Dear Partners in ministry,
We write with joy, trusting that whatever difficult circumstances any of us are facing, that Christ’s Resurrection is Good News!
We also wanted to share with you some good news about what God is doing in our ministry with Missionary Air Group and through the ministries of some of our past pilot apprentices who are now serving in their respective fields.
Our final MAG staff family for our current Honduras team, the Hochenburgers, launched to Honduras at the end of February for several months of language learning. They are from Austria and we have been so blessed to get to know them in the 12 months they spent finalizing Christoph’s pilot training for the field. Their time with us had a longer hiatus in Austria than we were all expecting due to COVID restrictions, but we have undoubtedly seen the hand of God navigating them through those obstacles to Honduras where they are eager to begin serving.
Sean is currently working with apprentices Ryan and Keith in the advanced training portion of their apprenticeship. They will just headed to Tepic, Mexico for some field training.
Our goal is to redeploy our Cessna 206 3MG to the field around August. There is much to be done here at headquarters to get the plane and paperwork ready for this event. When everything is ready, the current plan is for Brad and Sean to fly it down (around 17 hours of flying from NC to Honduras).
Pilot Apprenticeship graduate and MAG staff Brad Hoblit completed his first operational flights in Honduras delivering hurricane relief food in La Mosquitia.
Our hospital in Rus Rus hosted our first all Honduran medical brigade the week after Easter. Normally our early spring medical brigade is hosted by a team from North America. While COVID has slowed down travel, the need for basic medical care in this region remains. For this event the Lord has supplied doctors, dentists, nurses, and medicine all from within Honduras! Shipping the medicine out to the remote eastern part of Honduras has been challenging as the port areas were made dangerously shallow following the hurricanes.
You may remember Aaron, our very first apprentice. His family isserving in Bolivia with ITM (InterTribal Ministries). We are so inspired by their perseverance. Aaron worked hard to pass a written and practical test in Spanish to receive a Bolivian covalidation of his FAA certificates and has been checked out for solo ministries flights in country! Serving in mission aviation is a long process! A lot of Aaron’s flying involves transporting ITM’s missionaries, many of whom are Bolivian nationals, to remote villages in Bolivia to share the Gospel and other Kingdom building work.
One recent story from ITM missionaries:
“We were waiting for an opportunity to return to serve in the mission field in San Lorenzo and Oromomo and God answered our prayers…
The Lord gave us the opportunity, however this time supporting the education of school-age children and youth. At first, before we began there were obstacles and restrictions for the school environments, but God allowed us to go ahead, and we had classes outdoors, in the church and available rooms. As the classes went outdoors, we had to cut small boards to use as desks. We also completed all the biosecurity measures for teachers and students. Spending 4 hours a day with the children was a great blessing, since we got to know them better and were able to share God’s love with them and were able to teach them with patience and dedication. God was also shaping each of us as we studied His Word and it was a very blessed time. Every student took (kept) a bit of our hearts. We give glory and thanks to God for all students, and we hope that God’s love will reach their families. During this time, there were 3 people baptized, and 2 of them were students. That fills us with joy and praise to God.” – Ivan and Cendy, ITM Missionaries.
If you’d like to follow the Hammitts’s ministry on Facebook here is the page:
https://www.facebook.com/PlanesWithPurpose
Pilot Apprentice graduate Jason Maust as settled into Alaska with his family as they serve with Artic Barnabas. Arctic Barnabas provides transportation and encouragement for missionaries and church leaders in remote villages of Alaska.
Jason shares about a recent flight…
“We had a beautiful flight out to the village of Tyonek, which is just across the Cook Inlet from Arctic Barnabas. We flew there to deliver food from the local food pantry out to the village elders in Tyonek. This lovely village has been rocked by Covid and there is very much a spirit of fear there. We continue to pray for this village, that they would know the God who conquers fear and find true peace that only comes through a relationship with Him.”
If you’d like to follow the Maust’s ministry on Facebook here is the page:
https://www.facebook.com/MaustsUnderHisWings
We have been serving full-time in mission aviation for almost 5 years now. It is a joy for us to see some of the fruit of our labor unfold and to share that joy with you. Thank you for your prayers and financial support that make this ministry of training up a next generation of missionary pilots possible. We thank God for you!
Christ is Risen!
In His Service,
Sean and Carmen Garrigan