Pilot's Logbook: 2017

Sunday, December 10, 2017

2017: The Beautiful, the Normal, and the Weird

Merry Christmas!

We didn't get Christmas cards in the mail, but we wanted to take a moment to send our friends, family, supporters, prayer warriors, and encouragers a note of thanks! We probably don't say it enough, but you are an important part of the work we do here and we just want to use this blog to help communicate that!

Living in Mozambique can be difficult during the holidays. It is often 100 degrees outside and we hear the usual sounds of the call to prayer from the local mosque instead of Christmas carols. We know we won't drive to be with family for a nice meal on Christmas Eve, wear an ugly Christmas sweater, or watch our nephews and nieces open gifts up in excitement. Sometimes there is an element of homesickness (but don't start feeling sorry for us... we are going to make homemade ice cream and celebrate with friends who have become family!).

To make it feel more festive, every year I put up my Charlie Brown Christmas tree. You see, I'm not much of a decorator and I am a Peanuts fanatic, so the combination is perfect. I can handle one ornament! But I also like what this tree stands for. I probably don't have to tell anyone the plot of the holiday special that has run since 1965, but let me summarize. In an effort to stave off the commercialism that has taken over the holiday (and because he has a soft heart), Charlie Brown picks out the infamous gangly looking tree for his Christmas play. After being mocked by his friends for picking out the miserable tree, he asks if anybody knows what Christmas is all about. Linus, ever the theologian, goes center stage and quotes from Luke 2:8-14:

⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.

No matter where we are in the world, we can celebrate this. We don't need the lights, the tinsel, the sweaters, or the family get-togethers to celebrate the birth of our Savior. So with that, "Merry Christmas" from Mozambique!

2017: The Beautiful, the Normal, and the Weird

Our newsletters and posts often highlight some cool flights and events that we think you might be interested in. However, frequently the weird and beautiful moments never make the limited space of a newsletter. We thought we would give some of those pictures and videos some screen time. Some are just normal aspects of life here in Nampula, while others take our breath away (in good ways and bad).

Sunset view from the hangar

Fueling the plane in Niassa

All that office work no one talks about

The drive home: how many mattresses can you carry?

Injured bat at our house

Leave town a few days and the ants will build
a tunnel from a crack in the floor.

Frogs in the dog water during dry season

Living room fencing fun

Coast at Inhambane, Mozambique

Cool coastal features from the air

Landing at Catembe Airstrip in Niassa (fast-motion)

Grabbing lunch on the street in Juba, South Sudan

Paying for dinner in Juba with a crazy exchange rate...
like paying in nickels!

Look close... people riding on top of the train in Bangladesh

Rickshaws in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Jackfruit in Uganda

Sunbird in Uganda (because a blog post must have a bird pic)

Little velvety red bug

Chameleon found at the hangar...they hiss at you when you pick them up!

Scorpion at the hangar... almost makes me
want to wear something besides flip flops to work

Most of egg yolks are very light here:
Eggs from two different batches

Take off from Gomba airstrip

All that math to figure out how many boxes of chicks we can fit and where

Box-o-chicks

Horned beetle

School Field Trip: Dave explaining the controls of the Caravan

Ladies dancing and singing to greet passengers arriving in Nampula

McDonalds in Dubai airport

Victoria Falls

Herd of Cape Buffalo in the Niassa Reserve

We know that many folks like to make charitable donations in December. If you would like to give a gift to our ministry with MAF, click here to learn how.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Anti-poaching Efforts

Recently Dave has spent a lot of time flying in Niassa Reserve, located in the northwestern part of Mozambique. Oftentimes we are flying for conservation groups based in the reserves. Dave and I both come from a natural resource background and we value mankind’s responsibility to take care of God’s creation (Gen. 1:28). Several years ago we enjoyed staying several days in the reserve to enjoy the magnificence of God’s creation in Mozambique (check out the blog at Lions and Hippos and Elephants, Oh My!).

Elephant in Niassa Reserve

Because of our flying for these groups, relationships have formed which have allowed us to further our ministry opportunities. We now have a medical project that is located in the reserve and is partially sponsored by one of the conservation groups based in the reserve. They help cover the cost of flights that bring a medical team and supplies to remote villages located within the reserve. These partnerships show that they value both people and wildlife. Just two weeks ago, Dave flew a medical team in the Caravan out to Gomba and Eravuka.

Medical Team leaving on the Caravan

Last week Dave was flying the 206 to help one conservation group’s effort with anti-poaching, with elephants being their primary concern. I’m not sure if the statistic is true, but we have heard it said that if poaching continues at its current rate, in 5 years there will no longer be elephants in Northern Mozambique. We have already seen the elephant population greatly decline in the almost-six years we have lived here.

206 at the airstrip

It has been notable that there is less poaching on days that an airplane is patrolling the area. Thankfully, the reserve will be getting their own airplane soon and be able to have a more consistent presence. When Dave arrived on Monday morning, there had been reports of shots fired the night before, so they wanted to fly over the area of concern. Sure enough, some carcasses were located. Scouts were on the ground trying to track the poachers and also found additional carcasses. In the afternoon of the following day, there were no scheduled flights, so Dave was able to tag along with the scouts and enforcement manager to see if they could find the carcasses they had spotted from the air. Unfortunately, rather than finding the ones that had been flown over, they found a different group of carcasses, meaning in total at least 6 elephants had been killed.

Elephant carcasses from the air are difficult to spot

Pictures of Elephant Carcasses Discovered During the Hike

**WARNING: These images are DISTURBING but show the reality of poaching. We have chosen to link them to a different page so you can choose if you would like to view them**

If you want to learn a little more about conservation efforts in Niassa, check out this video:

Niassa Wilderness

Sunset at Niassa

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Blogs and Birds

You may have noticed our blog site going quiet over the last year. This is partly due to the fact that this term has been incredibly busy and that we've have had some trouble with our mailing list. In addition, I have been submitting blogs to MAF's Story Hub, so my stories have ended up there instead of on our own blog site.

If you are interested in reading some of those blog stories, check out the links below to get caught up!

Flexibility in Responding to Disasters

Ever-Present Suffering

Baby Chicks on Board

Technology Helps

But since a Pilot's Logbook wouldn't be complete without some bird pictures, here are some highlights from our Uganda trip a couple of weeks ago. We were staying on Lake Victoria for an Africa Region IT confernce (see the "Technology Helps" blog above) and saw close to 50 different species.