EBENEZER

We have come to the first quarter of the year, and I am way overdue for my first update newsletter.

As I look back and reflect on the love, goodness, and mercy of God during this reflective week of Easter and try to sum up my journey, all that comes to my mind is the faithfulness of God and how He has helped and is still helping me this far. It is only befitting that my first newsletter update be a memorial of how far God has helped me (Ebenezer), as the title suggests.

Before I could assume my role as a Licensed Aircraft Engineer with Mission Aviation Fellowship International, I had to make two stops which were equally important for me to be fully accepted into serving with Mission Aviation Fellowship International.

My first stop was in Nairobi, Kenya, where I spent 2 months with a wonderful team in the MAF programme in Kenya for my Cessna 208 Caravan technical standardisation and field orientation. Not only did I manage to complete all the elements of the standardisation training, God also blessed me with an amazing technical support system, family, and prayer partners who are interested in seeing me succeed in my new role as a person and as an engineer.

In order for me to fully perform my new role and return to service the MAF Liberia C208 fleet, which is American registered, I needed to have an FAA Airframe & Powerplant certification. This opened the door for my second stop, which was with MMS Aviation in USA, Ohio, from August 2024 to 18th December 2024 (I know, I almost had my first white Christmas). The main purpose of training with MMS was so that I could attain an FAA Airframe & Powerplant License based on my aviation experience, as I already had an ICAO aircraft maintenance license. Honestly speaking, words would fail me if I tried to narrate my stay and experience with the wonderful MMS Family. It was an amazing time of learning, re-learning, and getting to experience the day-to-day life of being a missionary aircraft mechanic. At the end of it all, by God’s grace and renewal of mercy, I did manage to pass my written, oral, and practical exams and received an FAA A&P certificate. By God’s grace, I also got to know, relate to, and make lifelong friendships and family with different amazing families I got to serve and train with at MMS Aviation.

Can you guess where I am now? Yes, Liberia, home away from home. I have now assumed my roles with MAF Liberia as a Licensed Aircraft Engineer and am doing my third month now in Monrovia. I arrived straight into a 200-hour and annual inspection on one of the two Cessna 208B Caravans (N110PE) currently operated by MAF Liberia to bring help, hope, and healing to some of the most isolated parts and communities in Liberia.

Through our dedicated efforts, assistance for Peter Mburu from MAF Kenya, Warren Veal from MAF US, and by God’s grace, we managed to successfully conclude the inspection on N110PE. It warms my heart and gives me a lot of “selah moments” every time I hear heartwarming stories of the flights covered by N110PE, besides our day-to-day flights with our partners, and the difference it makes to have N110PE serviceable/out of maintenance. Since coming out of maintenance, N110PE has so far done three emergency medical flights which involved young babies: one 7 days old, the other 10 days old, and another 6 months old who needed to be flown in for emergency medical attention at JFK hospital. Again, it warmed my heart to see a dialysis machine being flown to the local hospital in Harper.

My current day to day struggles

You will not believe it; I am currently struggling in a funny way! I no longer know which is the right or the wrong side to drive on the road. I have kept left my entire driving experience, and I am still trying to make sense of the whole idea of keeping/driving on the right side. I am also struggling with keeping up with Liberian English(Koloqua). My last funny struggle is not having to do anything to sweat! my skin still adjusting to the high humidity in Monrovia; it still feels funny to the skin. Besides all my funny struggles, Liberia is a beautiful country with amazing, welcoming, and friendly people.

Praises

• I am settling well in Liberia both in the MAF compound , hangar , and day to day life outside work.
• My FAA Airframe and Powerplant License is finally out
• We have started working on 200 hrs  and annual inspection on our other Cessna 208B Caravan N552HF . Ian Karanja from MAF Kenya  has arrived in Monrovia to assist with the inspections on N552HF

Prayer requests

• Pray for the on going Maintenance on N552HF , for us to finish working on it on the suggested time frame and arrival of some of the spares which are on order .
• Pray for the Rietoff family and  Venter family who have been a blessing financially to my ministry
• Pray for Michael from MAF US and Moiti from Uganda’s travels as  we expect them to join us next week as part of maintenance support for N552HF 200 and annual inspection

” Then Samuel took a stone , placed it between Mizpah and Shen and named it Ebenezer. He said , The Lord Has Helped Us this far.” This here is my EBENEZER, the Lord Has helped me this far.

I am looking forward to sharing more of the stories of what God is doing in me and through my ministry as I continue to serve with my life and engineering skills with MAF Liberia. By God’s grace, I will be using this platform to share my life journey with newsletters at the end of every three months. If you would like to receive an email notification of my next newsletter, you can subscribe to my website or leave your email in the comment section. Thank you for being part of my life journey as I discover and continue to surrender to God’s purpose for my life.