Africa Bound

A couple weeks ago, some of the MMS leadership asked us to consider taking a trip to Africa this summer. An organization in Zambia that we have worked with is short-staffed for the summer and asked if MMS Aviation had any mechanics to spare. These requests are not unusual for us. In fact, they are a big part of what we do.

We call them Rapid Response Trips. They happen when another mission organization has a project to do but not enough people to do it. MMS will send maintenance staff to assist. It is part of the service we provide to our partners. Usually a Rapid Response consists of one supervisor and one or two apprentices for a trip of two to three weeks, but this one is a little different.

Mission Flight Services in Zambia is running out of people for the summer. Normally they have two pilot-mechanics and one or two mechanics. For this summer, they are down to one pilot-mechanic. He and his wife are responsible for all the flying, maintenance, scheduling, administration, and everything else that needs done. They would like someone to come and spend a few months until some of their regular staff returns to Zambia from furlough. Our family are making plans to go, if everything can be worked out.

We have been praying and investigating over the last couple of weeks, and are very near an agreement to go. Nothing is certain yet, but we are thinking we may leave by the end of June and return toward the end of September. Although the trip looks big to us, we are excited for the possibilities of what God will do. One of our prayers over our two years in Coshocton is that God will expose us to places on the mission field and open a door to where we might serve after MMS. At this time, we are not exploring Mission Flight Services as a place to serve long-term, but spending some time on the foreign field will help us understand what it’s like and be more prepared to make that kind of a decision. We see it as a vision trip for us.

Prayer Needs

Please pray as we prepare for this trip. Your support is vital to our effectiveness.

• Thank God for this opportunity to serve His kingdom.
• Pray for the children and our parenting. Taking small children to the bush in Africa is out of the box. Pray for peace and trust in God, and for safety.
• Pray that as we prepare, we will keep our focus proper and have clear minds
• Perhaps most importantly, pray that we will not miss God’s hand in the bigger picture. Pray that God will use this time to clarify what He has for us in the future.

This is a significant change from what we expected our summer to look like, but if God provides the way we are excited to go. We’ll be updating here as more details develop.