Green means Go. Right?

Two years ago we posted this on this blog...

"Andrea and I have been considering and praying about the possibility of Andrea returning to school for an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) certificate. After graduating with a degree in Human Biology, Andrea's always wanted to continue on in the medical field but it always seemed like there was never a good time. Hearing stories from other missionaries about injuries and illnesses that can occur in the field we couldn't think of a more valuable skill set to have..."

However, two years ago God gave us a red light on this idea. The timing wasn't right. Kaydence was on the way and Jon was knee deep in his mechanic program.

This Spring we got the green light! I'm 7 weeks in to an accelerated 12 week EMT program. God has blown us away with how He's provided for us as I've been back in school. And it actually hasn't stopped there...we appear to be getting a green light to start Paramedic school in August!

For those of you who are not very familiar with emergency medicine, EMT is entry level. An EMT provides Basic Life Support. A Paramedic is significantly higher level of training and has a much larger scope of practice (Advanced Life Support). For this reason, we have always hoped that I would be able to eventually advance to the paramedic level. As a paramedic, there is a lot more you can do to treat a patient before you reach the hospital. In a remote mission field, this is significant.

The purpose behind our ministry is to support missionary efforts among unreached people groups. We will exist on the field to serve the missionaries who are translating the gospel and teaching the word. We will do this by using Jon's pilot and mechanic skills (to learn more this, click on the "why missionary aviation?" tab on our home page). With Andrea's emergency medical training, we will potentially double what we have to offer.

Picture this: When Jon flies a sick or injured missionary out of a remote location, in theory, I would be able to go with him to offer immediate medical care to bridge the gap between the jungle and the hospital.
Sounds awesome, right?

Here some details to think about:
- Jon will finish his aviation requirements this summer. (woohoo!)
- We are on the schedule to have our Technical Evaluation with Jaars in November. After passing the TE, we will choose and assignment and begin the application/preparation processes to get us ready for our field assignment. This will take about a year.
- The paramedic program is 14 months long. So, choosing do begin the medic program will mean delaying our departure for the field by about 5 months.

This is why we are praying so carefully about this. We want to make sure that this is an addition to our ministry, not a deviation. A few months, in the grand scheme of long term missions, is insignificant. But if it is not God's plan for our ministry, it would be time wasted.

Will you pray with us?
We are asking God for final confirmation that He is indeed asking me to start the Paramedic program this summer. Will you pray that God is make this unmistakably clear to us?

We are so eager to be overseas and begin our service...and this often feel like a LONG road. Will you pray that our path would continue to be determined by God's perfect timing and that we would have patience in the process? Pray that He will give us impact for global missions while we're still stateside too!

THANK YOU for partnering with us in this!
-Andrea, for the Hoefers.

OH, and here's a recent-ish family picture. Just for fun :)

Progress Report and JAARS Visit

Progress Report:

-Bible school - check
-Private pilot license - check
-Tail wheel endorsement - check
-Airframe and Powerplant (mechanic) certification - check!
-Instrument Rating - In Progress
-Commercial Pilot license - In the queue
-High Performance endorsement -In the queue
-500 PIC (pilot in command) hours - In progress (we're at about 350 hrs)

So what comes next?

We visited JAARS, at their headquarters in North Carolina, a couple weeks ago to help us clarify exactly what is next on our check list as we continue preparing to serve as a missionary pilot and mechanic family.

JAARS, formerly known as Jungle Aviation And Radio Service, is an arm of Wycliffe Bible Translators that specializes in technical support ministries. Here it is in an overly simplified nutshell: Wycliffe's vision is to see the Bible accessible to all people in their own language; JAARS exists to support this.

This is the organization we are interested in serving with.
We desire to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ taken to every corner of this earth. To every tribe. Every language. Every nation and people.

During our week-long visit with JAARS, we were able to take a closer look at the next few things on our check list.

-Finish technical prerequisites* (this is what we're currently working on - aiming to be finished by the end of this summer)
-Technical Evaluation*
-Wycliffe Application


*Technical Prerequisites: Jon had a consultation, while we were in North Carolina, with the some of the JAARS aviation training staff where they were able to give him lots of valuable feedback. They checked his progress (both in flight and with maintenance) and helped him identify his strengths and the areas he should focus on over the next few months as we prepare for the technical evaluation.

*Technical Evaluation (TE): Two weeks of extensive 'testing' to make sure Jon is ready! You can start praying for this now!

After you pass the TE things really start to roll! We will officially apply to join Wycliffe as career missionaries (all JAARS missionaries are Wycliffe missionaries). There are several things involved in this application/candidacy process, most of which can be done from home. We'll get more details to you as we get closer to this phase...

Thank you for walking with us on this journey!
-The Hoefers

Ministry Update

We are currently on the 'home stretch' of this phase of training! We've been in Arizona for 2 1/2 years completing the technical qualifications to serve as a missionary bush pilot and mechanic. We anticipate being able to move on to the next phase of our training this summer (2012).

A few months ago, Jon completed his A&P (which stands for Airframe and Powerplant). This is the FAA mechanic schooling/licensing. After two years of school and over 22 hours of testing, we were thrilled to reach this milestone in our training.

For the next six months, Jon will continue working on his commercial pilot license, which is the last piece of the piloting training he has left to complete. He also, recently, got a job working at a local airport as a part-time aviation mechanic. We are very excited about this opportunity for him to put his new mechanic license to work and to gain experience.

The next phase of our training will include technical evaluations (where Jon will go through another series of tests, with our sending agency, to ensure he's ready for the bush pilot/mechanic training). Once we pass the evaluation, we will officially join the organization. Right now, we are pursuing a relationship with JAARS (Jungle Aviation And Radio Service which is Wycliffe Bible Translator's aviation/technical support ministry). We are relatively certain we will serve with Jaars, but will not need to make a commitment for a few more months.

Once we join the mission, we will be introduced to and choose an assignment. We will then move to North Carolina, where Jaars headquarters is located, for an estimated 5-6 months. There, we will complete the final phase of our training: 4 week course in Intercultural communications and 3.5 months of aviation orientation. Upon completion, we will be field ready. Once we've reached our recommended financial support level and receive necessary visas/paperwork, we will relocate to our assigned country to begin service.


Thanks for being with us on this journey. We look forward to what God has for us next, as we continue toward our goal of aiding church planting and Bible translation efforts among unreached peoples.

Thankful!

As we're entering this season of Thanksgiving, we reflect on the MANY, MANY reasons we have to be thankful.

*We're thankful that God blessed us with our daughter, Kaydence, this year.
*We're thankful for good health.
*We're thankful for God's amazing provision with our housing needs - another rent-free missionary home!
*We're thankful to be near our family during this phase of training.
*We're thankful for a new supporting congregation to join our team, Mountain Park Community Church.
*We're thankful for the continued love and support from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship.
*We're incredibly thankful that God has kept Jon safe while flying. The more you fly, the more you witness God's protection over you!
*We're thankful for all of the individuals that support us. Both prayerfully and financially - we're receiving FULL support for this expensive phase of our training!

This list could go on and on...
We are overwhelmingly blessed.

It's Official

Aviation News:

Thank you to those who have been praying for Jon so diligently through his testing for his Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic certification. He passed every test - with flying colors! This is such an enormous milestone in our training and we are celebrating! Two years of schooling and over 22 hours of testing has been invested in this qualification for missionary aviation service and we are thrilled to have it under our belts!

Please continue to pray for Jon as he is looking for a part-time job at a local airport to gain experience as an A&P mechanic. You can also keep Jon's pilot training in your prayers. He's in the air A LOT these days. He is currently working on his Instrument rating. He's been flying 'under the hood' quite a bit, which means he wears a 'hood' over his head that keeps his from being able to see out any windows. This teaches him to use and trust his instruments should conditions make flying by visual reference dangerous.

Family Update:

Andrea is leading a Bible study called "Xplore". It's an entry level look at God's heart for the world. The curriculum discusses what the Bible says about missions and how we can respond to it. It has been very encouraging to see God moving in the hearts of those attending. We desire to be a part of 'mobilizing' the local church toward missions. This opportunity to teach is a clear answer to prayer.

Kaydence is 7 months old and is one busy little girl!

She crawls, pulls her self up on things, climbs stairs, and thinks she should be able to do everything her big brother can. She's determined and fearless, but is happiest when mommy is in close proximity. If she could glue herself to my hip, she probably would.

Gideon is 2 1/2 and stretching his wings a little more everyday.

He loves riding his tricycle, Thomas the train, his Pooh and Piglet stuffed animals, and helping mommy cook. Like always, he happiest when he's around people.

Here is a recent family picture:

Housing Blessings

Last month I told you that we were getting ready to move and promised more details to come. Here they are! In May we learned that we were required to move, fairly unexpectedly, when the missionary house we have been living in became unavailable. We began looking for other missionary housing (places for ministry families to rent inexpensively while they are stateside). We couldn't find anything for the same price we had been paying in the other missionary home (free!). So, on FAITH that our support would be sufficient, we started looking for apartments/condos for rent.

We found a townhouse that worked for our family and were ready to sign the lease. We'd had word out for several weeks within the church that we were looking for leads to fill our housing need but didn't find anything solid. But, just a couple days before we were to sign the lease, we got a call. The missions director at Mountain Park called to say there was a family at the church looking into the possibility of renting their townhouse to us for free! THAT was the awesome possibility that I referred to in the previous post.

The past two months has been a crazy whirlwind of change. BUT...we're all settled in to our rent-free "missionary house" and are reflecting on the incredible and unexpected blessing the Lord has given us in regard to our housing....twice!

The Lord has use two remarkable families to bless us in a very tangible way. Their generosity, in response to God's prompting, has been an incredible encouragement to us. As I think back on the ways God has met our needs since we started our training, I feel God confirming in my heart, once again, that this exactly where He wants us to be. HE is the one who is paving the road for us as we take each step forward, toward serving in missionary aviation.

We're thankful for each of you too, our family, friends, and supporters, for being on this journey with us.

The Vision

Yesterday we had the opportunity to share some of our vision with a group of people from Mountain Park Community Church. We love getting opportunities to tell others about our heart for bringing the Gospel to unreached people groups. In case you're new to our blog and the ministry we are training to serve, here's the "in a nutshell" version of what God has called us to.

There are over 6,000 people groups in the world today. Over 2,000 of them still have no access to the Gospel. Many of these groups, tribal peoples, live in remote and forgotten corners of the earth. Everyday they live and die in complete isolation from the Gospel and the hope that comes in knowing Christ's love.
That breaks my heart.

God has given us the burning desire to see tribal people groups be reached with God's Word in their own language. In our journey toward serving in full time missions, God has directed us toward missionary aviation. We (specifically Jon) are training to serve as a missionary pilot. Missionary aviation is all about making isolated tribes accessible to Bible translators and church planters.

That's why we are on this path toward career missionary service. That's why we plan to move our family overseas. That's why we 'give up' things - for a cause that we believe is greater than our own desires. But NOTHING feels better than the peace you find when you let go and follow after God's will for your life.

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
This is one of my favorite quotes, written by Jim Elliot, a missionary who gave his life working to bring the gospel to an unreached tribal people group.