I have a NEW website!

Hi everyone, my website has now moved to www.nevinurey.com

Please update your bookmarks and check out my new site ;-)
Thanks,
Nevin

Remote living

So you know you're remote when this guy passes through - Bear Grylls from Man vs Wild (called Born Survivor in the UK)

This is Bear and his cameraman Dan hanging out some of the MAF staff when their plane stopped to refuel at Gove. Keep a look out for his new Arnhem Land episode

9 planes all tucked up safely in the new MAF hanger during a cyclone watch a few months back. We are now into the dry season and the cyclones are finished till next year. 

Some of the ladies teaching the kids at the church

Steve Grace (www.stevegrace.com) playing & preaching in Yirrkala

Stephanine being baptised last weekend

A rainbow just off the beach at Yirrkala just after the baptism

Can you pray for me?

Prayer points

Gerard (Yolngu believer) - Pray for Gerard as he sets up a new camp along the beach. His vision is to mentor the youth of the area in God's ways. May God give him wisdom & strength as he puts God's word into action.

Bible Study - Pray for everyone at the Yolngu Bible study. May God teach and guide them to become more like Christ. Pray for them to go out and teach others about God.

Unity - Pray for unity amonst the Yolngu believers here in Yirrkala. May we all keep our eyes on Jesus and not on eachother.


Kid's club - Pray for the leaders that help with this outreach. May we be a living witness to the kids teaching them how and why they should follow Jesus.

Language - I'm presently trying to expand my vocabulary of the local lingo. Pray that I can remember what I study and put into practice with the local Yolngu people. My aim is to know 200 local words by the end of the year and be able to throw a few sentences together.

Praise points

Thanks so much for those that have been praying for me. As I look back there have been so many answers to your petitions ... thank you. Some examples recently include ..

Weather - Praise God for His provision and protection during the wet season. It is now over and the dry is here. The cyclone season is also finished and we got away with only a few warnings and one near miss. 


Flight Experience - I praise God that He has given me 1000+ hrs of flight time. I thank Him for safety and provision during this time.   


Bible study - I praise God that He has been at work in our Thursday night studies. They have been challenging and encouraging as we have studied 1 Thesalonians. God has really used this to speak to the group and it has been perfect for helping us all grow.

Finance - With the exchange rate and a few other circumstances, my finance had dropped off from where it needed to be to keep me here. Praise God that at the same time he worked in the hearts of people back home and supplied my needs once again.

Another milestone reached

The journey of a pilot is filled with many milestones. Who would forget their first solo flight, or the day when get your pilot's license. Or the professional feel when becoming a commercial pilot. Well the other week I stepped over another milestone and joined the ranks of those with more than 1000+ flight hours. I remember back to when God called me to aviation from a life in the telecommunications industry. I had many reasons why I felt I shouldn't leave a great job and all my friends & family, to follow a long and expensive road to become a missionary pilot. But if God calls us He also equips us and I can testify that we are at our happiest when we are following God's lead. With Him nothing is impossible and what we view as a mountain to climb is smaller than a mole hill in God's eyes.

I like to keep a log of accomplishments (see other milestones) to remember how far God has brought me, and looking back I am so grateful for the steadfast support of so many that God has used to encourage and enable me to follow His leading. I am so blessed to be right where God wants me and as much as I love to fly, what I really enjoy is sitting down and talking about God with the people I am here to serve. I thank God for all who have helped to bring me to this point and also for those who enable me to stay and serve here in Arnhem Land.

May our God richly bless you.


Some more pics of the last few months

Good spot to catch dinner (or was it the other way around). And yes, that's a croc trap I'm on .. safest place to be)

My local church at Yirrkala

Some of the church ladies getting training so that they can work with Wycliffe in Bible Translation 

Some of the wise men and shepherds before the youth nativety play on Christmas Eve

My friends daughter playing in the nativety set

Some of the local ant hills just of the runway. This one is around 15 ft tall.

Ferry flight update

Just a quick note to say thanks to all who prayed. I made it back in only 6.5 hrs, with tail winds and good weather the whole way home. Just after 1st light I headed off with the rising sun behind me. I avoided 3-4 hot air ballons in the area that where watching the sunrise, made my way over the mountains, across the barren coastal flats, around the Gulf of Carpentaria, and then followed the coast home.

The C206 that I was flying from Mareeba (Cairns) to Gove, NT.

Passing over the last of the mountains and heading towards the coastal flatlands area

After around 6 hrs and 2 fuel stops, I was back in familiar territory. Banyala community below means only 35 mins to go

Cheers to all who have been praying & supporting me not just for the ferry flight but also in the work here with MAF

Ferry flight

Well with the wonders of modern technology, I can do an update whilst sitting in a hanger waiting for my plane to be finished. I'm in Mareeba (near Cairns) at the moment at the MAF hanger. My 206 will hopefully be finished this afternoon and ready for a first light departure tomorrow morning (Sunday).

There have been a few last minute issues, some long hours worked, and a long 8 hr flight ahead of me. Please pray for wisdom in decision making, safety in flight, and an uneventful trip home.

Thanks,
Nev

A long overdue update

Where does the time go to? So much has happened since the last update that it's difficult to know where to begin, but I'll give it a go. Here are some pictures showing the story of the past few months.

Road trip time - some Yolngu friends showing us their homeland

Gerard shows us how it should be done

That's one for later

My turn

The fish being cooked over the fire. We had one full fish each and were all stuffed .. great!

This is our newly built hanger with the MAF fleet out the front

We had a dedication service inside

One of the kids looking at the memorial to Hadleigh. It's been just over a year now since the accident. For those that prayed for the aircraft search back in Aug when the specialist equipment arrived, unfortunately nothing was found and all search efforts have now ceased.

My new ride (a 206). I call it the sports car. I've been flying it the last few weeks and now alternate between this and the Airvan.

Catching up on some reading during a sit & wait. Contrary to popular belief it's not "flying for dummies" ;-)


Some passengers on a typical flight

My Wawa (brother) on a flight down to his homeland for the weekend

Some local kids

My bike and swag at a local area where i go for some alone time with God. Away from all distractions and a great opportunity to star gaze.

One of the many beautiful beaches. Pity about the crocs, sharks and stingers

Some of the kids at the kids club

More friends at kids club

More friends from the Bible study

Me reading at Gerard's baptism

Gerard being baptised. It was a wonderful day and we got to hear Gerard tell all his family and friends about how Jesus has changed his life and could do the same for them. Praise God!

Prayer letter online

My latest newsletter is now uploaded and available at by clicking here

Prayer Letters

Although I mainly communicate via blog sites these days you can still access my prayer letters using the links below ...

Most recent prayer letter
June 2009

Acrhive prayer letters
July 2008
June 2006
Sept 2005
July 2005

Just another day ..

It was lunch time at one of the outstations on a typical hot day and I was on a "sit and wait" with some physiotherapists. I love sit and waits as its a good opportunity to actually sit and chat with the locals until my passengers are ready to go. Unfortunately it doesn' t happen that often, but on this day I was going to be waiting around for about 3 hours. Anyway, while the physio's were doing their thing, myself and the school teacher went to the river with the kids. After quickly checking for croc's in they went. A few minutes later, one poor little kid started to cry and crawled out clutching her foot which was bleeding. We carried her back to the village thinking that she had just stepped on a sharp stone or stick.
About an hour after that the physio's had finished and we were just starting to head back to the plane when word arrived that the little girl was still in a lot of pain. It turned out that she had actually been stung by a fish (a member of the sting ray family) and now needed reasonably urgent travel into hospital. Praise the Lord that we were already on hand and ready to go, and a 5 hour trip by jeep (assuming the roads are open) was done with the plane in 35 mins. God is good.

Just another day at the office in Arnhem Land ;-)

Some more pics

Yirrkala Aboriginal town where I live

Some of the fleet - Airvans, 206's and a 210

A wet day a few weeks ago

My office

My house

Life up top

Well it's now been a few weeks since I got up here and I'm starting to get into a bit of a routine. The first few weeks I spent getting orientated and settled in before beginning around 20 hours of ICUS (In Command Under Supervision). I couldn't believe how quickly that went and after around 4 days of flying with someone else it was time to fly with the Chief Pilot to see if I was up to standard to head off on my own. All went well, and I'm still not sure if I was glad to be going solo or still a little daunted to be loading up an airvan and flying off to one of the many outstation. That was around a week ago now and thankfully things are starting to settle down a lit. It's still long days, loading and unloading cargo, moving around 20 people a day to and fro from one place to another. The scenery is varied and I could find myself over water, mangroves or most often tree covered bush with not too many options to land if needed (definitely improves your prayer life!).
Just when we all thought the dry season was here the weather turned and confirmed that it is still in the transition period. Typically we carry an extra 60 mins of fuel to weave in and around some of the rain showers and be able to hold in an area to allow the isolated storms to push through. Its all great experience for me and I've very grateful to be working with a great team of people who are teaching me how to operate in such an environment.
Anyway, here's a few more pics of life up here ...

beautiful dry season weather

great scenery

typical view of flying over lots and lots of trees

I'm always glad to be back over land again

Not so dry season

On the ground at one of the many homeland airstrips

It even had a terminal building

My new set of wheels (going cheap, one careful owner .. that sort of thing)

Some of the local kids (yes thats my bike jacket)

dinner ;-)

God closes the page of another day with a beautiful sunset