Hey there!
Here in Tucson the sun is still shining to the tune of high 70’s in the day! We are in-between needing to turn the heat on for the cold desert nights/mornings but wanting to keep the house cool for the days. (yes, yes, I know… desert life is hard. Haha) Usually, at this time in December, we are recovering from the three-days of Living Nativity. I am the Director and Paul is my primary set builder, fixer and fire guy, so he is just as consumed with work. Because we were gone so much this year with ministry travel, we could not do Living Nativity. I don’t know how, but it seems like we have been just as busy! I keep reminding myself to slow down and enjoy the treasure of time with friends and family!
So often we get asked “what does your week look like?” Well, for Paul it looks a lot like the following: He and the guys have just completed one annual inspection and have started a second one this week. Watch this short video with Paul and Jasson in the hanger.
What is an Annual Inspection?
Paul tries to coordinate these big inspections so they don’t come all at the same time however sometimes things just move out of his control. An annual inspection means that airplane is not flying in Mexico. Ministry flights for that plane are on hold. It also means some of our Mexico pilots are here in Tucson waiting to go home as well. Paul really likes them to help with the inspections as it keeps them fresh on maintenance. While they don’t do these major inspections in Mexico, it is good for them to have up-to-date knowledge in case of an emergency. So, you’ll just have to imagine the pressure that puts on the guys to get the inspection done well but quickly. The final goal is to get that plane back in the air taking the message of HOPE to the people in the mountain villages of Mexico.
Our team is preparing for the MSI Safety audit, which will happen in January. This is very important because when MSI gives a good grade of their audit, it affects your insurance. And of course, we want to have high safety ratings. We have this type of audit every three years, and I really appreciate your prayers for Paul and the guys as they prepare the maintenance area for this. It’s high stress time for sure!
Immediately following the MSI audit, all of our guys have their week-long meetings in TX. It’s a time of planning with strategy meetings as they look to the next year and what is happening at each of the bases in ministry and with the planes.
We have a new family with UIM Aviation. Josh, Bethany, and Elijah Hamilton arrived here in Tucson just last week. 21 years ago, we drove into Tucson with 4 little kids in tow. Now we are the “old” missionaries welcoming the new young families! Josh is a mechanic so he will be fully working with Paul, starting in January.
Bethany & Filipe have enjoyed some snow there in VA. Filipe’s family is all there with them in Virginia this year. (arrived from Brazil and France.) That’s pretty cool! I’m jealous of his Mom having all her kids there together, but so happy for her. Having kids living in another country is one of the challenges of missionary life.
We always challenge our kids to educate themselves deeply in God‘s Word and seek where the Lord would have them serve. So far, this has led each of them away from Tucson. We are happy to see our kids following the Lord, but having them so far away, especially at Christmas, is downright rough! Miriam (studying midwifery in the Philippines) did not have enough time off to make a flight around the world worth the cost. So instead, she’s going to Korea to see Mercury and his family.
Matthew and Karizma won’t make it home this year either. Matthew has to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas.
Gabriel and Ruth arrived last night. Poor Ruth has a sprained ankle, but this is the type of house that just happens to have a set of crutches in the closet, so we got her all set. FYI: Ruth fell just a few minutes after this sweet picture! We get to keep them for a few weeks, which is so nice! So it’s a smaller group here for Christmas this year but I know we will have some great time together and we are so thankful. (We are also snagging Josh & Bethany for Christmas, so they can just join in the family craziness.)
Paul recently had a tooth that has been giving him quite a bit of trouble. (You are welcome for the nice picture of Paul instead of the picture of his tooth!) We finally got an appointment and went for an evaluation and most likely a new filling. Ha! That appointment turned into a cleaning, a major extraction, an implant post put in, a prescription for pain….. and a lot of money going out! YIKES! And he’s not even done. Poor guy, when he came out, the whole left side of his face was swollen. I don’t know if you remember, but I too have some major dental work that needs to be done… but seeing Paul after his appointment has scared that right out of me! Yup, I’m pretty sure my teeth are just fine! I may have had five babies at home with no pain medication, but when it comes to dentistry, I am a total wuss!!
Jesse (graduates in May) is applying to Word of Life Hungary (where Gabriel, Ruth & Filipe went) for the 26-27 school year. I can’t imagine WOL not taking her, so we are bitter-sweetly anticipating putting her on an airplane the end of August. This is our baby getting ready to move across the world and I will tell you that I am already not handling it very well.
My mom, Joan Watkins, (She and my dad served as missionaries in West Africa for over 50 years) lives with my sister Pam now. As many of you saw on Facebook, she recently took a turn and we thought she was moving to Heaven! She is ready to go, but God didn’t call her yet. She has rallied and is doing better. Thank you for your prayers for my 90 yr old Mamma. Lord willing, I will be able to go visit in January.
Thank you so much for all the prayers, financial support, emails, texts and phone calls. When we hear from you it keeps us connected and we love that. We wish you a Merry Christmas as you celebrate with friends and family. We love you.
S’long for now, Adios, Tschüss!
Laurel and Paul
PS. Should you wish to make a donation, here is a link to our online donation portal. We don’t have a project set up yet for the crazy dental bills, so if you are wanting to help with that, I need to do some asking at the office to see how that can happen.
PSS. Miriam made it to Korea. She sent me this picture and said, “it’s freezing here”… her blood has adapted to the tropical Philippines already!
Related Posts
You must be logged in to post a comment.