Engineers

Pierre Casemajor

Pierre grew up in France and at that time felt all he wanted was to be happy in life. He remembers his mother offered him a Bible but he had already made plans for his future and at that time he did not want God to interfere. Pierre completed military service and then left France and went to North America and Mexico looking to fulfil his dream job as a Truck Driver. He realised his aims, but he realised he was never as satisfied as he expected to be.

Pierre went back to France in 1981 and, reading the Bible, he found the love of God for him through the story of the prodigal son. God gave him His forgiveness and His peace through Jesus Christ. After becoming a Christian, Pierre wanted to use his skills as an Automotive Mechanic in missions work.

In 1995, he contacted MAF and received MAF News. At that time he read that MAF were looking for Experienced Aircraft Engineers, but at the same time he knew that there was a big gap between his professional experience and the MAF requirements. In 1998, he met MAF UK staff at a mission conference in Holland. He found out that it was possible to get specialist training to be able to work on aircraft. At that moment, Pierre felt the gap filled and a large, flat, straight road ahead of him and he realised God was showing him the way.

Pierre went to Bible school in France in 2000 for 1 year and right after that he went to the USA to study for an Aircraft Maintenance Technician Licence. He was able to extend his stay for 11 more months as a Volunteer in the hangar of a mission organisation in North Carolina.

Back in France in 2002, Pierre got a job in a hangar maintaining general aviation aircraft for 18 months. In February 2003, he was accepted as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer with MAF and was assigned to serve in Chad. Since then he has moved to the Tanzania programme to join a bigger team, but still with the aim of serving the local community.

Tim's future was sealed when a good friend said, ‘Tim, I think you should work full-time for the Lord.’ At that time Tim scoffed at the idea as he feels he had a very narrow view of Christian mission, and standing in front of people and preaching was much too daunting. His working career had been in light aviation spent overhauling electrical aircraft components.

However, God made it very clear to Tim that he was to put his skills to use in God's service. Through Scripture, friends and financial provision, the way opened and in July 1996 Tim arrived in Tanzania to work with MAF as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. He now holds the role of Quality Manager and spends much more time behind a computer than wielding a spanner.

Carol was challenged while at Spring Harvest to get more involved in short-term mission. With some trepidation, she came out to Tanzania as a Primary School Teacher with Crosslinks for two years in 1987 and, apart from a two-year break to go to Bible college, she has worked in Dodoma ever since. Carol has changed rôles, spending six years in children’s ministry and is currently teaching English to theological students at Msalato Theological College.

Tim and Carol met shortly after Tim arrived in Dodoma through some mutual friends, but being a little slow on the uptake they waited until 2001 before they started courting. In January 2002, they were married in Carol’s Home Church in Liverpool.

Tim and Carol count it a privilege to be able to serve God in Dodoma. They have been stretched in many areas and have developed skills they did not know they had. Tim is still not fond of public speaking but he has learnt to put together a passable sermon without too much anguish. Carol battled with frequent attacks of malaria when she first arrived but, praise God, has now been malaria-free for many years.

Tim and Carol so appreciate the prayerful and financial support of a team of people who encourage they in our work.

Albert is a US citizen and completed an MTAT degree and FAA and A&P courses in Mechanical Engineering Technology and Aviation Technology in Spring 1990.

He worked for AirServ for three years until early 2000 before he was accepted for a short term assignment of six months in Chad with MAF.

Albert has also worked in Mozambique, South Africa, Chad and Djibouti as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and also Chief Engineer, working on Cessna 206, 210, 208 and to a lesser degree on KingAir E90 and 200 aircraft.

Rosane is Brazilian and qualified as a Physical Therapist in 1990. From 2004 she worked for YWAM in this capacity and was based in Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Kenya. She feels she was most fulfilled when working in Angola working with children who had artificial limbs.

Albert and Rosane married in 2001 and they undertook their first joint assignment with MAF then for three months in Chad. They they returned to the USA to raise support before longer term work with MAF. Their first assignment with MAF was to Bangladesh where Albert worked as Chief Engineer.

During their time overseas they have had two children, Daniel and Joshua. They are now based in Mongolia where Albert is again undertaking the role of Chief Engineer.

Thomas and Patricia McKelvey

Thomas and Patricia came from opposite sides of the earth to serve God in Tanzania. Patricia is from New Zealand with teaching and administration expertise for NZ CMS. Thomas, from Northern Ireland, has land, sea and now aircraft engineering experience for MAF.

They met in September 2007 and didn’t waste time, marrying in April 2008!

Thomas grew up in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and is a member of Ballymena Baptist Church. University in Belfast was a place of academic and spiritual growth. Nine years in the construction equipment rental world followed, learning, among many other things, that material success could not satisfy, and developing a decision to serve in missions. This led him to apply and be accepted for aircraft engineer training at Missionary Maintenance Services in Ohio, USA.

Now Thomas works in the MAF hangar at Dodoma, maintaining aeroplanes that fly to spread God’s love. He’s recently started a move into technical records and information, combining this work with quality assurance duties – a higher keyboard to spanner ratio!

Patricia grew up and went to school and university in Auckland, New Zealand. Her gap year was spent in Hampshire in the UK, and she returned to London in her mid-twenties as a supply teacher. Then a short-term mission to Vanuatu was the start of her missionary journey, which led to Dodoma via Bible college and training in Australia. She is a member of St George’s Church in Epsom, Auckland.

Holy Trinity English Medium Primary School is where Patricia spends her working days as Deputy Principal – the only non-Tanzanian in a staff of 30 and over 500 children aged from 3½ to 15 years old who are all full of energy! Last year, Patricia started a school library and teacher resource area, and there are always new projects on the go.

Thomas and Patricia are involved in an international fellowship group, and they love to cook and entertain together.

Mark and Sarah both feel it is a privilege to come from families with a strong Christian heritage. Sarah is the daughter of missionaries and spent some of her childhood in Nigeria, while Mark was brought up in a Christian family in Gillingham, Kent. It is largely due to the influence of their parents that they both became Christians at a young age and developed
an interest in mission.

Mark and Sarah met at their Home Church in Gillingham and were married in 1999. The early years of their marriage were spent there, Sarah working as a Speech and Language Therapist and Mark as a Quality Technician for BAE Systems. In 2000, during a mission service at their Home Church, they both felt called to full-time mission service abroad. They desired to use the practical skills that God has given them, and this led them to apply to MAF.

From 2002 to 2005 they lived in Ohio, USA. There, Mark trained to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer with MMS Aviation, which is a Christian organisation that repairs mission aircraft and trains engineers for missionary service. 

In September 2005, they began service in Uganda with MAF. Mark joined the Engineering Team, maintaining the fleet of four planes which help enable the spread of God’s Word to places that can often only be reached by air. Sarah volunteers as a Speech and Language Therapist at a local international school and helps with hospitality within the MAF operation.

Soon after arriving in Uganda, they felt the Lord leading them to pursue adopting one of the many babies who are abandoned or orphaned here. In April 2006, they began fostering their daughter Amy, and in May 2007 we brought home our son Joshua.

Mark and Sarah's Home Church is Gillingham Baptist Church.

When John was five, God told him He wanted him to work for MAF. Until John was 16, he was convinced that God wanted him to be a Pilot. This was largely to the fact that he had no idea that planes needed to be fixed too! If you have a plane, you need a Pilot, but what else?!

In secondary school John started looking into becoming a Pilot and each door was closed, firmly in front of him. As he asked God about His calling, it was pointed out that MAF needed more than just Pilots. John realised that he had never asked God what His role was for him, and that he had just assumed that it was to be a Pilot. As John asked about God's plans for him, God started to open doors for him to become an Aircraft Mechanic.

As a child, God healed John from a life-threatening illness, three times. It was then that he realised God had an amazing plan for his life. Since then his parents split up and his family fell apart. But John felt how God put a wall of protection around what was left of the family. He left school and then went to University. While there he fell into trap after trap but with the prayer and support of family and friends he was pulled back to the right path. John's journey has had many ups and downs but, in every situation, he has seen God's hand at work. He is constantly reminded that he is living His plans.

Nineteen years after God first told John he was to work for MAF, he was qualified to do so. John completed a training course at Missionary Maintenance Services, based in Coshocton, Ohio, USA. Now he not only has an Aircraft Maintenance Licence, he also has gained an amazing amount of experience of working on many different types of plane, in a Christian mission environment. During that time he also met Vicky, an American and in September 2008 they married.

John's first assignment was in Kenya and during that time Vicky and he kept in touch and prepared for their wedding, since then they have moved to Uganda to join the MAF team there and John's role continues as Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. They are excited about the future. God has big plans and they look forward to being part of them.

Andy was born and brought up in Lancashire, living first in Fleetwood then near Preston close to his father’s work with BAe Systems.

Through this move, his family got involved in the local village Church and, at the age of 14, Andy asked God a big question: ‘If Jesus is real, prove it to me!’ Over the next seven years, He did! IAndy made a simple commitment when he became a Christian: ‘Whatever I do, I’ll live for You.’ That was the start of his exciting Christian journey.

After studying at college for a diploma in electronics, Andy was offered a job with a telecoms company. His job there gave him six successful years, but God called him out of that in 2001. He took a step of faith and left with no job to go to, but trusting in Matthew 6:26. Within a month, he had moved to Manchester and was undertaking a Youth Evangelism Course. This led him back to Preston, where he got a job with All Saints Church as a Youth and Community Worker.

Andy had not heard of MAF till July 2006, when he met Ruth Box who was Youth Manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland. At that time, he remembers thinking how good it is that people can be missionaries wherever God places them, in Preston or in Africa!

In 2007, IAndy heard about an Engineering Training Scheme at Missionary Maintenance Services (MMS) in Ohio, USA. MAF works in partnership with MMS to enable engineers to train to work in MAF programmes overseas. Andy couldn’t get it out of his mind, so in November he applied.

Having reflected on God calling him in this new direction, Andy realises how awesome God really is. He feels MAF offers him an opportunity to combine two things he is passionate about: aeroplanes and Jesus Christ – all with a little adventure, too!

Ben has a passion for planes. It has grown over the years, and having qualified in Aeronautical Engineering at Brunel University, he has had a unique opportunity to use his skills on a wide variety of aircraft.

He was born into a large Christian family and it was as a result of childish pranks, where his brothers were about to throw him into a lake, that Ben recognised his need of God and committed his life to him.

Ben also has a heart for mission, and while on a mission trip to Macedonia he met Anne. She had given her life to God during a work experience trip to Australia. Being away from home life, friends and Church made her realise that she had nothing without God.

As their relationship grew, culminating in their marriage, so did their desire to use their skills to serve God overseas. Anne by this time had qualified as a Teacher and had already spent time working in an orphanage in Indonesia. Independently they had both heard about MAF, Ben by reading MAF News, and Anne when a member of her Church left to serve with MAF as an Engineer.

They were accepted by MAF and were first based in Tanzania where Ben's engineering skills were vital in keeping planes in the air for a wide variety of ministry and Anne's skills and experience were also very much utilitised.

They are now based in Chad where Ben is Chief Engineer and they have four children; Alice, Olivia, Jack and Estelle.

Mark and Jenny Beckwith

Mark and Jenny met at All Nations Christian College, and had both intended to do long-term work overseas but didn't realise that they would find someone to share the experience with! Marrying in December 2006 they have spent the last couple of years living in Dorset. Abigail was born in September 2008.

Both Mark and Jenny have spent time working overseas and know that this is something they want to commit to long-term. Mark worked among homeless people and drug addicts in Melbourne, Australia, and Jenny taught in Dodoma, Tanzania. They have also participated in short-term trips in East Africa, individually and as a couple.

Mark's career has been in the world of aviation ever since he left school and was an apprentice with British Aerospace. He has been an Aircraft Design Engineer for 15 years working primarily on the Harrier but more recently on the Chinnook helicopter. To be able to combine his love of aircraft with an opportunity to serve in a practical way overseas as a family is something they feel will be a perfect partnership. Initially Mark will be training with Missionary Maintenance Services in Ohio, USA, to gain his Aircraft Maintenance Licence.

Mark and Jenny are committed to working for MAF for two terms following Mark's training, this is 11 years in total. Their assignment with MAF could be anywhere - from Mongolia to Australia, or even back to East Africa. There will be lots of different cultures and experiences to adjust to as a family as well as exciting times and opportunities to help others where they serve.