The other day Grace left for Niamey to do some guesthouse shopping. She travelled with another couple. Her return was to be Friday via SIMAIR along with another missionary returning from holidays.
As the time for the return flight arrives I head out to the airstrip to greet my favorite person. As we stand there we watch the airplane circling the airstrip and find out that they are having problems. The throttle was not functioning properly. The pilot could go full throttle or half throttle. I guess he did not have the throttle control he needed to land.
There was someone on the ground relaying messages from the airplane back to Niamey for assistance on what to do. He could not land at Galmi because the airstrip was too short for what was happening. He had concern about going into a manual mode and being able to have enough control to land at Galmi.
While they were circling there was a lot of prayer going on.
Finally the decision was made to send the plane back to Niamey where there was a much larger airstrip to land on. So off they went.
For myself I could not handle just going to the office so I went home and prayed and prayed. After about an hour and a half I received a call that as they got towards Niamey the throttle was better and shortly thereafter they landed safely. I am so grateful that God hears our prayers.
As soon as the plane went back to Niamey a decision was made to send someone, via truck, to Niamey to pick everyone up and to get one short term missionary, heading home, to the Niamey airport. So now Grace and the others will be returning by truck tommorow. I pray they have a safe journey.
This whole scenario was obviously the result of the other passenger on the flight who has a penchant for getting into situations that do nothing but create news foder for her blogsite. This is the same person, who while in France (lotty datty da), would not bring me back fresh salmon because her mother would probably eat it before it got to Galmi. I gave her a perfectly good solution to the problem (duct tape) but she seemed not to want to abide by my advice.
Setting aside my fun poke at DB, I am ever so grateful to God for His wonderous provisions. I find it a great joy that I can serve Him.
Blessings to all.
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