A providential meeting at a restaurant over lunch allowed missionaries to avoid a difficult two-day road journey, as Mission Aviation Fellowship flew them safely from Abéché to N’Djamena.
The past few weeks hadn’t gone to plan for Helene, a missionary working in eastern Chad.
Just two weeks after arriving in Abéché, a series of unexpected events unfolded. A teammate who had arrived before her became seriously ill and had to be evacuated to her home country, leaving behind her husband and two children.
Helene’s own husband had planned to join her, but his visa was delayed far longer than expected.
On top of that, the hot season had begun, making the already difficult conditions feel even more draining.
Helene needed to return to the capital, N’Djamena, for some urgent meetings. Her teammate also had to make the journey, along with her two young sons and a visiting colleague. They decided to travel together by bus.
The tarmac is full of holes.
Although a paved road connects Abéché to N’Djamena, the journey can take 14 to 16 hours due to deep potholes and unpredictable terrain.
“The tarmac is full of holes,” Helene said. “Sometimes the bus has to leave the road and drive in the sand next to it, but then it risks getting stuck. It makes the journey long and bumpy.”
Travelling with children makes the experience even more challenging. Most buses play loud music or videos on overhead screens.
“It’s tiring for adults, but even more so for kids. Sometimes you just want silence,” she added.
The day before they were due to travel, the group went for a farewell lunch at a small garden restaurant in town. At a nearby table sat two men who bowed their heads in prayer before eating.
God used strangers at a lunch table to reroute us.
The women soon struck up a conversation and discovered that the men were Egyptian missionaries visiting churches across Chad.
When the men heard that Helene and her team were planning to travel to N’Djamena the next day, they were surprised.
“We are also travelling to N’Djamena,” one of them said. They had arranged a MAF plane to come from N’Djamena that morning, but a sandstorm had prevented the plane from landing.
A second attempt was planned for later that afternoon, and the return flight to N’Djamena would now take place the next morning. The missionaries offered to ask MAF if space could be made available for Helene and her group.
That evening, around 8 pm, Helene received confirmation.
Instead of a long, difficult bus ride, they flew out the next morning and landed in N’Djamena just two and a half hours later.
“We could never have planned this ourselves,” Helene said. “God used strangers at a lunch table to reroute us.”
Behind the scenes, MAF pilot Phil had stepped in to fly the mission. Another crew had originally planned to fly to Abéché and return the same day to pick up the missionaries, but the low visibility due to a sandstorm forced them to turn back.
Later, as the weather improved, there still wasn’t time for the full round trip.
I see God’s hand when my plans fail, and something better comes out of it.
“I was asked if I would be willing to fly there, stay the night, and return the next morning,” Phil said. “I agreed. It felt good to know we could help them avoid a difficult road journey.”
As a pilot and operations team member, Phil often works through detailed flight schedules. But experiences like this help to challenge his perspective.
“I usually want to plan every detail. But I see God’s hand when my plans fail, and something better comes out of it.”