the schedule, as i see it

Thank you for your prayers for us lately. Please don’t stop. Rod’s schedule is still very crazy and he will be gone for many days over the next weeks, and many weekends.

Right now, with people on home assignment, Rod and Jim Streit are the only two DC3 pilots, and it is a two-crew airplane. Therefore, every time that it is scheduled to fly, Rod and Jim are out flying. We are very grateful that Brian and Sandi (Stoltzfus, my cousins) are coming back out at the end of June. And, another pilot returns sometime in late June as well. That will ease up Rod’s schedule some.

• Please continue to pray for stamina and safety for him, for alertness and awareness as he flies, and for clear vision about what we are doing.

• Pray for Cristiana, Katie, and I as we are home without him. It has been hard that even when he is in the city, he is unable to get home for dinner with us. Thankfully, most nights when he is here, he does get home before Cristiana goes to bed. She exhibits some very interesting behavior when he is gone so much like this.

• Please pray for me, as I single parent, now with two; and, as Katie is still waking up at least once, and sometimes twice in the night. By nine weeks, Cristiana was sleeping completely through the night, not waking up once at all. Katie is now four months old and still waking up. I know that they are very different and individual people, and Katie is growing so much faster than Cristiana did, and that has a lot to do with it. As I write this, it is 3.00am, I was unable to go back to sleep after feeding Katie.

• Please pray for peace for our home also as I single parent; and, for patience for me. Like I said, Cristiana exhibits some interesting behavior when Rod is gone, and sometimes it is “over-the-top” for me. I so dearly love my girls, but Cristiana can be a challenge when she is feeling a bit insecure — as we all do, so I cannot blame her.

• Please pray for compounded sleep for both Rod and I as we are both running on less amounts of it these days.

• Pray for Rod’s office duties, that they get done, and not pile up. Thankfully, he does totally enjoying flying and getting out to see places around East Africa is a blessing for him. But then piles in the office get taller and taller, and he gets further and further behind.

• Please pray for AIM Air as everyone seems to be overloaded and overworked — from the pilots to the mechanics to the administration. Pray for wisdom in how many flights to accept and how many hours for the guys to be gone and away overnight and over weekends. I wonder if Rod will make a record this month and next.

• Pray for clear vision and direction for the leadership as AA is continuing through some interesting times. All over the world we see “interesting” things happen, and wonder what the Lord is doing. It is no different here.

Know that I am not seeking sympathy in all of this, just prayer to get us through it. We have done this before, just have never been very vocal about it. But, now that I have this kind of avenue (the blog), I find that I like to write and tell you all out there in cyberspace all about it. We hope for a decent respite later in the year when we can go away — far away — for a bit of a family vacation. Pray for those details to fall into place as well.

And, a HUGE thank you to those of you who has been writing and telling me that you are praying. It truly helps to actually know, as opposed to only assuming that you all are. Keep it comin’!

So, thank you for praying us through this time . . . from all four of us.

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the future, as i pray for it

What does the future hold for us? Well, in the end of June Brian and Sandi arrive. Brian, who is a Captain, will be ready to fly within days. At the end of June or beginning of July another family comes back and he is a First Officer in the DC3 so that will give some relief as well since we will then have two full crews. Then, sometime this fall, the DC3 is scheduled to be down for heavy maintenance. It could be a month and a half or longer, it all depends. That means that the airplane will not fly for that period of time.

You say to yourself, “But I thought that Rod likes to fly.” And, yes he does. However, with a bit of a break in his flight schedule he will have time to get through things in the office, and be home a bit more. We hope to take some sort of vacation, as I mentioned before, during that time. And, to get far away, far enough that no one can ask him to come back early. Far enough away that someone else needs to deal with any issues that arise. Far enough away that he feels comfortable turning the cell phone off. Far enough away that he actually gets a break.

the day of battle

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but victory rests with the Lord.”
-- Proverbs 21:31

A note from my Bible: This proverb refers to preparing for battle. All of our preparations for any task is useless without God. But, even with God’s help, we still must do our part and prepare. His control of the outcome does not negate our responsibilities. God may want you to produce a great book, but you must learn how to write. God may want to use you in forgeign missions, but you must learn the language [or in our case, the skill]. God will accomplish His purposes, and He will be able to use you if you have done your part by being well prepared.

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• Please pray for us as we are in a battle, and one that right now is a little harder than some other times. AIM Air is very “thin” personnel wise and the guys are all overloaded and overworked.

• Please pray the Rod not get burnt out with it all, and that the girls and I can handle home without him here as much right now. The next month and a half look very busy for him, with many overnights (at least 12 in a 28 day period).

Thank you for your prayers!

aircraft accident

AIM Air had an airplane go down on Saturday the 26th of April, involving one of our pilots and four SIM (serving in Mission) missionary nurses. Here are two links, one to the AIM Air site, and one to the SIM site.

http://www.aimair.org/files/fdc6c6125bcda18ac8b6bf4edf4e4e7f-12.html

http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/four-sim-missionaries-and-pilot-ok-after-their-plane-went-off-the-runway-in-southern-sudan

We thank the Lord for His protection and Hand on the events that happened. We continue to know that He is in complete control, and are thankful that Andy and the nurses are all alive and getting better. Please pray for their continued physical and emotional recovery.

a letter from AIM Air General Manager

Saturday, April 26th, one of our [AIM Air] planes was involved in an accident during takeoff. While the aircraft was significantly damaged, the pilot and the four passengers came through the accident with what has turned out so far to be minor, physical injuries.

Andy Keller, a long time AIM AIR pilot with two SIM nurses on board, landed at a SIM medical mission station in Sudan to drop off some cargo and pick up two more SIM nurses. He was flying a Cessna Caravan. On takeoff around 12.40 pm, the aircraft lifted off from a wet and somewhat muddy airstrip, but was not able to safely clear the obstacles at the end of the runway. The left wing of the plane struck the trunk of a tree and the plane went into a ditch and flipped onto its back.

Andy and the four nurses, after being stabilized, were airlifted by a UN helicopter to a nearby medical facility for tests and observations. The next day, they were moved to Nairobi on the AIM AIR DC3 under the care of a SIM doctor. We praise God that all occupants of the aircraft seem to be stable and recovering. All have been released from the hospital.

The cause of the accident is being investigated by AIM AIR, along with a mission safety organization which AIM AIR is a member of. The results and conclusions of such will be used as part of a continuing effort to improve the safety of both AIM AIR and mission aviation world-wide.

There is a deeper reality that surrounds the events described above. We minister in Africa in the context of a spiritual war. As partners in ministry, SIM and AIM missionaries share in the risk of ministry. This event is one of many that remind us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities of this world. The opposition that we face, which is evident in many ways, is a testimony that God is accomplishing His purposes through His servants. We should not be dismayed that we suffer, knowing that He has already defeated the enemy.

So we praise God! We praise Him no matter what is happening around us. We worship Him because of who He is. The true foundation of praise is GOD, not our circumstances. Praise God that in His mercy he spared the lives of His servants.

Please continue to hold the four SIM nurses up in prayer as they recover from both the emotional and physical trauma of the accident. Please pray the same for Andy. Pilots bear a heavy burden in these situations. Pray also for the ministry of SIM, particularly in the region where this took place in Sudan. SIM has been encountering tremendous, overt, spiritual opposition to their work at this location. Please pray that God would continue to work miraculously to demonstrate His attributes and His Power in and through SIM’s work and personnel in the community surrounding their work in South Sudan. Finally, please pray for AIM AIR, as the organization will be stretched during the time of recovery following this significant event.

In Christ,
Jim Streit
AIM AIR General Manager