Blast From the Past Part 4

Here is the last of the re-caps of our Technical Evaluation. Some of the friends we met during this process have become much closer friends, who we would spend a lot of time with at Candidacy and the Ministry Partnership seminar. Enjoy!

               Friday morning came and I was certain we would have to go back to East TN needing to do more training before we would be accepted. Glory and grace to God, the instructor said I actually did very well. There were a few things he said I needed to work on, but I knew about theses areas, mainly navigating with only compass, map and clock. At no point in the cross country was I lost, I knew where I was all the time (although the one “airport” was a different story-but I never lost sight of obvious landmarks), but I relied very heavily on only one method of navigation called pilotage, and all but ignored another method called Deduced Reckoning.  Hey, I was recommended technically for the next step, I was tickled to death. Scott said a prayer, we took some pictures and I went back to the apartment to wait until our next meeting with the head of Ministry Partnership. We met with him for an hour and he talked about all that was required for fundraising. We have a book to read and a bible study to do, and come up with a list of 200 people and as many churches as possible so that MAF can send information regarding Ministry partnership (i.e. prayer and financial support)

               After the Ministry Partnership meeting, we met with the candidate committee for the second time. They asked us how our two weeks had been, what we had seen and learned, how Tasha was feeling and spent some time getting to know us a little better. They asked more specifically about how our meeting with Dr. Bennet went. He had actually not given them his report yet, but after telling them what he talked about, they felt there would be no issues. We were accepted to the next step with MAF, which is candidacy. This will begin July 11 and will last roughly 5 weeks. The first two weeks will be Candidacy, where we learn more about MAF as an organization, the ministry opportunities available, where they go, what they do, who they are, and things like that. At that point we sign on the dotted line and begin. It is then we will have officially quit our jobs (Our last day will be July 8th, 2011) and upon official acceptance (98% of families that get as far as we have are accepted) we will be on the MAF payroll and insurance.

     Then we will go through a two week fund raising seminar.  We also found out our new friends who came to the TE at the same time we did, Pete and Joy Neal, also got accepted. That night we joined several other families for a pizza party and movie. We packed that night and left for the airport at 3:30 AM the next morning. On the flight back, I reflected about all the families we met there preparing just as we are to go overseas and serve. It is truly amazing to see how God has prepared these families all over the United States with so many different backgrounds, and brought them together just because of one man two thousand years ago. As exciting as the process is, it is sobering to think that our job is necessary because a group of people needs our help so desperately and humanity truly cannot take care of itself without a God that truly loves us.

          It was an amazing two weeks. We were both put under stress many couples do not go through together. They do this for several reasons. One is so they can see how we behave under stress, and how we behave long term, rather than just a one day interview. Two, they do this so we can learn about ourselves and lean on each other and God. We both relied on each other heavily for support, strength and encouragement.  Tasha was such a blessing to me the entire time. Even with nausea, she gave me the courage and motivation to keep going and do my best. We both learned how crucial trust in each other is, and more importantly, trust in the Lord. Through this experience He has solidified and re-enforced our calling to missions.

     The bar is set high with MAF, and they require a very complete set of skills for the job, not just in the pilot and mechanic, but in the wife too. I know for sure I wouldn't be here without Tasha supporting and pushing me to do my best and keep going. I am even more confident I would not have even been accepted (much less even thought about going to the interview) without a loving wife, and the grace, mercy and love of Our Lord. We are confident that these are the good works that Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:10 "for We are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do". From our perspective, we can see how God has led us through different struggles and situations to allow us to grow and gain abilities that have taken us to this point. It is nothing to do with us or who we are, but it has everything to do with God and who He was, is and will be.

    We are so grateful for all of the prayers on our behalf and give thanks to God for everyone who prayed for us. Please continue to pray as we have much to do and little time to do it before we leave again in July. Pray that our child continues to grow, and that mother and child will be healthy when it gets here. Tasha is about 10 weeks along and is due December 14th. God's timing is perfect once again. We will be able to be together throughout the whole pregnancy and birth and will get some time to raise the baby stateside with the help of the family for about 6 months.

  (Editors Note: we suffered a miscarriage shortly after this, but God is faithful.  He gave us another not long after and she got to spend her first 3 months with both sets of grandparents after them. The miscarriage was not easy, but actually cleared our minds about some decisions we needed to make and we praise God for his care over us) 

They say fundraising takes about 13 months, which puts our time to ship out for language school in our country-probably Indonesia- around August of 2012. 

(Editors Note: Because we were in fact assigned to the Democratic Republic of Congo, we still “shipped out” in August 2012, but instead of going to our assigned country, our language school was actually in Canada. We are looking at entering active field service in October of 2013. Our friends who did go to Indonesia are going through language school now and will enter active field service about the same time)

For more information, or entertainment, on MAF visit www.MAF.org  http://www.maf.org/   or  http://www.youtube.com/  and search for Mission Aviation Fellowship.  There are hours of video of jungle flying, landings at remote airstrips, and people reached more efficiently and safely because of Gods work through MAF.

Pray that Gods will be done through us and that we will see clearly where He leads us.

Praise Him in all things. His love endures forever!

Blast From the Past Part 1

What a difference a couple of years make. I was cleaning up some old files in the computer and came across a little email I wrote about our Technical Evaluation at MAF, which was the very first step in a long process in becoming a missionary with them. At the time, Tasha was pregnant, and since then miscarried, got pregnant again, and now we have our lovely Adah. We left our jobs,returned to Idaho for Candidacy,sold cars, sold much of our stuff, have been accepted, got our field assignment,began fundraising, finished fundraising, are halfway through language school, and making final preparations to leave for Africa. I thought it would be neat to let you take a look a few years back as we discovered more about MAF. Next week we will post the email about the flight tests. Its a little long, but I hope you enjoy!

April 15, 2011.

We started off Monday with a meeting with the candidate committee at 8:45 AM. The meeting went well and they asked us about how we met, why we felt drawn to missions, what God has done in our lives and our personal testimonies. They were also interested in the events that led up to that day and how we ended up at the MAF campus. They found it fairly apparent that God has been at work. After this meeting, Tasha stayed in the office while I went and started the maintenance evaluation.

This process began with a mechanical aptitude test, a test on FAA regulations and Aircraft Manufacturer data and support (i.e. maintenance manuals, parts manuals, other supplemental info), and one on maintenance scenarios. These tests were completed on Tuesday afternoon. Tasha went back to the office a while on Tuesday. After all of my written tests, I began the hands on testing, working on aircraft ignition systems, engines, and airframe systems. My final test was to construct a box with my initials riveted on the bottom.

I completed the last of the maintenance evaluations on Thursday evening, and today began the flight portion. I met with my pilot evaluation instructor at 9 and began my oral quiz over aerodynamics and regulations. Then I was tested over pre-flight inspection procedures. During this time my maintenance evaluation instructor compiled his report, shared it with the director of training and made his recommendation. I just sat down to meet with him around 3 for the debriefing. On the mechanical aptitude test I was in the 88th percentile, for the other two tests, I made a 92 and 94 overall. He said they rarely get anyone over 90. He recommended me for Maintenance Service with MAF!

Next week we have our psychological/ marital evaluations on Monday with a local Psychologist. We have heard some stories about him so we are a little nervous about this... Tuesday I will fly for 2 hours just working on my feel for the airplane, doing maneuvers and multiple landings. Wednesday I will be introduced to new concepts and procedures involved with flying around mountains and other terrain. This will not so much be an evaluation of my flight skills but of my ability to learn these concepts and be able to apply them. Thursday we will do a cross country flight, not being able to use the GPS (yikes) in an area I am not familiar with and lacking in significant landmarks. During one of these days I will also be in a flight simulator (not your typical Microsoft Flight Sim) so they can evaluate my instrument flight skills.

There are currently 3 other families here for Technical Evaluation. Two families got here the week before we did and will finish today. The other family got here the same time we did. There are also 3 other families here for one of the final steps in the process of getting overseas, orientation and standardization. We are one of two family that DOESNT have a small child. Out of the 7 wives here, only 3 are not pregnant (because 2 of them JUST had their babies). This made us feel especially welcome (Tasha feels very encouraged by all the experienced mothers offering there support on nausea control)

(Editors note: We were later accepted with the three families who were doing there Technical Eval with us, and one of the other families we met, the Freys, we will be joining in Africa.)

The campus here is very nice, as it is only 5 years old. The main office holds the IT, Finance, HR, Chapel, Prayer Chapel, Recruiting and several other departments. There are 3 apartment buildings also owned by MAF (one of which we are staying in) that each have a 2 bedroom suite, a studio, and one bedroom suite. The accommodations here are very excellent. Across from the office is the Hangar and maintenance/flight department offices. There are two separate hangars, one for training airplanes and training equipment, and the other is for airplanes that have either returned from the field and are being prepped for sale, or are on their way to the field being prepped and modified as needed.

Tasha and I find it extremely refreshing to be with a group of people who without exception enjoys who they work for, who they work with, and have a wholly (holy??) positive attitude. To be able to stop any time and find someone to go pray with and be encouraged to do so is something that is rare in a work environment. Come to think of it, this is the only place that I know of that has a Chapel in the main building that is not a "church"building. The idea that a group of people devoting themselves to Jesus and the love for humanity motivated by the love for Christ all coming together from different Christian denominations is very uplifting. We have both been totally blown away by what seems to be true compassion-not just for who they are serving to, but their staff and future staff.  Truly this is a great organization and it is no surprise they are who they are today by the providence of God.

Another Day of Training

What a glorious blessing to have the opportunity to have Candidacy. We are making many friends, learning more about MAF as well as the countries that they serve, and how MAF serves the Lord by doing the works they do. Thus far, we have learned about the opportunities to serve in Africa, Eurasia, and Indonesia. Tomorrow we will learn about Latin America and Haiti. We have had two program directors Skype talk with us via internet video connection and one from Indonesia here on furlough. MAF truly cares about laying eveything out on the table for us to see. We asked alot of questions - some about positive things and some negative. And based on their honesty, they didn't sugar coat any of the answers. I really appreciate having this time to ask questions about each program. Today, we were given a booklet with a few of the opportunities the wives have with MAF. For example, they can perform standard tasks such as flight operations to help the base run smoothly; they can perform Bible studies and encourage church ministries; they can perform humanitarian aid such as visiting the orphans and widows; or they can even teach an arts and crafts class! There are so many opportunities for the wives so that our new lives are enriched by our everyday ministries!

Each time we hear from a different program, there are so many appealing qualites that we are having a hard time discerning which one would be the best fit for us! Ephesians 2:10 talks about good works prepared in advance for us by God. Please pray so we can see God's will and which works He would have us do!

As a candidate class, we got a chance to close the doors and just vent our fears and expectations about what our new lives will be like. We wrote them on all out on a flip chart so that everyone could have them in the open to see. There were many heads nodding in agreement to the things being said. One common fear was that we will be so willing to serve the people as missionaries that we will forget time with ourselves and our families. It is a reasonable fear for anyone but seeing it out in the open helped everyone to realize we all have the same fears. The same goes for the expectations. How can we expect to take care of others if we don't take care of ourselves. Just like in an airplane, they explain that whent the oxygen mask drops, take care of yourself first so that you can take care of others. We must be focused on God first (our spiritual lives) so that we can be missionaries who aid others. This intense session lasted about 45 minutes, and then we spent about another 45 minutes praying together over all the things we had listed. Our prayer was that God would hear our fears and expectations and help to ease our hearts.

We also had a chance to learn about one of the newer ministries of MAF, Learning Technologies.  What learning technologies does is figure out how to get "the right technology to the right location, with the right information." This technology is not necessarily the latest and greatest, for example, one of their most effective tools is a little solar powered audio device that speaks the Bible translated in their own language. After analysis, they determined that although the Christain numbers are growing, sometimes by as much as 4,000 per week in some areas, there is no one to nurture them. The presenter made the point that many nationals who feel the call to ministry leave thier villiage to go to seminary school, but only 10% actually return to their village to minister to their people. The rest learn the gospel, but it is so out of context to what would make sense to their people that their efforts are largely innefective. So using the most appropriate technology, they can teach local leaders the gospel within the context of their community. She also made the sales pitch that most technology oriented organizations are more focused on the latest, greatest gadgets with the most gizmos. Which is fine and dandy, but little Bobby in Oom-papa-mow-mow doesn't have electricity or internet. What happens to a cell phone? The battery dies. How do you recharge it with no electricity. How does a computer hook to the internet, when none is available (for that matter, how do you use it with no electricity anyway). Instead of trying to solve everyones problems from the inside out, L.T. engages the people in need, and collaborates together to find out what can help them the most. What an incredible organization.

Finally today, we found out we are in charge of next Wednesday morning's chapel service. Kevin will be leading a couple of songs, then we were to come up with a creative way of introducing the class. Needless to say, we are all very excited about what we came up with and can't wait to present it. No spoilers, but hopefully Tasha can get it on video camera!

God Bless,

Kevin & Tasha Spann