Courtney is excited to be around airplanes again! Their are six orientees’ this year; four pilot mechanics, one pilot only, and one mechanic only. It is exciting to learn together and be with others who have also been working towards this goal for many years. Right now we are getting an in depth look at the Cessna 206 and Helio airplanes.  Wherever we get assigned we will see one of these airplanes there.  This means a lot of class time reviewing systems and learning from experienced mechanics about how to maintain these airplanes for rough air fields in the tropics.  We are also learning about JAARS policies and procedure as well as how they have modified certain components and parts to suit our operation.  Many people have been asking me "why the Orientation is so long (4 months) since I have been working in aviation so long already?"  I still have a lot to learn as a pilot and mechanic.  It is comforting to get a thorough orientation on the specific airplanes and to have plenty of time to master the flying techniques for jungle airstrips. By covering so much now it will make adjusting to our initial assignment easier where we will be dealing with so many cultural adjustments. 

We had a little break before Aviation Orientation, so Courtney’s parents came for a visit! Grammy, Pappy and Adelaide all got to see the Atlantic Ocean for their first time together.  Anne and Addy loved being with their Grandparents again and we loved the extra help. Even though we were all fighting a nasty flu, we had a great time and had a good break between classes.

We just completed our “Intercultural communications class” and it was excellent.  We covered a lot of topics such as; world views, biblical absolutes, conflict resolution, bribery, spiritual warfare, spiritual vitality, language acquisition, and more.  All the topics were very thought provoking and challenging as we were forced to be very introspective.  We picked up some “knowledge” about how to enter another culture however the class went much deeper.  The staff really ministered to us, shared their journeys and were very open about life’s struggles.  God really touched the hearts of all of us in the class and revealed heart issues in us that needed to be turned over to Him.  We are so humbled that God is using us as missionaries and as we continue to prepare for overseas service we realize more and more how  valuable your prayers are to us.   

One of our assignments for our culture class is to attend a non-English speaking church.  We have been having a great time attending a Chinese church near Charlotte. It is an interesting experience to have church in an unknown language and can make us feel very disconnected from the service. However, the connection we have had with the Chinese people is so neat! Every Sunday there is a meal following the service. During that time we have felt so welcomed and sense a real genuine interest from those we have talked with. They have a deeper interest in relationships than our culture generally does. We have met some really wonderful people and look forward to getting to know them better.