Merry Christmas Dear Friends and Family!

Merry Christmas Dear Friends and Family! 

We are so thankful for everyone who has come along side us in our MAF ministry already! It's been an exciting two months, filled with so many blessings! Thank you again!

I have a secret to admit ... I love Christmas! Okay, that's not a secret. I love everything about Christmas! Christmas even makes cold weather fun! But when I was in high school, and people asked me what my favourite holiday was, I would always have to answer something different then Christmas: My favourite holiday is Easter. 

Because Christmas is really about Easter. I love all the joy and hope that surrounds Christmas ... and I love being surrounded by friends, family, eggnog (Marcel LOVES eggnog), and Christmas cookies ... but the real joy and the real hope is that Christmas is the beginning of a story that literally changed the world. Christ came to this earth as a baby, but left as a Saviour--perfect, sinless, and pure, He died on the cross not just as a marvellous display of humility and innocence, but to literally bear all of humanity's burdens and sins.

I know that Christmas isn't exactly everyone's favourite time to talk about sin (can't we just skip this part?), but I don't think it takes much convincing for anyone to see this world needs a saviour. It longs for someone even greater than Ghandi, the Pope, the Duck Dynasty clan, or even Mandela. We need a King ... we need a Saviour ... we want a reason to hope.

Friends, our reason to hope has already come. Our perfect King has already come to this earth. His stay here was short, but His reign is forever. He died on the cross, but death didn't keep Him forever. He conquered death after three days and because of that, his death wasn't some meaningless, though beautiful show of sacrifice. He made a ways for us to be "at peace" with God. He permanently established a way that we too can find freedom from our sin, freedom from death, and the joy and hope of eternal life. And ... what some of us look for more than we like to admit ... joy and hope here on this earth. Joy and hope in this season of love and giving. Joy and hope for the rest of the year. Joy and hope when the purpose of life is so unclear, when nothing makes sense, when this world seems to crush any "fa-la-la-la-la-la" feelings we ever had.

My prayer for you this holiday season is that you enjoy family and friends, relaxing and giving and sharing and feasting. I pray you find warmth and life and happiness. But my prayer is that when you experience all that joy and hope, it turns your heart towards the Giver of Hope and his marvellous Son. Find a bible and reread the Christmas story (Luke 2). Christmas is fleeting ... it comes and goes for a short time each year, but the message of Christmas (and Easter) is one that lasts forever.

Blessings,
Kelly

2 Corinthians 5:21-- "God made Christ, who never sinned, to be he offering for our sin, so that we may be made right with God through Christ."

A little taste of MAF ...

Hey guys! For those of you who haven't had an opportunity to talk with us or look up what MAF does, here are some quick facts, stats and stories that give you a little glimpse into the MAF world. So whether you like numbers, or stories, I've tried to include something for both types of people here!

• MAF's mission: Sharing God's love through aviation and technology
• MAF's vision: Isolated people physically and spiritually transformed in Christ's name.
• MAF operates in 30 countries around the world.
• MAF currently operates approximately 136 aircraft worldwide!
• Almost 1500 people work for MAF around the world--expats, nationals, and support staff.
• MAF partners with almost 1500 organizations to multiply their effectiveness--including organizations like World Vision, Samaritan's Purse, Tearfund, and UNICEF.

Click here to see this 2012 MAF fact sheet enlarged. So many cool stats!

So, those facts are pretty astounding ... but what does this look like on the ground level? What are MAF pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, and IT staff doing on a day-to-day basis? We've been told it's hard to generalize--every day could look completely different! I did come across a cool story though that gives a little glimpse into one way MAF pilots and staff partner with others to "demonstrate and proclaim" the name of Jesus. It's a recent story from the MAF base in Madagascar.

A young woman in rural Madagascar was violently beat by cattle thieves and needed desperate medical attention for herself and her unborn child. It was a matter of life or death, and the only hospital that would be able to properly provide medical attention for her was in the capital--200 miles away, or a two day trek on some very difficult roads.

MAF was able to partner with two trusted doctors and fly out to the village the next day. Meanwhile, one of MAF's partners, an NGO called HoverAid, put all the necessary pieces in place to get the young woman to the airstrip where MAF could pick her up. The doctors were able to do a quick ultrasound to determine the baby was still alive--but the bleeding was such that no one was sure the baby would survive.

MAF was able to safely deliver the young woman to the hospital, and from there, to step back and pray for her. Fortunately, both mom and newborn daughter are doing well--and the young mother named her new daughter Faustine, after one of the doctors that had come to save her!

How cool is that? As Marcel and I wait to hear where we are going ... we love reading the stories of MAF's work. It fits so well with what we both believe is our jobs as "Christ-followers" in this world--to love people, serve people, and proclaim Jesus while doing so! MAF does just that--loving and serving (isolated) people! (P.S. More stories to come!)

People gathered around an MAF plane in Madagascar.

The young woman was transferred to an MAF aircraft and taken to the hospital.

We Bought A What....???

What would be the last thing you would think of purchasing if you were planning on packing up and heading overseas within a year? If I had been asked this question even six months ago, I would have thought "well that's easy, something that's big and requires a lot of upkeep, like a house!" ...so that's exactly what we purchased. 

This brings up the same question that was titled in our November 22 blog - WHY? 

5 months ago at my sister's wedding, we were sitting at a table with another couple who had started with MAF this past February. This was great as Kelly and I were able to unload all kinds of questions on them, and they were happy to answer them for us. The answers seemed to be about as normal as we expected until they suggested that if we were able to purchase a house to rent out while overseas, it might be a good thing to look into for two reasons: It would provide some income/equity from renters, and two, it would give us a place to live while we are back home.

Here's a hypothetical situation of something we'd like to avoid: Kelly and Marcel head overseas for the next 35 years. They have had a good run but are getting older and consider moving back to Canada, so they do.  Back in Canada there are several big expenses they must make including purchasing a vehicle and a house. Now they are first-time-home-buyers, and at the age somewhere between 60 and 70, have begun a 25 year mortgage. 

This situation isn't the most ideal and is something I have seen happen, so if we can prepare for the future right now, we will. There is probably a saying out there that says something along the lines of "The best time to start saving is now". Thankfully, the Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to purchase this house so we can start preparing for many years down the road. 

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 ESV

 

Reason to Pray

Prayer is truly divine--but I find it very difficult to pray sometimes. It's that paradigm switch from thinking of prayer as a last resort--a "Dear God, help me!"-- to thinking of prayer as a first resort. But one of the things I have definitely been learning since starting our ministry work with MAF is that prayer is our lifeline. It's our fuel. It's absolutely preposterous to try to drive the car of ministry without prayer, and totally life-giving when we take things first to God.

The MAF Ministry Partnership manual has this verse in it: "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalm 127:1.

I love this verse. How true it is! Thinking back ... I can see the truth in this verse in so many areas of my life. And looking to the here and now, it is a great reminder that I need to be in constant communication with God during my work day. I need to lift up our ministry--the joys, the issues, the big and little obstacles, the donors, the friends, the prayer partners, the family. I need to lift up our needs, our wants, our dreams, our fears.

If you are reading this, I hope you will take some time to pray for us today, this week, this month, this year. It might seem like a small thing--maybe even trivial. But I will tell you the truth ... when I go out for a walk in the morning and pray, or when I'm struggling with doubt, or when I'm stressed about something that may or may not be important--I (we) need your prayers. I wait for them. I thirst for them. Like I said, they are life-giving ... and they really are felt. Thanks to everyone who has already been praying for us--and thank you if you are praying right now!! :)

Oh--and if you're wondering what to pray for, there's a list over here on the right. You can also pray for Marcel's sanity as he deals with such a crazy wife like me. :)

~Kelly

The Why

"Where are you going?" "...When do you leave?" Two big questions that start with the letter "W" that Kelly and I have been asked in the last year or so, and we are glad people are asking them as it hopefully means that they care or are interested in our work with MAF. A lot has happened in that time (see previous post) but we still don't have many new answers for them, and that is okay.


There is a third "W" question though that doesn't seem to get asked quite as much, and maybe that's because people already know the answer. Why? as in "why are you moving?" "Why leave the greatest country in the world for potentially a third world country?" "Why move away from good healthcare, safety, a neighbourhood that's comfortable, from friends and family, from the familiar and routine?" Too many times I've given the quick and short answer which is "oh, we want to travel while we can." Unfortunately this implies that we can't travel later on in life, and that we have to do it while we aren't settled into jobs and don't have kids.


I realize that now is the best time to travel while our life doesn't require as much attention from things dependent on us, but the real answer for "why" is because we feel God's call to use our skills and abilities for His use. Paul wrote in Romans 12:5-7, "...and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching." I see Kelly's profession mentioned in there, so I like to think that if Paul were to add one more example, it would be "and for the aircraft mechanic, let him perform maintenance in accordance to the applicable standards of airworthiness to the glory of God!"


Enough of the "why" talk for now. I'd like to address the "when" and the "where". As it has been shown to us, the goal is to complete our ministry partnership in the next 12-14 months. After this would be up to 3-4 months of additional technical, security, and standardization training (all fancy words for stuff I haven't realized I don't know yet) that would take place in either Guelph, Idaho, or England, depending on where the "where" actually is. When we do find out "where", that could potentially lead to a year of language school in another country that we'll call "Somewhere-2B" (see what I did there?).


So as you can see, there is still lots to find out, and lots of work on our behalf in the next year or so (which may include how to properly write a blog). If you are interested in learning more about what we are involved in with MAF, please ask us! or else we will do our best to find you and tell you what we are doing anyway!

“All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe.” 
― Shane Claiborne 

Official Beginnings!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to our blog! I'm so excited to be starting my third ... or maybe fourth ... blog ever. Blog consistency is not my strong point, I'll admit. But this blog is entirely different because unlike previous attempts at blogging, I think we'll have some really interesting stuff to blog about and some people who might actually want to read it! Yay!

So ... let me take you on the journey we've been on over the past months ... err ... years.

The Dream

Way back in 2009, Marcel and I travelled to Urbana Missions Conference in St. Louis Missouri. Thinking back on it now, I have no idea what compelled me to go and spend what I remember to be a significant chunk of change on the event. I personally had never felt a particular call in to missions, but after my time abroad in South Africa during 2nd year of university, I was going through a phase of really hungering for more. I had seen poverty over there, but I had also seen amazing faith in action ... and I wanted more.

Thankfully, that trip to Urbana changed our lives completely. Over many tense conversations, Marcel and I came to some sort of agreement on our future: we would leave the idea of missions open. We checked out the Mission Aviation Fellowship booth, made some contacts, and the initial dream was born. Maybe ... just maybe ... one day we would go in to missions. 

The Past Year-ish

It's hard to say when that dream started becoming a reality, but it did eventually. We got in contact with MAF again. As Marcel continued to work on airplanes here in London, it was becoming clearer that he did not want to stay in the same job, at the same place forever. MAF offered an alternative: fixing planes for an organization that was making kingdom impact in the world--spreading the hope of Jesus Christ to isolated people.  We could see our work make a real difference for hurting and the poor. We could live and work in an exotic place. We could give our careers over to God and watch Him work.

Then Jazz decided to close its hangar in London. And the wake up call became real. If we weren't going to leave London and pursue Missions, God would give us the nudge (or the gigantic push). Fortunately, we had lots of time to start making plans (almost too much time from our human perspective ... but I'm sure for God it was perfect timing!).

So we prayed and waited. And then the application process begin. We filled out lots of forms and answered questions we'd never had to answer before. We had interviews. We took some fun psychological tests. We took a course called Perspectives on World Missions (I could spend a whole blog post talking about how that course changed our entire outlook ... and also about how much we DIDN'T miss school work). Then we waited some more and prayed some more.

Then ... came our candidacy course! Finally!

Candidacy

Last week (it feels like much longer) we spent a week in Guelph for our candidacy course. Our what?! Our week of orientation and training that, barring any major life changes, would propel us into MAF full-time. It was overwhelming and tiring but fun. We ate lots of food. We learned a LOT about MAF that only reinforced the excitement we had to join the organization. We met amazing staff. We heard incredible stories from Gary and Doreen, two missionaries that are basically the most interesting people in the world. And then we were offered our official acceptance on Thursday. I cried tears of joy. It was sort of embarrassing. And then Monday, Nov. 11 we started work as pre-field missionaries!!!

Now the real journey begins ...

Well, I won't drag this blog post on any longer. I want to have stuff to write next week too! But now we begin a process of partnering with people and churches around London, Ontario, Canada, and North America in our ministry with MAF!! Without diving in to details yet (they come in the newsletter), we need a ton of people to come along side us and pray for us and support us financially. The exciting thing is that "our ministry" with MAF becomes a ministry that is WAY more than just us. It becomes your ministry too. It becomes a ministry of hundreds of individuals whom God is preparing to join in and make His name and His hope known in the world. It becomes something more than just airplanes and prayer letters. So ... stay tuned because something this exciting and this big won't be boring.