Flying on Mission in Haiti

“That’s where God wants me to be. And until He moves the cloud to another place, that’s where I want to be.”

In September 2022, armed gangs gained control of a main fuel terminal and blocked the major road connecting Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince to the whole southern peninsula. As hijackings, kidnappings, and fuel shortages increased, David Carwell ’92, country director of Mission Aviation Fellowship, kept flying, using fuel reserves to transport missionaries, relief workers, and cargo by plane. He and his MAF team began staying at the airport rather than risk traveling home at night, and MAF decided to evacuate the families of its pilots to the US until the situation improves.

“Security has eroded, and it’s becoming more dangerous to live particularly in Port-au-Prince right now,” David says. “That’s made aviation even more critical. The missions that are still operating are really dependent on our service, and so we’re trying our best to be safe ourselves and then still provide a good service.”

Called to fly, glad to give

When David graduated from Moody Aviation, he had no idea he would spend the next 27 years serving as a missionary pilot in Haiti. “I just knew that God was calling me to use my hands and my technical skills to serve in that capacity.”

David is thankful for Moody’s donor-supported biblical education in Chicago as well as the Moody Aviation training that followed in Elizabethton, Tennessee (now in Spokane, Washington). His experience caused him to become a regular donor to Moody.

“I received a great education, tuition free, so I’ve given to Moody ever since I graduated,” David says. As for Moody Aviation, “If you compare the quality of education we got, it’s still a very reduced price.”

The MAF team in Haiti services 15 airstrips and over the years included at least seven Moody Aviation alumni. “God orchestrated that,” David says. “We’ve had such similar training, similar experiences. It helped us work together well as a team.”

Last year, 1,800 individuals from about 100 organizations reserved flights with MAF in Haiti, David says. Many work teams from the States need transportation to pursue holistic projects, including church planting, discipleship, education, agriculture, safe drinking water, leadership training, and medical missions.

In addition, MAF transports people from the US Embassy, USAID, police, and government. “That’s not our focus, but we have flown their official teams out to visit projects,” David says.
 

Called to Haiti

Growing up in a small town in central Illinois, David first learned about aviation while reading Jungle Pilot, a book about the five missionary pilots martyred in Ecuador in 1956. David also heard an inspiring sermon from his pastor, Bill Stone, who started the Haiti Independent Baptist Mission in 1960. David’s dad was the treasurer for 25 years. His mom, Twilla (Lauher) Carwell ’53, and brother, Gary ’79, had attended Moody, which David also chose after visiting another aviation school where a student told him, “If you really want to go to the best place, go to Moody.”

After graduation David found out MAF needed people in Haiti. “It was one thing after another of how God led me to that point, and I’m just so thankful that I really had that direction and peace in my heart of where I was supposed to be.”

David went to Haiti in 1995 to serve as a pilot mechanic with MAF. He learned to speak Creole and navigate around the country in MAF’s sole airplane. “I got to see a lot of Haiti and meet a lot of folks and see what the Lord is doing in many different mission outreaches there.”

In 2000 David met his future wife among a dozen people who arrived from The Moody Church to help with MAF projects. David and Patricia married in 2003, and after raising more support, they moved to Haiti in November 2004.
 

Hurricanes and blessing

David has served as country director since 2010, the year the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, devastating Port-au-Prince.

When the earthquake hit, David had just come home from work. His wife was seven months pregnant with their daughter, Naomi, and was playing on the living room floor with their young son, Nathan. “I’m just glad Patricia didn’t fall down and go into labor,” he says.

In 2016, Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc on the southern peninsula, causing widespread flooding and power outages. MAF added another airplane to its fleet, by then totaling four planes, and worked with Samaritan’s Purse to transport people and thousands of pounds of cargo. “That was a big response to disaster,” says David, who has also helped with smaller disasters, floods, hurricanes, and cholera outbreaks.  

A month after the assassination in July 2021 of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moëse, an earthquake shook the island nation. David’s team partnered with Missionary Flights International and Agape Flights, then with Samaritan’s Purse, who loaned a Cessna Caravan to use. “We did 89 free flights with it,” he says. “The important thing was to see so many people work together to do real help.”
 

‘That’s where God wants me to be’

Living in a dangerous third-world country can make daily life tumultuous for David and his family. “(Comfort) is not my motivation, though, for being there,” David says. “It’s to serve the Lord. That’s why I want to be there. That’s where God wants me to be. And until He moves the cloud to another place, that's where I want to be.”

David also wants to keep giving regularly to Moody Aviation. “I want to invest in another person’s future, just as those who invested in me. It’s a privilege to see what God continues to do through the school.”