Where do I start and how should I express this past weeks experience? With that in mind I'm sure there are a 101 different and possibly better ways to share the events of the week.
So let's start with Monday. Monday morning the evaluation started in our home with Steve coming to meet with Julie and I. The discussion was for Steve to introduce himself better to Julie and I as well for him to get to know us better. The other purpose was to give Julie and I an overview of the week to come which included a warning to Julie of possible behavioral change that may happen in me as a result of the evaluation.
The evaluation consisted of written, oral and practical exercises. As I navigated the different questions and assignments I experienced a wide range of emotions and thoughts. Mostly thinking that I am failing miserably as I felt that I was giving out the hungry bird look way too often through out the questions and processes. Also making several simple mistakes didn't boost the confidence much either. At the low point this week "Wednesday evening", a good friend of mine here in Nampa observed and asked me how things were doing. I shared with him how I thought things were going and he encouraged me which I appreciated. Things however were different somehow Thursday. I enjoyed the day and was able to be at peace and have fun doing the project that day. I was even at peace that if I was not the at the skill level that MAF needed I was okay with a "no" if that was what was awaiting me that afternoon during the debrief.
During the debrief I was pleasantly surprised with affirmation and a very positive report. This was at times a difficult week and I'm very thankful for mostly the peace and joy I experienced Thursday before the debrief that either way our God is still Good regardless of the outcome. Visiting this morning (Saturday) with my friend that I mentioned from Wednesday I was further encouraged as he had prayed for and had confidence that Thursday was going to be a special day. When he shared that with me this morning it was cool to be able to share with him that yes God did grant a special peace to me that day.
Not only was this particular friend praying for me but many others as well so let me say thank you from the bottom of my heart Thank You!! Our family deeply cherishes our brothers and sisters that stand with us in their prayers for our family.
After the completion of the eval. Julie and I met with the candidate committee. This meeting was a chance for the committee to get know us a bit and for us to get to know MAF better. Placement was discussed and as they get to know us better and like wise for us the final decisions for our placement will be made with better accuracy as to where we (family, skill sets, personalities, etc) would best fit into MAF's ministry.
So what is next? Well I will continue to work in the hanger as a mechanic until December. We will be making a 3 week trip to AB over Christmas. We hope to visit and share with as many of our friends and family as we can during this time. So please feel free to contact us as we would love to hear from you and see about setting up a time we could fellowship in person while in the area. gregjuliefij@gmail.com In January we will be returning here to Nampa for non-tech orientations aka "candidacy", as we have been officially been invited now. After which there will be some further MAF specific training that will take place until early May. We will give more detail on that as the time draws near. We are still looking at heading to language training or directly to the field depending on the field requirements, this coming spring/early summer. There will be more detail to come on that as well, after we have received our assignment more firmly in January.
Here is our speaking schedule again for our time in AB and please do contact us if you are able.
Innisfail Baptist Church ---------- December 16th @ 10:30am
Bergen Missionary Church ----- December 23rd @ 10:45am
Cremona Country Fellowship -- December 30th @ 10:45am
Blessings from the Dole clan.
