I looked at the flight schedule before I started out to do my preflight inspection of the airplane. I had three flights and I was the only pilot scheduled to fly on this particular day. Even so, the MAF office was buzzing with its usual activity. People were assisting passengers, booking flights, and loading bags, others were performing maintenance on another airplane, still others were utilizing their gifts of administration ensure that things continue to run smoothly. So much of this work happens behind the scenes and goes unnoticed, but where would I be if someone were not scheduling the next flights? What if nobody was keeping track of which aircraft parts were going to be due for replacement and ensuring that those parts were in our inventory? What if the flight follower were not there to keep track of the airplane and verify that my passengers and I made it to our destination safely? It struck me that day how much of a team effort this is.
Each one of you plays an equally important role on this team
as you pray for me, support me, encourage me, and build me up. Thank you for making this possible! With that said, you might be wondering,
“making what possible?”. Here is
a partial list of some of the passengers who have flown with me: members of a
church in the U.S. going to visit their sister church here in Haiti, an MK flying
back to the US for college (his 4 hour drive to the airport became a 30 minute
flight), well drillers, house builders, an elderly man who had an accident and
needed to be transported to a better hospital, a woman who was on her way to
see her adopted son, a pastor returning to his village, a medical missions
doctor returning to the U.S. for a furlough, other missionaries returning to
Haiti from furlough, and that’s just to name a few. Flying is so much more for these people than
just a matter of convenience or saving time.
For most, the determining factor is safety. Many roads are not safe to travel on. There are roads that are controlled by gangs,
there have been shootings, and kidnappings have been on the rise, so flying is
a far safer option. Thank you to each of
you who helps make these flights possible!
