Rempel's Reflections

Dear Friends and Family,

Since we left Zambia in November 2006 it has been great to see God at work in our lives over the past 12 months. We thank God for you as you have shared with us in our journey thus far. In January we got married and as we mentioned in our last prayer letter, this first year has been great! For the next 6 months were blessed to spend the time with you our friends, family and supporters in both Canada and Australia. Once we returned to Canada we saw God’s mighty hand at work through the approval of paperwork for visas and passports as well as our entry into the USA. Now that we are in Michigan time seems to be flying (no pun intended) and we count it pure joy to be given this time together and to be given this opportunity.

Our life at home, school and other things

While we realize that we are only here for 12 months we have settled in quite well. The Baptist Church that we started to go to we are really enjoying. The teaching has great and also we are enjoying the fellowship too. With some of the other SMAT people and their spouses we are also involved in a couples’ bible study. It has been a good time of learning and fellowship. One of the couples worked in PNG with New Tribes Mission and is now getting their aviation licenses (flight and maintenance) so that they can go back. One of the other couples came from California with 2 small children and they are also working on finishing their aviation licenses with a view of going on the mission field one day.

Rick is now ¼ of the way through his course as far. We are now finished the first section, the General section that included hardware, plumbing, basic electricity, safety, corrosion control, etc. During this time the class is working at stripping down a Cessna 172 plane. This involves removing all the paint, the inside panels, fuel and brake lines, and even some of the aluminum panels in preparation for repainting and rebuilding the plane to flying condition. We are hoping to ready for repainting before Christmas. We are also working on wiring up a mock board with the similar circuits of those in the airplane trying to get all the lights, relays, and switches to work as they are supposed to.

Tracey continues to keep herself busy not only at home but also at the school where she now volunteers 2 days a week. With the school having just made the decision to move next year to another airport in another town about 20 min away, there is a lot of extra work to be done. This includes writing new proposals, doing mail-outs and designing brochures, response cards and other stationary.

Flying Mission

As we sit at our table we are daily reminded of our friends and colleagues in Zambia from their pictures that we have on the wall. Flying Mission in Botswana has continued to go through changes since I left there and moved to Zambia in 2005. They were able to release me to move to the new Flying Mission Zambia program at that time. This was because they lost the contract for the mercy flights that we were doing for the Ministry of Health. They have since been asked to do the flights again and also have been able to acquire another larger 8 seat aircraft. They are also thinking of getting another aircraft to keep up with the demands of all the flights.

Much has happened with Flying Mission Zambia (FMZ) since we left. There have been 2 families that have joined the flight program. One of them has moved to a Chitokoloki where we were flying to but they were asking for a plane to be based there for the past year. They are planning on using that mission bases’ hospital as a receiving hospital for the surrounding villages. On moving there the pilot has already done a mercy flight. It was a 19yr old girl who had her spleen ruptured when a tree fell on her. The evacuation was a 10min flight to the hospital and a subsequent 4 hour operation which saved her life.

The other family who recently joined FMZ from another mission continues to be based at Mukinge with one of the planes. Please be in prayer for these two families as they adjust to living in Zambia and as they work with FMZ. Please continue to pray with us for the other FMZ staff and especially the leadership as they make important decisions for the future of FMZ. They are very busy with the flight program, administrative tasks, liaising with government departments and other mission organizations.