completed New Testament. At intervals, the Kodiak flies in national teachers to bolster the believers and encourage them to stand strong.

Though the spiritual needs among the Taliabo are great, their physical needs cannot be ignored. God answered their need for medical attention in a mighty way by uniting this ministry of national Christian volunteer doctors with Ethnos360 Aviation’s flight service. Together, they provided health care to hundreds of villagers over a three-day weekend.

As pilot’s wife Elizabeth Peck says, “It’s thrilling to see the Body of Christ work together to bring glory to God’s name, serving one another with the talents and resources He has provided each one of us.”

And you are a part of that too when you contribute to our flight sponsorship program.  You help provide a feasible and affordable means of transportation for teams like this one. Without the Kodiak, the trip takes a week of boat rides on the ocean, motorbike treks on jungle paths and wading through rivers to get there. The doctors could not afford that kind of time away from their jobs.

But with the funds donated to missionary flight sponsorship, the team arrived in just one hour. They happily “maxed out” the Kodiak’s weight capacity bringing medicine, supplies, an optometrist, a dermatologist, a doctor of internal medicine, and four general practitioners.

Elizabeth has a message to you: “Without flight sponsorship, this outreach would not have been possible. We are overjoyed to see God provide the means for His work to go forward! Thank you for your part in it. May He receive all the glory for uniting His people around the world to bless others in His name!”

 This article originally appeared on the Ethnos360 Aviation website.