Alternative to the Holidays

I want to start out saying that I am not trying to be preachy or anything. I have just had this on my heart and wanted to share my feelings openly.

A couple of years ago, a dear friend of mine invited me to research a few articles he had read on the origins of some of our favorite holidays. Truthfully, it really didn't surprise me to find out that there are some deep and direct idolatrous roots in most of them. I had never been a fan of using bunnies, eggs and chocolate to celebrate Jesus's resurrection. But I did really enjoy the tree, the lights and the presents associated with his birth.

But to be honest with myself, the worst sin the Israelites committed over and over to truly incur God's wrath to its fullest, was the sin of idolatry. I felt very convicted and our family made some changes in what we do in certain times of the year. In doing so, we completely got rid of all our Christmas stuff and ceased to do anything that is traditionally associated with Christmas. This included asking our other family to abstain from giving gifts to our children.

My parents still wanted to do something for the kids and hit on a great idea. They gave my kids a catalog from Samaritans Purse and allowed the kids to select an item of a certain value to be donated on their behalf. The kids loved that even more than presents! And how much further can food in an empty belly go than some toy that will be discarded from boredom or break?

So this year, we will be doing the same thing. I encourage you to think about this for yourselves. Instead of buying pretty lights, buy some chickens for some kids in Africa. Or buy some rice for starving kids in Asia. The list is about endless of something that can be done for ETERNAL value. Remember Jesus's words: "...for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat..." Matthew 25:31-46

We're also going to go a step further this year. All the time we would have spent getting a tree, putting up lights, shopping for presents, etc, we will be spending with a charity like Big Brothers, Big Sisters spending time with kids who just need someone to give them attention. Kids don't need toys. Kids don't need presents. Kids need food, love and attention. And those mostly come pretty cheap.

There are many ways to give these things to those who do not have them. Together, we can make this season last an eternity for others.

Missions Awareness Banquet

On November 6, we held a banquet to inform our friends and family in the area of what God was leading us to do in Ecuador. It was a very lovely evening!

Plans leading up to the event went very smoothly. We could see God's hand at every turn as he provided for all the details. It was my first time organizing an event like that and with God's help, it went off very well. First Baptist Church of Temple Terrace offered the use of their facility which was beautiful. They set up and took down all the tables and chairs, so all we had to do was minor cleanup of the stuff we brought. They have a very nice facility that was very conducive to this type of event.

Friends of ours offered to cater the event for about cost. They are great cooks and did a good job. We had grilled chicken, salad, rice, beans, veggies and tres leches cake for desert. After dinner, we moved into a stage area for the presentation. Mitch York, a great friend of ours and missions supporter, was MC. Brian Behal, MAF recruiter was near us that week and was able to come and set up a display, answer questions about MAF and give a history of what MAF does and what the program in Ecuador is all about.

I spoke about our family, our path to this point and what we will be doing in Ecuador for the foreseeable future. There were so many details that I wanted to share, but it would have gotten very long winded! I kept it as brief and concise as possible with the hopes of getting to spend more time in the coming months discussing things in smaller group settings when possible.

My Aunt Pat, Mom and sister, Marianne helped out tremendously by making the center pieces. they made little dioramas of jungle airstrip scenery with airplanes and different details on them. They were great! All the kids who helped with the serving got to take one home if they wished. They also made these little miniature crates that served as donation boxes.

It was such a great night. We had 103 people in attendance and have received about $6500 in donations! We had put out a list of our estimated expenses to get through our next step in training, our trip to Ecuador and other incidentals like Visas and Passports. This amount slightly more than covers all those expenses! Praise God for his timely and precise provision!

We are so grateful to the support and encouragement that was shown to us that evening. It is a reminder that God indeed has us work together as a body and that it is not possible to do it on our own. It was symbolic of a wedding for us. We stood before witnesses to tell what God was doing in our lives and others took a part in that work. We now feel even more responsible to live our lives and handle ourselves in a manner that would be pleasing not only to God, but to those who are standing with us. We are simply members of a team that God has put together to carry out a facet of the work to further HIS kingdom, for HIS glory and HIS honor.

November Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

October was probably one of the more exciting and eventful months for us as a family in awhile! Mostly for David, but it has impacted us as a family greatly.

The happiest and most exciting news for us is that we have been officially accepted into the Alas de Socorro – Ecuador (ADSE) program! David’s trip to Ecuador was a great success as he passed both the flying and maintenance portions of the technical evaluation. After a meeting with the Board of Directors for ADSE, it was determined that David and family would be a great fit. So, upon substantially meeting all the requirements to join, we have been invited! The trip was a lot of fun and David was able to gather a lot of information about our eventual move to Ecuador and we are much more prepared to go.

We are so grateful to God first for leading us so patiently to this outcome. He has provided so incredibly for us emotionally and spiritually. We have also seen his bountiful provision physically as he has faithfully given us what we needed exactly when we needed it. We are grateful to many of you who have supported us with prayer, emotional support and those who have given financially to make this all a reality. We are so thankful for the wonderful circle of friends and family that God has blessed us with to be part of our team.

Our original plans were to travel to Ecuador in January, but that has changed a bit. The next step for David’s training is to spend 8 weeks in Idaho, where MAF’s headquarters is located to receive “standardization” training. David will participate in the training program that all MAF pilots and mechanics go through so that everyone is doing things the same way. This will take place from February 22 until April 15th. Upon returning to Tampa, the kids will only have about a month and half to finish school, so we will wait until then to travel to Ecuador. Ecuador’s school schedule is roughly the same as here, so it works out great for the kids to go during the “summer vacation” and start school at the beginning of the year next year.

In the mean time, we will be keeping busy making preparations to travel. David is still taking classes towards his Bachelors degree and gathering information to help make the Ecuador program more successful upon arriving there. Maggy is also exploring further educational opportunities to continue her studies as well.

The costs of David’s training in Idaho will be covered by program funds from ADSE, but the trip and our expenses there will still have to be covered by us. The same is true for the move to Ecuador. We are confident that God will provide for these expenses just as he has done for us to date. You can help us by praying for us as well that God will provide. We are still exploring options as to the best mode of travel. Surprisingly, once hotels, gas and meals are accounted for, driving becomes quite a bit more expensive than flying us there! But we will need a vehicle once we are there, so we are looking at options as to what would be the best way to get us to Idaho and back.

Our funding is solely donor supported at this point. Gifts can be given to us through Three Strand Cord, whose information is at the bottom of this letter. They are a non-profit company that is dedicated to channeling funds to missionaries. You will be issued a tax receipt so that your gift is tax-deductible. If you are interested in more information about becoming a regular or one-time donor, you can request it. We will make available any information you would like such as our budgets, expenses and accountability methods. We are new to this and learning about how this stuff works too, so be patient with us!

We also would like to recruit regular praying partners who commit to praying regularly for us, the program and the people we will be serving. We will post pray requests as well as results and answers to those prayers routinely. We ask that you keep in contact with us to let us know that we have your prayer support. This will be critical for us to be assured that we won’t be alone! We know we are part of a body and we need the feedback and communication! Let us know if you would be interested in that.

Please visit our blog at http://davidmeadfamily.blogspot.com for more updates.

We commit everything we do to God,

David, Maggy, Joni Karina, Joshua, Jonathan, Jennifer

Donations can be made to: Three Stand Cord, PO Box 9691, Tampa, FL 33674 or online with credit card at www.3strandcord.org. Specify “Mead” as the particular project to route your donation.

Back in Tampa, Back in the Saddle!

My trip to Ecuador was a great success! I was officially accepted into the program and almost all the questions we had about moving to Ecuador have been answered!

We are very excited about moving and look forward to finally being in our country of service. The people at ADSE are great and were very warm and welcoming. They made me feel right at home and I know it will be the same for Maggy and the kids when we all arrive together.

The next step for us is Standardization Training or Orientation in Nampa, Idaho. MAF headquarters is there and it is an 8 week course that will standardize my skills for both pilot and mechanic to the MAF requirements. The course begins February 22 and ends April 15th. For now, we are planning on all going as a family for the period, as the schools will accommodate the kids during that time. It is just too long of a time for us to be apart as a family and we'll be able to make it work for us.

After we return to Tampa from Idaho, we'll make final preparations to move in June as soon as the kids finish school.

A couple of months ago, I posted a photo of an airplane that I was considering trying to purchase and take to me with Ecuador to do flight training in. Someone else bought the airplane, but is leasing it back to the flight school that I used to work for. Since I am qualified to fly it, the flight school allowed me to come back to teach in that airplane for anyone desiring to get rated in it. Today, I flew it for the first time to get familiar with it.

Wow, is it fun! There is something special about old classics, and this one is no different! It flies very well and confirmed for me that it is the exact right choice to take to Ecuador eventually. While it probably won't be this exact one, I still desire to purchase one like it.

Praise God, though, that I can fly it in the mean time! He know what is best and I just have to keep trusting him!

In Quito, Ecuador

I´m in Quito, Ecuador now. Yesterday, I travelled from Tampa to go to Shell for the flight evaluation among other items of business for our eventual move to here.

The trip was absolutely flawless. I had picked up the rental car the night before and had no difficulties with that. It is cheaper to rent a car one way and drop it off than drive a car and pay for parking at the Miami airport. Plus I am not a big fan of leaving a car in Miami for two weeks! The drive down was very nice. There were no accidents from Tampa to Miami and very little traffic in Miami for a Friday afternoon!

After dropping the car off, I caught the shuttle to the airport. There was no line at check in and they took my 2 bags even though they were overweight by about a pound or two and asked me to weigh my carry on. After putting it on the scale, the guy said, "That is WAY over what we allow for carry on!" (Pilots really know how to pack effeciently!) Thinking I would have to pay extra to check it, the guy came back and said that LAN was having a special and allowed a third bag to be checked for free!

Even security was a breeze. The TSA people were all in good spirits and even smiled at me! There were only 3 people ahead of me in the line for security. (I have waited up to an hour to get through security at the Miami airport.)

I got to my gate way ahead of time and was able to relax and have a bite to eat. The flight was only about half sold, so I had a window seat and no one next to me. The plane had personal TVs in all the seats so I had a great time watching Transformers 2, which ended right before landing. The flight was 20 min ahead of schedule and the pilot made a beautiful approach and landing.

Immigration and baggage was quick and there was even one of the guys from MAF to meet me and drive me to the place I was staying.

I think that was the best trip I have ever had! Especially on top of it being a free plane ticket! God is so good to take care of even the small details.

This afternoon we will head out to Shell after picking up another family flying in.

October Newsletter

Lots of events to report on this month! The first and most important you already should know is the birth of our new baby girl. Jennifer Katiana Mead was born on September 18 at 11:38 pm. She weighed 6 lbs and 6 oz and measured 20”. Both mommy and baby are in excellent health two weeks later and we are grateful to our Lord that he allowed a perfect term and birth. Our family really feels full now that we have two of each. It is nice filling up our mini-van!

David travels to Ecuador tomorrow, the 2nd. Thank you so much for all the prayers for this trip. Its timing is great for us and God has provided so well for all the details. David remembered that he had some airline miles from trips from years ago, but was certain that it wasn’t enough for a whole ticket. He went online to see if any of the miles were still valid and to see if maybe he could get a discount fare by using the miles he had. The miles still were good until the end of October of this year, and if he changed his travel date by one day, it was enough miles to get a free fare! We only had to pay $23 in taxes! God also provided funds for some practice flights so David could brush up on his flying skills after not having flown for almost six months. And finally, God provided in advance almost all the money for the evaluation flights themselves once he reaches Ecuador. We know he will be faithful to supply the rest! Once the evaluation is passed, we will be fully accepted into the mission.

School is in full swing for the two older kids and David as well. He is taking advantage of having the time to work on finishing up his Bachelor’s degree. He qualifies for the Pell Grant, so all the tuition and books are covered. He is enjoying taking the classes and they will be very useful as different challenges come up in the new career. Josh tried out for chimes team in his school and was selected. He is excited about that. Karina is in Choir in her school and is having a lot of fun there. Nice having kids who are interested in music!

If you are in the Tampa area and have not received an invitation to our dinner banquet and presentation in November, we apologize! We tried to reach you by either an “e-vite” or invitation in the mail. I don’t know how successful either of those where, so we wanted to make sure you were aware of it and what it was about.

It will be held on November 6, 2009 at the Family Life Center at First Baptist Church Temple Terrace. Dinner will start at 6:30 and there will be a presentation of the work we will be doing in Ecuador to follow. Brian Behal will be a guest speaker also. He is the recruiter for MAF in the region and flew in Ecuador for a number of years. The primary goal of the presentation is to present the vision God has given us to as many people as are interested. In hoping more people will attend, we have tried to keep the cost low. At $15 per seat, we are able to cover the costs for the event. If you have friends who may be interested in hearing about it as well, feel free to sponsor a whole table and invite anyone you would like. We need to have an accurate head count for the meal preparations, so your RSVP is important to us at least a week in advance. A copy of the invitation is at the bottom of this letter.

In our last letter, we asked for prayer for health for mommy and baby and funds for David’s trip to Ecuador. Now, join us in praising God as he gave us what we asked for! Please continue to pray for strength for the upcoming move, God’s continued provision of our material needs and wisdom to make good decisions as we prepare.

Please visit our blog at http://davidmeadfamily.blogspot.com for more updates. Facebook users will get more updates of David’s trip.

We commit everything we do to God,

David, Maggy, Joni Karina, Joshua, Jonathan, Jennifer

Donations for the banquet should be made to: Three Stand Cord, PO Box 9691, Tampa, FL 33674 or online with credit card at www.3strandcord.org.

Donations for the Meads should be made to: David and Maggy Mead, 906 W Rambla St, Tampa, FL 33612.

Welcome to Jennifer!

Dear Friends and Family,

We would like to make this a special letter from the Mead family to announce the birth of our fourth child: Jennifer Katiana Mead. She was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida on September 18, 2009 at 11:38pm. At birth she weighed 6 lbs, 6 oz and measured 20” tall.

We are very grateful to God who provided a very easy (by comparison!) and quick delivery. We were scheduled to go in the following day at 7:30 am for Maggy to be induced if she didn’t go into labor earlier. While we were OK with the induction, we would have rathered to forego that and were praying about that along with many of you. Maggy had been having irregular contractions, but they always went away.

Around 5:00 pm on Friday the 18th, she began recording her contractions again. They were about 14 minutes apart. By 7:00, they were about 9 minutes apart and we called the doctor. After getting the OK to go to the hospital, we packed up and headed in. She was admitted and after a brief check in Triage to confirm that she indeed was in labor, we were sent to Labor and Delivery. No sooner had the epidural been given and the contractions stopped! (According to the machine) The nurse set up the delivery table and got all ready to go and started a drip of Pitosin. After everything was ready, she was going to leave us and see if the contractions returned. But she decided one last check, and found the baby’s head almost out!

The doctor came in and after only one push, the baby was delivered! Daddy got to cut the cord and our 4th little one was officially ushered into our world! The remainder of the stay was pleasant and they released us at about 11:30 am on Sunday.

Maggy is resting comfortably and the whole family is very glad to have the new one! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for this to go smoothly. God has blessed us tremendously and we thank him for that!

David, Maggy, Joni Karina, Joshua, Jonathan and Jennifer