Above The Clouds of Alaska

Above The Clouds of Alaska; Looking Toward Thailand
Part I

By Billy Bohannon

Awe, Alaska and Thailand, go together like pumpkins and fish sauce or like wintery snow and humid tropics. What an unlikely pair, right? My friends and missionaries Zack and Sarah Loving, originally from Southeast Texas, have found room in their hearts and their ministry for both, wow!

I, Billy Bohannon, recently had the opportunity to represent FX Missions for our first ever trip to Alaska, “The Last Frontier” and to visit the Loving’s in their Alaskan environment.

This may possibly raise a couple of questions for you as a reader:

1. Who is Billy Bohannon of FX Missions? Usually Scott McClelland or Ita Hernandez is the narrator of FX Missions.

2. How are Billy and FX Missions connected to the Loving Family?

So, as mentioned above, I am Billy Bohannon and I have been a part of FX Missions since November of 2015. As the Lord has allowed and relationships have been built, I have graciously become a part of the FX Missions Family and Team. My connection runs deep with Scott McClelland but through my wife, Anna, who grew up in the same town as Scott and also in a way grew up in the Lord with him too as young adults. Although Scott and I met in 2003, the Lord has brought us together as Brothers walking in the Kingdom since November 2015. I met Anna while being assigned as a recruiter for the US Army stationed in Jasper, Texas and have since retired from the Army as a Captain, moving on to my next assignment in life, FX Missions!

Now, how do we know the Lovings? Well, just about as long as Anna and Scott have known each other, they have known Zack’s wife Sarah and her family because the ministries they served in worked closely together. Once the Loving’s married, it wasn’t long before their calling of aviation ministry grabbed a hold of them and away they went. After college and flight school were complete, they needed a place to launch their vision and Alaska was the landing spot. We will save a face to face interview from the mission field to let them tell their story for you directly.

During a home meeting in May, 2019, Anna and I were reintroduced to the Zack and Sarah, which led to a lunch meeting. At that meeting my world was opened up to both sides of the Loving’s life, part Alaska and part Thailand and I wanted to know more. As the questions turned to FX Mission and I was allowed to share our basic purpose to connect people and ministries in the Kingdom and provide leadership training and guidance, their eyes lit up! They felt this was a key element the Lord was speaking to them about, as we were the 4^th group to talk about these very topics on their furlough home. Pretty much without much more thought, I knew I was headed to Alaska to begin building relationships and was ready for the ride!

Like a passenger on a safari, I got to observe them in their natural habitat, wild and untamed. Loving Life Ministry is headquartered at Kingdom Air Corp, while in Alaska, about 45 minutes up the road from the city of Palmer, nestled upon a plateau above the Matanuska River, consisting of a grass runway, surrounded by living quarters, meeting areas, hangers and some God’s most beautiful handy work of mountains and forest.

Zack serves on the Kingdom Air Corp team as an Instructional Pilot, teaching and testing the new pilots before sending them out on prospective mission journeys of their own, all the while he and Sarah are pouring into their 3 boys(all wild boys I might add) and the family’s staying at the ministry during flight training.

So, getting back to the observation point of view, their ministry is not only about flying as it would seem but also about “Loving Life” and doing life with those at Kingdom Air Corp and the friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord from their local church assembly, Church on the Rock, in Palmer. I was fortunate and grateful to not only attend church service with my friends but meet several of their close companions and do life with them too eating and hiking (which Alaskans do plenty of both).

It is clear that Zack and Sarah have giving their life’s to pour into those around them and share the load of life walking along side of the ones the Lord has brought them into contact. This excites us at FX Missions to the highest levels because relationship building and doing life together is the core of what we believe the Lord has for us to do.

What about the Thailand connection? How could it be the Southeast Texan’s now Alaskan loving Lovings have anything to do with Thailand? Well, with that thought, in walks the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) of Thailand.

So, 5 months are spent living with Alaskans and then a total transformation from Arctic Warriors to Tropical Titans moving to Thailand and full time living with the FBR and continued flight and life training for the Loving Life Ministries Family.

Stay tuned for Part II of “Above The Clouds of Alaska; Looking Toward Thailand” where we will take a look at the Loving Family’s life in Thailand, their other ministry headquarters and family in the Lord.

Get to know more about these ministries:

Loving Life Ministries https://www.thelovings.org/

Kingdom Air Corps https://www.kingdomaircorps.org/

Free Burma Rangers https://www.freeburmarangers.org/