More than just a PILOT

As part of the MAF recruiting team I get letters and e-mails from pilots that come from all walks of life and backgrounds. airline pilots, military pilots, corporate pilots to the pilots that only fly on the weekends for fun. We all love to fly and many have flown pistons to jets and everything in between. I took my first airplane ride 48 years ago and still get the same feeling everytime I take-off as I did that first time many years ago. Those of us that fly have been given a great gift. Many that write to me, say they now want to use that gift for something important in life. Some discover this later then sooner in life.
Some of us use the airplane to make money, some of us use it for fun and adventure. MAF have pilots that use it to change lives in 30 countries around the world. When I was in the MAF Training Department, I always told the new pilots that they must be the best pilots and mechanics in the world to be a part of MAF but if they only came to fly the airplane then they came to MAF for the wrong reasons. The airplane is a special tool to get Gods Word out to those that have never heard His name. During my many years of flying overseas, I saw some come home early saying well I have flown all the airstrips and it was great fun and lots of adventure but now it is kind of boring and just a lot of hard work and so they went home looking for new adventures. So are we just pushing another piece of metal through the sky day after day or do we car about those we are flying and do we care enough about them to help change their lives for Christ. Sometimes it is a hard thing to do. Sometimes they smell bad, look bad, do not like you, even rub pig grease all over their body and have bones in their noses and do not wear clothes. Do we really care about them and their lives. Care enough to change their lives for eternity. MAF pilts are some of the best and they do a very technical job every day flying airplanes but they are more then just pilots and mechanics. They take a big piece of metal everyday and use it to change lives. Yep, I then get more fun and adventure then I can take in a lifetime.

Have you seen any Fruit

Today at MAF was Chapel Day ! Every Wed is Chapel Day here at the MAF Headquarters. But today was a very special day as we had two missionaries that we had served for many years on the Indonesian island of Papua. A very remote village by the name of Korapun with a one-way airstrip on the side of a mountain in a small valley. MAF has served the missionaries living there for over 30 years. I was one of the many MAF pilots that made many flights to provide them food, supplies, a hydro-electric water system and so much more over the years. During those many years the missionaries were translating Gods Word into the language of the Kimyal people of that valley. 15 years of labor so that they now have and can read His Word in their own language. I am just a pilot and mechanic but I am also a part of the Body of Christ and todays Chapel brought into focas all that we do as a ministry within MAF and Missionary Aviation.

Each of us in the Body have a special gift and ours is a very technical one but MAF has been a very important part in bringing Gods Word to the Kimyal people today. A eternal gift to them. As tears ran down my face this morning, I understand the need for all the parts and how they work together, yes even pilots and mechanics. The years of training, raising support, living in a different cultural, seperation from our families in the States for long periods yet all of that and more was worth every minute to see the faces of the Kimyal people see His Word for the first time ever in their lives. We have always had the Bible. I have 7 at home and even in different translations in my language and yet do I think each time I open His Word how wonderful we have it, is it that same joy that I saw this morning with the Kimyal people each time we do ???
Today was why I am in MAF and if I had another 35 years I would do it all again. Capt Hook

Rasks will speak in St Louis, MO

Just a note to say that Dave and Crisse Rask will be at Hope Church in St Louis, MO this weekend and will be speaking on Sunday morning. The address of the church is 4200 Brown Road in St Louis, MO. There phne at the church is:314-429-6182 to check for times of speaking.

I am on the road again ! Just finished a great Missions Conference at San Diego Christian college and had a chance to meet with the pilots on the track for Missionary Aviation. The college just recieved this week their Part 141 and this will help with the cost and time to get ratings for their students. SDCC is also working on a program for students to help them with their school debt. if you are on the mission aviation track and have been accepted to a Mission Aviation Org, like MAF then they will help you pay off your school debt. This will greatly help MAF as this will Help the student quickly move into MAF and cut the need for going out and looking for a job to pay off their loans ! Moody Aviation is also doing this and I am sure the other schools will be doing the same in the near future.

This week I have been in Longview, Texas at the LeTourneau University Missions Conference. They have us speaking day and night to the Missions Students. LETU new Aviation Center is one of the best aviation centers I have seen. We look to seeing many new pilots coming from this program. I had a wonderful time to speak with a young Haitian women that wants to be a missionry pilot and return to her country to serve her people ! Joy was overflowing from her soul and she is counting the days to return to help her country ! LETU will soon have a new C-206 (G) for their students to train and they want to offer refresher training or prep for anyone looking and preparing for their TE in MAF. Once again this year LETU has many students wanting to go with us for a MAF Vision Trip this coming summer.
This is a great chance to SEE MAF up close and what we are doing around the world.

As you know MAF is flying and providing good communication for Haiti ! Our work has just started. MAF is there for the long haul ! As bad as this disaster is for Haiti, it is also a chance to rebuild a new Haiti and most of all to share Christ with those that have had their lives changed forever! MAF has seen this before in other countries, the disaster has opened many doors that have always been closed to sharing Christ. This is a wonderful time to not only serve the needs of the people in Haiti but to change their hearts for the Lord.

Blessings to you all, John Hook

Truck Drivers

As Missionary pilots, we somtimes feel like truck drivers. We are never around long enough to see what really happens to the stuff or people we drop off at all the airstrips we visit each day. I was flying for many years in a very remote area of Indonesia called the Birds Head back in the 80's serving the missionaries that were trying to reach and then to translate the Bible into their own language. There were other MAF pilots that had come before me that were serving the same missionaries in that area and other pilots after me. This is now 2009 and the first Bibles have been delivered to the Hatam people in that area. How many years, miles flown,hours of translation went into making this happen. Think of it - people for the first time in their lives - to have the Bible in their own language ! To see Gods Word,read it,understand it within their own culture and language for the first time. All of the pilots and missionaries working together for all of those years and now we see the fruit of it all. This is just a small picture of what we will see in heaven someday. We have no idea of the lives that have been changed through Christ and those that have been changed because - hey, we are just truck drivers - right?

Next Trip

Capt Hook is off again ! Arriving in Dallas on Oct 28th and driving to Longview Texas, home of LeTourneau University for their Career Day on Thur Oct 29th. Come and check out our MAF Booth and pick up lots of MAF info on becoming a Missionary Pilot ! As always I will have my Take Off and Landings video going. Yes, these are REAL airstrips. LETU new Aviation building is finished (located at the airport) and will get to take the Tour ! We also mourn the loss of LETU student Ron Royce this past week. A man that gave his life to prepare new Missionary Pilots at Moody Aviation. Heaven will be full of his many students someday ! We will miss him and his great knowledge of aviation. OK Looking forward to seeing many of you in texas, OK and Kansas next week !!!