Mathew 9:37-38
Dear Partners in Ministry,
We pray that the joy of Christ’s resurrection has been real to you this Easter season. We are blessed to have Good News to share through the empty tomb!
Even though a lot of what we have been up to lately is more “mundane” we wanted to give you a ministry update from the first quarter of the year.
Sean continues to stay busy with flight instructing and IT work at MAG. Our current apprentice Ben is getting ready for his private pilot oral practical and check-ride on May 12. Please pray for his good progress. Sean will be introducing him to grass runways soon so that will be fun. There is always something IT for Sean to manage. One of the troublesome areas lately has been the VoIP phone system. Troubleshooting problems and keeping communication open to HQ has taken more time lately than Sean would prefer.
Our Honduras program had a safety audit at the end of January. There was a lot of work on manuals and details that Sean helped with here at HQ to prepare for that big event. We are pleased to say the audit was a fruitful time of seeing how we can to things even better and being affirmed in what is going well. We are thankful for the ministry of MSI that specializes in safety in missionary aviation.
It has been a busy team season since the beginning of the year in Rus Rus. From VBS, construction teams, dental teams, vision trips and our major medical brigade we have welcomed over 20 visitors from the US so far this year, plus a good number of folks that were traveling from the interior of Honduras. Carmen has enjoyed getting these folks equipped to serve.
The medical/ dental brigade in February had 775 patient visits. It was our biggest team helping with 40+ involved in serving, including local workers. Our staff nurse noticed many children needed nebulizer treatments. One patient with dengue was flown to Puerta Lempira to receive more care. Several patients received cancer diagnosis. One of our current realities is that typically 70% of our patients for the brigade walk from the Nicaragua portion of La Mosquitia. That in itself is fine, the challenge comes when those patients need a higher level of care. The Nicaraguan patients are not candidates for receiving care in the interior of Honduras, so it is hard to know how to help them get the follow up care they need. Please pray we learn of options for them in Nicaragua or have care that comes to La Mosquitia that they can access.
Here at HQ we had several big events to attend in March. We were blessed that IAMA (International Association of Mission Aviation) was hosted at Liberty University which is just 2 hours away. With this year’s proximity more of our staff was able to attend. This is a great opportunity to hear about important updates in the mission aviation world and connect with our peers from other organizations.
The week after IAMA Carmen and 2 others from HQ went back up to Liberty University to represent MAG at the School of Aeronautics Career Fair. It was a good opportunity to encourage current students to consider mission aviation as a career choice and help those who already have that call take important next steps.
Carmen continues to coach our new staff who are raising their ministry support. It is always exciting to hear how God is at work getting them funded to serve. It takes the whole body of Christ to get workers into the harvest! We are eager to have these folks join us in Burlington to finish their training for the mission field. The Adams had their field visit in March. It was great to hear the connections they have already made with folks in the village and our field staff.
We have a number of staff preparing for furloughs & sabbaticals this summer. In her role as Member Care/ HR Carmen has been helping them plan for fruitful time away and also planning for coverage for their roles in their absence.
We continue to be grateful for your generosity that enables us to keep serving God’s Kingdom through our work at MAG. Thank you for your prayers and partnership in ministry!
With Love,
Sean and Carmen
