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Episode 30 with Dave and Donna Jacobsson
October 25, 2025 · 51 min
On Episode 30 of From the Hangar, host Lemuel Malabuyo sits down with former pilot Dave Jacobsson and his wife, Donna. During the episode, they discuss living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hearing God's call, and witnessing new believers come to faith after serving in violent militias. Take a listen to this heartfelt episode!
Support the Jacobssons! Click here: https://maf.org/jacobsson
Series From the Hangar (audio) October 25, 2025 · 51 min · From the Hangar (audio)
On Episode 30 of From the Hangar, host Lemuel Malabuyo sits down with former pilot Dave Jacobsson and his wife, Donna. During the episode, they discuss living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hearing God's call, and witnessing new believers come to faith after serving in violent militias. Take a listen to this heartfelt episode! Support the Jacobssons! Click here: https://maf.org/jacobsson ...more Show the full description Show less On Episode 30 of From the Hangar, host Lemuel Malabuyo sits down with former pilot Dave Jacobsson and his wife, Donna. During the episode, they discuss living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hearing God's call, and witnessing new believers come to faith after serving in violent militias. Take a listen to this heartfelt episode!
Support the Jacobssons! Click here: https://maf.org/jacobsson
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In this video 0:00 A Legacy of Faith: Generations in Mission14:20 Called to Serve: Meeting, Marriage, and Family Life27:09 Transforming Lives: Stories of Impact and Encouragement
A Legacy of Faith: Generations in Mission 0:15 Hey. Before we begin this episode, I wanted to let you guys know that in December, we're gonna do a q and a session with David Holston. So if you guys had any questions about MAF or this podcast0:27 or an episode that we already released, that would be awesome. You should totally submit that to podcast at m a f dot org, or you can look us up on, like, social media platforms like Facebook or0:39 Instagram. You can DM us over there to your questions. Looking forward to that. But for now, let's begin the episode. Hey, everybody. Welcome to From the Hanger0:51 podcast. I am your host, Lem Malabuyo, and we are sitting in a hangar in front of Kodiak, which I regret having behind you 2, because that's not what you guys1:02 were flying in the programs.1:04 That's true.1:05 But True. The you 2 of who I'm talking to is, Donna and Dave Jacobson, who are long time MAF missionaries and amazing people. But1:17 I'm gonna let them tell their story. So I'm just gonna lead off with, introduce yourselves and just tell us, where you served at MAF.1:26 We've been serving with MAF for 37 years, and most of it has been assigned to the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We've served at 5 different bases in Congo,1:38 as as well as in Kampala, Uganda, and Nairobi
1:42 Oh, wow.
1:42 Kenya because of war Yeah. At different times. Yeah. But
1:46 all on behalf of Congo. Okay. Very cool. And, Dave, I I think you have, like, generations of your of mission work in your
1:58 family. Is that correct?
2:01 Yeah. We, actually, my grandfather and, grandmother, they were married. And the same month, 19 35
2:11 Oh my.
2:11 They jumped on a boat to head out to Congo. So they landed in, Uvira, DRC, which is in the eastern part of Congo. Mhmm. 19 35, 19 37, my
2:23 father was born.
2:25 Mhmm.
2:25 And, they ended up spending a total of 11 years out there due to the war. Mhmm.
2:32 So that
2:32 was a very long first term for missionaries, but they came back with 3 kids.
2:38 Wow.
2:38 And, so those so the brothers, they all there were 5 brothers all in all that grew up there in Congo and, saw missions up close, if you will. Mhmm.
2:50 And in 19 71, my father had felt a call on his heart as well to become a missionary. So 19 71, we went to Congo,
3:02 Eastern DRC, and, that is where I pretty much grew up. All my teen years, I spent there in Congo.
3:09 What was what was the kind of ministry work that, your grandfather and your father were doing in Congo?
3:15 So my grandfather was a pioneer missionary. So then at those days, it was really a matter of establishing churches more than anything. Yeah. Yeah. Churches, small bible schools, and and health care, of course,
3:27 as well. Yeah. But their expertise was not in healthcare for for them anyways. But he was instrumental in creating these churches and people coming
3:39 to the Lord through that, Just, really, really neat history actually as as we go back and start looking at that and, established
3:51 the church that we see today.
3:53 Oh, man.
3:54 Really. That's amazing. And 1 thing, 1 of the they did work in Rwanda just a a bit as well. And, it was very difficult ground. Very, very difficult. Very few
4:06 came to Christ. Mhmm. But over the years, that particular church ended up being the largest church in Rwanda. Wow. And I do believe because
4:18 of their faithfulness, the faithfulness of other missionaries that just really stuck with it, even though there wasn't large numbers of converts, they found there was a faithful few that
4:30 started and continued that work. Yeah. Just really exciting stuff actually.
4:34 Yeah. And it is a good reminder of, like, numbers aren't necessarily
4:39 No.
4:39 The indicator, right, of of, I guess, quote, unquote, success of a church. Right? Like, god is transforming lives, whether it's a few or it's very many, and
4:51 those and he will use those those people who begin to follow him to make changes in
4:56 Yeah. I mean, it comes down to it's we are not we are not the ones that are responsible for the results. Yeah. Yeah. What we're asked to do is just to be faithful in whatever that is, however
5:08 big or however small that is. That's all he asks of us is to be faithful and to just keep plugging away if you will in whatever that
5:18 is. Absolutely.
5:18 And that's what these missionaries, you look back at the history, that's what they did. Yeah. That's what they did.
5:24 Awesome. And so okay. So then you then so you grew up in in the Congo as well. Yes. Yeah. I mean, just keep on going because I I
5:33 Just keep going. Yeah. Just keep going.
5:35 Just I wanna hear this.
5:36 So, you know, to to be honest with you, it was really cool. I really, you know, as a as a kid, you you love the the bad roads, the muddy roads you get stuck in mud and this and that.
5:49 And, and as I said earlier, I spent my teen years in Congo, all all of them for the most part growing up there. And, I saw missions up close and
6:00 what missions was all about and so forth. But I do remember 1 particular time I was only, either 12 or 13 years old, and I went with my father and another missionary,
6:13 to Casa Bera, it was called in Congo. And it was a youth seminar that weekend. And many youth came to Christ. It was really, really cool. But as
6:25 we drove out of there on a, it was, I think, Monday morning, we're driving away from the mission station and, you know, we had maybe 1 or 2 kilometers outside of town or out of the village.
6:37 There was this kid that came running behind, 16, 17 years old, I would guess. Yeah. And, Chip hey. Excuse me.
6:50 He was so he he said, I I when you called for those who wanted to, receive Christ, I was afraid of my friends.
7:03 And to but I I want to be saved. And to so to so what he did is he went down on his knees in the
7:15 mud, used the Land Rover bumper basically as as an altar, if you will, and gave his life to Christ. So to me, that was just a very
7:27 meaningful, encounter, if you will, to see of God's grace and his love, and just what mission and missionaries is all about. It's about the individual.
7:39 Mhmm. And it was just such a powerful thing for me. Though for me, I didn't wanna become a missionary. I honestly didn't. And my call came later on in life,
7:51 Even though I had seen this this beautiful thing upfront and and how the Lord used missionaries, I still didn't really feel compelled
8:00 Yeah.
8:01 That direction, if you will.
8:02 Well, I mean, it's I I don't wanna diminish that that feeling. Right? Because just because you see someone have an incredible transformation of of of
8:14 life, to give their life to Christ, doesn't necessarily mean that there has to be in a mission, like an overseas mission
8:20 context. Not.
8:21 Right? And so I think that's I mean, I have a lot of friends who grew up overseas as missionary kids who are not in missions, but are definitely devoted to following Jesus, and and what does that look like about what
8:33 does evangelism look like, in a in a different context. You know? And so Yep. And, yeah. And someone also asked me 1 time, like, hey. Would you ever go back to the Philippines as a missionary? And I'm like,
8:46 no. I was like, because it it's it's it's a lot of work. It's hard. And I and I realized that these I mean, in my youth, I was like, yeah. That's it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work for my parents to do that.
8:58 It was great as a kid. Yeah. But I don't I just haven't felt that calling from from God too, and I think that's a very important part of of mission work.
9:08 You have to have a call.
9:09 And I don't want to go to I just don't wanna go overseas in mission work just because my parents did. I wanna go there because God's calling me to do that. So, but, I mean, that's an incredible encounter that you got to
9:20 witness, with that
9:22 It really was. It really was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
9:26 That's great. And so, I guess, how did this how did this become, not just, I wanna go overseas into missions, but,
9:38 like, aviation, you know, like, where did that play into this?
9:42 Well, so so for me, we were in we were living in the eastern part of Bukavo, place called eastern part of Congo, place called Kavumu, which was very close to, an airfield.
9:54 And there was a missionary pilot that flew in and out of that airstrip, not MAF. I actually didn't even know MAF existed at that time. So we would fly with this, missionary, pilot,
10:06 Jack Spurlock was his name.
10:08 Spurlock. Okay.
10:09 And he did he had his own little 2 0 6. He was his own guy with maintenance and pilot, and, you know, he did the whole operation, him and his wife. And, it was cool. Yeah.
10:22 But I I didn't really have any aspirations to be a pilot. I didn't have anything that direction, honestly. What what I had mapped out for my life is I'm gonna be
10:33 an electrician, because I loved working with house wiring. I had been an apprentice, earlier on, a little bit in between, on furloughs and stuff, and I thought, wow.
10:45 This is really cool. I really like this.
10:47 Yeah.
10:47 So I actually started out in a trade school as an electrician. That's what I was gonna be. Be my own boss, be my you know, I'm gonna do it. Yeah. And as a
10:59 graduation gift, because I was actually, in this in Sweden at this time as I'm from Sweden originally, and finished off this trade school. And as a
11:11 graduation gift, I received received a ticket to Congo. My parents were in Africa. So I received this ticket and went out and spent 6 months with them.
11:23 And during that time, I was doing my first electrical job on a house there, which was really cool. But but what I do remember more than anything is as we were working on
11:35 this house, there was a missionary that, drove into our compound there and asked if we'd heard the news. And, of course, news didn't travel very fast back then. No phones or anything,
11:47 only radio. But, Jack had had an accident.
11:51 Mhmm.
11:51 It was killed. Oh, man. And, I was 19 at that time. July 20 fifth 19 80 is when it happened. And, I remember going
12:03 into my room and just asking the question, why? Why, Lord? He was the guy that was keeping all of the missions afloat in the
12:15 interior. There were no other pilots. There were no other options. And, it it's like the Lord himself walked into that room. I did not see
12:27 anything visually, but I audibly heard the question if I would go take Jack's place. Mhmm. And I said yes. And
12:39 the follow-up question was regardless of cost. Mhmm. And I said yes. From that day forward, out with the electrical, and I
12:50 started with aviation. I did a 1 80 in my life at that point. Because 1 thing I did learn growing up on the mission field and seeing my parents in action, true
13:02 faith in action, not just the talk, true faith, and obedience. True obedience. What the godly what god lays on your heart,
13:15 don't disobey. My my personal little motto is disobedience is not an option. It's not an option. If the lord calls you to do something,
13:28 who who are you to say no? Yeah. So so from that day forward, aviation was in. I did not know how it was gonna come about. How am I gonna buy an
13:39 airplane? How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna do that? I have no idea. But I do know my father built over the years over 30 churches in Congo. Each church he built, he
13:51 started out with no money. Each church, when it was finished, had no debt on it. Wow. That's the kind of faith I grew up with. Yeah. So, again, didn't know how it's gonna
14:03 work, but I knew it would work. Yeah. So I started with maintenance and in flight and so forth. And later is when I heard about MAF and ended up joining MAF.
14:14 Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That was powerful. Like, honestly, that was powerful.
14:20 It's a Oh, man. What? It's it's it's it's a call that has sustained over difficult times.Show more
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