Thank you so much for praying for Daren’s trip to Florida. It is great to be back together as a family after his 12 day absence. Daren traveled with Jeff and Wonita Werley and Josh Verdonck. Jeff and Wonita live next door to us and serve as representatives of NTM Aviation. Josh is a new pilot with NTMA who just completed the training with Daren in December. Josh came along to get some flight time in the Kodiak which he will fly in Papua New Guinea after he and his wife, Erin, move there later this year. An added bonus for Daren was the privilege to introduce Jeff, Wonita and Josh to his parents in Florida, as well as some friends there, and Cindy’s parents and some friends in Texas, and to see Uncle Mike at Sun N Fun. This was a whirlwind trip with very full days at the display in Lakeland and unfortunately he was not able to see all of our close friends either in Texas or in Florida.
The flight there and back in the Kodiak went very well. Most of the weather was very nice, and when there were storms, they were able to successfully navigate around them. Along the way, and at the ‘Sun N Fun’ fly-in in Lakeland, Florida, the team was able to connect with literally hundreds (if not thousands) of people.
For the past several years, the Missionary Aviation Support Association of Florida (MASA FL) has been helping to organize and facilitate the visits of missionary aviators to ‘Sun N Fun’ (a huge week-long event with around 200,000 people or more in attendance each year). Besides arranging families to host missionaries, cars to borrow and providing 3 on-site meals a day for a week, the MASA FL team also schedules missionaries to speak in various churches throughout the Lakeland area. Daren had the opportunity to speak 3 times on Sunday and this was a wonderful time to raise awareness of the complexities and yet the effectiveness of tribal church planting.
Join us in praising God for:
– over 3,000 miles of safe flying from Arizona to Florida and back
– the vehicle loaned to Daren while in Florida (thanks Will:))
– the tremendous hospitality Daren was shown (he stayed in 4 different homes on this trip)
– the opportunities to raise awareness of the Lord’s ministries to tribal peoples around the world and how airplanes are used to get to the most remote locations
– good time of giving flight instruction in the Kodiak to Josh along the way
– things running smoothly at home while Daren was away
Please pray for:
– the involvement in world missions by the people impacted by this trip
– the salvation of several people the team shared the gospel with in Lakeland
– God’s direction in the lives of young men who are preparing to be missionary pilots and mechanic
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