Update and Prayer Requests

Hello again everyone!

I just thought I would give some updates as to what I have been doing. Last Friday before I left for Gatab I was able to get on another DC-3 flight. We had been doing inventory at the hangar the previous days and were still doing it then so I didn't have my camera with me. This has made me decide to bring my camera EVERY day. All day Friday the DC-3 was flying back and forth to Homa Bay on Lake Victoria. They were bringing food that was then going to one of the islands in the lake. We flew over 30,000 pounds of food down there! It was a beautiful flight and that part of Kenya is so green! One of the Kenyans from the hangar also went along and he had never been to that part of Kenya either so it was cool to see his reaction.

Thank you for all of your prayers during my trip! It went very well. No problems at all! Jay Mundy and I left around 10:30 Saturday morning and arrived in Gatab Monday afternoon. We could have made the drive in two days but we were taking a route Jay had never taken before so we gave ourselves plenty of time. Gatab sits on top of Mt. Kulal on the east side of the southern end of Lake Turkana. The drive was amazing! Such beautiful country! I never realized Kenya was so mountainous! I am trying to upload some pictures of the trip along with some pictures from the hangar so hopefully the internet will cooperate and I can get a bunch of pictures up.

While we were in Gatab we mostly worked on getting their house set up so that his wife and kids could move up there as well. We rearranged a lot of furniture and did a lot of cleaning. I met several other mission families up there who are involved in a lot of different work. They are doing a lot of construction projects and they also run a small hospital there. I really enjoyed my time up there and would love to make it back there again some time.

Jay and I were picked up and flown back to Nairobi on Thursday afternoon on a 206. It was an awesome flight. The countryside is so cool from the airplane. We also stopped at the airstrip in Kijabe to drop someone off there. Taking off out of Kijabe was a little exciting. You can only take off in one direction and that is down hill. We also had a 25-30 knot tail wind. For those of you who don't know a lot about aviation those conditions add up to the airplane not wanting to leave the ground. Even with very little weight on board we used up every inch of that runway! It was a little exciting for a while! I have the whole takeoff on video so I'm sure some of you will see that when I get back.

Now I have a couple of prayer requests. On Friday after I got back I found out that the Kenyan government has denied my Special Pass (basically my short term work permit). The Human Resource department here was going to see what they could do to possibly appeal that or get the decision overturned. Until then I am going to continue to work in the hangar but if they will not issue the Special Pass I might not be allowed to work with AIM. Please pray that the Kenyan government will approve the permit so I can continue to work in the hangar.

If for some reason the pass is not approved pray for wisdom and guidance for me as I would then look for what options I have. Some of the missionaries in Gatab invited me to come up and work with them for longer if I wanted to so that might be an option but I am not sure. Pray that God will provide clear leading and guidance as this unfolds.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support! You have no idea how much it means to hear how much support I have! It has been such a blessing!

In Christ,
~Nathan

Trip This Weekend

Hi everyone! I just wanted to write a quick e-mail to ask for your prayers for me and one other person as we will be driving to Gatab in Northern Kenya. Jay Mundy and I will be leaving either Saturday or Sunday and the drive will take 2-3 days (it is only 250 miles!). I will be assisting Jay at the AIM base in Gatab and then we will hitch a ride back to Nairobi on a caravan flight sometime next week (probably Wednesday or Thursday). Pray that we will not encounter any problems while driving and that the trip will go smooth. Thank God for this awesome opportunity for me! I am so excited to really get outside Nairobi and see the Kenyan countryside! Thank you all for your prayers and please keep it up! It really means a lot!

In Christ,
~Nathan

Lots of Work

I have been very busy and have worked some long hours this week but it has been good experience. It was a lot of work finishing the DC-3 inspection and I was at the hangar till 10:30 Wednesday night. I hope to use that as leverage to get on another flight pretty soon. I am trying to upload pictures but the internet isn't working very well. Hopefully some will get up. This e-mail isn't going to be very long because the internet has died twice on me and I have lost the e-mail and I have to leave in a couple minutes to go to youth group. Life has been good here. I am really enjoying it and have really learned a lot. I will start to write updates on my computer throughout the week and then just copy them in here on the weekend so I won't be so dependent on the internet. I will try to find more time to write next week.

In Christ,
~Nathan

Work at the Hangar

This last week was my first full week of work at the hangar. On Monday I was able to ride along on an evacuation flight to Nakuru. We brought 26 people from Nakuru to Nairobi to escape the violence in Nakuru. I was basically an extra set of hands to help load baggage and to assist passengers in boarding. (Technically I was a flight attendant.)

Tuesday and Wednesday I did the tail section of a Cessna Caravan phase inspection. I had never worked on a Caravan before so I asked a lot of questions but it went really well. Thursday and Friday I was assigned to a phase inspection on the DC-3. I have never worked on anything so big and so old. The plane is 63 years old! It has been good experience and I look forward to finishing the inspection next week.

I have found a youth group to get involved with while I am here. It meets Sunday nights at Jim and Becky Levander's house. I am going to miss the guys from Rush Creek but I am also excited to get to know a new group of youth while I am here. Jim and Becky are very excited that I want to be involved.

I have also added some pictures of the house I am staying in to the photo gallery. I have not had a chance to take a lot of pictures at the hangar yet and I didn't have my camera with me when I went flying but this next week I will tkae a lot of pictures of the work at the hangar and get them posted next week.

I want to ask you to please pray for the Kenyans that work in the hangar that live in the slums. There is still some violence and danger in the slums and several of the guys haven't slept in sereral days because they are afraid of their homes being burned or looted. I can't imagine that. Please keep them in your prayers.

In Christ,
~Nathan