Background Info

I was born in 1981 in Jos, Nigeria because my parents are SIM missionaries. My three brothers were also born there and we lived and worked there until 1994 when we moved to Ghana. The church related development program that my dad was managing was doing very well and there were a large number of Nigerians that were competent and could continue to operate the program without the help of missionaries.

Since there were no mission schools close to where my parents lived in Ghana, I chose to go to boarding school at International Christian Academy (ICA) in Ivory Coast. I enjoyed my schooling time especially the sports and outreach programs which were very good. Being involved in many of the outreach programs really sparked my personal interest in missions during that time.

After graduating high school in 1999, I was accepted by SIM (Serving in Mission) as a short term missionary for one year. I went up to Niger, and worked at an SIM boarding school doing construction and maintenance. That year reinforced my desire to be a missionary, but I knew that I must first get a college education. Upon returning the the US in 2000, I applied to Moody Bible Institute as an aviation student. While waiting for acceptance, I found a construction job and was able to save up money to help pay for college. I knew I wanted to be a missionary and I wanted to serve other missionaries and help them do their jobs better and easier. In 2001, I started at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and took all of my bible and general classes.

After those two years, I was planning on going down to TN where the aviation program was located. But Moody announced they were closing that program and would be starting a new one in Spokane, WA. Taking a huge leap of faith, I decided to go out to WA and help start the new program. The last three years I have been getting my aviation training in Spokane. There were some rough spots being the first class, but I persevered and graduated in May 2006 as a maintenance specialist.

This summer I was accepted to SIM again and will be going to Nairobi, Kenya in January of 2007. I have been working on support raising the second half of the summer and into the fall. This fall I also worked on my pre-field aviation training at the JAARS facility in Waxhaw, NC. This training is designed to give me good experience working on planes exactly like the ones I will be working on in Kenya and give me information on specific mission related problems and solutions. I completed this training the beginning of November. From there, I went down to Sebring FL to visit my grandparents and then headed north to MN visiting 2 of my brother and some supporters along the way.

Kenya

My plan is to leave for Nairobi in January for two years. Upon completion of the two years, I plan to return to the US to visit supporters and churches. I am also planning on getting my Inspectors license at that time as I will have enough experience. While in Kenya, I will be working at the main hangar base for Africa Inland Mission (AIM) at Wilson airport. SIM and AIM work closely together in Kenya and I will be on loan to AIM since they operate most of the mission planes in East Africa. AIM Air, supports missionaries in Kenya as well Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, DCR, Mozambique, Burundi, and the Comoros. The staff consists of around 30 missionary pilots and mechanics as well as about 20 national staff. We currently operate 13 aircraft most of which are based in Nairobi. The planes that are not based in Nairobi fly in for all their heavy maintenance which I will probably be a part of as well. I am excited about where God is leading me and would love it if you would like to partner with me.

For more information on SIM, check out their web site: www.sim.org
For more information on AIM Air check out their web site: www.aimair.org