Just warming up June newsletter

Hi, welcome to the first ever MASA-FL newsletter! We want to keep you updated and informed on events, needs, and happenings. Look for this newsletter once a month in your inbox. We also look forward to hearing back from you on interests, prayer needs, and volunteering.   We will also be posting updates on our website and sharing those on our social media accounts. If you are not a follower of ours on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, please follow us and like our pages. This will also help keep you up to date. You can also share the post to tell others about what we do.   WOW! What a year it has been! God blessed in many ways, opening doors and making the impossible possible: This year, we could purchase new flooring for the event tent; it’s more durable and will last many years to come. The event tent was the largest we’ve had—50 feet by 66 feet—allowing us to host a RECORD 13 aviation missionary groups and over 100 missionaries throughout the week.   GOD IS GOOD!   We are already looking toward next year’s event and we are setting some lofty goals. Some of our 2018 Sun ‘n Fun event goals include: Adding at least one more aviation missionary group (14+) and hosting 105+ missionaries. Purchasing a larger commercial refrigerator for our staging tent, allowing us to keep meal leftovers as well as snacks to keep the whole team energized through the week. Purchasing a fuel tank to allow us to more easily refuel the generators. Repairing our storage trailer door, which is rotting and in great need of repair. The trailer holds many items we use year to year, and the cost of replacing these items would be expensive.   Please be in prayer for provision and for God to meet our needs.

Train in the mountains

JAARS Aviation Training Moves from Waxhaw to the NC Mountains for 10 Days     Cessna 206 ready to load up for the flight to the NC mountains. After morning devotions and flight briefings, three aircraft. JAARS training staff, and orientees preparing for worldwide mission service headed to the North Carolina mountains for 10 days of focused mountain training. Not everyone flew, six ground vehicles hauled parts, supplies, personal gear, and rock bags for ballast. Special thanks to the Avery County Airport Commission and Doug Jennings for hosting JAARS Aviation Training! And thanks to partners whose gifts and prayers to A200 Aviation Training help make this possible!

Christmas in June!

New Tribe Mission-Aviation (one of the Aviation Mission groups attending MASA-FL) had Christmas a little early this year.   The Robinson R66 helicopter that you prayed for arrived in the Philippines May 31. Unbelievably, it cleared customs by June 1.   Pilot/mechanics Brian Pruett and Josh Dalton break open the security seal. They sure are thankful for the careful packing job by the NTM Aviation team in McNeal, Arizona. Even so, they inspect for any possible damage. Brian and Josh round up a team to help position the fuselage so it can be unloaded. Josh and Brian strap the fuselage to the forklift. Now the package just needs to be unwrapped. "It's like Christmas in June! Unpacking and organizing spare parts and tools," posted Josh. And putting it back together was a snap – for our well-trained professionals, that is. By the end of this week, helicopter specialist and instructor Brett Randolph from aviation headquarters in McNeal, AZ, will arrive to help check all the systems and do the test flying. He’ll also do a currency check with chief pilot Brian Schaadt, who will be flying the R66 in the Philippines. The arrival of the R66 marks the culmination of more than three years of planning and trusting God. Thank you for all your petitions to God as He unfolded His plan in His time. The R66 will serve missionaries teaching God’s Word and making disciples among the people groups of the Philippines – even those who live in the most remote mountains and most isolated islands. • Pray for careful assembly and check-out of all the systems. • Pray for a thorough check out for Brian Schaadt. • Pray for God’s provision of the high Value Added Tax we were required to pay. • Pray for God’s provision for funds needed to buy land and build a hangar. You can be a part of getting the R66 program setup and flying.  Go to http://ntm-aviation.org/projects/philippines-r66-helicopter. Soon we’ll have news of the R66’s first ministry flights. Thank you for being on the team.

NEW R66 Helicopter for JAARS

Helicopter pilot Jeff Johnson, JAARS President Woody McLendon, and chief pilot Bruce Powell are in Wichita, Kansas to take delivery of the nearly new R66 that will serve in northwest Cameroon.   Thanks for your prayers yesterday. Keep praying! The Robinson R66 helicopter is now headed to Waxhaw!   Getting ready for take-off   Our pilots took off earlier this morning from Mid-Continent Aviation Services in Wichita, Kansas. Pray for good weather and safety as they make their way east. They had planned to leave yesterday but on startup got a warning alert on the Garmin 500. After getting it checked out, they decided to wait until this morning to leave.    Pilots Bruce and Jeff with the crew from MCAS in Wichita, KS.   Acquiring the R66 is a response to our commitment to SIL Cameroon through the Africa Aviation Initiative to help them keep their helicopter service uninterrupted. The R66 will replace the existing R44 helicopter that has served in northwest Cameroon for eight years, flying translators and supplies to hard-to-reach locations, as well as emergency medical evacuations. The machine will be shipped to Cameroon by sea container in late June. More on that later. Praise God for the gifts and prayers that made it possible for JAARS to acquire the new helicopter!

On the air with John Hoke

WE'RE ON THE AIR! John Hoke had the privilege of being interviewed by the TravelKatz. Their show airs on 1380am every Saturday at 7am and 5pm. Listen to the interview live THIS SATURDAY.  You can visit http://www.travelkatz.com/radio-show.html for more information on the show.    https://youtu.be/EG89pYxnXVg

A year and more of captivity, then...

Meet Gracia Burnham, she was captured by Islamic insurgents in the Philippines. She will be sharing her story with us. She will share at our annual BIG GATHERING on April 3, 2017. Don't forget to RSVP for this event to meghan@masafl.org. Include the names of people coming in your party and your email address.   She will also be at Heritage Baprist Church April 6, 2017 at 6pm. She will be sharing more details and how God used her.   These are 2 separate events at the same location; Heritage Baptist Church.

Live on the air

John Hoke, founder and director, was interviewed by TravelKATZ hosting Vacation Nation.  John was able to talk about MASS-FL and how they are sharing GOD's love with the people at Sun 'n Fun Fly In & Expo. TravelKATZ are on weekly Saturday 7am and 5pm. The show airs on 1380am The Biz. http://www.travelkatz.com/radio-show.html

Big Gathering

Please join us for our annual Big Gathering!  Enjoy delicious food, laugher, and singing with friends.  This year's Big Gathering is at Heritage Baptist Church in Lakeland. Please RSVP by March 23 to meghan@masafl.org

Sunday Morning Worship Service

Please join us for worship and fellowship! Sunday, April 2, 2017 9am. Word around town is there will be coffee and a beautiful sunrise painted by the Master Creator that morning.  GPS Address: 3470 Aircraft Drive Lakeland, FL 33811-2846 The above address will get you to the airport. Follow these to get to the MASA-FL Tent From Pipkin Rd. head NORTH on Airside Center Dr. Turn WEST on Flightline. Flightline will curve and become Doolittle Road. You will need to stay on Doolittle Road and go through the Guardhouse.  Use the password: MASA Setup Team  This will allow you to proceed to the MASA-FL tent.  The MASA-FL Tent is red and white and located in the Paradise City area of Sun 'n Fun Expo. You will need to park in the lot BEFORE the MASA-FL tent. See the map for visual of tent location and parking location.

On Our Way Back to Papua New Guinea!

Dear Friends and Family: It is with great joy and overflowing thankfulness that we write this update to let you know that not only did we recently reach 100% of our monthly living expenses for Papua New Guinea, we’ve also bought our tickets to get us all the way “home!” We thank and praise God for His graciousness towards us in providing so generously through many of you in answer to the prayers of even more of you! My (Carrie) Bible study recently on Matthew 20 reminded me that everything we have is only ever due to the love and grace of our Heavenly Father. We are humbled beyond words at the love I daresay thousands of people have shown in these past two stretching, joyful but sometimes agonizing years. God has brought us through times of great temptation to give way to anxiety (or even terror!), through the grief of thinking we were going to lose Seth, and through the emotionally wearing grind of the NICU and then five newborns at home. We have five happy, healthy toddlers now, and all the glory is the Lord’s! THANK YOU to those who help(ed) us to not only survive, but thrive. These kids have the world’s biggest family, it seems, and we are blessed beyond words. As Gavin has said before, only in Heaven can we know how much God has been at work through His people and through strangers in His care of us all. We pray that you also see His hand of love and provision in your lives. Gavin is very busy still working as well as getting travel and training details worked through. Though the biggest recent job is readying items for our PNG sea freight shipment, departing Dallas the middle of March. I have the much more fun task of “buyer” and “clothes-sorter,” a continuous reminder of the blessing of the gifts of hand-me-down and newly bought clothes and shoes for the kids! Gavin spent a day and a half booking tickets all the way to Ukarumpa, our mission center in PNG. The bookings were quite a bit more complicated than normal as we have two of the babies as lap infants, three in seats (so we don’t have to hold them all 16 hours from Dallas to Brisbane!) plus four extra adults as helpers. These four dear friends are a huge answer to prayer! Three of them would be returning to Ukarumpa anyway, but “Aunt” Deb (who has worked closely with us and the babies from the beginning) is coming because the kids know her so well, plus she wants to “finish the task” and see her babies safely settled in what was also her former home. We will still be going to California on May 23 through June 2 for Gavin’s family and church to meet the quints. We decided to return to Dallas for a few days before heading on to PNG, because there is a direct flight from Dallas to Brisbane, Australia. It departs the night of June 8. As I said, that flight is over 16 hours long, and prayers are desperately requested, please!! I’ve half-joked that we need to set up a round-the-clock prayer vigil. [Given that people on both sides of the world are following our blog and receiving our updates, the round-the-clock part wouldn’t be that hard!] After three days of rest in Brisbane, we will fly to Port Moresby, the capital of PNG, then immediately board our mission aircraft, the Kodiak, for Ukarumpa. I think it will be a foretaste of Heaven to see our friends and “family” at the gates of Aviation, waiting to meet the kids they have “adopted” and prayed for all these months and years. I know I will be exceedingly glad (probably tearful) to see everyone again! Isaac is desperate to leave for PNG. “Although,” he says, I’ll miss my friend Peter!” He is counting down the months. Just under three months to go! The hardest thing, of course, is leaving our family behind. Gavin’s parents are planning to come over in September, hooray! My dad still needs another hip replacement. His first surgery went great and he’s recovering speedily, but he can’t get on an airplane flight of that duration until he’s back in top form. I wish I could take everyone I love with us! It will just about break my heart to leave behind my brother and sister and their delightful spouses. We enjoy our times together so much and often laugh uproariously! Nothing can replace them, but the Lord truly has provided manifold friends to bless us as new “family members” in Ukarumpa. Love to all and endless thanks for your part in allowing us to return to Papua New Guinea! Sincerely, Gavin, Carrie, Isaac, Will, David, Marcie, Seth, & Grace Jones

With Floats In Mind

An ongoing partnership between MAF and Aerocet, Inc. will soon impact the world of missionary aviation. A new Aerocet float will soon be available for the KODIAK airplane, and MAF will soon have its first amphibious KODIAK. As founder of Aerocet, Inc. and co-founder of Quest Aircraft Company, Tom Hamilton says he had floats in mind when he was designing the KODIAK for Quest. Aerocet began building floats for aircraft back in the early 90s. They are the only FAA-approved manufacturer of composite floats. Today Hamilton is about to see his vision of a KODIAK on floats come full circle. The floats are based on Aerocet's design of its de Havilland Beaver floats. Testing is about to begin here in the U.S., and MAF has loaned its newly acquired KODIAK to Aerocet specifically for this purpose. Once approved, the floats will be available to the aviation community, and to MAF, who is looking forward to its first KODIAK floatplane. The airplane will replace two aging Cessna 185 floatplanes at MAF’s Palangkaraya base—one 51 years old with about 24,000 flight hours, and the other 44 years old with 23,000 hours. The younger of the two C185s will remain in Palangkaraya as a backup. Compared with another brand, Hamilton says the new Aerocet KODIAK floats are "dramatically lighter, which is pure payload and pure money to the user." A weight savings will increase the airplane’s carrying capacity. But this isn't MAF’s first experience with Aerocet floats. The two floatplanes in Palangkaraya have been using them for several years. Dave Rask, MAF's director of aviation resources, touts some of the benefits of these composite floats as compared to aluminum floats: "The floats don't corrode in water, they don't leak, and they're slippery and fast in the water. That means the airplane needs less water to get airborne." A KODIAK on floats, with its increased speed and cargo capacity, will only create a more efficient floatplane service in Kalimantan. MAF's service is key to the work of evangelists living and working in hard-to-reach villages, deep in Borneo’s jungle—where access is only possible via the river. The KODIAK floatplane will benefit these Kingdom workers who depend on MAF for supply deliveries, as well as the many villages that rely on MAF for medical evacuation flights. Contemplating how God works through each of us to accomplish His will, Hamilton says, "We all have gifts. My gift is having the skills to make the tools. MAF’s gift is to be able to take the tools overseas and put them to use where they can do the most good."