(above, Two Cessna 185’s at a mountain village in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.)
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Wings of Blessing started to take shape many years ago. Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU) created a flight program called Regions Wings in the early 70’s to support the Church planting efforts to an unreached area on the island of Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Irian Jaya, as it was known at the time, is now called Papua which is the western half of the island of New Guinea belonging to the country of Indonesia. This new ministry initiative was focused on the Mamberamo river region located in north central Irian Jaya. This is a vast area covered in jungle with many isolated villages. A network of airstrips were developed across the region enabling access to many of these villages. RBMU initiated church planting efforts among the different villages and translation projects were started. All of this made possible with the help of the airplane.[/su_column] [su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=””] (A village in the Mamberamo region with airstrip in the middle.)[/su_column] [/su_row]
[su_row][su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=””](Packing a 40′ container with two Cessna 185 aircraft.)[/su_column]
[su_column size=”1/2″ center=”no” class=””]Over the years things begin to change. Regions Wings grew, expanding from a single Cessna 185 to a total of four. RBMU merged with another mission organization to become known as World Team. The flight program’s name was changed from Regions Wings to Tariku Aviation and a Papuan board was developed which helped provide oversight of the flight program operations. In 2010 World Team made the decision to nationalize the program by transferring ownership to the Papuan board. Due to the difficulty of obtaining aviation gasoline in Indonesia, the Papuan board decided to explore options for aircraft that use jet fuel. Then the decision was made to discontinue the use of the 185’s. These airplanes were donated to a new organization called Wings of Blessing. The airplanes and all spare parts were packed in two 40′ shipping containers and sent back to the United States.
For more information check out our BLOG and see the rest of the story! [/su_column]
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