Time to Catch Up...

Life Update:

3 months later I finally have the time to post a new blog! These past few months have been filled with fun and work and most importantly, more steps towards getting to the mission field! Woo hoo!

Ashley has spent time traveling the Northeast to recruit students and has been organizing preview events for future students! Of course, she has done an excellent job (she would settle for nothing less) and is already working hard on her next few projects.

I have been focusing on school and flying. This semester we got 2 new multi-engine trainers that I have been learning to fly in and teach in. They are great airplanes that have taught me a lot and will be an excellent learning platform for our students. My three students are doing great and are getting close to finishing their courses for the semester despite 3 weeks of bad weather.

Update: Steps towards entering Mission Aviation Fellowship

A short time ago Ashley and I received our application to Mission Aviaton Fellowship (MAF) and have been working steadily at completing it. We have set a goal of starting with MAF in January of 2011. This means that between now and then we have to complete the required bible classes and I have to get my Airframe & Powerplant Certificate (A&P) which I will be tested for this coming April. After we meet the requirements we will get to go to MAF headquarters in Nampa, ID to do a technical evaluation consisting of flight and maintenance tests as well as interviews with MAF staff!

For more information about MAF please visit http://www.maf.org/

We are excited about what lies ahead and have seen God come through in HUGE ways. We thank you for your continued prayer support as we enter the "home stretch" of classes and next round of decisions.

There is one specific area where we need financial support. In order to responsibly enter a mission organization we essentially need to be debt-free. We have worked hard over the past year to get rid of any debt that is not school related and have accomplished that goal. Next we need to pay off school loans which are just shy of $39,000. Please prayerfully consider supporting us to help meet the goal of entering MAF in January of 2011 so that we can answer the call to take Christ to the nations of the world! For more details please contact us directly via email or phone.

Please continue to let us know if you have any concerns that we can be in prayer for. We cherish the time that we get to spend talking with God about our friends.

petegreenwald@gmail.com (404) 291-4112
ashleyfgreenwald@gmail.com (678) 641-8771

Fly 4 Life

Recently Ashley and I were able to attend Airventure 2009 in Osh Kosh Wisconson. We were there to represent LeTourneau University and share what LETU has to offer to future missionary pilots. Little did we know that this would be an experience that would teach us so much about the awesome community of people involved in mission aviation.

Fly 4 Life was one of the featured themes at Airventure. The Fly 4 Life tent on Aeroshell Square told the history of mission aviation and explained a few of the areas that it supports. Besides the Fly 4 Life tent there was also the IAMA tent. IAMA (International Association of Missionary Aviation) was the organization that brought us, other schools, and many mission organizations together at Osh Kosh. Our tent was flanked by MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship), JAARS (Wycliffe), and Spokane Turbine Center, a training organization for mission pilots who will be flying the new Quest Kodiak.

By the end of the week almost 750,000 people had been to the airshow grounds and almost 500 of those people were there specifically to represent Mission Aviation. What an awesome place to be!! Throughout the week Ashley and I were able to meet people like Steve Saint, the son of martyred Missionary Pilot, and representatives from almost every mission organization that was there. We also worked in the Fly 4 Life tent and had many opportunities to share the Gospel of Christ with people who had never even heard about Jesus!! Woo Hoo!!!!

We were also able to spend time around the new Quest Kodiak 100, an airplane which was specifically designed to operate on short, unimproved airstrips in some of the most remote areas of the world. The Kodiak is an impressive airplane which has the potential to transform mission aviation as we know it.

As I begin my last year of school at LeTourneau University Ashley and I are becoming more excited every day about what the Lord has planned for the future! Airventure 2009 was a great confirmation that mission aviation is exactly where the Lord wants us and has been continuing to lead us. Please be in prayer for us as we begin to take larger steps towards moving overseas to share the Gospel in some of the most remote areas of the world.

-Pete

Blood = Life

Lately I have felt a real call to sacrifice. While I didn't know what/how, I knew the Spirit would lead and make it clear. Walking into church on Sunday morning, I noticed the "Blood Bus" (Carter Blood Center) and my stomach sank. As a child several nurses were called in to hold me down so that they could take my blood for a routine cholesterol test. Just the idea of blood leaving my body (much less knowing that people are willingly TAKING it from me) has always been a source of anxiety. Immediately after seeing the Blood Bus, I knew what type of sacrifice I had been called to. Just like the widow who gave a mite showed Jesus her true sacrifice, me giving blood - my own blood - would be an ultimate sacrifice.

The message Sunday morning was on Bloodlines and the fact that we are called to sacrifice for "even for the least of these" in accordance with the will of God. That Jesus gave not just one pint of his blood, but all 12 pints demonstrates His love and desire to give us life - ABUNDANT LIFE! We learned how a lack of just one pint of blood can be the reason to call off many surgeries. At this point in the service there was a knot in my stomach, my mind was racing and thinking of all the reasons I shouldn't give blood today, and my heart knew that if blood gives life, then I would give blood.

As the service ended Pete looked over to me and said, "So should we give blood now or after we help out with the family worship theatre?" This not only confirmed what I knew I had to do, but gave me no way out - I couldn't just go home and then bring it up later as one of those "I should have done that" type of thing. I love how the Lord overcomes the evil of Satan even in our minds as we are battling over the sacrifice we are called to make.

After the line at the Blood Bus grew short, Pete and I hopped aboard and started to fill out our paperwork. We both began at about the same time and laid head to head while the blood was being drawn. The entire time I knew that the Lord was overcoming a fear of mine and would be able to use the blood to give life! The Carter Blood Center employees were a delight to spend time with and made the experience better than expected.

With apple juice and oreo cookies in hand, Pete and I left the bus and began talking about how amazing the Lord is and the joy of obedience to Him!

Therefore I urge you, bretheren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. - Romans 12:1

This is how the Lord is using aviation to change lives around the world.

Summertime Fun

Summers in Texas are much like summers in Georgia... heat, heat, and more heat. One thing is for certain about a TX summer - the heat is worse, the humidity is better! While faculty and students take a month or two off from the rigors of classes and meetings, the Admissions Office (along with a few other offices) stay for the long hot summer months. Luckily, this is also the best time for us to take vacation days. After Pete had completed his summer classes we packed up our bags for a trip east. Along with 5 other couples, we hid out in the Outerbanks of North Carolina! It was a great time of rest, fun, and THE BEACH! While we were at the Outerbanks, a group of us went to Kitty Hawk - home of the first powered flight! It was incredible to see where Orville and Wilbur had worked, slept, and prepared for their first flight. Pete and I had a great time at the Memorial! In addition to our trip to Kitty Hawk, we also enjoyed local restaurants, putt-putt golf (I got two holes-in-one!), ice cream, and the waves!
As all good things do, our vacation came to an end - but it will not be forgotten and the rest that occured was much needed. We are already looking forward to our next adventure with the couples we vacationed with and are grateful that the Lord provided such a perfect week for us.