Indonesia, Africa, South America...?

Just last week STC finished yet another round of training pilots on the PT6 engine.  I did a lot of sitting through classes again, refreshing my knowledge as well as making changes to the workbook.  During these weeks of training, Renae and I had the pleasure of housing two of the men upstairs in the guest house.  As always, we were blessed and encouraged as we shared several meals and the super bowl party with them.  Ricki and Daniel are both heading out to the mission field of Indonesia later this year as first time missionaries.  And, both of their wives are also expecting!  Needless to say, we had much to talk about and were able to learn more about candidacy with MAF and the preparation part of becoming overseas missionaries.  Renae and I are discovering that there is always something new to learn and think about as we continue this path of missionary life.

Recently we have been challenged both by the Lord and the president of Proclaim Aviation to really be praying about when to start the application and Technical Evaluation process with a mission organization.  Since we have been in the mindset that it could be 4-5 more years before our student loans are small enough to start that process, it is exciting to think that we might be able to begin several years sooner than expected.  There is a possibility of fund-raising support to help with our loans so that we do not have to wait as long to go overseas.  Please pray for us as we pray about this, for the Lord's ultimate timing and for Him to make it very clear what our next steps should be.  At the soonest, I might be able to take my technical evaluation in January or July of 2012.

In the meantime, we are still trying to decide on a name for our newest baby coming in about 5 weeks!  It is so exciting to look forward to the blessing of another baby.  Renae is definitely ready to be done being pregnant, although neither of us are looking forward to sleepless nights again.  (at least it's only a short phase of our lives, right?!)  As always, we pray the Lord make his peace known to you each day and gives you joy.

serving Him,

the Schmidt's