In the world of mission aviation male pilots tend to outnumber female pilots. Yet, the first pilot for one of the largest mission aviation organizations (MAF) was a female. Her name is Betty Greene. Flying in over 30 countries from 1946-1962 she was a courageous & faithful woman. And a Presbyterian too! This is a great article if you want to learn more of her story http://bit.ly/bettygreene. This September, our own MAG apprentice, Aaron Hammitt, was chosen to receive a scholarship in her honor. The day the scholarship was given was a lively one. We received representatives from 4 other mission aviation organizations to be a part of the presentation. One of the more humorous elements of the day was how many hats and mugs Aaron received as a part of their recruiting efforts!
The next week Sean headed to Waxhaw, NC to be at the Aviation Technical Conference (ATC) at JAARS. This was a substantial week of learning, networking and growth. Sean was blessed to hear field reports from all over the world and how aviation is helping extend the work of the great commission. Perhaps dearest to his heart was hearing the report from Papua New Ginuea. This is the JAARS base where Sean spent 4 months during his college years. One of the predominant themes from the ATC week was the increasing age of the bulk of JAARS aviation staff. We are privileged to be a part of meeting this need for new mission aviators through our MAG apprenticeship program.
In November we will be welcoming the Maust family to Burlington as Jason Maust becomes our next pilot apprentice. Between Jason wrapping up his maintenance apprenticeship and their family’s move to North Carolina he and his wife Anita will be taking a vision trip to Kenya Africa to learn more about the ministry of AIM Air and to see if that would be a good future fit for them. Jason writes this about their trip, “AIM Air is the aviation branch of Africa Inland Mission, and they support the broad work of missions and the Church in a large portion of Africa representing 8 countries, and over 3 million square miles! This represents an estimated 250 million people, and the airplanes of AIM Air are the vehicle that help take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. It’s hard to express in a few words just what all this ministry does, and so here is a fantastic video that really captures the heart of AIM Air: www.vimeo.com/5768223.” The Mausts’ heart for Africa is already contagious so we are really excited to see how God moves as they take this important step in discernment work.
When our current apprentice Aaron started he already had his private pilot certificate, but still needed the other ratings and flight hours required to serve as a mission aviator. Jason will be starting from scratch on his pilot training. Sean has been working diligently to polish and configure the curriculum needed for the whole 2 years of training. Recently Sean and Aaron did a long instrument cross country flight up to MMS Coshocton Ohio where Sean also did 2 initial consults for other future apprentices. The purpose of these consult visits is to verify that the apprentices can be good pilot students if they are not already pilots and then if they are pilots to place them in timeline of the curriculum. As our number of apprentices in Burlington grows we are excited to see how God will call and shape each family for His Great Commission service around the world.
Also at the end of September a couple of our headquarters staff helped with some hurricane relief efforts. In the midst of the hurricanes we checked in with another partner mission aviation organization called MFI (Missionary Flights International), who regularly serves the Caribbean out of Fort Pierce, Florida to see how they were personally doing and if they needed any additional help with relief efforts. The result of those conversations were 2 of our staff bringing down relief items collected locally and also helping with several flights to Turks and Caicos and loading for another flight to Puerto Rico. We are glad to be able to help them extend their capacity in this way when so much help is needed.
We are thankful for your partnership in the Gospel as you too invest in the Great Commission through your prayers and financial gifts. We couldn’t continue this ministry without a great team.
In His Service,
The Garrigans