About the Ellsworths

Shira was born in Scotland to her missionary parents, who met through a mission trip to Scotland . Her parents would go in to the schools doing puppet shows and dramas, and share the gospel of Jesus. Shira felt the call at the age of 9 to go on the mission field and tell others about Jesus. She was drawn to travel and airplanes because her grandfather was a pilot and would take them flying when they visited with him in the States. She began to dream of becoming a missionary pilot. When her parents moved to the States in 1991, she began to pursue this dream by searching for a Christian Aviation college. She graduated from Hesston College in 1995 with an Aviation degree, and a commercial pilot license. She knew that the next step to flying as a missionary pilot would be to become a certified aviation mechanic. So she found a school in Michigan , called Michigan Institute of Aeronautics through which she obtained her Airframe and Powerplant certificates. It is also where she met her husband Jeff Ellsworth.

Jeff also felt the call to be a missionary. When he saw the advertisement for Michigan Institute of Aeronautics, he felt drawn to becoming an Aviation mechanic so he could work on airplanes on the mission field. Jeff and Shira were in the same class, 6 hours a day, for 18 months. They were drawn to each other because of their same goals, dreams and desires for marriage, family and using airplanes on the mission field. God had brought them together in His perfect timing, preparing them both for one another as husband and wife and as missionary pilots.

They were married in 1997, and were flying and maintaining airplanes for a missionary organization called Missionair from 1999 to 2001. Through Missionair they were able to gain experience doing short term mission trips to Honduras , flying teams in a 1941 DC-3. They felt God was calling them in to full time missions as missionary pilots to Honduras . And in 2001 an airplane kit was sold to them, and they along with Destiny Ministries, and after two years of hard work, built an experimental airplane, the Murphy Rebel.

They have now been living in Belize , Central America , for 4 years, using the Murphy Rebel to fly in relief food, medicine and other supplies, as well as other missionaries and Pastors, around the country. They have two children, Benjamin who is 6 years old, and Leilani, who is 2 years old. They have been Youth Pastors at a local church for 4 years, as well as going in to the High Schools using Reach 4 Life new testaments. www.R4L.org. The Reach 4 Life Bibles are a wonderful tool for this generation because they start by talking about abstinence, AIDS and God's plan for marriage and family.