Picasa Web Albums - gabon.pilot@gmail...

Gmail Calendar Documents Photos Sites Groups Search More »

New Features | Help | Sign in

Thanks to a great travel agent and a new airline (Lufthansa) servicing Libreville, I was able to make my way to the US for a steal of a deal!

And there to greet me at Philly international, was dear mom and dad!

We had a mini road trip back to State College for our first night. I even got to rake some leaves!

If you're in State College, don't forget to head up on the Penn State campus for some great Creamery ice cream.

Grandpa Straw endorses the Creamery!

I buzzed down to York and crashed with the Misner fam! Here's my niece, Ellie, and my nephew's, Chad and JJ. We had a great time.

Good eats at the Misners! STROMBOLI!!! We don't get that much in Africa.

Chad and I had a great game of pool. He was nice enough to allow me to continue play even though I scratched.

I checked in with my fam via SKYPE! There they are in Africa! I really wished they could've come with me.

Entering the hangar there were several displays- this was a great one put together by my mom and dad along with others from State College Alliance church.

Another display was a table full of stickers (give-a-ways) and t-shirts (yours with a donation). Here is my nephew, JJ, who was a HUGE help doing a little bit of everything that day, as well as a sharp dressed man- Brock Barrett, director of Air Calvary.

My favorite part of the event was getting to see so many friends!!! Here are our old neighbors- Travis and Jen and the kids.

Here are some crazy folks from York Alliance Church... I think they're all mainly crazy.

It was so great seeing Brock and his family.

Here's Andy- my good buddy of many years who, most recently, recovered my computer from a major crash, along with the external hard drive that had almost every important document and photo I own! Thanks Andy! You rock!

Here's Brock with his lovely wife, Lorrie, and their son Brody. Rumor has it that they had a fun day at Dutch Wonderland the next day! To the right is my brother in law, Brian. His wife (my sister), Deloris, would've liked to have been there, but was on a medical mission trip in Honduras!

Here's Ma and Pa Phillips! Meredith Brokopp's parents!

It was such a big day! About 200 supporters showed up at the Capital City Airport in New Cumberland, PA. After the mingling, we had some presentations- the first one was a ringing endorsement of the program from a colleague of mine, Rev. Don Pullen from the ValleyView Alliance Church (Hellam, PA). He's been on the dangerous trek to Bongolo Hospital on the road.

I served on staff at ValleyView Alliance Church for 3 great years with Don. It was great to see he and Elenor.

Then it was Brock's turn. He and the Air Calvary team have been such great team mates at great personal sacrifice.

The staff and others from the York Alliance Church facilitated this event and did a wonderful job. I couldn't have asked for a better time. Pastor Brian Kannel (far left) was the MC of the event and 3rd and 4th from the right is Pastor David and Ty King.

Dr. Harry West has been a prayer warrior for this effort all along. He reminded us of the Lord's faithfulness and the many answered prayers along this journey. It's been remarkable. We serve a great God.

Ah yes... then it was my turn. I could never express how thankful we are to this group and the many more that it represents. God bless you all.

Pastor Brian directed us in the final and most important time of prayer. Although the airplane we gathered around was not our exact airplane, it made a great fill-in. It was the Civil Air Patrol's Cessna 206.

Here's my bro-in-law, John Misner along with a big fan of Gabon, his son Chad.

After the commissioning, I ditched the pilot costume for more casual digs and joined some of the family for some NEATO BURRITO!!! One of my favorites!

Mmmmmm!!! The Cowboy Crunch burrito is to die for!

Sunday AM was a time to lift praises to our Lord! York Alliance can really raise the roof! Expecially when the kids choir, "Grace Notes", is leading the way. Check out the awesome painting done by a girl that was in the youth group when Alace and I were on staff there- Adrien Stein (http://www.adriennestein.com/Adrienne_Stein/Home.html).