JAARS

 One of the trips that our church's seniors went on was to a place called JAARS in Waxhaw, NC.  I suppose that the folks of Waxhaw get tired of "Wax on, Wax off".  Anyway, it is in a remote area in eastern North Carolina.  Originally, the letters of the place stood for "Jungle Air And Rescue Service".  They would use small planes to fly in and out of remote places and help people to get out.  Later, it became a group of people to fly Bibles and missionaries into remote areas of the world spreading the gospel.

 When we got there, we found that they also have a shortwave radio station.  They use it to share the Word to others in their native languages.  They partner with Wycliffe to do this mission work.  The goal is to get a Bible translated into every dialect in the world.  There are thousands of those.  We went inside their main building and saw hundreds of Bibles, each one in a different language and dialect.  

 They took us around the complex.  There is a place, where they repair planes.  They also have a short landing strip to train pilots on how to get in and out of places quickly.  I just found this stuff fascinating.  After our tour, we had lunch there.  The dining room was really for the workers, but they allowed us to eat there, too.  I wished that they had signs about the two lines.  One line went into the salad area, and the other went to the more substantial food area.  I don't really like to eat salads as meals.  I got into the wrong line.  I did get to talk to some of the workers there.  Some lived on the property, whereas others lived in Waxhaw.  I didn't joke with them about the wax.  Probably a good thing.

 We then went to a museum that is on the property which showed the history of JAARS and getting the Bible to others.  I took some reading material and put my name on their list promising to pray for them.  I do.  We piled on our bus and left to go home.  It was a good trip overall.