It is hard to express just how excited and relieved I am to have successfully completely the MAF Technical Evaluation! We arrived in Nampa, Idaho on October 7th and began the two weeks of testing on Monday the 8th. To begin, Renae and I had our official interview with the MAF candidacy committee first thing Monday morning. We enjoyed the time to share our hearts and also ask some of our own questions with the candidacy committee. Immediately following that meeting I began the flight evaluations, starting with an oral test and continuing with different flight operations throughout the week. We had a full day of doing psychological evaluation, both written and an interview. On Friday afternoon of week one I was told that I would be recommended for flight (meaning I passed).
Week two was full-time maintenance evaluations. This encompassed doing written, oral, research, working on the aircraft and other projects too. Through God's grace I was able to show MAF that I am competent to be recommended for maintenance as well! Friday afternoon we had our final interview with the committee and were officially invited back for candidacy in January. During that time we will become officially accepted by MAF, be assigned to a country, and go through training to prepare us for full-time support raising. In all, we will be there about four weeks beginning January 7th.
While we praise God for a successful completion of TE, we were also blessed in many other ways during our time at MAF. We enjoyed staying with my parents, and the kids had a blast spending time with "Lita" and "Buelo" (grandma and grandpa). We all went to the zoo the first weekend we were there, a first for the kids! We also enjoyed having a few dinners with some of my high school classmates from Ecuador who happen to live in the area. Renae was able to volunteer at MAF one morning, and attend the chapels both weeks. We connected with some other TE candidates who will become our classmates and good friends when we return in January. It will be a very special connection.
Thank you so much for all your prayers during this time! Please continue praying as we prepare for a lot of traveling coming December and January, as well as the process of joining MAF and their decision on which country to send us.
