Just a Patch of Dirt?

No! It's the site the Kuyu people have cleared for the "teaching house" where they will finally hear God's Grand Story!

"A couple weeks ago,” wrote church planter Michael LeBlanc, “this patch of ground was dense jungle. Today, the trees are down, the stumps are out, and plans are taking shape for a gathering place where the Kuyu people can hear the Phase 1* Bible teaching."

Before the team moved in, they made four promises to the Kuyu people: they would learn their language, teach them how to read and write their language, translate the Bible into their language and teach them God’s message “from start to finish.” Since 2022, the LeBlancs, Ameses and DeValves and have worked hard to bring those promises to reality. The first two are done, with translation and lesson writing in progress.

For years, the Kuyu people had sent letters to the neighboring people group asking for a missionary like they had. One man hiked 10 hours year after year to deliver the request. A Kuyu leader voiced their concerns: “You know we have everything that we need for our bodies, but we don’t have the things that we need for life.”

Now, the anticipation is infectious. The Kuyu are on the cusp of hearing the story the team promised to tell. “There’s a growing sense around the village that something big is coming,” said Michael. And the enthusiasm is spreading. "Robin, from another Kuyu village, has started building a house here so he can stay and hear the Phase 1 teaching later this year.”

Ethnos360 Aviation is privileged to provide flight service for the Kuyu team. In 2022, on the first day of ministry flights for the first R66 helicopter in PNG, pilot Josh Verdonck flew into the Kuyu people group to test out the landing spot. Since then, the helicopter has been the lifeline for the team as they live in this village 22 miles (16-hour hike!) from where the road ends.

Kuyu guys with Michael (left of center) and the consultant.

Helicopter flights do more than just sustain the team physically. Flights bring skilled people who have “been there, done that” to help the team as they fulfill the four promises. "[A consultant and his wife] recently flew into Kuyu for two nights to encourage us and help sharpen our strategy,” wrote Michael. “We spent hours talking through Phase 1, what comes after the gospel is presented, and our long-term plans to reach the other five Kuyu villages. [The consultant] also met with the community and with the three Kuyu leaders reviewing our lessons. He left especially encouraged by the progress these men are making in replacing their old worldview with biblical truth. We can’t do this work alone. We’re incredibly thankful for the experience, wisdom, and encouragement of the broader team around us.”

Every flight for the Kuyu team during these years reflects your prayers and the gifts many of you gave to Missionary Flight Sponsorship. Without flight service, the team would still be at square one. Instead, wrote Michael, “After years of preparation, you can finally see it taking shape — and we wish you could be here to feel the excitement with us." Salvation is coming to Kuyu! Thanks for standing with this team.

*Phase 1 is sometimes called Creation to Christ, setting forth the whole panorama of who God is, the Creation, the Fall, and the unfolding of God's plan for the redemption of mankind through Christ.