Airplanes

Saturday I went out to look at an airplane for sale. It was a Cessna 140, which is an older airplane, but was, and still is, a great trainer airplane. One of the best advantages is it is very inexpensive to purchase and very inexpensive to operate and maintain.

I had only done research on the airplane online and other articles about it, but hadn't really seen one in person, so I took the opportunity of a local guy who has one for sale to go check it out. It really is what I expected! He was a CFI as well and has done considerable training in the airplane and had good things to say about it for that purpose. Even though it is small, I was able to get in it and be comfortable. His had received an offer on the airplane the night before, and it wasn't equipped with instruments the way I am looking for, so I really wasn't considering that particular airplane, but it was great to see it up close and talk to a guy who had owned one for awhile.

I did find another option for an airplane in Clearwater, though, and if it is still available when we make it down to Florida in two weeks, I will take a look at that one. It is the later model of that kind and has the perfect instrumentation setup, so it is high on the prospect list. Asking price is $24,900. Plus, being close to us, it would be easy to do the inspections and purchase transactions.

Some of the advantages of purchasing the airplane sooner, rather than later, is that I will be able to use it for instruction here, before going to Ecuador. That will give me a chance to really get to know it and do some work on it here. I will be able to get to know the airplane really well, and have a much better idea of what to expect as far as needing parts and expected maintenance once reaching Ecuador.

One of the things God is teaching us is reliance on him. We have seen his hand in all that we have gone through, and his provision at just the right time. One of the verses that I read recently and I think will be a theme for all that we are doing is Proverbs 16:3, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." We are committing to him these plans we have and we want you to watch with us how God provides for it to happen.

In some aspects, it may seem we are doing things a little backwards. We don't have any of the funds yet for the airplane purchase or to get it to Ecuador, but the way God has worked in our lives is that we obey him first, head in the direction he has called, and he will provide at just the right time. So I am busy trying to find the right airplane and make all the other necessary arrangements and then we will wait on him.

One of the things I need to do is to find a way to put the information about our venture on a website. I have seen other people do what I want using blogspot or wordpress, but I don't know how to set those pages up like a traditional website. If you know how to do that, please let me know, so I can get that going. I am afraid the information coming from this blog alone is a little fragmented so I want a place I can consolidate the information.

Above is the picture of the airplane in Clearwater that is for sale. Please join us in prayer that God will show us if that is the right one, and that he will provide for the purchase.

Heading to Ecuador (Eventually!)

After much prayer and seeking God's direction, the big news this week is that we will be heading to Ecuador. I know, it seems like we came full circle, but we had much to learn on the way and we are heading there for much different reasons than when we first started out.

First off is to say that we feel very privileged to have spent the last 4 months here at JAARS and have made some life-long friends here. We hope the relationships we have formed will last forever. But we have realized that indeed God has prepared us uniquely for serving in Maggy's home country (and soon to be mine!).

Since the Ecuadorian government is no longer allowing any more foreign pilots to fly in Ecuador, MAF is really in a tough spot to supply Godly pilots and mechanics to support the mission effort. Praise God that the operation is able to sustain itself so far with some commercial flights to help with income. We will be applying not to MAF-US as originally planned, but to ADSE (Alas de Socorro - Ecuador) the MAF branch in Ecuador.

We will be heading to Ecuador probably about the January 2010 time frame to start the paperwork for my residency and eventual citizenship. While I am waiting for all of that to go through, I will be doing whatever I can to be helpful in the MAF hangar doing maintenance primarily and anything else that needs to be done. I can also start to work on transferring my pilot and mechanic certificates to Ecuadorian ones. Exactly how far I am going to be able to get with that with only resident status is still a little unsure.

Since we are headed in that direction, we feel God's leading also to head back to Tampa a little earlier than originally planned to begin preparing. We will be getting back to Tampa August 11th right after our family reunion. I did get JAARS's blessing to cut the internship short in preparation for our move, but we will miss this place! We have had such an incredible time here.

Another one of our goals in Ecuador is to be part of an effort to train Ecuadorian nationals, including indigenous, to work in the aviation department. It is prohibitively expensive and pretty much way out of reach for most folks who live in and near the jungle to pay for either mechanic or pilot training. I have been doing quite a bit of research to figure out a way to make it possible to train them to do the work now being done mostly by Americans. There are options that put it within the grasp of willing, dedicated people who want to put the effort into completing the training. The details are long and probably boring to most, but it includes taking a very inexpensive airplane to buy and operate down to Ecuador to do most of the training in. We will wait on the Lord to see how he provides.

I do have more information about the project available if anyone would like to know more. I really enjoyed my time working at the flight school as a flight instructor while I was going through my mechanic training, and I really feel God is leading me in the direction to not just fly for others, but to do training as a principle part of our ministry as well. The primary goal of the training will be to make disciples of Christ and that will be one of the ways we will try to assure retention of the training candidates.

Maggy and the kids are expected back on Saturday. Maggy's younger brother (who is Karina's age) will be coming to spend time with us as well. I am very ready to have my family back. The house is so empty and quiet!

Please pray for us as we prepare for this move. We are so excited about it and we see God's hand in so much as we prepare. We are thankful to all of you who prayed with us while seeking God's will in this decision.

A Whole Month Without a Post

Yeah, this is probably more like the David you are used to. It must have been an accident that I actually was posting almost every week. Now I'm back to once a month!

Not for lack of events, though. Maybe that is why. I have been very busy, which is great!

Following up from the last post, Jonathan is really walking a lot now. He walks about as much as he crawls, and loves to show off. Just like Joshua, the terrible twos have started very early!

We had a joint birthday party with Jonathan and Karina. She actually wanted it that way. I think Maggy has posted the pics on her facebook. I will get them on Picasa soon.

I have been busy and enjoying myself at work. I was out of the engine shop doing inspections and general maintenance on a couple of airplanes. It is rewarding work addressing various maintenance issues and resolving them more and more on my own. I am getting very comfortable working on the airplanes, which is kinda scary, because now is really when I could end up making a mistake! Not really, though. The senior guys here are very careful to inspect the work and make sure everything is done right.

I was allowed to go on a "return to service" flight last week in one of the Helios. That was a treat. They always fly an airplane on sort of a test flight anytime major work has been done on it. It was especially rewarding since I had been a significant part of most of the work that had been done on it. The flight came back with no findings.

Two weeks ago, I finally was able to make a soccer game. Every Sunday, a group of people get together to play soccer in a field across the street from our apartment. I have been wanting to go over to play, but our Sunday activities usually run late into the evening, so I haven't had a chance. But two weeks ago I did. Since I have been exercising and getting back into shape, I thought I wouldn't have any problem on the field. Unfortunately, about 5 minutes into the game, I planted my foot and injured my knee. I was able to walk it off and continued playing since I wasn't in too much pain, but the next day, I couldn't move it!

I took that whole week easy and the following week was able to start my usual exercise routine and by now, I have no more pain. Thanks to God for a quick recovery and no permanent damage. My family has a history of knee problems and so far, I am the only one who has been exempt from any serious problems.

We went up to Boone, NC last weekend to watch Jed and Charissa do their insane 100 mile mountain bicycle race. We arrived in time to see them cross the finish line and then spent the rest of the day with them. The mountains were so beautiful! We went to a summer camp facility with them after the race and went down this awesome zip line into a very refreshing lake. Even though we were in the mountains, it was still hot! Again, those pictures coming soon to Picasa.

Thanks Jed and Charissa for inviting us up! We had a great time. It was nice to get out and see more of the country.

This week finds me back in the engine shop. There is another Cessna 206 in need of an overhauled engine, so I am back at work doing that. This 206 is the one that is based here and used for training. It needs to be ready to go by August, which doesn't give us much time. Usually, the pace is not that urgent here, so it will be fun to see how things go when the pace is picked up a bit.

Maggy and I are pretty certain that God has revealed to us his will for our next step after the Technical Evaluation in October. We feel that he is leading us to go to Ecuador sort of independently to volunteer with MAF-Ecuador and sort of get a better feel for what God is doing through them there. I know that is quite a far cry from our original feeling of serving with JAARS in Africa, or where ever, but we have spent considerable time in prayer and discussion about it. We felt that he wouldn't show us our next step until much later, but we both were impressed with the idea at the same time and all the doors seem to be opening in that direction. This will initially be a short term move for us, but may develop into longer term service. We will be sending out an official newsletter with much more detail in the next week.

We will be relying on God fully to work out the details and finances for the move. We are confident that by following his will, he will work things out for himself, just as he always does. Proverbs 16:1-4 has been inspirational to me over the last several weeks as we commited our plans to him. "To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue. All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends - even the wicked for a day of disaster."

Maggy's dad offered to bring the kids and her up to NJ for 2 weeks, so they left early this morning by train. The kids were doubly excited. Not only had they been asking God to go up to NJ, but they got to go by train! Karina was packed and ready to go on Tuesday and kept counting down the days and thanking God every day.

The kids have seen God at work so much in our lives. We have been keeping closer track of what we ask God for and being very specific in our requests. And we try very hard to thank him when he gives us what we ask for - which has been a lot! As we acknowledge him in all our ways, he gives us more clarity in the path he has chosen for us. Another Proverb put into action. Proverbs 3:5-6.

You know how Jesus said that unless you receive the kingdom of God like a child, you will not enter it? We are seeing more and more why he said that as the faith of our children grows faster than ours. I am almost at the point that if I want something, I just ask my kids to pray for it! There is no greater joy to a parent than to see his child accept the kingdom of God.

Well, I am a bachelor for a couple of weeks now, which gives me plenty of time to work on our move to Ecuador. There is so much to do and I am grateful to keep busy. Maybe I'll even post a couple more times this month!