Call2All

Today is the last day of Call2All and I find myself full of very mixed emotions.  Part of me is excited to see how much these missions organizations have accomplished over the past decade or so. Another part of me is sad to find the number of people groups that still have not been reached.  The rest of these emotions are selfish, I am confused in wondering what my part is, excited to be in full time ministry, and sad and frustrated because I am not on the front lines of the mission field.

I heard the story of “Table 71” and that kind of thing sets me on fire.  I have seen the numbers of unreached/unengaged people groups of when the table 71 event happened and what they are now.  It is so incredible to see how much God is using these organizations to make it possible to fulfill the great commission.  It is also exciting to be apart of a conference where the Christian leaders of hundreds or organization are working together to 1. Blur the lines of the organization and work as one to fulfill the great commission. And 2. Strategize to work together and combine our resources to fulfill the great commission efficiently and effectively. 

Most the people here are Christian leaders from organizations or representatives or organizations so most of the sessions are geared toward them.  Yesterday I was part of a session that was working on filling out commitment papers: papers that you would commit to giving money, or commitment to start a church in places where there are unreached people groups.  I was really having a hard time with filling it out because I really wanted to fill it out and commit to an unreached people group but I couldn’t because I work for ITEC and I am not a leader of ITEC so I have no say in the matter.

To be totally honest, I have been really struggling with not being on the front lines in missions.  I am not the person actually helping the lost and needy.  I want to be one of the pioneers, someone that is really using the tools to help fulfill the Great Commission.  However, I have been in missions long enough to know that every part is just as important as the other.  Steve has reminded me that it is the people at home that provide the means for the soldiers to be effective.

ITEC is not an organization that has missionaries at its disposal to send overseas; that is not our part.  Our part is to provide door-openers for missionaries on the front lines to be more affective in spreading the gospel and helping peoples felt needs. It is our job to partner with organizations, to blur the lines of the different organizations, and work together to do God’s will, God’s way. I know of half a dozen stories off the top of my head in which our dental system or optometry kit has helped people get into villages that were formerly hostile and spread the gospel as well as meet their physical needs.

I have considered going on a trip to Australia with Sam to get a chance to work on the front lines for a bit.  Maybe that will happen, maybe it won't. But I have peace about being at ITEC, I honestly feel that God has me there, and I don’t plan on leaving until God leads me to.  I can see that what I do at ITEC is important and what God wants me to do.  

Paul's Visit

Sunday night in the intern house, we are all kind of just chillin' and preparing ourselves for another week of work.  I myself start my work solo again come tomorrow morning, I had my brother-in-law, Paul, working with me all last week, but he headed home today.  I have several things on my mind that I could easily write an entire blog on, but I will have to restrain myself so that I can get across the important things that are happening, and the needs that are most urgent.

Last week on Friday, I flew up to Birmingham with Steve, Ginny, and Sarah to pick up a truck that was being donated to ITEC but really it is for me.  The deal is, it is my truck until I leave ITEC, and since I have no plans to leave ITEC, the truck is mine.  It will be in my name, and under my insurance, so it is mine.  I find it amazing how God makes things like that happen.  My car died before I made my trip to TN at the beginning of the month, I really had no money to buy a new car and fixing it would cost more than the car is worth, being 20 years old.  I looked into a few cars, and really had to just leave it to God. He knows that there is a need and He has yet to let me go without, so I wasn’t unduly worried. I honestly cannot deny that I was at least a little nervous, though not nearly as much as I would have been before I started working with ITEC.  Living off of support from others, though is not easy or desirable, has increased my faith.  I just knew that God was going to do something.

So Steve, Ginny, and Sarah stayed up in Birmingham to stay with Sarah’s family, and I drove the truck back.  It is a white 2008 Chevrolet, Heavy Duty 2500, extended cab.  I was looking for a car originally because they are much more economical, but I honestly needed a truck. I do construction for a start, but really I do so much stuff for ITEC that requires a truck that it was a need.  God met that need for me and I am extremely grateful.  Thank you all for your prayers for me to get a vehicle, they obviously worked. J

I drove straight from Birmingham, AL down to Kissimmee, FL for a fall retreat with my church group. I didn’t get in till 3 am, waking up more than one person as I walked into the room.  The retreat was really great; I had a blast with all of my friends.  The retreat is one of those things that I could write an entire blog on, but I need to continue on.

The day I got back from the retreat, Paul arrived for the week to help me build a Cyclorama Wall.  For those of you who do not know what a Cyclorama wall is, it is a wall that curves from the floor to the wall and is built in just a way that you do not see any difference as long as the floor and wall are painted the same color and provided the workmanship is good.  If that short description is not good enough, you will probably have to look it up.

The actual construction of the wall and curvature framing went incredibly fast, but the mudding and painting took an eternity!  The weather was not exactly on our side so the mud had a hard time drying for us even with a heater and 2 fans blowing on it.  For an entire week it felt like old times, I had my best friend down here working with me.  We were able to be crazy, work late, blare the music, laugh at inside jokes, and trash talk about who was going to catch the biggest fish when the weekend came.  It is so awesome to have someone else I can fellowship with while I work and who knows the trade. It made it possible to just work together. The two of us just think the same way, and speak the same language, and it makes it easy to come up with a plan. 

After a week of crazy hours, missed meals, and coffee overdoses, we drove down to the Skyway pier in Tampa.  We fished till about 2am then got in the truck and went to sleep.  We planned to just sleep in the truck.  It was all great till I went to lean my seat back.  It was broken.  I was shocked.  I tried to sleep sitting up, but it just didn’t work.  After an hour or so of twisting and turning and trying my best to get some sleep that way, I decided to go to the back of the truck and sleep in the bed. Thankfully I brought a sleeping bag.  It was so cold and windy, I left my jacket and shoes on and still was cold.  I didn’t get to sleep till about 3:30 and Paul and I got up to start again at 6:30 quite lovely, eh? But fishing is important, you have to do it or you start going insane.

We had a blast fishing and caught several fish though only a few were keepers.  I do have to tell one story though because it is just plain out epic!  This story is true and accurate, not just a typical fisherman’s lie.  The first keeper of the day was caught by me, an 18-inch Mackerel.  Paul caught the next one but threw it back. Then things suddenly took a nasty turn.  I started pulling in a 3^rd one.  It was about 10 feet out from the pier when it got off the line, needless to say, I was so not happy.  Then Paul pulls in a 4^th one also about 18 inches long.  But as it got to the edge of the pier and was about to be pulled up out of the water, a huge fish (probably a Barracuda or Shark) about 4 or 5 feet long, swims up and bites Paul’s fish completely in half, and 5 seconds later, it went ahead and took the other half for good measure.  Paul decided that his 18-inch Mackerel was a worthy price for a 5ft something.  He pulled up the pole to set the hook in this monster’s mouth and the thing's teeth just slit the 40-lb test right in half like butter.  We were in such shock that we didn’t talk about anything else for an hour.

So after all our adventures, and craziness, it was time for Paul to head home.  He left Sunday morning before I left for church.  I think that it was the hardest time I have had with anyone leaving here.  Paul and I just roll the same way, our interests are similar, our fellowship is real, our work ethic is the same, and our love for each other is genuine.  It felt weird to see him go.  I myself was surprised to feel ripped in half when he was leaving.  I am such an independent person, and so use to working and operating alone that I usually don’t have much of a problem when I see people move on.  I obviously miss the people that leave from here after a visit or whatever, but this was different somehow, I don’t really know how to describe it. 

Everyone here at ITEC loved Paul, and I know that Paul loved it here too.  And no, I don’t think that it was the ride in the Maverick or the flight with Steve that did it. Well, maybe it was. J Thanks, Paul, for everything, It was great having you here.

As I said earlier, I now have a new truck.  I really need to get it in my name and a plate for it, pronto.  And I really need some help financially. I do not have the means to pay for it right now.  My car cost me $400 when I registered it and got a plate.  I am not sure if the price changes with newer vehicles or not.  Also, I have had to buy some tools and clothes recently, but those are generally few and far between.  The big expenses that are consistent are fuel and food.  ITEC covers my fuel that I use while working for them, but I cover personal use.  It is $100 dollars to fill up the tank, I use about $80 personal use every week.  I generally spend about $60 a week for food.  The other expense that is a drainer is insurance, I am paying about $100 a month but I have not put the truck on insurance yet so it will undoubtedly increase.  I am debating whether or not to spend the time and money to fix my car so that I have something with better gas mileage for times when I am not in need of a truck.  But I also am not keen on having 2 vehicles on my insurance.  I am open to any advice on the matter.

Thank you all for your prayers and support, it means a lot to me and I could do what I do without you.  I love and miss you all.  Have a wonderful week,

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Oshkosh Part 2

This blog post is basically from my journal, I was trying to think of a way that was best and most accurate and since this was written only a day and a half after it all happened I decided that, with some editing, it would be the best way to let everyone know what is going on.  Enjoy!

The Air show in Oshkosh Wisconsin is over, Robby, Sam, Jonathan and I drove the two trucks home with the Mavericks.  It took us only two days this time which is very nice.  For one it gave me more time to move out of my old house for Brian Reeds’ family to move into, and for two, it gave me more time to relax before returning to work this Monday.  

On our way home we stopped through Nashville and my dearest family drove the three hours to have dinner with me and my friends.  What a blessing it was! There is nothing that can replace family.  I have the most beautiful sisters and mother I could ever ask for, a brother-in-law that is just plain out awesome, and a younger brother who is just as awesome and whom I do not deserve. My niece and nephew are so cute and extremely hilarious even though Dominic is only months old he can make me laugh, and Vesper is only 2 and has a vocabulary bigger than mine!

While at the air show, I met several people that I found incredibly awesome.  Several people that I met and found really awesome were in the Mission Aviation tent.  JAARS, MAF, and several others were there.  I met several of them and some of them even came to the Maverick booth.  Though I like a lot of what they do, and I myself have wanted to fly for them before, I did not feel the attraction that I once felt.  There was no nudge from God leading me to any one of them.  This was both a relief and discouraging.  A relief because I do not have any desire to leave ITEC, but discouraging too because I didn’t know how God wanted me to use aviation in the mission field once I got my license.  

During the last couple of days at Oshkosh I felt more and more that God wanted me to spend more time flying and studying and working mechanics for my A and P license when I got back.  I told Troy this and he was fine with that.  He had told me that if I ever felt the need to take a few days and study or fly then to go ahead and do it.

Friday I had planned to do several things including fly.  I was confident that God wanted me to put more effort into it and not just work construction. He brought me here to build, yes, but to learn to fly and get my mechanics license too. I went into town to send off a package to home, get my hair cut and, of course, get some coffee:). I received an email the day before from Dr. Busch telling me that I would get my letter from the FAA before his copy came to him and to let him know when mine came through.  I made my Starbucks stop first and then headed to the UPS store.  On my way there, Mark called me from ITEC telling me that I had a letter from the FAA. I nearly crashed the car i was so shocked and excited.  I was 75% sure that it was my medical certificate.  I had done everything God had told me to do and jumped through every hoop and used the people that God had put in my life to help me.  Even though I was confident, I prayed.  I told God that whatever was in that letter when I got to ITEC, I would still follow Him, I would not turn away, no matter what the cost.

When I got to ITEC and opened the letter, I felt my life-long dream shatter all around me.  My medical certificate had been denied.  After all the hoops I had jumped though, after all the tests I had done, after all the people I had met with, my dream of flying was not to be.  I didn't know what to do, as I turned each page, I was sure that there was going to be some sort of loop hole that they would let me fly.  I couldn't believe that this was happening.

My biggest question is, “Why? Why, God?  I know You have brought me all this way, and now you will not let me have my license?”  My whole life has lead up to flying in ministry, and God lead me to Steve Saint, to ITEC, he taught me so many things on so many adventures, and now I cannot fly? 

I sat in the conference room for what felt like hours but in reality was only about 30 minutes.  I texted Steve and asked if I could come over and talk to him after telling Troy about the letter.  I got there and found out that Troy had already texted Steve telling him about the letter.  I didn’t know what to do, I was totally devastated.

I talked with Steve and Ginny for nearly 2 hours.  I learned so much from them, it would take me all night to write it all down, but I walked out of there knowing that this is all part of God's plan. After being at ITEC for 6 months, I told Jamie that I realized that my view of missions has changed so much, and I have changed so much that I don;t even know who I am.  I had changed more in the last 6 months than I had in the last 6 years and that still holds true.  I told Steve and Ginny that, and I got the same answer from them as I got from Jamie, they looked at each other and then looked at me and said, "That’s a great place to be."  It is certainly not an easy place to be, though I am sure it is a good one. 

Steve and Ginny told me  stories of other men and women of the faith that had their dreams crushed only to realize God's dream--people like Steve's dad, Nate Saint, and people in the Bible like Job. People who knew that God had a reason for doing the things that He did and moved on following God regardless.  I plan to still follow God. I have no plans to stop. I am solid in my faith. I refuse to denounce God in any way or form.  There is obviously a plan that God has for me and it does not involve me having my pilot license--at least not yet.  I have not lost hope.

I am praying that I will get the opportunity to travel with Steve more or travel to represent ITEC in some form or another, then I will at least get to be in air some.  

I called my dad this evening to tell him about the FAA.  He told me a story that gave me hope and encouragement.  It was the kind of story that I believe every father should be able to tell his son at least once.  It was a story that shows you their is hope, and that your father was able to overcome and God gave him his dream.  

The story was that my dad signed up for the Navy to fly.  I inherited the same dream of flying from my dad.  After doing his physical he was told that his vision was 20/25 and the limit was 20/20, no exceptions.  My dads dreams were crushed, just like mine. A year and a half later, he graduated and ended up on a ship.  He was not the top of his class, nor the highest ranked, but when he was on the ship, he worked his tail off. He learned everything he could, and worked to the best of his ability. And the people that mattered on the ship noticed.  After that first tour, he was informed that the vision limit was changed to 20/30.  So he tried again to become a pilot, and after months of attempts, he got called from Washington offering a position as an NFO (naval flight officer) the back seat of the jet, The NFO basically runs the mission, does a lot of the co-pilot work which includes navigation.  He knew that was not what he wanted to do, he wanted to be the pilot so he turned down the offer, and continually attempted to become a pilot. One day, he got that dream and became a helicopter and jet pilot.  

After hearing that story from my dad, I respected him and really loved him as my dad.  It was probably the first time we actually connected on a scale that large and that close to the heart.  I am hoping to see him at Thanksgiving as long as I am still in town.

As for what is next, I am going to remain working for ITEC. I want to stay working full time ministry.  I have a lot I can learn from these people and I still am not losing hope that I will one day get my pilot license.  

My mind is in quite a weird place.  It is telling me that I should be in shock, but God has poured out his grace on me and I am still able to function and not fall into self-pity. Somehow, I know that this is not the end.  I know that I follow a God that can change anything in an instant, and regardless of whether I become a pilot or not, I will still follow Him.  I know that God is the Pilot-in-Command and I will stay with him no matter what maneuvers He does. I will make my plans and watch God smash it to bits as He places my steps on the trail He wants me to walk.  

One more observation is that my whole life, I have always had an end goal, or something to achieve. Once I accomplished one, I moved onto the next.  Now, it seems like God took away all those goals to teach me to let Him write the story and direct the way.  I do not regret making those goals, nor do I think I will refrain from making other ones.  On the contrary, God cannot use a man that sits still, so I will make plans and goals and sit back and watch God destroy them and show me His plan or simply point me in a direction.  

            If there is one thing I have learned in my time here at ITEC that is worth mentioning, it is to be flexible.  I can make all the plans that I want for each day’s work, but I have to be able to drop everything in an instant.  My day can change in one phone call. Or my week, or even month. I cannot even make plans more than a week or two out because I never know if I am going to be in town or not.  Once I was asked if I wanted to go flying, I obviously said yes, and after boarding the plane and taking off, I was informed that we were going to a town north of Atlanta.  Thankfully that night we flew back and I didn't have be out of town unprepared:)

I love you all and am very grateful for your prayers and support.  Have a wonderful day!!

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Oshkosh Part 1

Again, i wrote this blog about a week ago, so you will have to go back in time.  I am calling this Oshkosh part 1 because I plan on writing about the rest of the air show and the trip home.  Thats the plan anyway:)  Hope you like it.   

So I am in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the biggest airshow in the world.  It took us 3 days to get up here due to a combination of blown tires, news interviews, and people unwilling to drive late into the night, not to mention the people who could not manage to drink less. However, despite all the crazy turns our trip took, we managed to overcome our obstacles and arrive safely.

We set up the booth with all 5 of our Mavericks on Sunday morning and when we got back later in the afternoon we tried to relax some.  We were all so exhausted from the trip not to mention the past several months of working incredibly long hours.  I must say that I am not included in the long hours.  I rarely work on the Mavericks so I was more of a hindrance that a help in the Maverick shop. Automotive Mechanics is not that foreign to me, but this is an aircraft so it is a bit more important that things are done correctly, and I am not as adept at mechanics as I am at construction.  

Monday, the air show began.  The early crew got there around 8 am to put the final touches to our booth and get the Mavericks ready to display when the doors officially opened at 9.  Because we are the only flying car in production not to mention that the Maverick is plain out cool, our booth is constantly flooded with people.   After mentioning how amazed I was at the amount of people in our booth, I was informed that this was a slow day.  Quite the thing you want to hear when you repeatedly tell everyone every awesome thing you know about the Maverick.  I must say, I am becoming quite the salesman, every time I talk to someone new, I sound more and more professional.

           

Our booth is right across the taxiway from the War Birds.  And since we are celebrating 100 years of Naval aviation (1911-2011) there are hundreds of the most incredible planes pulling in right near our booth.  I really like the old military planes, they are all huge! Every time I walk up to the engine I realize that each blade on the prop is almost as long as I am tall, and some are even longer than that.

Tuesday evening we brought the original Maverick home with us.  We are flying at the air show Friday or Saturday morning and we wanted to give it a check ride and make sure that it was fit to fly since we haven’t flown it in a few months.  There is a guy who has a private airstrip on his farm about 3 or 4 miles away that we took off from.  It was great, Troy did the test flight and it flew wonderfully.

This morning we woke up to quite a bit of rain.  It wasn’t too hard, but it had been raining all night and didn’t stop till about 2 in the afternoon.  I rode in the Maverick with Jamie while Steve drove it back to our booth.  There were several very important things that were in the tent that were wet.  For one, the computer that was set up with the Maverick simulator was sitting in a puddle of water, for two, someone’s backpack was left open with a laptop and iPad and both were damp.  And for 3, several books were wet and our white Maverick T shirts got wet and the color is all smudged in the material.

After we were all set up, it was still drizzling, and only a few people were in the booth so I went and walked around to see the planes.  I went from plane to plane admiring each one and enjoying the time by myself in the rain and relatively quite time.  As I looked at planes, jets, helicopters, and visited each booth and pricing flying equipment that I plan to get as soon as I have my license, I spent that time thinking.  I had gone with Steve to park the cars in the lots and as we walked back I asked a question I really wanted to ask for a while.  I wondered what I did or didn’t do that made him get impatient with me.  I asked the question in more detail and with some examples but that is basically what I was asking.

           

For an answer I got more of a life lesson, and definitely not what I expected at all.  I have spent a lot of time wondering whether I should bring anything up or whether I should just deal with it, but to my utter shame, I thought he would be apologetic and sympathetic and understanding ,so I brought it up.  I have some how come to this point where I think that I am right, and invincible, not weak in any way, have a good work ethic, and not easily swayed by anything.

Steve pointed out some things about me that I have been refusing to see, I honestly didn’t even realize that I had been turning a blind eye.  In the circle of guys I hang with now, I can be swayed so that I stay in their good books and remain a “friend”.  I also realized that these past few weeks, my work ethic has plummeted, I dislike even mentioning it cause it is quite a blow to realize that I am letting down the men and women that have taught me to work.  This is on a much different scale than I remember, because God raises bar in our lives all the time and I have been taught to realize when God does that, and I missed it this time.

But most of all, the most painful, yet most obvious is the realization that I have weaknesses and that I am not invincible.  I don’t mean that I would survive a bullet to the head.  What I mean is that I thought that I was strong morally and spiritually on all fronts, there was nothing that could get to me.  I could withstand any attack the enemy throws at me, no matter which angle.  I am just as likely to fall as the next man, I don’t like having weaknesses, and like even less admitting the fact. But it is the truth.

           

I write all this for several reasons. First and foremost is that I need prayer.  And I will give some specifics here.  1.) Please pray that I would be more faithful with reading my bible. I tend to be on and off with it.  And I continually tell myself that I am too busy.  That is a lame excuse and should not be tolerated, we would never dream of getting up in the morning and not brushing our teeth, therefore I should not leave for work without reading my bible.   2.) Pray for my medical to come through.  After all the loops I have jumped through to get this medical I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.  I met with the medical examiner I met at Sun-N-Fun and he send it into the FAA.  However just this past weekend the FAA was on the news and they are going through a bit of a crisis of some sort, the details of which I will spare you so you don’t get too bored.  

           

To all the people that have invested in my life: I promise to work harder to remember what you taught me and to walk the straight and narrow and to walk constantly with Christ in sight without anything getting between me and Him.  I love all of you so much and cant wait to see you all again.  

Your brother in Christ,

Austin  

Pray for Medical

This blog post was actually written on June 29th so you will have to go back in time to make sense of some of it:)

At the start of June I started training for a marathon I plan to run at the end of November.  I actually have two races planned, a half marathon at the beginning of October and a full marathon at the end of November.  I got about 2 weeks into it when I got shin splints.  It was quite the way to start this long, hard core, training.  I took two weeks off from running, and iced it a few times a day.  Well, I thought it worked.  I ran 4 miles before Volley Ball on Monday just to see how it help up.  I didn’t want to just jump into 6 and 7 milers right off the bat.  It seemed to do fine.  But this morning, I was only able to do 3, my right leg was in some ridiculous pain. 

            In a previous blog, I talked about meeting an Aviation Medical Examiner at Sun-N-Fun Airshow.  I am meeting him on the 7^th of July to figure this last bit of my medical certificate problem.  He made me a VIP appointment, I am the only person he is seeing that day.  I did incredible on my stress test, thanks to your prayers.  I broke the record, at least for that office.  So something to add to your prayer list is that we would finally get everything figured out so I can get my medical certificate.  I only have a few lessons left with my instructor and then all my solo time and then I can take my check ride for my license. 

            I don’t fly as much as I used to because it costs money to have my instructor in the plane, I generally fly every couple weeks to maintain my skill keep up with what I know.  I went flying last week for the first time in quite a while and did surprisingly well.  Landing is generally where I have the most trouble, but during my last lesson, I did 4 landings and they were all really good. 

            I signed up for a Volley Ball league at the YMCA in Ocala about a month ago and tonight was our first game of the season.  I already go on Monday nights just to have fun for the most part, but also to practice and meet people.  Tonight, our team played really well, and won both games, 12-25 and 17-25.   The other team I had never seen at the Y before so I don’t know how much they play.  I must say, I was pretty lucky to be on this team.   The team leader asked me to be on his team right before I signed up.  They are all really good players and I am learning a lot from them. 

            Tomorrow I am headed to something that my church does called Dinner D8.  Basically, there are about a dozen families in the church that host a dinner at their house once a month. Everyone that wants to be a part of Dinner D8 sign up and the church does a drawing for each house and that’s where you end up for dinner that month.  There are generally about 3 or 4 families at each Dinner.  I had a great time at my last one and am really looking forward to tomorrow's.

            The Mavericks are coming along pretty well.  They are nearly finished with one, now they have two more. The reason this one has taken so long is because we have changed so much on it.  It is slightly longer, and a more powerful engine, and the list goes one.  So every time we change one thing, we have to adjust all the other parts that it affects and then we have to draft it in the computer so we know how to do it in the next Maverick.  So now that we are almost finished with this one, the others should quickly follow, at least that is what I am told.  At ITEC however,  things change so quickly I think that it should be fined. Every day is organized chaos.

            Thank you so much all of you who answered my mom’s email and helped me with support.  It was very much needed and even more appreciated.  Please be praying for appointment on the 7th with the Aviation Medical Examiner.  I really would like to get this resolved.  God's will be done, not mine.  I love you all so much.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Update

To my dearest supporters,
Please forgive my serious gap between my last blog and this one.  My lame excuse of being too busy is not valid because in the end, we are all busy.  
To catch you up with everything that has happened since my last blog would take an entire book, and trying to decide on which of the crazy events to tell is too difficult for my tiny brain.  Between flying a helicopter with my best friend Jesse, my trip to visit the village with Jamie and Jesse, moving to a new house, watching a triathlon, spending time with Steve and Ginny… the list goes on for quite a way.  So though I may refer back to those events, I won’t be telling all the stories, sorry.
As far as where things stand right now, I have moved to a house about 10 minutes from ITEC with 7 other guys: 3 interns, 2 men that are working with other organizations that partner with us, my roommate from ITEC, Jonathan, and Robbie, who is a engineer and knows engines like the back of his hand.  I moved in last week and spent the week working on getting it ready, though I was not able to complete it in time, I did manage to get most of the repairs done.  The interns arrived Monday around lunch, Drew, Brian, Dan, and Alicia .  They are all here for the next 5 or 6 weeks working on video stuff for ITEC.  When they arrived, I quit working and after dropping everyone’s stuff off, we went to lunch.  It has only been a few days since they got here, but I have had a blast with them, I spend most of my time working on my own, so getting to spend time with a bunch of people my age after work has been a real blessing.
The Life University building is nearly complete, I think that it should be totally useable by the end of next week, provided I am not dragged off to work on something else.
Two weekends ago, I was in south Georgia to watch Jimmy and Jamie do a triathlon along with Jimmy’s wife and Neil Brown.  I had met Neil before, he goes to the same church as I do, in fact he sits up front right next to where Jamie and I sit, but I had no idea that he was into running, swimming, cycling, and outdoor sports in general.  Jimmy and Jamie kept referring to him as “coach”.  So as the day went on I learned that he has done several marathons including the Boston marathon,  adventure races, and several triathlons.  In fact, for his first triathlon, he did an Ironman.  Upon hearing this, I was astonished. On the way home, I peppered him with questions, all the while taking notes.  In the end, I asked him to coach me for my marathon and after I finish that I want to do the adventure races.  He had me pick a marathon and now he is making me a training schedule.  I picked a half marathon on October 1st, and a full marathon November 27th.
I am still working on getting my medical certificate, at this point, all I need to do is do a stress test for the FAA.  I finally managed to get an appointment with a cardiologist down in Inverness, FL.  I am doing the test June 2, some prayers would be nice for that.  I just want it to go smoothly and not have any hiccups.
Friday, I am going to Ocala to volunteer for a middle school event that our church is putting on.  I am a team leader over 15 middle-schoolers. To be honest, I have no idea what to expect; I am just going to show up and find out.  Another one of my friends who is also a team leader keeps telling me that I am not going to have a voice by the end of the day.  As long as my team beats his team I will consider it a worthwhile sacrifice. :)
I was asked to share my testimony on Tuesday night at our college age meeting that we do every week.  Guess we’ll see how that goes too. I actually have not gone in the past 2 weeks because I have been working late so I suppose I better make sure that I am not working late next week.
Thank you all for your support, I could not do this without your help. Hope you are all doing well, have a wonderful day.

Your brother in Christ,


Austin