The Saga Continues

Greetings,

Well 5 weeks ago I was very close to finishing the initial stage of the flight checkout here in Papua.  5 weeks later (now) I'm very close once again however a new obstacle has appeared as it were.  But before I get to that lets take a quick look at what I've had the privilege of being apart of the past 5 weeks, which have been far from wasted time, so not to worry. The shift of gears from flying back to the hanger was closely connected with our base assignment of Merauke.  This assignment comes with a very specific aircraft.  Meet PK-MAO.

MAO as some may already know will be my future ride in which I will have the honor to use in serving the people of Papua while reflecting God's love and light.  In following the picture MAO is missing a few pieces one might think.  Every 100hrs our aircraft undergo an inspection of one kind or another.  This one happens to be phase #5 inspection and it was felt that it would be good for me to get to know MAO a little bit better.  So for the first 2 weeks of my time off the flight line and in the hanger I got to know MAO a bit more intimately you might say.

At the conclusion of this inspection I got to go along for the RTS (return to service) flight.  Which was my first experience riding along in an amphib plane.  It was an enjoyable experience and I'm looking forward to moving over to the left seat in the future and trying my hand at amphib flight ops.  Next time I should bring my fishing pole though.

Okay so now that the inspection on MAO is complete I was gearing up to return to the flight line.  But hold on, its become apparent that the line up of aircraft coming in for inspection was getting long and the hanger could use an extra set of hands.  So another 2 weeks go by helping maintenance reduce the pressure of the heavier inspections that had come due back to back.  4 weeks later I'm back in the air and on the flight line once again in hopes of getting through an MAF PFR (proficiency flight review) and then flying solo shortly after that.  Here are a couple picture my IP (instructor pilot) took this past week.

Working with the strip agent, checking the tickets & money.

Scanning for misbehaving gauges.

Got to love those smiles!

Taking a moment to wear the flight attendant hat while giving a passenger briefing, before departure.  Ya I know there are better looking flight attendants out there.  This is one of the many hats other than pilot we get to wear here while serving with MAF. 

I'm happy to report that after a 4 week break from flying, that the flying this week some of which had some pretty big challenges went very well.  And it looks like maybe next week a PFR will be on the schedule for me.  However the speed bump mentioned earlier which can also be a item of prayer.  It has been determined that my FAA IFR (instrument flight rating) is not current.  Now normally this won't be a big problem as we have qualified staff here to conduct an IPC (instrument proficiency check) which would revive my IFR rating.  The problem lies in that Papua doesn't have a reliable precisions IFR approach available an item which happens to be required to conduct a proper FAA IPC.  To have a current IFR is important as our programs default when weather becomes an issue is to resort to IFR.  In summary this means that even if I'm able to get the PFR behind me there won't be any solo time for me until a solution is found.

Despite this minor delay I'm happy to report our family is doing well. The kids now only have 3.5 days of school left and are excited for summer holidays.  Julie has also started the tedious task of packing and sorting as we begin to prepare to move next month back down to MAF's guesthouse on base.   

Thank you for your prayers and support through MAF, we wouldn't want to be doing this alone without you!

I've found some cool pictures of MAO at work to close out this post.  God Bless Tuhan Memberkati

Living the Dream is Hard Work

     When I (Julie) was younger I would dream of what I wanted to be when I grew up like most kids did. On the top of the list was to be married to a great man, have wonderful children, and live in some distant land serving God as a missionary. And God has blessed me beyond measure as he has granted me all those things over the years and I am so blessed. However, over the past few years God has been teaching me that it also requires a lot of hard work to live that dream that He placed inside of me. I would need to be stretched at times, I would almost need to be broken at other times, I would become tired and afraid, I would become frustrated and want to give up. I realized that those dreams I had as a child need to grow and expand to do the work God needs of me.

      Isn't it amazing how God can place a small seed into a child and allow it to grow and spread His word along the way. That doesn't not mean that it will be easy all the time but I have found that even when I am tired, lonely, and ready to pack my bags God is faithful through everything. And sadly I have noticed that when the hard times do come and I want to question everything it is not because I am on the wrong path but I have become so busy I have lost focus of God and stopped truly listening to Him. Most of the time when I find myself losing focus it is because I am trying to do this without Him and it just doesn't work. For God designed this dream with Him stationed in the center and when I take Him out, it is impossible to have the dream life that I wanted as a little girl. And to be honest it is not so much the dream that really matters but having Christ in the center of my life that is the most important.

     Dreams can change and develop along the way while God shapes and molds us. Even through all the change and hard work I have found that the desires that He has placed inside my heart keep growing pushing me forward. Life is full of hard work no matter where you live, work or serve but the blessing that come from all that hard work and faithful service is indescribable. When I am going through a hard time I try to look back over my life and remember all those blessings. And it can really take my breath away when I look at all that God has allowed me to see, the people he has allowed me to meet, and the places He has granted me to walk through. He is forever faithful!!!!

     I love watching my children start to dream about the future as well as they think about the little things that they would like to try or even some big things that they would love to maybe do for a living. My prayer is that they can see through my life that the dream is so worth all the hard work. And that when that dream is placed inside of you by God it is worth fighting for and at the end all that hard work will one day seem like not such a big deal.

    Greg and I fill so blessed that all three of our children are doing well here as this life and dream that God  placed into our hearts greatly has an impact on their lives as well. And one of our kids dreams is to be able to go home to Canada for a visit and see family and eat all the foods that we miss. Thankfully, the Lord has blessed our family with a opportunity to do this as a family this summer. Greg will need to take a course back in the States that will allow him to fly the float plane here in Papua. This means that at the end of July our entire family will be heading back to Canada for a short three month furlough that will allow Greg to take this course, for our family to rest, catch up with dear friends and family, and for our house in Merauke to be finished. Just like most dreams this will require a lot of pray and hard work though as we must first move out of our house here and put stuff back into storage as it waits to be shipped to Merauke. Our family will be staying in a small two bedroom apartment on base for about a month before we head home. We are all so excited to be able to come home and see as many of our family and friends that we can, but since it is such a short break we are going to focus our time in the western region instead of traveling all over Canada and the USA. And then for our dear family and friends living in a more easterly region we will focus our following furlough with you, sorry we had to choose someone to be first.  We can not wait to share with those that we can about our lives and work here and to also here how everyone is doing back home. Please keep us in pray over this next many months of transition as we move out of our house and back to base, as we prepare for our first furlough, and then upon returning to Papua we will move to a brand new town and area for the first time.

VIP's on Board

Today is the second time in less than a week that I've had the privilege of taking some VIP's into Mamit (one of my favorite places to go at the moment) for a visit and tour of the ministry and work being done by faithful servants there.

During the descent into the airstrip I was thinking "okay how should I make this approach as nice and smooth for the guests on board"  And as I was thinking this it dawned on me why am I intentionally thinking I need to make this any different from other times that I've flown into Mamit.  The verses from James 2 came to mind.  I don't believe I've intentionally flown with less thought of passenger comfort and safety with Papuan's on board.  But today in my mind I recognized that I was processing extra info because I had VIP's on board.  Is that showing them favoritism, maybe not in actual actions taken as a same smooth flight is always our goal, but in my mind I was showing them favoritism as I put extra effort into my thought process on how to make this flight even more comfortable and smooth.  This particular flight I don't believe my extra thought process resulted in any difference, but God is not about the results but rather our hearts.  As I reflect on the flight, yes in my heart and thoughts I had placed some favouritism there for the VIP's on board.

So as I continue look back on today and last week's flights, I'm realizing that I have the privilege of carrying VIP's every time a passenger steps on board my aircraft regardless of race, color, social status, etc. So as I move forward a new goal for me is to not allow the "who's" on board influence how I make decisions during a flight.  In practice my flights have been handled this way, it's just new mental shift that I need to take, so my heart and thoughts fit with the teachings in James 2.

I'm thankful for the times like this that I can be molded outside of fiery trials and/or learning the hard way.  Lord willing this lesson will stick.

John 3:30
greg

The Grand Unveiling

Wow wow wow!!! The wait is over.

I was surprised we didn't get more guesses but for those that guessed without submitting it, here it is.

Merauke is the winner!  We are all pretty excited, Isaac being the exception as he was really hoping for Wamena where his best friend is headed.  We will be trying to arrange some family trips to Wamena so they can see each other throughout the year.

Merauke is a unique base in Papua as this is where our Amphib Caravan operates from.  So yes a bit more training ahead as I've yet to fly anything off the water. Overall we are super excited with this assignment for many different reasons.  I'm looking forward to flying the longer leg flights which are common in Merauke.  We are also excited to be able to continue to live with in a local Indonesian neighbourhood in Merauke.  The kids are all hoping for AC in their bedrooms, this has yet to be determined, electricity is not cheap here.

Our move to Merauke will happen likely around the end of the year.  There are a few things that need to happen before we move, the main one being that there is no house to live in at this time.  Next week infact the MAF construction crew is traveling to Merauke to start building what will become our home upon it's completion.  Not sure how we managed to land ourselves a new house to live in for our first term, praise the Lord we'll do our best to enjoy it.

In the meantime while we wait I'll continue to fly and serve here in Sentani.  Below are a couple family photo's taken next to my current ride the Grand Caravan on wheels.  It's a sweet ride and can haul a ton of stuff or people which makes it a very useful tool to serve the people of Papua through transporting everything from rice and pigs to missionary families bring the Good News to the isolated people of Papua.

The following pictures are of my family with my future ride Amphib Caravan.  The transition training will likely happen as early as this fall/winter or after our move possibly.

I also wanted to share a couple photos of the Amphib at work.  The following photos I've found in the MAF photo library.  In Papua this is the only amphib plane in operation.  MAF also has 2 C185's on floats in Central Kalimantan.  To my knowledge these are the only 3 planes in all of Indonesia capable of serving people groups living in isolation near rivers or lakes that don't have a landing strip other than the river/lake itself.  It's a very unique ministry that our family will be joining in Merauke later this year.  A huge thank you to all who continually stand with us through prayer and financially support of MAF, as we continue to journey forward being salt and light here in Sentani and not to far off in Merauke.  Blessings from the dole clan.

The Time Draws Near

Greetings,

Coming soon to On His Wings of Love, "The Grand Unveiling"

The time does indeed draw near for us being able to unveil our future home here in Papua.  But in the mean time here is a map of Papua with the 4 possibilities so you can be placing your bets.  Well maybe not but you give it your best guess.  The blue is our current place of residence and the 4 red are the possibilities.

Have fun guessing, we hope to give out the answer shortly, meaning sometime this month. Blessings we wait with excitement along with you.

MAF Papuan Video

The following video doesn't contain any footage of our family.  But it does contain footage of a missionary I have personally flown supplies to the village for him where he lives, and have had the honor of enjoying a cup of coffee with him and his wife in their kitchen.  As well the pilot in the video is the pilot that is currently helping me adjust to flying safely here in Papua (my instructor pilot).  This story took place only a couple weeks before I started flying here.

Finding Joy Doing the Small Things

     I think that when most people climb on the plane for the first time and head to the field the expectations of doing huge and great things for God is strong. I know that for myself that was what I was hoping for because why else would God call my family here, right?  Then when we actually landed and started to live among the people and get to know them I began to really notice things around me. What the people viewed as big and important things in their eyes was very different to what my North America view was. That first year of language school was so eye opening to me as I saw God allowing me to learn how to witness in a very different way. I learned about the power of a smile, the importance of always looking someone in the eye, and that I could show love by just walking into someones home and being completely comfortable even if all there was was a small rug on the floor. On saw people eyes light up when I let then take a picture with me as it seemed that I have just given them the greatest treasure around. That first year I saw a group of people who really just wanted to be noticed, cared about, and that they just wanted to be loved.
     I felt like God was showing me that there is great power in the small things (not that big things don't matter) and not to stress out about trying to always tackle the large items. For you see even though He was showing me this that first year I was still stressing myself out by trying to do everything all at the same time. When I arrived here to Papua is where I finally let myself go (which is not easy for me) and follow His daily schedule and throw my list away. I found myself looking for those small things that would pop up through out the day that I could do for someone like allowing children to my berry bushes, talking with the local people who come to my door, keeping in eye on Facebook to see if any of my teammates where having a bad day. You would not believe the power of joy until you see first hand the smile on a child's face because I gave them a treat. Or when you surprise a teammate with a snack for their family and a coke to help them make it through the day. Or offering to drive someone around so they could do some shopping instead of having to walk all over the city.
     So most days I find myself looking for the small things that I could do with my family, friends, and neighbors. I find pure joy out of surprising someone with a small thing that just really helped make their day better. I love going to the same stores over and over and getting to know the people and watch the small relationship grow. They start to relax around you and then start asking small questions about your children, and last week I learned that one lady actual speaks very good English even though we had just been speaking in Indonesian. I have saw my relationship with my children get stronger as well which has been a neat to have.
     It makes me wonder about how many small things did I miss back home as I was rushing through the grocery store as fast as I could. And who could I have blessed by just looking them in the eye and greeting them that day. I hope that this is a lesson that I never forget because there is great power in the small things and I can share Christ's joy around my world when I slow down and really look.