On the Road Again!

   In one week we will be in Redlands, California having our two-week technical evaluation done for Mission Aviation Fellowship, MAF. MAF is the missionary flight organization that Laura’s family was with when they were overseas missionaries. ( For more info. On MAF, go to (www.maf.org) After months of prayer and seeking guidance, we applied to MAF in the Spring. Since then, we have been asked to come out for the Technical Candidacy. This will mostly involve Steve being evaluated on his flight and maintenance abilities. Laura will be helping out wherever she is needed.
   While we are there, we will have the opportunity to get reacquainted with some old friends and make some new friends, too. Please pray for us from July 26th to August 10th as we travel and participate in the technical evaluation. We are excited about it, but a bit nervous as well.

The Past Six Months in One Page

   Laura continues in the Master of Arts in Teaching program at ETSU. The past spring semester was quite time consuming, as was the summer’s pre- and first session. She is getting a needed break from now until the fall semester begins on August 25th. The fall semester should be easier as far as course load. However, the extra time will be well spent preparing for the PRAXIS exam in September and Student Teaching in the Spring of 2004. Laura has had the chance to get to know a non-Christian classmate and looks forward to being able to share more of Christ with her and with others.

Steve enjoys his job as a flight instructor at Moody Aviation. In the Spring, he taught four students to fly by instruments, and prepared them for a commercial certification. For the first part of the summer, he worked on many different airplanes gaining valuable maintenance experience. In the second half of the summer he has taught recent graduates to become instrument flight instructors.

Also, after a year off, we are back on volunteer high school youth staff at Grace Fellowship Church. We are glad to be back, but as usual, many things have changed. In May, the high school youth pastor and his family moved to Dallas, TX to pursue a degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. The middle school youth pastor has been overseeing both groups since then. The church is interviewing people for the youth pastor position and think that they have found one. Please pray for the youth group to reach in and out together during this transition time.

When we have not been in school, work or the youth group, we have enjoyed spending time with family and friends, here and in other states. We took a trip to Florida to see Steve’s parents in April. Steve’s brother and his family were there, too. In June, we had some friends who were on home assignment from Niger to stay with us for a few days. Then some of Steve’s ‘Barn mates’ came over for dinner one night. Also in June, we took a 24-hr trip to the St. Louis area to visit with Laura’s roommates from her time in Hungary