Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018093A
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00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today 01:11 program. I'm Jason Bradley, and I'm so 01:13 excited that you can join us today. We are 01:16 going to talk to a family that is heavily 01:20 involved in the mission field. So, let's go ahead 01:24 and introduce our guests. We have Norman Hansen. 01:27 He is a pilot and project manager for Adventist 01:31 World Aviation in Nicaragua. - That's right. - We 01:34 have Nancy Hansen who is the project manager- 01:37 and his lovely wife- the Adventist World 01:40 Aviation in Nicaragua. I gotta make sure I 01:43 say that right. And then we have two of their 01:47 children, Steven Hansen and Melanie Hansen. 01:51 I'm so happy that you guys could be here 01:52 with us today. - It's a real pleasure for us 01:55 to be here. We're excited and nervous, 01:58 but we're really, really happy to be here. Thank 02:01 you. - Yes, thank you so much. We're so happy 02:03 to be here. - You're welcome, you're welcome! 02:06 You know, I can't wait to get into your story, 02:10 your journey, testimonies, and the mission field 02:14 and all of those things; but before we jump into 02:17 that, I'd like to go to a song by Mary Grace 02:22 entitled, "We Shall Behold Him." 07:31 Wow. God has blessed Mary Grace with a tremendous 07:35 gift. What a beautiful song. Now, Mr. Norman, 07:41 I want to get to know you. I want to start with 07:44 you. Tell me a little bit about your background. 07:47 - Okay. I was born in Alberta, Canada and 07:51 grew up there on a farm. And when I was 07:54 very young, our family became Seventh-Day 07:58 Adventist and just grew up there. I was 08:02 always interested in flying. I remember my dad. 08:08 He got his pilot's license when I was 08:10 young-maybe 9 or 10. And a little later on, 08:14 he got his own airplane. I was just so excited; 08:20 I just couldn't believe it, so I learned to fly 08:24 in the back seat of his airplane on our farm 08:28 strip in a Piper Super Cub. - A Piper Super 08:32 Cup? Now, what does that look like? What is... 08:35 - It's a fabric-covered airplane. It's an extremely 08:40 simple airplane, but it's really nice for 08:45 backcountry bush flying. - Okay. - So, he let me 08:51 fly from the back seat and I learned to fly when 08:54 I was very young. - Wow! So you were flying 08:57 planes at a young age. Did you have a passion 09:01 for flying even before your dad got that plane, 09:04 or...? - Oh, yes! I remember going out and 09:08 just lying in the grass, looking up at the 09:10 clouds, and imagining flying around those 09:13 clouds. - Wow. Nice. - So, yeah. It's been 09:16 a passion all my life. - Nice. And were you 09:19 raised Adventist? - Yes, essentially, because 09:22 my parents became Seventh-Day Adventist 09:24 when I was still very young. - Nice. And 09:27 where did your passion for the mission field 09:31 come into play? How did you become passionate 09:33 about that? - Well, that's the other passion 09:35 that I always had. It always seemed like I 09:37 wanted to do something. As I got a little older, 09:40 I began to look through the call book when I was 09:46 in school and college. I thought, "Oh, I'd love to 09:50 go to this place. I'd love to go to Africa. 09:51 I'd like to do this; I'd like to do that." 09:53 So, I decided- and I had a brother who also 09:57 went as a student missionary to Japan. 10:00 Then later on, I went and worked in the Marshall 10:05 Islands for a year. I taught math and English 10:09 and some things there for a year. So, that 10:11 really set me on the direction for mission 10:15 work. - Okay. And Nancy, what about you? Tell us 10:19 a little bit about your background. - Well, I 10:22 was born in Nicaragua, and I grew up in Costa 10:28 Rica. I had- some people might say, "Wow, so 10:34 going back to Nicaragua for you must've been 10:37 like going back home," but not really, because 10:42 we had a very traumatic experience as a child. 10:46 - Oh, what happened? My father, he was a 10:49 colporteur: a person who sells Christian books. 10:54 At the time, war broke in Nicaragua. He was 11:01 mistakenly put in jail and he was accused of 11:08 being one of the rebels and one of the people 11:12 that wanted to overthrow the government at the time. 11:16 So, he was put in jail for that reason. He was 11:20 tortured and it was very traumatic. I never wanted 11:28 to return to Nicaragua after that, but God, 11:32 in an amazing way, He was able to get him 11:37 out of jail. - Okay, so your dad ended up getting 11:41 arrested for, like, two weeks? - Yes, it was 11:45 two weeks that he was in jail. - Yeah. It was an 11:50 incredible experience that he went through. 11:53 He was accused of being one of the rebels, and 11:57 because he had all this money with him, they 12:02 didn't believe his story that he was a pastor 12:04 and a preacher. - Okay. - So, it was a bad 12:08 situation, so they put him into prison, right, 12:11 Nancy? - Yes. When we heard the news, we were 12:14 devastated, of course, and people were praying 12:18 for him. After a lot of fasting and prayer, 12:24 finally a ransom was paid on his behalf to 12:29 get out of jail. He was told to go straight to 12:33 the airport and not stop anywhere. But 12:37 for some reason that he didn't himself 12:39 understand, he decided to just stop at the mission 12:43 guest house and changed the clothing he had and 12:49 washed his face. When he opened his briefcase 12:52 where, previously, all the books were for 12:54 colporting, he found that instead of the 12:58 books and the money that he had collected 13:00 were just a stash of ammunition. - Ohh, 13:06 no! - They had set him up. - Yeah. - And he 13:09 would've been arrested and he would've never, 13:11 never left. - So they wanted him to go straight 13:14 to the airport, not stop anywhere, because 13:17 they wanted him to get caught with that ammunition 13:19 at the airport. - Exactly. - Wow. 13:22 - So they were so nervous, but somebody recommended, 13:26 "Just hide, bury all the ammunition in the ground," 13:31 and they did that very quickly. Then, they took 13:34 a taxi and they headed to the airport, and they 13:37 were nervous that there would be other traps 13:39 along the way. But God was faithful to them 13:43 and they were able to get out of the country. 13:45 But I remember with my family, we went to Costa 13:48 Rica to meet him and my mom. I was just so 13:54 excited to see him, you know? And my mom, I 13:57 remember her saying, "No, no, try not to 14:00 hug him, because his ribs are broken," and 14:02 his face had changed. He had bruises and 14:06 wounds all over his body, so I couldn't 14:10 really hug him. After that experience, I was 14:13 so terrified. I decided in my heart, "I will 14:18 never go back to Nicaragua again." - I could 14:20 understand that. - But of course, God had other 14:23 plans for us. - Yes! - He always does. - So, 14:28 who do you have sitting next to you? - I'm 14:31 Steven; my name is Steven Hansen. I'm 17. I grew 14:38 up in Guam, actually- the small island of Guam. 14:43 My brother, too; I have an older brother. We've 14:47 been in this together- this mission trip venture. 14:51 - Nice. Nice. And Melanie? How did you 14:56 get involved in mission work? - Well, ever since I 15:00 was very little, I always wanted to be 15:02 a missionary. So when I learned that we were 15:05 going to be going to Nicaragua as missionaries, 15:07 I was thrilled. I was just so excited. I didn't 15:11 really know what would be involved at first, 15:14 so it was hard when we had to sell our home 15:17 where I had grown up, then my pets, and say 15:21 goodbye to friends and grandparents but, 15:24 despite all that, was still really excited. 15:26 - Nice. So, you've always had a passion 15:28 for mission work? - Yeah, definitely. - Nice. 15:31 Now, I see that you guys have different 15:34 stripes and stuff on your collars here. What do 15:38 those stripes represent? - Well, the stripes can 15:41 represent the level that you've attained in your 15:45 flying. I have four stripes as the captain. So, if 15:52 you're the captain, you get four stripes. - Got you. 15:55 - It can mean different things, but yeah. I 15:58 finally earned my four stripes after many years. 16:01 - Nice. And then the one stripe? - The one 16:03 stripe... They are ground support. So, 16:07 they're helping us- they work on the radio, 16:11 they maintain the airplane, fuel it up, 16:14 wash the airplane, things like that. - Nice. You 16:20 know, one of the things that I love as I'm 16:22 looking at you guys is just the fact that you 16:24 are a family that is involved in helping 16:29 other people. You know? You guys have answered 16:32 the call that God's placed on your lives, 16:34 and I think that is amazing to see you as 16:37 a unit, partaking in that. I want to talk 16:41 about AWA, Adventist World Aviation. We 16:46 actually have a video that is going to tell 16:49 us a little bit more about it, and then you 16:51 can expound upon that as we come out of that 16:54 roll. - That'll be great. - Adventist World 16:57 Aviation has aviation outpost stationed all 17:01 around the world with the mission of bringing 17:04 humanitarian aid and the love of Jesus to 17:07 difficult-to-reach areas. One of Adventist World 17:11 Aviation's outposts is situated in the 17:14 northeastern corner of Nicaragua by the border 17:18 of Honduras. This outpost is dedicated to 17:21 serving the Miskito people of this region. 17:25 This part of the country is extremely isolated 17:28 from the rest of the country due to its 17:30 geographic location. Mountain ranges and 17:33 impermeable jungle separate the Miskito 17:36 people from the advancements civilization provides. 17:41 In the remote village of La Tranquera 17:44 Nicaragua, Adventist World Aviation has 17:47 a mission base that transports critically 17:50 ill and emergency patients from remote villages 17:54 to a hospital where they can receive the 17:57 life-saving care they need. The region has 18:00 very limited medical care, and many suffer 18:03 and often lose their lives because they cannot 18:06 receive the care they need to survive. For 18:09 this reason, the AWA air base is in an 18:12 excellent location and able to make an enormous 18:15 impact by utilizing aircraft to transport 18:18 patients. The La Tranquera Nicaragua mission 18:22 aviation base has transported well over 18:25 600 patients. This type of aid was nonexistent 18:29 in this area previous to this air base's 18:33 operations. The Tranquera air base is home to 18:37 the first and only aircraft that flew 18:40 medical evacuations from remote villages 18:43 and delivered patients to a larger town called 18:47 Puerto Cabezas. This aviation mission was 18:51 able to win the trust of government officials 18:53 and is warmly accepted and recognized by the 18:56 healthcare system as a vital component to 19:00 help remote villages receive these medical 19:02 emergency flights that they desperately need. 19:06 This mission base is well known among the 19:09 people of this region, and everyone knows 19:11 that they can depend on them when they are in 19:14 need or have an emergency. Travel in this region 19:18 of Nicaragua is very difficult. The region 19:21 is covered with pine savannas, lush jungles, 19:24 and winding rivers. Road systems were 19:27 never fully developed here, and this makes 19:30 transportation very difficult. A trip that 19:33 would take one-and-a-half hour by flight can take 19:36 days if it were to be traveled by boat or 19:39 land. Often, land travel isn't possible simply 19:43 because there is no road system to reach 19:46 the remote village. Many of the Miskito 19:49 people live in extreme isolation. When an emergency 19:53 occurs, many of them don't survive injuries 19:56 or they suffer greatly because they cannot 19:59 reach medical care in a timely manner. If 20:02 patients do not have access to these flights, 20:05 they must travel by foot, boat, or bus- 20:09 a journey that can take more than 48 hours. 20:12 When an emergency strikes, patients may 20:15 need to reach care within a few hours 20:18 in order to survive. Having the air base 20:20 here allows for quick and expedient extractions 20:24 that have saved hundreds of lives. This remote 20:28 air base is currently operated by the Hansen 20:31 family who arrived in 2017. The La Tranquera 20:36 air base is anticipating the arrival of a new 20:39 air craft to be placed in the field. 20:42 Wings of Hope in St. Louis, Missouri provided 20:44 AWA with a highly modified Cessna 182 20:49 for a very moderate cost and has prepared the 20:52 aircraft for deployment for Nicaragua. This 20:55 aircraft will be an enormous blessing, and 20:58 plans are underway to reach even more remote 21:02 villages with this life-saving service. 21:05 This mission base daily exemplifies the love 21:09 that Christ asked His disciples to share. Here 21:12 in Nicaragua, Adventist World Aviation missionaries 21:16 take this call very seriously as they enter 21:19 into the most remote villages, seeking to 21:22 provide the love, hope, and healing of Jesus Christ. 21:30 - Wow. What a powerful organization. I mean, it 21:33 seems like without these flights, this could be a 21:36 matter of life and death for some of these people. 21:39 How did you get involved with this organization? 21:42 - Well, I told you I was always interested 21:44 in mission work, so we actually- I worked 21:48 with Adventist World Radio. - Okay. AWR? 21:52 - AWR. I always get those confused; they're 21:55 so close. [laughter] For actually 13 years. 21:58 So, I was a missionary, working and actually- 22:02 excuse me-met Nancy in Costa Rica, and we 22:07 had an amazing life. Two of our three children 22:10 were born on the island of Guam. - Mmk. - But 22:16 we decided to return to Canada so that we 22:18 could- the kids could know their grandparents- 22:22 on my side, at least. So, life was good. I 22:30 worked at an Adventist college there in Alberta. 22:34 But as time went by, it just felt like something 22:38 was missing. I remember we were reading-excuse 22:44 me-the parable of the 10 virgins. It says in 22:51 there that all 10 slept. There came a time when 22:57 we knew that we were asleep. So, we just 23:00 began to pray. We just began to pray and ask 23:03 God to wake us up. It wasn't long; very soon 23:09 after that, my father... I have to tell you. 23:14 I learned to fly when I was 17, but after I 23:19 got my pilot's license, it was a very short 23:23 period of time and I went off to college. 23:27 My father sold his airplane, and I didn't fly again 23:31 for over 30 years. - Wow, over 30 years? 23:36 - So, I was one of those pilots that was on the 23:38 ground, always looking up in the sky. - Yeah. 23:41 - But I just couldn't afford it. - Mhm. 23:45 - That was okay. I was enjoying life and I was 23:50 working, but like I said, when that 23:51 restlessness came in, something strange 23:54 happened to me. I couldn't even explain. 23:56 I remember going home and telling Nancy that 23:57 I... "I don't know what's wrong with me, 24:01 but every time I hear an airplane, I'm looking 24:06 up in the sky." I started looking in the classified 24:09 ads for airplanes for sale, and I started 24:13 checking into what it would take to get my 24:15 pilot's license reactivated. It was always too 24:19 expensive. I couldn't afford it. I remember my 24:26 father, now who was in his 80s- I got a call 24:31 from him one day, and it was very strange, 24:33 because he called and he says, "Norman, I 24:37 probably shouldn't be telling you this, but 24:39 I just talked to the chairman of the board 24:41 of Adventist World Aviation, and they 24:44 really need pilots. They're looking for 24:46 pilots." I hadn't even heard of Adventist 24:49 World Aviation. Somehow, even being a pilot, I'd 24:54 never learned about it. And he says, "You 24:56 should give them a call." So I talked to Don? 25:03 who was the chairman of the Canadian branch 25:06 of Adventist World Aviation. I said, "Well, 25:10 I'm not very qualified. I haven't flown for 25:12 30 years. They've got to be more qualified 25:15 pilots than that." He says, "Well, you should 25:17 talk to our vice president." So I 25:21 called, I talked with the vice president, 25:24 Jud Wickwire. I said, "What's your greatest 25:28 need?" I expected him to say, "Well, we need 25:33 money," because it costs a lot of money to fly 25:35 airplanes; I knew that, right? He says, "Our 25:37 greatest need is we need pilots. We need 25:41 people to come." So, the wheels just started 25:47 turning and I wanted to do that; just felt like 25:53 God had led us to that. So, it wasn't 25:57 long after that; about 4 or 5 months later, 26:00 we then became missionaries in training. But that's 26:03 when Nancy's dilemma kicked in. Because of 26:08 the background that she had in Nicaragua, 26:10 the next step was, "Well, where would he 26:12 go?" They said, "You know, there's this air 26:14 base in Nicaragua that we really need. 26:17 You speak some Spanish, the two of you, so 26:21 it'd be a great fit," but for Nancy, that 26:24 was when her challenge began. - Yeah, that's 26:27 a traumatic experience that you went through, 26:29 Nancy. - Yes. I was so scared, so... It 26:35 took me months, actually, just praying and surrendering 26:37 to God, asking Him to please take away my 26:40 fears. I remember, as a child, praying many, 26:44 many times. "Lord, please take away my 26:46 fears. Take away my fears." The only way 26:49 that God can take away our fears sometimes is 26:52 by facing our fears. So, God took me to that 26:56 road, and I'm thankful that He did because 26:59 I have grown a lot since then. He has 27:02 made me to be able to trust in His 27:07 promises and realize that He's always faithful 27:10 to us - that if He calls us to do something 27:13 for Him, He will be with us no matter 27:15 what. - Amen. Now, what happened over there 27:19 where you guys... You kind of almost wanted 27:21 to leave at some point. Wasn't there a mosquito 27:24 incident or something? What was that about? 27:27 - Yes. So, it's an incredible, long process. We are 27:30 Adventist World Aviation, of course. We send 27:33 out missionaries-not just to Nicaragua, but 27:35 all over different countries-but we're 27:38 self-supported. So, it takes quite a while 27:40 to raise your funding. In my case, I had to 27:45 retrain significantly. We send out commercial 27:51 instrument-rated pilots, and I was a private 27:56 pilot that hadn't flown for 30 years, so... 27:58 [laughs] There was a lot of training to do. 28:01 So, you can imagine the long period of time 28:03 that we took to get ready. So we finally 28:06 arrive in Nicaragua, and we arrived about 28:12 this time of the year. It's still rainy season. 28:16 There's no electricity- well, we have some 28:19 solar power where we- at the time. When we 28:25 were sitting down in this house-you can 28:30 maybe pull up the picture of the house-somebody 28:35 today called it a "shack." Actually, you know 28:39 what- it's quite comfortable. We're 28:41 happy with it, but it has open windows. It 28:45 had open windows, so the mosquitos, are very 28:48 humid- they come right in, and it was not 28:53 long before we realized that this was going to 28:56 be a very, very difficult situation. 28:58 - So what did you do to remedy the situation? 29:00 - So what did you do, Nancy? You got on your 29:02 knees... - We began praying. We told no 29:04 one. We just began praying and saying, 29:06 "God, we are desperate. We need help, because 29:10 this is not working for us. If the only 29:14 place we can find refuge is under our 29:18 bed with the screens and all that, that's 29:21 not going to work for us," so we began to pray, and 29:24 God answered our prayer in a wonderful way. 29:29 - We have met many wonderful missionaries 29:32 in Nicaragua, and they're from all kinds 29:37 of different backgrounds, different organizations... 29:40 This is a picture of a group of people that 29:44 came. We met a pastor and he heard that we 29:49 didn't have screens on our windows. He says, 29:52 "That's impossible right now, because it's 29:54 malaria season! Malaria is spreading all over 29:58 the place. We're going to come out and visit 30:01 you." And I thought, "Okay... Let's see 30:04 what happens." Well, just a few days later, 30:06 he came and he brought another man with him. 30:10 They went around, they took notes, they did 30:12 everything... And within a week, they sent 30:15 that group out and they completely screened 30:19 our entire house. It went... There's 30:23 the screen. This huge veranda is a lot of 30:26 work, and all the eaves were open. There was 30:29 just no way to keep out the bugs. They 30:33 spent 3 days working, and they didn't charge 30:37 us anything. - Wow! So they volunteered 30:40 their time - 3 days! - God answered that 30:42 prayer in such a powerful way to let us know 30:45 that He wanted us to stay, 'cause it was just 30:49 a few weeks and everything. "How are we going to be 30:52 able to survive this?" So yeah. That was the 30:55 very first miracle that let us know that God 30:58 was with us. - That's an excellent point, 31:01 because where God leads, He provides. 31:03 So, He provided those missionaries to volunteer 31:07 their time for 3 days to screen in your 31:10 entire house. - Yeah. We're supposedly the 31:13 missionaries, but they ministered to us. It 31:16 was a powerful lesson. - What a blessing; 31:18 what a blessing. Now, I'm sure that when you 31:21 have an airplane and you're flying and all 31:25 of this stuff, you can run into maintenance 31:27 challenges and issues with that. Have you 31:31 ever received a flat tire or anything? - You 31:34 know, it's very uncommon to have flat tires 31:38 on airplanes. I've talked to many very experienced 31:41 pilots that have never have a flat tire on 31:44 their airplane. But of course, me being even 31:47 a new commercial pilot, that's exactly what happened 31:52 on one of my emergency flights. I got a call 31:55 early in the morning that there was a lady. She 32:00 was going to need to be transported to the 32:02 city so that she could have a cesarean section, 32:06 and it was urgent and if I could come. It was dark when they 32:09 called, so we got up early. We hurried 32:12 to get everything ready. I was waiting, 32:15 and they loaded this lady into the airplane, 32:19 and I was happy. I was just taxing-just turning 32:23 at the end of the runway. It's a gravel strip 32:25 to take off when I just felt this... 32:30 something different. I looked down at my 32:33 left main gear, and that tire was flat. So 32:37 here I was, just ready to take off 32:39 with this patient that desperately needed 32:42 to go, and- I wasn't even at our air base. I was 32:47 at another runway and I had no tools to deal 32:52 with that issue. It was traumatic. I told the 32:56 doctor, the lady that was there (we always 33:00 fly with either a nurse or a doctor; in this case, 33:02 a doctor was there). I said, "Please, call for an 33:05 ambulance, because we will not be able 33:08 to transport this patient. There's no 33:10 way we can fly." Of course, this is all happening 33:15 in Spanish, and my Spanish is not perfect. 33:17 She looked at me and she says, "No, this patient- 33:22 we're going to fly her to the hospital." - So 33:26 what did you- how did you- what did you do? 33:29 - I said, "Well, this plane cannot fly. It has a flat 33:34 tire." She looked at me and she says, 33:38 "This patient has to fly to the hospital. There's 33:42 no other way. She will not survive if you 33:46 don't fly her." So then, I understood 33:50 and I said, "Okay, let's pray." The three of us 33:54 in the airplane, we prayed, then I texted Nancy and 34:01 I didn't know where to begin. She remembered 34:06 that there was another missionary family, 34:08 again, from another organization, and she 34:11 said, "Give them a call." I did; I called 34:16 Brent. I gave him this long list of items 34:19 that I needed: tools and everything. I 34:22 knew he had a truck, so I gave him this 34:25 long list of things. It took a few minutes 34:28 longer than I thought it would to come, but 34:31 when he came, he was on a bicycle. He piled 34:34 it up with all this stuff. He truck was 34:36 not working. But together with him and another 34:40 mechanic that the doctor had called, we got the 34:43 tire off, we got the tube out, and got it 34:47 sent off to a little tire shop just down 34:49 the street. And within an hour, we were airborne 34:52 again. - So you were able to get the lady 34:55 to the hospital? - We successfully got her 34:57 to the hospital in time. - Nice, nice. Nancy, 35:01 what are some stories that you remember? 35:03 Maybe some miracle stories, or something 35:07 that took place during your time there in 35:11 Nicaragua. - Well, of course, I support 35:14 Norman when he has to go flying, but one 35:19 of the things that I do is pray with the 35:21 people. When they come to our house and they 35:26 need something, then I pray with them. I 35:29 remember this specific morning, I had gotten 35:34 up very early in the morning and had spent 35:36 quite a bit of time in prayer, asking 35:39 the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me. 35:43 I remember this young man came to the door, 35:46 asking to buy nails. We actually sell 35:50 nails in our mission for half the price. We 35:54 buy them at full price and we sell them for 35:57 half price. - Oh, wow! So you lose money on 36:01 the deal. Okay! - Well, in a way, it's our 36:05 way to reach out to the community and be able 36:08 to have the opportunity to talk to the people 36:11 and get to know them. So, this morning, I 36:15 was impressed when I went up to get the change, 36:18 a voice told me- I believe the Holy Spirit 36:23 impressed me to pray for this man and said, 36:27 "Ask him if he needs prayer for anything." 36:29 So I went downstairs and I talked to him, 36:32 gave him the change, and I said, "Is there 36:34 something you would like me to pray for?" 36:36 He was hesitant. He looked down to the 36:39 ground; he didn't want to look into my 36:41 eye. But then after a while, he said, "Well, 36:46 actually, there's something I would like 36:47 you to pray for," he says. "Just this 36:51 morning, I received news that a curse has 36:54 been put on my life and I've been told 36:56 that I'm only going to live four years and 36:58 then I'm going to die." - Wow. - So I was 37:01 shocked when I heard this and I thought, 37:03 "Wow. It's amazing how the Holy Spirit 37:05 impressed me to ask him for this." So I 37:10 assured him that Jesus has power over darkness 37:14 and he had nothing to fear about, so I prayed 37:17 with him and he told me that he would like 37:20 to know more about Jesus. I'm looking 37:23 forward to going back and being able to finish 37:26 his story-how God will change the life of this 37:29 man. That's the kind of thing that God 37:33 does through us, and it's so wonderful to 37:35 be part of it. - Amen. What other stories 37:39 do you have? I know you have plenty of 37:41 stories, too. - I actually have more stories 37:44 than we have time for. There is another story 37:48 that I'd like to share. The air speed indicator 37:54 on an airplane is a very important instrument, 37:56 because you need that- especially if you're 37:58 flying in cloud. A bug or two or three had somehow 38:05 flown in or gotten into my air speed 38:07 indicator and it wasn't working anymore. I had 38:11 taken everything apart and was working on it 38:15 to fix it. I am not a mechanic, so we 38:20 have mechanics who help us, and they'll 38:23 come down if there's something serious. But 38:24 minor things like that, we work on ourselves. 38:28 I had just gotten to the point where 38:31 I was putting things back together and 38:34 I was actually in- I take the seats out and 38:37 I was in underneath the dash of the airplane, 38:39 putting the last tube together, and the thought 38:42 went through my mind, "Now how am I going 38:44 to test this thing? I really need to go for a 38:47 flight." When Nancy came running with the 38:50 phone, and she had a medical director 38:52 from one of the villages that we serve there. 38:56 He said, "I have a baby that was just 38:59 born, and if this baby doesn't get to neonatal 39:02 care in three hours, I think it's going 39:04 to die. Can you transport this baby?" So, no 39:09 pressure, right? - And it was a premature 39:12 baby. - It was a premature baby. So, 39:17 I said, "Okay, we will take the flight." 39:21 The whole family got together. We also have 39:25 a day worker who was there, and we rushed 39:28 to put the airplane back together. Everybody 39:30 helped and we got the plane together. Nancy 39:33 makes the calls for permissions (we have 39:35 to get permission for every flight with the 39:37 Nicaragua military). We got off and everything 39:42 worked perfectly, including the air 39:44 speed indicator, and we were successfully- 39:46 yeah. That baby survived. - Praise the Lord. 39:49 - Yeah. It's a very rewarding experience 39:51 to be able to do that. - Yes. - But I want to 39:54 say that we are supported by so many people, and 40:00 we get to do this amazing- it SEEMS 40:03 amazing. - It IS amazing! - We're 40:08 the ones that get to be the hands and feet 40:11 of Jesus, but it is not just us. There 40:14 are people- and Nancy- she has an amazing 40:17 prayer ministry that she also uses, and 40:21 she reaches out to others. Tell them about 40:22 how you do that. - Well, whenever my husband 40:26 goes on a flight, then I WhatsApp all our 40:31 team members in the prayer group, and 40:34 immediately, I get so excited when I see 40:37 the little blue lights being checked in, 40:39 knowing that they are receiving the message, 40:43 so we tell them what the situation is. If 40:46 they can please pray for him, and then we 40:49 also send them pictures of what is happening, 40:52 so they get to know what is happening 40:53 right at that moment and then how God 40:57 answers our prayers and blesses him. 41:00 Sometimes, there are situations that are 41:01 very difficult. Like the one day, you heard 41:04 of the flat tire. Our weather, sometimes, 41:07 is not good, so we depend on prayer all 41:10 the time. - Wow. And that's- see, that's 41:13 great, too, because people's faith...their 41:16 faith is being strengthened because you're also 41:19 showing how God's been answering the prayers, 41:22 so that's amazing, too. You guys had a powerful 41:25 story about a gentleman named- we'll call him 41:30 Rich. Okay? We'll call him Rich just so 41:33 we don't give his name. Tell us about that 41:36 story. - Yeah. Rich, he lives in the village. 41:42 We live right next to the village of La 41:45 Tranquera, which is a village about 300 41:47 people. One of the things we were able to do 41:51 last year, we hosted several mission 41:54 groups that came down. One of the groups 41:57 built a bridge. It's a footbridge that 42:01 links the area where we are to the village, 42:05 so it's an important bridge. - It's this 42:07 the Okinagwa? - Okanagan Christian Academy from 42:14 British Columbia in Canada. They came 42:18 down, and so we had a lot of work to do. 42:21 They worked hard. Of course, you saw the 42:23 finished bridge, but it was a lot of work, 42:26 and we invited, of course, any of the people from the 42:29 village to come and help. So Rich was 42:33 one of those that came, and he was a 42:35 hard worker. He worked for two or three days 42:37 with everybody really hard. Then the next 42:40 day, he didn't show up, and we didn't 42:44 know what happened. When Nancy inquired, 42:48 one of the other young fellows said that he 42:50 tried to take his life the night before. We 42:54 were shocked, because he's a very positive, 42:59 seemed happy, person on the exterior. So, 43:04 Nancy and I went over. Nancy went over and 43:07 she prayed with him. What did you give him? 43:09 You gave him some... - I gave him some 43:11 charcoal, because he had ingested an overdose 43:15 of sleeping pills, so his stomach was 43:18 hurting quite a bit. So, I ran home and 43:22 got him some charcoal and some juice and told 43:26 him to drink that throughout the day, 43:28 and I think that really helped him. So the 43:29 next day, he showed up to the mission field, 43:33 ready to work. - Wow! He was ready to work 43:35 the next day! - He was feeling much, much better. 43:37 - He probably shouldn't have been, but he 43:39 wanted to come. So since that time, Nancy 43:44 asked him if he wanted to have Bible studies, 43:46 and so she was able to carry on with those 43:49 studies till we left on our furlough. - Praise 43:53 the Lord. It sounds like he was in need of 43:56 the Lord. He sounds like a wonderful, 44:00 positive, upbeat person, but he was 44:03 struggling with some issues, and you guys 44:05 led him to the solution which is Christ. - The 44:08 people are very poor. There's subsistent 44:12 farming, there's really not jobs available 44:15 for them, so it's a challenging place 44:18 for them to live. We live right there near 44:22 the village with them, so we can... We want to 44:25 have a real positive impact in their lives. 44:28 - Yes...yes. Now, where do you- I 44:31 would imagine that plane takes a lot of gas. 44:34 So how do you fill up? What does that even 44:38 look like? How do you put gas in that plane? 44:41 We actually have a picture that we should just show. 44:44 - We just get it where you buy your auto fuel, 44:47 which is about a 4- or 5-hour drive. It's 44:52 the main city where we fly in with our patients. 44:55 So, when we fly our patients in, we usually 44:57 fuel up, but it involves either getting a taxi 45:01 or friends that we've made there to give us 45:04 a ride to the gas station and to fill up 45:07 jerrycans. - And it's not even jet fuel. 45:11 - No, it's not even out of gas; it's just 45:16 regular unleaded. - That's amazing. How much 45:21 gas does one of those planes take? - That one, 45:24 I think it'll hold 38 gallons, but it burns 45:30 about 7 gallons an hour, so if we have a 2-hour 45:35 flight, we'll be putting in 3 jerrycans to 45:40 keep us going. - Okay. And you also have a 45:43 truck, too, correct? - Yes. - And what do 45:46 you use this truck for primarily? - The 45:48 truck is used for everything. It's the 45:52 only vehicle within an hour's drive of 45:57 where we live, so it's used for emergency 46:01 transport of patients, as well. We use it to 46:05 buy our groceries, we use it for any 46:08 maintenance around the area. We have no tractor 46:10 or anything like that. We even haul sand and 46:15 gravel in it. Of course, we keep it 46:17 so that it's not too heavy. The truck is 46:20 very important; it keeps us safe. We 46:23 don't drive at night, because we want to 46:24 avoid issues and problems. The truck is 46:28 getting a little bit tired, so there's 46:30 a project now to replace our truck here. It's 46:32 getting maintained right now. - There are 46:35 also times when we transport people if 46:38 the plane, for some reason, cannot fly or 46:41 it's nighttime, sometimes we receive emergency 46:45 calls, so we will transport them, as 46:48 well, to the nearest hospital. - And I 46:51 know that you're trying to fix the truck-you 46:55 said you had a project for that-roughly, about 46:57 how much do you think it will take to fix the 47:00 truck? - Well, actually, replace the truck. - Oh, 47:04 replace the truck. Okay. - We're going to 47:06 replace it, or at least have a more 47:09 reliable one and keep that as a second 47:11 vehicle. The project- it's difficult to get 47:17 good used vehicles, sometimes, because the 47:22 roads are very, very rough. It's difficult 47:26 to drive more than- we use kilometers 47:29 down there-25, 30, 40 kilometers an hour 47:31 because it's so rough, so it's just constantly 47:35 hard on the vehicle. We're looking for a 47:37 Toyota Land Cruiser this time, which is 47:40 a very rugged version of a vehicle. It's 47:44 about a-trying to remember the numbers 47:47 quickly-I think it's about a $35,000 47:52 vehicle, but we have 47:54 already. - Oh, praise the Lord. - God has been 47:57 good. We're well on our way with that 48:00 project. - Nice. And what are some of the 48:02 other needs that AWA needs? - Well, the 48:07 house that we live in, you saw the picture 48:09 of the house. That roof is becoming quite 48:12 rusted, and we noticed just before we're 48:15 leaving, there's drips all over the place, so 48:17 our plan is to replace the roof. The floor is 48:22 just rough concrete, and it really hard to 48:26 keep it clean and nice, so we're going to put 48:28 some tiling, flooring in. That'll really 48:31 make things easier for Nancy, as well. Let's 48:35 see... Other projects. - What about volunteers? 48:40 - Yes. We always need volunteers. Not just 48:45 volunteers, but even career missionaries 48:47 that would love to come; pilots. Our project, 48:51 really, could handle three families. We 48:54 would like to see three families; maybe another 48:57 pilot, and then another family that 49:01 would just do mission work in the region. 49:04 There's a lot of work. Of course, that would 49:05 involve more housing and things, so that's 49:08 a big goal, but that's kind of our- Adventist 49:12 World Aviation likes to have two or three 49:15 families in the region because they can 49:16 support each other. We can't be there all the 49:19 time. So like right now, we're not there, 49:21 so there's nobody providing any of these 49:24 services right now, which can affect many 49:27 lives. - Yes, yes. Well, you guys are 49:30 doing an amazing work, and as I said earlier, 49:34 this is truly a matter of life and death in 49:36 some cases. That cesarean section. 49:40 If you guys wouldn't have made it to the 49:41 hospital, that lady AND that baby might 49:45 not have made it. - Yeah. And the other thing to 49:47 realize is that the families are very 49:49 large, so every mother that we can save, 49:55 make sure that there's many, many less orphans. 49:58 Otherwise, they lose their mothers. So, it's 50:02 really an important service. - Now, if people 50:05 want to check out some of the other stories, 50:08 our time is escaping us. It's gone by so fast. 50:12 If people want to check out some of your other 50:14 stories, what would be a website for them 50:16 to go to? - Well, I'm going to recommend two 50:19 websites. Of course, our main website for 50:22 Adventist World Aviation is FlyAwa.org, but if 50:28 you want to follow our story personally... There's 50:31 lots of missionaries on that website that 50:32 you can look at, and they all have amazing 50:35 stories to tell-just like us. But if you 50:38 want to follow our story, you can go to 50:40 NormHansen.com, and you can subscribe 50:47 to our newsletter. We try to put that 50:48 out once a month. - Nice, nice. What did 50:52 your friends think, Steven, when you were 50:57 telling them you were gonna go be a missionary? 51:00 - Well, I think they thought it sounded 51:02 exciting, because it does sound like an 51:06 exciting idea, going out there, doing mission 51:09 work. It was hard; it's true. Saying goodbye 51:12 to our pets, our friends, our family, 51:17 but it's been a really good experience, and 51:20 I'm just exciting to be hastening Jesus' 51:23 coming. - Amen. Amen. It's a blessing to see 51:28 you guys working together as a unit. 51:31 I want people to know how to get in contact 51:34 with you. I want people to know how 51:37 they can support you, so we're going to go 51:39 to the address roll so they can do that. 51:44 - Adventist World Aviation supports isolated communities 51:47 and medical evacuations, vaccinations, clinics, 51:51 dental outreach, lifestyle programs, as well as 51:54 church planting and Bible studies. They are always 51:57 in need of more planes, volunteers, and medical 52:00 supplies. If you would like to support missionaries 52:03 like the Hansen family, please visit FlyAwa.org 52:07 for more information. That's FlyAwa.org, or 52:11 call them at (414) 226-5195. You may write to them 52:17 at Adventist World Aviation 3457 Swift Creek Rd. (Corp-3) 52:22 in Smithfield, North Carolina 27577. |
Revised 2019-01-02