 | Elisa Malvin WandikI was born in Passvally on August 15, 1993 into the Yalimo tribe to the east of Wamena. My Father serves as a priest and my mother as a housewife. I have three younger brothers and two younger sisters. My elementary through senior high school education was at (SMK N1) Sentani. As a boy, I was inspired by the many missionary pilots that flew to remote areas to help people. Even though there was challenging weather and the work was not easy these mission pilots kept on flying because they were the only help available to the to native people in the highlands of Papua. I served with AMA for a few months and the Lord gave me a desire to study to become an aviation mechanic and pilot. I took an English course in Sentani and later another one in Wamena while I worked as a tour guide for Trek Papua. When I heard about the work going on at Raja Ampat Research And Conservation Centre (RARCC) with the Mansoer Flying Club (MFC) I was very happy and went join with them because assisting in building Bell 47G helicopters to be used in conservation and mission work was a very unique opportunity to gain experience. When I started out, it was very difficult to learn how to work with new tools, spare parts and maintenance but it was exciting as well. Step by step I learned and the Lord said to me; "Malvin don't give up! The Lord chose you to do this!" and so even though it was difficult I just began to study more as working on an aircraft is not something that is easy to do. There are many things to learn and I need time and lots of studying to master aviation. Practice and learning theory requires much work but and I need support to become a professional mechanic and pilot to serve the Lord in mission aviation. Other local people want to learn as well and with support they can increase their skills and talents in order to become mechanics and pilots with the skills that the Lord has given to us. We can honor and serve him in mission aviation. |