Dear Friends;
I have passed the flight exam, and my flight Instructor rating has been reinstated!
On April 29, I started my journey to East Texas to get flight instruction from Alan VanDoren (on the left above) and Elijah Pendergast (on the right above), from the Missionary Flight Training Center. I met them both at the Sun N Fun Airshow in early April. The Missionary Flight Training Center exists to train pilots who have a heart toward using airplanes to support Christian missionaries, and to be missionaries themselves. Because both of our organizations have the same mission, MFTC agreed to prepare me for the flight exam so that I could start training new pilots here in Florida. As an added bonus, I stayed with Tim, a dear friend of mine from my LeTourneau days.
The first few days of flying went well, even though I was exhausted at the end of each flight. We spent our time reviewing regulations on the ground, along with flying and teaching techniques in the air. However, on the third day we ran into problems with the GPS system on the airplane. The problem took us the whole day and evening to trouble shoot and repair. Then came the thunderstorms, which grounded us for a day and a half. In addition, the day before my check ride the airplane had radio problems.
With strong encouragement from my wife, I chose to rent a different airplane in which to take my test. To really add to all of the "fun", I found myself very sick the night before my exam, and I had to visit the local ER. I was at the hospital until around 1 am that night before my exam. At this point, I was ready to throw in the towel and call it quits. But, again, Darla pushed me to persevere, setting examples from the scriptures and from friends and family that had overcome far worse adversity.
Early the next morning I was skimming over study material. I was miserable, I was anxious, tired and fearful of a failed attempt to renew my flight instructor rating. I stopped, and literally cried out to God for several minutes. At the end of that time, all fear and anxiety were gone. I later found out that the director of Harvest, Brian Smith, was prompted by the Holy Spirit that morning to pray for me. He had texted the entire Harvest team and asked them to stop what they were doing and pray. Wow! That is the body of Christ working together to support one another!
The oral exam and flight check went well, and I felt a huge relief as I flew one hour back to Greg County Airport to return the plane I had rented. I am so thankful to God that He helped me through all of this, and literally surrounded me with His people who challenged and encouraged me, and fervently prayed for me.
This week, I already have two students waiting to get started. I hope that we can get up in the air soon. I will be meeting with my new students this week. Our Piper Chieftain is ready for inspection by the FAA, and as soon as the plane is on the schedule, it will be flown to Pennsylvania to receive FAA approval. At that point, our chief pilot will get a check ride, and we will be ready to resume our flights to Belize. Please continue to pray that Darla and I, and the whole Harvest team, will follow God’s leading, and that this mission will will honor Him, be a vessel for the Kingdom, and bring Him glory!
In our first newsletter, I did not write much about financial support. Darla continues to work part-time as a reading specialist, and I will also be able to charge for flight instruction done for the public, outside of our mission. We do need to raise some additional support and have set a goal of $1800 per month. We trust God to raise up a team to meet our financial support need. We are not expecting to be financially supported 100% by donors. We see our part-time jobs outside of Harvest Aviation as opportunities to be in the community and contributing to the community. God has already encouraged friends to bring us up to 30% of our monthly goal with recurring gifts. If the Holy Spirit speaks, you can find us at the Harvest Aviation website or use the QR code below.
Thank you for being on the Harvest Team through your prayers and financial gifts.
Gratefully,
Vic and Darla
