Thanksgiving... at the break of dawn

As dawn was breaking, our team at the SIL hangar in Yaounde, Cameroon were prepping for an eventful day...

The sun rose and light filled the hangar as we prepped N123TM, our Cessna 206.
Emmanuel L., our Cameroonian colleague, is an essential part of the team.

Our Thanksgiving Day Mission was to move a team from the US Embassy
in Cameroon from Yaounde to meetings in the North where Americans are
serving.  The gentleman in black in the photo is the US Ambassador.  His team
wanted to take their Thanksgiving day to visit and encourage fellow Americans

 Loading up...

Aircraft moved into starting position for passenger loading, start up, and the launch.

The line shows you the track of the flight.  This is about the limit on where
we will go toward the extreme North of Cameroon due to security concerns.
The flight up was about 3.5 hours; coming back, the winds were more favorable
and it was just over 3 hours.

WE ARE SO THANKFUL that you all are standing with us on this exciting journey, especially in this year of special assignment in Cameroon.

You may be wondering...

What does transporting US State department personnel around Africa have to do with Great Commission work?  

                                                                ... I'm glad you asked!

FIRST, flying people that are working outside of missionary organizations gives us, the pilots, mechanics, and support crew, an avenue to directly connect with some that may not ever get exposure to the Gospel.

SECOND, flights like this one are HUGE relationship building opportunities with people that can team up with us to do great things like enhancing community peace, security, health and education.

THIRDLY, when we build relationships with people of influence in our community, it helps instill good will toward all of the faith-based initiatives in the region.

FINALLY (but not certainly not the last reason), flights like these assist our program to stay active and assist in revenue that goes into keeping our mission flights dramatically cheaper for our national and international Bible translators.  The chart below shows why this is so critical...

Today, if one of the things that you are thankful for is God's written Word, then it is because someone took the time to translate your language, develop the alphabet, and work to get it printed for you to read.  Currently, as shown in this graphic, Africa is the continent with the highest need for people to be working toward Bible translation.

Again, our family wants to express how THANKFUL we are that you are standing with us on this adventure.  Enjoy your day and celebrate how blessed we truly are!!!   We are blessed to then, with love, extend those blessings to others.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!