July planes and birthdays...

We have had a sort of fun-crazy-busy time for the last few weeks.  Soulwinning training and outreach was a huge highlight as we took our church to Bamenda to learn under Pastor Gillmore a few weeks ago.  Several of our church members grew tremendously that week and have been witnessing more effectively since then. 

On a previous post I mentioned Tom Needham and I flying the Necasters soulwinning team out to Akwaya.  Their time soulwinning in Akwaya was greatly blessed of the Lord and some great things happened that were obviously of the Lord.  Hundreds of people from countless Akwaya villages were in the area getting government ID cards, and so many of them heard and believed the gospel. 

Then on Friday, the 1st of July, Tom and I began flying our planes early in the morning to try to get around 20 people out of Akwaya.  The weather was absolutely lousy for flying.  I was praying a bit and thanking the Lord for my new EFIS instrument and my faithful GPS that enabled me to safely navigate.  After safely landing in Meyerim, Akwaya after a flight that I could have lived without, I waited out ground fog and then a thunderstorm before being able to fly out my first group about mid-morning.  So much for waking up before dawn to get an early start!  After getting rained on in and out of the plane (a little bit leaky) I enjoyed some fellowship with an Akwaya family that has a house by the airfield.  They served me fresh hot boiled peanuts while I waited for the weather to clear up...awesome!! 

(This was the only picture that I got due to a faulty camera.  It keeps dying on me even after a charge.  I am not having a lot of success with these point and shoot pocket cameras.  Anyone have any good recommendations for a good camera?)

I was able to make two flights out of Akwaya before having to quit due to inclement weather.  The sky was so bad today.  I tried flying high at 9,000 feet and still was picking my way through towering cumulus clouds.  I tried flying low and had to navigate through valleys with low mountain clouds around.  To add to that, it was very hazy which reduced the visibility alot compared to normal.  I felt like I had flown all day already due to the hard flying.  Praise the Lord for great airplanes and instrumentation.  I'll have to post a picture of my new EFIS attitude indicator.  It looks like a little computer screen and has about 5 or 6 instruments in one little screen. 

Then after the flying, I headed home for my beloved's birthday.  We celebrated Abby's birthday and had another home-made ice cream fest (in fact, she is dishing me up some left over ice cream now as I type this).  Thanks for sending her the gifts, cards, and emails!  We really love our birthday month from June 23rd to July 24th! 

Happy July 4th to all of you in the USA!!!