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.