Saturday, August 30, 2008
Dearest Everyone,
I sit here today in Wamena, Papua with the heavy burden of having to tell you that Dav is with the Lord. This may come as a huge shock to some of you, if you haven’t already heard anything of it. I am so very sorry. The children and I are saying with Job : “ …the Lord gave us everything we had, and they were His to take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” We say this by faith, through our tears! Again, as Job says, should we receive only good and not hard things from the hand of the Lord? We are in the midst of a great peace that passes all understanding these days.
Exactly three weeks ago, on August 9, at 11:30a.m., Dav reported taking off out of a lowlands airstrip called “Taiyeve Dua”. He was headed toward the mountains for a village called “Ndunu”. The people at both villages waited for the news of his arrival, which should have been in only 10 minutes or so. Nothing. Time passed and still not one word. Now we know that Dav never made it over a mountain pass between the two places. Word got to me that Dav was missing sometime Saturday afternoon. A search and rescue was attempted over the area later that afternoon, but it was too closed in with clouds to see anything below. Our chief pilot came over in the evening to tearfully tell us that they had gotten a distress signal. I sensed in my heart that Dav was with the Lord.
After a long night of waiting and praying, they were able to go out the next morning (Sunday) when the weather was clearer. They found that Dav’s Pilatus Porter airplane had crashed 25-30 feet below the top of a ridge between the two villages. I was told was that he was caught in a vicious down draft of wind. Helimission was first on the scene and it appeared that Dav had died instantly in a position of flying the airplane. We still have to wade through more details with all the professionals involved. But as a family, we were plunged into a whirlwind from that point on. By 7:00 a.m. the next morning, there was 74 Papuans sitting and mourning on our front lawn. Those helping lost track of the numbers of people pouring into the gate from then on. Natalie, Victoria, Jasmine, and I were so comforted by the love, prayers, and concern poured out from here in Papua, from Indonesia, all over the USA, and many other countries!
My dearest concern was for Judah and Tirzah who were both in the States at the time. I wanted them to know what was happening and to be comforted. Judah was hiking and couldn’t be reached at first, but we saw that God was timing it so that he could come back to the comfort of a friend who also lost his dad 4 years ago (Jesse Wantz – thanks for being there for Judah!) and lots of others in the youth group, too. Tirzah’s first email was full of panic and shock, but by the time the prayers started up, her second email was so obviously full of this same incredible peace we were all feeling. It’s as though we’ve been wrapped in a huge blanket of prayer and support. God bless everyone who ever breathed even one tiny prayer for our family!!!
The next days were filled with Papuans mourning on the lawn, the house filled with friends and helpers, offerings began arriving (we got over 2 ton of rice!!), and so many flowers that we almost couldn’t contain it all. We kept praying over every step that needed to be taken, because we just couldn’t have managed in our own strength or even the help of dozens of people.
They weren’t able to bring Dav’s body out until 3 days later, but I’m now sure this was God’s plan to allow Judah and Tirzah, Dav’s parents, and Aaron & David Beiler to get here in time for the funeral. There are so many things we could say about how God worked in that first week, (not even mentioning the past two weeks following that!!) but this we can say… that God is always so faithful, kind, gentle, and perfect. And wow, did we ever ENJOY a big family HUG when Judah and Tirzah got here! It was one of the most beautiful times of my life!
The funeral was very multicultural and everyone worked together in such a united way to put Dav to rest with dignity and love. I can’t begin to describe how many miracles had to happen… we were working with probably a dozen cultures and yet it was so annointed by the Holy Spirit’s power… I’m lost for words to describe it. Our family has been astounded by the amount of people Dav worked with and knew and by their deep respect for him. We thought of Dav as a man with passion for what he did, but have felt even more amazed that he died a hero to thousands here. God has been so GOOD.
We’re planning to come home for 5 different memorial services… but since this is so long already, I’ll tell you more in the next message. Judah is helping me send this out since that was always Dav’s job. (I’m a hopeless mess with this stuff.) Keep praying for us, there are so many details to deal with that my head is spinning!
God bless you and comfort you, as HE is doing for us!
Hugs….
Beth and the family
David Craig Clapper (also known as Dav) was born on April 6th, 1962 in Pennyslvania, USA. He married Beth Ann Hernley on April 28th 1984 and they were blessed with five children: Judah, Tirzah, Natalie, Victoria, and Jasmine. The Lord placed in Dave and Beth’s heart a desire to be involved in fulltime mission work after which Dave pursued a Bachelors Degree in Aviation at Moody Aviation. For 11 years Dave served as a missionary pilot in Paupa, Indonesia. From November, 1997 to April, 2002 Dave flew for Tariku Aviation, based out of Taiyeve in the Mamberamo. Since March, 2002 Dave has flown for AMA, bases out of Wamena.
Daves deepest passion was ministering to the peoples of Indonesia in Paupa through aviation. He was a hard working pilot who was known for his willingness to help anyone in need. Those who flew with him were blessed by his abilities to value people as they were. Daves last hours on this earth were spent the way he wanted to live his life - in serving the people he loved.
“May we all be challenged to live each day as though we stood on the edge of eternity.” Mrs. Beth Clapper
