On April 15, 2008, Barry and Marybeth Mosier, Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to Tanzania for eight years, climbed aboard a plane bound for Kinsangani, Congo, to visit their 24-year-old son, Keith. Along for the flight was their 14-year-old daughter, April, and 3-year-old son, Andrew. The plane crashed during takeoff and plowed its way through a crowded marketplace. When the plane—now engulfed in flames—finally settled on the ground, April rushed to the aid of a man who was trying to tear a hole in the fuselage as a means of escape for the passengers. Using the Swahili she knew, April and the man eventually created a hole large enough for her to poke through.<\/p>\n\n
As passengers climbed out of the burning wreckage, the area around the crash site became more chaotic. It was filled with people from the marketplace, crash survivors, and medical officials. April was immediately taken to a hospital. She could assume the rest of her family had died. But 25 minutes later, the Mosier family was reunited. Her mom had a few cuts and bruises—and little Andrew had a broken leg—but they were all alive.<\/p>\n\n
"When we saw each other at the hospital, I can tell you it was a grand reunion," Barry said. "We couldn't believe that our family of four could all escape a plane that was crashed and on fire, but by God's mercy we did." He added: "We actually came here with the idea of seeing if we could move to Congo, so it's been kind of a rough introduction. I think we'll keep praying about that. We know that the safest place in the world to work is where the Lord wants you to work."<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[427],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3538,3701,3749,3776,3933,3942,3960,3977,4060,4091,4476,4477,4480,4573,4748,4874,4901,4944,5140,5178,5191,5195],"tax_ctp_topics":[378,382,388],"class_list":["post-45611","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-calling","tax_ctp_tags-courage","tax_ctp_tags-dedication","tax_ctp_tags-devotion","tax_ctp_tags-faith","tax_ctp_tags-faithfulness","tax_ctp_tags-family","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-global-missions","tax_ctp_tags-grandparents-day","tax_ctp_tags-mission","tax_ctp_tags-mission-of-church","tax_ctp_tags-missionary","tax_ctp_tags-ordination","tax_ctp_tags-purpose","tax_ctp_tags-safety","tax_ctp_tags-security","tax_ctp_tags-september-11-2001","tax_ctp_tags-testing","tax_ctp_tags-tragedy","tax_ctp_tags-trial","tax_ctp_tags-trust"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n