Find Your Wings

Ecuador

2012-02-09T17:06:00.000-05:00

So in the four weeks since arriving here in Ecuador, a lot has happened. This could be a pretty long post, but we shall see. Oh, where to begin….

Well, I arrived in Quito on a Sunday evening and my first sight of Ecuador was a rainy one. I found out later, we get an average of 35 ft of rain every year. My one bag took an eternity to get from baggage claim, I was standing there for just over an hour. I met up with my friend, Galo, who I know from him being in the States working on airplanes with Jesse. After meeting his mom and brother we got in the van and headed to his sisters house where he had been staying over the weekend for a family reunion. He ended up telling me that the flight number I had emailed him did not exist, but somehow he was at the Airport when I was, Someone must have been looking out for us.

We left for Shell the next morning, a beautiful 4-hour drive through the mountains. After several stops along the way for Galo to find a part for a car, we made it to Shell, my home for the next 3 months.

Shell is a very small town on the edge of the Jungle. The Airport is pretty much the length of the town but it goes a bit deeper. Mountains covered with thick jungle surround Shell, and clouds often cover the tops. Out of the four weeks I have been here. There have been 3 days that it hasn’t rained. The temperatures are perfect but the humidity is so high that I sweat more than I do in Florida. Another downside to the humidity is that nothing dries if you just leave it hanging in your room, even with a fan on.

The building I am here to finish is right on the airstrip and about a 2 minute walk from the MAF base which is right across the road from Nate Saint’s house. It has a main building that is two stories and is mostly office space. The back part is a hanger that is used to work on planes and cars. The car business is to try to make ITEC Ecuador self-supporting, but it is not working out very well. We are working on shutting down that business. The plane business is slowing down a bit too. Saint Aviation use to work from there, building RV10’s but we just sold our last one.

My job is to finish the second story of the main building before March 8^th. Here in Ecuador, their buildings are all made of concrete, even the ceilings. Sometimes the roofs are tin. Thankfully, ITEC Ecuador has a tin roof. That did present a slight challenge, but we managed. So pretty much, the more I saw and realized I had to do, I was surprised, and unsure where to begin. I have done construction for quite a while, but never in Ecuador. There are a lot of things to take into account living in a rainforest that I normally didn’t have to consider working in Memphis. For instance, we had a leak on the exterior of the building and when I suggested we caulk it, I was informed that it was a bad idea. It takes a long time to dry because of the high humidity. Another thing is that because of all the rain, all the buildings are built in mud so there has to be more focus on the foundation. That’s just to mention a few things.

I was also under the impression that there was going to be another guy here that I would be working under who has done construction in Ecuador so he would be teaching me. Upon my arrival, I found that the whole project is on me to finish before the group gets here from the states on March 8^th. So I basically realized that I have to build in a country I have never built in, with helpers who cannot understand me or I them, and I have a deadline to meet. Bring it on.

So construction started right away with me working on the ITEC building during the day and finishing the room I was going to be living in at Galo’s house. I was shown which route to take when I walk to ITEC, and then on my walks I learned the general layout of Shell, where the HCJB Hospital is, the millions of bakeries, grocery stores, restaurants, and the like.

There is a river not far from the house they have created a slight dam to make a swimming area and small park. Galo has a German Shepherd that he affectionately named Booger, and I take him for walks down there sometimes. I went wading up and down that river one afternoon. It is such a pretty river.

The other thing that started right away was the learning of Spanish. Immersion is quite a way to learn. It is both embarrassing, and challenging, but makes some hilarious stories. Galo tells me to make trips into stores or bakeries to force me to try to speak and understand Spanish and to get use to hearing it in general. Thankfully the people are somewhat used to seeing missionaries around here so they are generally kind and understanding. However, when they see you struggling and stumbling through your Spanish, or just using a word instead of a sentence, they have this knowing smile that makes you want to go crawl into a hole.

Working with my helper, Carlos, has been educational too. You have both of us trying to explain things in each others language. He knows less English than I do Spanish. It takes several minutes before we get the idea of what we are saying, there is a lot of pointing, and body language. But we are getting better.

One day I had just finished running on Galo’s treadmill and it was slightly raining outside so I went outside and took my shirt off too cool off in the rain. The guys that work the car business live on the bottom floor of the same house I do and they saw me and invited me in where they were watching TV all three of them saw all of my scars and were asking me what they were from. Now, explaining my former heart problems is already difficult in English. Add trying to explain with my lame vocabulary of Spanish. Wow. It was a long conversation.

Then they were trying to ask me if I had eaten dinner yet. When I said no, they asked me to go out to eat with them. So we all went to eat at a Chinese place. It was quite interesting. I was trying to get fried rice with the meat and vegetables. So I was trying to explain that to them to order for me. So you have an English guy trying to explain what he wants through and Ecuadorian, who is trying to explain that to a Chinese woman. When my plate came back it was a huge pile of fried onions, peppers, and that kind of loveliness.

I did end up going back this past week and managed to order the right stuff. And when they asked if I wanted the big plate or the small I said big because I hadn’t eaten breakfast, and I was taking lunch late. They brought out a plate with a mountain of friend rice on it. If any of you have seen Game Plan and remember the scene when the little girl is looking at the huge plate of spaghetti, that is what my plate looked like, I am not joking.

We have all the walls plastered, foam on the ceiling to help deaden the sound of the daily rain, and the tile in the bathrooms. I am hoping that I will have a good bit of the drop ceiling finished before Galo gets back on the 13^th and then I will finish installing the bathroom hardware. I am hopeful that I will have this finished before Jimmy arrives with the team on March 8^th. I really appreciate all your prayers and support. You are what make it possible for me to be here doing this for ITEC

God Bless,

Austin

Bound for Ecuador

2012-01-05T16:45:00.002-05:00

Hey friends,

So I have refrained from blogging about this till now because I didn’t know any details, nor did it seem that anyone else did. I wasn’t keeping it a secret, I just told some people and knew that it would get around eventually and if it didn’t, then I knew that one day I would get the details and then I would blog and then you all would know: I am going to Ecuador!!!

So the story goes back to when I was at the Call2All conference in Long Beach, California last month. As you read in the last blog, I was really having a hard time with being home and not on the front lines in missions. As you also read, around the end of the conference, God gave me peace about being at ITEC and I was entering back into the work here with renewed drive.

When I got back from Call2All I went to Tennessee for my best friend Joel and Ashelie’s, wedding, and since I was up there, ITEC sent me to Nashville to pick up an engine for a Maverick. I ended up driving all night to get home and stopped both in Tallahassee and Gainesville to see some friends, which put me at ITEC just before lunch. I really just wanted to go to bed, but I had to drop the engine off first. I pulled in on the airport side of the hangar, stepped out of my truck and walked up to Jesse and Galo. The moment I got up to them, Jesse had given me 3 small projects and was told that I was going to Ecuador. I wasn’t sure if they were joking, because I have been asked in the past to go but it never went anywhere.

Well, it turns out they were serious, and wanted to send me the following week, but there were other things that needed to happen first. The only detail I was given was that it was sometime in January. How are you supposed to prepare for a trip that you don’t even know when it is happening? I have worked at ITEC long enough to know what that translates to, but for those of you who don't, I shall translate for you. That basically means, "you will have a less notice than you need".

So today was my first day back after spending several days with my family and friends. I was asked when I was going to Ecuador and I told them I had no idea. And they said "well you need to get down there yesterday." After throwing around a few dates and times, It was decided that I will leave Sunday morning and return on the 17^th of March when a large church group comes back. Jamie Saint and Jimmy Tingler are going to be taking a group down in March and I am returning with them.

ITEC has a building down there called the ITEC Training Center and I have 2 months to finish it before Jamie and Jimmy arrive with the big church group in March. I will be staying with a man named Galo and his family. He has been working with ITEC for a really long time. He is a pilot and also builds RV10s with Jesse Saint. I have met him several times while he has been in the States. As I understand it, he lives in Shell Mera, technically in the Jungle, but more accurately, Shell Mera is on the edge of the jungle; it is the same place where Steve Saint lived and his dad, Nate Saint, flew from each day to bring supplies to the many jungle stations before his death in 1956.

I find it amazing how I have struggled for so long with not being on the front lines of missions and when I finally gave it up and have peace about being here at ITEC, God sends me to Ecuador. I love my God. For those of you who want a life of adventure, follow God, He will take you on an adventure that will constantly amaze you.

Call2All

2011-12-04T22:37:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-24T16:01:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-18T09:55:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-03T18:13:00.003-04:00

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

2011-07-02T09:46:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-02T11:08:00.001-04:00

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

Joel and Daniel

2011-05-01T18:59:00.001-04:00

So this is the first blog that has not been edited by another party, so forgive all the lovely mistakes. Also, the shuttle Endeavor did not end up taking off on Friday, there were some problems during the pre flight and it was postponed. Anyway, here goes...

So Daniel and Joel arrived late Friday night, or more accurately, early Saturday morningJ It was so awesome having them here, words just don’t quite do the emotions justice. Their visit flew by, almost literally. I had a great time letting them meet the friends that I made down here, going to church with me, having Easter with the Saints, working with the guys at I-TEC and taking taking them to Rainbow springs and to play Volley Ball at the YMCA.

Saturday we slept in then headed to Steve Saint’s house to help him work on the playhouse for his grandkids. We pretty much spent the morning there and then the afternoon we just kind of hung out. It was great to just spend time with them.

Sunday after church I brought them to Rainbow Springs then headed over to Jesse’s house. All the Saints where there as well as several other relatives, there was also a missionary from Kenya there. Joel Daniel and I hung out for a while then played on the tire swings, well we actually spent the whole time trying to make whoever was in the swing regurgitate their lunch buy spinning them as fast as we could, and also trying to slam the tire swing and it’s unfortunate passenger into the tree. Fortunately for the passenger, Jesse must have strategically placed the chain, because try as we might, we could not hit the tree.

Upon arriving back at the house the grandkids deduced where we had been and I was elected to push everyone. This would have been simple enough had there not been two tire swings. I was constantly running from one to the other. Luckily it started to rain and we all had to go inside, and when the rain passed, Joel and Steve’s Nephew Jonathan were elected to go out and pushJ

Monday and Tuesday they helped me work on Life University, and that was SSSOOO awesome. There were windows that were installed several days before they got here and needed to be caulked, a couple of doors that needed to be painted, a big brush pile that had to be cut up and brought to Jesse’s burn pile and the paneling on the back wall had to be replaced. I was dreading having to do all that on my own, it would have taken 4 or 5 times longer If I had to do it on my own. Not to mention that I am a terrible painter and even worse at caulking windows.

It was almost like old times, all of us teasing and insulting each other, and telling inside jokes that only as life long friends could have. It was so awesome, I haven’t had so much fun in a long time. But as I said, it was “almost” like old times, We made a catastrophic mistake, after all morning on the first day of no caffeine we knew that there was a problem. During our lunch break we went into town to rectify the problem, and the following morning I made my Lowe’s run early and stopped at a Starbucks to buy us all drinks and prevent us from repeating our failure of the previous morning.

There were a few weeks before I moved here that Daniel and I worked together at a job that was pretty close to home. So us being so brilliant minded decided to get some over time. We would arrive on the job at 5am and not leave till 5 or 6pm, no breaks, not even lunch. We would stop at a gas station or some wonderful place where there was an abundance of caffeine and buy a lovely stash of it to get us through the day. It was during this time that we formed the motto, “Late to bed, early to rise, work like heck with blood-shot eyes”. And believe me, that was us. All of us kind of made caffeine a necessity, if we were going to work, we may as well get a lot done quickly. We were at a restaurant one day and saw a small bard on the wall that read “Drink Coffee, do stupid things faster and with more energy” I think we embodied that one tooJ and since I am on the quoting track, I saw a coffee cup at a coffee shop that said, “With Enough Coffee I can do anything!”

They lift I-TEC on Tuesday night and to spend a few days with Daniel’s brother David. Troy gave me today off so I could meet them at Daytona Beach. I took the opportunity to get here early enough for the sunrise, but my luck is plain out bad, this is the second time I have shown up for the sunrise and it was overcast. I left home at 4am to make it here, and I didn’t get to see it!

I am typing this at a Starbucks that I came to with my family while they were here during New Year. If you step outside you can see the beach. Just before coming in here, I had a pretty neat encounter.

I passed a guy near this Starbucks at about 6 this morning and saw him again sitting on a bench not far from were I was sitting on a brick wall drinking my coffee. I went running up the beach about ¾ of a mile and then turned around and headed back, by this time it was pretty light outside and as I looked left, I saw him again this time standing with his head down almost like he was praying. One of my pet peeves is that I have to stop my runs on a mile, I hate stopping it at half or quarter miles, it has to be at a mile. Well, I had to get over that, I felt like God wanted me to meet this guy, and I was only at 1.41 miles. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, I wasn’t afraid to meet him, I love talking to people, but I didn’t want to stop at 1.41 miles. I knew he had been there for about 2 hours already and was sure that he would leave before I could finish half a mile and then I would have a terrible day knowing that I missed God.

So I ran back to those steps and luckily I got to 1.5 miles before I got there, at least it is an even stopping point J I ended up walking over there and talking to him for about 15minutes. Turns out that his health is not doing so well, he doesn’t have much time left to be alive, he has had several heart attacks and he heart is causing some other problems as well. I am no stranger to heart issues so I told him my story of all the heart issues that I had and what I am doing today, he seemed really encouraged, and he even brightened a little, I don’t think he really has any friends. He said that he usually comes out to the beach at 5am every morning and sits out there till the sun comes up. He was in West VA for a while but he couldn’t take not seeing the beach so he moved back here, this morning was his first since being back. I don’t really know why all that happened, we never even exchanged names, we just talked for a while, but I do know that God wanted me to talk to that man and I am glad that I did.

I love you and am very grateful for your financial support and more importantly, your prayer support. Really looking forward to spending time with Joel, Daniel and David. It has been a while since we last hung out together, I am sure we are going to have a blastJ We are going to see the shuttle “Endeavor” take off today as well. Pretty excited, I haven’t seen it take off since I was a little kid.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Blown!!

2011-04-15T16:28:00.000-04:00

    Monday, I was finally able to get the A/C working in the Maverick building, and Tuesday was spent doing odd jobs that need to be done around the building. If all goes well tomorrow and Friday, I should be able to start working on Life University.
    I had my flying lesson cut short today; the right tire blew on us a few seconds after landing. No, it wasn’t a hard landing that blew it, though I have done my share of them. This landing in particular was a pretty good one, actually, but while I was raising the flaps, the plane started to veer to the left, I pressed the right pedal to correct my course but it hardly helped at all. After Charlie tried, he said it was a flat tire, and of course, he was right. We pushed the plane off the runway and walked back to I-TEC’s hangar to get some tools and help.
    We got a few people and some equipment and headed back out there. Ray is a flight instructor and aircraft mechanic for YWAM and since Jesse wasn’t able to help at the moment, he came. Also, Joel and Jeremy came. They are both with YWAM and are learning to fly as well. They are part of the team that is going to be driving/flying the first two Mavericks from here all the way to the Amazon jungle in Brazil. (The Beyond Road’s Office has maps of all the countries they are going through taped to the wall.) They are a blast to be with.

It took about 20 min to get the plane back to the hangar where Jesse and I replaced both rear tires. We figured that while we are at it, we might as well do the other one. The nose wheel seemed fine so we left it. I was razzed about blowing the tire on the plane by everyone. They have seen some of my “not so good” landings before the tire blew, quite humbling. I was delighted to find that the tire was completely worn down and I just happened to be the unfortunate pilot that was flying when it decided to kick the bucket.

I’m suppose to have another lesson Thursday morning. Monday, provided everything works out, I am suppose to spend the whole afternoon learning how to make a flight plan and then do my first cross country flight. That basically means that I am going to fly more than a hundred miles and land at 2 other airports, Cross City and Gainesville.

I was also reminded last night at church that Saturday I am suppose to make a trip with most of my friends at church to Jacksonville. We are going to see a play called ‘The Passion” performed at the home church of one of my friends. I was also told that this Sunday we are doing a huge luncheon at the church and we are not having Community time (Sunday school) so we get to sleep in. Well honestly, I like our Community time better than our meeting during the week so that is kind of a bummer, but I do get an extra hour and a half of sleep though, hard to beat that.

It was great to be home for the wedding, and I really enjoyed spending time with my friends and family, especially my niece and nephew, Vesper and Dominic  Also, it was really awesome to spend time with Joel and Daniel. I really miss living with you guys and having all our fun adventures, cant wait for your visit! I love and miss all of you, have a wonderful week.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Sun-N-Fun

2011-04-05T16:08:00.000-04:00

Most all of ITEC was down in Lakeland at the Sun-N-Fun air show so ITEC was pretty quiet. Ryan and I were suppose to fly down in the Cessna 150 but due to weather we were unable to fly down. In fact, the weather was so bad, it produced several tornados, one of them actually going through the air show. As far as I know, 40 planes have severe damage to them and there are a few others that have minor damage. Unfortunately, one of those planes was I-TEC’s Zenith 801 that we had up for sale. There are some things that we can save from it like the engine and possibly the fuselage, but other than that, it is a complete loss.

Friday morning, Ryan and I were able to fly down; the weather was really nice, and we had a pretty good tailwind so we made the flight relatively quickly. I got to do about half the flying while Ryan was reading the procedures and stuff for landing there. I must say, I do feel pretty bad for the guys in the tower that have to tell us what to do and where to land and all that loveliness. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of aircrafts there, it was a big fly in, pilots from all around were flying in to this event. it is called, “The Spring Break for Pilots”.

The airport was closed so that the Blue Angels could practice so we had to stay in a holding pattern for about 20 minutes, which pretty much means we were flying in a huge circle around a lake with about 15 other planes. We finally landed, set up camp and headed to I-TEC’s booth. They were just getting things set up and setting things out in the sun. Turns out, everything was soaked in the rainstorm the day before and everything was laying out to dry. All our fliers, TV where the videos of the Maverick were playing, books, DVDs, etc, were wet but not entirely destroyed so we put them all in the sun to dry. I put on a Maverick shirt and started passing out fliers and talking to people about the Maverick.

No sooner had I started, then Troy came up and asked me if I wanted to go with Steve and Jamie on their trip. After finding out that we would be back in time for my trip to the Village, I said yes. The trouble was, I had flown down, not driven, and we were suppose to leave the next morning. This wouldn’t normally have been too big of a deal (esp. if I had a Maverick.) Ryan likes to fly as much as I do if not more, and I am sure that he would have flown me back, the problem was that the airport was closed for the day. But God planned ahead for me, Jesse had both his car and suburban at the campground so I was able to drive his car back that night.

So, since I was not going to be at the air show for the next 3 days, I decided not to work the booth and to have a look around. Jesse had told me to bring all my medical stuff cause a guy at the FAA booth that might be able to help me get my medical. I suppose it was worth a try, but it was a no go, he was able to tell me that all my medical stuff was in the FAA system and ready to review, and he sent a few emails to let them know I was asking about it and to try to get it pushed through.

I was told of an organization called Stallion 51 by one of my mentors who used to work for them about 20 years ago. I was looking for them to talk to them and see if they remembered Nathanael and to get to know them. They are based in Orlando which is about 2 hours or so away and it would be great to get down there and see what they are doing. I was watching the new airforce jet called the Raptor fly around and do its demonstration and then another plane started flying in formation with it. It was an older WWII P-51 bomber, and when they announced it, they said that it was with Stallion 51. So, now I knew that they were there, but when I went to go meet the pilot, there were hundreds of people that were wanting an autograph or picture so I stood there waiting for a while. I was getting close when a guy came up and grabbed my shoulder and asked what my name was. I noticed that he had a Stallion 51 shirt on and his name tag said he was a medical guy for them. When I told him my name, he asked if I had met Lee, the pilot, yet. When I said no, he pulled me up to the front and introduced me to him

“Hey Lee, this is Austin, he is training to become a pilot”

It took me a moment to come up with something to say, not only cause I had just been drug through the remaining crowd of fans, but my mind was reeling. How did he know that I was training to become a pilot? He was right of course, I only have 8 lessons left and half of them are solo, if I had my medical, I could have easily had my license by the end of the month of March.

Turns out that Lee did remember Nathanael, and we talked for a little while about aviation before I took my leave. However, I didn’t get the chance to walk more than a step. The guy who introduced me dragged me over to a spot between the planes where a few boxes were. He asked if I had any brothers, I said I had a younger brother named Elijah. He then handed me not one, but 4 books that are about these planes. There are pictures of the planes and their pilots from WWII and a bunch of information about them. Ryan’s grandfather races these planes and we found a picture of his dad flying one and his grandfather flying one. I thanked him then started to ask him about medical stuff, I explained that I was having problems getting my medical and explained my past heart issues briefly and told him that I had talked to the FAA and what they have told me. He handed me a card and said,

“Don’t go to them, come to me, they do it for a job, I do it for a hobby.”

This guy has credentials a mile long, he has done physicals for astronauts, military jet pilots… the list goes on. We were about to walk away, when stopped him and asked,

“How did you know that I was training to be a pilot?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said,

“Buddy, I do this for a living, I could just tell.” And he walked off

I walked away completely in awe of how God works. I was honestly getting tired of waiting to talk to this guy. This was my only day that I was going to be at the air show and I wanted to go have a look at some other booths. In fact I did leave and then for some reason came back to it. I would have missed God if I would have not gone over there. And then, I had the strangest thought that shot through my subconscious, when that guy grabbed my shoulder. When I turned and saw him, my first thought, was "This guy is an angel." I was once again reminded that God is all around us, if we only keep our eyes open to see it. I was reminded of so many things that day, and as I drove up to Dunnellon late that night, I was astonished, and in awe of who God was and how He works, and most importantly, how much He loves His children.

Steve, Jamie and I are about to land in Dunnellon, I am in the back seat of the RV 10 behind Jamie. It has been a wonderful trip, I will try to write about it before I leave here. I am flying commercially out of Orlando on Thursday to the village for my friends, Johnny and Maranatha’s wedding. I love and miss you all, cant wait to see you!!

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

In the Dark

2011-03-30T23:22:00.000-04:00

So once again it has taken me longer to get to writing my blog posts, however this time, I do have a good excuse. Until today, I was not able to look at the glow of my computer screen for more than a few minutes since last Wednesday. I was walking out of the hangar Wednesday afternoon to have a flight lesson. The wind had been blowing all day pretty hard, so when I walked out of the hangar it was almost like walking into a mini hurricane. I had hardly taken a dozen steps when a something flew right into my right eyeball--not exactly a wound a man can be proud of. I walked blindly over to Whisky Bravo’s hangar and tried to flush it out and then sat in the office where I normally do my debriefing before flight with my eyes closed hoping that the pain would go away and I could go fly.

Needless to say, I wasn’t able to have my flying lesson, I walked back to my room and laid on my bed waiting for my eye to work properly. Of course, with my kind of luck, it wouldn’t cooperate. That night was definitely the roughest I have had since I last was recovering from surgery. It wasn’t lack of sleep or the waking up in the middle of the night, it was that pluswaking up with pain that was too deep to do anything about. Well, I think that sounds a little wrong. I believe that I have some pain meds that the hospital gave me after my last surgery, and I knew that I had some Tylenol in the glove box of my car. However, when you can't see and you are not exactly sure where the meds are, not to mention that it was only a possibility, trying to find that stuff was pretty much pointless. Okay, if I really stretched myself, I could have gone out to my car to get the Tylenol but as it turns out, it was parked behind the gate and it was raining.

When I got up in the morning, it felt like that whatever had flown into my eye was still in there. Jonathan ended up taking me to the ER, and to my surprise, no one was in there so we got right in. The hospital is like my home away from home, as awful as that sounds, I know all the procedures and the questions that they are going to ask. Everyone there could tell; they were all surprised at my prompt responses, especially cause there were plenty of complexities from all the heart issues. However, this was not like my normal visits. Normally I was going in because my heart was not behaving, or something life-threatening. So while I was lying on the bed rattling off my answers, I almost started to laugh. I have survived the Operating Room so many times I can’t even remember, yet this speck of whatever it was, defeated me. Very heroic.

So then it got even more hilarious, I do not like my eye being messed with, I don’t even like to give myself eye drops. I don’t like anything going near my eye. I don’t think that the ER doctor knew or cared what I thought. He walked in, asked me what happened, opened my eye and before I could protest, he had dropped some liquid that stung like fire in my eye. He did this 3 times each time, leaving the room for a few minutes then returning with the scary liquid. However this had several remarkable affects. 1. the pain had vanished from my right eye. 2. so had feeling that I even had a right eye. 3 my tongue went numb.

The doctor explained that the stuff he put in my eye was some sort of numbing liquid that only numbs the spot that it is in. Don’t ask me how it got to my tongue, I promise I didn’t lick my eye ball. Anyway, after shining a bunch of goofy lights into my eyes, I was told that I had gotten out whatever had gone in, but I had scratched, quite literally, the daylights out of my eye, and that it would recover soon, just keep it shut and stay away from light. He prescribed some drops to put in my eye to keep out infection and sent me home.

I must confess that it has taken far longer to heal that I could have imagined, I was supposed to go to Disney World on Saturday with a friend of mine who flies helicopters, he has a friend that was getting us in for free. Obviously, that was postponed. I have been a cave man since that awful Wednesday; the slightest light was like looking into the sun, well I thought it was until I actually did look at the sun, I don’t recommend trying that, by the way. My poor roommates must have been going crazy at me constantly asking them to turn out the little tiny lamps or turn the computer screens in a different direction. One good thing that came of this is my new, very high, respect for blind people. So needless to say, I laid on my bed listening to books or music on my iPod. I covered a lot of ground, I listened to the second half of Shadow of the Almighty, which I was already in the process of listening to, nearly the whole the New Testament, several Sherlock Holmes adventures, and 2 other novels.

However, looking back, I wonder if that time was well used. One thing that Jim Elliot talked about in one of his letters or in his journal was how Satan never lets us get quiet. He is always keeping noise in our ears, always keeping us occupied or thinking about something earthly, he never allows us to get quiet. Should I have not used more of that time praying, or getting quiet and pondered all the questions I have?

And again, I think about way I use my time. I usually listen to books on my iPod while I work. I have three reasons for doing this. First, I am a slow reader and have horrible comprehension, and it is hard to find time to read. Second, listening to a book while I work or run is more efficient way of using my time and I understand it better when someone is telling it to me than when reading it myself. And thirdly, I spend most of my time working on my own. I think those are good reasons, but I think that it can be taken too far as well.

So much time is spent in listening to music or books, that I turn into a robot, everyone around me becomes unimportant, I have entered into my own world. It is noise keeping me busy, and makes me self-consumed, and when someone asks me a question I find it irritating cause it interrupts my book. Even though I am listening to the Bible, I find that I am not paying attention to it, I never listen to something, pause it, and think about how it pertains to my life or what I should do with the heaps of gold that I am getting out of the this incredible book. All the questions that come up while I am listening drift away and I never ponder them.

I know that most young people in today’s world have the same problem, even at home in the village. Everyone has an iPod or mp3 player, and I know that many hours have been spent with ear buds in our ears. As I said earlier, it is making us self-consumed, and it divides us. What if we spent at least some of that time, just getting quiet and talking to God, or praying for your friends, or thinking about what we learned at the last teaching or at devotions that morning? I think that we would have more experiences with God, we would probably realize that God has been trying to talk to us for quite some time and hasn’t been able to get our attention.

I love and miss everyone at home, and can't wait to see you again. And now I mention it, I will be in the village for Johnny and Maranatha’s wedding! Cant wait to see you all!

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Le Tourneau

2011-03-19T17:04:00.000-04:00

Saturday night 8 interns from LeTourneau college in Texas arrived. They have designed a jig to help us assemble the Maverick in production, and are here to put it together for us. I do not remember all their names, I meet about a dozen or more people everyday and the fact that I am terrible with remembering names already doesn’t help any. I suppose that if I worked with them it might help, but I mostly work on my own. When we do hang out together, we have a blast.

I arrived home after taking down wedding decorations and setting up the auditorium at church. It was about 1:30 am by which time everyone else was asleep, so I didn’t meet them properly till well after church Sunday. As I walked though the offices and my bedroom, I realized that no one was sleeping in the RV or down in the Life University building, which is where I thought they were sleeping. One of them was in a hammock outside, 3 were down stairs in the offices, and 4 were in my bedroom. That was the easy night. The next day EVERYONE decided to sleep upstairs except for the guy in the Hammock. This made being the last one in bed a little difficult.

I normally workout with Jesse on Monday nights but he was not able to, so I went to the YMCA in Ocala to workout up there. To my delight, Monday night is Volleyball night. I changed plans. I haven’t played Volleyball since October, and I didn’t know how well these people played. It wasn’t a league, we just subbed in and out and played. I had a blast, I love Volleyball, and wish that I could play a lot more.

Since most of you who read this are my family, you know that I am pretty tall, for those of you who don’t know me, I am 6 ft 3 in. I myself use to think that I was tall, that is, of course, until I met Kevin. Kevin is one of the interns here for the week and stands a neck creaking 6ft 10in high. He stands head and shoulders above all of us, and has to duck to get through most doorways. I must say, I was shocked to see him climb into the front seat of the Maverick and not have his chin on his knees.

I am suppose to start night flying for my next lesson, but we have to get some things for the plane before we can do that, I think that I am supposed to help Jesse to that this week, hopefully. I flew yesterday and today, but my instructor is supposed to be gone tomorrow so I will have to wait till Thursday to fly again. It sounds funny how much I love to fly, I can hardly wait to get back in the air. I was only able to fly once last week, and having to wait for another week before going up again was far too long. I even texted Jesse after church on Sunday trying to get him to go up with me in the RV-10, but he couldn’t. (I must say, dad, I don’t know how you were ever able to quit flying. :) ) I cant wait to finally be able to go up on my own. I am still waiting on the FAA for my medical certificate before I can fly solo, I have been ready for quite some time now. Please pray that God would expedite my medical certificate through the FAA.

I love you all so much and really appreciate your financial support and your prayers. Thanks so much, have a wonderful day,

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Gratefulness

2011-03-08T13:20:00.000-05:00

    Friday night, I went to The Great American Coffee Rosters in Ocala with Jonathan and a friend of mine named Jesse. Jesse is my age, he flies planes and helicopters and has been volunteering here at ITEC for several years. He and I spent a Saturday working together in January and we both helped Jesse do some work on a few different planes so we got to know each other pretty well. We have a lot of similar views and interests, practically and spiritually. Aviation is obviously a topic we speak a lot about. :)
    Anyway, we had a great time at the coffee shop, playing games and introducing Jesse to some of my other friends from church. Also, on Friday nights, some of my friends play music there so it was great to see them too.
    Saturday we kayaked the Rainbow river. It was a pretty good run, only about 5 or 6 miles I think, but it was really pretty. The water is 72 degrees year round (I went swimming in it on Christmas day) and crystal clear all the way to the bottom. There wasn’t a ton of wildlife, but I am guessing that there would be more if it was summer. We saw some turtles, birds, otters, and obviously fish. I am definitely going to fish next time, I didn’t have my Florida fishing license so I had to do without this time. The otters were really cool to watch. We got pretty close to them, but they were not really interested in hopping aboard so once we got to about 5-10 feet from them, they decided to make themselves scarce. We also saw a bird catch a fish, that was pretty interesting to see. One moment he was on top of the water, the next he was underneath, then the next moment he was on top with a fish in his long throat. I could tell that the fish was almost to big for him, it didn’t want to go down, you could see the birds throat bulging a little more than half way down. The bird was about going crazy after a minute or so of the fish remaining in his throat. Finally he got it down, but I think that the fish was still alive and flopping around inside. The bird at least was still acting weird for a while after the fish had gone down.
    We ended going to a restaurant on the river afterwards, it was pretty nice, though we kind of stuck out a little. Jesse and I were soaked, and our hair was everywhere, though at least we were outside on the deck rather than inside.
    Church was pretty good the next day. When I went in to the main auditorium I saw Steve’s wife Ginny with Jamie’s wife Jessica, Steve and Jamie were in Birmingham. I had only seen Ginny very briefly since I got back and I hadn’t seen Jessica for about 3 weeks. I ended up sitting with them. Ginny is like my mother down here, we haven’t even spent a lot of time together, but whenever I am around her I just feel taken care of, and loved just like I do when I am around my mom. I told her so right before I left, I thought it was kind of funny that I felt like I was suppose to check in with her before I left on my trip home.
    When church ended, I went with Ginny to get all of Jamie’s kids from their classes, I was anxious to see them too. Before we got to the first room to pick up the twins, Lilly and Chloe, a man came up to me and said, “Who are you? Who are you related to” I was so taken aback and his blunt introduction that it took me a minute to answer, but Ginny beat me to it. “He’s related to us” she said (Steve and Ginny used to go to this church, and still come occasionally. Pretty much everyone knows about itec as well.) I was shocked, but glad of course too. While I was helping put Jamie’s kids in the car and saying bye to them, Ginny hugged me and said, “I’m glad one of my sons sat next to me at church today”. I told her that I was glad that I got to sit with my mom. It is amazing what a small act of kindness does for you.
    Because of the lifestyle I have been raised in I am used to being part of peoples families, but, when I moved away from the village, I just expected to make it on my own. But I have found family down here, the friends that I have here are becoming like family, I am getting closer to them, and the people that I highly respect here at ITEC are becoming family to me as well. I am able to do crazy things with my friends here like I did at home, and I can talk to men and women here like I did at home. It obviously is not the same as it was in the village, I have only known these people for a few months, but the fact that it is happening is surprising to me.
    Those of you at home that are reading this, don’t take this personal. But I was just as anxious to get back to itec as I was to get to the village. I have family here, I spend time with Jamie and Jesse Saint and their families. Jamie and I meet every Friday morning, and Jesse and I workout twice a week. But the time we spend working out has been time of fellowship not just lifting weights, we talk about aviation, and our habits and goals. He gets up at 6 every morning and walks 3 miles on the treadmill and reads his bible or a spiritual book while doing so. That got me to do my runs in the morning and since I am running on taxiways and runways, not a treadmill, I listen to my bible on my iPod.
    I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work in full time ministry, and learn to fly, and work alongside Steve Saint. But I am even more grateful that God made them more than just co workers, he has made them family.
    God has been so good to me. The trip to TN pretty much wiped out my supply of funds. I had been praying that God show me what to do next, if there was an avenue that I needed to take to raise support or something. I got a letter in the mail today from my mom, Frank, and my sister Hadassah. They had given me $60. Never before have I been so grateful for $60, I immediately thanked God, I was so grateful. I had an emergency fund of cash in my strong box of about $300 I had been putting odds and ends of cash there for when my car needed repair, or my computer died, or something along those lines. And I decided to deposit that in my account so I could keep flying. I figured that if God ended up having someone donate and I didn’t have to use that money from my account, then it was no problem. My computer is going down and I have been looking with Jesse at a few computers anyway so it needed to go into my account.
    While I was driving to the bank, my phone dinged, I had an email. When I pulled it up, there was a donation from one of my supporters for $250. I laughed out loud in awe of God’s working hand, He will always be there for me, He knows when we are in need, and He wants to take care of me. God is good all the time, I was able to have a flying lesson this after noon and I had a really good time. I have a stage 1 exam on Thursday, it is a written test that takes about an hour or so, I saw the test today, it is 3 and a half pages, front and back, please pray for me as I study. I love you all very much, and am so grateful for your prayer support as well as your financial support.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Back in the Air

2011-03-04T23:11:00.000-05:00

So I made it home Monday afternoon after driving through the night, and stopping to see a friend in Tallahassee. It is good to be home and back in the air. I had a lesson this morning, Charlie and I flew up to Ocala airport then headed toward the coast on the Gulf side. I was mostly flying with just instruments, he had me put the hood on so I couldn’t see of the windows and I had to maintain a certain heading, at a certain altitude, etc. It was pretty fun. At one point he had me shut my eyes and try to fly straight and level, this was to teach me to trust my instruments, when I looked up thinking that I was still flying straight and level I found that he had put me into a turn with a pretty hard bank on it, I was pretty surprised I must say.

    Then on our way back he pulled the throttle back to idle and said, “your engine is dead, what you going to do?”. It wasn’t too rough seeing that he did it at a high enough altitude and close enough to the airport that we could just use a runway, but as we got closer, we realized that we were not going to make it to the runway we had planned on cause the headwind was too strong. We ended up using a runway that was slightly closer. Overall, it was great to be back in the air;12 days is far too long to go without flying.
    Last night, I went to the singles meeting at my church in Ocala, and, as always, we went to a restaurant afterward. Last night was the first time that we all agreed on where to go: Ihop. It was National Pancake Day, and we all got free pancakes. Free food was extremely appetizing to me since I didn’t have time to eat dinner before we left for the meeting and I forgot to stop somewhere on the way up.
    It was great to see everyone. I sat near Travis and Molly who are getting married May, 1. They are a lot of fun, he and I had just about everyone in our singles group come over to my place about a month ago. We ordered pizza, watched a movie, and some of the guys stayed afterward and hung out with me, Johnathan, and Ryan.

Finances have been pretty tight lately due to rising gas prices, air fuel prices have also gone up. Our Airport has the cheapest fuel in Florida and we just jumped to $3.95 a gallon the other day. Flying lessons are possibly going to be more expensive as well, my instructor said that it was a possibility during my last lesson. Your prayers and financial support would be really awesome, thanks so much.

Thanks so much everyone for your prayers, and your support, I am very grateful. I had an incredible time in the Village, I was very drained when I first got there but I felt very much recharged after I left. Thanks. I love you all and already can’t wait to see you again,

Your brother in Christ ,

Austin

Home

2011-02-25T01:04:00.000-05:00

So my trip up here was relatively uneventful. I talked to Steve and Ginny on the phone to let them know I was heading out and stopped at a coffee shop called “The Great American Coffee Roasters” to say good bye to some of my friends and get a drink that is come sort of iced Caramel Macchiato but with a little more of a kick in to it. My friends told me to get it, they code named it “Jet Pack”, I briefly wondered if I should get one to put in my car’s gas tank.

At about 4 in the morning, I was about 3 hours from home, and I thought that since I was going to arrive on a Saturday, I should get an hour of sleep so that I could at least be partially awake to spend some time with my friends. I realized just how far gone my brain was when I made this decision when my alarm went off at 5. I was so tired, and felt sick, I immediately knew that I should have just kept driving and slept when I got home. I stepped out of my car to head to the bathroom to splash water on my face, and suddenly realized that it was unnecessary, it was freezing outside!! I have become a Florida boy.

The final 3 hours seemed to take an eternity, and as I entered into familiar territory, I started looking for anyone I knew or a vehicle I recognized. As I pulled on to the final road, my mom passed me, we stopped and I opened my door to get out but my mom only rolled down her window. I paused midway out of the car and was shocked to hear the first words out of her mouth. No it wasn’t, “Great to see you son!” or , “Welcome Home!”. It was “I have to go to Jackson, I’ll be back in a few hours”. I must say it was a bit of a shock, all I could do, as I drove away, was shake my head in awe of how far gone she was, and say aloud to the nonexistent passengers in my car, “My mom must be getting married”

I saw a few people before going to sleep at Nathanael’s house. When I woke up, my first stop was Paul and Tipharah’s house where saw my nephew, Dominic, for the first time, and see my adorable niece Vesper, who is now as addicted to flying as I am. I put her in her wagon and “flew” her all over the house, making her talk as if she was talking to a control tower. Now every time she sees me she asks me to take her “flying”, Paul thanked me for giving him a workout every night. Vesper never wants to land, she is always telling me to take her back up, I keep having to explain to her that the “engine” needs to rest.

I spent some time throughout the day with several of my friends, and at the coffee shop; it was so awesome. I seem to get a little recharge with every hug I get from someone at home. And every conversation I have, I feel more built up. I am so grateful for the village, for having a place where I can come when I am drained, tired, and need recharging. I thank them all for supporting me and continually praying for me.

I am heading home from Memphis today, where I have been for the past 2 days. I have enjoyed spending time with them. We watched a movie together last night called, “Everything is Spiritual” by Rob Bell. It is a really awesome movie, I won’t try to explain it in this post, I would be typing for several pages and probably completely mess it up for you, I highly recommend it. I had coffee with Joel this morning, he was one of my foreman when we worked together, and someone I use to live with here in Memphis last year. It was time well spent.

Thank you all so much for your support and prayers. It has been very awesome, working for Steve and it is you that makes it possible for me to do that. He and I had a very encouraging talk before I left. And Ginny is like my mom down there, every time I am around her, I feel totally taken care of and part of the family. Thanks again,

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Trips

2011-02-16T18:04:00.000-05:00

I wrote this blog on Sunday, but the internet has not been working on my computer for some reason and i have not been able to post it, so here it is anyway.

I first must apologize for not posting a blog in so long. So much happens here it is hard to know what to write about, not to mention finding time to do it. It has been crazy, as usual, and hard to find time for anything other than work, I didn’t even get to have a flying lesson for a week.

Second, I have a very exciting announcement, my nephew was born this morning in TN, I cant wait to see him. I stay the night in Ocala on Saturdays at Jamie’s house since I go to church with him, and I got a text really early this morning telling me. I cant say that I slept much, I have problems falling asleep sometimes, and last night was one of those nights, but this night had a slight twist to it. Jamie’s 2 year old, identical twins, Lilly and Chloe, decided that they fancied night time strolls around the house. On several occasions their parents had to come out and put them back in bed. I must have drifted off at least a few times because a few times I had never heard them come into the living room and just woke up with them in there. The second time this happened, I awoke to one of their faces about 6 inches from mine. I was afraid to move incase it scared them, they were already in bed when I got to the house, I almost immediately regretted this act of kindness when the one staring me in the face sneezed.

Steve left this morning in ITEC’s RV 10, he and another guy that is on our board, are flying to Lynchburg, VA today and several other places on the way back. They are suppose to be back on Wednesday. I almost got to go, Steve asked me if I wanted to yesterday evening, and I of course said yes, but after he made a few phone calls with the people that were housing us, it turned out I wouldn’t be able to, maybe next time. One of the organizations that they are going to speak at is JAARs, an aviation organization that I looked up when I was still in school, I don’t really remember much about them, but it would have been nice to meet some people in the organization, I have been looking at the requirements of each organization.

And speaking of trips, I will be visiting the Village next week for my moms wedding! I am very excited, and ready to see everyone, it has been a long 2 ½ months, and this was a short leg I am afraid, after this visit I am not sure when I will be able to go up there. The plan is to leave here Friday after work and drive through the night. So I should arrive Saturday morning about the same time that my brother-in-law’s coffee shop opens, a very good place to make a stop after driving all night :)

Most of this week will be spent working on getting to a good stopping point on my projects, the main one is getting the Maverick building ready to move into. Lord willing it will be done by the time I leave Friday, at least done enough to move into. Also, there is a few things that I need to do on my car to get it ready for a trip, some of which I did tonight.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at home. Thank you all for your prayers and support, it has gotten me through these past couple of months.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

YWAM

2011-02-03T10:14:00.000-05:00

This week we have had several representatives from YWAM (Youth With A Mission) including the founders son David Cunningham. They are going to buy two Mavericks at this point and do something like a TV show which will follow the Mavericks from out of our shop where they were assembled, to the Amazon Jungle. They will be driving and flying the whole way with a camera crew and other YWAMers. They have a program called Grass Roots News International, and since I will butcher the explanation of it, I will leave it to them to tell you. The website is called grassrootsnews.com, and you should definitely visit it. One thing that I didn’t see on there is their next big plan. YWAM has 32 teams that are going to split up and go to 192 countries in 80 days. I think he said that each team is going to spend about 2 weeks in each country.

Yesterday, David Cunningham asked us to go to the YWAM Training area near Orlando and show them the Maverick. We did, I didn’t know where they were going till Troy asked me if I wanted to go about 10 minutes before departure. Of course I wanted to, there were going to be tons of people around that were all going to the mission field. I rode in the truck with Troy and Laura (Troy’s wife) and pretty much everyone else rode in Steve’s van. We got there first cause they had to stop at Steve’s house, and we had the Maverick unloaded just outside the Training area before Steve arrived.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I was told we were going to a YWAM training area, but I was really excited when I found myself in, what seemed to be, the jungle. Troy and Steve were even surprised I think. I was driving the truck and trailer now, and I thought that I was driving in an overgrown state park. The roads were dirt, or rather sand, and the turns and hills were sharp and the forest ceiling was low, there were times when the top of the trailer was far closer to hitting low branches than I would have liked. Steve was way ahead of us in the Maverick, he must have been having the time of his life. When we pulled up to where we were going to be having dinner (a really old rotten wood pavilion) we saw the Maverick sudden drop out of sight. There was a really steep hill that was about 8ft high that Steve decided that he would just take the express ride down, and it wasn’t too steep that the Maverick wasn’t able to get back up with a bit of speed. Troy said something about Steve having a wild spark in him, I didn’t think that Troy had a whole lot of room to talk, I have seen him go crazy in the driver seat too.

We drove it around as a car for a while then put of the parachute just to show them what it looked like, it was going to get dark too soon to fly it. I saw them fly it for the first time on Monday, and while doing so I had one of those cartoon moments while, thankfully, no one was watching. I was tying the plane down after my lesson, and was planning on going around the wing to get the headset off the front, but since I was watching in awe as the Maverick flew in circles around the airport, I slammed my head into the side of the wing. Turns out I am not the only one, Troy said he has had his fair share of head injuries. Apparently, the wing is just at the right height that when you are roughly 6ft tall or so and wearing a hat, the wing is in a blind spot, needless to say, head injuries are sometimes unavoidable.

Moving on….

So we next drove it with the propeller rather than in drive mode. I don’t think that anyone was really expecting what would happen next. For those of you who don’t know, when you start a plane, the wind created by the propeller is much more powerful than I think most people expect. I was surprised the first time Jesse started the RV 10 and unfortunately found myself the only victim of the minor hurricane created by that propeller. The RV 10 only has 2 propeller blades and both are shorter than all 4 on the Maverick. So then when Steve turned away from the adoring Maverick fans, their reward was being caught in the mini hurricane of sand. Needless to say, the children that were there suddenly thought that this awesome flying car was no longer something to admire, but something to fear. I watched Steve walk up to a little boy that looked like he was about 2 or 3 and ask him if he liked the Maverick, for an answer, was a terrified, high pitched “No”.

After dinner we went to the main worship building, this was slightly nicer since that is were a lot of the construction has been happening, but you could tell there was plenty to do still. We sang some songs, then David, and Steve spoke. David talked about Grass Roots News and YWAM’s plan to for their 80 day trip and their trip to take the two Mavericks to the Amazon jungle, and that their first stop was going to be at YWAM Orlando, the training area we were at. Steve talked next, and it was the best that I have ever heard him speak. He told a little about his life when his dad died, and when he met Ginny, and their kids. He talked about his daughter Stephanie, when she died, and the anguish he felt. I had already had a pretty rough day, and tears were not far off, but when he started to cry, I did too. I couldn’t help it, Steve is such a captivating speaker, he brings you right into the situation, it was as close to being there in the room with him when it happened as you can get without actually being there. By all accounts, Stephanie was an incredible person. Steve related to God’s love for us, His children, to Steve’s love for his children and grandchildren. I have seen Steve with his children and grandchildren, it is like everyone else’s love for theirs, but with a crucial addition, Steve lives every moment to the hilt, when he is with his family, he is with his family, he plays with them; he is building a play house in his back yard for them. He is able to put aside his international responsibilities to play with and love his grandchildren. So with that in my mind, and then the picture he painted of God’s love for us, I was, as always, awed, not to mention feeling completely undeserving. Steve also talked about missions, and how it is done today, and what we as missionaries need to think about and change, most of what he said is in his DVD Missions Dilemma.

After he finished speaking about missions, he moved on to explaining our other programs, the Dental, Medical, Optometry… but I left the building. I walked up to where the truck was parked. I didn’t know why, I just felt like getting away for a few minutes. I was in awe of God’s love for me, all he has given me, where he has brought me, and once again realizing how ungrateful I am.

We loaded up the Maverick and were out of there by about 9:30. Steve always stops for ice cream on the way home from speaking somewhere so we spent a lot of time looking for a place to get some. We then realized that Steve wasn’t behind us, Troy said we better call. Steve once got in a car to drive home from Atlanta while he was on the phone, two hours later he hung up the phone and realized that he was in Chattanooga, not heading south on I-75. When he answered my call, I asked him if he was in Miami yet. They had just gone back cause someone riding with him left their camera case. We stopped at the last McDonalds before home, but their ice cream machine wasn’t working, so we just went home.

It was an awesome trip, and I look forward for many to come, hopefully soon! I love and miss all of you so much and cant wait to see you all in a few weeks. Have a great day, and thank you all so much for your prayers and support.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

In the Cockpit

2011-01-28T22:49:00.000-05:00

Pretty much most of my day Friday was spent in an airplane, and of course, where better to spend your time than in a cockpit? I had a lesson this morning, we practiced take offs and landings. I was actually getting pretty comfortable with it, I wasn’t really nervous, it just seemed normal after the first couple. Yesterday was really windy, and flying was very difficult, all the maneuvers we practiced were made far more difficult with such a powerful wind. Maybe that’s why I found it easier to fly today. After we landed, I went over to Charlie’s hangar to pay for the lesson, we talked a little about where I was at and what I am going to learn next. Normally, I would start soloing after 2 more lessons, but I can't solo without my medical certificate. I am supposed to get the rest of the requirements for the FAA when I am in TN at the end of February, so I will continue on with my instructor in the plane until then.

Sunday is Steve’s birthday, but his family surprised him today. I don’t know all the details, but this is the story as best as I can with the facts I know His brother, Phil, flew down last night and him and Jamie and Jesse surprised him at breakfast this morning. Then Jesse said that he had to go to the airport to meet someone, so they drove down to the airport and suddenly Steve saw someone he knew pull into the airport too. It is the guy that itec sold their Piper Cub to. A Piper Cub is pretty much a smaller version to Nate Saint’s plane. (I will post pictures of it in my album) He was going crazy trying to get Jesse to honk his horn or something to get his attention, he kept saying, “I bet he would let me fly it”. Well, what he didn’t know was that the whole reason they were there was to fly it. Phil and Steve flew down to ITEC. When he pulled up he looked like a little kid with his new Christmas present. He was going to take us all for rides, but he had to go after only giving Troy a ride.

Troy too looked like a little kid after getting out of the plane, he told me some stories about how Steve just likes to “play” when he gets in these smaller planes, such as seeing how short of a distance he can land, or take off. He was going on about how instead of using the runway so that they could take off into the wind, they just went on enough of a diagonal down the other runway to still take of somewhat into the wind. That may not seem like much, but really the diagonal was steep enough that they hardly used the runway, it was more of taking off perpendicular to the way the runway runs.

The days surprises weren’t over yet though, I went inside the offices, for just a moment when Troy asked me if I wanted to go flying. I have wondered why this question is ever asked of pilots, if we had it our way, we would never get out of the cockpit. Needless to say, I said yes, then he told me that we were going to Gainesville, GA and would be back tonight sometime. It was totally awesome. We flew up with my instructor who was taking his wife to spend the week with his daughter’s family. There was a medical emergency and she was going to help out. We flew up in the TBM 700 in his boss’s hangar. (I'll post pictures in the album.)

We left around 3 and got back around 7, we even stayed up at the airport there for a while. The TBM is an extremely nice aircraft and really fast; we spent most of the trip at about 26,000ft and traveling over 200 miles per hour with a headwind. Troy and I were in awe the whole time. We were flying with the big dogs!! We kept bursting out laughing when, after being told by radio that there was another plane near us, a commercial airliner would fly within 1,000 feet of us.

We are home now, but it was a really awesome experience. Tomorrow, Ryan and I want to go for a long flight in the 150, we are trying to pick an airport that is roughly two hundred miles away and fly there, have lunch and fly back. He is trying to build hours, I can't put the hours in my log book unless there is an instructor in the plane, and I am in the left seat, so I am just getting more experience and more familiar with flying, and of course because flying is awesome!!

Thanks so much for all the prayer support you have given me, I have really felt it this week, I have accomplished a lot, and the time I have spent in my bible have been really profitable. One thing that I am really praying for is that the article that came out about me in the Jackson Sun brings in more financial support. Thanks so much also for those of you how do support me financially, I am extremely grateful for you, for without you, this would not have been possible. Thank you, and God bless,

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Flying with Ryan

2011-01-24T14:13:00.000-05:00

          Thanks to your prayers, this week has been a pretty productive week. As I said
in previous blogs, I am under a lot of pressure to get the Maverick building finished.
And this week I got a lot of work done in there. We are nearly done with the office, but
there are plenty of leaks to fix around the place, after that we are pretty much done. The
main doors are a huge part of the waterproofing project and that alone will take some
time, mostly cause I almost always work on my own, but also because it is complex. I won't bore you with its lovely problems, but please keep praying that we don’t run into too many
difficulties.
           I have had two flight lessons this week, and they were really great, I just need to
keep practicing what I learn so I don’t forget it. Ryan Leeward is my age and is an intern
here, not the mechanic I wrote about in a previous blog, another Ryan. He has his private
pilots license and the two of us went flying on Saturday after I was finished working. We
took off about 4:30 or so with no real plan in mind. I had mentioned that I wanted to
practice some stuff that my instructor had taught me, but other than that, we really
weren’t sure where we were headed. We flew to Lake Weir, roughly a 10 minute flight,
and he swooped down pretty low to the water, just below tree top level, and simply
weaved back and forth a little then pulled up and climbed back up to about a thousand
feet. It was really pretty, at least where you couldn’t see the bottom, the water was really
low, so when you were really close to the edge, you could see how nasty the water was.
It was also really funny to see board walks that lead out to a lonely dock about 10 or 20ft
from the shore. He told me that there are a several people with Sea Planes there.
Ryan’s family lives near an airstrip built by his dad called Leeward Air Ranch.
His house is right next to the landing strip, along with several other houses. So after
flying around the lake for a little bit, we went to his house. I must say, it is kind of funny
to pull up to a house in a plane rather than a car. After landing, we “parked” the plane in
the front yard and went inside to see his mom and dad. They were great, I met them last
week when they came to through a surprise birthday party for Ryan at itec. It was almost
like going home, well I suppose it was for Ryan. We just walked in and his mom, Donna,
greeted us, and then gave us some food, always a welcome greeting:) Dirk, Ryan’s dad,
went with us to fly his Cessna 185. It is a much larger plane then the 150 we flew over,
and it also is an Amphibian, meaning it can land on land or water. We flew back to the
lake, and Ryan landed it. It was pretty awesome.
           When we got home, it was nearly dark, Ryan and I pumped the water out of the
floats before going inside to an incredible dinner that Donna made while we were flying.
It was great spending time with his family, and I look forward to doing it more often. It is
only about a 10 minute flight from itec. Ryan and I headed home after that, night flying
is really awesome, and from our height you could see lights from several cities and
neighborhood. I could see the whole route I take to church and from that height it looks
like it would be a quick drive, boy I wish that was so, it takes about 35 or 40 minutes. I
have never been in the front of an airplane that lands at night, it was pretty neat. Ryan is
a really good pilot, and understands a lot about aviation, having grown up around it his
whole life, I have learned a lot from him. He told me that he made his first flight when he
was two weeks old, and was steering when he was 2 years old.
           If all works out, he and I are going to fly up to TN, he will drop me off and fly
back while I am at my mom’s wedding and then he will come get me after it is over. But
we will see, itec might need him too much.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support, it is much needed and much more
appreciated. God Bless

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

First Flight

2011-01-18T08:56:00.002-05:00

Finally, the Cessna 150 is fixed!! I helped Ryan, the mechanic, finish putting everything back together on Friday last week, but it wouldn’t start because there was something blocking one of the fuel lines. So obviously, we were not able to fly until that blockage was removed. So he came out again on Thursday this week and went down the entire fuel system and ended up finding a very small piece of something that was blocking one of the hoses. Well, after helping him put it all back together again, we were going to go flying to test it out and make sure it was fine. He is an instructor so I asked some question and was pretty much taking my first lesson. He was even going to fill out a slot in my logbook of flight hours. Well, we go over all the pre-flight list on the outside of the plane and we got inside, buckled up, checked all the instruments, and the plane wouldn’t start. Turns out, the battery was dead, and on further inspection, we found out it was bad. Jesse found another battery to use, but it needed to be charged overnight.

So all in all, I had an agonizing wait of 24 hours, almost to the minute now that I think about it. The next morning, Jesse and Troy put the new battery in while I worked in the Maverick building, I was waiting to hear the engine start, but it never came, when I went over to see how things were going, I found the plane was gone. I went inside the office and Troy and Jesse weren’t there. “I take it by the absence of Jesse, Troy, and the 150, that they went flying?” I asked to no one in particular, and when they all said they weren’t sure, I went to Jesse’s desk and saw that his headset case was open and empty. I ran out to the taxi way and looked toward the fuel tanks, just as I looked, I saw the plane pull out of there, I watched it taxi to the runway and take off.

I watched it for a while as they circled the airport, and texted them both while they did, “You sorry dogs!” All I got was a, “Ha Ha” and a “We are risking our lives to make sure you are safe..!” As soon as lunch rolled around I pretty much inhaled my pizza and ran to the hangar next door to talk to my instructor, Charlie. We planned to fly at 3.

We pretty much went over everything that he had told me to read a few weeks earlier and there were a few new things that he told me that weren’t in the chapters he told me to read. We were in the hangar for about 30 minutes before heading out to the plane. We did all the preflight stuff outside the plane, then got in the plane bucked up and once all the instruments were set, we started the engine. I cannot deny I was a little apprehensive when he went to start the plane, I have only come up to this part in the flying 3 times without it actually starting or us finding something else wrong with it. But it started up on the first go. He taught me how to taxi and then he took off, we only got to fly for about 30 or 45 minutes before we landed, he had to be somewhere and was already pushing his luck. But though it was short it was so awesome, learning it myself and not just steering the plane. I am finally starting to live my dream, and it feels so wonderful to finally be underway. I know there is a long road in front of me, but I look forward to it.

My next lesson is tomorrow. Charlie wants to fly every morning Monday- Friday, but I don’t have enough support to do that yet. I think that I have enough support to fly twice a week right now. Steve told me not to wait long between each lesson, so I don’t forget what I learn and it helps you learn faster. I met another pilot, named Jesse, who said the same thing, He flies planes and helicopters and he is an EMT. He is a really neat guy, he comes around here a lot to help out.

I want to thank my supporters, Ken and Tina, Mary, Joy, Eric and Heather, and all the households in Nathanael’s Clan. I am extremely grateful for your support and allowing me to help itec, and train for the mission field. Also I am just as grateful to everyone for your prayer support, it is very much needed, and it is because of you that I am able to keep giving to itec. Thank you all SO much, I love and miss everyone,

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Roofing Life University

2011-01-13T09:53:00.001-05:00

Friday and Saturday we finished roofing Life University. A guy that is a good friend of Steve’s and has helped itec out a lot, David Nickles, owns a metal roofing company and he flew down to oversee the job. He brought one of the crew in the plane with him, and the other two guys drove from Birmingham. They needed a fourth guy to help on the job cause David Nickles was working on other stuff with Steve, so I helped. I had a great time getting to know them, telling them about the Maverick, and what we do at itec. When we went back to itec for lunch, we showed them everything in the front room (the museum) and the Maverick.

The “museum” is a room full of artifacts from the Waodani, Aunt Rachel’s chair, pictures of Nate Saint, models of the itec plane and Nate’s plan, a 20ft long Anaconda skin, a Jaguar hide, a bookshelf with all the books and DVDs that we sell, and much more.

We were only able to get about half of it done on Friday cause the wind was blowing 15 – 25 mph as the afternoon arrived, and we thought it wise to stop rather than one of us loose our head in the process of trying to control 20 ft sheets of metal roofing.

Since we were unable to finish Friday, we worked Saturday. As it turns out, Saturday was the 55 year marker for the day that Nate, Jim, Pete, Ed, and Roger were killed on Palm Beach, and I was able to tell the roofers about it.

Steve and David Nickles came over and took us to lunch, and while we were there we some how got onto where we were all born. Well, when Steve told them that he was born in the jungles of Ecuador, the guys just looked at him for a moment, and when he continued to explain where he grew up (in the jungles), one of the guys, also named David, said that he wasn’t sure how much to believe him. While we were all about to get in the van, Steve told me to remind him to give the guys some of the movies and reading material that we have.

Steve and David Nickles rode in Steve’s car, while I rode with the other three guys (Pete, Todd and David) in the van. When we started heading back, I told them about Steve’s life. How his father was killed with 4 other missionaries 55 years ago to the day, how his Aunt Rachel and Elisabeth, one of the widows, were invited to move in with the very tribe of Indians that killed those missionaries, and that when Aunt Rachel invited Steve to stay with her, he was adopted by the very man that killed Steve’s father. I then told them that whatever Steve gave them as far as books or movies go, to read or watch them and not let them just sit on the shelf.

David was the main guy that I worked with, we were the guys that made the cuts on the ground and handed the tin up to Todd and Pete. So we got to know each other pretty well. David and Todd are not Christians but Pete was. I asked David a little bit about it, he said that his mom used to make him go to church, so he did. He was a pretty good kid, but when his mom died several years ago, he just went wild. It was a pretty hard blow for him. He had worked for a company for a year and a half without missing a day, but after his mom died, he took two weeks off. We exchanged numbers before he left and I told him next time I am going through Birmingham I would stop in. I should be going through there when I next go to the Village for my mom’s wedding at the end of February. He sent me a picture of his son playing in the snow and he called me the other day.

There is a picture of all of us who did the roof with Steve. Life University is right behind us. FYI: I thought that Life University was simply a nice name for all the programs that we are doing in that building, but I found out last night while Steve and Jamie spoke at a church that Life stands for Living Intentionally Focusing Eternally. I thought that was pretty neat. The website is not up yet, but when it is up ill post the web address. Also, I realized that I gave the wrong book title on one of my previous blogs when I was talking about Missions Dilemma, it was made off of a book called “The Great Ommision” I had said that the movie Missions Dilemma, was made after a book called Missions Dilemma, sorry about that. I was with Jamie behind a table selling books at a church after he and Steve had spoke the other night when I realized my mistake.

Also, big prayer request is to pray for Mincaye’s wife. She was bitten by a Bushmaster, a venomous snake in the Jungles, and she has been in the hospital for a week. Her kidneys failed yesterday and they transported her to another hospital I think today. Steve has been trying to get people to pray all over the country. He has done a few phone interviews and was on a radio program last night. Please pray for her.

Thank you so much,

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

The Siefka Family

2011-01-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

The Siefka family left yesterday to head home in Michigan. The have been so much help
and have accomplished so much during their stay here. I spent a lot of time with them
while they were here, I worked with them, played with them, and spent time talking about
our spiritual views. There are several things that we did not see eye to eye about when it
came to spiritual beliefs, but it did not stop us from being brothers, it did not divide us,
in fact, we have agreed to look into each others differences and try understanding their
views. There are 10 kids in the family and the 5 oldest did most of the work, but the
younger ones did help at times too. Daniel is the oldest, and is only a month and a half older
than I am, then Michael, Benjamin, then comes the first girl, Joanna, then Joshua. I will
have to post a picture and introduce them that way to get the last 5. I mostly spent time
with the oldest.
One thing that we all did have in common but never got around to doing due to a lack of
a net, was play Volley Ball. They have played in a league of several other churches and
they love it. Daniel, Michael, Benjamin and I spent a lot of time talking about it, and we
did volley around in a circle a little. We also played soccer out in the field on the airport,
next to the runway.
On their last day here, they attempted to play a trick on me, but I caught it before walking
headlong into it. I woke up later than I was suppose to and was slightly in a hurry to get
down to Life University to finish taking shingles off the roof and get it dried in before
the rain got here. While I was grabbing some breakfast, I was informed by Kelly (the
mom) that Dan was going to give me a hard time because it hadn’t rained that night. I
had insisted that we dry in the part of the roof that we had already stripped, and he and
his boys were trying to tell me that it was a waste of time because the little spot on the
radar would probably pass over or not rain enough to worry about. As I said already, we
covered the roof and it was dark by the time we finished, and I was late for a meeting in
Ocala. Then Joanna told me that Daniel called and wanted me to get some more tarps
before heading down so we cold cover the rest of the roof if it started to rain before we
were ready. This was a big mistake on their part.
I met Dan (the dad) outside and wasn’t disappointed in being given a hard time about
it not raining. He in turn was not disappointed in me pointing out that it had sprinkled
only moments before, which he informed me that the sprinkling was chicken spit, and
it wasn’t enough to worry about. He helped me get some tarps out of the storage trailer
all the while the verbal sparring continued, and while I was climbing out of the trailer
I happened to look at my car which was facing me about 50 yards away. It looked like
there was something under it, I thought that I must have hit something last night on my
way home, and it was dragging under my car, though I couldn’t remember doing so. So
after putting the tarps in the truck, I walked over and saw that it was a car jack. This also
confused me cause I was planning on changing my oil, and I even got that very jack out
before realizing that I didn’t have time to. So I was trying to figure out how I could be so
irresponsible, then noticed that there was more under the car than just the jack there were
two stacks of 2x4 blocks, then I saw that my two front tires were about an inch off the
ground. Those little rascals!!
Smug with my catching this potentially embarrassing trap, I jacked up the car, removed
the blocks and put everything away. I then felt no guilt at being late, I went in and
buttered two muffins for breakfast, which I was going to forego, and got a glass of milk.
I almost made coffee, but Kelly was working in the kitchen and I didn’t want to be in her
way. Then Nathan called me during my one minute drive over to Life University. And
when I pulled up, I didn’t bother hanging up for several minutes while I sat parked out
front, where I was treated to several people walking up from the other side of the roof,
or “casually” walking past the opened roll up door.
When I finally made my entrance into the building, I explained that my car wasn’t
working so that was why I was late:) then I told them the truth. I told them that if Daniel
hadn’t told me to get tarps, I wouldn’t have caught it.
We had fun talking about it that day, and I told them that I was going to get them back,
even if I had to go to Michigan to do it, which I would really like to do this summer, Lord
willing.
Thursday morning before they left, Jesse’s family and I went to Ihop with them for
breakfast, and to mine and the other guy’s delight, there was a wonderful special. All
you can eat pancakes!! You buy a combo (2 eggs, hashbrowns, and either sausage,
bacon, or ham, and 2 pancakes) and after eating that, they will bring you a plate of 3
more pancakes, and you finish that, they bring you another plate… you get the idea.
Well that may just sound ridiculous to most people, but the problem that I frequently
run into, and by the aftermath of this adventure, these poor boys do to, the problem of not
getting enough food when you go out to eat. So this was like Christmas coming slightly
late.
So we all got the combo, and pretty much all of us had the first course down in less
then two minutes, we then proceeded to devour our endless supply of pancakes. The
youngest boy, Stephen, dropped out at 6, Benjamin dropped out after only 8 pancakes,
Joshua, Daniel and I dropped out after 14, and Michael upon hearing that the record
was 21 proceeded to shatter the record by eating 23. Throughout our pancake feast, we
continually made jokes of us putting the store out of business, and how funny it would
be if we came every week, the special probably wouldn’t last long, or we at least would
cause fear every time they saw our car pull up. In the end our table ate 79 pancakes in
all. Michael said upon finishing his last pancake, “Ihop in, and roll out”.
When we finally said our good bye’s I told Michael that I would call him when I broke
his record, it could take a little while, I will have to attempt it after running or working
out so I am really hungry.
I think it was after 4 of us ordered for the third time, people from the back started to come
out and see who was eating so much, the poor waitress thought we were joking. We
made an impression anyway, even if it was just the dent we put in their pantry of pancake
ingredients, they will remember us.

Austin

New Year's Eve

2011-01-06T22:46:00.001-05:00

My family came down for New Years and it was so great to see them, we had a real blast. We ended up going to the beach to see the sunrise and hang out for a while. We arrived with only a few minutes to spare before the sun peeked out over the horizon. I had to go find a parking space, cause more than just us had the wonderful idea to see the sunrise on new years day. I parked about a mile away and ran to the beach to catch up with everyone. We got some pictures and we waded a little as we headed for the car. Elijah, Justin, and I were a little ahead of everyone, when Eli said something about wishing he could find a sand dollar, and then continued to accuse me that I had broken the last one he had found on our last family Vacation to the beach in Outer Banks, NC. I have no knowledge of the incident and still stand falsely accused to my knowledge. The words were hardly out of his mouth when I bent down and pulled one out of the sand not six inches behind his foot. Needless to say, he was not happy about that. We stopped in at a Starbucks on the way to the parking garage where I parked, before heading home. Overall, it was really great to see my family, even though it had been a little more than 3 weeks since I saw them last, I miss them. The next time I see them, will be at my mom’s wedding at the end of February, and by then I will have a nephew to go along with my niece. It is hard to imagine unleashing another Vesper on the world. She is will be two this month, and she already has a vocabulary bigger than mine, and she is far too cute for her own good.

New Years Eve I was kind of at a loss for what to do. I usually would jump in the small pond we had on our property every New Years, (when I wasn’t in the middle of recovering from surgery) but seeing that I was not in the Village, laying at the end of the runway watching the stars would have to suffice. I thought I would have some peace and quiet out there on my own, but as it turns out, that peace and quiet lasted about 10 minutes, if that. I could hear people screaming, yelling, blaring music, and blowing their party horns, from miles around! Quite the way to enter the new year.

While I was sitting there, attempting to zone out the noise that was just loud enough to not quite get away from, I was thinking about the last year, and all that God did for me, and then of this year and all the unknown adventures just waiting for me to take them on. I thought about the last meeting I went to at a church in Ocala. Jamie Saint talked to all the singles about setting goals for this year, and he showed us some of the goals that he had set for himself this year. I have set goals in my life and I have accomplished many of them, but I still learned tons from him. I actually plan on spending some time with him and he is going to help me get it written down and hold me accountable to it.

But even in my pursuit of my dreams and goals over this next year, I found myself asking who am I doing this for? Why do I fly? Who am I to pursue goals when right now there are people who don’t even have a place to sleep or food to eat? They don’t even have the ability to pursue a goal. That last one may seem like an old argument and an obvious one, but it is no less worthy a thought.

Then I remembered, it is for those people that I am doing this for. It is for the people who don’t have that I will give to. It is the hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, sick, and imprisoned, that I fly and push myself, and attempt the impossible. And so I continue to strive toward my goal, to push my physical, mental, practical and spiritual abilities further, in anticipation of the day that I will be ready and most of all worthy to serve these people, and by simply hearing my plane flying toward them, they feel hope.

So what about you? What drives you to pursue your goals? Who holds you accountable to your goals? Are your goals advancing God’s kingdom?

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Christmas with the Saints

2010-12-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

Alaina and Mercy arrived Thursday evening, it was so great to see them. I had to tie off a few loose ends to finish off the day, and then went over to the guest house where they stayed over the weekend. After dinner we had a ice cream and watched a movie before we all went to bed. I drove back to itec and just laid there, I couldn’t sleep for anything, at about 2 or 3 I ended up trying to read for a while, but that didn’t help, so I looked up stuff online, read some blogs, wrote a few emails, nothing helped. So at 5 I took a shower, and left for Ocala, which is about 30 minutes away, I stopped at a Starbucks a while then the mall then ended up at a different Starbucks. I sat down and wrote in my journal. At 7:30 and Stephen texted me telling me that they were packing up to leave, so I drove back down and said good-bye.

After Stephen and Ayala left we drove about an hour to see Mercy’s sister and mother. Alaina and I talked to Mercy’s mother for a while, she is almost 90. I ended up telling her my whole story pretty much, and also told her about i-tec and what I am doing here, and my ambition to be a missionary pilot. She really liked my story and everything God is doing for me. After lunch we hung out and looked at old photo albums.

We ended up leaving late in the afternoon and headed to Mercy’s brother’s house in Apopka, which was about another hour driving. We visited again Sunday evening for dinner. We took a golf cart ride and I hung out with a few other guys and we played ping pong and hung out around the fire pit.

Back to Christmas. On Christmas morning, we went swimming at Rainbow Springs, which is only about 15 minutes from here. The water is clear all the way to the bottom and stays 72 degrees year round! (Troy and I flew over it and at 2,500 ft and we could see the bottom) It was cold when I first got in, but after a minute it was great.

We then went over to Steve Saint’s house for Christmas lunch. Wow, there were over 50 people there. Mercy and Alaina helped in the kitchen and Ginny fell in love with them, she told them that they could come over whenever they wanted. And once again, they were too much help, Steve didn’t want them to go either. When he found out when they were leaving he asked them who said they could go. After Steve introduced everyone to everyone, we prayed and ate. We sat at a table with a family from Colorado that were just passing through and Jamie and his wife Jessica. It was great talking with all of them. Jamie and I talked about running a little bit. He has done a half Iron Man race and plans on doing a whole Olympic distance Iron Man in 2011.

Steve also showed Mercy, Alaina, and me his office where there were pieces of his father’s plane, some of the pieces still have gravel from Palm Beach, and the original copies of TIME magazine about the incident and another copies made a few years later when Elisabeth Elliot, and Rachel Saint were in the Jungles. Steve introduced us to all the Waodani in each picture and told us about them. He also showed us two of the spears found in Nate Saint’s body. He told us that one of them had a piece of New Testament speared through it. It was a tradition of the Waodani to spear something of their enemies to them.

I don’t think that words really can describe what was going on in my head when I was in that office. I held one of the spears in my hand, and was awed, as I always am, at the history that that spear made. The impact on the missionary world, the impact on my world, that spear is what brought me to God, it is what brought me to here to the mission field. The Indian who made that spear so long ago, in a forest so far away, and used it to do something that impacted so many people. I constantly find it amazing.

That night, we watched the last movie made about Marj Saint before she died. It is actually her telling the story, it was really awesome, she is a really remarkable woman, and that is an understatement. We also watched a DVD series called Missions Dilemma. Steve Saint made this DVD off of a book he wrote called the same thing. I would highly recommend watching this whether you are planning to go into the mission field or not.

I have spent a lot of time with Steve, mostly doing work stuff, but I have learned a lot about missions, and how it is done today and what the consequences are. I believe that one of the reasons that God brought me here is to learn from Steve how to do missions, and how to be an affective missionary.

On a more practical note, I got a letter from the FAA and they have several more tests and medical records that they want from me before they give me my certificate. I can still start flying, but I cannot fly as pilot-in-command, or solo, till I have those records and test results. I am not worried about it is a little discouraging that I still have to get all this now when I am so far away from the doctors who can help. Lord willing, I will probably make a trip to Memphis when time allows and get it taken care of.

Please pray that I don’t run into too many difficulties with getting those records and tests done. Thank you all so much for your prayers, and support, it is much needed and much appreciated.

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Visitors from Home

2010-12-28T16:02:00.003-05:00

This week has been an incredible week, so much has happened that it seems like it was two weeks instead of one! I wrote about Monday but that was only one day. Stephen and Ayala also came Monday around lunch time and left Friday morning. It was so awesome to see them, and spend some time with them. They are family to me and it was so encouraging just knowing that they were here. Stephen came over to work with me Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and it was great. I was wondering what I could have him do cause though there is a lot of work that needs doing here, it requires several people, not just two. Then when I was showing him the building that we got the lease on I remembered that the tree outside had several branches that were hanging over the roof and we needed to get them cut.

For those of you who do not know Stephen. He and I worked together on a sound crew and he was my foreman when we worked for Yachad Building Company several years ago. So after he put on the new chain, on the chainsaw and checked it over, we went over and cut them down. It was great actually doing some work, I have been planning everything, and having to be meet with people and make phone calls and not really doing much labor. It took us till lunch to cut everything we needed to cut and put it in a pile behind the building. Then when I got back, Troy told me of a few others trees near the itec hangar that needed to come down, they were dangerously close to the planes and hangar and if branches fell on the planes especially it would cost us tons of money that we don’t have. Then Jesse showed us a few more, and then Steve made it out there. In the end, they wanted Stephen to cut down about the whole forest! Well, I suppose that is a bit of an exaggeration, but they gave him enough work that we wasn’t able to get it all done. I had to go meet some contractors with Steve and then the two of us had some stuff to do over the next couple of days. But another guy came named Andy and helped Stephen do most of it. He drove a lift and was able to get Stephen up high so we didn’t have to drop the entire tree in one go and risk it hitting the planes or hangar.

It turns out that Stephen was too much help around here. They have been trying to get those trees dropped for a couple of years! When I told them that Stephen wasn’t coming back, he had other people to see while in Florida for the holidays they asked, “Who does he think he is? Didn’t you explain to him how things work around here? If you work and are productive then you stay! You should know that by now!” It was a pretty funny conversation.

Ayala came and cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen for us and it made a world of difference, we were all very grateful. Their visit was very encouraging to me, it was wonderful to see someone familiar and someone I trust. It made a world of difference for me.

The family I told you about in one of my previous posts, the Siefks’s, arrived on Wednesday evening. They have been great to spend time with and get to know. They have 10 kids, and travel in a Greyhound bus. The oldest 5 or 6 all do construction and have been a great help to me, and have gotten a lot done in the few days they have been here. I am really grateful for their help.

The Maverick Assembly Building is looking incredible, we are getting everything we can get done before the inspection and the Siefka’s are doing a wonderful job. We are suppose to get the permit to start construction on the other building too so it will be nice to have both buildings underway at the start of the year.

I’ll write about Christmas at the Saint’s house next post. Happy New Year!!

The Presence of God

2010-12-26T00:36:00.000-05:00

I remember when I was about 13 or 14 I was given a book by a man named Chashaq, whom I deeply admire, the book was called, “The Practice of the Presence of God” it is a very short book, but really incredible. The title does a pretty good job of explaining what the book is about. I remember reading it and thinking, “This guy makes it sound so simple!” Staying in God’s presence was a somewhat new concept to me. I had heard about it, but as a very young man, I was still learning to hear God from my parents and mentors, and never really tried to have a personal relationship with God. As I read the book, I found that God’s presence must be a wonderful place to be. And so to sum everything up in a sentence, I strove to be in God’s presence.

I found as I grew older, that my view of striving to be in God’s presence is different from most peoples. I have been in several churches, revivals, or religious meetings in general, where the pastor or worship leader tells me to raise my hands, or close my eyes, or kneel down. God’s presence is not a place I go on command, God’s presence is a state of being, not something reserved for Sunday morning or Wednesday night. If I am a real Christians, then my life is not my own, it is Christ’s, that means that my life, from keeping my room clean to how I treat the people I am come into contact with, should be in honor of and a representation of Christ. I raise my hands and close my eyes not because someone tells me to, but because I love my God.

Since moving down here I have started a habit that I have always wanted to have but I was always too lazy. That habit is starting the day off with devotions. I have a book by Oswald Chambers that is a daily devotional and it has you read some scripture that the devotion is about, then you read the devotion and pray. It is simple, but takes dedication, and it is a healthy way to start your day, in God’s presence. I have found that on the days that I don’t do these devotions, my days are much more stressful and I get caught up in the practicalities of this world and loose sight of God. I get so caught up in the busyness of life that I leave God out of the picture.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to someone, it is something I feel God has been teaching me. I love and miss you all, Merry Christmas

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

Week Two

2010-12-22T12:55:00.001-05:00

This post is a little late, i wrote it Monday, but wasn't able to get it online till just now. will write more soon

Today was the start of week two, and it started off with a bang. I had heard that there were 15 people staying in the guest house Sunday and Monday night this week but I didn’t know just how much I would see them if at all. So I start my day as normal and after grabbing my over-shirt and tape measure I run into Jamie, Steve’s son, at the bottom of the stairs. I met him at the Global Missions Health Conference in November and also during my visit two weeks ago, but not at all since I moved here. After hugging him, I look and see people pouring out of the door Jamie had just walked through, it was the 15 people staying the night at the guest house here to do some video recording with Steve Saint. Well I didn’t know that yet, I just said hi and went to work. 1 hour later I was walking through the offices heading upstairs to my room to look up a few things online, when Jonathan asked me if I knew what was happening up stairs, I had been outside for the past hour and didn’t know that anything was happening. I walked into my room to see half a dozen college students ironing a huge sheet on the floor. They were going to shoot some footage up there and needed a white background. There was still just a little room for me to work at my computer so I did and got to meet a few of the students. Some were interested in the mission field and were already making efforts in that direction and some have already been overseas. After I got what I needed, I went down stairs to make some phone calls and talk to Steve and Jesse. All in all it took about 30 minutes, I headed back upstairs to find a new bedroom. My bed was turned sideways and everything that was on the table was now on my bed, the sheet was hung from a pole frame, and lights were everywhere. There couldn’t have been a shadow in the whole room. I grabbed my computer and made a run for the conference room, where I was shortly joined by Steve and two other people going over some stuff about the footage they were shooting. There was a serious lack of peace and quiet:)

So that was just the side I had to directly deal with. I was informed as I walked into the office that the help that is coming down to help with construction for a week or two is not coming next week like we thought, they are coming Wednesday. This changes my plans a bit, I was planning on buying materials and getting a bunch of projects lined up for them, during the week. Well I didn’t get that time, and several other smaller problems occurred, but small problems cause hold ups in one way or another, and they add up quick. I ended up calling the dad of the Family, he has 10 kids and they all pretty much do construction. The guys were telling me that when they were last here, the oldest boy was 15 and he was incredible. There was an 11 year old hanging from the rafters screwing up drywall. So now the oldest is 20 or 21and i am not sure of the youngest, but the dad said that the oldest 5 can pump out some work. I really am looking forward to meeting and working with them. So at the end of the day even with all the problems I was able to get a lot done, well a lot lined up, I didn’t do any real labor, so I am not sure I could say that I was working.

As far as flight school goes, Jesse talked to a guy today that is going to be here Wednesday and Thursday to fix the Cessna 150, so that is one step closer!! Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. I love and miss everyone,

Austin

First Week

2010-12-18T11:57:00.000-05:00

I have just finished my first week here at itec, it has been a pretty good week I think. I have spent most of the time working on getting the MAB building ready to insulate and put walls and ceiling on. There is a family coming during the week between Christmas and New Years to help with the construction. As I understand it, it is a pretty large family and they all do construction work as a ministry. I haven’t met them yet, but I plan to call them next week to work out some details about the building. I am pretty sure they have done some work for itec in the past.

There is an intern that might be moving down here with me and Jonathan named Ryan. He has been here for about two weeks longer than I have, but he lives about 45 minutes away. I think he is tired of making the drive so he is going to possibly move in. He is going to college to be an engineer. He took a year off college actually, and I think he plans to start back in the summer.

Steve is Back from out of town, it was great to see him here today. Most everyone is gone for the holidays so it has been very quiet and not a ton happening. So it was great to see him back. There is a guy named Rowland that helped me this afternoon layout the ceiling in the MAB and mark out where the vents are going in the ceiling. He is downstairs talking to Jonathan right now who is working on something for the Maverick.

Troy and I went flying for about a half hour the other day, we had a blast. At about 2,000 feet we could see the Gulf Coast and Troy said that at 4,000 feet you could see both coasts, but we never went that high. Troy is one of the test pilots for the Maverick, and he helps things stay moving around here. He let me fly for a little while, it was awesome, I loved every second of it. Just being so high off the ground, so close to the heavens, it was awesome and I cant wait till I can do that on my own.

My instructor gave me a few chapters to read and I have to go watch some DVDs at his hangar. Once the chapters are read, the DVDs watched, and the Cessna 150 is fixed then we will start flying. The parts for the Cessna come in early next week so hopefully we can start flying mid to late next week. All in God’s timing.

Thanks everyone for praying for Steve while he was out of town, he is really busy and needs all the prayers he can get. I am also grateful for your prayers, I couldn’t survive here without your prayers and support, thanks so much, God Bless

Your brother in Christ,

Austin

The Adventure Begins

2010-12-15T19:03:00.003-05:00

The Adventure has begun! These past three days I been working on the building next door where we will be putting together Mavericks, we call it “Maverick Assembly Building” (MAB) There is plenty to do over there and it is pretty high on the priority list to get done so pray that we don’t run into too many difficulties. Also, we are waiting for the power company to run the electricity pray for speed on that too.

This morning, I was awoken by a phone call from my mom telling me that I had to call someone from the Jackson Sun. Apparently when my mom sent out an email asking for support for me, they were on the list and said they wanted to interview me. It was quite a way to start your day, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone:) Once I actually managed to get out of bed, I called the reporter. His name was Jessie, we scheduled a time for him to call me back and went to work. He did call me later and I think it went alright. He wanted pictures of me flying, so Troy and I went flying for about half an hour this after noon. At about 2,000 feet we could see the Gulf Coast, and he said that if we went to 4,000 feet we could see both coasts, but we didn’t go that hi. I had a blast flying, nothing like it at all.

Troy also took me to meet Charlie, my instructor, today, we walked over there, picked up some homework to do, and walked back. He works in the hangar next door to us. It is really exciting finally starting all this, God has been good to me. Charles said that he would give me lessons for $30 an hour plus fuel. Fuel was $4.01 last checked but it changes like all fuel does. The Cessna 150 I will be training in burns about 5 gallons an hour while cruising, but more during actually lessons cause of maneuvers and practices in landing and take offs. So roughly it will cost me about $55-$60 minimum per hour to train.

Jonathan and I met some friends for a Christmas party tonight. Actually, I met most of the people last time I was here, but it was great actually spending time with everyone. There are 19 year old twin brothers that I got to know last time I was here named Matthew and Mitchell, they live about 5 minutes from here. Matthew works here on his days off doing video editing and stuff, but works at a Chick-fil-A in the Mall in Ocala for his job. Mitchell works in the same Mall making cookies. They are going to come over later this week to hang out with Jonathan and me. We had to wait in the Mall for about an hour till Mitchell got off work because he was bringing cookies to the party and he was the only one who knew where the party was.

Steve is out of town in Oklahoma till Thursday so be praying for him. For those of you who didn’t know, Nathanael’s family drove down with me and got to meet Steve and Ginny. We had dinner with him Saturday night, got a tour of itec with him, went to church, had lunch and then when we got back to itec, he took us all for a ride in the Maverick. We didn’t fly, just drove, everyone had a blast. Steve and Ginny treated all the kids like they were their own grandkids. Amara, Maria, Auna, and Naqi, rode with them everywhere.

Steve has a lot of great insights about the mission field, some of them are similar to thoughts I have had, but mine are just thoughts. He has been everywhere and so he has seen it and handled it, I have just read stuff about it. I am going to learn tons from him, I think that is one of the reasons that I am here, to learn how to be a missionary from Steve. I am going to read his book about it when I finish the one I am reading now. I am so grateful to God that he brought me here. He and Ginny are trying to come to at least part of the wedding, I think he said that he has to speak at a school on the 27^th or something like that, but I think he plans on coming just to make sure I come back here, he said something about sending an armed guard to make sure I come backJ Pray that God would let him come to the village.

Thank you all so much for praying for me and for your support. God Bless

The Working of God's Hands

2010-12-13T14:12:00.000-05:00

It is a strange thing to move away from everything and everyone that you have known your whole life to face an unknown for an indefinite amount of time. Yet, it is an adventure I eagerly undertake, and I look forward to the new experiences.

God has brought me this far and throughout these past weeks, especially, I have watched as I make plans and God makes His own, much better plan. Believe it or not, I have enjoyed watching Him smash my plan to bits and reveal His.
One such plan, was to move around spring time, after my mom gets married. I thought that would be nice and logical. I would have plenty of time to raise support, spend time with my friends, continue to work and have a little saved up, and to pay off some small debt. God however decided to move me two and a half months early, and allow me to go to the wedding, and fulfilling a goal that I considered impossible only a month ago. That goal was to start training to be a pilot before the year was out. I set that goal in mid/late January this year. There are several stories just like it, but perhaps for another time.

I arrived home from i-tec Sunday morning with 6 days to raise support, say good bye to my friends, and move. And as pretty much everyone knows, when you move, there are plenty of loose ends to tie up. Well I have been in that mode of tying up loose ends when a couple loose ends started to unravel to cause worse problems. One was an electric bill that I had from my last house. My two friends (Daniel and Joel) and I had an envelope that we would put money in every week for the electric bill, so when I moved, I told them to just use that money to cover my part. Well they ended up moving about the same time I did, so in the confusion of all three of us moving, the envelope got lost. So the day before I leave, I got a text telling me that I had to pay my portion of the bill. I also had my car insurance which just went up because I am moving to Florida and my policy had to change. I was suppose to pay both of those and somehow get to Florida, and survive, and I really didn’t have the money for any of that. Also, my car was running pretty rough and I was a bit worried about it.

But God was there for me and moved the obstacles with a sweep of His hand. Just when all this was starting to overwhelm me, Joel called me and told me that he was going to cover my part of the bill because he knew that I was cutting it close on this trip. Only hours later, someone donated $1,250 so I was able to pay for gas to get down here and hopefully start training right away. And if that wasn’t enough, for some reason they are not starting the new policy payments till next month so I have a little time to raise more support.

All week God has been working on building my faith, and teaching me to lean on Him. He has moved so much stuff around all week, it would take me so much time to write it all down and this post is already pretty long. I thank all of you for your prayers, we had a very safe trip down here and my car ran wonderfully. I am so grateful to God for getting me here, I could never have done it with out Him. To Him be the Glory!

A New Chapter in my Life

2010-12-08T16:22:00.000-05:00

To those of you who have never met me. My name is Austin Park, I am 20 years old and about to move to Florida to start training as a missionary pilot. I have dreamed of going to the mission field since I was very young when I first read the biographies of Jim Elliott and Nate Saint, a missionary pilot. Plus, my dad was a pilot so that also got me interested in flying. Due to several heart issues I was born with I never thought I would be able to fly, but against all odds God made it happen. I met Steve Saint (Nate Saint's son) at the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, KY 2010 where he invited me to join his team at itec to help with the construction of a few buildings and also learn to fly. The full story of that encounter will eventually be put up here but I want to do it justice, so I am taking my time writing it. He told me that I should come down for a week-long visit and meet everyone, make sure we all like each other, and to make sure this is what God wanted for me. So last week, 11/29- 12/3, I worked alongside them and we felt God calling me to move there, not only to help, but also to prepare me to be a missionary. I will be overseeing the construction of two buildings and possibly a third later next year. My original plan was to move down in the spring after my moms wedding, but they tried not to let me come home and just stay down there. I told them I needed to come home to raise support, so they let me come home for one week. I am moving this Saturday at 4am.

Living there will be similar to living as a missionary in the field. I will live off of support from other people while I train. Any support you can offer will be very much appreciated. Thank you and God bless you!

Good-bye Family and Friends

2010-12-08T15:19:00.001-05:00

Dear family and friends,

I want to take my first blog post to thank you so much for all you have given me to aid me in my walk with God. You have all been very supportive of my desire to go to the mission field and I am extremely grateful for it.

I have wanted to go to the mission field for a very long time, and God has known it, so He began to teach me. He has used you to teach me practical things, construction, mechanics, and resourcefulness to name a few. Though those are skills I will no doubt use in the mission field, they are the least of what you have taught me. Through you, I have learned how to work, give, serve, and most of all love.

I thank God that he put you all in my life, I could never have gotten this far without all the work you put into me. You have been a wonderful representation of what God's loving kindness looks like, and how full ones life can be when completely given over to God.

To my friends, I would like to encourage you to pursue your dreams, don't put God in a box, He can do anything! What He did for me is proof of that, against all the odds with my health issues, He did the impossible. God cannot use a man or woman that chooses to sit still; run straight for the goal, but stay open to the idea that God may have something else for you. Don’t get too much into what you are doing that you miss God speaking to you. As you very well know, He will speak through strange people and even stranger circumstances. Together we have been through so much, but still our friendships have endured. I will miss our crazy adventures we have been on together, especially the life-threatening ones (you guys know who you are J)

To my family, I am going to miss you so much! Life is going to be so different without spending evenings playing with Vesper, or laughing at jokes by Brian Regan, or making memories on a beach in Outer Banks, North Carolina. I am sure we will see each other a couple of times during the year and I am sure they will be filled with laughter and fun. But I will miss having access to that all the time. You have all been behind me as I have pursued the mission field, and I am very grateful for it. Thanks so much for all you have given me while I was living here in the Village.

To my much larger family: Rose Creek Village has been my home for nearly my entire life, from the beginning in Geneva, FL to where we are now in Selmer, TN. The adventures of our lives together have been full of excitement and have played a crucial role in shaping the man I am today. Every adult has been a mentor to me and helped me walk God’s path, every peer was there to pick me up when I fell. I am extremely grateful for the send off you all gave me last Sunday at the Gathering.

There is very little I feel that I can say to express my gratitude to everyone, words just don’t quite do the trick. Just know that I am excited, and honored to be called by God and to be sent by His people on an adventure filled with unknowns. I am honored to have known you and lived among His people for as long as I did. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement. To God be the glory!

Your friend and brother,

Austin

Letter of Recommendation from Steve Saint

2010-12-06T13:20:00.001-05:00

Dec. 3, 2010
Dear Friends of Austin,
You probably don't know me but we have something in common - our interest in Austin. Actually I just met Austin at a Global Missions Health Conference that I speak at each year in Louisville but I feel like I have known him longer than that.
At the conference, Austin introduced himself to me and told me of his interest in missions and aviation and his experience in construction. Fifteen years ago I started an organization called Itec - the Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center. We are a missions orgnization with a little twist. Instead of going overseas to provide healthcare and other missionary services, we train and equip Christ Followers in frontier areas of the world so that they can meet the spiritual and physical needs of their own people. We disciple them so they can desciple others who disciple others, right there where they live, in their own country and in their own lanuage and their own culture.
You can find out lots more about what we do on our webb site (http://www.itecusa.org/) or in our videos and books. What I really want to tell you about is Austin.
We are growing and that means that we really need someone here who can oversee several construction projects. In addition to that, we are doing some final design and testing for our flying car called the Maverick (http://www.mavericklsa.com/) and we are building a training center on the edge of the Amazon jungle, in Ecuador and we are building airplanes for missions and dental equipment and ...
One of the things we impress on those we train overseas is to learn to be frugal. So, we try to live by the same principle. That is why most of our staff are self supported and also why a key part of our staff is young interns. The interns fill a crucial role at Itec while they learn Biblical principles of doing missions the way Christ taught us to, and while they develop additional skills that they can use in missions and teach to local believers.
Austin has offered to come and be part of our community here at Itec for a period of time. We can offer him a place to stay and we will help him get some aviation training very affordably. I would really appreciate it and would consider it a personal favor if you would consider helping support Ausin while he works and trains here at Itec.
Thank you for considering my request, and have a blessed Christmas,
Steve Saint