Summer School is almost Here!!!

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. It has been quite a while since our last blog entry, we want to update everyone more frequently with what is going on in our lives. There have many trials, but through our hope in Christ we have pressed on. I am almost done with the Spring semester. I found a aviation related job, Piedmont Aviation doing landing gear overhaul which I started at the beginning of February. It has now been three months since I started and I just got promoted into a inspection position. I start tomorrow and I am pretty excited. The weeks have been long and tiring. I work from 630am to 430pm and then I go to school from 5pm-10pm Mon-Fri. Katy and I do not get to see each other very much which is definitely tough. Katy is still working at Old Navy and she continues to look for something more full time and more enjoyable. She recently had a interview for a great nanny job and we are praying that she gets it if that is part of God's plan.

On probably the most exciting note we have visited JAARS in Waxhaw, NC twice this Spring. They are a mission organization that supports Wycliffe Bible Translators through transportation, information technology, construction, etc. The part we are most interested in is there aviation support. They fly aircraft for the bible translation projects and for the locals while they are there like medical and humanitarian needs. They are currently serving in Indonesia, Cameroon, Kenya, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea. We believe that JAARS is the mission organization th at we want to serve with. We have sent in an initial interest form saying that we will be ready to serve within the next four years. Ideally though we want to start as soon as possible. I need to complete my aircraft mechanics license; I will be done with the program next July 2011. I also need to complete a few flights to get my tailwheel aircraft license.

Our biggest hurdle as most of you know is our student loans that we need to pay off before we can become full time missionaries. We are always seeking prayer and financial support for this large burden. It is very tough to get a very lucrative job to pay them off ourselves, when we have not a lot of experience and no desire to get into that type of career path when all we want to do is live as supported missionaries overseas spreading the gospel. This is the hardest part for missionary aviators to overcome and the reason why there is such a great need for future pilots to serve in missions. Organization like JAARS generally do not recruit enough pilots for their need each year because of this reason. We need to develop a family of supporters that will help us monthly when we are out on the mission field, and we hope for a miracle to help us currently to help us financially so we can enter into service.

Our next need coming up is my summer tuition. It is around 500 dollars. We know God will provide for us through His timing. Please pray for this need as I start summer semester on May 19th. We thank you all who are following us along on our journey to the mission field.

Before the Throne of God

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see Him there who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. I am working on playing this song this week, we have started to attend our friends the Renslow's church family which meets in each others homes and I have been playing music each week for some musical praise. We have had a lot of things to praise God for over the last two months. I have found a job at a flight school in Winston-Salem which wasn't even looking for help. It can only be attributed to God; I still have no idea why the owner magically decided to take on more help. I am helping out in management and special projects, and instructing any students I can find. We are definitely struggling financially sometimes makes it hard to have faith in God. I thought about the opposite though; which is might be worse. When you have everything you need with no financial problems, you stop relying on God for daily needs. I would rather be struggling with faith than have a complete absence of the need for it. Katy has been working hard at Old Navy putting in a lot of hours, and I have been doing anything I can at the flight school to make some money including washing planes and office work. We are barely paying bills, but I am glad to be finally on a track towards what we believe is our mission from God. I am doing excellent in my classes and only have a couple more weeks of this semester. I am registered for spring semester, but do not know how I am going to pay for it. It will be around $700 plus books. Please pray for God to deliver us some assistance. We believe God is in control of every aspect of our life and ultimately all the money is His. I thank God Katy and I have not been sick so far this year, and I have been able to attend every day of class. I have also been working one third shift at Harris Teeter for some extra income. Please pray for Katy and me to grow more spiritually together and to pray more; pray that Katy would find a job that would be more set hours, better pay, and benefits. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. I would love to be able to take my bibles classes I need soon, and get some more flight training in for my experience, tailwheel and seaplane. Please pray for us to continue to do God’s will whether it be a huge miracle pay off of our loans, or a good job to get us debt free after I finish my A&P. I have been envisioning some sort of organization to help promote missionary aviation to younger pilots from middle to college age, and possibly somewhat into the training aspect of it. I am asking God to help me decipher my vision. I think it would be beneficial for making disciple of all nations and spreading the gospel. Please pray for my family and God’s hand in their lives.

"Consider it pure joy,...

my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

We officially have overcome may trials(with many more to come, I'm sure of it). With this verse in mind, it has helped to keep us strong. Pure joy, there has been a lot of joy lately. :) These past few weeks have brought up a different type of joy. Michael and I both started our first day(s) of our new jobs! Michael is working for Harris Teeter(a grocery store close to us), and I am working at Old Navy. They are both part time jobs, but we are so blessed and excited to see how God uses us at our new jobs. We have also moved into an apartment on the west side of Greensboro, woo hoo!!! (pictures to come soon after we get things set up) Our new home is just around the corner from the family that we have been living with, so we'll still be close to them :).
The weeks before the jobs was very trying on our patience. There were so many days where all I had to do was to search on the internet for jobs. I'm sure that I applied to close to 100 jobs. Michael and I are still hoping for me to get a full time job, but we know that where we are at right now is where God wants us to be. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do.
I want to thank you all for keeping up with us and praying for us as we go through this journey. I hope that we may encourage you to step out on faith and listen to God.

~Katy

P.S. We don't have internet at our new home for the time being, so we will try our best to keep you all updated on how things are going.