Evaluations and Itineraries

This is a copy of an email I sent out yesterday, so most of you have probably already read it. I'm hoping to get some Alaskan Falltime pictures posted on here in the next day or two. It really is beautiful right now! Hope you are all well...

Greetings Everyone~

Do you want to be a singer? Would you enjoy the work of a forest ranger? Is there anything about your spouse that you would like to change?

These are just a small sampling of the questions we've been pondering this past week as we've been working on our psychological evaluations from AIM! After confirming that we would be attending the Candidate Week at AIM headquarters in November, we received a packet of four evaluations and a rather detailed life-sketch to fill out. We will send these to a psychologist to evaluate, and then he will send the results on to the AIM psychologist to go over with us when we are there. These tests are designed as tools to assess our personality types, strengths and weaknesses and will help us to hopefully be more effective in our ministries. Believe me when I say that they leave no stone unturned in their barrage of questions, so they should have a good idea of what they are getting in us, both the good and the bad

Truth be told, we are rather enjoying this application process, even though it is a lot of work. Since my last update in July, we have completed our official applications and are now scheduled for the Candidate Week in New York on November 13th to the 18th. Once we get our psych evaluations completed, we just have a couple of books to read before we go, so we are seeing the light at the end of this tunnel! During our week in Pearl River, we will be with other appointees learning more about AIM, as they learn more about us. At the end of that week, we should find out if we are accepted as fulltime missionaries with Africa Inland Mission. After that, we will be able to begin the adventure of raising support. Nothing is official yet, but we are hoping to take a road trip along the West Coast next spring, so if we are passing through your neighborhood, we'd love to see you. We'll be in touch as it gets closer.

In our last letter, we told you that our hope was to be serving with AIM, but in Australia at the Bible College of Victoria (BCV), particularly in their aviation school, MAC. Several months ago we thought it would be a good idea for us to go and check things out for ourselves before we made a long-term commitment to being there. When we made our plane reservations, October seemed very far away, but we are scheduled to leave next week already! On October 10th, Leo and I are planning to fly from Anchorage to Sydney, Australia. We will spend a couple of days in that area, visiting Len and Robbyn Lesleighter, the director of AIM Australia, and AIM's Australia offices. We will then fly to Melbourne and drive an hour east to Lilydale, where we'll spend a few more days visiting the college, MAC, meeting with people, and taking a tour of Mt. Evelyn Christian School (MECS) as a potential school for the children. Our schedule is full and we are praying for God's clear leading and guiding for us and for all who are involved in this decision-making process with us. We arrive back in Anchorage the night of October 19th.

We have some specific prayer requests regarding this trip:

*safe travels and quick adjustment to the 18 hour time difference- driving on the "wrong" side of the road!
*the children and those who are taking care of them for us while we're away- Steve & Jami Hoekstra, my parents, Bobbit and Lelya
*good health for all- I'm going on nearly 3 weeks of being very sick with some kind of flu/head cold
*that God would make it very clear if Australia is where He wants us to serve
*that all the leadership (AIM US, AIM Australia, the BCV and MAC) would be able to work well together in finalizing details of our assignment

We are really looking forward to our trip and will send another update when we get home, hopefully with some photos! The process in itself is certainly an adventure and we are thankful for all the details God is working out.

One last request... we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new Director of Maintenance here to take over for Leo in the hangar. The main issue is that we have no idea who this man will be ! Please pray with us for a man who loves God, knows a bit about airplanes and is gifted in management. We are confident that God has the perfect man for the job. If you or someone you know fits this description and is interested in the position, we'd love to talk to you!!!

May God richly bless you and your family today- Love Leo, Menda and Crew