Heather, Holly and I loaded into the "family station wagon" and headed out to this little town called Sagatuck for Sunday afternoon. It's a very interesting place. It is on a little inlet from Lake Michigan so there's plenty of yachts parked everywhere. It is one of those places that is loaded with really unique and sort of strange shops. We hiked a "mountain" there (basically an enormous staircase that took about ten minutes to climb). And finished off the day hanging out on the beach. Here's some photos....they include Holly flying with some of the guys from my school. And a snapping turtle we saw while camping two weekends ago. Not to mention "African Night" that my Kenyan friend (also the pilot on Holly's flight) hosted. He provided an amazing spread of Kenyan cuisine for us. And did it all from memory. We tried our best to "dress African." My attempt consisted of bringing a beadsheet and making a bow and arrow out of some sticks. Heather and Holly wore "surongs" (sp?).



We also got to see our friends Liz and Jared last weekend who just moved to Ann Arbor from Columbia. Their little boy Elias is several months old. It was a fun trip. We went out in Ann Arbor for a while. Then we came back and Jared and I hung out with Elias while we watched one of those Discovery Channel Alaskan crab fishing marathons, while the ladies went out for a while.

Beach in Michigan?

This past week we went twice to Holland Michigan to enjoy the beach. It's only forty minutes from our home and it is amazing! Heather and I still find it hard to believe. It is every bit as beautiful as the ocean. Minus the large waves. And minus the salt. The sunset is just as spectacular. There is even a pier and a lighthouse. The lake is a little chilly right now but that didn't stop me from getting in for a few minutes. Last wednesday for our "date night" Heather and I spontaneously went down there and ate subway while the sun set. Then last Sunday we went out with some friends from school. Les and Matthias grabbed some kayaks to bring down. And Grant and his finance Cassie came as well. Since Grant and Cassie are long distance right now, they took advantage of being together this weekend to take engagement photos. Heather, Holly and I helped them out by taking the pictures. It was a good time. i have a newfound appreciation for wedding/engagement photographers because it is hard to come up with ideas. Heather and Holly were pretty good at it. Here's some pictures of the weekend.

Winter is a bear, but springtime is real nice up here! Its been seventy degree days almost every day. It is a nice contrast to the very cold winter! Last weekend we went to a barbecue here at our apartments with about twenty other people, mostly classmates of mine with their respective wives and kids. Very fun. We had two grills set up, and played games like tennis, soccer and football. Heather's sister Holly has been with us for about two weeks. It has been really fun so far. We have been keeping pretty active with her, finding things to do outside.
A couple weeks back there was an annual conference here in Grand Rapids for the International Association of Missionary Aviation. It just so happened to be here this year. Personnell from our school offered to host the conference. The conference was three days, and our class attended one of the days. It was very good because there were representitives from many mission aviation agencies there. I got to talk to several guys with experience in mission aviation. I also got to meet MAF's recruiting director in person. I have talked to him on the phone before but it was great to finally meet. I also ate lunch with another MAF pilot and got to hear about his life and experiences. It was very encouraging and motivating to talk to these guys.
The keynote speaker of the conference was a guy named Ron Hutchcraft. Ron is most well known for his bible teaching on the radio. He gave a very powerful message. The center of his message was that as aviators serving in missions, we should never let our serving the Lord get in the way of or substitute for our relationship with the Lord himself. Our time with him, before him should be the number one priority. When we are close to him, we experience joy no matter what our external circumstances are. When we are not committed to this, things are gradually, slowly but surely starting to come off the track. And life will turn into a grind. I know I have definitely experienced both sides of Ron's message. Jesus said "I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly" and he wasn't talking just about the future. He was talking about right now. Ron made it clear that this is a message for every follower of Christ, no matter what your vocation is.

Last week in class we were learning how to set up fuel systems. We went out to the school's Cessna 210 to practice adjusting the fuel system. So we started it a few times and ran it up. A classmate of mine took some video. The main thing about the 210 is that it is so incredibly loud. I could safely say it was the loudest thing I have ever been around.. (tied with riding in my stepbrothers car in highschool with his 15 inch speakers)...and I had big sound blocking earmuffs on and it felt like I didn't have any hearing protection at all. If you don't have sound on your computer this video will be pretty boring.



The 210 is very similar to the Cessna 206, which is the type of plane I will probably fly in the mission field. Though they are a "small" single engine plane, they have a very high carrying capacity (when compared to little planes like the ones I train in) and they can take off and land in short spaces.

Engines!

Right now in class we are getting into engines. All year we have been learning little bits and pieces about airplane engines. Now we are really getting into it by completely disassembling and re-assembling an engine. Then we will start it and trouble shoot it. What great experience! I am especially excited about this because I am on a team working on an engine known as the Continental IO 520....a 6 cylinder engine. This is the engine found in the Cessna 206 which is the most common plane that MAF and many other missions fly. So this is most likely the engine I will be flying someday. How cool will it be to have the experience of having taken it apart, studying the engien, and troubleshooting it when we get it back together. I am really blessed to get to do this. Most pilots know the general operational theory about how their engines work, but they do not get this kind of experience. Here is a photo album of some of the engines our class is working on. The first several pictures are of our engine. I am on a team with two other guys, Matt and Jeffrey, working on our engine.

Engines 1