Miller’s Monthly

– September 2020 –

We’re leavin’ on a jet plane

In our last newsletter we reported that we had a departure date and as with most things during this time that remained true for about a week. Let me tell you the story.

We were confirmed for Africa Based Orientation (ABO) in October with a “firm” departure date. We were moving forward with our checklist of items to complete and questions to ask. As a side note in an email about our language training we learned that ABO in October had been canceled due to COVID restrictions. Is the phrase “due to COVID restrictions” getting old to anyone else? This put us back at square one in terms of departure. We sent a few inquiring emails and then sat back and waited patiently, trusting that God has everything in control. Well, that’s what we should have done. I find that most of our walk with Christ is leaning into and then fighting away from our selfish tendencies to rest more assuredly in Him. While there was anxiety about what this meant for us we strived to be prayerful and recognize that those who were making decisions about this were also dealing with a multitude of other things. A week went by and we heard from AIM AIR leadership about scheduling a zoom call. In this call we learned, or rather re-learned that we are in good hands. Not only in God’s hands but the team in Nairobi had put a lot of thought and care into navigating the best way to proceed. The decision was made that we needed to be in Nairobi sooner than the next ABO; in January, so that I (Daniel) can begin training in the Radio Base with Joe. I need to be up to speed so that I can run the shop while he is on a much needed home assignment next year. However; while they want us there early, they were also very considerate about us leaving well. With respect to that it was decided that we will keep our original departure date in October. The day after the zoom call we received news that we had airline tickets! We found out later the next week that our work visas have been approved for some time now. In a matter of 2 weeks we went from plan to no plan or even an idea, then to a new plan, and now have a finalization of a plan with tickets and visas. Praise the Lord, we keep re-learning the lesson that it really is better to wait on His timing. After-all, it is for His glory.
The Blue Ridge Mountains!Anna and I always planned to move overseas and serve in missions, even before we married. It is difficult to express the emotions behind a dream that was born in each of us individually then grew in our marriage and now 12 years later is coming to fruition with 3 kids in tow. We are excited and anxious for the days to come and extremely thankful to all our partners for serving God with your finances and prayers and helping bring us to this point. Over the years we have had friends and family members who would repeatedly ask us, “Are you still planning on going overseas?” They didn’t know it but they were partners with our ministry even then by reminding us of that vision and refocusing us on it.

Before school began we took a family trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains (see included photos). Speaking of homeschooling; we went a different direction this year. Jude is using self-directed video lessons online which works well for him. This gives Anna time to work very hands-on with Lydia. This was a much needed change for Lydia as we determined this summer that she has dyslexia.  Both kids are saying that they love school…for now.
PFO Graduation.Linville Falls on our Family trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

-Mountain Week-

In addition to helping us hone our skills as aviators, Mountain Week provided a spiritual retreat as well. Every morning in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina we would wake up to a thick fog. While we waited for the fog to clear to begin the flight day we would have a devotional time. I got a chance to fly with Ken Misiak, a pilot that I will serve with in Kenya. I included a video of him flying during mountain week. The completion of Mountain Week brought PFO to a close, graduation was August 19^th. We have remained here at JAARS so I (Daniel) can take advantage of some additional training, including an off-road motorcycle coarse and 4-wheel drive course. We will leave JAARS in the next couple of weeks and head back to the midwest to say final goodbyes to family.Mountain Week was great, here’s a quick look at the type of training that took place.Mountain Week!

The COVID effect

Back to everyone’s favorite phrase. Due to COVID we have had to remain in North Carolina longer than expected and we will be in transitional housing longer in Nairobi. These and other COVID related delay expenses have required us to use money that we had designated for our vehicle. Because of this we will be using a vehicle project to resupply and bolster funds for a vehicle in Nairobi. We are prayfully setting a goal of $10,000 into this Vehicle Project by the end of October. It was tempting to set this number lower as we know this is daunting on top of what so many have given. However, we decided to put our true needs before you, and before God and ask Him to provide for them as He has done so faithfully already. You can give directly to this project with the button below. Please feel free to reach out to us to discuss this further.

VEHICLE PROJECT

• Pray for continued health so that our departure isn’t affected.
• Pray that governmental reactions to COVID wouldn’t close the borders again so we can still fly in October.
• Pray for the kids as they say goodbye to great friends and begin another transition.
• Pray for Anna and the kids as they strive to stay on track with homeschool through these transitions.
• Pray that our additional support would be provided.
• Pray for us and our families as we say goodbye to them.

Connect with God on our behalf: