When I was a little boy I lived in the middle of the island now called Papua. With no roads to our village, there was no easy way to transport food or other items in or out. A mission airplane provided our only access to the rest of the world. As I watched it landing and taking off, I began to dream of becoming a pilot.
One day that plane took me to a town near the coast, where I would go to high school. I hoped to go to the national aviation school after graduation, but my grades in physics were not high enough. My dream then seemed impossible.
I’d grown up in a Christian home, but it wasn’t until just after high-school graduation in 1993 that I received Jesus Christ as my own Savior and Lord. After that I prayed to God about becoming a pilot. In our area, an organization called YAJASI provides flight services for those who are helping people groups in the interior of the island. The director asked me if I wanted to join them. I felt that the Lord was saying to me, “Jeff Ron, do you want to join me in my project here?”
I said, “Yes, Lord. I do." In 1994 I took YAJASI’s test and passed the physics section with no problem. Since then I have been in their aviation training program. I praise God! He led me to YAJASI and enabled me to become an aircraft mechanic. Now He has provided a way for me to receive pilot training at JAARS.
God fulfilled my dream and showed me what He wants me to do with it. I want to fly and fix airplanes, so island people groups can have food for their bodies and their souls; so they can have God’s Word in their own languages and Jesus Christ in their hearts.
—Jeff Ron