http://www.aimair.org/index.htmlHot News!enCopyright 2008 AIM AIR2008-05-31T20:38:19-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sat, 31 May 2008 20:41:18 -0400home2008-05-31T20:38:19-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/d8e515c5a045814f2176049db97ec149-14.html#unique-entry-id-14http://www.aimair.org/files/d8e515c5a045814f2176049db97ec149-14.html#unique-entry-id-14 here.]]>home2008-05-02T14:59:40-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/fdc6c6125bcda18ac8b6bf4edf4e4e7f-12.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.aimair.org/files/fdc6c6125bcda18ac8b6bf4edf4e4e7f-12.html#unique-entry-id-12
Last Saturday on April 28th, one of our planes was involved in an accident during takeoff. While the aircraft was significantly damaged, the pilot and the four passengers came through the accident with what has turned out so far to be minor, physical injuries.

Andy Keller, a long time AIM AIR pilot with two SIM nurses on board, landed at a SIM medical mission station in Sudan to drop off some cargo and pick up two more SIM nurses. He was flying a Cessna Caravan. On takeoff around 12:40 pm, the aircraft lifted off from a wet and somewhat muddy airstrip, but was not able to safely clear the obstacles at the end of the runway. The left wing of the plane struck the trunk of a tree and the plane went into a ditch and flipped onto its back.

Andy and the four nurses, after being stabilized, were airlifted by a UN helicopter to a nearby medical facility for tests and observations. The next day, they were moved to Nairobi on the AIM AIR DC3 under the care of a SIM doctor. We praise God that all occupants of the aircraft seem to be stable and recovering. All have been released from the hospital.

The cause of the accident is being investigated by AIM AIR, along with a mission safety organization which AIM AIR is a member of. The results and conclusions of such will be used as part of a continuing effort to improve the safety of both AIM AIR and mission aviation world-wide.

There is a deeper reality that surrounds the events described above. We minister in Africa in the context of a spiritual war. As partners in ministry, SIM and AIM missionaries share in the risk of ministry. This event is one of many that remind us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities of this world. The opposition that we face, which is evident in many ways, is a testimony that God is accomplishing His purposes through His servants. We should not be dismayed that we suffer, knowing that He has already defeated the enemy.

So we praise God! We praise Him no matter what is happening around us. We worship Him because of who He is. The true foundation of praise is GOD, not our circumstances. Praise God that in His mercy he spared the lives of His servants.

Please continue to hold the four SIM nurses up in prayer as they recover from both the emotional and physical trauma of the accident. Please pray the same for Andy. Pilots bear a heavy burden in these situations. Pray also for the ministry of SIM, particularly in the region where this took place in Sudan. SIM has been encountering tremendous, overt, spiritual opposition to their work at this location. Please pray that God would continue to work miraculously to demonstrate His attributes and His Power in and through SIM’s work and personnel in the community surrounding their work in South Sudan. Finally, please pray for AIM AIR, as the organization will be stretched during the time of recovery following this significant event.

In Christ,
Jim Streit
AIM AIR General Manager]]>home2008-04-07T10:20:57-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/8687e80e942a158d11e9df51a31d1ecd-13.html#unique-entry-id-13http://www.aimair.org/files/8687e80e942a158d11e9df51a31d1ecd-13.html#unique-entry-id-13Field Report : Napep, Sudan

I want to share with you the incredible experience Tim Carpenter and I had of opening up the Napep airstrip. As many of you know we have been working toward this event for about two years! Napep is located on top of the Didinga Hills, at an elevation of about 6,600 feet. The Didinga people are an unreached people group, with the first church having been planted at Nagashot in 2005. That church has seen much fruit, and the elders of the village of Napep, which is a 5 hour hike from Nagashot, came and requested that some missionaries be sent to tell them about Jesus Christ also. It was decided to send a TIMO team to Napep in the summer of 2008, but first an airstrip must be constructed. There is no road to Napep. The only access is by airplane or road to Nagashot, and then the hike. Myself, John McNeely and Andy Keller each made the hike to give advice to the TIMO planners on how to go forward on the airstrip. Despite having to move the location once, remove a number of very large trees, negotiate with a defiant land owner, and do everything after a long walk to get there, the Lord finally opened the door to see everything finished.

This past weekend Tim and I flew up to Nagashot with a TIMO building team, using both the Caravan and 206. Then we flew over to Napep for the first landing in the 206. The airstrip is on the top of the mountain, with quite a bit of slope going up, and a big dogleg turn in the middle. It had also rained the previous day, and the soil, which had only recently been planted with maize, was quite soft and muddy. But we succeeded in landing, with many of the local people coming to see the first airplane to land on their mountain! Later I was also able to bring over the Caravan for a trial landing, and then move a lot of furniture and supplies from Nagashot to Napep for David and Deborah Miller, the TIMO team leaders.

This is truly a great opportunity that each of us at AIM AIR has had in taking this first step to allowing the Didinga people to hear the gospel! We pray that God will truly use the members of the TIMO team, which will begin in October, to show his love for these people, and that many would respond and join His family.

AIM AIR will play a pivotal role in making this team possible, as most all of their supplies and team movements will have to be by air. So during the next two years as we are supporting this work, I hope that each of you will pray for the Didinga people, that they may be overwhelmed with the grace and mercy of God towards them, and that soon the Didinga Hills would be known as a shining light of Jesus throughout Sudan!

Jon Hildebrandt
Loki Base Manager


]]>home2008-02-29T21:16:39-05:00http://www.aimair.org/files/34a5093e50d717ddf03c2e7bfbc3cc71-11.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.aimair.org/files/34a5093e50d717ddf03c2e7bfbc3cc71-11.html#unique-entry-id-11“Old Soldiers Never Die…”
The Work of Billy White
by Linnie Weeks

It’s been a very long time since General Douglas McArthur spoke that well remembered phrase “Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away." Much of the world may have never heard this famous quote, but it came to mind as I was flying several months ago with missionary Billy White on a fast paced, five-day round-robin journey across much of southern Sudan.

We departed Nairobi in a Cessna Caravan as the sun was coming up, just me and Billy and a ton of books: Bible-based literary materials headed for Sudan. After a quick refueling stop in Lokichoggio, a town on the Kenya-Sudan border, we pressed on to the planned destinations.

Billy is a man in a hurry. He has a sense of urgency about his task that I’m convinced has been a lifelong trait. He’s a man who gets things done – tenacious, persistent, and purposeful – like a soldier on a mission. Billy is unique, even for a missionary. He's uniquely experienced for the work God has called him to do in southern Sudan. He spent a career as a US Army Special Forces Officer – one of those Green Berets of lore and legend. Their motto, “de oppresso liber” means “To free the oppressed”. It is a motto that transfers well to his new career on the mission field. God has given Billy a burden to reach the soldiers of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) – to reach them for Christ.

This rebel army fought for 20 years against the oppression of the Arab North and won a tenuous freedom for the people of the south. During the war, these young men of the SPLA were robbed of all opportunity to receive an education of even the most basic kind. Ninety percent are illiterate by virtue of their circumstances. These are the men Billy feels called to. They are a scary looking bunch – posing with brandished weapons: AK-47’s, RPG’s, SA-7’s and other such acronyms in the vocabulary of global news correspondents.

Billy is using Bible-based literacy materials written in the native Dinka language in order to teach these men to read God’s word. It is an accelerated curriculum intended for adult literacy. Those with a hunger to learn can achieve a fourth grade reading level in just one year – sufficient to read and comprehend God’s Word for themselves.

Both the size and desolation of southern Sudan make reaching so many soldiers a huge task. You might wonder what one man can do? Billy’s creative approach to what he considers a “window of opportunity” in the current, yet precarious peace is essential. In his words, “We may only have a couple of years to reach these men. The risk of resumption of the civil war is high, especially as the 2009 referendum vote called for by the peace agreement approaches." Billy says God gave him a vision for how to go about his task.

How does he do it? Billy’s military background, and his humble servant attitude, have enabled him to make allies of many senior SPLA commanders who are Christians. They want their men to learn to read. They want them to be able to read in their tribal tongue, not in the mandatory Arabic as in the former education system. So these commanders have given Billy some of their best men to be trained as teachers. To accomplish this, Billy has recruited and funded Sudanese literacy teachers to “train the trainers”. These Christian men tutor the SPLA trainers to teach literacy and other subjects. Billy provides all the printed materials and classroom aids such as white boards. The SPLA commanders provide classrooms and allow the men to attend classes during the day – A brilliant plan of action, but not for the faint of heart.

Billy White is a man of steely resolve, even though he's well into his seventies. His tireless effort, fervent prayers, and ability to live a spartan lifestyle make him equal to the task. He sleeps in a tent at the medical mission in Akot. He's up early and down late, eats beans and rice for weeks on end, and spends his resources on printing materials. He flies in the wet season and drives in the dry season – all over Sudan's vast landscape – to shepherd his team and distribute the essential training materials.

On this particular trip we were flying since it was in the heart of the rainy season. South Sudan is divided into east and west, and north and south by an immense swamp known as the Sud. It is a one-and-a-half hour flight from Billy’s base in Akot, Sudan to Malakal. The same trip is a 16-hour drive during the dry season – impossible during the wet. We flew from airstrip to airstrip, SPLA camp to SPLA camp to accomplish his mission. It took an effort on my part just to keep up with Billy during this week of travel – refueling at muddy airstrips, moving 400 pound fuel drums to the plane, and pumping them over the wing into the tanks by hand. Billy never lost his drive, his enthusiasm, his sense of mission. That’s Billy’s secret. He’s on a “Mission from God," and like any professional soldier, all else comes second to the mission. Personal comfort, safety, a warm cot, a hot shower, a decent meal – none of these matter until the mission is complete. The famous quip about "old soldiers" only partially captures the resolve of Billy's persona. For he even refuses to "fade away" until his work is done.

Billy, I salute you and may God bless your work.


]]>home2008-02-19T19:44:59-05:00http://www.aimair.org/files/fd4e346cc9a81b0750f58e6444da2634-10.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.aimair.org/files/fd4e346cc9a81b0750f58e6444da2634-10.html#unique-entry-id-10By Matthew Olson, AIM AIR General Manager

The airstrip was pretty easy to see. As it was surrounded by tall, green sugar cane, the 900 meters of light brown gravel stood out well. I flew over the town to alert my passengers I was coming; but didn’t get too low, to avoid anyone who might decide to take a shot at me. After touching down, I taxied back and shut down by the small road cutting across the western end of the strip to wait for them. I had only one other person on board, a bishop who needed to get to Nairobi to plead with the President that evening for peace. I had picked him up at a nearby town. After taking off my headset and opening the cockpit door, the bishop said, “We shouldn’t be here. This place is dangerous.”

It always took time, too much time, for the people in town to convince the local police to escort them out to the strip. But after about an hour, four vehicles with a cloud of dust in trail, came racing towards my aircraft. Several police got out first with automatic weapons. Then a number of men led their wives and children to the shade of my left wing. For the last several days, these families had been sleeping outside the nearby police station. Their houses had been burned to the ground. They had no food or water. They were tired and miserable, but worse than that, they were terrified. The violence and chaos which erupted after the Kenya election days before had unleashed a horrible nightmare on thousands of people. I was there to fly a handful of them to safety.

Our insurance broker kindly gave us one week to fly our airplanes above our normal seating capacity. We flew within our weight limits, but I was able to put two children under one seatbelt. On this flight, I had 21 people on my fourteen seat airplane. We always pray before we fly, so after a quick prayer, I cranked the engine and we were on our way. A little over an hour later, we landed in Nairobi. Then something happened which I will never forget. After pulling up to the terminal, my passengers refused to get off the airplane. I smiled and kindly asked what was wrong. The person sitting in the co-pilot seat next to me said, “You prayed for us before we flew; now we must pray and thank God for our pilot.”

As I write these words, the BBC is reporting over 1000 people killed and 350,000 displaced. Kenya is experiencing its greatest turmoil since Independence in 1963. Normally, we fly most of our aircraft from stable Kenya to its unstable neighbors. In disbelief, we are evacuating people from Western Kenya to Nairobi. Over the last several weeks, we have moved over 750 people on our small aircraft to safety and delivered nearly 25 tons of relief supplies to some of the hardest hit areas. However, the needs are overwhelming. Please pray with us that sanity would return to this land and God would bring peace and justice to this nation]]>home2008-02-04T10:43:37-05:00http://www.aimair.org/files/656e909c40e2eabc3f666650c94f9f5e-0.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.aimair.org/files/656e909c40e2eabc3f666650c94f9f5e-0.html#unique-entry-id-0
"They didn't train me for this at FlightSafety."
Author Lane Wallace writes about flying in Southern Sudan with AIM AIR pilot, Denny Dyvig. Read the full article here.]]>home2008-01-08T10:46:59-05:00http://www.aimair.org/files/96710b9177567ebaba9a0755bcfb2a3f-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.aimair.org/files/96710b9177567ebaba9a0755bcfb2a3f-1.html#unique-entry-id-1

On Thursday, 27 December 2007, Kenya held national elections. They happen every five years. There is often some trouble, but no one was prepared for or predicted what was to come. It was a very close election and there was controversy during the vote tallying. In the days that followed, pressure mounted as the Opposition candidate, Raila Odinga, remained ahead in the vote count. On Sunday evening, the sitting president, Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner. An hour later, President Kibabki was hurriedly sworn in to a second term. The country immediately erupted in violence and outrage.

Our Kenya based pilots and mechanics live with their families a few miles from Nairobi’s city center. We also live within very close proximity, less than a mile, to the Kibera slum, one of Africa’s largest. One million people live there in horrible conditions. Kibera exploded. That Sunday evening and most of the next day, there were running battles with the police, gunfire, smoke from mobs setting buildings and tires ablaze, looting, and chaos. From our houses we could see the fires nearby and hear the gunfire which was often very close. Many of the pictures you have seen in the news are of roads and storefronts that we use and visit. None of our personnel have been harmed, but this has not been a distant event for us.

Sadly, what I have described in Nairobi has not been the worst violence. In Western Kenya, the home area of the Opposition, people from the President’s tribe were being massacred. In one instance that sent shock waves around the world, 50 women and children who were hiding in a church for protection were burned alive. A three year old girl escaped the flames but men grabbed her and threw her back into the fire where she died. At dawn on Tuesday morning, one of our pilots put on a bullet proof vest and drove to the hangar on his motorcycle to begin our evacuation flying from the Western Province. We waited for a lull in the gunfire and off he went. That was the beginning.

In the last week we have moved over 500 people, mainly women and children, from the hardest hit areas of Western Kenya. Our pilots are currently flying into these areas of madness and hatred every day. I have personally been on a number of these flights. One man, John Mwangi, told me that his family had been at home the night the election was announced. Very soon thereafter, young men came and began to beat on his house. He, along with his wife and two young daughters, ran into the forest as his house and small business were set on fire. When his family climbed aboard our aircraft, they were exhausted. They had found relative safety at the local police station, but for many days they had no food or water and were sleeping out in the open. It gets very cold there at night and the mosquitoes made life even more miserable. Once we were airborne, I saw on their faces a sense of relief I will never forget.

Largely we moved people who might be described as “the weak.” We moved mostly young children. We moved the elderly. On one flight I had several young teenage girls with severe polio in their legs. As I watched this particular group slowly make their way to the terminal building, it occurred to me that these were the people who couldn’t run away when the nightmare and horror became a reality. In the path of a bloodthirsty mob, these were the helpless.

As I write these words, the BBC is reporting 600 people dead and 250,000 displaced. The last couple of days have been better. Calm seems to be slowly returning to this land. However, the hatred and rage that has been on display here this last week has seriously damaged the image of Kenya as a stable, peaceful country in the midst of other war torn nations. Things like this were not supposed to happen here, but they have. Please join us in prayer for those affected by the violence and for Kenya’s leaders to make good and just decisions for the nation’s future.

Matt Olson
General Manager


Photo by AIM AIR pilot Dale Hamilton:
"I took this picture just yesterday along the main Eldoret-Nakuru road at a place appropriately named Burnt Forest"]]>home2007-09-27T10:55:29-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/17361f6a606ac248091db6f9a17b4a0f-2.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.aimair.org/files/17361f6a606ac248091db6f9a17b4a0f-2.html#unique-entry-id-2Yabus, Sudan

I recently delivered a plane load of supplies to 2 missionary families in Yabus Sudan near the Ethiopian border. Located on the Yabus River east of the Sobat River (you might find the Sobat on a map of Sudan) it drains into the Blue Nile in eastern Sudan. After heavy rains the Yabus River was very high, and the roads were so bad that the missionaries could not drive their truck at all. All the cargo had to be moved by hand from the airplane over 2 kilometers to the mission compound. It took us 1 ½ hours to walk there. We had to crosss the first river by jumping from rock to rock, and the second, by a little "Huck Finn" raft on a cable built by the missionaries. It was quite an adventure.



The missionaries in Yabus are comprised of three, young families, all serving there with SIM. They are teaching adult primary education and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the process. Yabus is a tough place to live - Very remote even by Sudan standards. There's no way in or out during the rainy season except by air. I delivered a load of textbooks a few months ago and have flown these missionaries out before, but had never spent the night or seen their work.

The planeload of cargo looked like a combination of stuff from Home Depot, WALMART, the supermarket, and everything in between. It included a propane powered freezer. There is no convenience store in Yabus - in fact, I don’t think there are any stores at all. The people live by subsistence farming. They have been robbed of educational opportunities for the past 20 years because of the civil war. So, the adult education program is an attempt to “catch them up” and give a better quality of life to a generation bypassed by civilization as they simply “survived” until the war was over. Literacy is a key to people being able to read and understand God’s word and the young missionaries in Yabus are giving the best years of their lives to help that happen.



It sure is a blessing to be able to serve these folks and to see first hand their commitment to serving God and their fellow man.

Linnie Weeks
AIM AIR Pilot]]>home2007-08-16T11:08:27-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/ae0dd5e80ae6eb3884578f6646a4c67e-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.aimair.org/files/ae0dd5e80ae6eb3884578f6646a4c67e-3.html#unique-entry-id-3Arnie Newman came out with AIM in the late 60’s. He was first a missionary with AIM, then moved into a role as a MAF pilot, on loan from AIM. Finally, he was used by the Lord to start AIM AIR in the mid-1970’s.

In the O.T. the people of Israel would put markers – stones or piles of rocks - in locations so that all who passed by would know that God did something special at that location. AIM AIR feels blessed to still have many of our “markers” still walking around and coming through our premises from time to time. They are living reminders of God’s faithfulness through willing servants of His. Arnie is one of these “markers”. Recently, he was in Nairobi and came by AIM AIR to share with us the Genesis Story of AIM AIR. It is a fascinating story of God’s faithfulness and has been put on a clip here for those interested in hearing it.

Download file here]]>home2007-06-28T11:11:11-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/9d18e0c5e92ec7f2e14145e820453466-4.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.aimair.org/files/9d18e0c5e92ec7f2e14145e820453466-4.html#unique-entry-id-4 Dear Friends of AIM AIR,
Some weeks ago in May I found myself racing to the airport. My flight from Washington D.C. to Amsterdam was leaving in about four hours, but I was expecting a very important call in the next few minutes. As I drove my rental car into the Dulles Airport, I found a “cell phone waiting area.” Perfect. Pulling into the parking lot, I found a quiet spot and put it in park. Four minutes passed and I answered a call from KLUP, A.M. 930 radio in San Antonio for a cross-country telephone interview about a location halfway around the world–my place of ministry in East Africa.

Part way through the radio show, the host said “Matt, you are married. While you are flying around Africa, what is it like for your wife? How does she handle what you do?” It was a great question and one that often doesn’t get asked. The answer came easily.

Being a missionary pilot with AIM AIR is probably one of the best jobs on the planet. Being a missionary pilot’s wife is possibly one of the toughest. While we are out flying, seeing all that God is doing through the various Christian organizations we serve, our wives (and the wives of most all our staff members) are at home in a chaotic, dirty, crime ridden third-world city. They live behind walls and iron bars and under the watch of security companies.

AIM AIR has about thirty expatriate families living in East Africa. Significant violent crime events have hit about half of us, most involving armed robbers. Living here can be tough duty. While we are out “saving the world,” many of our wives spend the majority of their time within gated compounds, day in and day out, raising children, often alone several nights each week.

The interview ended and a few hours later I was on my way home – home to my wife and children who had remained in Nairobi. Yes, my wife has a difficult job. However, she understands that where she lives and how she lives is for a cause greater than all others. Our wives sacrifice because they understand they are part of the AIM AIR team, bringing the Gospel and love of Jesus Christ to some of the most needy people in the world.

Our spouses often see their role as just one among many different kinds of support to the specific calling of missionary aviation. Truth is, they are the foundation.

~Matt Olson]]>home2007-06-19T11:13:10-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/300fb2d69acf8e00e2e9dd6d05d0ed3d-5.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.aimair.org/files/300fb2d69acf8e00e2e9dd6d05d0ed3d-5.html#unique-entry-id-5
May 22nd, 2007
"Here’s what I’ve got for today’s show. Matt Olson, the General Manager of Africa Inland Mission’s Aviation arm will join me to talk about his experiences as a missionary pilot in Africa and we’ll talk at length about Darfur."

Listen to the radio interview with Matt - download audio file

The podcast is linked with permission from Drexel Kleber, host Kicking the Anthill
www.KickingTheAnthill.com]]>home2007-06-11T11:14:51-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/ad252d621006127d390cc56ce46c6ddf-6.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.aimair.org/files/ad252d621006127d390cc56ce46c6ddf-6.html#unique-entry-id-6“I have the greatest job on earth. To do what you love for the One who you love and to bring real truth and change to people’s lives for eternity – I can’t think of anything better than that.”

Steve Moffitt has been working as AIM AIR's primary avionics specialist for the past 13 years. Recently, his college magazine wrote an article about his journey to the mission field. Download pdf here

The article is linked with permission from the Grove City College GeDUNK Alumni Magazine, Spring 2007 issue. For the full issue, please visit http://www.gcc.edu/Alumni_Magazine.php]]>home2007-03-22T11:16:58-04:00http://www.aimair.org/files/ae29e2e0694cce7100d877fc51fb4f2c-7.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.aimair.org/files/ae29e2e0694cce7100d877fc51fb4f2c-7.html#unique-entry-id-7Dear Friends of AIM AIR,

Whenever I am asked to write or speak about AIM AIR, I usually don’t have to go back very far to remember an interesting story or event. This is an exciting place to work and there is always something happening. Always.

* In February, former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan’s Purse (SP), were here visiting Heads of State, touring SP Projects, and seeing the horrors of Darfur firsthand. We flew them for ten days.

* The World Health Organization declared a meningitis outbreak in Sudan an epidemic. The disease (an infection of the brain), hits small children and the weak the hardest. So far, we have flown 7000 pounds of medicines to the worst hit areas.

* Six expatriate missionaries called us late one Friday evening from Sudan. The local soldiers were threatening violence and things were very tense. As the sun arose the next morning, we landed one of our Grand Caravans, kept the engine running, and with a total ground time of two minutes, had them safely out.

The above and many other recent flights can really be thrilling. However, sometimes it is the uneventful, routine flight that makes a lasting impression. Not long ago I made a trip from our home base in Nairobi, with nine short-term Norwegian missionaries bound for the Congo – home of the second largest jungle in the world. For literally hours, we flew over the thick green carpet of the Ituri Forest. The only gaps in the landscape were the broad, brown rivers of central Congo, teeming with crocodiles and temperamental hippos.

As I stared out the cockpit window, looking at the end of the earth, I began to see a few open spaces in the dark forest canopy that hung over the land. People. It was startling to see signs of humanity this far from the known world. How did they get here? My destination was a sizeable village named Likati, but there are no roads in or out of Likati, only footpaths. I landed on an isolated grass strip cut out of the forest. An aircraft comes here once or twice a year.

It had been a long day. I was tired, and I took my time securing the airplane for the night while the missionaries went ahead. As the sun was setting, a local church member led me into the jungle down a small trail. We didn’t go far when several imposing buildings came into view. They were built by the Norwegian church many years before but were abandoned during the war in the late 1990’s. As I took this all in, it hit me square in the chest. Yes, these people were at the end of the line, as far from civilization as you can get. But the Gospel had come to them. It was here, not just with the buildings, but in their hearts. The love of Jesus Christ had come looking for them, seeking them out, even here. Our Lord has commanded us to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” It is happening.

~Matt Olson ]]>home2007-02-15T11:27:47-05:00http://www.aimair.org/files/a84da0646b49cf2ab630db44a2ac5e1f-8.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.aimair.org/files/a84da0646b49cf2ab630db44a2ac5e1f-8.html#unique-entry-id-8Field report from pilot Mike Delorenzo

We descended through the haze, steering toward coordinates our passengers had handed forward on a scrap of paper. The village of Duk Paynel lay ahead. Panther Bior looked out the window of the Caravan and began to smile. He recognized his home, even though he had not seen it in twenty years. He and Samuel are among what western media, and the world, have come to know as the "Lost Boys" of Southern Sudan. Their stories have been documented in articles and books over the past several years, and recently in a National Geographic movie entitled "God Grew Tired of Us." The stories are remarkable... how they survived years of wandering throughout Sudan during the civil war which tore apart their homes. They were children, without adult supervision. And they numbered in the thousands. A fortunate few were plucked from the refugee camps at Kakuma, Kenya and brought to America more than a decade ago. They have grown up in a new land far from the one they called home. And now they are coming back.

AIM AIR Pilot Linnie Weeks and I had the privilege of flying Panther and Samuel back home today, along with three men from their church in Skaneateles, New York. They are coming to build a health clinic for this community over the next several months. It is a blessing which these men long dreamed to bring upon their home village, overflowing from the grace of God they have known these past twenty years. It is a long time coming. Panther and Samuel fled this place in 1987, seven-years-old and destitute. Today they returned in a Cessna Caravan, speaking good english, and sporting still-childish smiles as they greeted a jubilant crowd at the airstrip. For the churches that took these boys in, it is another remarkable milestone in an accidental ministry to the people of Sudan. For us pilots, its another day on the job, albeit a special one - one where you catch a glimpse of your small part in a grander and sovereign Plan.

For more information about the clinic project, try these links:
First Presbyterian Church, Skaneateles New York

American Care for Sudan Foundation

Learn More about the Lost Boys of Sudan
God Grew Tired of Us]]>home2007-02-12T12:16:07-05:00http://www.aimair.org/files/524dc26a783c0a8de7ca6daf6e12d09d-9.html#unique-entry-id-9http://www.aimair.org/files/524dc26a783c0a8de7ca6daf6e12d09d-9.html#unique-entry-id-9
Article in the Tennessean - click here to read the full article.]]>