^ i. Miasxonary Aviation Fellowship"3^ Halalcal, U. h. F.,Sudan, Africa

June, 1956

i.Iargaret Alldridgo Macdonald Hewslotter

Written from: Box 10!l5Halrobi, KenyaEast Africa

"Thou shalt remember all the v/ay the Lord God hath guided thee«#tthere hath not failed thee one word of all His good promises,#."

Bear Ilomeside Friends,

The time is di-*awing near when, God willing, I shall bo seeing youagain after nearly five years# God has been very good to me and Jcannot possibly express fully my praise and gratitude to Ilim, Wogo forth feeling vre must do something for God; we return v/ith thetestimony that He has done all for us# The experiences tlorough whichHe has guided have made Heaven blessedly real, salvation in Christ aplace to stand unnoveable,"and things of earth passing and of littleworth unless of use to Him#

In remembering all the v;ay God has guided xis (for John and I weremarried as I wrote you we v/ere to be) I v/111 begin with our arrivalin the Sudan, raarlced in my remembrance as looking down upon the broadrunways of Khartoum airport through tears of gratitude and relief#We v/ere just completing'a most try ing journey of more than six thousand miles from Bangkol:, Thailand to IChartoum, Sudan, in the singlemotored ?ipcr Pacer plane which had been in John's keeping in the ParEast# The flight v/as extremely wearing as such small planes are notordinarily meant for long distance travel: also v/e had been underthe pressure of having to make the trip quickly, but "He giveth moregrace" and it is still a source of strength to us to remember thispart of the v/ay in that the Lord God guided us#

i^en I married John, I automatically joined the Missionary Aviation Fellowship (British), He was meant to establish this service tomissions in Thailand, bait the door v/as clearly closed at that time.Wo pray that if it is in God's will, the door will yet be opened. Inthe Budan, otuart and Phyllis Sendall-King (another Anglo-Americanalliance) were urgently in need of furlough so we were called to relieve them#

We went almost at once to Malakal in the South Sudan which is our

Fellov/ship's operational base# The events of the months that followed seen a memory blurred with heat and winds, tujuultous electricstorms, brown barren land stretching endlessly, urgent telograms fromthe missionaries, and listening, listening for the engine of thepiano as we waited long hours, and sometimes days and days, for ourhusbands to return from a mission. And movingl The Marshalls andourselves shared living accomodations most of the time and we livedin nine different abodes in tho first eleven monthsi M,A,F, waStry ing to got its ov/n houses but sectiring land took a long time,

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and in the meanwhile we had to gratefully accept whatever accomo-dation offered itself. ITow we can laugh over the things we v/entthrough but it wasn't funny then»

We were more or less camping in an almost empty house on amission compound fourteen miles out pf Malakal when disaster struckhard—a freak storm hit the airdrome and wrecked both our planes sothat we were completely out of action as far as flying was concerned.In the comparative quiet that followed (we had been overworking andlife v/as anything but orderly), the Lord taught us many lessons, andin His good time, restored us to active service with a new plane,

Late^ in the fall, John and I flew to Uganda in one of thewrecked planes which had been Jury-rigged for the flight by the engineer and his crew of the iiJast African firm who. bought it for salvage, for a rest and to await the arrival of our first born. Withmuch Joy we welcomed our sweet Mary Margaret,

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Then, back in the Sudan we took up our tasks again, and stillthe Harshalls and Macdonalds lived together, but this time after onlyone move, we were able to stay a year in a house granted to us by thegovernment. The plane was called upon moi'*e than ever and at timesthe press of work seemed almost more than we could endure. The weather is never helpful for it is very hot and the hvimidity high sothat one's strength is sapped and work goes slowly# This can beespecially frustrating when there is already too much to do, Otircrowded living conditions did not help either, W© built a wall offive gallon gasoline cans filled with sand and camouflaged it Ydthcurtains so that both families equld have a room of their own, Theoffice v/as in one corner of the dining room and our front verandahoften resembled a hangar workshop| During the rains we spenta .gooddeal of time dragging things into the house off the verandah and thendragging them back out again when it dried off again| Jean and 1sometimes hardly saw our husbands for a month at a time for theywould be away as many as twenty-seven nights out of thirty and whenthey were on the ground they were either working on the plane'-orpushing through the office work (Shell bills, fliglit requests, ordersfor spares, overhaul arrangements, etc,) or supervising constructionof the hang^ which was at last underway,.

'Jean's official Job was to keep the books and do the seoretarialwork, while I was housekeeper for ua all. We both reali?fed that theLord had given us our Jobs and that we must do them as unto Him, butsometimes it was easy to feel as if we were doing nothing of importance, They were not easy Jobs, nor very inspiring. Pood, for instance, Is "always something of a problem for canned goods are terribly high priced and'the quality poor, and the market, never reallyabounding in produce, oftentimes yielded almost nothing at all. Yetgood nutrition was vital with the men carrying on a heavy flying program under the conditions of the Sudan, There v/ero sometimes dawntake—offs v/ith breakfast at four a,m,, We never knew with any certainty when they were returning until we saw the plane fly over, soplanning and preparing ahead was hopeless. In the last year I wasvery fortunate to have as a helper a Christian tribal boy whosequiet spirit and helpful attitude sometimes seemed all that made itpossible to keep on.

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In July Marshalls left u9 to take the plane to E# Africa for itsannual overhaul# We were to carry on the building program in theirabsence, for M,A,P, was at last to have houses of its ovm, afterover fourteen months of waiting for landg, Y/hlle Marshalls were gonean up»-country missionary couple lived with us# The man was a builderand his help was literally invaluable# During this period the Emer««gency began#

One morning as the men were working on the first prefab'we suddenly heard bursts of machine gim fire# Grabbing baby Mary, Ruthand I took shelter in the small storeroom in the center of the house;and soon the men Joined us, much to our relief#. The machine g\in fifekept up for over an hour and there were a few bursts of mortar fire#We didn't know what was happOning and feared tv/o armed camps# Although the Sudan v/as not to claim her independence for some time, allthe British officials had left much earlier and the government wasin the hands of the Sudanese# For years there has boon enmity between the North and the South (Malakal is in the South) # The Southern people are Nilotic tribesmen (a number of different tribes) andonly a few are comparatively well educated# The Northerners are muchmore advanced and all but a handful of the government officials areNorthern people# In the province south of us Southern soldiers hadmutinied against their Northerner officers and the situation wasnot yet in control# We feared that the Northern soldiers billetedat Malakal and the police force (Southerners) had started fighting#This was not quite the case, hov/cver, and wo had no'more real troublealthough a state of emergency was in fact declared and curfew v/askept in force for a n-umber of months# Travel v/as prohibited exceptby special permission and the plane v/as not allov/ed to return for rseveral v/eeks# The Sondall-Kings, returning from furlough, were delayed in IChartoimi# We v/ero overdue for vacation and the uncertaintywas sometimes difficult for v/e v/ere planning to welcome a playmatefor Mary and v/ere hoping to bo near a hospital# Then Just at theright time, the plane v/as allov/ed to return, and though we had notplanned to fly, the way opened most wonderfully and we found oxirselves once again in Uganda v/here we v/elcomed our second daughter, woeElizabeth Anne# Again and again tho Lord has led through diff-iculttimes only to bring us out safoly and bless us more abundantly thanever before#

Return to Malakal should have been next, but the building program had boon hold up and the house in which we v/cre to live v/asnon-existenti Wliat to do? Prayer brovight the conviction that woshould go "next door'' to Nairobi, Kenya, v/here John v/ould hope towork on either further engineering licenses or a commercial pilot'slicense# Humanly speaking it seemed a foolish move for housing wassaid to be non-existent, the cost of living high, and v/hether or notJohn would find the work he needed (something that would give himadded experience), v/as unknov/n# l/Ve travelled by bus and arrived inthe early morning very weary, but very thankful for v/e wore so conscious of the Lord's tender watch-care# We had been offered accomo-dations for one month at a mission rest home, the one seal upon ourventure# There v/e spent a blessed Christmas. Later as our monthdrev/ to a close wo v/ont through a time of real testing and v/erowholly cast upon Ilim even for faith to claim His promises as wellas for wisdom for decisions# Abundantly and wonderfully He ansv/or-od above all that v/o had asked or thought# Accomodations have been

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provld/3d, John has boon ablo to take a corrospondonco coiirso loadingto his coimnercial flying liconso, and ho has boon flying tho wholetimo'with tho Konya Police Reserve Airwing, gaining further oxcellontexperience vindor just tho sort of difficult flying conditions we findin M.A.P, Row he has passed all the exams for his license and in afew days v/o will bo leaving for the Sudan to pack for furlough#

Furlough plans are not yet complete but wo are looking to thoLord for guidance, finding always that His plans far excel any womight thinlc to makot V/o are booked to fly from Khartoum on AugUst7th, arriving in London on tho eighth# John^s Mother is in Southsern England and we will bo with her vintil October 22nd whon wo sailfrom Southampton for Now York# Then we will bo making more or lossof a boo lino for Orogon and homo# but hope to soo a number offriends along the way# ••AlthougHTmost of our tiijio will probably bospont in Oregon and some in California, wo may visit Texas to soomy brother as v;o travel back oastv/ard in March on oxir return to GreatBritain for further deputation.

And nov/ I must close# Wo look forward so vory much to being withyou again, and to"giving our testimony of tho grace and power of ourLord Jesus Christ# May God bless you and keep you.

Evor yours in Him,Margaret Macdonald

Forwarding Address:

Permanent U#S#A# address.

c/o I,irs# Connie Cosby321 North' *'P** StreetLivormoro, Calif#

In England: (August—"Octobor l^th)

0/0 Mrs# W# Mi Macdonald3 West UndercliffRye, SussexEngland

vniAT AW v/trr

lUA.P, is not a Missionary Society, tut a fellowship of aviation specialists:' pilots, onginoors and radio tochnicians. It camointo existence alnost simultaneously in Britain and the ir»S,A, in19l|5 and has remained as sopardijo units in orcanization, ' Tliorfe arealso South African, Australian, and ITow Zealand M.A.P»'s*

Before World War II there v/cro mon '̂- parts of the world v;hcromissionaries could not operate offcctivoly hocauso of geographicallimitations® By 19^1-5 the airplane had been developed s'ufficientlyto provide a reasonably safe and roliablo method of transport capable of surmounting many of those limitations^ The M.A.P, primarilyexists to enable missionaries to worlc in areas v/horo othcrv/ise theycould not work. In the Sudan there are sv/omps which cut off largoareas for^up to oight months every year. In other countries, it maybo mountain ranges, Ilalarial belts, a multiplicity of rivers, etc.which make surface transpoi'tation impossible or impracticable® Apartfrom this prime factor, many groo.t assets result from the work ofthe M,A,P® in a country, v/hich make possible a big incroasc in thooffoctivonoss of missionary endeavor®

In tho Sudan tho swamps are such an offoctivo obstacle in the wotseason that before tho advent of tho IUA%P, there were many placeswhere tho Sudan government would not permit missionaries to live,Nov/, permanent mission stations, v/ith their own airstrips arc \7ork-ing all year round. Even in tho dry season travel is not easy: thecategory simply moves from tho near impossible to the arduously difficult. Tho only railroad is in tho north; so in tho south that loaves a choice bctv/oon tho tortuous Hilos {iTliito and Blue) and shockingroads® Both methods require a great deal of knov/lodge to prevent getting lost or stranded, for the main channols of tho rivers have manysubsidiary waterways and tho d.oscrt tracks are only somotimos clearlydefined® Many mission vehicles carry compassos, and use them® Also,tho continual jolting and lurching combinod with tho intense heat anddust is oxliausting® A swift flight over the shortest distance hasnow ncaninr sjnidst such alternatives®

M.A.PjA is undeugminational and is happy to servo all ProtestantEvangoll'".n£ missionaries in tjio areas concornof^.. Its members arecalled of (Jod, c-thor missicnarlcs, ana arc fully quol5_f:..od intheir booh^ical realm. Because of his continual travel around thosouth SudaS., John finds a definite ministry among the misr-ionariosthomsolvosj quite apart from more "normal'' contacts and op'ooruunitlosfor v/itnoss®

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