She knows the smell of boxes means change is coming.

We are moving again. It is scary when Maycie takes a look at our boxes and then at me, then at the boxes, then at me and says very matter of factly, “ingna.” I have no idea what it means, but it is clear she knows it means change is in the wind. It is really cute to see her put the pieces together. It is also very scary to think of the impact this will have on her life as she gets older. So far she seems to adapt very well to new people and is very sociable which helps a great deal.

We, on the other hand, are a bit harder to convince this is a happy thing. We hate moving! Especially now that many of our closest friends are here in Manila just starting language study, and we are just leaving. We love the excitement of a new place, and love all of the new things that come with a new place, but we loathe the process of packing and making decisions. Oh well. We are excited for this move in particular because it is the first time that we will be working as “full-missionaries” with NTMA doing what we set out to do long ago – assist NTM church planting efforts through aviation. No more school! At least as far as we can see. We can hardly wait!

We arrived here in the Philippines last August and as we approach our one year anniversary our heads are already spinning with how much has changed since we first boarded a plane to come here. When we left California we had a set of plans that seemed like a very reasonable thing to shoot for. We decided to go with what seemed clear at the time and even signed a 14 month lease on our apartment.

And then everything started to change. Originally we were planning to go to Palawan in January when we are finished with language school and begin the “checkout” process there and work alongside our friends and co-workers, Ben and Suzy Hart. At the time that was the most urgent need and the reason we hurried to get here and the reason we hurried through language study.

A more pressing need has now arisen and it is really good that we hurried here because we are now in a position to fill a need we would have otherwise been unable to fill. We had no idea, but God knew. We plan to finish Tagalog study on September 4, and then move to Mindanao where they speak Cebuano. Bummer.

Currently our missionaries are receiving their air-support from SIL (Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines). SIL has graciously covered for us while we have been shorthanded, but they have accelerated their timetable and are moving out of Mindanao in January 2010. Currently we have no program there to fill in when this happens.

The plan is for Bailey and I to move to Mindanao and help our chief pilot, Garry and his wife Cynthia, with administration tasks and the set up of a program while we also go through the checkout process on Mindanao. Once checked out, I will help fly for the program while Garry travels off and on to Luzon to assist the start of a helicopter program. SIL currently does our flying on Luzon as well, but will be leaving the country in April of 2010.

The opening of these two flight programs will be our primary job for the next year. This is a huge task and one that we are not sure how we can accomplish with so few resources and so little time. Please pray as we are brainstorming solutions and plans to cover all these needs.

This is a big change for us. It is a bit discouraging to think of learning Cebuano as we work on Mindanao, but we are going to do our best to learn and fit in to the local language and culture as we work. No more language school!

Once these two flight programs are opened up, we will plan to move again. This time to Palawan to relieve our other pilot team, Ben and Suzy Hart, so they can go on a much needed furlough. We are trusting the Lord for wisdom as we venture into a sea of unknowns and make plans as best we can.

All these changes are working toward the same goal that we were sent here to accomplish. Get the Gospel to places it has never been. It is absolutely critical that we get these flight programs set up without causing a gap in the flight service for our missionaries. They rely on the airplane because of their remote locations, and we don’t want to see their works delayed because we can’t transport them. This is not only important for our missionaries, but also for the SIL missionaries who we will now fly for until their Bible translations are completed.