Thirteen Minutes. Enough time for a coffee, a call, or a workout.  

For one fragile newborn in northern Kenya’s unforgiving desert, thirteen minutes was the difference between life and death. 

Sarah, the other pilot flying N827DG, walks towards the helicopter that flew us out of the valley.

August 29, 2025, Night – Dukana, Kenya: A young Gabra mother gave birth to a baby boy in a hut made of sticks and animal skins.  She named him Abudo. What should have been a joyous day turned into a solemn nightmare of worry and fear as she discovered her precious new baby had internal organs on the outside of his body.  His little stomach and intestines gaped at her openly.  How much time did he have left to live in this condition  

The desperate mother turned to Father Hubert, a priest in her village of Dukana. Father God heard her plea as well. He was already at work behind the scenes, placing the right people in the distant city of Nairobi.  

August 30, 2025, Early Morning- Dukana: Father Hubert’s first attempt to find an airplane failed – too costly.  As he felt time slipping away, his next call was to the missionaries in his area.  Every minute mattered. 

AIM missionaries, Eddie and Rachel Andersen, have lived in Dukana for the past seven years and are unit leaders for an outreach team.  Eddie preaches, teaches, builds houses, repairs vehicles, and leads others.  Rachel disciples and mentors Dukana women, often making nursing visits.  A trained midwife, Rachel knew that Abudo’s condition, called gastroschisis, was grave. However, they were in Nairobi at the time of the phone call, 375 miles away.   

10:05 am, Nairobi: Rachel called AIM AIR to explain the situation and put us in direct contact with Father Hubert. One of our small Cessna 206 airplanes was available. Our line service man, Cosmas, was already at the hangar. The stage was being set for AIM AIR to mobilize and evacuate baby Abudo.   

10:08 am: AIM AIR pilot and Nairobi base manager Bobby Kulp was deep in Nairobi’s industrial area with new teammates when he got the call.  He immediately switched from building supplies to pilot status.  He began praying for all the details of this critical flight even as he fought chaotic Nairobi traffic on a busy Saturday morning. He made his way to the AIM AIR hangar to prepare for the flight. The urgency of time built in his heart as traffic snarled. As a father of two young boys, he understood the vulnerability of a newborn.      

10:22 am, Nairobi: While Bobby was fighting traffic, Kristal’s Saturday was also interrupted by a phone call.  Kristal Young, a former ER nurse and AIM AIR mother and wife, grew up in Kenya. Her medical instincts and connections, combined with the resourcefulness of growing up as an AIM AIR missionary kid, would prove vital. As she listened to the details about Abudo’s condition, she shared her connection with several highly skilled pediatric doctors in Congo.  Congo “Yes!” she confirmed. “They’re doing amazing things in their little hospital in Congo. They have some of the best pediatric doctors in the world.”  

Kristal then called the nurse in Dukana, who was attending the mama and baby. The nurse explained she had no sterile gauze, saline, or even painkillers to treat Abudo.  Kristal purchased the necessary supplies and arranged to have a motorcylce deliver them to the hangar.   

Armed with knowledge from the Congolese doctors, Kristal advised Bobby.  The baby can fly but stay at a low altitude as long as possible.  Pressure changes will cause him discomfort.  Be careful with climbs and descents. Time is of the essence!  Every minute matters for this baby boy.  

May 31, 2025: A milestone for Tirrim Trust – 204 graduates. The adult literacy program started ten years ago, and continues to grow – with a new literacy program starting with each new church that is planted.

10:59 am, Nairobi: Bobby needed a nurse to accompany him on the flight. Rachel went next door and talked with Abi Andersen, one of the missionaries on their Dukana outreach team. She is a licensed nurse in Kenya and is very familiar with the Gabra tribe. She was in Nairobi along with the rest of the Dukana team. Within 30 minutes, Abi graciously changed her Saturday plans, packed an overnight bag, and jumped on a motorcycle taxi to meet Bobby at the hangar. 

11:40 am, WIlson Airport, Nairobi:  Abi arrived at the AIM AIR hangar and located the medical supplies that had come by motorocyle.  

12:27 pm, Wilson Airport, Nairobi: Bobby finished pre-flight checks as quickly as he could.  Gloria Cherono, AIM AIR bookings supervisor, was already at her computer, ready to do flight following for him.  With Abi and the medical supplies safely aboard, they began the 2-hour and 45-minute flight to the northernmost edge of Kenya, 10 miles from the Ethiopian border. Gloria’s job was to keep track of Bobby and the plane, help with arrival and departure times, and pray!  As they took off from Wilson Airport, she prayed that God would send a tailwind to get him to Dukana as quickly as possible.  

By this time, the remaining daylight became the biggest challenge. Since Kenya does not permit the Cessna 206 airplane to fly at night, Bobby and his passengers needed to be on the ground by 6:31 pm.  Bobby would make it to Dukana, but would not have enough daylight to make the return trip to Nairobi.  Father Hubert was informed the airplane may have to spend the night in Dukana, and return to Nairobi Sunday morning.   

“No!” he pleaded. “It has to be today!”   

Abudo’s life was in the balance. Every minute mattered. 

Rachel suggested contacting Bethany Kids in Kijabe, rather than using the Nairobi hospital. 

Bethany Kids specializes in treating children with birth defects and disabilities.  Initially started by AIM, Bethany Kids works closely with area hospitals.  Not only would they be better qualified to meet Abudo’s needs, but they would also be less expensive for the family.  And most importantly, it was about 20 minutes closer than the hospital in Nairobi. Another detail fell into place.    

Those 20 extra minutes were all Bobby needed to make this critical flight happen in one day.  Yet another hurdle remained.   

The Kijabe airstrip was not usable. The closest option was a flower farm airstrip on the shores of Lake Naivasha. An ambulance could cover the final hour to transport baby Abudo from Naivasha to Kijabe. The flight time to get to Naivasha was 2 hours, 36 minutes. The plans shifted and flexed to overcome this hurdle – the window of time narrowed by 10 minutes.   

2:45 pm, Nairobi: Rachel confirmed the ambulance would be ready to meet Abudo at the airstrip. The AIM AIR team made sure proper permissions were secured to park the airplane overnight, and arrangements were made for Bobby to stay the night close to the plane.   

3:12 pm, Dukana: The 206 safely touches down at the Dukana airstrip. Bobby took 30 agonizing minutes loading baby Abudo, his mother, and grandmother safely. He reported that even with the time taken to load carefully, they launched to the minute of what he had planned for. 

Five precious souls flew on the Cessna 206 that afternoon. 

3:42 pm, Dukana: Swaddled in blankets near his mother’s heart, little Abudo never even cried.  Bobby did his best to keep the takeoff and landing as smooth as possible.  He stayed low and tried to avoid unnecessary motion.  Nurse Abi kept the passengers company.  She and Bobby prayed the entire trip.  Back at the Nairobi hangar, Gloria was also praying as she checked in with Bobby, following his flight on the computer and giving estimated arrival times to those on the ground.  The countdown was on for this fragile newborn.  Bobby remembers thinking about the fragility of human life and knew that Abudo’s life was hanging on the edge.   

AIM AIR’s General Manager sends out a prayer request to the team to pray. So many are praying.     

6:18 pm, Airspray airstrip, Naivasha: The landing was successful!  Just 13 minutes remained before the 6:31 pm sunset deadline.  13 minutes!  Abudo was still alive – critical, but stable.  The ambulance finally arrived at dusk. Even though the ambulance drivers feared bandits after dark, they pushed the Land Cruiser up the rough and rocky road to Kijabe.  The baby started showing signs of distress – minutes ticked by as Abi continued to pray on the harrowing drive. 

7:48 pm, Kijabe: 

Just after little Abudo made it into the hospital, his pulse began to slow and his oxygen levels dropped. He had stopped breathing! Doctors revived him, putting him on oxygen throughout the night.  Every minute had mattered. 

Abi stayed with the mother and grandmother, getting them settled and providing comfort. She sent a message: “It was very, very good timing to have the baby at the hospital last night. I am blown away by the God moments we’ve had in all of this. Baby is stable now, and getting what he needs.”   

Today, Kijabe: Abudo’s body is fighting off infection. He has significant health concerns and many surgeries ahead of him. Yet, we praise God for providing all the right people at the right time for Abudo that day. In the harsh desert, Love reached a vulnerable child – because his life is worth every minute. 

Abudo’s mother, Father Hubert, and the entire Dukana community have witnessed God’s provision and love in profound ways that will last for years to come.  God had His hand on a little airplane in Kenya, orchestrating details beyond any one person’s understanding or ability, to bring Hope to a worried mother and a chance at life for a tiny baby born with serious deformities. While we don’t know the number of days that Abudo will have on this earth, we can rest in the knowledge that they are known.   

Psalm 139:16 says that God’s plans for this little one were established long ago.  We didn’t know that this flight would happen, but God did and orchestrated every detail!   

When every minute counted, God’s hand was evident. He even gave us thirteen minutes to spare! 

God also provided for tiny Abudo through you, the donors and prayer partners of AIM AIR. This flight could not have happened without our partners around the world praying for us and giving so freely and generously.     

Pray for Abudo and his physical healing.  Pray that one day he will understand just how much he is loved by Father God and how significant his life truly is.  

To give to our Wings of the Dawn fund for more flights like Abudo’s: https://usgiving.aimint.org/donate/aim-air-wings-of-dawn  

The circle began on September 9, 2019

It started with a shudder. A muffled bang. Then silence.

Three feet in front of me, the crankshaft had snapped in two. The propeller spun freely—no power. Oil pressure dropped to zero. A red light flashed. We were gliding.

To our left, volcanic ridges and valleys. To the right, a flat, sandy expanse—deceptively calm, but deadly. We banked right, toward what we hoped was salvation.

What we didn’t know then was that our Cessna was descending into a place sparsely inhabited, a place caught in a cycle of isolation, violence, and revenge. No churches for miles. But that was about to change.

Sarah, the other pilot flying N827DG, walks towards the helicopter that flew us out of the valley.

We touched down hard, swerving to avoid bushes and dunes. No fire. We were upright. We were alive.
Three hours later, we locked up the plane and climbed into a rescue helicopter. Two pilots, our patient on a stretcher, and two of her relatives—all squeezed in. As we lifted off, church leaders were already calling relatives in the valley below, asking, “Is the airplane okay?” “Yes,” they were told. “Let’s check.”

The next day, pastors arrived. The Cessna was intact. But the real discovery was the people. No longer just warriors and herders—there were families, children, entire villages. But no churches.

“We think the airplane came down to show us all the people who live here,” one pastor said. “They need a church!”

A pastor named John and two other pastors began the journey—riding down into the valley every Sunday to teach about Jesus. A year later, we returned. An elder greeted us:

“I remember when your airplane came down. We couldn’t believe what we saw. People had come out of the plane and was walking around. They were not injured. There’s no place here for a plane to land. We said, ‘They must have a big God.’”

In 2023, AIM AIR hosted a missions conference in our hangar. Thirty-five churches came. One elder from a large church asked us to hold a similar event in Eldoret. We didn’t know how to organize it easily—but they did it themselves and invited us.

That event brought together leaders from the same dangerous Suguta Valley. As we talked, my friend, Pastor David asked me, “Why can’t these church leaders come to Korr and see what’s happening here?”

The drive from the Pokot tribal area to Rendille tribal area takes two days—backtracking almost to Nairobi, then turning north again. But by air Just 70 minutes.

May 31, 2025: A milestone for Tirrim Trust – 204 graduates. The adult literacy program started ten years ago, and continues to grow – with a new literacy program starting with each new church that is planted.

On May 31, 2025, David’s ministry, Tirrim Trust, celebrated a milestone: 204 Rendille adults graduated from the adult literacy program. Many had spent years learning under the training trees. Some took weeks just to learn how to hold a pencil. Most were women—mothers and daughters who had missed school to care for family.

Now, they could read. They could help their children. They could read God’s Word.

“When I started to read Mark,” shared Nareyo, a Tirrim literacy alumnus, “I saw—this God is not like the Rendille god. This God is kind. This God loves His people.”

Usually, we fly representatives from Nairobi churches to Korr for the ceremony. This year, we changed it up. David invited a friend from the Kenyan government—Josphat, a cabinet member responsible for marginalized communities. He’s also from a nomadic tribe – the Turkana.

We sent a second airplane to pick up the bishop from Pokot and his wife. “Nomads helping nomads,” David said. “It’s nice when southern Kenyans help, but they don’t know what it’s like to be a nomad. If nomads can learn from each other, that’s best.”

Josphat agreed:
“Today, I’ve seen a model that works. We can replicate this in many areas.”

The Pokot bishop brought someone else: Pastor John—the same John who rode two and a half hours every Sunday to the site where we crash-landed. Now, for the first time, he saw nomadic churches transforming communities through literacy and faith.

This was not a path I would have charted. An engine failure. A missions conference. A literacy program. All connecting people across vast distances.

But God doesn’t follow our paths. Much like an airplane flying across the Atlantic, the route may seem curved and indirect. Yet it’s the shortest way—the great circle.
And when we look back, we see how the dots connect.

I like to think Pastor John flew home with a full heart and a head spinning with new ideas—ready to continue the journey.