PCM News: Flown the Nest

26 February 2010

Flown the Nest

Flown the nest is a phrase usually leveled at a teenager who have 'finally' left home.

We'll, our 51 year old left home last week when John and Holger flew our Beech 18 out of the farm for the last time, and on to its new home in Namibia.

I wasn't here to witness the event, as I was away on a missions trip in Moz, although it would of looked something like this:

I haven't delved back in the log books far enough to work out how many hours it flew over the 18 years it was with us, or equated that to how many times round the world it has flown. It would be difficult to count the number of passengers who flew in it, and night impossible to know how many people have been affected by the ministries of those passengers.

It might have just been a plane, a collection of mechanical parts (some of which we have got to know very well!), but as a tool in Gods work it has been invaluable.

We will miss flying it - although we won't miss operating it, but we will certainly miss its growl on take off and it's sheer presence in the hanger. We will retain the memories of the places it has taken us of course but for now though, we look to the future and what God has in line as its replacement.

P n' C

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A short history of us

Not long after we were married we felt that God had some full time work for us overseas. This initially began with a move to Sheffield in 1992 to work for a Christian management training company. Three years later we felt the Lord's prompting that another change was imminent and this led to a move to Africa where we helped set up a youth program with the Lesotho-Durham link in the capital Maseru. An initial three year commitment turned into four after which the youth work was handed over to the nationals.

Then, after feeling God was moving us into mission flying Paul enrolled at a flying school and completed his South African commercial license with an instrument rating in December 1999.

We moved from Lesotho to White River in South Africa in June of 2003 where we now work with Mercy Air. Mercy Air was borne out of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and is a sister, although smaller organisation to the more well known Mercy Ships. We are situated near Nelspruit and provide a service to missions and the development/aid community in the southern African region but mainly serve Mozambique.

We operate four aircraft at present - a Quest Kodiak, a Cessna 310 and two Airbus 350 helicopters which are often used for the relief flights.

When not flying Paul is responsible for flight operations and is Mercy Air's Safety Officer.

Cathy, who is a registered Nurse and Midwife works part time at Africa School of Missions which is a bible college preparing missionaries for overseas service. She teaches in their School of Health and is part of a team which visits a number of rural clinics during the week. She is also helps with the hospitality ministry that Mercy Air runs.

Matthew spent four years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he studied photo journalism. He has now flown the nest and is living with his wife in Durban. They have a young daughter named Isabella.