A better way to love

500 Hours!

2012-01-22T22:17:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! Yippee! Ben has 500 hours of helicopter flight time! Come on people, celebrate with me!! Yet another tick in the box of Helimission requirements putting us one step closer to the field.

When I’ve told people about Ben logging his 500^th hour the most common response is, “So what else do you have to do?” The next qualification on the agenda is 100hrs of turbine time, which basically means 100hrs in a larger helicopter (think hospital or news helicopter). So how do we get there? Well, in the US companies that fly turbine aircraft don’t hire pilots and transition them into a turbine helicopter unless the pilot has about 1,500 – 2,000hrs.

Here’s our plan – Ben recently said yes to an offer from the EASA Flight Department (European flight training team) to become one of their instructors. This is a wonderful opportunity because the EASA team, unlike the team he now works for, pre-schedule their flights. With a full student load Ben would be flying four 2 hour slots per day with each slot giving him approximately 1.2hours of actual flight time. Do the math and you’ll see that he’ll be logging more than 20 hours per week of flight time. That adds up pretty quickly!

Before starting work as an EASA instructor Ben needs to complete the EASA FI (Flight Instructor) Course. I know what you’re thinking – Not another course! We thought he was finished training! The good thing about this course is that now that Ben works for the Academy as an instructor the training is paid for. That’s right, an $8,000+ course all paid for by the school! In exchange Ben will be bonded to the Academy for nine months. Since we are planning to be here at least that long anyway this is a deal we’re quite happy about. Not to mention the opportunity to for Ben to train one-on-one with the school’s EASA Chief Pilot who before coming to the school was the head of the Royal Navy helicopter SAR (Search and Rescue) operations in the UK! It’s quite a privilege to be able to fly and learn from such an experienced pilot.

What I haven’t told you is that I flew Ben’s 500^th hour with him. Earlier in the week Ben’s parents each had a flight with him and due to work commitments it didn’t look like I’d have the opportunity to fly as well. In the end it worked out that I was able to. How special to cross this goal line together. One flight at a time we move ever closer to one day serving in the mission field. Yes, this has been quite a long road, but it is also one we feel privileged to travel.

Growing Hope

2012-01-02T11:54:00.000-05:00

As I think back over the last year and consider what I need for the twelve months to come one deep desire rises in my mind and heart - Hope.

In 2012 I need hope to spring forth even when all seems dead and lost. I need hope that cares not for the surface level but holds on for what is underneath. I need the kind of hope that grows in our garden.

There were three particularly noteworthy occurrences in our balcony garden over the last few months. All shouting out messages of hope.

A new orchid sprouted from one of the branches of a dead orchid. New roots and green leaves grew in mid-air. Hope precariously attached to a lifeless plant.

An all but dead mini rose plant produced one tiny perfect flower. Bright pink hope blooming among brown decaying branches.

Nine new plants sprang up in a pot we did not seed. Hope thriving even when we did nothing to nurture it’s growth.

It is so easy to become discouraged. An impoverished world perishes while we sit in comfort unable to move to the mission field for lack of flight experience. Millions of precious children go to sleep again tonight without parents while we and others are stuck in a sluggish system with overly burdened social workers or are prevented from moving forward for lack of funds. Heaviness weighs in, but hope does not abandon.

The needs of the world are great, but I know the One who is greater. It is only a matter of time until our hopes are realized. As evidenced in my garden I may see little or no growth at the moment, but roots and hope strengthen beneath the surface.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

A Year Remembered

2011-12-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

January started with hopes and dreams,

Where would He take us? Where would He lead?

A happy announcement February brought

We’re so excited, we plan to adopt!

March continued the adoption path

We learned so much in parenting class.

Beginning of April Ben finished, he’s done!

An instructor pilot the job search begun.

End of May and discouragement lands.

Where are you Lord? What is your plan?

To California in June for factory training

Bristow Academy calls, “There’s a job here waiting.”

Ben began work in July with orientation

Then a camp week with children from so many nations.

In August two boys from China to stay

We had Eric and Jeffrey for 10 fun filled days!

Three guests in September of a different kind

Adam brought two kitties, but we didn’t mind!

Nine years of marriage on the 5^th of October

Only two more months and my poem is over…

Grandma Becky went to heaven the middle of November

A special lady so fondly remembered.

December is here, my rhyme’s come to an end

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

A Better Way to Love

2011-12-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

I would like to introduce you to a 10 year old girl in my Sunday class. For the purpose of this blog, let’s say her name is Jane. I’ve known Jane for years, but she doesn’t come every Sunday. Sometimes she’ll be there several weeks in a row, and then she’ll disappear for weeks or even months.

Jane is obstinate and difficult to deal with. If I say left she insists on going right. She doesn’t want to play games or participate in any activities. She doesn’t just sit quietly on the side lines either. Jane is loud and distracting to the other children. Jane tests my patience.

This last Sunday Jane asked me to sit by her. Since I wasn’t teaching I joined her at the girls table. Jane proceeded to pretend to punch me, stopping her fist just short of my face, and to poke me in the arm repeatedly. “Jane, keep your hands to yourself. ” I’d say, motioning for her to listen to the teacher. After all, this is important stuff. She needs to know God loves her – her eternity is at stake for crying out loud. Listen to the teacher little girl! Of course she didn’t listen at all and continued to poke and pretend to punch me (at least she didn’t actually hit me).

Seeing I was getting nowhere I turned and giving it a last shot said, “Let’s have a lesson about body space. This is my body space.” I made a narrow circle around my chair. “Do you mean like a personal bubble?” Jane asked excitedly. “Yes, like a personal bubble. I can’t enter your space and you can’t enter my space unless for appropriate reasons and we give each other permission to do so.” She nodded her head trying to think this thing through. I continued, “An appropriate reason to enter my body space would be, umm, say to ask for a hug or…” Jane interrupted “Can I have a hug?!” she asked excitedly and practically jumping out of her seat. “Of course you can!” I said and reached over to hug her. She asked me for several more hugs and didn’t poke or pretend to punch me for the rest of the morning.

Now, all that may not seem like a big deal to you, but let me say it is HUGE to me. Jane has never let me hug her before and the only touch she’s willing to give is poking and for the purpose of annoying the other person. Jane’s greatest need wasn’t to listen to the teacher at that moment, this little girl needed love. She needed me to stop nagging her to be good and start seeing her for the precious child she is.

I so desperately want to see – to truly see. I am thankful that despite my rough edges God takes me as I am and loves me anyway. In His eyes my actions don't define my worth. I want to love like that.

God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outside appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7

Orphan Care Sunday

2011-11-28T07:23:00.000-05:00

Thank you for praying with us and supporting the planning for Orphan Care Sunday at Crosswalk Community Church. Thank you also to those who attended! It was a great day and I am so excited to see how God is drawing others into this journey. Not necessarily to foster or adopt, but to pray and support in tangible ways.

Before the service started each family was handed a profile card with a picture and brief bio of a local Brevard County child or teen in need of an adoptive family. The families were asked to keep and pray for the child or teen on their card. Having experienced the power of prayer in my own life I was particularly excited to see these cards in the hands of our congregation.

The service started with local adoptive momma Meredith Cornish sharing their family’s story. The Cornish family has opened their home to adopt children with disabilities from both abroad as well as the US. They are truly an amazing example of God’s heart and love. I taught Sunday School that morning and so didn’t hear the sermon. Although Ben did tell me the pastor preaching that morning asked the congregation how many children they thought were available for adoption in our county. The guesses ranged from a hundred to two thousand children. All were surprised to hear that at this present moment there are twelve. Twelve children who need families, that’s all. Our small church on our own could knock that number out and we wouldn’t have any children waiting for families in Brevard. I heard from several people afterwards that this really hit home for them.

Following the service there was a panel and Q&A session. Ben and I were on the panel along with our case worker Dawn, a foster care alumni, and several adoptive families. I was both encouraged and humbled to hear from other families who had brought home children. The overall message from these families was that none of this is easy and it is fraught with heartache, but being family to these children is right and good and they wouldn’t go back on the decision even if they could.

Most encouraging are the words I’ve heard from those who attended. Not much was said on the day other than, “Thank you” and “We enjoyed being here” but seeds were planted and for some we saw them spring to life. Praise God for…

The family who were so compelled by the picture and brief bio of a local teenage girl in need of a family they decided to start the adoption process. God had already been speaking to their hearts and this picture was the confirmation they needed to move forward.

The teenage girl and her family who are looking for ways to volunteer at a children’s home or another shelter environment on Christmas.

The couple who were thankful to gain a glimpse into a world they didn’t know much about and committed to walk along side and love us as we bring children home.

Parents who soaked up all that was said and are eager to know what their part in all of this is. And their little girl who walks the family to the kitchen to pray for the profile cards of local children they have hanging on their refrigerator.

The prayer group who prayed over the profile cards during their meeting.

The middle school girl who is talking to her parents about opening their home to people in need.

There are many more stories both beginning and unfolding. Thank you to all who contributed advice, prayer, food, and service to bring the day together. My friend Katie, our fearless leader in the orphan care charge (although she would never admit it), I am especially thankful for. It was her family’s journey to bring their son home a year ago that ignited the flame within many hearts. It is amazing what God can do with one family’s story.

October Update

2011-10-30T19:01:00.000-05:00

Flying Update

Ben is doing well and continues to enjoy his job as a flight instructor. He now has three students he’s teaching instrument flying to and one part time beginning student. It’s been a challenge but one Ben is certainly up for! He’s at 437 hours already! Of course the big challenge remains the 100hrs turbine time. Before he can qualify for an entry level turbine job he’ll need about 1,500hrs flight time.

I find it kind of funny that most of the teaching he’s doing is instrument. It’s a subject that seems to either be loved or hated by student pilots (mostly hated!). Ben wasn’t too partial to the course himself. Last week he also got night current and so will start to do some of his flight lessons after dark. This is important because later on down the line night hours are necessary if he wants to qualify for an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot license - essentially the highest pilot rating and many times necessary for captain positions).

Adoption Awareness Month

November is Adoption Awareness Month! If you’re reading this blog post via the Facebook link then you are already well are of this and are probably tired of my daily adoption plugs. I make no apologies and you’ll just have to put up with it for a few more weeks! :)

No, we still don’t have a home study completed because of chaos among our local child welfare agencies. What I am excited to tell you about are all the happenings on November 13^th! This is the day Crosswalk will be focusing on the issues of adoption, foster care, and orphan care. During the service will have the Cornish family tell their story (blog link below be sure to check it out. No, I’m serious – check it out!). After service we’ll have lunch and a panel/open forum Q&A. On the panel will be a few adoptive families, a representative from our local child welfare agency, an adoption lawyer, and a foster care alumni. It will be a great chance to hear from people in the trenches and get to ask lots of questions. If you’re local to the Titusville area I hope you come! You don’t have to be on the path to adoption or foster care, you just need to have a heart for children from hard places. So do come!

Cornish Family Blog: http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com

Choosing Well

2011-10-12T19:20:00.000-05:00

I cried on the way home from Walmart last week and that wasn't the only instance of tears. All around it was a difficult week for me. You see, it really hit me that it has been nine years since we left Mercy Ships. Nine years! We'd left with the intention of taking a year out to enjoy being married and living "normal" life before heading back to missions. We never thought that nearly a decade later we would be living in the US.

We haven't been idle and perhaps this makes it all the more difficult. We've pushed and trusted and worked for years to gain the expertise necessary for Helimission. We fully recognize that in the capacity we wish to serve skilled workers are needed, not just willing hands. Even knowing the logical reasons about why we are in the US I still wish that we could sell everything and leave for Africa tomorrow.

Last Sunday we sang a song at church with a verse that goes, "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord" Of course this is a truth from scripture straight out of Isaiah 40. As we sang I was struck by how weak I felt. I prayed, "I've been waiting on you Lord, but this has been more of an opportunity for weakness and discouragement than strength!" I know that learning to wait is also part of preparation for missions. I think about how difficult it can be sometimes to keep from being discouraged and then feel ashamed because in reality training is much easier than actually being on the field.

I know that I have a choice. When doubts rise and I begin to feel as though we will never actually make it to the field I can choose to be discouraged or I can choose to wait on the Lord. I can choose weakness or I can choose strength. I want to choose well because I know that in the capacity we wish to serve strong workers are needed, not just skilled hands.

Isaiah 40:28-31
Have you not known?Have you not heard?The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles,They shall run and not be weary,They shall walk and not faint.

September

2011-09-24T16:34:00.001-05:00

In keeping with the rest of summer September turned out to be a very busy month.

Girls Group

I was excited to join a new small group with some of the girls from our church. Six girls from middle school, high school, and just starting college make up the group. We started the book Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild. The book compares the “wild woman” of Proverbs 7 to what a “wise woman” would look like. It isn’t your traditional Proverbs 31 woman kind of book but draws on a lot of other scriptures to pull out what a “wise woman” would look like. One of the girls has already been through the book and so far things are going well for the rest of us. I have loved hearing from the girls – they are already wise! Their faith and love of Jesus challenges and encourages me. I am so glad to have the opportunity to get to know them a bit more over the coming weeks.

Perspectives is coming to Titusville!

Perspectives is a course that looks at the world Christian movement – searching the scriptures to see God’s purpose for missions as well as looking back over history to see what God is doing/has done. The course has a different missionary speaker each week.

Ben and I had signed up for the course in Merritt Island but it was unfortunately cancelled due to low enrollment. In the end it will work out better for us! The January course will be held at our church here in Titusville and I get to be part of the planning team! I am convinced I have to coolest of all the jobs! My role is to contact the missionary speakers a couple weeks before they are scheduled to arrive and offer hospitality services. You better believe I am excited and hope to have the opportunity to host some of the speakers in our apartment. I know there are others who would like to host too so we won’t hog all of them, although I am tempted!

Flight Instructing

For the most part Ben is checked out vfr (visual) and ifr (instrument) instructing in the S300, R22, and R44. Only one more checkout for ifr in the R22! Then finally on to just giving instruction. He now has four students, although at the moment is only flying with one. The other two are both in the Instrument Ground School. The class is quite an intensive three weeks so Ben will wait until they are finished before adding flying and simulator work to their schedule. The fourth student is a part-timer whose wife is an astronaut! Part of the registration process is to have the student’s photo taken for their ID badge. The picture wall is right between two posters, one of helicopters and the other of astronauts. I pointed the student to the picture wall and he said, “Ahh, there’s my wife.” Pointing to the picture of one of the astronauts. It was quite comical and I told him to bring her in so she can sign the poster!

Another house guest

With Eric and Jeffery gone the spare room was once again open. The timing turned out great and we were able to offer the room to a friend of ours who is moving back to Titusville from Germany and will work at the flight school as an instructor. Adam left his wife in Germany to continue with the packing and arrived here last Wednesday with two of their four cats! Nadine and the other kitties will following in about one month. We’ve enjoyed having Adam around while the apartment and vehicle hunts.

Fun at work

While my job at the helicopter school sometimes wears me out and can be pretty taxing, it is also a lot of fun! Just last night we had a kayaking trip of 50 students/staff/and friends. We had hoped to see bioluminescence in the water, but it was really patchy and not as bright as previous years. We still had a lot of fun though!

Last week I got to launch a new program called Eat with U.S. - Dinner in an American Home Program. Through the program I’ll match international students with local families for a casual dinner together. The host families will invite students to their homes and provide a free meal. When talking to one of the students from Thailand about the program he said, “Why would an American family want to have me come over for dinner?” I responded, “To welcome you to our community and learn about your culture.” He was shocked, “You mean American families want to learn about my culture? Wow, that sounds nice. Maybe I could even cook them some Thai food and bring it with me.” I hope he does decide to sign up for the program and I’m sure his host family would enjoy trying some Thai cooking!

Earlier this week I matched the first student with a host family. So far I have two students and two families signed up. The matched student is from China and literally signed up for the program within an hour of the announcement e-mail being sent. I am excited to hear how the dinner goes. The second student is from Holland and as I don’t personally know the host I’d like to match him with I’ll make a home visit next week to introduce myself.

I am really excited about the program and hope many students and residents in the Titusville area decide to participate!

Adoption Update

2011-09-07T05:50:00.000-05:00

Dawn has a contract! This is great news as it means we can start moving forward again with the home study. Last night Dawn came over for her second visit to our home. It was so nice to see her and catch up! She has all of our paperwork now and is settled enough in her new job to be able to set aside time for our home study. If all goes well she'll start to put everything together and will e-mail us if she has questions as she goes along. I don't know a timeline, but she promised not to sit on it for six months or anything like that.

Please do pray for Dawn if you think of her. With all the changes in the county she (and the rest of child welfare) are under an insane amount of pressure/stress.

August Update

2011-08-27T12:58:00.003-05:00

Jeffrey and Eric

A couple weeks ago we participated as a host family in an Education First (EF) homestay program. As part of the program kids come from all over the world to learn English and experience American culture. Our group of EF kids came from China and we enjoyed the roles of British/American parents to Eric and Jeffrey. Both are 13 years old (Jeffrey turned 13 last during the two weeks with us) and both are really great young men! Sure they are quiet and Jeffrey is a bit shy, but I think that has mostly to do with his lack of confidence in his English skills. Eric’s English is much better as he spent time in New Zealand last year and so is able to act as translator when needed.

We took the boys to watch sea turtles come up the beach to nest, shopping at the mall, had a pool party, taught and played card games, celebrated Jeffrey’s birthday, and capped off with an afternoon at the beach. We were impressed by Jeffrey’s insane skills with the Rubik’s Cube and Eric’s piano playing. And so you can be impressed too I’m including the videos!

Settling into the new job

Ben is working crazy hours and trying to cram as much info in as possible, but is at the same time doing very well! He’s finished up the orientation process and his 141 checkout with the Chief Pilot. The checkout is the official “aok” and allows him to start flying with students. When he called me after everything was over the first thing out of his mouth was, “Well before that flight I used to think I knew how to fly helicopters!” But the flight couldn’t have been quite that bad because the Chief Pilot was pleased with how things went.

To date Ben has flown with two other new instructors familiarising them with our local area and procedures, a few flights with a student who was having a little bit of difficulty and needed a “fresh approach”, and started with his one actually assigned student. Hopefully he’ll be given more students with the new class starts on September 12.

Ben’s also one of the flight instructors who teach in the ground school classes. Ben’s subjects are Charts and Aerospace for the Private Pilot class and Systems and Components for the Commercial Pilot class. Last week he had his first go teaching the class by himself and felt it went well. I was so proud of him! Next week he’ll be teaching some more in Private and also in the Commercial class.

Even though his 141 checkout was completed Ben stills needs to be checked out in the R22 and R44 (two other types of helicopters) and for instrument instructing. He’s done one flight in the R44 and needs one more before going up with the examiner. It will be a few more weeks before he has completed all the necessary checkouts and can just focus on instructing.

This whole move from student to instructor has been a funny transition for me. I find myself wondering at Ben “Who are you and where did my husband go?” I mean imagine with me – My Ben classroom teaching…and enjoying it?! I am immensely proud of him and know he is a good pilot, but my brain just hasn’t quite realized that he is the teacher now!

Adoption

It’s been a really frustrating month. We returned from Clarkston and attempted to contact our case worker, Dawn, to finish up the home study. We had agreed with her before we left to turn in all our paperwork so she could write the home study while we were away and plan to wrap everything up in August. I couldn’t reach Dawn on her work number, cell, or e-mail. After a few attempts I called the main office and left a message for the Director. She called me back and explained that there have been changes at Intervention Services, Dawn no longer works there, but I shouldn’t worry because Dawn is still contracted to complete our home study. The Director told me she had Dawn’s new contact details and would give Dawn a call and ask her to contact me the next day. No call came, so I called the Director back. She would promise again, and again I wouldn’t receive a call. I was polite and courteous, but still calling the Director every day to ask for an update. This went on for weeks and I never really got any good answers as to why Dawn wasn’t calling me back.

Finally on one last call the Director said she would insist to Dawn that she contact me as “this really needs to stop” she sounded quite exasperated. I again thanked her for all the help she’d given me and told her that I know there are issues at the moment but I really appreciate her allowing me to call for updates. The next day Dawn did call and as suspected, there was much more to the story. Turns out Intervention Services lost the contract with the county and so no longer was on the books to do home studies. As a result of the lost contract there were a lot of staffing changes and Dawn went to work for another agency. The county asked Intervention Services to still complete the home studies that were pending. However, Intervention Services did not write a contract for Dawn and so as she wasn’t employed by them had no access at all to our file. She couldn’t have contacted us if she wanted to and I suspect the Director wouldn’t give me Dawn’s contact information because Dawn would tell me she can’t do anything until this mess is sorted out. Well, by the time I did hear from Dawn she still didn’t have a contract with Intervention Services but was feeling confident that one would be coming soon because the Director released our file to her (even though she wasn’t supposed to, and probably only because of my daily pestering).

So now Dawn has our file and I also resent our documents to her new work e-mail. That was last weekend and I haven’t heard from Dawn all week. I’ll give a call on Monday to see where we are at, but I suppose this means there still isn't a signed contract. The whole situation is frustrating. Hopefully this won’t continue for too much longer!

Friends of Refugees - Summer Spectacular!

2011-07-31T15:54:00.001-05:00

We’ve been back from Clarkston for a week now and I want to thank you for keeping us and the rest of the team in your prayers. It was an incredible trip!

On arrival in Clarkston our pre-camp briefing included Scott (Director of Friends of Refugees) adding to the beatitudes “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape!” There were certainly lots of opportunities to be overwhelmed by 60 elementary and 30 middle school children. Large numbers aside, remember these kids come from hard places and different cultures. Flexibility wasn’t just a nice thing to keep in mind, it was absolutely key to maintaining sanity!

God’s Talk

The format of the camp is that all the age groups arrive first at the Community Center for breakfast and announcements. Once that’s done the middle school group boards the buses for a nearby church and the elementary remain at the Community Center. Over the next few hours each group has a camp program and then it’s everyone back together at the Community Center for lunch and games.

On the first day of camp I was nervous. How would it go with the kids? Would the like me? Would I like them? After we arrived at the church for middle school camp one of the interns announced that it was time for “Academics” and that she would split the kids into group and assign a volunteer (ie one of us) to help the groups read. There was instant protest, annoyance, and whining from the girls. I didn’t even know their names yet and already they were complaining about how they didn’t want to read with me and could they not just stay on their own. As the intern (bless her) argued with the girls resentment began to build in my heart. “Great” I thought “They don’t even want me here, this is going to be horrible.” Thankfully the Spirit is quick to correct and the words came, “You don’t get your significance from these girls. You can love them because I loved you first.” So there and then I resolved to love no matter the response and to remember where my significance comes from. Talk about empowering!

As I read with my group of girls they slowly went from annoyed at my presence to curiosity about where I was from, was I married, did I have children, and on and on. They let the walls down just enough for me to see that these girls have very tender hearts. This was my one and only true glimpse at who the “real girls” were and I am thankful for it. The rest of the week was full of ups (giggling, hugs and playing games) and downs (attitude, rebellion and at one point a near riot). I miss those girls and really wish I had the opportunity to get to know them over a longer period of time.

Middle School Boys

While I worked with the girls, Ben was assigned to the middle school boys team. Unlike the girls the boys absolutely craved the one on one attention from the male leaders. They were eager to please and Ben enjoyed teaching them how to pronounce words and especially the “th” sound!

I hadn’t realized just how differently the girls and boys were until the last day. It was towards the end of camp and one of the boys was being disrespectful to a female intern. Ben said to him “Hey, you need to respect her.” and almost instantly he stopped what he was doing. Ben said, “What does respect mean.” And the boys went quiet and started to think this through. “Like manners and stuff” and “Being nice” came some of the answers, “That’s part of it, but what is respect really?” Ben asked. The boys were all quiet and out of answers so Ben said “Treating people the way you would want to be treated.” I stood there dumbfounded. Here was Ben interacting positively with the boys and actually having a teaching moment! Those boys so need positive male influences in their lives and I was thrilled that Ben could provide that even if just for a week.

Fun and Games

Aside from camp we also organized a block party at one of the apartment communities. This was so much fun! Darla and her team served chicken chilli and corn bread (big hit!), Tony and Joy organized lots of games, and Tracey and Katie had a face painting table. It was so nice to be able to spend time with kids outside of the camp with no agenda other than having fun!

Talent Show

There was also the Talent Show one evening. Kids had been signing up all week and we weren’t disappointed with the talent! Acts included singing, dancing, jump rope, percussion, cups game, drawing, indie board, and trumpet for the finale! I got to join in the fun when a couple of the middle school girls asked Tracey and I to preform “Father Abraham” with them!

Hard Places

It was so easy to forget these kids come from hard places. I would get to playing and enjoying spending time with them and think of them as just regular American kids growing up protected from a harsh world. Then something would happen that would bring me back to the reality of their situation and break my heart. One particular instance I was having lunch with a little girl from Sudan. There was a boy next to us who was being a little annoying. The little girl said “He’s a mean boy!” I responded with a smile and said “Oh he’s just being a boy, don’t worry he’s not trying to be mean.” “No! He’s a mean boy!” she said back to me with her little hands on her hips. “Hmm, I still think he’s just being a silly boy. You know how boys are. Do you have brothers?” I asked. Then it happened. This little girl looked up at me and said very matter of fact “I used to but they all died.”

This same type of scenario happened over and over again. In the middle of normal everyday conversation these kids would reveal something tragic and heart breaking. They desperately need to know the God who loves and heals.

Iraqi Family

I was invited to go with Tiffany (Scott and Tiffany head up Friends of Refugees) to pick up bread from an Iraqi lady named Hanaa. Tiffany hadn’t met Hanaa before and didn’t know if we’d be invited in or just pay for the bread at the door and leave. Either way I was excited because it meant I got to spend a little time with Tiffany!

When we arrived at the apartment no one answered the door. After a phone call on the cell the door opened and there was the Nour one of the middle school girls and Rania an elementary girl from camp! They were so excited to see us and we were promptly invited in and served tea. We spent a little over an hour talking with Hanaa, Nour and Rania. I got to try out the Arabic that some of the Qatari students at my work had taught me and Hanaa tried to teach me a few more words and phrases. We left with gifts crocheted by Hanaa along with the bread (which she refused to be paid for) and a large tray of food. By far this was the absolute highlight of the trip for me!

So what now?

Well that’s a good question. I was sad to leave after only being in Clarkston for a week. It definitely was not long enough to make any real connection with the kids. I wish we could have stayed longer and even had thoughts of “We should move to Clarkston”. But Clarkston isn’t where God has placed us as we train and prepare for Helimission. So what now? We’ve long loved and supported the ministry of Friends of Refugees and will continue to do so, but is that enough?

Esther

In the few moments we were able to our team looked at the story of Esther with the middle school girls. As long as behavior issues would allow we tried to tackle a section of the story each day and I’d spent the preceding weeks reflecting on this story in preparation for the teachings. As we drove away from Clarkston leaving all the kids and needs behind I began to think about Esther and about Titusville. While we’d been away Atlantis had landed back at Kennedy Space Center and with the shuttle program’s final landing a further 3,200 jobs were lost. Amid a slow national economic recovery Titusville is struggling all the more. We know from our adoption classes that families suffer and break apart in economic hardship. Kids end up in state care as parents are unable to cope with the stressors of joblessness.

We always thought we’d be in Titusville for one or two years maximum before having to move somewhere else to obtain the necessary training for Helimission. Miraculously God has opened doors for us to gain training and experience here, keeping us in Titusville for six years. With the hardships our town is now experiencing I wonder if like Esther’s story, we were put here for this exact moment in time.

But as for me I trust in You O LORD; I say “You are my God ” My times are in Your hand.
Psalm 31:14-15a

Ben’s Big News!!

2011-07-12T19:28:00.000-05:00

If you’ve been following our progress for any length of time you’ll know that for six years now we’ve been in a continuous state of not knowing what we are doing. You’ll also know how faithful God has been to us at every turn. One of my favorite bible verses is Proverbs 16:9 The mind of a man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. This is certainly true for Ben and I! We see and plan for the big picture of missions clearly, but every step of the way has been veiled.

At the end of June Ben flew out to California to a pilot safety course and once it was finished I flew out to meet him so we could have a week holiday to visit with far away friends and see some mountains. On the first day of our vacation Ben got a call from the Chief Flight Instructor at Bristow Academy offering him a job as a flight instructor! Keep in mind that Ben had applied for this job and already been turned down a couple months ago. So needless to say we couldn’t believe it! Working as a flight instructor is a tremendous blessing as it will enable Ben to log about 60 flight hours every month!

We returned from vacation late Sunday night and Ben was at Bristow to meet with HR at 9am Monday morning getting the paper work started. Right now he is still going through the new hire process and will have some standardization flights and a part 141 checkout to complete before actually being assigned students to fly with.

So now you’re probably wondering about all that was planned with Samaritan Air. Before taking the job Ben called and let them know about the offer. It was with Samaritan Air’s blessing that the job at Bristow was taken. Although we won’t be involved with Samaritan Air on a fulltime basis we will remain connected and still hope to get to Haiti in the future.

To finish off here’s our prayer list and a few photos from our vacation! :)

Job at Bristow Pray that as much of the in processing stuff as possible can be taken care of asap. We are leaving for the mission trip to Friends of Refugees in Georgia on Sunday and so are very pressed for time. Pray that the standardization flights and 141checkout will all go smoothly (these will be scheduled for after we return from Georgia). That Ben would find his feet quickly and settle in at the Academy.

Friends of Refugees We are still preparing lesson plans and getting the details nailed down for the trip. Please pray for the team and all the work still to be completed. We leave early morning on Sunday.

Adoption That the home study can be completed in August as projected. For our hearts and the hearts of the child or children we adopt.

Samaritan Air Pray for the funds needed to complete the work on the helicopter being refurbished for Haiti. Rest, endurance, safety, and funds/supplies for the Parker family and all involved in Samaritan Air’s work.

No Wasted Time With God

2011-06-11T13:31:00.001-05:00

Hey look at this – we’re not doing so bad!

Ben downloaded a new chart from Helimission showing the anticipated training path/times. As a visual person I love this chart and am sure it will be really helpful for candidates who are just starting out. Six years ago there were no charts or suggested (or expected) training routes. We just took the experience requirements and tried our best to work backwards from there. At the time Helimission wasn’t really firm about the process either (lots of unknowns for them too) but we’ve all managed. So where are we you ask? Looks like pretty much right on track, although we do have some things a bit backwards. We’ve been training for 6.5 years and are moving into the flight experience phase with all the flight training aspects completed. Still may need to get a bit of extra maintenance experience on turbines, but it looks like we’ve actually ended up pretty much on the expected timeline. That’s quite encouraging! (click the picture to open for a clearer view)

Missions Training Top 10 List

In training for missions work things sometimes don’t make sense and seem to move at an insanely frustrating slow pace. So I wanted to write, for my own sake and the sake of any others in training, a top 10 list for successful training. By successful I don’t mean get to the field as quick as possible. Believe me when I say me I think about missions every day and would leave for the field tomorrow if I could. There’s just more to it than that. So here it goes…

1 1. Eyes on Christ not on training. It can be so easy to shift your focus away from God and onto what you must do to get to the field. Remember that life is not about missions it is about Jesus. Cultivate this relationship first and foremost.

2. 2. Prayer. Intercede for the ministry you will work for. Cover them with prayer for good relationships, wisdom, perseverance, safety, and supplies. Pray for the people you will one day serve. God will link your heart with theirs from thousands of miles away. With such a long term of training it often feels like you've disappeared into a black hole. Pray so you have God’s perspective not your own.

3. 3. Be humble. Remember missions is about service. Yes your heart is hooked and you can’t imagine living a normal life but that doesn’t make you a super spiritual better than the rest Christian. Serve the lost but also serve your brothers and sisters in Christ including the ministry you want to work with. Jesus served the hurting but he also served his disciples.

4 4. Be thankful every day. Nothing fights off discouragement like thankfulness. Remember all the good things that God has done and how he’s leading you.

5. No fear. If God called you then he will be faithful.

6. Get lots of support. I’m not talking about financial support. You need transparent relationships with a few people who will pray for you, pray with you, challenge you and keep you accountable.

7. Communicate. Let others know what you’re doing. It can be hard to blog when it feels like you aren’t making progress but it is important to continue to let people know you are still going at it.

8. Connect with other missionaries in training. These are people who know exactly what you are going through. It is so encouraging to make friendships and pray for others who are in training. It helps to know that you aren’t the only one in the world who is doing this!

9. Do missions now. Ask God to open your eyes to the needs right where you are. Missions isn’t something you’ll do one day in the future it’s a way of life. Start now.

10. Don’t be afraid to make commitments just because you don’t know where you’ll be in the next twelve months. I can’t tell you how many events, classes and trips we’ve said no to because we weren’t sure where we’d be in the coming months.

To close I want to say that yes it can be hard to remain optimistic and focused on a life that seems to be ever distant and unattainable. But we can and will make it! We have a wonderful, faithful, and loving God who hasn’t led us this far just to leave us. Don’t give up and remember – Eyes on Christ!

May 2011 Update

2011-05-16T12:53:00.002-05:00

I’ve been sitting on this blog update for quite a while now and waiting to finally have news on what we will be doing next. I feel like over the past year anytime we’ve been asked what the future holds the only possible response is a shrug and a “We really don’t know.” After being in suspense for so long you’d think I’d be used to it! While I still can’t give you any firm details, here’s what we’ve been up to:

Pilot licenses/ratings completed!
Ben completed his Certified Instructor Instrument Rating and also had a checkout with an FAA pilot examiner to be able to teach in the R22. This was the final course to take, although in the life of a pilot and mechanic there is always additional training whether required or simply recommended.

At the end of June Ben will travel back to the Robinson factory in California for a pilot safety course. This short four day course is required by many insurance companies and is a must have for working with Samaritan Air. At the end of the course I’ll fly out to join him and we’ll spend some time with Mercy Ship friends and do a little road trip.

Samaritan Air
Once the Robinson Safety Course is completed the plan is to start working with Samaritan Air. In addition to flying relief flights in Haiti they also train and equip pilots for the mission field. To serve in the mission field you generally need 500 hours. They help pilots fill the gap with real-life flight training. Exactly what this will look like is still coming together, but we are definitely excited! Samaritan Air is working on establishing a permanent location in Haiti to offer continued air support. Right now they are in the process of clearing the land in Haiti where a hanger will be located and are also refurbishing aircraft for the field. Samaritan Air has had a long relationship with Haiti and served the country for years with air support after hurricanes and the earthquake in 2010. It is a tremendous privilege to be joining with the ministry as they step out in faith with this field location! Please keep all involved with Samaritan Air in prayer, especially the Parker family who lead the ministry. Please also consider supporting the ministry financially. You can find more info here: http://samair.org

Adoption
We received our home study packet in the mail and have begun to pull together all the required paperwork. We were delighted to learn our case was assigned to Dawn, the lady who led our MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) class. We know and love Dawn from class and are excited to be able to have her do our home study! Her first visit to our home will be on Thursday May 19th.

Day to Day
I continue to work at the flight school and very much enjoy my job. I’m also still taking piano lessons and have surprised myself by sticking with it for a year now. Together with some of the ladies at work I’ve also started running again. Partly because I live such a sedentary life with my office job and also because I’m turning 30! I’ve never been much of a birthday person but this milestone has reminded me that time is ticking away. Running a long distance race has always been something I’ve wanted to do and so now seemed like as good a time as any to go for it. It’s early days though so we’ll see if I can stick with it. I also continue to help in Children’ Church every other week and absolutely love spending time with the kids. We’ve seen several get baptized recently and I am so thrilled to see Christ take hold of their lives!

Now that Ben is done with training he has a lot of free time on his hands. Ben did apply for an instructor position at the flight school and although invited for an interview he didn’t get the job. He has been keeping busy reading helicopter books, editing videos, attending bible studies, and getting all the stuff done that home that we never seem to have time for. Last week he shampooed the carpets for which I am really very grateful! Ben also continues to play in the worship band at church and really enjoys being part of that team.

We had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Samaritan Air, Pastor Volner from Haiti, another Helimission candidate couple, and a pilot who may be joining the Helimission candidate ranks soon! It was a wonderful time of encouragement!

Prayer Requests
• Focus on Christ.
That we would fix our eyes on Christ, not on meeting flight requirements. He is the reason we are preparing for missions. Proclaiming his name and story are more important than anything else.

• Encouragement and perseverance.
I sometimes wonder if I had really known how long this road would be, would I have so willingly signed up? After six years of training we’ve made great progress, but at the same time ache for the mission field.

• Adoption.
That we would follow God’s leading in this process. For our hearts and for the hearts of the child or children we adopt. Keep in mind we will take these kids to the mission field with us!

• Samaritan Air.
For wisdom as arrangements are made for the field location and the aircraft refurbishment. For the funds necessary to complete the work.

Brianna and Maiya

2011-03-27T12:55:00.026-05:00

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:10

A well known verse in Christian adoption circles is James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. You'll see this verse in blogs, as a theme for adoption care ministries, and hear it from the pulpit as a call to action. The verse is wonderfully direct and leaves no room for "helping orphans and widows is not my calling". In fact this is one of the verses that early on captured my heart and moved Ben and I from mere interest in adoption to what we now describe as being compelled to adopt. Yet as we go through the paperwork and approval process I'm struck with the realization that this is so much bigger than I ever imagined.

I'd like to introduce you to Brianna and Maiya. Brianna is 16 and Maiya is 10. They are not related by birth and live in different parts of Florida. Both have had parental rights terminated, are free for adoption, and need permanent homes. They are typical of the children and youth in foster care with one distinction - they are Christians.

Our brothers and sisters in Christ are living around the world in foster care and orphanages. Does this thought catch your breath as it does mine? As Christians we are called to care for the poor, the vulnerable, and the orphan, but we also have a special calling to care for each other.

I encourage you to click on the links below. Watch Brianna's video and read Maiya's bio. As you do, remember that they are already family.

Maiya: http://www.adoptuskids.org/child/ChildView.aspx?id=34278

Brianna:

You want to do what?!?!

2011-02-19T22:07:00.001-05:00

For some of you reading this it will feel like this blog is completely out of left field. You may think, “What? They’ve never said anything about this before!” or “I wonder how this will fit with their goal of getting to the mission field.” In reality this blog is an expression of desires stored up in my heart for the last eight years. I am EXCITED to write and let you know that we have started the process to be approved as an adoptive family. Before I start, I want to emphasize a truth that we have really been learning and experiencing in many ways lately - God’s timing is rarely our timing, but it is always the right timing!

I had never given more than a passing thought to adoption until I lived in England and worked with teens aging out of the foster care system. The teens I worked with were leaving the system without any sort of continuing parental influence or support. It was then that God began to grow the desire to welcome these kids into my home and family through adoption. Once I made the comment to Ben, “I don’t care if we have our own children, I would be fine just adopting from foster care. I’d even like to adopt an older child…at least five years old.”

Over the years that followed we would talk on and off about the “five year old” I wanted to adopt. Ben was never closed to the idea, but felt it would be best to have biological children first so we could practice parenting before adopting. So in September 2007 we decided to try to start a family and soon were pregnant. Unfortunately that pregnancy ended in miscarriage at 12 weeks and we weren’t able to get pregnant again. It took two solid years for me to really recover. As strange as it sounds I am thankful to not have gotten pregnant again right away. I am thankful because instead of filling the void with a new pregnancy I have learned to trust fully in Jesus. Please don’t hear me wrong, I still want to have biological kids. In fact I plan to and trust God that this will happen. None the less I am thankful for the opportunity to know Jesus as the healer of my deepest hurts.

About a year ago Ben and I started to talk about adoption again. Around last summer we agreed to attend an adoption orientation to see if this was something we should pursue. So in July I called Brevard Family Partnership and signed up for the MAPP classes. I had expected to get into orientation and MAPP within a few weeks however due to budget cuts and staffing shortages the classes were canceled. We had no idea when a class would become available to us. It seemed as if this dream, like missions, was now suspended in space and we had no way of knowing if or when we could fulfill it.

In early January (shortly after my last blog entry) we received a letter inviting us to attend orientation and MAPP. We headed off to orientation and heard all about the adoption process, both the challenges and joys. We got to ask questions and really think through whether this was right for us. On the way home I was sitting in the car thanking God that my husband has a tender heart and is willing to explore adoption even though he wasn’t totally comfortable with it. In the middle of this prayer Ben said, “I’m sorry if I’ve ever stood in the way of us doing this before.” Later he recounted that as we sat in the meeting room and read biographies of some of the children available for adoption the reality that these kids don’t have families really hit home for him. He had also recently been challenged by verses from the book of James “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

To date we’ve attended three weeks of MAPP classes. And since I’ve been using this acronym without explanation you’re probably ready to know what in the world it stands for. MAPP means “Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting” and is a required class for any prospective foster or adoptive families. The class goes to great lengths to describe how children with a history of harm and/or neglect require different parenting strategies. This last class focused on losses and gains. We learned that in order to effectively welcome these children into our home and to help them heal we have to understand loss and grieving. We need to be able to recognize that behaviors are indicators of a deeper hurt and be willing to guide children through the healing process. Future classes will focus more on healing as well has how to handle bad behaviors.

Although we’ve started MAPP there are still many unknowns for us. Ben is nearly done with this Instrument Instructor rating and we don’t know if he’ll be able hired as an instructor locally or need to travel down to Jupiter during the week and come home on weekends. We don’t know if we’ll even be approved for adoption as there is still a ton of paperwork and a home study to complete. And of course we don’t know who or how old the child or children we adopt are.

So please pray for us and pray with us that we will head in the direction God desires of us. And to finish off here’s a video of some of the children in Broward County (southern Florida) who are still waiting for forever families.

Hello 2011

2011-01-02T16:45:00.001-05:00

With a new year usually comes planning and dreaming. A fresh opportunity to consider where I am now and what I would like to accomplish over the next twelve months. Last year about this time we were talking about Ben leaving maintenance to focus on flying. We were introduced to Samaritan Air and things seemed to be coming together. I began to think we may not be to far from meeting Helimission’s requirements.

This year as I sit and write I have dreams sure, but it’s as if I am at sea with no instruments or view of the stars for navigation. Still desiring to reach the shore but not sure if I’m still sailing or just drifting over the waves. Simply put, I have no direction.

This morning while getting ready for church I prayed for direction, telling God that I don’t like this feeling and how discouraged I am. Mulling over the last couple years of training I began to regret Ben working in maintenance. If he had only keep flying full time when the economy was good he’d have more than likely been able to quickly progress to larger aircraft and would now have lots of experience under his belt. Others who started at the same time he did are now flying EMS or transporting passengers offshore to the oil rigs. He could have thousands of hours by now. We could be in missions!

With these thoughts still in my head and regret now taking hold in my heart I sat down at the breakfast table to read my bible and daily devotional. The bible reading was 1 John 5 and the verses spoke of overcoming the world and knowing Jesus. I didn’t feel like an overcomer nor like I know Jesus. Next I opened the devotional My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and nearly fell apart at the title of today’s reading – “Will You Go Out Without Knowing?” The verse directly below was Hebrews 11:8 “He went out, not knowing where he was going”. I looked up at Ben who was sitting across from me reading his bible and eating breakfast. “Did you read today’s Oswald?” I asked, he nodded he had and smiled. I read the devotional aloud, my heart bursting with each word.

“One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only think you know is that God knows what he is doing.” I felt ashamed. How was it that my heart and mind were so easily clouded with doubt and regret? I read on, “Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do - He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does? Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is!”

As I finished my breakfast I again thought back over our time in Florida. A quiet voice reminded me that working in maintenance was God’s doing, not a bad decision made by Ben or I. Being a mechanic as well as a pilot is important to working in missions and was not a waste of time. Being hired as an apprentice having no previous mechanical experience was a tremendous blessing and really nothing short of miraculous. It meant Ben was paid to learn and got lots of helicopter specific experience rather than later paying $18,000+ for mechanic school and only spending a week or so on helicopters.

I was also reminded that God knew then that the economy would suffer and helicopter pilot jobs would be few and far between. He knew then that we would be at a point where discouragement was easier to come by then hope. He’s known all along that today would come, that I would doubt, and that Oswald’s words would sting my heart.

So as we start a new year I am reminded that this is not about us. It’s not even about missions really, it’s about Him. It’s about a miracle working God who is trustworthy and always knows what He is doing. I might not have plans, but He does and that’s enough for me.

Did all that really happen in just two months?

2010-11-30T11:51:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had the feeling that you aren’t making any progress and then one day you realize that a whole lot was actually happening? That is exactly how I would describe the last two months.

For starters Ben and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on October 5th! We had a wonderful dinner at a Brazilian steak house in Orlando. Very delicious but I left feeling like I’d consumed my lifetime allotment of skewered meat all in one night.

Then at the end of October (in the midst of all his studying) Ben became a US citizen! We submitted the application in late July and on October 27th he was called to the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) office in Orlando for an interview and civics test. Passing with flying colors he was then scheduled for the oath ceremony two days later. On October 29th I snapped as many pictures as I could while Ben stood with right hand raised and pledged an oath of allegiance to the US. Exciting stuff! So now all our US visa woes are over. Ben has all the rights of a citizen that was born in the US with the exception that he can’t run for president. And just in case you were worried, he still gets to keep his British citizenship! Soon he’ll have two passports, one red and one blue.

On November 10th we got to see James Ferrett who came down with a DTS (Discipleship Training School) to attend YWAM’s 50th anniversary celebration in Orlando. We met up at the new YWAM base, went for dinner at Steak N’ Shake and then back to YWAM for the main event. Loren and Darlene Cunningham (founders of YWAM) were in attendance and it was great to hear them speak.

Of course the really big news is that Ben is now a Certified Flight Instructor! That’s right folks, if you want to learn to fly a helicopter Ben is now qualified to teach you! This was the last major course and it is a big relief that it is complete. In the flight training world the final exam is called a “check-ride” and consists of an oral exam and a flight test. Ben’s oral exam lasted from 9am-3pm! That’s a whole heck of a lot of testing! He was scheduled to fly directly after but the weather made a turn for the worse and the flight was rescheduled for the following day. When we woke up the next day the weather was still terrible. After a morning of praying the weather cleared within an hour of his flight (it got worse again later). He was able to finish off the check-ride and come home with his temporary certificate in hand. A couple of months and the official one will come in from the FAA.

So now on to the last course! The final course to take is the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII). This is a short course and should be relatively easy to accomplish. Ben hasn’t flown instruments in a long time though so will take a bit of brushing up.

We’ll need you to please keep us in your prayers over the coming months. Ben will apply for a job at the helicopter school where he’s training (this is the same place I work and where he previously worked as a mechanic). Working at the school would offer lots of opportunity to build flight time and experience while being paid. That said we are under no illusions here, the school hasn’t been hiring a lot of new instructors this year with the economy and student financing suffering as it is. So please do pray for us in this. We’re open to whatever God has in store, but also have our own ideas of what we’d prefer!

You’ll remember a blog post from summer when Ben went down to fly and do a bit of maintenance with Samaritan Air. That opportunity still exists, but the flying isn’t really pre-scheduled or guaranteed. It’d be wonderful experience but is very dependent on whether someone calls to hire the helicopter. It may be that Ben travels to Jupiter during the week and then comes home on the weekends.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Here's a quick run down with what Helimissions requirements are and how far along we have come:

Pilot requirements:                                   Current progress:
500 Hours Total time                                   352 Hours Total time
100 Hours Turbine time                               0 Hours Turbine time

Mechanic requirements:
A&P License with 3 years exp.             A&P License with 5 years exp.
w/ 1 year on turbine helicopters                  minor turbine experience

1 Factory field maintenance                        0 Factory field maintenance
course specific to AS350                            course specific to AS350
Helimission helicopters                               Helimission helicopters

Where did the summer go?

2010-09-13T08:30:00.007-05:00

I can hardly believe it is already September - where did summer go? If your summer was anything like ours the last few months have probably felt like one giant blur of activity. We've had a great time, but are also happy to have "normal" life back!

July - Visitors!
We had quite a full apartment for the month of July. Ben's cousin Alan came to stay for two and a half weeks, followed by Ben's parents and two younger brothers for another two weeks. At one point there were seven of us in our two bedroom apartment (at least we have two bathrooms!). Packed in like sardines we had a really nice time with everyone. July included trips to theme parks, swimming at the beach, pool, and in the springs, go carting, mini golf, and was capped of by an RV trip to Georgia. Ben put together a video montage capturing the time his parents and brothers were with us. Do check it out!
<p>&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt; </p>

August - Back to the books
Ben started the Certified Flight Instructor ground school class on August 9th. This three week class spends a week learning about "fundamentals of instructing" followed by two weeks of preparing lesson plans and practicing class room teaching skills. Ben would be assigned either one or two topics each day, come home to prepare lessons and then present them to his classmates and teachers the next day. Talk about intense! I was quite impressed with the focus and amount of work he put into preparing lessons. It paid off too, Ben felt the class really helped him gain a deeper understanding of the material and effective teaching styles as well as helped build confidence in speaking in front of people.

I finally have a sister!
I always thought that when I got married my husband would have sisters and I'd finally gain one too. Well, little did I know I'd marry into a family of four boys! So imagine how pleased I was when my brother and his fiance were married on Sept 3 and now (finally) I have a sister! The wedding was absolutely beautiful :)

So how's September shaping up?
Ben was assigned a flight instructor and will start to learn how to teach in the aircraft. Outside of flying he's putting together his lesson plan binder which he can take with him and teach from no matter where he is. The binder will be a great resource not only when it comes to future teaching, but now as a means of review as he puts it together. Hopefully Ben will finish the CFI course in the next 4 weeks or so. Following that he'll start on the Certified Flight Instructor Instrument course (CFII). 2-3 weeks after that he should be done with training! Please be praying for us as these courses progress and specifically for opportunity and direction upon completion.

Busy June

2010-07-03T08:52:00.018-05:00

Busy, yes that is definitely the word to describe the month of June! We headed back down to Jupiter twice, once to put the tail back on the R44 (I even helped turn a few wrenches this time!) and a second time to drop Ben off ahead of a ferry flight to Omaha, Nebraska. Ben finished up the Rotorcraft ground school and has started working on his CFI binder. Ben turned 30 and we had a visitor from YWAM come through on his way to dropping a truck load of Haiti aid to the port in West Palm. Here are some highlights:

Ferry Flight

Ben flew an R44 up to Omaha, Nebraska where it will be crop spraying. The flight was a wonderful opportunity to build time on a new type of helicopter. To meet the special requirements to fly the R44 he first had to take 5hrs of instruction and receive a sign-off for his logbook. These were the first instruction flights in quite a while and were great to have before flying the aircraft cross-country 1,300+ miles! A second pilot named Jack also went on the flight and Ben enjoyed the company. With the 5hrs of instruction and the ferry flight Ben has about 11 hours in the R44. Hopefully timing will work out and he can fly the aircraft back down to Florida in August and add a few more hours. If he wants to instruct in a R44 he'll need 25hrs total.

Ben's 30^th birthday!

Amid the absolute chaos of June Ben turned 30! He's been asking to go jet-skiing for years so with some good friends we headed out to Merritt Island and splashed around the Indian River at 55 miles an hour. It was great fun! Afterward we headed to the beach then out to lunch at Tiajuana Flats. In the evening our friend Chris put on a fabulous murder mystery dinner. Ben “Bo Jalais” turned out to be the killer!

Visit from James

The YWAM visitor with Haiti relief was James Ferrett one of Ben's school friends. James and his wife Kelly serve on the YWAM base in Madison, Wisconsin. James drove a truck with a 25ft box filled with medical supplies, food and clothing down from Wisconsin to drop at the port in West Palm. A long trip for a truck with air conditioning that only worked when the truck was at idle!

So that's it for June. July is already shaping up to be another busy month, but promises to have lots of fun in store for us! Ben will continue working on his CFI binder and on the 11^th we'll get the first of our 5 UK visitors. I hope they all bring chocolate! :)

One step at a time

2010-06-01T19:00:00.002-05:00

It's been 4 weeks since Ben re-enrolled in the Rotorcraft Ground School. With two tests down so far (scored 100% and 94%!) he's now in the home stretch. One more test and then the final ground school exam on June 21. He has really been enjoying studying fulltime again!

The next step is to set up one-on-one ground sessions with a flight instructor so Ben can get some direction on how to create the lesson plan binder necessary for the Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) course. This can be a daunting task as the binder quality needs to be quite high.

In late June and into July we'll likely have some visitors from the UK! Ben's cousin is looking to come out and later Bens mum, dad and brothers. If those visits pan out we'll take a couple weeks of holiday and Ben will start the CFI ground school on August 9. The cost for this course is about $10,000 but thankfully we were able to save a good chunk of money when Ben was working and together with saved support from our churches can cover the costs. Following meeting with Helimission at the CTC last June we had crossed the CFI off of our list, but after meeting with Brian Parker (Samaritan Air) it seems that for this next phase the CFI will likely play an important role in achieving the minimum hours Helimission requires.

Even though there is still a lot to do I finally feel like we are getting somewhere. Focusing only on building hours and not worrying about the maintenance part (for now!) has been quite a relief.

On May 21 I turned 29 and celebrated with having a Swiss chef prepare dinner for me in my own kitchen! Chef turned pilot Peter B stayed with us for a couple weeks and to celebrate my birthday and his JAA commercial license prepared Piccata Milanese. Although the video looks as if Peter is drinking the entire time let it be known he really only had one beer!

Last Sunday was a special day for me as I was baptised for the second time. I had been baptised as a child after praying the prayer at Pioneer Girls, but it was an encounter with God as a 16 year old that everything became real and life transforming for me. At 16 I had the desire to be baptised, but was told by someone I love and respect that since I had already been baptised as a child there was no need to do it again. They were right, I didn't "need" to be baptised again after all there is no "need" for a vow-renewal ceremony when couples re-commit their lives to each other. Still the significant symbolism of such an act is certainly not lost on the husband and wife who do exchange vows a second time. I have felt a bit like the wayward wife of a repaired marriage and while my re-commitment 13 year ago was very real I had missed out on the symbolism and celebration that comes with a second baptism. So on Sunday I grabbed my towel and headed to the baptismal pool. I laughed and smiled the whole way - totally thrilled to finally be saying "I do" with all my heart in front of family and friends. I only wish I had done it sooner!

Next Steps

2010-04-25T18:14:00.017-05:00

Finally something new to report! It has been a shamefully long time since I wrote last and I am pleased to be able to give an update of progress. This last month has been both exciting and scary all at the same time. Ben quite his job at Bristow Academy maintenance after more than four years there. Thursday April 1 was his last day in the hanger and the team gave him a nice farewell complete with cake.

Being unemployed Ben spent the following week at home organizing and cleaning the vehicles. You could have eaten off of the Maxima's hood! But being a house husband wasn't to last long and on Friday we both drove down to Jupiter to help Brian Parker (runs Samaritan Air) take the tail boom off of an Robinson 44 helicopter and get it packed up for shipping to the factory. Helimission introduced us to Brian via e-mail back in January and about a month ago we visited Jupiter to meet him face to face. Ben will be flying and doing maintenance with Brian to get some "real world" experience to better prepare him for work with Helimission.

Ben worked on the R44 with a New Tribes Aviation guy, Justin Wallhoff, who is also flying with Brian to build experience. Justin and his wife Courtney are at the end of their training (10 years of training!) and will be heading to Sulawesi, Indonesia in a couple months. We hope to be able to see them on the field one day and maybe we really will get the chance to - they will be operating a Helimission aircraft!

In addition to meeting and spending time with some really great people we were absolutely spoiled rotten by the Parkers! They cooked us breakfast and fed us like royalty. Robin spent Saturday morning showing me the sights, I relaxed by the pool in the afternoon and occasionally wandered out see how the boys were doing with the helicopter. Sunday morning we went to church (Christ Fellowship), out for brunch and then headed back up to Titusville. What a weekend!

So the plan is now that Ben will head back down on Monday for a week of flying and I'll stay here in Titusville and continue working. He'll come home on the weekend and then look at re-sitting through some of the ground school classes at Bristow Academy. The weeks he isn't in class he'll be down in Jupiter. And sometime in the coming months he'll look at doing his Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) rating and attending the pilot safety course at the Robinson factory in California. I'm sure things will be crazy, but we are very much excited about what lies ahead!

Samaritan Air is a a helicopter ministry that trains and equips pilots for the mission field. Samaritan Air is also currently operating an R44 down in Haiti.
They do some pretty amazing work, please take the time to check out their site http://samair.org

Justin and Courtney Wallhoff are missionaries serving with New Tribes Aviation. Justin is both a fixed wing and helicopter pilot as well as an A&P mechanic and Courtney is a counselor. They are headed for Sulawesi, Indonesia in July. Check out their blog http://wallhoffs.wordpress.com

News from Ben and Anisha

2009-07-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,

We recently attended Helimission's Candidate Training Camp in Trogen Switzerland and want to let you know what happened.
We've attached our newsletter with info on the camp and our progress so far. After nearly five years of training and gaining practical work experience it seems we are coming close to the final stretch!

Thank you for your prayer, encouragement and support,

Ben and Anisha
www.benhop.co.uk

please click on one of the links bellow to open our newsletter:

Word Document

or

PDF Document

A video update for our church in the UK

2009-01-27T09:27:00.001-05:00

50miles!

2007-06-29T06:03:00.001-05:00

It's done now. Finished my 50miles today and rather than feeling proud
and accomplished I feel rather lost. I have no goal, nothing to focus
on. It took me three and a half months to reach this point. What do I do
now? Well, at least I can count on a trip to St Augustine!
Anisha

mile 27

2007-05-16T06:19:00.001-05:00

Today I logged mile 27. Just over the half way mark, still not running
the full two miles three times a week I set out to accomplish. After 10
weeks of 3 times a week, I am up to run one full mile, walk .25 mile,
run .75 mile. Why is this taking so long? Am I just getting old???
Thankfully there are only gradual inclines in Florida and no hills,
otherwise I would be dead by now.

This morning I passed a couple out speed walking, I see them all the
time, but have never spoken to them. They two are such a source of
encouragement to me. I got a chance to say a quick good morning to them
and comment on all the encouragement they get (people are always honking
and waving at them). Turns out she has lost more than 80lbs! Her husband
is so proud of her and absolutely beamed as he told me. Seeing them and
hearing a little snip of her story was certainly an encouragement to me.

Of all the days to need encouragement it was certainly today. Summer is
here and while it isn't hot out, it is so unbelievably humid. 95% this
morning! That makes even 70 degrees seem like a sauna. I learned this
morning that my upper lip sweats. So gross, I kept having to wipe my
mouth to keep the sweat out! This morning I also stepped on a nail. Went
straight through my shoe and scratched my big toe. At first I thought I
had a stone in my shoe, but when I took it off to look there was a huge
nail poking through. Thank God for thick soles! My other shoes were so
worn down that if I had stepped on a nail like this I would have ended
up in the emergency room!

Running Update

2007-04-30T06:14:00.001-05:00

Today I finished up April with a total of 11.6miles. Add that to my
March total (8.5) and I am at 20.1miles. I did have two rough weeks in
the beginning of April where I only ran once each week, but other than
that I have stuck to my Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine. Over the past
2 weeks I have logged 1.6miles each run - with the exception of last
Friday when I couldn't even make it 3/4 of a mile before I felt like dying.

I have noticed that on the mornings I run, by the time I get to work I
am high on what I suppose are endorphins. I feel really happy and giddy
for no apparent reason. Like my head is in the clouds, even when my legs
are still shaky and tired from running.

I have lost 4lbs, but the really important bit is that my heart and
lungs have improved. I don't feel winded after half a mile and can
easily take a few flights of stairs without feeling light headed. With
both diabetes and heart disease as features of my family tree I feel
good about taking care of myself.

My only persistent downside is blisters. I switched shoes this week,
hoping a new pair would put an end to them. Oh sure, I don't have a
blister on the ball of my foot any more, but I have one on the side! Oh
well, I guess I can't win at everything.

Just 29.9 miles left to go!

DISASTER AT AIR SHOW - Gainesville pilot dies in fiery crash during aerobatics

2007-03-23T20:04:00.000-05:00

TITUSVILLE - The TICO Warbird Airshow is expected to continue today even as National Transportation Safety Board officials arrive to investigate the death of an air show participant in a fiery crash Friday afternoon.

Authorities believe the pilot, Gainesville attorney Eilon Krugman-Kadi, died on impact when the L-39 Russian trainer jet he was flying crashed at 2:43 p.m. Friday on the northwest end of the east-west runway at Space Coast Regional Airport in rural Titusville. The 58-year-old is identified on the air show's program as a former Israeli fighter pilot.

The Federal Aviation Administration began investigating the crash Friday, Titusville Police Department spokesman Sgt. Todd Hutchinson said. Authorities on Friday did not say what might have caused the crash.

Linda McMullen, Krugman-Kadi's longtime girlfriend and mother of his 3-year-old daughter, Hanna, was taking a nap with her daughter at a nearby hotel when the crash occurred.

"He always said if he was going to go, he wanted to go doing something he loved," she said. "And he loved to fly. He was like a little boy."

He has two other children in Gainesville, Shane and Talia, both in their 20s.

The show, which was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. but was delayed by high winds and rain, had resumed at 2:30 p.m. after skies had cleared. The event is in its 30th year.

Krugman-Kadi's jet was the second performance of the show, and he had just begun his aerobatics. Witnesses said the jet was completing a loop but appeared as if it did not have enough altitude to complete the maneuver.

"It crashed, it crashed," said spectator Tom Erikson of Melbourne seconds after the plane went down. Billowing clouds of black smoke appeared moments later.

Erikson said the jet was doing a loop, and it looked like the pilot was trying to pull out of it but was too low to the ground.

"I said to myself, 'That looks too low.' Why was he so low to the ground?" Erikson said. "This was a disaster."

Emergency crews, at the air show as a precautionary measure, rushed to the wreckage immediately after the crash.

The air show announcer asked viewers to bring any home video to the announcer's stage so officials could determine what happened.

Many guests left quickly after the wreck.

Teri McMillan of Titusville said she had relatives visiting her from Baltimore who came to the air show with their children. They had to walk away immediately because the children were so upset by the crash.

"You want to have fun. You know this is a reality but . . ." she said, her voice trailing off into tears.

As an air show vendor, Ken Bolen has seen plenty of jets and wasn't watching Krugman-Kadi's performance closely. But he heard the pitch of the engine change as if the jet was trying hard to power up.

Bolen, a former pilot, said it appeared as if the aircraft lost its lift.

"He just did not have enough power," Bolen said.

Standing atop a car-hauling truck at the Allied Systems railyard near the airport, Drew Hardy watched the L-39 jet swoop over the parking lot just above the treetops -- so close that he could see the pilot's helmet.

"He was within about 100 yards," Hardy said, recalling the aircraft's path as it zoomed toward the airport. "Then he come in at like a 45-degree embankment. And he was coming in fast. I was like, man, now that is a hard turn.

"I took two steps, and it was like, bam! It was the loudest thing I've ever heard."

The Titusville car hauler was working off Tico Road, about a half-mile east of the northern end of the Space Coast Regional Airport runway. He initially thought the explosion was a simulated bomb that was part of the air show.

Across the street from the airport, Helicopter Adventures Inc. co-workers Camilla Aalykke and Anisha Hopkinson walked outside and stood on the sidewalk during the pilot's ill-fated routine. They watched the plane vanish into "a big ball of fire."

"It went up this way and over back again," Aalykke said, gesturing with her hand toward the airport, "and it just went straight down. We couldn't see it until it came out of the clouds and crashed into the trees. Pretty surreal.

"It was a pretty big fireball, way over the treetops," Aalykke continued. "We were looking for the (parachute), and there was no chute. He didn't have time for that, I think."

Hutchinson said there was a brief fire from the crash. A brush truck from the Division of Forestry has been called to the scene so that it could clear a path to the woods for emergency vehicles, he said.

Vacation Miles

2007-03-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

I don't like to exercise. At least I admit it. And neither do I like to
eat right, shave my legs or blow dry my hair. But I must because the
alternative would mean to become strikingly similar in appearance to a
very hairy fat man. That just isn't an option - especially if you ask my
husband.

So I start a program, make a plan, set a goal, start slowly and progress
evenly, but ultimately quit after a couple of weeks or months.
Motivation wanes and soon I have tumbled off the bandwagon and back onto
the couch. Why does it have to be this way? A few months of little or no
motion is enough to push me to exercise again, but with such a pitiful
history I don't hold much hope that the change will last long.

Monday I felt fat and sluggish again. Not good. So, in an effort to at
least /try /to kindle the small and fragile flame of motivation I have
set a rather interesting goal. Normally the goal is a result like lose 5
lbs, be skinny before seeing the family again or enter a 5k run. But
since those goals have been tried, tested and failed on more than one
occasion, something completely different is in order. And strangely, I
am excited about it.

Together with Ben, I set a goal to log 50 miles of running time. Once
completed we will have a reward weekend at a Bed and Breakfast in St
Augustine, FL. If you know anything about the Bed and Breakfasts or St
Augustine you know this is a very worth while goal! A weekend of cobbled
streets, tiny cafes, loads of history and architecture is certainly
enough to get me out of bed and onto the road. The promise of a Bed and
Breakfast with feather mattresses, private balconies and garden
breakfasts is down right exciting.

Today I logged mile number 2 and wished with all my might I was fit
enough to run more than 1 mile at a time. I pace myself because getting
hurt would push back our mini vacation by at least one week if not more
and I know that by taking it easy I will soon enough I will be able to
run 3 miles again.

Of course there is no guarantee I will actually make it to this goal,
but so far I am at least excited about it and dreaming of my weekend away.

Anisha

I don't care about the dark

2007-02-13T20:58:00.000-05:00

Click to listen to this blog

In my work as the Student Services Coordinator at Helicopter Adventures I have the pleasure of spending a day with each of the new students. My days are predictable, set up bank accounts, tour HAI, finish TSA requirements and move into apartments. The people change, but the routine not so much. At least most of the time that is. Every now and again I have a day like today - unpredictable, out of order and down right entertaining.

To start with I had six new students to meet with. Usually I have 2 or 3. 5 is rare, but 6? Over the past 8 months there has only been one other instance where I had 6 students all in one day. This is problematic for many reasons, the most frustrating of which is that my work vehicle, a Titan pick-up truck, accommodates a maximum of 5 students. So I either have to find a second driver or arrange for the Military Training Programs bus. Today I had the bus.

The six new students break the mould right away, all are officers with the Nigerian Air Force and all are pursuing the same training. I am excited to meet them. I enjoyed the time I spent last week with their superiors and I always look forward to meeting Africans. To see the surprise and joy in their faces when they learn I have been to Africa, but also because it leaves me with little glimpses into the future. One in which I hope to be living and raising my family in an African nation.

All is going well with my six new students when somehow, while waiting at the bank, the topic of polygamy is raised. Several of the men’s fathers have more than one wife. One man had 15 siblings, his family is made up of 8 boys and 8 girls, of which he is the third youngest. Another man has an uncle who, in his words, “Maintains 4 wives. When one dies he marries another.” Which leaves me wondering how many wives he has lost and why he is still alive and they are dead? Ahmed pipes up and asks, “So if I want to come and work in America, can I get a visa for all my wives?” I explain that he would only be allowed to legally bring one wife with him. “Ok,” he replies “Then I will claim the others are my children, because they are younger than my first wife.” When I tell him that it will not be easy to explain to the authorities why he is sleeping with his daughter he smiles and says “Ahhh. But we would not tell them.” The others laugh and agree that they too would employ this strategy if applying for a visa to the US. My only response was to smile and chuckle under my breath.

I remember this, how quickly I had forgotten! The telling is not the hardest part of the gospel. Explaining Jesus is easy, especially in a society where being polite means letting foreigners talk about their God. But how do I explain why a man should only take one wife? And what if these men became Christians? Do they abandon their other wives? What about the children? And in the light of salvation and eternity just how important is polygamy?

I am reminded of a lesson learned from watching sky. The sun does not care about the dark. It is not bothered by the type of dark, or where the darkness lies. It does not ask permission of the dark before it rises every morning and neither does the sun worry about offending the dark. It is simply the sun, rising and falling every morning and evening, bringing warmth and light to an otherwise cold and gloomy world.

This brings me to the book of Ephesians in chapter 5 verses 8 through 10. It reads, “For your were once darkness, but now you are the light of the Lord. Live as children of the light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord.

So I try not to get caught up with the particulars of darkness. They are complicated and governed by human wisdom. I must instead pick my way through life seeking goodness, righteousness and truth. And always remembering to find out what pleases the Lord.

Anisha

Commercial License

2007-02-08T20:51:00.000-05:00

I finally did it. After many delays I finally had my commercial check ride this Wednesday. I had the ground portion on the Friday before but was unable to fly due to the weather being so bad. Central Florida had some major storm weather which spun off some tornadoes killing at least 19 people. This happened about an hour north west of us.
I ended up taking a week and 1/2 off of working in the hanger to completely concentrate on my studies. I was very nervous but everything went well.
I'll post more news later!!
Ben.

In this house

2007-01-05T07:55:00.000-05:00

Christmas has just past and I am wasting a perfectly good evening sitting on the floor of my parents Chicago home. I should be in the city being shown around by my UIC student brother. But instead I find myself in a tummy ache induced heap on the living room floor. My beloved husband is also wasting the evening playing Xbox games, but then again he probably wouldn’t call that “wasting” an evening. We did find the motivation to bundle up, pile into my father’s car and drive around for an hour admiring both outrageously huge houses and the pretty lights gracing their oversized entryways and roofs. I wondered who in the world would want to live in such gigantic structures. Surely there are better ways to spend a million dollars! We figured they all must be families of 10 kids or more, seeming how no ordinary 2.5 child family could possible fill much less find each other in a house the size of Rhode Island.

The drive reminded me of how beautiful Downers Grove really is and how sad I am that my parents are moving back to Houston. I know they must leave and I completely understand and agree that it is for the best. But saying goodbye to the place I came to really know my Lord is hard. If my parents hadn’t taken the decision to move here ten years ago would I be the same person I am today? I know that Jesus pursues us no matter where we are, but by moving to IL many of the distractions keeping me from Him were stripped away and his voice came through loud and clear. It was here, in this house that I lay on the floor and begged Jesus to take over my life, to be my source and direction. In this house I learned to love His written word and recognise His voice. In this house He planted in me concern for the poor. Of course I am sad to see my parents leave. I pray that one day soon the walls of this house will again witness the Spirit change and complete a lonely teenager searching for meaning.

Anisha

Well folks... following on from Anisha's last blog

2006-11-04T23:54:00.000-05:00

Well folks... following on from Anisha's last blog saying we are still alive and then not posting anything forever... oh well.
We have been busy... Anisha has been in her new job for 4 months now and is enjoying it depending on how many students she has to deal with in a day. A new school starts every month and can have up to 50 students, which she helps house, create bank accounts, buy beds get a car and basically be a mumsy to them. Luckily 50 is the extreme and normally she has about 15 or so.
I am coming back up to speed with my VFR (visual flight rules) flying. Getting my maneuvers down to acceptable standards for commercial level. I just finished my required long cross country. I am required to do 2 hours day, and also 2 hours night. My instructor and I decided to do them together in the same flight. So I flew up to Gainesville which is southwest of Jacksonville. Pretty much in the center of Florida. But on our way up to Gainesville we saw an airport which I had marked on my chart as a way point. My instructor saw a large mansion and told me to take a look. It was pretty nice. It had a large plane pulled up to the 'back door'. I recognized the house from a picture I had seen some years back. It turned out after looking it up online that its John Travoltas house. He has a large boeing 707 and a golfstream jet. Both of which he keeps pulled up to the back of his house with little carports over the cockpit so he can pop in and out with out getting wet etc... I didn't know he even lived in Florida. He flies himself every where he needs to go. So that was a cool highlight to a long trip. The flight back was fun. All we could see was the black of the ground and a slightly lighter horizon with a few lights, as we headed out to the east coast for the trip back down the beach. Swamp and forest is hard to navigate around, it's all the same. The flight was just over 4 hours in the end. Training aircraft are not designed for long trips. I had a nice sore neck and stiff right foot after.
Tomorrow I fly solo to knock out some of the other flight time required, so I will get another step towards to my commercial checkride.

Yes, we're still alive

2006-06-21T10:12:00.000-05:00

We-ll he-ll-o ever-body! (read with strong southern accent, reminiscent of fat lady in floral dress standing on wooden front porch with iron ladle in hand welcoming guests for an Alabaman supper). Hm. Is living in Florida is changing into a bizarre southern woman? Agh! Hope not!

Anyhow, figured since I haven’t written in a really long time I should post a note and let yall (oops) know what we’re up to.

Tomorrow is my (Anisha) last day of Com 101 class. Have been told that if my research paper grades at least a B I will get an A in the class. I am excited about that, especially since Grandma is paying for school! Feel very confident that the paper will do well. The teacher has been hassling me all semester to enrol in Creative writing in the fall. Still haven’t decided if I will. Right now I am also taking a math prep course. I was going to start Humanities on Monday, but decided that since I am starting a new job, I best keep to one class and then possibly enrol in more come fall if I can handle it. I know for a fact that I will take the next math class in the fall because I don’t want to forget everything I’ve learnt! So that is where I am at with school.

Work. Work is good. I am moving to a different role within HAI (Ben’s heli school). In the next week or so I will start training with Nancy (co-owner) to take on some of her responsibilities. I will assisting all incoming students with housing and everything else that comes with moving to a new city. This is just my type of job. Lots of people meeting and greeting. Yeah! Plus they have been very gracious and are giving a nice pay rise. Yeah! God always amazes me. Right when we will have to start worrying about making loan repayments of school, He dumps a new higher paying job in my lap with the same company (I have always felt strongly about staying with HAI).

Ben is also well. Has been working on an external load course and comes home very sore. Also, as of today, summer has officially begun! Although I would argue that is has been here for at least the past three week. Temps are in the upper 90s in the hottest part of the day. Ben has been starting work at 6:30 am to try and avoid the hottest part of the day. I will let him write more about how he is getting on.

Come and see us if you want a Florida vacation any time soon.

Anisha

Two down Three to go!

2006-05-15T20:50:00.000-05:00

Alrighty! I have just passed my Instrument check ride!
It wasn't perfect but not too far off ;) We flew out and did some climbs and descents and unusual attitude recoveries. After that I had to do a hold. Holds aren't the easiest thing to do.
Probably the most practiced and least used maneuver to do in instrument flight. I had trouble with these before the check ride and had to redo some lessons to improve. The examiner saw my last flights mostly consisted of holds and said I must enjoy holding. I sarcastically replied that I love it... He proceeded to give me the hold he normally saves for instrument instructors.
I managed to pull it off which surprised me! We shot the GPS 09 approach and went missed to fly the ILS (instrument landing system) approach and then missed again for the localizer approach with a failed instrument.
Then that was it! He didn't tell me until I was sat down in the briefing room that I had passed.

This has been the hardest course so far. I am so glad its over. I am looking forward to doing my commercial now. It's so much more fun looking outside the aircraft than only at the instruments.
I plan to take a small break while my friend James comes down for a visit. I'll then start on the external load course.

So... I can fly in the clouds in poor weather conditions... but now I need an instrument rated aircraft... our helicopters are only trainers...

Florida's Prestigious Community Colleges

2006-04-25T16:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to register for the summer semester at Brevard Community College here in Titusville. I was very excited because the advisor had told me that 11 of my 14 credits would transfer over. Imagine my surprise when I arrive in the advisor’s office with a list of classes I would like to enrol in only to be told that I have to go back to 101. “What?” I say politely (scream impatiently in my head) “I thought my credits would transfer.” “Yes they do,” explains the very helpful advisor, “but only as electives, you will need to take the core classes again.”

Out came the class schedule again and we drummed through, her helpfully pointing out possible classes and me trying to downplay the whole idea of having to repeat courses. When I finally emerged from the darkness that is the ‘Student Center’ I had managed to register for 3 classes totalling $678.25. $250 of which will be spent on repeating English 101! Oh well, such is life. At least I am looking forward to being in a classroom again. That said, what if we have to move again and, heaven forbid, it is out of state – will another Com College accept BCC credits? Or will I be stuck in the land of 101 classes forever more?

The funny thing about this, and yes there is a little humour involved, that another guy had it much worse than me. Dad sent me an excerpt from a blog titled, “The Night Watch Sees All”, if I am remembering right this guy is also a former (or current?) Mercy Shipper. Anyhow, here’s what he wrote…poor bloke…

30 November 2005 7:51 PM

An Extremely Unhappy Post Wherein I May Seem To Question The Sanity Of Florida's Community College System

Number of high school AP courses I completed: Four

Years of my life spent at a well-known liberal arts college: Four and a half

Degree already completed: Bachelor of Science

Major type: Double

Number of credits amassed: One hundred and sixty (160)

Number of classes for which this local community college will grant me transfer credit: One (1)

Wait. Sorry. Sorry, let me just make sure, one more time, that I have this right. I spent eighty thousand dollars and a full one-fifth of my life earning a double-major bachelor's degree, and of those hundred and sixty credit hours I have earned through hard work, study, and an unbelievable amount of money, your community college will accept ONE CLASS???

Thank you. I just wanted to make the world aware of that.

(read blog here)http://rand-o-blog.blogspot.com/2005/11/extremely-unhappy-post-wherein-i-may.html

The Way Out

2006-04-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

“Way out people know the way out”. – Michael Frost

I love Richard Adams’s book, Watership Down. I especially love one of the central characters, a young rabbit named Fiver. Fiver is strange right from the start. His brother Hazel, when telling another rabbit where Fiver’s name came from explains, “Five in a litter, you know: he was the last – and the smallest. You’d wonder nothing had got him by now. I always say a man couldn’t see him and a fox wouldn’t want him.” Being last and small, however, is only the beginning of Fiver’s oddities. Fiver has insights. Although not clearly being able to express them, he gets feelings and seems especially adept at sensing danger. The other rabbits think he is crazy and dismiss him as peculiar yet harmless, only Hazel listens, although he is rarely quick to act.

The book begins at the warren with Fiver desperately trying to convince Hazel that something horrible will happen and they must leave the warren at once. Hazel finally believes him and they set out to tell the Threarah (chief rabbit). The Threarah does not believe Fiver and dismisses them, punishing the rabbit who permitted them to enter his hole.

Eventually Fiver and Hazel convince a small band of ‘outskirters’ (fringe of society) and a few ‘Owsla’ (Threarah’s guards) to depart with them. This motley crew quickly head out of the warren and find themselves facing all kinds of danger. They are forced to travel through woods, swim rivers, dodge predators, and all with no clear sense of direction or leadership. They are fearful, cold, tired and drenched when they happen upon another warren. There they meet big, beautiful, well fed rabbits who seem strangely friendly and invite Hazel and the others to join them in their warren.

The rabbits quickly overcome any anxious feelings about the new rabbits and settle down to join their warren, only Fiver is ill at ease and refuses to have anything to do with them. Hazel is frustrated with Fiver’s insolent behavior. After some time in this new warren a rabbit is caught in a snare, to Hazel’s dismay the warren rabbits refuse to help free the trapped rabbit. Instead they abuse Fiver when he calls for help. Once the trapped rabbit is freed they decided to head back to the warren, but Fiver shouts out and calls for them to leave immediately. Still the rabbits believe in the safety of the warren. Finally Fiver explains to them the meaning of everything that had happened to them since the day they arrived.

Fiver explains that the warren and meadows are snared, traps set everywhere by the farmer. That is why the farmer throws out food for the rabbits, to fatten them for good meat and silky fur, it is also why the farmer shoots the prey animals. Fiver goes on to tell that all the warren rabbits know this, but they choose to stay - putting to the back of their minds that every now and again a few rabbits will disappear, never to be seen again.
“They forgot the ways of wild rabbits. They forgot El-hrairah (godlike mythical rabbit), for what use had they for tricks and cunning, living in the enemy’s warren and paying his price? They found out other marvelous arts to take the place of tricks and old stories. They danced in ceremonious greeting. They sang songs like the birds and made Shapes on the walls; and though these could help them not at all, yet they passed the time and enabled them to tell themselves that they were splendid fellows, the very flower of Rabbitry, cleverer than magpies...But one strict rule they had; oh yes, the strictest. No one must ever ask where another rabbit was and anyone who asked, ‘Where?’ – except in a song or a poem – must be silenced. To say ‘Where?’ was bad enough, but to speak openly of the wires – that was intolerable. For that they would scratch and kill.”

The stories told in Watership Down, and especially in Fiver’s above discourse, strike at my heart. Like the rabbits, I headed out of the warren and into the wild. Taking up my cross to follow after the real El-hrairah, not a godlike hero, but the God-Man hero; seeking to live by His stories.

What troubles me the most is that like these rabbits, I escaped death, but quickly find myself right back in it, only this time death is sly and massively deceptive. This new snare beckons me in with the promise of a full stomach and a good night’s sleep, with friends and fresh ideas. It says, “You have come so far and struggled so much. Rest here with me. See how happy and content I am? I will keep you safe.”

Is this not the opposite of what Jesus said? As I remember He said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Mat 8:20). And then there is Paul, a man like Fiver, who writes in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” This is what we are called to, to be like Fiver, to be like Paul.

I dare say we are called to the warren rabbits, not to the warren, not for a night’s sleep and certainly not to stay. But called to the warren rabbits none the less; for it is impossible to journey through life without meeting souls who are living in the “enemy’s warren”. We are called to speak and live truth, bidding others to join the journey into the wild, into freedom. Even in Richard Adam’s story we find a warren rabbit, Strawberry, joins Hazel’s group. Strawberry has known all along about the wire snares, but only after his doe is killed, when he hits rock bottom, does he choose to the leave the warren.

In Jude 1:20-23 we read, “Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”

This is not an easy command to live up to, nor will it make you popular. Fiver wisely understood this, “…one strict rule they had; oh yes, the strictest. No one must ever ask where another rabbit was and anyone who asked, ‘Where?’ – except in a song or a poem – must be silenced. To say ‘Where?’ was bad enough, but to speak openly of the wires – that was intolerable. For that they would scratch and kill.”

Most will not want to hear the message of truth, Strawberry was the only one to leave the warren and follow after Hazel’s group. In fact, not only is the truth unpopular, but deadly, “for that they would scratch and kill.”

In 1 John 3:13 we are warned, “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” Jesus also asks us to “count the cost” before setting out to follow him. Yet despite the cost, the story inspires.

In some respects I want to be like Fiver - a way out soul who knows the way out, but also like Hazel, a compassionate leader who is able to welcome in a rabbit who was longing to escape the ‘enemy’s warren’. Mostly I want to be like Jesus, the wild God-Man who had no warren on earth and lived His life as a journey on the way to the heavenly dwelling “so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life”(2Cor5:4).

Rambling

2006-04-12T10:13:00.000-05:00

I am alone in the apartment trying to kill time before work this afternoon. If I had a little extra cash I would be shopping, but that it out of the question. I very nearly went out the door credit card in hand, but thankfully gave in and did my quiet time instead. The time with HS pretty much killed any desire to be irresponsible and spend lots of money we don’t have…ugh.

The bunnies are running around the living room and jumping all over a couple of thrift shop bound bags of clothes. Roast was chewing the plastic and now, after several attempts to stop him, I have decided he probably isn’t really ingesting much of it anyway – lots of holes and stretch marks in the bag now. Is this what it is like having a two year old?

Speaking of babies, seems like everyone around me is having one. Couple of months ago Mandy had her second child and Sarah had her first, couple of days ago Candice had her first, Katie is preggers with her second and Ben’s cousin Laura with her third! Yesterday Ben and I were talking about it, is this what people do when they get to be mid-twenties and are we weird for not joining in? Funny thing is that when we were first married I was much more comfortable with the idea, get married and have kids - that’s the way it goes right? Well, now that we are six months from our fourth wedding anniversary I am more scared than ever about having children! I can hardly handle some plastic bag chewing bunnies!.

---It is now an hour since I wrote the above. Boy do I ramble.. Just got back from Scott and Chris’s house. Scott cut the legs of a table for me and transformed it into a coffee table. I cut us the bunny cage and placed it inside the coffee table. It frees up quite an bit of room and will be nice to have a cage that also works as a table. I’ll take pics of it so you can see. The wood table top currently just sits, it is not screwed to the legs in any way, maybe I can put it on a hinge? That way it would open like a trunk…we shall see. Hope Ben approves, but then again if he doesn’t it’s to late anyhow, the old cage is in pieces. Oh, for the record, Ben is aware of the coffee table cage plan, he just isn’t here to see it executed.

Better be off now, need to put the clothes in the drier.

Anisha

Jesus Style

2006-04-06T18:39:00.000-05:00

Crosswalk (our church here in T’ville) are all on the same bible reading schedule and much to my dismay the schedule turned to the book of Job in the first week of April. I was not excited. I had not heard a peep from HS in a month and now we were reading Job?! Of all the possible readings why Job? Well, HS has begun to speak again. He never told me the reason for the silence, but did open my eyes to see the fruit of it. HS eased back into dialog with me, quietly speaking a word or turning my heart, only yesterday did he drop a revelation bombshell on me.

In true Jesus style, the revelation came from the most unlikely source, Job, the book I was dreading re-reading.

As I started Job, taking a chapter a day, I did not see anything new. It all lined up with what I had heard preached on the book countless times. I was aching for something new, something fresh and was certain it would not come from Job. Thankfully, I was wrong.

Nine days into the book in chapter, you guessed it, nine I read the following statement from Job about God [9:32-35]

“He is not a man like me that I might answer Him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of Him, but as it stands with me now, I cannot.”

In chapter 11 Zophar answers Job telling him to repent and later in verse 20 accusing him of being “wicked”.

Thankfully Job replies in 12:3

“I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you.”

It was in these words, “I am not inferior to you” that HS spoke to me. Job was yearning with all his might for the coming Messiah, he had actually unknowingly spoken out prophetically about Jesus. His friend Zophar, instead of joining in with Job’s longing for an arbitrator told him what he must “do”. Thankfully Job recognized Zophar’s prideful heart and responded accordingly. With this ancient situation in mind, HS opened my eyes and I realized I have been like Zophar. There are people around me everyday who are crying out for Jesus, the Messiah, and I am literally blocking their view of Him. I immediately began to repent and it all flooded in, what restrictions and I placing before people who are searching for Jesus? How is my ‘religion’ getting in the way? There were three choices before Job that day

1. To continue to seek God

2. To follow Zophar’s advice

3. To reject God completely

Thankfully Job continues to seek God, although discouraged, he was not deterred. This brings me to Luke 18:10-14

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

After giving this parable, Jesus does something incredible; he welcomes little children and proclaims “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Jesus wisely knew that simply giving this teaching wasn’t enough, the hearers then, as I have done now, would think, ‘Yes, but I have never done such a thing, I have never said such an evil prayer.’ So he makes it very clear that in fact we have said that prayer and lived arrogantly, by proclaiming that the kingdom belongs to children.

As I read Job, it is quite easy to say to myself, ‘I would never do that, I wouldn’t insist that my friend is a sinner and will not receive relief until they repent, this book doesn’t apply to me.’ But it is exactly that attitude Jesus is trying to pry out of me. My ‘spirituality’ is my stumbling block and I willfully place it in front of others, especially those who are seeking. In my religious zeal, I box up my Messiah and he is no longer the Lion of Judah, but a stuffed teddy bear. I cuddle and love this teddy and try to convince others how wonderful it is, they are searching for an untamable Lion and all I offer is a stuffed toy.
I am not ok with this. It was the Lion who won my heart, the Saviour who would not fit in any box, the one who promised to take me on out of this world adventures and reveal unfathomable mysteries. He is the one I long to follow, he is the one who lights an irrepressible fire in my soul.

With this knowledge, I take a fresh look at Job and realize there is a lot for me to learn. I pray, “HS show me how to abandon my puffed up spirituality and live the life of uncontainable love Jesus lived.”

Silence is not Forgetting.

2006-04-06T18:37:00.000-05:00

The last month has been a tiresome one. It has been four weeks now since my last word from God; I feel out of place and terribly lonely. I am used to quite a bit of conversation with HS (Holy Spirit) on a daily basis, His voice always clear and constant.

When I first noticed the eerie silence, I felt I must have done something wrong, some sin somewhere had hidden His voice. But after heart searching and praying, I realized it was not on account of error, but simply silence for silence sake. Within a few days my nerves were shot, I felt like someone had died, His presence was there, but not His voice. During this time Ben left for a week’s mountain flying course in Nevada. Now I was really alone. I kept up in my quiet time and still sat silently, waiting for some word, any word, to be spoken to my heart, telling HS this new quietness is ok with me, but that I would really like to hear from Him.

One evening, while driving to dinner at a friend’s house, my Dad called and told me my Grandfather was not doing well and was very ill. I pulled to the side of the road, unable to drive I began sweating and was sick. Later that evening, as I lay on my friend’s bed I asked HS to speak to me, after more than an hour, there was nothing, no spoken word, only silence.

Last Sunday evening, during small group I shared how dejected I felt. After, as I was checking my e-mail, I came across a message from a West African friend whom I have not heard from in many months. His opening line was, “Silence is not forgetting.” Those four words have made all the difference, I wrote them with huge letters on the white board above our computer desk and find myself reflecting on them throughout the day. I realize now that it is not my right to hear HS speak to me and the fact that I have for such a long time is a blessing and a gift. My heart is right and there is no guilt or condemnation for me, after all, none of this life is really about me and what I want anyways.

Anisha

Grocery Money and the Cares of this World

2006-01-26T21:27:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday this week I sat at the computer desk balancing our checking account. It turns out that after this week’s grocery money, instead of having $75 to carry us through till pay day, we only have $56. This is still ok, but it will not make things easy. It means that there will not be a penny to spare and we must hope and pray there are no surprises over the next 9 days.

Relieved that we will not have to resort to the credit card (the very thing we are trying hard to pay off and thus short on cash), I was still bitter. Tuesday is my shopping day, I take $50 to the Super Walmart and buy groceries for the week ahead. This takes careful planning, keep in mind that it is pretty easy to spend near $50 simply on toilet paper, cleaning supplies and shower stuff, and my money must include food also.

But this Tuesday I had no interest in careful planning. I was fed up and didn’t want to think about how many different dinners I can prepare with 1 lb of Great Northern Beans or how far I can stretch 4 chicken breasts. I decided to forget shopping and after taking a walk sat down to watch The Aviator (a three hour long movie!). By the end of my 3 hour sulk I knew it could not be put off any longer. Out came the cook book and I drummed through hoping for inspiration. My final list of dinners was: Chili (4 meals), Corn Chowder (1 meals), Indonesian Chicken and Rice (2 meals), and Ham and Beans (3 meals).

With my shopping list in hand, I picked up my purse and headed for the door. Although I had done what I was supposed to do, I was not happy about it and definitely let God know. Reaching for the doorknob I clearly heard my Lord say, “Look at what you’re wearing.” Slowly I looked down. Then came the realization that my shirt, shoes and even bra were bought by someone else and given as gifts. The only clothing that I had paid for was my trousers and underwear! I opened the door and headed outside, realizing I was getting into the truck I didn’t pay for and turning on the brand new car radio I didn’t pay for!

As I backed out of the parking space I repented and began to thank God for all He has provided. Although it might take some creativity, I have never known want. I have never been hungry or without clothes.

As I am driving my spirit lifts and not only am I thankful, but I feel safe. The Holy Spirit whispers,

“See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed as one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will He not much more cloth you?”*

It is now Thursday, all the meals have been prepared and put into tubs in the fridge and freezer. We also made peanut butter cookies, banana bread, chocolate mocha cake and crème caramel! The good news is that groceries this week only cost $41, so if we run out of milk or eggs we won’t have to search pockets and scrounge around the car for change. God has truly provided for all our needs and we still have more to share.

Interestingly, today’s reading in Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest was taken from the very verse in Matthew the Holy Spirit had whispered to my heart on Tuesday. Chambers writes:

Jesus asks us to consider that “if God so clothe the grass of the field…” how “much more” will he cloth you, if you keep your relationship right with Him? Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed the “cares if this world”** to enter in, while forgetting the “much more” of our heavenly Father.

The above words sum up my heart on Tuesday. I had let the “cares of this world” take over and had forgotten the “much more” of my provider and protector. How glad I am though, that Jesus does not simply leave me there, but calls me back and asks me to refocus my mind and heart on Him.

*Mat 6:28-30 **Mat 13:22

Anisha.

Rules for Holy Living

2006-01-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

When I read Colossians 3, my heart beats fast and I think to myself, “Yes! This is the way we are supposed to be, this is what my life should look like!” In my zeal I pray, “Make me like this Lord!” and I allow my imagination to conjure images of leading masses of people to Christ and whole nations changed, all because we put aside the messed up version of Christianity and embraced Colossians 3.

The NIV rightly titles the chapter, Rules for Holy Living. “Set you hearts on things above…..Set your minds on things above…put on your new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other…And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…teach and admonish one another…do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Then I close my bible, put down my journal, get off the couch and go to work. “Colossians who?” Life hits hard and fast. Within a few hours I forget what I have read and allow my heart and mind to be set on earthly things. The car is rattling again. There is traffic on the way to work. Will so and so be working today? I hope not. Oh great! They are!

A hundred things bid for my attention. I feel anything but clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness or patience. The Holy Spirit prods, “Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

“Ok”, I calm myself. Take a deep breath and pray, “Thank you for this job. Thank you for my car. Thank you for great colleagues. Thank you…” This helps a bit, but I still feel diluted, the living room enthusiasm long gone.

The apostle Paul had alot bidding for his attention too, yet it was he who penned Colossians 3. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul boasts about his sufferings, “I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashed minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in open sea, I have been constantly on the move…I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face the daily pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?” (2 Cor 11:23-29)

Paul receives a word from God, (12:9) “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” To which Paul responds, (12:10) “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I know all this to be true. There were several times when in missions, I could have made a list like Paul’s and then testified that God’s strength was most certainly made perfect in my weakness. But what about now? What about when life isn’t all that bad? What about when Satan’s attacks are much more subtle and slip easily under the radar? What then?

It is in Paul’s second letter to Timothy where I find the answer. Paul opens by telling Timothy how grateful he his for Timothy’s “sincere faith” and encourages him to “fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (1:6)

Paul invites Timothy to join him in suffering for the gospel of the amazing message of grace. He urges Timothy to not be ashamed of the gospel and then writes, (1:12) “..Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

For me, there are three very important words in the above verse: know, convinced and entrusted.

Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed: Paul does not write that he is not ashamed because he knows what he believes, but that he knows whom he has believed.

and am convinced that he is able to guard: Paul is convinced: totally sure, won over, certain, confident, persuaded – Because Paul knows Jesus, he has no doubt that He is ‘able to guard’.

what I have entrusted to him for that day: Here is the proof that Paul knows Jesus. He has ‘entrusted’ everything to him. God does not take our cares from us, we give them to him.

With this understanding, I write 2 Tim 1:12 in my own words:

“Despite my circumstances, I am not reluctant, nor do I feel guilty, because I regularly spend time with and personally know Jesus, the only one I will place my faith in; and based on what I know of Him, I don’t have a single doubt that He is more than able and willing to keep and protect what I have eagerly handed over to him.”

So I write down my paraphrased verse and stick in my pocket. Then I hand Jesus my humdrum life and ask Him to guard my heart. I feel renewed, polished and like I have just put on a thicker plate of armor. Rules for Holy Living, don’t feel like rules I have to follow, they feel like a natural part of my life. Although I am certain tomorrow will bring it’s own distractions and Col 3 will seem beyond my grasp, I can pull out my little piece of paper and eagerly hand it all back to the One I know and trust.

MARCELINE UPDATE

2006-01-12T07:37:00.000-05:00

Dear friends and family,

please find a new message about the sad news you received earlier.
On tuesday the 3rd, we went to Ft Lauderdale by plane. We arrived late in
the evening.
On wednesday the 4th, we went to the Prinsendam. Chief Engineer Jaap Wisse
explained to us what had happened. We did speak with the doctor involved.

She stated that it was not possible to get Marcelines heart rhythm back to
normal. That night, Marceline passed away at 05:16 am.
After meeting the captain, we went to the medical department, where we have
seen Marcelines body.
The chief engineer showed us the ship, including Marcelines' cabin.
The result of the autopsy which has been carried out, is that she has died
in a natural way.
Her body will be transported to the Netherlands. However, the exact date is
not known yet. Because of this, it is not possible to say when the funeral
will take place.
We hope to fly back to the Netherlands on saturday.

Kind regards,
Family Goedegebuure.

MARCELINE UPDATE

2006-01-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

Dear friends and family,

Marceline Goedegebuure

2006-01-03T19:45:00.000-05:00

Dear all,

It is with great sadness that we have heard about the news of the death of Marceline Goedegebuure, a faithful member of our Mercy Ships family.
Pls. see the email below, sent out by her family:

Dear friends and family of Marceline,
We are very sad to inform you that Marceline passed away on Saturday, December 31st. 2005. We were informed by the Holland America Line by the director of human resources. Since November 24 Marceline was sailing as an engineer on the M.S. Prinsendam of the Holland America Line. At the fatal moment the ship was near by the island Dominica (Venezuela). On a certain moment last Saturday, Marceline didn't show up for her duty. Checking her cabin colleagues found her laying on her bed, hardly breathing. All efforts to keep her alive failed. Marceline passed away at 05.16 LT.
The Prinsendam is currently heading to Fort Lauderdale (Florida) and is expected to arrive at Wednesday 4th of January. Further information about probable causes will be investigated there.
On Tuesday the 3rd we will fly by plane to visit the Prinsendam, that is: Piet (father), Lennert (brother), Johanneke (sister) and Madeleine (sister).

With kind regards,

Family Goedegebuure,

Marceline served with Mercy Ships for extended periods of time since completing her DTS on the Anastasis, both as a Deck Officer and as an Engineering Officer on the Anastasis and the Caribbean Mercy, and as a Deck Officer on the Africa Mercy. Many of you will know her from the time here on board. The first attached picture was taken on the bridge of the Anastasis a few years ago. Also many of you will know her from her time on the Caribbean Mercy where she served as chief officer until the time the ship was laid up. Don Golden sent me the second picture of that time when she was leading the mooring team on the bow. These are some of Don’s words: ‘She was in her element, loving the life she had chosen. She was so professional and so protective of her crew, chiding us to be careful, but in a way that was never demeaning, but loving and supportive.’

Beyond her wide ranging technical skills, Marceline brought a sweet and gentle spirit to the shipboard community that expressed itself in care for individual crew members, small group activities and community worship. She will be sorely missed. Marceline reached the age of 28. Despite the sadness we know Marceline safe in the arms of her heavenly Father. Please lift up to the Lord, especially her father and the rest of her family and all those who knew and loved her, during this difficult time of grief.

Jurryan

To be perfectly honest Lord...

2005-12-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

This morning in my journal I wrote, “To be perfectly honest Lord, I don’t really feel like reading Your word or spending time with You.” It was 8am, I was at work, with a stuffy head and jet lagged body. Not only did I not feel like spending time with God, I down right didn’t want to. Even so, for what ever reason, I pulled out my journal and sat down to write.

Immediately after that first sentence I regretted what I had written. “How arrogant am I?!” I wrote. “What can you do with me when I am so fickle? How can you love and use me when it is so easy for me to turn aside from you?” I felt like ripping up my journal and throwing it across the room. As hard as I tried to ignore it, I clearly felt the tug on my heart to put aside whatever I am feeling and finish my “devotional time”.

I pulled out Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest and flipped to today’s reading. The title Deserter or Disciple slapped me off balance. Just below it was written John 6:66 – “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Ouch.

To be honest, I don’t remember too much else of what was written. As I read I kept thinking, “Could I desert my Lord? Would I?” The question now was, would I stay? Would I continue to press in and seek Him out even when I don’t want to? And if I feel like this now, would I be able to stand firm when everything in life comes crashing down around me? Or will I run?

I shut the book and wrote John6:66 in my journal, then picked up my bible and flipped to Ephesians. Since I was behind in my reading I decided to take the time and catch up. I started in chapter 4 and read through to 6. But it was Chapter 5 which captured my heart.

Eph 5:8-10 reads “For you were once in darkness, but now you are in the light in the Lord. Live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.”

“What please you Lord?” No sooner had I thought those words the reply “Clean hands and a pure heart” came echoing back.

After a bit of searching and trying to remember, I flipped to Psalm 24 and read

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?

Who may stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to an idol

or swear by what is false.

He will receive blessing from the Lord

and vindication from God his Saviour.

Such is the generation of those who seek him,

who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

Then the most amazing thing happens. David finishes his song with these beautiful words:

Lift up your heads, O you gates;

Be lifted up, you ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord strong and mighty,

The Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O your gates;

lift them up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is he, this King of glory?

The Lord Almighty –

He is the King of glory.

By this point I had goose bumps. The way I “feel” or what I “want” carried little significance. The King of glory, the Lord Almighty resides with me! My God and King is pleased with me when I seek his face!

Pride and Impatience

2005-10-19T17:22:00.000-05:00

I am not sure when it started. I first noticed it in the grocery store when the 16 year old clerk called me ma’am - oh how that word makes me cringe! Well, it happens all the time now. I feel old, or at least older. And I am finding that ma’am is no longer restricted to the grocery store, it has infested the library, my work, the movie theatre and just about anywhere else I venture. To top it all off, I am now involved in a Ladies’ Bible Study! I must admit, the mere thought of being in a ladies group, triggered a wince and a squirm. Surely 24 year olds were not supposed to be in ladies groups! What ever happened to being a young adult?! “Get over it” His voice pushes. “You are still a baby, and in more ways then your age!” (That last comment was accompanied by the sting of my Saviour’s hand smacking my ego back into place).

So here I am in the Ladies’ Bible Study. A bit weary at first, but now, after 8 weeks I am so glad I came. In these past 8 weeks, and especially in the last 3, Jesus has taken the opportunity to do a bit more ego, err, should I say pride, smacking. Let me share my story.

As a group, we are going through the book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, by Joanna Weaver. The basis of the book in Luke 10:38-42, in which Jesus stops at Martha and Mary’s home. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet while Martha hurries about, busy with preparations. Martha gets upset and tells Jesus to have Mary help her. Instead, Jesus tells the worried Martha that Mary “has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

The most recent chapter, chapter 7, is on “the better part”. Weaver focuses on personal bible study and daily devotional time with God. In this chapter, she quotes a blurb by Wilbur Rees:

“I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.”

In the back of her book, Weaver poses the question, “Consider Wilbur Rees’s thought-provoking words…..In all honesty, how much of God do you want? What keeps you from wanting more?”

From the moment I read it, this question haunted me. It continues to ring in my head, “In all honesty…” And when it comes to these sorts of questions, honesty is a hard thing to find, especially in my own heart. It would mean confronting laziness, disappointment and worst of all, pride.

I started writing, hoping my innermost thoughts would surrender without a fight and come out of hiding, spilling out onto my journal’s empty page so I could see them for the nasty, deceitful things they are. “Search my heart; see if there is any offensive way in me.” I don’t remember specifically praying those words, but somewhere from deep within they cried out. I wrote:

I have wanted $3 worth of God, but found it to be incredibly boring. I do want the fullness of God. Or at least I want to want it. It doesn’t feel scary. I don’t fear what it will mean. I just feel like I am chained in. Bogged down. I ask God to free me and fill me, but still feel the weight. Sometimes it gets lighter, but most of the time it is heavy. I find the thing that stands in my way the most is impatience! That is my chain! And when that one is loosed, pride sneaks in. Instead of continuing to seek God, I get impressed with myself and my ‘relationship with God’ and then what happens? I get impatient because in my pride I have stopped moving forward! Vicious circle really!

I sat back on the park bench and stared at what I just wrote. Maybe this seems all very basic to you, but for me it was mind-blowing. Pride I knew about, I already had a deal with the Holy Spirit about him. HS would guard every door and window of my heart and sound the alarm as soon as pride tried to sneak in. Then HS and I would call pride out and tell him exactly what we think of him and where he should go. But impatience! I hadn’t known about him. He was the one sneaking pride in, showing him the secret entrances to my heart. Oh that scoundrel! Holy Spirit and I quickly made a pact about him too and HS agreed that if I ask Him, He will show me who else is trying to break in.

This thought brings me back to an excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest. In bright pink letters, on the bottom of the October 8th reading, I had written, “My pride. Lord, help me to be humble. Help me to come!” and of the passage, highlighted the following:

If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words – “Come to Me…” The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so. How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me…”

As for me, I definitely have more than “one immovable stronghold”. Pride and the imp are just two of who knows how many, but HS and I are making progress - like showing me how my attitude towards the ladies group was not really about being old, or young for that matter, but being prideful. And with all that finally out in the open, I am left to “think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me…””

- Anisha

New work toolbox

2005-10-17T21:10:00.000-05:00

We have just spent half of this months pay check (Bens) on new tools and a new tool box. Work was 'encouraging' me to get my own box and more tools.
We spent a whole afternoon looking around trying to find the best deal. We ended up at sears and got a ball bearing draw tool cabinet. We then spent 4 hours cleaning up current tools (gift from in-laws) and then lining the draws with foam to keep everything in place. It looks very nice and will now be easy to keep everything in order. You can see some pictures of tonight's event here...

2005-09-28T21:14:00.000-05:00

Out latest official newsletter has now been posted in the newsletter section of the website.
Ben.

A little about life

2005-09-25T20:55:00.000-05:00

Hello world. Haven't written in a while and am feeling the need to write about life. First thing on my mind is Hurricane Rita. My Grandparents and Aunts, Uncles and Cousins all live in Houston, so I'm sure you can imagine how heavy my heart was as Rita inched her way towards them. My Mom's side of the family all left Houston, but my Dad's parents and one uncle stayed for health reasons. It would have been very bad for them to be stuck in all that traffic trying to get out of Houston. I have to admit I was concerned about this decision, but trusted my grandparents that it was the right one. On Thursday night at a small group I shared about Rita and my heavy heart. We prayed and worshiped and I cried. Slept very well that night and Friday woke up with a light heart. I have been hearing 1 Peter 5.7 a lot lately, "Cast all your cares on him, because He cares for you." This week it has certainly rung true.

God has been doing a lot in my heart recently. Mostly in the area of pride. Sometimes it is crushing to hear Him whisper something and realise that up until that point I was being a complete ass. Today was a neat day though. Several Sundays ago in church I asked God what He would like my worship to look like that morning. Very clearly I heard "I want you to spin around". "Spin around?!" my heart cried back, "Are you crazy?! Why can't you tell me to get on my face or just raise my hands? I'll even shout!" But no, it was very clear that I was to spin in circles. I didn't do it. I didn't feel bad about it either, just a little disappointed. Every Sunday since, I have been asking God what my worship should look like and quietly, but firmly, He always replies, "Spin". I feel like an idiot. Worse, if I did spin, the people behind me would probably think I am an idiot. So I started to press into worship in my living room and found an amazing freedom. I still felt like an idiot, even alone in my living room. If anyone saw me dance they would certainly mistake me for a giant crippled bat. However, by the 3rd or 4th song, I am able to put more of myself aside and slowly find more freedom in Him. Well, back to the cool thing that happened today. I made my way out of my normal seat and stood at the front right hand side of the stage. I tried to fit myself into the corner, but it was useless. Before the band started to play, I asked God for the freedom to worship him like I do in my living room. Well, it came. No, it flooded. I danced and SPUN and jumped and knelt and cried and enjoyed every second of it! After church was over 2 people said they saw me and wanted to come down and join me! Well, maybe next week they will. Heck, maybe they will spin too. :) -Anisha

Pretty slow day at work. What better opportunity to write?

2005-08-23T19:25:00.000-05:00

It is a pretty slow day at work. What better opportunity to write?

Life for us Hops has been good. Ben is doing an extension on his trial run in the maintenance shop. This is excellent news. He spends Tues-Fri working as an apprentice on helicopters and flies Sat and Mon. Sundays are spent doing churchy things and spending time together. Hopefully this gig in the maintenance shop will turn into a permanent position and help Ben get his A & P license. If it does work out we will be committed to living in Titusville for the next 2.5 years! Good thing we like it here! Also, incase you are wondering how this fits in with missions, well it is a fast track to the mission field. It would mean that instead of going to school and spending another $20,000 and 18 months on his A & P and then trying to go out and find a shop to get the necessary 3 years experience at, he can get paid to learn as an apprentice and gain the experience all at the same time. As it goes, HAI cannot be beat for all things helicopter related.

I am also thinking about going to school and at least getting my core courses done, at least get an Associates Degree. Perhaps enrolling in the winter semester if all goes well in the maintenance shop. I’ll keep you posted…

My mom and dad are coming down over the Labor Day weekend which is oh so exciting. I was wondering if they would ever be able to visit, but dad booked the tickets today so I guess they are coming! Guess we’ll have a few days of crowded apartment, but given the company we will gladly make due. Besides, Paul and Beth stayed for 2 weeks and then there were the 4 Hopkinsons last month. We’ve had good practice.

Yesterday we spent 3 hours trying to get Ben’s motorcycle working. I really felt that we were close. But it didn’t start. More fiddling required. Maybe change the plugs again. Need to get it fixed soon because gas prices are killing us…as I’m sure it is killing you as well. Would consider walking more places, butt he weather has been hot, too hot… but at least no hurricanes. We really need to hurry up and get renters and flood insurance…

I did my first evening at the junior high group at church. Felt good. I cannot believe I am saying this, but I actually really missed being around junior highers. Yeah, I know, that weird age between cute kids in elementary school and semi adult like kids in high school. Thinking back, I am glad I had people who liked being around me when I was 13… Heck I’m glad there are people who like being around me as a 24 year old.

Well, in every other way the daily grind continues. Good thing I like and enjoy my daily grind.

Anisha

Other Stuff

2005-07-04T10:56:00.000-05:00

I have uploaded some intersting links onto the 'Other stuff' page.

Live 8

2005-07-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

Today Live 8 concerts are happening all over the world in a huge push to get the G8 leaders to commit to fair trade, increase aid and cancel debt in a bid to ‘Make Poverty History’. I am in awe that 8 men have the power to change literally millions of lives during meetings July 6-8th. That pushes me into action. I sign a petition, make my voice heard. E-mail the President and print out prayer points for my small group. My heart aches and I beg God to act. The need is so great that I feel my small part will not and does not make a difference. But then again, maybe it does. Mother Theresa says, “If you can’t feed 100 people. Feed one.” God’s word further admonishes us in Proverbs and Micah. Proverbs 31:8-9 says “Speak up for those who have no voice. Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.” Micah 6:8 says, “He has told you men what is good and what is it the Lord requires of you: Only to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” I am convicted by the Spirit to speak for those who have no voice and to love mercy. I am encouraged by those like Mother Theresa to act on what I am able to do and not to become overwhelmed by the need.

Lord show me how to act justly. Teach me how to love mercy, to walk humbly.

Anisha

For info on the G8 summit and what you can do to add your voice visit:
www.worldvision.org

Different countries

2005-07-01T10:53:00.000-05:00

I have uploaded a map of the world with all the different countries Anisha and I have had a chance of visiting.
When you click on them you can find out all about them according to the CIA.

Click on the 'Missions' button and then click on 'Countries visited' button.

Ben.

Instrument Ground school Complete

2005-06-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

I have now completed the ground portion of my instrument training. I scraped though the schools end exam.
I am now flying in the simulator which is basically Microsoft flight sim 2002 with proper controls on a projector screen. So am enjoying that and looking forward to flying again.

I have stuck a little map on the website that shows all the countries we have been to which then links to the CIA factbook to tell you more about them... The link for it is under Missions.
We also have a newsletter which we hope to be sending out 'soon'.
Ben.

Robinson 22 Transition Complete

2005-05-30T18:58:00.000-05:00

I am now endorsed to fly the R22. This took 10 hrs of flight training with advanced manouvers like 180 autorotaions. I was flying the Schweizer 300cbi, but am now able to fly both.
This is good as it gives me more experience in different aircraft and also broadens my job prospects at the end, as most schools only fly the Robinson. I will now be starting work on my instrument and commercial license.

Some sad news...

2005-05-21T12:44:00.000-05:00

Officials seek cause of death of man found in river

FLORIDA TODAY

An autopsy will be conducted by the medical examiner today to determine the cause of death for a man pulled from the Indian River Lagoon near Titusville.

Brevard County sheriff's investigators were also trying to confirm whether the body matched the description of a man reported missing Sunday in Titusville, officials said.

The body surfaced about 400 yards south of the NASA Parkway on Tuesday, officials said.

The Brevard County sheriff's helicopter also was called out to conduct a search in the area. Four men fishing for redfish found the body, officials said.

The man reported missing had blue eyes and brown hair and was attending Helicopter Adventures Inc. at Space Coast Regional Airport before his disappearance, officials said.

The autopsy, to be carried out at the medical examiner's office in Rockledge, could determine if the person recovered was a drowning victim or if foul play was involved.

May 21, 2005

Body found floating in Indian River is identified

FLORIDA TODAY

Police have identified a body found in the Indian River Lagoon earlier this week as that of a Danish man in Brevard County training to fly helicopters at a North Brevard flight school.

Benny W. Kriastiansen, who lived on Windover Oak Court, last was seen about 1 a.m. Sunday at the Holiday Inn in Titusville when a friend called a cab for him.

Fishermen discovered his body Tuesday, one day after a missing-person report was filed.

The cause of death is unknown, and autopsy results are pending.

His name is Benny and he lived just above our apartment and would frequently chat to us and wave as he passed by our apartment. He attended the JAA helicopter program. He was a really nice guy from

Denmark

.
Unfortunately he got very drunk on Saturday night and the rest of the night has yet to be determined.
Ben.

Private Pilot

2005-05-12T23:28:00.000-05:00

I am now a private pilot in the helicopter!!!!
I have just passed my checkride this evening. It was possibly my worst flight ever but I still managed to pull it off.
I was so stressed it was unreal. I only just made it on my sloped landings as I kept trying to bring the helicopter down but couldn't do it right. In the end I had to have a very deep breath and instead of looking just outside the aircraft but looked straight ahead and I had much clearer/better vision. I was then able to complete the maneuver safely and to standard! Hurray!
I was glad it was over.
So once I have 15 more hours(school policy requires extra hours) I am able to take Anisha up for a ride :) if she will come...!?!
Ben.

Anisha's turn to type...

2005-04-14T19:22:00.000-05:00

This week for us has been an exciting one.
Ben is almost finished with his private pilot license and will start the instrument course in May.

We are getting the apartment ready for our friends Paul and Beth, who are coming all the way over from England. We are really looking forward to seeing them!
Also this week, our church, Crosswalk Community Church, here in Titusville has decided to support us in training for missions! This is such an awesome testimony to God's faithfulness and yet another confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. We are so excited to be headed towards careers in missions.
I have been studying hard with Covenant College's The Chalmers Centre and am in the third (and final) Microfinance/enterprise course module. Hope to complete the entire course (last assignment is a ministry plan) by September. Then I will get a nice little certificate from the Center. Yippee! This is a great course, I am learning so much about indigenous savings groups and how smart and clever the 'poor' really are! Would recommend taking the class if you are going to work in missions. Even if your role within the ministry will not be financial based you should still take the course because of the insight into the incredible ways the poor handle financial hardships. After this class, I would like to study French at the local community college, but those plans are up in the air because we don't know where Ben will get an instructing job after his course his finished. We shall see.

In bunny news, the Roast and Stew are going to the vet next Thursday to see if they are ready to be neutered. I can hardly wait till that day! The buns are really great and I enjoy them, but Stew has a bit too much hormone induced behavior going on. Look forward to when he goes back to the same temperament he had before the testicles took over...Roast on the other hand is pretty much the same as he has always been...a gentle, friendly rabbit who enjoys a good rub between the ears. Hope that doesn't ever change. Oh yes, both rabbits have now discovered the mysterious land that is the plywood top to the cage. They are strangely fascinated by it, probably because it serves as an excellent lookout post. Silly rabbits...

Helimission update - Indonesian earthquake

2005-04-03T15:52:00.000-05:00

Helimission is updating their website with more English stories so its worth taking a look.
There website is: http://www.helimission.ch
Click on the usa/UK flag on the bottom of the page.

Helimission on Nias within 24 hours
Earthquake on Easter-Monday night, March 28, 2005 (8.7 on the Richter scale).
Earthquake on Easter-Monday night

Our helicopter, the Bell 206 L4 (PK-HCT), was still based in Meulaboh on the West-Coast of Sumatra. That’s why Helimission was one of the first to help on Nias, the Indonesian Island most affected by the earthquake. Our Pilot, Brian Smith, together with our Indonesian co-worker, Jan Tulaseket, flew to Nias on March 29, 2005 only to find a devastated place. There was no fuel on the only airport “Binaka” on the island.

Our team quickly organized themselves with the organization Samaritans-Purse with another helicopter, with MAF and other small fixed-wing operators. The heli brings the insured to the airport Binaka where there is a place for triage done by small aid organizations which are part of the “family”. From there the airplanes take the patients to hospitals on the main island of Sumatra (Medan, etc.). On their return flights they bring the desperately needed fuel for the helicopters.

This way we can make a big difference in this latest tragedy. Nias was not hit too hard by the Tsunami in December 2004, but this second earthquake destroyed most buildings on the island, burying many hundred people underneath.

The UN has a hard time to get the aid-efforts organized. One handicap is that only SAT-phones work on the island.

Here are the reports from Luana Smith, the wife of our pilot there:
March 31, 2005 Day 3:

11:15 am Thursday: Brian called as he had a break. He said he was about to take off again on a flight and he had to shut down as the military ordered all aircraft to remain on the ground as the president of Indonesia was visiting. Brian had just returned from a flight bringing a little girl who had a broken arm, leg and ribs to get flown out to the main island. There were about 16 injured there waiting for the next flight to the hospital. He had taken a team of French doctors out to a village to treat and triage the injured that needed to be flown out. He was quite impressed with the French team (as with the OBI team) as they just rolled right into action and very organized, not a common site with so many others still standing around dazed.

Fuel still remains a problem. MAF was able to supply him with two drums and the Indonesian military with one. Part of the problem is to make sure the fuel is there the next time he gets back to refuel.

His voice on the phone sounded better but he said he was two days away from a shower and three from a shave! The tent he slept in last night was muggy to say the least. It was starting to rain again, he said the people sure need a break from that.
March 30, 2005 Day 2:

Brian is remaining on the island of Nias helping out with the injured. He waited part of the morning on the UN as things were chaotic trying to put some order after such a great disaster. Someone approached him and asked him to please come help with injured they had. There were also requests for flights to the west of the island and to the south but with fuel still not organized so he decided to do what was in front of him first. For the rest of the day he flew some 20 injured from the outer areas to the airport. Most were crush type injuries. At the airport there was a medical team from OBI (Operation Blessing Indonesia whom we have been working with). They helped the injured before they would get on airplanes to the hospitals on the main island of Sumatra.

He called me Wednesday evening as he was telling me of his day and that he was not sure where he was going to sleep for the night. He said please pray he would not get bit up by mosquitoes with malaria as his belongings had not caught up with him yet. He ended up sleeping in a tent.
Bell 206 L4, PK-HCT

Pilot & Mechaniker: Brian Smith aus USA
Flughelfer und Übersetzer (langjähriger indon. MA der HM in Papua): Jan Tulaseket

Helikopter: Bell 206 L4, PK-HCT

Any financial support will be much appreciated. Thank you.

USA: For a tax-deductible receipt, please make checks payable to “Helimission” and mail to:
Helimission, P.O. Box 1100, Montreat, NC 28757.

First Solo Cross country

2005-03-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

This is where things get really interesting.
I had to leave airspace i'm familiar with and on my own. I have to say on the way to my destination(kism) I was nervous. I almost was hit by a bald eagle!!! Those things are big! The wildlife seamed to be attracted to my helicopter as I had a few close encounters. I landed the aircraft ok and then had to do a funny take off to avoid the active runway which was full of normal airplanes landing...
I had to take off on half the runway and then do a hard left turn (helicopters still need some space to takeoff, none of this straight up and down stuff, that's dangerous). The way back was nice flying under bravo airspace which had the big jets coming in for Orlando international airport.
It felt good touching down at home base and feeling accomplished. I am flying again tonight up to Daytona so need to eat lunch and have a nap before planning my next flight! This is where the flying becomes more fun as you get used to it so are then able to enjoy it more.

Complete solo - no instructor!

2005-03-21T12:07:00.000-05:00

This solo was one of my best flights. The conditions were great calm wind sunny day in the morning. I was still nervous but that went away quite quickly.
I was so freeing just being on your own, and flying the helicopter. Its like you have your own wings attached to yourself.
I was able to hovering around and do normal take offs and approaches.
They weren't all perfect but were definitely fun!

First Solo

2005-03-07T14:02:00.000-05:00

Horray!!! I did my first first solo today. I had butterflies in my stomach the whole time I was doing my preflight and also as I flew out to the hele pads with my instructor. She said we would be doing 3 times around the pattern together and then she would get out and let me do 3. After our first lap she said ok I’m getting out! I could feel my face going white. I said to her “you told me 3 times round first!!” (My confidence wasn’t that great) But she said you can fly the aircraft fine. So she got out and that was that…. I have never felt so alone….My instructor was like my security. If I screw up she is there to help… but now I was on my own. As I was flying round I had to keep focusing my mind on what I was doing, as I kept on thinking what would happen if my engine failed! (Where would I try and land etc…)
But all went well. It felt really good while feeling scary at the same time. Can’t wait till do it again. I can’t fly solo again until next week due to the air show happening soon, but am doing my first dual cross country tomorrow…
Check out the pictures and the video I made of the flight.

Pre Solo Stage Check

2005-03-03T15:41:00.000-05:00

I did it! Today was the day. I had my stage check today. I did everything myself with the instructor with me. I had to do the following maneuvers:
1. Preflight
2. Start-up
3. Communications
4. Airmanship/safety/Awareness/Judgement
5. Inflight Malfunctions Procedures
6. Pickups/Setdowns
7. Hovering
8. Takeoff
9. Approaches
10. Straight and level, Climbs, Descents, Turns
12. Go Around
13. Forced Landing
14. Settling with power
15. Low RPM Recovery/RPM Control
16. Hover Auto (dual)
17. Pilot Technique, Control Smoothness

I managed to do of the above ok, with the exception of my first normal approach was too shallow and then I made it too steep and had to go around for a another try.
Also on my final landing when told to change to ground frequency for the parking I hadn't put in the frequency, so the instructor had to do it.
But apart from that the flight was a success. So I should be flying solo in the airport pattern next!

Fun with the Buns.

2005-02-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

This is my (Anisha's) first ever blog post. Ben is usually the good one who lets the world know that even though we now live in FL, we are still alive and have not yet fallen off the face of the earth.
That said, I could not think of a better reason to finally sit and write a blog than to announce (yes I know Ben has already done some announcing) the home coming of our 8 weeks and 1 day old mini rex (mix) bunnies (Chrissie I hope you are smiling when you read this).

We have been playing about with names for our two beauties, I quite like 'Roast' for our brown boy. Ben isn't so fond of that name. However, it does sound nice and I have already started manipulating it to Toasty Roasty, The Roaster, and so on. Well, in the end it will be either Roast or Stew. We shall see. Ben wants the white qirl to be named Road Runner. This is a good name because she certainly is a runner. Hilarilous to watch her zoom through the apartment kicking her back legs up and to the side in a sort of bucking bronco happy bunny fashion. Alas, Road Runner does have one draw back: we previously had a duck with the very same name who was killed by a mystery animal and now lies buried in the back yard in England.

Our first 24 hours with the buns has been fun. I woke up at 4am this morning after dreaming about bunnies. I forced myself to go back to sleep instead of sneaking into the living room to spy on the buns. Last night I was in despair over the lack of use of the litter box. I caught Roast 6 times trying to wee on the carpet. This morning I was encouraged to see they had used the litter box in the cage. When they came out for a little play, I caught Roast trying to wee 3 times and Runner once. Perhaps we are getting somewhere? Early days I guess. Runner is definitely better at it than Roast is.

The next thing to do is book a vet to get Roast and Runner neutered/spayed. So far I am really enjoying them and look forward to watching the pair grow up!

Pre solo stage check

2005-02-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

I have just found out that my pre solo stage check is this coming Thursday (3/3/05). This means I get to go up with a different instructor and see if I am capable of handling the helicopter on my own. If I am approved I do my first solo after that.

New Pets

2005-02-21T14:56:00.000-05:00

We have just received 2 bunnies from an animal hospice. They are 2 baby mini rex's.
You can see some picture of them here
Anisha constructed a cage for them from scratch with some help from me too...
We are in the process of litter training them. Since they are house bunnies they NEED to be trained.

New Church Members

2005-02-06T10:50:00.000-05:00

Today we officially became members of Crosswalk Community Church in Titusville.
We are privileged to call them home while we are here. It has been great attending there and having samll group on sunday afternoons. They have been really friendly and welcoming. Their 4th year anniversary is coming up in a few weeks.
UNfortunatly we dont get anything for membership... not even a badge or car sticker ;) hehe

Engine Failure

2005-02-05T10:09:00.000-05:00

Today a friend of mine David Eckholm who was with me in ground school was performing a normal practice autorotation*, to a hover. But as they tried to bring the engine back up from idle rpm to hover power the engine had quit, so they had to do the full autorotation to the ground. They were not expecting this so made quite a hard(but safe) landing with the helicopter tipping forward due to some forward airspeed.
Luckily they were ok and were able to check over the helicopter and make a safe return flight

* Autorotations are used to perform power off landings from altitude in the event of an engine failure.
But when practicing they are brought back to a hover without actually hitting the ground.

Helimission news

2005-02-04T14:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a newsletter from Helimission regarding the pilot who was lost september 2004.

Helimission in Indonesia - Tsunami Relief

2005-01-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

Helimission has a helicopter in Indonesia which has been helping with the relief operation after the Tsunami hit the west coast of Indonesia. They have been working with the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders flying 6-7 hours a day which is a lot of flying. Click Here to read about what they have been doing. It is translated from German so bare with the patchy English.

A better way to love

500 Hours!

Growing Hope

A Year Remembered

A Better Way to Love

Orphan Care Sunday

October Update

Choosing Well

September

Adoption Update

August Update

Friends of Refugees - Summer Spectacular!

Ben’s Big News!!

No Wasted Time With God

May 2011 Update

Brianna and Maiya

You want to do what?!?!

Hello 2011

Did all that really happen in just two months?

Where did the summer go?

Busy June

One step at a time

Next Steps

News from Ben and Anisha

A video update for our church in the UK

50miles!

mile 27

Running Update

DISASTER AT AIR SHOW - Gainesville pilot dies in fiery crash during aerobatics

Vacation Miles

I don't care about the dark

Commercial License

In this house

Well folks... following on from Anisha's last blog

Yes, we're still alive

Two down Three to go!

Florida's Prestigious Community Colleges

The Way Out

Rambling

Jesus Style

Silence is not Forgetting.

Grocery Money and the Cares of this World

Rules for Holy Living

MARCELINE UPDATE

MARCELINE UPDATE

Marceline Goedegebuure

To be perfectly honest Lord...

Pride and Impatience

New work toolbox

Newsletter

A little about life

Pretty slow day at work. What better opportunity to write?

Other Stuff

Live 8

Different countries

Instrument Ground school Complete

Robinson 22 Transition Complete

Some sad news...

Private Pilot

Anisha's turn to type...

Helimission update - Indonesian earthquake

First Solo Cross country

Complete solo - no instructor!

First Solo

Pre Solo Stage Check

Fun with the Buns.

Pre solo stage check

New Pets

New Church Members

Engine Failure

Helimission news

Helimission in Indonesia - Tsunami Relief