As many of you know I have been pursuing full term missions work with Africa Inland Mission (http://www.aimint.org/usa). The application process culminated in candidate week (a week long series of interviews and sessions with the AIM staff) in February at AIM's New York office. At the end of the week I found out that I have been accepted as a full term missionary with AIM.
The next step for me will be to pass a Technical Evaluation (TE) so I can be appointed as a mechanic with AIM AIR (http://www.aimair.org/). This evaluation is done in Waxhaw, NC by JAARS (http://www.jaars.org/aviation). I am scheduled to take this evaluation Sept 2-12, 2009. If I pass the evaluation I will then go right into a Technical Orientation at JAARS. This will be from Sept 14 - Nov 20, 2009.
Leading up to the TE will be a very busy time for me. I am still living and working in Brookings, SD for South Dakota State University in their Ethanol Research program. (http://www.age85.org/ I know the site has not been updated in a while, but it gives you an idea of what I am currently doing.) My contract with SDSU come to a close at the end of June. At this point I will most likely be headed to work with Proclaim Aviation Ministries (http://www.proclaimaviation.com/) for the month of July to help me prepare for the Evaluation. The guys at Proclaim are the ones that set me up with the job at SDSU.
I am also planning to attend a turbine engine training program that specializes in missions aviation training. The program I will go through is at the Spokane Turbine Center (http://www.spokaneturbinecenter.com/) in Spokane, WA. It is about a 2 week course. It should provide me with some extremely valuable training in turbine engine maintenance.
As you can see I will be very busy and will need your support in prayer. I will continue to update on my fundraising process as I begin that journey as well. My main prayer request right now is for wisdom and clear guidance as I plan for all the logistics of moving myself all around the country in the upcoming months. Also, pray that I can stay focused on the job I have now and not be distracted so much by what God is doing for my future that I miss what he is doing right now.
In Christ,
~Nathan
P.S. I noticed that a lot of this blog needs some serious overhauling. I will work on getting this done and getting current information up.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Busy Life
Hi Everyone.
Life has been very busy and kind of stressful recently. It has been long hours at the hangar and extra work outside of the hangar. The missionary that runs the youth group (Jim Levander) has been really sick the last couple weeks so youth group has been my responsibility. Really pray for Jim as he has typhoid, hepatitis A, and shingles. I am running youth group again tomorrow night so pray for me as I prepare.
Last weekend was a lot of fun though. We had a pig roast at one of the compounds and I stayed up all night Saturday to help roast the pig. It was a lot of fun and it tasted very good.
Next weekend I will by going up country with one of the Kenyans. That should be a lot of fun. Well I was hoping to write a lot more today but I have already run out of time. I will try really hard this next week to send another e-mail and give a lot more details.
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers!
In Christ,
~Nathan
Life has been very busy and kind of stressful recently. It has been long hours at the hangar and extra work outside of the hangar. The missionary that runs the youth group (Jim Levander) has been really sick the last couple weeks so youth group has been my responsibility. Really pray for Jim as he has typhoid, hepatitis A, and shingles. I am running youth group again tomorrow night so pray for me as I prepare.
Last weekend was a lot of fun though. We had a pig roast at one of the compounds and I stayed up all night Saturday to help roast the pig. It was a lot of fun and it tasted very good.
Next weekend I will by going up country with one of the Kenyans. That should be a lot of fun. Well I was hoping to write a lot more today but I have already run out of time. I will try really hard this next week to send another e-mail and give a lot more details.
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers!
In Christ,
~Nathan
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
New Return Date
Greetings everyone!
I now have all of the new ticket information taken care of for my extension. Praise the Lord for the way he works! I leave Nairobi on May 13 and get into GR late on the 15th. Thank you all for praying as all of the details were worked out.
Please be praying for all of the people that work in maintenance at the hangar. We are very short staffed right now. We were short staffed before but last Friday was two of the better Kenyan mechanics last day. So we have a lot fewer people and a lot of work to do. We have just started to work on the two airplanes that came in the container a while back. Those will be big projects. There is a lot of work to do on them. Also, the airplane that they were putting back together when I got out here still has some issues we are trying to get fixed. On top of all of that we have all of the regular inspections and maintenance on the other airplanes.
Also, please be praying as I am trying to work out a couple more chances for me to get outside Nairobi to see the country side and some other ministries as well. I am also trying to coordinate with a couple of the Kenyans to go and visit their families and homes up country. Pray that God will open doors where He wants me to go and to close doors where he doesn't. Pray that I will also be sensitive to his leading.
I have received some requests for some pictures of specific things. It was actually a quite long list. I will not mention who sent it *cough* mom *cough* (just kidding mom) but if anyone would like to see what something specific is like please ask me and I will try to either explain it or post some pictures of it. If there is any specific part of my day or what life is like that you would like to know about, please, don't hesitate to ask! I will also be working on getting captions on the pictures that I currently have up.
Anyways, Thank you all very much for your prayers and support! This would be a lot harder without it.
In Christ,
~Nathan
I now have all of the new ticket information taken care of for my extension. Praise the Lord for the way he works! I leave Nairobi on May 13 and get into GR late on the 15th. Thank you all for praying as all of the details were worked out.
Please be praying for all of the people that work in maintenance at the hangar. We are very short staffed right now. We were short staffed before but last Friday was two of the better Kenyan mechanics last day. So we have a lot fewer people and a lot of work to do. We have just started to work on the two airplanes that came in the container a while back. Those will be big projects. There is a lot of work to do on them. Also, the airplane that they were putting back together when I got out here still has some issues we are trying to get fixed. On top of all of that we have all of the regular inspections and maintenance on the other airplanes.
Also, please be praying as I am trying to work out a couple more chances for me to get outside Nairobi to see the country side and some other ministries as well. I am also trying to coordinate with a couple of the Kenyans to go and visit their families and homes up country. Pray that God will open doors where He wants me to go and to close doors where he doesn't. Pray that I will also be sensitive to his leading.
I have received some requests for some pictures of specific things. It was actually a quite long list. I will not mention who sent it *cough* mom *cough* (just kidding mom) but if anyone would like to see what something specific is like please ask me and I will try to either explain it or post some pictures of it. If there is any specific part of my day or what life is like that you would like to know about, please, don't hesitate to ask! I will also be working on getting captions on the pictures that I currently have up.
Anyways, Thank you all very much for your prayers and support! This would be a lot harder without it.
In Christ,
~Nathan
Friday, March 21, 2008
Praise the Lord
I have an amazing thing to report! All of the details have already been worked out! God has gone ahead of me in this like I couldn't even imagine. Everything is already taken care of! What a blessing!
The main issue that had to be taken care of was the additional cost to stay the extra time. It would have cost around $1000. There was no money left in my account at AIM. Today I received an e-mail from the US office saying that there had been a mistake with my original tickets and that I was charged for two tickets instead of one. This means that there is a $1600 refund going back into my account! That covers the cost of the extension and then some more! God is amazing! He has everything under control and I don't need to worry because His plans are already in place and cannot be changed!
PRAISE THE LORD!
~Nathan
The main issue that had to be taken care of was the additional cost to stay the extra time. It would have cost around $1000. There was no money left in my account at AIM. Today I received an e-mail from the US office saying that there had been a mistake with my original tickets and that I was charged for two tickets instead of one. This means that there is a $1600 refund going back into my account! That covers the cost of the extension and then some more! God is amazing! He has everything under control and I don't need to worry because His plans are already in place and cannot be changed!
PRAISE THE LORD!
~Nathan
Thursday, March 20, 2008
God's Crazy Plans
Hi Everyone,
It has been a long time since I last wrote. I have been so busy that I have not had a chance to use the internet. A lot has happened that I am excited to tell you about! First of all, This last week I had finally come to the place where I was willing to go home at the scheduled time (March 31). Even though I had felt so strongly that God wanted me to extend, I had finally given my plans over to Him and decided that if He wanted me to go home then I would. Then yesterday I had a meeting with John Mosby (AIM AIR Chief Engineer) and Glenn Roadknight (Head of HR) and they had figured out my visa and work permit issue. John then asked me if I was still interested in extending and emphasized that AIM's desire was to see me extend my time. With a green light from both of them I e-mailed the US office in Pearl River asking that they approve an extension for my trip. The US office was excited to hear that everything was going well and that there was the desire to extend. They are prepared to approve the extension through the middle of May as long as some other details get worked out. Please pray that these details get worked out quickly. I guess God just wanted to see if I was willing to give up what I wanted so much and submit to Him before he was was going to allow me to extend. God sure has an interesting way of teaching me lessons.
Well, I have so much more to share but my ride home is wanting for me. I will send another e-mail this weekend telling more about what has been going on.
Thank you for your prayers and please don't stop!
In Christ,
~Nathan
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Quick Update
Hi everyone!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers about my work permit. It sounds like there isn't anything AIM can do to get it approved now that it is denied. However, AIM is going to let me work at the hangar for the rest of my trip. I am a little disappointed, though, because all of this happened while I was trying to extend my trip through the middle of May. Since the permit was denied I cannot extend. Please pray for peace as I try to understand what God is doing. I really felt that he was leading me to extend and to stay to help with all of the work they have to do. Pray that I will be able to sense and see God's will clearly right now as I am a little confused and frustrated by all this.
Other than that this week has been pretty normal. There is a lot of work in the hangar and have spent a lot of time there this last week. We are getting really close to having one of the 206s done and have two more that came in the container that need to be put together.
Thank you again for your prayers!
~Nathan
Thank you so much for all of your prayers about my work permit. It sounds like there isn't anything AIM can do to get it approved now that it is denied. However, AIM is going to let me work at the hangar for the rest of my trip. I am a little disappointed, though, because all of this happened while I was trying to extend my trip through the middle of May. Since the permit was denied I cannot extend. Please pray for peace as I try to understand what God is doing. I really felt that he was leading me to extend and to stay to help with all of the work they have to do. Pray that I will be able to sense and see God's will clearly right now as I am a little confused and frustrated by all this.
Other than that this week has been pretty normal. There is a lot of work in the hangar and have spent a lot of time there this last week. We are getting really close to having one of the 206s done and have two more that came in the container that need to be put together.
Thank you again for your prayers!
~Nathan
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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
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
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