Where Things Stand

So it has been a really long time since my last blog.  I found in my files that there is a blog that I wrote at the end of April but never posted it. Weird.  But here is a compilation of where things stand for me and ITEC.  

Recently, we had some friends of Steve and Ginny’s come from Mali, Africa to stay with us for a while. They are actually on the run because there has been an increase of persecution against Christians there lately and since he is a prominent pastor over there, there is a price on his head.  I am actually not allowed to put their names in writing, but you may have heard of them from Steve’s book “Walking His Trail”.  Steve met them in Timbuktu while he was there setting up a base for MAF in the 80’s.

They moved into the house that I have been living in since early August last year.  Some of you have actually stayed at that house while visiting me.  The 4 guys living with me and I moved to another house that is roughly 2 ½ miles away.  There is plenty of work to do on this new house, but I have been able to make some progress, even with all the things that have jumped in the way.

Elijah, my little brother came down for a couple of weeks and was a huge help.   I had a great time with him and everyone here loved him being here as well.  With his help, I was able to get twice as much done in half the time allowing us to get moved in sooner than I had hoped.

During the past couple of months ITEC has had several instances where people have been getting hurt.  Steve’s injury was the worst one, but he is recovering quickly.  If you have not been watching the videos that Brian has been posting on Facebook, I highly recommend you start.  Steve is one incredible guy!!!  It was certainly a blow to ITEC during that time of injuries.  I think that 6 people total had pretty serious injuries.  With the prayers of all the people all over the world, team ITEC was able to pull out of the attack, and we are continuing to work toward accomplishing what God has given us to do here.  

The couple that I mentioned earlier from Mali, Africa have a son who has been here for 8 years.  He came over here for schooling and he ended up finding a wife and is now married and has 3 kids.  I was asked by ITEC to take him on as my helper and teach him the stuff that I do.  It has been different teaching someone the things I know. But it certainly has been good.  It helps me find out exactly what I know and figure out why I do things a certain way.  It also has helped me with patience.  I am not known for my patience, as most of you reading this know, but I have been even more impatient than normal these past several months.  I’ve found myself becoming a hard man, more blunt than normal, to the point of being rude in most cases.  

Also, being the head of the house has been another place where I have been learning patience and humility.  I have 2 guys that work full time at ITEC, Daren and Robby, the two interns, Dustin, who is from Miami, Jimmy, who is from Texas, and an older gentleman who lives in his RV outside named Carl.  My house is used as a guest house, so we generally have quite a lot of traffic. I must say, you get to know some pretty awesome people being the host of a guest house.  

           

That’s pretty much it for now. I’ll try to be better about blogging more often so you guys are all aware of what is going on.  Thank you so much, Dossie Briggs, Ashima Joy, and Paul Hobbs for your donations to me this past month, it came at an incredible time!! I was literally out of money when that came to me, not kidding or exaggerating.  It was totally God!! Thank you so much.  Anyone that has given money to my mom for me that I do not know who you are, please forgive me,  I am extremely grateful for your support of me and ITEC.  

To the village as a whole, Steve asks about you often and is extremely grateful for your prayers and contributions to ITEC.  Here is a text message from him only days after his accident: “Please tell the folks in the Village thanks for praying for me and my family. I just have this deep seeded sense of anticipation for how God is going to use this.”  I do not know if that ever made it around to everyone. I forwarded it on to a few people in the village in hopes that it would make it to everyone.

Thanks again for all your support!!!

God Bless,

Austin

PS- since this blog was written, another thing has come up.  I have two remaining tests to do for the FAA in the process of getting my medical.  One is on Friday the 20th and the other is on Wednesday the 25th. Once those two things are finished, i send the results back to the FAA and we leave it to whatever God wants.  These tests are going to cost about $400, any help would be much appreciated. 

PPS- Here is the latest video on Steve's recovery.  He is such an amazing man.  His focus is in the right place. He is just very inspirational.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfPZ_bIRfmM

As always, I am extremely grateful for all of your support through finances ands prayer.  I could not do what i do without your help.  Thanks so much!!

God Bless,

Austin