April 22 – Via Zoom – Two Mission Reports

Opening Thoughts and Announcements – Glendon Zook

Sometimes we ask ourselves – is my life really mattering?

Remember – God has placed you here for a purpose – for just a time as this.

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35  

Even small things matter and can make a difference in someone’s life.

Mission Updates (1) Kelsey Wenger (2) Craig Russell

Kelsey Wenger – Slides from her time of serving on a Mercy Ship in Senegal. She is the daughter of Dave and Shawn Wenger. Dave is on our ministerial team.

Twenty patients in this room. Each patient is allowed one caregiver. The caregiver sleeps on the mat under the bed.

This young girl with a large facial tumor was very withdrawn.

Look at her smile following surgery! That is Kelsey behind her.

This young boy was severely burned in a fire that limited the use of his arm.

Look at him now – with almost full use of his arm.

Severely bowed legs from poor nutrition.

His first walk following surgery.

Kelsey caring for a patient as she looks in a mirror following surgery.

Games could be played even when patient and medical care person could not speak the same language.

Deck 7 is where they got fresh air and sunlight following surgery. Everyone loved to go to Deck 7

A worship service at Hope Center – where patients stay before and after surgery.

Kelsey (right) and three others on the medical team.

Worship on Christmas Day when they sang Christmas carols.

Kelsey closed by thanking everyone for their prayers.

She plans to serve on a Mercy Ship again this fall.

The next report was from Craig Russell with JAARS. Craig grew up in our congregation.

He and his family currently live in Waxhaw, North Carolina. The children who were at home quickly said, “Hello” to everyone.

He did a quick review of their life on the mission field – starting with Brazil.

Their home in Brazil

Serving as a missionary pilot

He showed some slides from their early days in Brazil when they were involved in aviation. This photo is of his wife, Shannon, and their girls in a village.

Remote runway

Their move to another location in Brazil.

Fairly current photo of Craig and Shannon’s family.

In 2014 He became Direction of Aviation with JAARS and moved to the USA.

Here he taught those who were preparing for the mission field – including plane maintenance and flying in a mountainous area.

This is where missionaries are prepared for work on a mission field – like swimming – especially for emergencies. They learn how to put on life jackets in all kinds of situations.

Four-wheel training. In today’s world many missionaries have never driven on regular roads. They use city buses, subways and Uber.

Motorcycle training and maintenance.

JAARS is involved in recovery support from floods and other disasters.

In his job today, he gets to go on field trips to stay in touch with, help and encourage missionaries.

He mentioned his current title with JAARS – which I didn’t get to write down, so I checked it out on JAARS website. This is what I found.

Craig Russell

Degrees: Bachelor of Science in Aviation Technology, Moody Aviation, 1998

Current Position

SIL Director of Global Transportation Services – 2017 –

JAARS Vice President of Transportation Services, 2017 –

Other Experience

• Director of Aviation, JAARS, 2015–2017
• Advisory Committee member – Moody Aviation, 2015–
• Executive board member – Asas De Socorro, Brasil, 2010–
• Director of Aviation and Chief Pilot, SIL Brazil, 2009–2014
• Pilot / Mechanic, SIL Brazil,2001–2014
• Maintenance instructor, Moody Aviation,1998–2000

A visit to Papua New Guinea

Going to the “ends of the earth” may look like this – the reason we still have missionary planes.

A visit to Cameroon in central Africa – to encourage the church – made him realize how unsafe it is for our missionaries there.

My favorite story of the evening. This man from Indonesia was glad to tell Craig about each of his arrows. Each one was used to kill a different animal.

He was excited to tell Craig that since he became a Christian, he no longer keeps an arrow for killing humans.

If you noticed asphalt in the above photo – in the middle of nowhere – it was all flown in by plane.

Craig mentioned that he was honored to fly over the area where his friend (and our church member) Dave Clapper flew when he was killed in a plane crash.

Dave’s wife Beth married another missionary pilot (Kevin Lynne) where they continue to serve in Papua, Indonesia.

Because of the virus Craig in currently doing much of his ministry work by Zoom.

There are still thousands and thousands of people without the scripture in their language.

Thus we keep going to the whole world.

Closing thoughts by Glendon Zook