January Newsletter

January 5, 2010

Happy New Year!

We trust that you have enjoyed closing out the old year as well as spending time with family and loved ones and are looking forward to new beginnings. We have enjoyed our holiday season very much as most of David’s family was in town visiting. The kids enjoyed some time off from school and we were able to spend much time together as a family for which we are very grateful.

As was mentioned in last month’s letter, David was able to get up to Dunellon, Florida to visit ITEC. It was an unexpected surprise to arrive just as Steve Saint was beginning a tour of the operation. It was an even more unexpected surprise to find out that the people he was giving the tour to was a missionary who worked for awhile in Venezuela and knew David and his family! The tour was fantastic and very eye opening to different forms of overseas work. Steve Saint and crew really have a huge heart for expanding God’s kingdom in a very effective way and are committed to enabling indigenous people to provide for themselves in low and high tech ways. I strongly encourage you to visit his website at www.itecusa.org to find out more about this vision and strategy. It is something that our family is taking closely to heart and plan on relying on in fulfilling the ministry that God has entrusted us.

We started watching the series “Missions Dilemma”, a video series by ITEC and have been very touched. This is something that anyone who is interested in missions on any level would benefit from. Mention it to your missions leader, your Sunday School teacher or whomever might be looking for material to use for group studies. It is an easy 7 part series that are about 30 minute segments designed for small group participation. You can see a trailer on YouTube. Just type in “Missions Dilemma” and it will come up. If you are in the Central Florida area, you would benefit greatly by taking a tour of the ITEC facility for yourself.

One of the bigger considerations we have in our move to Ecuador is the option of a vehicle there. There are some rules governing the importation of vehicles. The vehicle must be a model year of no more than 3 years old at the time of import. For us that means any vehicle we might take with us would have to be a 2007 model year or later. Furthermore, it can not have an engine any bigger than 3.0 liters. Upon doing some research, that limits us to essentially 5 seat vehicles in the $22,000 and up range.

A 5 seat vehicle is pretty impracticle for a family of 6, even though the child seat laws are much different in Ecuador! Additionally, even when we sell our car here, we would have nowhere near enough to purchase a vehicle in that price range, much less pay to ship it down. Shell is a very small town where everything is within about a 15 minute walking distance. Taxis are plentiful and are pretty cheap. A dollar would get us anywhere around town, if needed, and the busses going to Puyo, the large town about 20 min away are frequent and only cost a quarter each way.

Maggy grew up in a small town and no one in her family owned a car and David also is very accustomed to walking and using public transportation in South America. We feel that we can manage very well without the headache of trying to purchase and ship a vehicle for ourselves for the time being. Vehicles in Ecuador are available, although they are much higher in price than the US. We will see what the future holds for us, but for the time being, we will be very content to not have to worry about taking a vehicle with us.

What we are praying about and asking God’s direction in, is the purchase of a small airplane to take with us to do training and ministry in. Let me be sure to make clear that ADSE already has airplanes there to do their flying with. It is not my responsibility to take my own airplane to do the flying that I will be doing. What we are considering is a small, fuel efficient airplane that would be effective in primary flight training for the locals and indigeneous. Remember, ADSE needs qualified Ecuadorian pilots who love and serve God! Those have been difficult to find.

We feel strongly that part of our ministry in Ecuador will be to train and equip the next generation of pilots and mechanics who will continue the work that is being done. A small airplane that is ideal for this type of training can be had for about the same price as a used car and we feel would be a much more effective tool for us than owning a vehicle. There is a lot to think about and do in that department and there simply is not enough room to write about it all here in this letter. David has much more information about this effort and if you would like to know more, please feel free to ask.

Please pray with us that God will supply as he sees fit as we continue to commiting all of our plans to him!

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