PCM News: December 2009

25 December 2009

Happy happy and all that!

It’s hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of 2009. Looking back this year started with a flurry of flights including medivacs, mission trips and shed loads of office work. During this year you may remember praying for us as we both applied for work visas which God sorted out for us, 3 years each!

Cathy had a busy year heading up the hospitality ministry at Mercy Air and was often down to just 2 staff running everything. In between she taught at Africa School of Missions and delivered babies - not much time for sunbathing!

Cathy and Matthew made an unscheduled visit to the see her family in the UK after her dad had a major illness, but by God’s intervention he made an amazing recovery. Sorry that she didn’t get to see many of you but it was a very short visit and she had great quality time with the family.

Paul’s dad came to visit us in October and invested his time with us and our home by painting most of the house and making a veggie garden for us. It was brilliant to spend time with him!

Matthew has been back and forth from Durban a few times during the year and Cathy really enjoyed the time with him in the UK. He’s gradually building up a photography portfolio and reputation (as a photographer) in Durban where he stays with his girlfriend’s family.

The year has ended with a week of remembering and celebrating 20 years of Mercy Air’s existence. It’s interesting that when you remember the things that God has done in the past His future plans somehow become more clear and exciting! Mercy Air has some exciting plans for next year with at least 12 funded mission trips and possibly a new aircraft.

Thank you again to those who pray for, and support us.

You really do make a difference. Merry Christmas.

Paul and Cathy

16 December 2009

A Working Holiday

Zululand Mission Air Transport (ZUMAT) are another Christian flying organisation we work very closely with, and last week Cathy and I got to do a shared flight with them.

They operate a Flying Doctor service in northern Natal and fund it by doing commercial game lodge transfers, and it was one of these flights we were helping with.

It worked out really well as there were six passengers - too much for one plane but leaving plenty of room (enough for Cathy anyway) when we split them up. We initially took them down to N. Natal where they spent two nights at a fancy lodge. We stayed about 20 mins flight away with our friends and got so spend a day in a local game park where we saw all sorts of things...

and some things we'd never seen before - probably just as well!

I think the one was stuck in the mud and the other was giving it a push!

Two days later we picked the passengers up again and took them to Durban - another stroke of luck - that's just where Matthew stays! Two nights with him and Annie, before a slow leisurely flight back...

Don't touch the red button!

taking in the new Footy World Cup stadium near Nelspruit just before home...

So, a working holiday - not quite, but at least a bit of a holiday whilst working. My kind of job!

Paul and Cathy

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.