I Will Always Remember

I remember the exciting day.
It was after two years of looking
at the Mission Aviation Fellowship
website...pouring over the bio's
of all the missionaries, reading,
dreaming, hearing the call of God
and taking the steps He laid
out for us.

Then came the day when I looked
on the Mission Aviation Fellowship
website and there was our name!
There was our bio! So exciting.
I rubbed my eyes. It was real.

So with sad heart,
we hear the news today
that we are no longer career staff
with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Our names are still on the website.
I know I will be sad when our name
will no longer be there.
So I took some pictures of the site.
And tears are falling.

It's OK. It's going to be OK.
The things that are truly important
are the wonderful people we've met.
And God did so much in our lives
through this process.

It will be hard to look at the list
of pre-fielders and not see our names.
But I will forever have the memories.

Haiti - A Land Not Too Far Away

Not long ago, in a land
not too far away -
held a distant future.
Gods light upon thee
did lay.

"Only trust", He said.
"Trust and obey."
And we did.

Not a single step was easy.
Not one ahead was guaranteed.
God, the only source of light,
took us up
and we held onto Him
through the troubled sea.

And just a breath away
lies before us a brand new land -
within the Caribbean.

Heavens gates are open wide.
And like the sea of old
where Israel waited on their God,
He answers and parts the sea
in one mighty command.

"For who is God,
except the Lord?
And who is a rock,
except our God?"

Not long ago, in a land
really not that far away
God knew!
And His light will shine.

Oh Haiti,
"The Lord rules as king.
Let the earth rejoice.
Let all the islands be joyful."
Psalm 97:1

We spent January in Nampa, ID at Mission Aviation Fellowships headquarters (or M.A.F., for short). As candidates, we learned about all the regions that M.A.F serves. We learned about Indonesia. We learned about East and West DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) in Africa, as well as Mozambique and Losotho. We learned about countries in central Asia that are closed to conventional missionary aviation programs, but allows M.A.F's humanitarian arm that operates under a different name.

And we also heard about Haiti.

During this first week, we started formulating a "top three (or four..)" list. And Haiti always seemed to be weighing in heavily. I just couldn't get Haiti off my mind. 

When we had arrived at M.A.F HQ at the beginning of the month, Deborah was leaning pretty heavily toward Africa, and I was pretty sure I'd rather go to Indonesia. But we both had said that "Haiti would be cool, too." Now Haiti was at the top of our list.

We met with the Candidate Committee that first Wednesday afternoon (January 9th) and told them what we were thinking. We expressed how we wanted to be somewhere that Deborah could mingle with the native women and minister the love of Christ to them. And somewhere that Nathan could pursue studying the French language. Haiti was number one on the list, but we had also listed East DRC (Africa) and even Losotho. The committee also met with the other couples in our class to hear their thoughts and desires, too. 

We could barely wait for the following Tuesday to come (January 15th).  There was electric in the air as the committee of seven welcomed us back to the conference room, one couple at a time, to tell us the news.  And we were the first couple to go in at 8:20 am. It was a surreal moment.  The spokesperson for the group sat with sparkling eyes as she told us the news. There were big smiles in the room as they watched our faces.  Haiti! We're going to Haiti! And we were so excited! Since all the pent-up emotions were now released, we decided a group photo with the Candidate Committee would be a good idea.

The following two weeks were spent learning about Ministry Partnership Development. We can't go to Haiti on our own, so we must find a team of partners that will support us financially and cover us in prayer so that we can go do what God has called us to. Mission Aviation Fellowship has equipped us with great tools and skills to get this done. They say it takes on average about 12-14 months to raise the necessary finances, finish all training and pack all of our stuff to send us to the field.
 

So our friends and family have to put up with us for another year. I have a feeling that it's going to go pretty fast.