Why we do what we do.

Take a look at this short video about MAF and why MAFers do what they do. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWjgcgUPIfs&feature=youtu.be

I am getting more and more excited to go out into the mission field and work with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) or another Christian aviation organization. I just finished reading the book Jungle Pilot by Russell T. Hitt. The book is about how MAF began and ultimately the story of how missionary pilot, Nate Saint, and four other missionaries lived their lives for the gospel and died trying to share it with a savage tribe of Indians in South America. It is such a wonderful story of how they used their gift of flying to enable the gospel to reach the unreached. 

Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

I’m getting closer and closer to going out into the world wherever God leads me. I recently started my instrument rating training. This training will equip me to be able to fly in less than perfect weather conditions as well as to go to more places at night. In my training I focus on controlling the airplane as if I could not see anything outside and I just focus on the flight deck. 

The requirements to get an instrument rating are having 50 hours of cross-country flight time as pilot in command, 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, and a flight of 250 nautical miles along airways or by directed routing from an air traffic control facility. There are other minor requirements involved, but these are the basics.

I have also been looking at schools to go to for my aviation mechanics certificate. I will attend a mechanics school after I graduate next May for 1-2 years. My top choices as of now are Colorado and Alaska. I’m leaving it up to God to direct me in the way that He wants. 

Else and I at Redstone College (an aviation mechanics college) in Colorado.

Acts 20:24  However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace...  This is why we [Christians and missionaries] do what we do.

Fly with Christ,

Helen

Mountains beyond mountains!

It’s been awhile since I’ve last posted! This past semester I was so busy with school work that I did not get many opportunities to fly. I have not taken lessons since I got my pilot’s license last June (2011) but I have been accumulating cross country hours (requirement= 50 nautical miles for one leg of the journey). 

[1 nautical mile= 1.15 miles]

After school ended, I picked up the pace with getting hours and went on several flights around Kentucky. For the past two weeks I was in Colorado visiting my sister and brother in law and enjoying the mountains! I got to run 2 races there (the Color Run 5k and Bolder Boulder 10k) and hike up a “fourteener” (mountains with summits above 14,000 ft elevation). I didn’t have too much trouble with the elevation and oxygen. While I was running and hiking it was a bit tougher.

Else (sister) and I after the Color Run in Denver, CO

Else and I after the Bolder Boulder 10k in Boulder, CO

Mount Bierstadt 14,065 feet (4,287 m)- the peak on the right

The best thing I got to do was fly in the mountains! The first day I had scheduled a flight with an instructor the winds were around 30 knots which is quite dangerous when you are in the mountains. [1 knot = 1.15 mph] We ended up rescheduling for the next Friday which was a perfect clear calm day! We went for a morning flight around 9 am and headed out to the mountains. I got to fly for part of the flight as well as take pictures while my instructor flew the airplane. It was magnificent to see how big the mountains really are and how awesome God has made the different parts of the earth! I could just sit in the mountains for hours on end looking at the beauty all around me! It was neat to fly at 12,000 ft and have mountain tops above us!

Flying over the Rockies

Valleys and mountain peaks

        

We planned on going to Leadville, CO (the highest airport in the US- ~10,000ft). However, since the winds were 11 knots crosswind and gusting at 21 knots it was safer not to land. We flew up the valley and circled around Leadville and then went back and landed at Buena Vista airport (10-15 miles down the valley). We sat in the sun for about 15 minutes and just enjoyed the scenery then flew back to Denver. I loved flying in the mountains because you get to see what everything looks like from above. 

The peaks were higher than we were!

 

Amos 4:13 He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth — the Lord God Almighty is his name. 

 

View from Buena Vista airport.

Fly with Christ, 

Helen