Elise got to meet Grandma and Grandpa Lundholm yesterday! Elise was very excited (so was Grandma and Grandpa). We're used to calling them "Dad and Penny" but I suppose now we call them Grandma and Grandpa!Dad and Penny drove into Nampa last night from St. George, Utah where they live. We're going to hang out with them all weekend and let Elise spend some good time with them. We'll go see what Boise has to offer today and tomorrow and they will head back home Monday.
The word from Doug, the MAF mechanic that tested me last week was that I passed the mechanic portion of the evaluation. What a relief! I was definitely more worried about the Mechanic part of the test than the flight. However, I know I can't take the flight for granted and I will try to prepare just as hard. One thing I really liked was how much I just enjoyed doing the evaluation. Doing the projects they gave me helped me to dust off and refine so much of what I've learned, and Doug has the heart of a teacher and he taught me so much. What a good, enjoyable and challenging week!
Some difficult news came through two days ago. Ron Royce, The flight instructor that I flew with in Tennessee last month died in a plane crash on Thursday along with the student he was training. He was doing a training project just like the one we did with him almost exactly a month ago. His student, like me was on his way to evaluate with a mission organization and him and his wife and two kids stayed in the same cabin that Heather and I stayed in while we were there. Ron was an instructor with Moody Aviation in Tennessee and he instructed probably more than half the pilots here at MAF. There are a lot of people that are sad to hear the news around here. Ron was an incredibe guy. Two things came through to me besides the fact that he was an un-believable flight instructor. He was a very funny and light-hearted guy, and he cared about people intensely. I was impressed that as I was training with him at Elizabethon airport, you could tell he knew and cared about the employees at the airport. He introduced me to the janitor who he knew really well. Also while I was preflighting the airplane one morning, Ron was talking with a young guy he had given training, and I looked over and Ron had him in a head-lock. Ron was a fun guy and a teaser (he was seventy years old!). He did something funny the first day I met him. I know there is this code of conduct where you usually don't joke around too much with someone you first meet. The first day I flew with him when I was saying goodbye for the day I reached out my hand to shake his and he made me miss his hand, I tried a few times and he kept doing it. He said "Just testing the reflexes." He did that every time and I'm not sure I ever actually shook his hand (well maybe when we said goodbye the last time). Ron asked me to let him know when I was going to MAF and he would pray for us at the evaluation. I emailed him monday night and he emailed right back and let me know he and his wife wold be praying for us and he is looking forward to hearing a report. Now Ron is with the Lord! I think the last thing he said to me was "Well, I'll see you later, but probably not in this troubled place!" Now he is there with his Lord, and I imagine maybe he's doing the hand-shake thing with God or who knows whatever else kind of funny things he does. He will be greatly missed by many and he lived a very rich life.
