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well I had a great time at the Gallops. Ive been back in school now for several weeks. Ive been studying electricity in all of its aviation applications. Turns out Im good at DC elecricity but AC is a bit harder for me to get. I think I understand it well now but Im still not a wiz at it. Not much has been going on here besides school, work, and church stuff. Youth group has been going well and Ive been getting to know the kids a lot better. I give a talk there in a few weeks. so... yeah. thats my life. other subjects of interest: I am working on putting up a new template for this thing.

Schools out!

Done with A&P, done with Theology. Did really well in A&P training (aircraft maintenance training), top of my class I think. Did decently with Theology I think, though I havent gotten grades for any of my papers, or anything for that matter except for my midterm which I didnt do so well on. I expect I got near perfect grades on my paper but Im just hoping I pass my midterm. I dont do well with tests. They just dont reflect my learning style well. Generaly. There is the professor now and then that has a test that really works with my learning style.

Anyways, Im done with school and all packed up for flying to Houghton, NY, which I do tomorrow morning at 13h35. Gonna be great spending several weeks with the Gallops. Yeah buddy!

12/7

life, music, and FAA form 337s

here I sit at my computer. its been a long time since I really said much on here about whats going on in my life. Ive got one week of school left before Christmas break and I fly over to spend Christmas and New Years with the Gallops in Houghton, NY. Oh, what joy. I would put an exclamation mark there but I am listening to classical music (at high volume with a sub-woofer) and it is 11:41 and I really dont feel like it. Anyway, Ive really enjoyed this quarter. my school life consists of one 4 credit hour theology class at Moody Northwest and another 18 of aircraft maintenance at Spokane Community College, per Moody's program set up. Like I said I really enjoyed it. It being mostly the latter 18 credit hours. Not that I dont like theology, though I do tend to shy away from the nit-picking of some of the more "complex" theology because I think that it tends to be beyond what we were meant to understand, therefore we cannot understand it. its just that the professor, while being good, goes too slowly through the material for my liking and all this in 4 hours straight on Friday afternoons. But its still pretty good. I think I have learned most of the theology that I care to learn though. theology meaning what im going to get taught in the next few years in class. no theology in its true meaning as the study of God. what i dont care for is discussing things like whether man is a dichotomy or a trichotomy. anyway, so I like my mechanics training better. Its more hands on. I learn better that way. And it has to do with airplanes so that adds a lot for me. even the FAA's stuff is not too bad when you begin to understand it. Im beginning to feel that I am beginning to become a real mechanic. I am actually learning something useful and something I am really and deeply interested in. In other news, I may begin to admin the Moody Av website. Should be interesting. I'll be doing it with a group but still. The poor thing could use it too. It could certainly use someone better than me though, especially someone on the creative side.

Firefox Upgrades its Browser

Firefox Upgrades its Browser: The company releases the latest version of the No. 2 browser, second only to Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

yeah, second only because many of the folks using Internet Explorer simply dont know better, they are probably not the most computer literate people out there ...either that or its because most of your computer labs at libraries and schools and what not use it. I mean, seriously, it comes default with Windows.

there and back again

Hey guys, I just got back from an MK get-together this weekend. It was at Perry Pust's house, an MAF guy, formerly a pilot in Indonesia, now an MAF recruiter/representative in the Northwest. All of us that were there were connected through having been Indonesia and personaly knowing the Pusts; that is we had all either been in Indonesia, were MKs going to school with an Indonesian MK, or were good friends of or engaged/married to an Indonesian MK. Four of us from Moody here went, including one guy who grew up in Indonesia. We got there Friday night but most folks didnt arrive till Saturday. We ate authentic Indonesian food and hung out and had an awesome time. We played lots of games, watched a movie (we were also going to watch the God's Must Be Crazy never got around to it), discussed all sorts of things from the place of music in church to problems caused by large groups of missionaries living in one place to different types of food, and of course told many many stories and generaly connected as only MKs can! We had an incredible time. All of us knew at least one other person since the general idea was for the Indonesian MKs to come with whatever friends they wanted to bring. For my part, I only knew Perry Pust a little from his visits to Moody here and of course my fellow students that I went with. But of course within a very short time we had all warmed up and were laughing and rough housing (throwing little plastic toy balls at each other) and sharing outrageous stories of moterbikes and gigantic splinters and snake-zappers and all sorts of great experiences. I am always amazed by how quickly and strongly we MKs connect when we get together even when we dont know each other at all. I am so glad I am an MK!

Missions Conference

This evening we are halfway through our missions conference here at Moody Northwest and I am full of excitement I suppose you could say. I cant wait to get out there. My impulse is to just get out there and join JAARS doing anything, computer work or something, and just get on the missions field. I went to several sessions today, including a session on the daily life of a missionary pilot and a dessert time at someone's house with several JAARS guys. The daily life of a missionary pilot session started getting me excited, but what really got me for some reason was the time talking to the JAARS guys over dessert. Now, perhaps irrationaly, I feel very inclined towards JAARS and Southeast Asia or Papua New Guinea. Previously, I wasnt really sure, but figured it made sense to go back to Niger with SIM-Air, but also felt a bit of a pull towards JAARS. Now I feel a very strong pull towards JAARS and I dont know if its God or if its just the effect of some good long talks with the JAARS pilots and mechanic about God's work and their experiences on the field and a few rich brownies. Regardless, I am simultaneously dismayed at the length of time I have before me before I am able to get out there and actually do what Ive been working towards for so long, and also refreshed and motivated for the years of training ahead. I just need to keep in mind that life is now and it wont start when I get off the plane in Djakarta or whatever.