Today, after we were introduced to everyone at JAARS at a chapel service, we started our project at the Jungle Jump Off. The Jungle Jump Off is a training area set back in the woods that simulates life in the jungle and is used for training and educational purposes. There are several outdoor huts where missionaries train to live in undeveloped areas and we are helping to put new roofs on the huts. They haven't been able to use the area for a couple of years after severe weather made the area unsafe and brought several roofs down.
Our Bernal team is working alongside other people that are here visiting JAARS. We have 4 young men from Sidney, Ohio and a girl from Pennsylvania. It has been great getting to know new people. We are working under the guidance of the CAM department (Construction and Maintenance). We put up new plywood and tar paper, cleaned the areas around the huts and central building, and prepared shingles for work tomorrow.
After work, we met with some of the JAARS members for an ethnic dinner night and heard from some of their missionaries.
Jim Baptista, a retired JAARS member, shared some of his amazing stories from his early years of being a missionary pilot and heading up the project to bring the first helicopters into service for JAARS. We also heard from a young couple named Josh and Katie Eicholtz who are heading to Papua New Guinea very soon.
We also learned about the ways JAARS supports missionaries and scripture translation around the world. Caleb was the willing assistant during a demonstration of how JAARS takes on a lot of support roles for the missionaries so they can concentrate specifically on translating the Word.
