Planning for the road ahead

Since our trip to New York and our AIM Candidate Week, we investigated a ministry called Proclaim Aviation. Their passion is to get ready, willing, and able missionary pilots and mechanics out into the field as quickly as possible.
Currently our plan is to go to Kenya with AIM-AIR as short term missionaries. The purpose of this is two-fold:

1. Gain required A&P maintenance technician experience so I can go with AIM full time as a pilot mechanic, and
   
2. Get a preview of life in Nairobi and serving with AIM.

After that I will return to work at Cessna. During this time I would get back up to speed as a pilot and work on passing the Technical Evaluation. This rigorous test determines if I am accepted as a pilot/ mechanic or not. I am guessing this process will take a year. We would still have some of our school loans when we leave for Kenya full time.

Proclaim Aviation offers us is a chance to spend a year in sunny Minnesota. I will be essentially a missionary for them and obtain my A&P maintenance technician experience I need, as well as stay current with my flying, and they will help us pay off our school loans. After a year with them we will be ready to jump into the Technical Evaluation and then leave for Kenya full time, probably six months ahead of our original schedule and not carrying our student loans.

We would miss the six month preview of Kenya.

I have posted a link to Proclaim's latest newsletter on the right. It features a superb story from AIM-AIR pilot Matt Olson.

We have prayed over this decision and met with our Prayer Advisory Group. But we want to know: What are your thoughts? Original plan or plan B? Proclaim values missionary aviation and believes that the demand is on the increase. Leave a comment or send us an e-mail regarding our plans or your thoughts on mission aviation and long road to get out on the field.

Reach Africa - AIM International

Check out the newest video from Africa Inland Mission. It captures where AIM is today and where we are going.

Suntan to frostbite in a half hour span

Watching the weather is a large part of being a pilot. The past three days have been hard not to notice. Tuesday was sunny in the 70's. The next morning was 50 degrees colder, and brought sleet. We now have a beautiful coating of dry powder. Topped by a cold, clear night sky.

I am not sure if I will miss the snow, winter, and temperatures changing by the minute. Either way, it makes for a striking temperature map.
All temperatures are given in degrees Fahrenheit with apologies to friends across the border.