prayer requests

Thank you for praying for our family. 

1. We just returned from our big trip back east, where we saw some of Jana's family, Patrick's family, and spoke at the church where Patrick grew up. So many things to thank God for: our van holding up well, safety on the road, good health and weather, more people expressing a commitment to partner with us, and just an encouraging time with family and friends. We highly value any time we get to be with our loved ones, as we understand it is limited! Please pray for more opportunities to share with churches and individuals. 

2. While in North Carolina, we had a quick stop at JAARS, a branch of Wycliffe Bible Translators. JAARS handles the support side of the Bible translation projects, and sets the standard in the missionary aviation industry. AIM Air lets JAARS handle all of its technical evaluations and orientations, so this is where we will be spending a significant period of time. It was great to be able to show the kids the unique campus, where many current and retired missionaries live, along with many fulltime support staff and part time volunteers. We saw the plane Patrick would be flying, and had dinner with the AIM Air representative at JAARS.  We are pursuing working at JAARS as volunteers, in between our tecnical evaluation (Nov 2013) and technical orientation (Sept 2014). Please pray for patience and peace as we see this (somewhat lengthy!) process through. 

3. We are halfway through our time in Minnesota, and have alot of travelling planned for the next six months. We currently have two speaking opportunities in the works, in Haviland, Kansas this summer, then Longview, Texas in the fall. In between, we will be going up to Canada to visit Jana's mom, and Patrick and Jana are going to get away for some much needed couple time, in September. Patrick will be doing a few weeks of concentrated flying in October, to prepare for the TE. Then there is Thanksgiving in Kansas, and Christmas up in Canada. Please pray for the necessary financial resources, and for us to use each trip in the best way possible.

4. Most of our, or Patrick's, training right now is technical. However, we are also preparing ourselves spiritually. We are working with a couple from our church  who is helping us walk through something AIM calls Outbound Training. Outbound covers a wide range of topics, all crucial to the wellbeing and success of someone working and living in a cross cultural environment. We started off talking about spiritual disciplines such as focused prayer, meditation, fasting, Bible memory, and others. Our second focus is spiritual warfare. I know we could get all the necessary vaccinations, and pass all the technical evaluations in the world, but it wouldnt get us very far or protect us very well. The most important thing, absolutely, is a rock solid foundation on the powerful Word of God and connection to the Holy Spirit. Please pray we are faithful to pursue God daily as though our life and future depends on it. Because it does.