It is with great sadness that we need to share that MAF has decided to not proceed any further with our application.

Words simply can’t express how this feels and we are working through this news together as a couple and a family. The reasons they gave are confusing and honestly not accurate but sadly despite trying, there is no appeal process. We are going to take some time to regroup and process everything over the next month or so. We both still feel drawn to serve the Lord in this way and are exploring other avenues.

Please understand, we continue to believe in the mission and work that MAF does, even through our confusion over their decision. It’s clear that we are working through “the 7 stages of grief” right now, with both of us at their own point along that path.

We have also made many friends in MAF and are hoping those friendships will continue whether or not we are a member of MAF ourselves…

We’re home after completing our first required course for serving with MAF!

This course typically takes 14 weeks to complete, and was done in a 7 day intensive version this time around. We still have 8 weeks to complete all the assignments and the final project, but we’re already done half of those, so we should do okay…

This course was amazing! If anyone is even considering missions work, they should take it. If you are curious what goes into missions work, this is the course to take for that as well. We met so many wonderful people this past week. Some were fellow students, others were the instructors who came in to teach their various courses. The two wonderful facilitators, Sharon and Edith kept everything on track throughout the week providing us insight to just how much work is “out there” still needing to be done.

Last night we got the final documents all put together and sent off to head office for processing. Praise God! Catherine and I enjoyed reading each other’s answers to the various questions, we found that even though we said pretty much the same things, we did it in very different ways 🙂 We had each worked on our individual paperwork separately and then came together to finish things up so it was pretty cool to see how “on the same page” we are on this, it is a testament to God giving us each the same push in this direction we believe. Continue reading

This morning we had our formal video Skype interview with Lowell and Gary from MAF Canada. With all our family and friends praying for us, we felt confident going into the interview, and were free of concerns about giving a “wrong” answer. I was really happy being able to answer the question about how our family and friends feel about this possible life change for us. All of you who are already supporters in this have backed us up 100% and being able to say that without hesitation brought that home to myself personally with an exclamation point! Continue reading

We heard from the recruiting department today that they had a successful interview with our pastor (we love you Tim Davis) and we have been recommended to proceed to the next step. We are both so excited to see our journey progress even just this one step towards our goal to serve the rest of our lives with MAF. Continue reading

Wow, that took a lot of work to put everything together, but what a relief to put a stamp on the envelope and send this package off for processing. I (Steve) wrote some custom logbook software so I could quickly figure out the hours on type (it is always fun to reminisce while pouring back through the logbooks), I was surprised that I’ve now flown 35 different types of airplanes. Continue reading

We chatted with Lowell on the phone today to review the Preliminary Application. It was great seeing things progressing, though sometimes I wonder about God’s timing. I’m determined to let Him lead as we progress through this application process. The next step is to receive some documents outlining all the next steps 🙂 We will then be filling out a detailed application, sending in a photo and passing along our pastor’s name so MAF can chat with him as one of our references…

We heard back today that our preliminary application has been found and is now starting to work it’s way forward through the system! We submitted it a while ago, but there were some staffing changes at MAF Canada and our application was in a sort of limbo for a couple of months. We just figure it’s all part of God’s timing… Continue reading