MAY 2026

Using Utensils While Eating and Other Abominations

Have you ever noticed the hand-cleansing effects of pulling taffy? Smearing sugary, sticky taffy all over your mitts is probably better than any $50 hand cream. Then again, I think I would rather spend $50 on some weird tool I will probably never use than on hand cream; but hey, that’s just me.

Nshima is a cornmeal-based staple over here, eaten with bare hands and, when paired with greens, is very tasty. I have been consuming large quantities of these dense, white, calorie-filled lumps and am starting to look more and more like one.

We excitedly showed our first guest from America this cornmeal happiness, announcing that supper was ready, and then they did something unimaginable: they asked for utensils. Utensils! How dare you eat Nshima with utensils? Heartbroken and confused, I offered up the metal food transporters and then released my troubles as I partook of my own nugget of Nshima.

Upon further review, I think utensils are probably an understandable choice. Whenever I eat Nshima, I find my hands, arms, and even my hair somehow coated in cornmeal. Meanwhile, my Zambian friend’s hands are perfectly clean, while I look like I just escaped a cornmeal factory explosion.

But back to the origin of this story: we had guests! Brother and sister Quentin and Patience Boyd, along with her fiancé, John Mark Stoltzfus, came to visit us. Upon their arrival, they peppered us with stories from home, scrapple, and chocolate chips…so many chocolate chips! Our home church prepared a gift box for us, and inside were many wonderful gifts of encouragement and calories.

Honestly, we didn’t really know what to do to entertain people here, but we gave it our best effort. We went to a crocodile farm, where we both held and ate the heavily armored reptiles. Then we went and walked with some kindly white rhinos. The rhinos live in Lusaka National Park and are guarded 24/7 from poachers. The guards carry automatic machine guns, which seemed imposing for us two-legged beings, but when standing in awe of the rhinos, I think a bullet would just tickle them.

On the last day Patience and John Mark were here, we took everyone to a local friend of Flying Mission who owns a 1,000-acre rose farm. Half of the property is roses in greenhouses, and the other half is a private game park. It has zebras, giraffes, and every kind of antelope imaginable. By far the highlight of that day was seeing a herd of semi-wild zebras close to the car, as this was on Patience’s “Africa bucket list.”

The next day, Patience and John Mark traveled on to the second part of their trip in Malawi, but Quentin stayed with us for another week. Being the good host I am, I immediately put Quentin to work helping me with various projects. From welding a trailer axle to cutting holes in containers, he happily did it all. By far the highlight was going with him to Livingstone! He said he wanted to see the falls (but mostly he wanted to fly an airplane in Zambia…), so we all flew down to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. We had an amazing rainy season this year, and the falls were so full that standing nearby felt like we were in a hurricane. I was wetter now after two minutes than I would have been if I had been underwater in a swimming pool. Water was rammed into my nose more forcefully than any COVID test I ever took. After being baptized by the Zambezi River, I threw Quentin into the local tourist craft market just for some cultural exposure. He did really well, standing there in soggy shoes and not giving in to pushy salesmen declaring Quentin a “special customer”. At the local craft market, you can watch someone buy something from a stand and then, two minutes later, when you walk in, be told you are the first customer of the day. It’s a game, but definitely one everyone should experience.

The remainder of the time Quentin was here, I had him locked up in our paint booth, installing a vent fan and pressure-washing mold off the wall. Our “paint booth” is nothing but a shipping container with lights, and him adding a vent fan has probably added many years to my life. Every time I turn on the fan, I think warm thoughts toward the Boyd family.

Now it is time for me to move on and give you all an update on our ministry here.

Things are going well, and we are staying busy. Honestly, when running an aviation ministry, the paperwork never really stops. I believe we generate more miles of paperwork per airplane than they are flown in a year. One thing no one tells you about mission aviation is that most of your day will be spent looking at a computer screen, praying the internet works, and the printer doesn’t jam. But that is just the background side of things; planes do fly, and missionaries do move.

I am more convinced of the need for mission aviation here than I was 12 months ago. After traveling through even a little of Zambia, I began to understand the need. Road conditions vary widely and are sometimes completely impassable. A road trip to a remote part of Zambia is doable, mostly, but it requires a lot of planning and fail-proofing. I think you may not completely understand just how remote things get outside of the big cities here; I know I didn’t a year ago. But now that I am here, I can say even more confidently that I feel we are offering an important Kingdom service for those working on the front lines. We fly doctors and Bible translators, pastors and bush mechanics who keep bush hospitals working.

So I find myself staring at a computer screen, joyful that the printer is only jamming every third page. I have no photos from the front lines, but I do get to meet the folks heading out to the bush. I shake their hands with mine, which are clean from Nshima.

Few more things;

Aria turned 7! Our sweet little girl just turned 7. Growing older really sneaks up on you until one day you realize your little babies are already 7! Anyway, we had a princess-themed birthday party at FMZ, which I think Aria really enjoyed!

In April, we celebrated 13 years of marriage! For some reason, this lovely lady said yes more than a decade ago, and it has been the ride of a lifetime. Move after move after move, but I am home wherever she is.

I went camping with Freddie! I borrowed a rooftop tent from a friend, and we went camping along the Zambezi River. Between the monkeys and hippos, our camp was always full of guests.

Prayer

Please pray for Flying Mission as we enter the busy season here in Zambia. The aviation team will be very busy over the next few months, and with busyness comes a greater chance of mistakes.

Please pray for the upcoming elections here in Zambia. This is an election year, and generally, things go well here, so we pray that this trend continues.

Please pray for us as we transition into new roles. I will write more about this later, but both Maria and I will soon be taking on many more responsibilities here at FMZ.

Praise

Praise God that we had such a good harvest here in Zambia. The maize (corn) grew tall this year, and people will be fed for at least half a year, even from small plots.

Praise God that we are all healthy. Health is never a guarantee, and recently, my Zambian coworker’s wife became very sick with malaria. Please pray for her as well.

Praise God for you! I know this may sound strange, but I am truly grateful for those of you who send encouragement, and we feel deeply loved by you. Living 8,000 miles from “home” has its challenges, but we praise God for your care for us!

Till next time,