Have you ever
gone a long time without riding a bicycle and thought to yourself that it may
not be possible to do so again? Then the next thing you know you are on the
bicycle, peddling away, your mind communicating to your body without thinking
and just doing. Something similar
happened to me these past few weeks as I began flight instructing again. I had
not instructed in a very long time, but I found myself remembering and doing
things that I thought I had forgotten long ago.
Lincoln is
one of our pilots in training here in Bolivia. He has been working on his
Instrument rating and is close to his check-ride. I was asked to give him some
instruction in order to cut costs and give him real world experience at the same
time. The mission was simple; fly with him as much as possible and get him to a
point where he could master flying in the much faster airplane than he was accustomed.
We flew
several long flights in and out of the country, while I found myself in the
right seat giving orders. At first it was a bit exciting flying from the right
seat, trying to stop the airplane with no brakes on my side, and no way to
communicate with the tower due to no push to talk button. But after the initial
concerns, Lincoln got the hang of it and began doing most of the flying himself.
It got to the point where he could handle most of the flying duties with me
doing almost no coaching and I just overseeing things.
Besides the
fact that I now had a co-pilot, which is very handy in many aspects, I kind of
enjoyed doing my old job. It brought back plenty of memories from my teaching
days. It also made me realize that sometimes we can help others with talents we
don’t normally use. Isn’t helping others what mission work is all about? Being
available to help others in ways that you least expect can be just as rewarding
in my opinion.
While all the
flying keeps one busy, there has come up another duty among GMI missionaries.
This duty is prayer. Not the normal prayers we make on a daily basis, but the
intercessory type for things that are out of the ordinary. Prayers have been
ascending almost hourly for the work to grow here in Bolivia and other GMI
projects around the world. There are things happening with donors that are too
early to print, but we must keep our faith strong. Satan uses our lack of faith
to keep us bound from thinking in ways that could grow ministry and that in
turn punishes our ability to trust in Him.
We need your
prayers directed to the Lord’s work more than ever before. What we are doing as
sons and daughters of Christ, could be many times more effective if we made a
complete surrender of our talents, time, energy, and money towards the Lord’s
work. How long must we wait for his seconding coming? That depends on how long
he is willing to wait on us.
The following
I read this morning:
It was not
the will of God that Israel should wander forty years in the wilderness; He
desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan and establish them there, a
holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in because of
unbelief." Hebrews 3:19. Because of their backsliding and apostasy they
perished in the desert, and others were raised up to enter the Promised Land.
In like manner, it was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be
so long delayed and His people should remain so many years in this world of sin
and sorrow. But unbelief separated them from God. As they refused to do the
work which He had appointed them, others were raised up to proclaim the
message. In mercy to the world, Jesus delays His coming, that sinners may have
an opportunity to hear the warning and find in Him a shelter before the wrath
of God shall be poured out. {GC
458.1}
Herman Gonzalez
Chief Pilot-Bolivian Lowlands
Santa
Cruz, Bolivia
011-591-7-738-6139
http://hermanbolivia.blogspot.com
Herman
Gonzalez
Gospel Ministries International
Project Name: Bolivia Mission Aviation
874 South McDonald, TN 37353
1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842
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| My wife shopping at Abasto market for the Red Advenir kitchen. |
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| All but two duffel bags fit in the airplane on this flight. |
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| A giant walking stick, found right outside our door. |
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| Moon rise over Red Advenir |
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| Down the road from us, lomas de arena or sand dunes. |
