The week after the 'Christmas handout' at the Flying Mission base, Chilongolo, it was the turn of the children to discover the joy of giving. They have no resources for buying anything but they have lots of energy that can be channelled into another kind of giving: serving one another.

Christmas 2015 has come and gone and Rainbowz, the childrens' group that meets on the plot of Flying Mission Zambia each Sunday afternoon, has celebrated it once again with enthusiasm.

The Christmas Story was told this year by Sally Green, back to renew connections with the children of this needy area of suburban Lusaka. 

Andy Kradolfer, head of Aviation for Flying Mission Zambia, found it was his turn to fly to Malawi recently. His brief was to take a Zambian pastor to speak for 2 days at a week-long Missions Conference. Andy thought that this pastor must be very important to be flying alone for such a long way only to speak for 2 days.

Well, things didn’t go well initially. There is more to be done for international flights than domestic ones. Andy told us:

Mary-Ann lets us into some of the ways her Flying Mission pilot husband, Guillermo Reddekopp gets 'stuck into' his job in Zambia: 

'Guillermo enjoys all his roles within FMZ, but his main role is to be a pilot, serving the mission/church community in Zambia and Southern Africa area. 

On weekdays, on most Saturdays, and occasionally on a Sunday, there is activity in and around the Flying Mission Zambia hangar. From Monday to Friday there are a number of guys who arrive at 7:15am.

By 7:30am there is a 'devotional time' which all those working that day at the hangar will attend. The guys have been going through “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers which has been really encouraging, if sometimes a little bit heavy at that hour of the morning! From thereon, daily tasks are discussed and assigned. 

It seems like Malawi is the place to go right now! Three weeks after Flying Mission Zambia pilot Timo took a group there, another of our pilots, Guillermo, also flew a group of people from Willow Creek Church in Chicago, USA, to a village in rural Northern Malawi.

Mummy Rempel (Tracey) wrote this recently: 

School will soon be finished for the year. Matthew will be finished with Reception (Kindergarten) and will be going into Grade 1 come August. Joshua will be joining Matthew at school starting in pre-school. Earlier in this school term the students were told of the upcoming book week activity of creating a mode of transport from a cardboard box. 

Flying Mission pilot Timo Kehr tells us how he is finding mission flying in this report of a flight to Malawi he recently undertook. He dubs it 'a short insight into the life of a missionary pilot': 

6 am: the alarm clock goes off. Take off is set for 8 am, so I have a small breakfast and off I go…Thank God, the internet is working - what a great start to the day!

First of all: weather check; clouds are low but otherwise no threat. " Good to go".

Next step: checking the plane: fuel, oil; all is functioning and everything is where it’s meant to be…

Chief Pilot for Flying Mission Zambia, Rick Rempel, recently had one of those frustrating jobs that turn up every so often. It began on a Friday afternoon….

I was asked by the Flight Scheduler to take a missionary from Zambia to South Africa for health care the next day. International flights take some planning, with special clearances required for all foreign airspaces. Times for exiting and entering all have to be submitted. I was going into an airport new to me and close by busy Johannesburg, so there was plenty of work to be done.

In October Dr Craig of Mercy Fliers, partner to Flying Mission Zambia, took Dr Breen up to Chitokoloki Mission hospital for the annual fistula repair camp there.