Where the burden was birthed...

The year is 2002.  The place is Northern Haiti, where the road ends and the hike begins.  A medical missions team that John is accompanying is ready to make its way to a remote clinic.  The team loads up in bed of the pickup truck to begin the four hour drive.  The roads are less than passable.  Huge pot holes and much mud and debris make the road almost inpassible.  The "potholes" make for a journey in themselves.  The team unloads so the truck can move through the deep hole in the road that is half full of water.  The team walks around and then reloads in the truck on the other side.  Finally the teams gets to the end of the road.  The hike begins here on foot for a few miles to reach the clinic.  Upon arrival at the clinic, hundreds of Haitian families surround the clinic waiting for their turn.  The doctor summons the team to come with her.  After getting them set up, she begins to tell the leaders a story:

Over the last few years this doctor had taken one of the Haitian nationals under her wing.  She began to train this lady in nursing skills and clinic management.  This lady was well equipped to keep the clinic running in the absence of this doctor.  She did a great job for this doctor.  The doctor continued saying that this lady had recently become pregnant and the time for delivery was near.  During the delivery process, the baby was breech, and they could not get the baby to turn.  They had no other choice but to hike her out and load her on the back of that pick up truck DURING the delivery process.  They knew the closest facility that could help would be about 2 hours away, but they had to try.  The lady did not make it.  She bled to death in the back of that truck.

At this moment, John looks up and prays out, "God, there is a clearning right here at the clinic.  A perfect place for a helicopter to land.  A helicopter could have gotten that lady to the facility within 20 min."

That is the moment that God birthed a desire to bring the helicopter to Haiti permanently.  We finished our term with the mission we were serving with and begin all the necessary steps to obtain enough helicopter flight time and maintenance experience to be able to take a helicopter into Haiti on a permanent basis. 

Though John has gone into Haiti on numerous occassions over these past few years with short term mission teams, our time has come to see the dream become a reality.

We are humbled and blessed to be given the opportunity to serve others with such a tool as the helicopter.
The helicopter is the tool we use to literally multiply time. A two day hike, a four hour car ride or a fourteen hour boat ride is transformed into ... a 30 minute flight to deliver food, medical supplies or a transport to the hospital.

Speaking at churches....

We are so very excited to worship together with First City Church this Sunday, November 27 and to share a little about our work with Samaritan Air and our hearts for Haiti. 

We have four other Sundays before we leave that we are trying to schedule at various churches in the area to share our work and build more monthly partners to join us on the mission field to which we have been called.  Please let us know if you have a small group, community group, Sunday School Class or church congregation that you would like us to share with. 

I cannot begin to convey the excitement we are feeling!  Though there are many unknowns still left to play out, we do know that God is working and working quickly to move us to Florida to begin our work with Haiti.

 

Update on Home and Move

Wow!  When God moves, just buckle up and enjoy the ride!  We have a family that drove by the home and asked if we would do a long term lease of our home.  PERFECT!  Just like God to protect us and keep us moving in this housing market.  So they move in January 1, 2012 and we head down to Florida right after Christmas.

John will finish his job the last week of December and begin packing up the moving truck. 

We will be speaking at a few churches our last weeks here in Tennessee to build our support base.  Any support brought in during the month of December will help with our move and finding a place to rent.  Our monthly support will need to begin by January.

Thank you to all who are just as excited to partner with us and pray for us during this new adventure.  WE are so very excited.  The unknown is always unnerving if we look at it through our flesh, but that is where faith comes in.  The moment we said we are ready to return to our work, God has blessed.  We must continue to trust His direction and moving and let all the details fall into place like only He can make them.  It's His puzzle to work, we are just the pieces eagerly waiting to be placed at the correct place in His big picture.

Blessings to all!

Prayer Requests and Praise

·      The next chapter in the Kandel family's Kingdom Purpose is about to begin

·      Our monthly partners.

·      Samaritan Air as they prepare to receive us.

·      The boys through this transition.

    A place to rent in Florida

We will be in Florida in January, 2012.  Financial partnerships can be sent to: 

Samaritan Air

3161 S.E Chandelle Rd.    Jupiter, FL 33478,

Write on the memo line: John and April Kandel.

Our Return to Service in Haiti

Nine years, 3 moves, and 2 more kids later, we are returning to full time Christian missionary work in Haiti!

Over these last nine years John has been working on building lots of helicopter flight hours and even more hours of maintenance experience so that we can return to the mission field using the helicopter.

During our first 4 year term as missionaries back in 1998-2002, John found his niche in the aviation world, flying helicopters.  Thus began our journey in accumulating enough time and experience in the helicopter so he could use his talents to serve God and man on the mission field.

We are extremely excited to be returning to South Florida and partnering with Samaritan Air as their first Missionary Family.  This is a young, small mission organization that partners with many in providing air support using the helicopter.  Samaritan Air has just finished preparing their Bell 206 BIII Jet Ranger for service in Haiti. 

We will be moving as soon as possible to Florida to begin training and preparing a hangar in Haiti to receive the Jet Ranger.  This is the aircraft that John will be flying and maintaining while in Haiti.  John will be spending about 40% of his time in the country of Haiti.  The rest of the time will be in Florida at the headquarters helping with donor relations and maintaining stateside helicopters.  John will be serving as a pilot/mechanic.

Our immediate job will be to raise our monthly crew of prayer warriors and financial partners.  Our work begins with Samaritan Air January, 2012.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

Samaritan Air Video