Mission Adventures

An update at last!!!

2012-01-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Wow, its been awhile since I sent out an update . . . shame on me! So what's new? Well, I started work at the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility on August 28 in the OB department, and I'm really enjoying it so far! There is so much to learn! I'm trying to soak up as much as I can from everyone, including the midwives and doctors so that when I head to PNG I'll have a lot more confidence in at least this area of nursing.

God has been so good to me since I came here! And I have to remind myself often that God is the one who brought me here and He has a special work for me to do . . . though I'm still trying to find out what it is. The needs here are huge, with a population of 180,000+ and an unemployment rate of 43% and an annual per capita income of less that $6000. This places the majority of the Navajo people below the poverty line. Drugs and alcohol, domestic violence, and many other issues are common here on the rez, but the people do not easily trust outsiders, making it difficult to reach out to them with God's love. We do have an SDA presence here on the rez, with several different mission projects taking place in Paige, AZ, Monument Valley, UT, Holbrook, AZ, and La Vida Mission in New Mexico. Even here in Chinle we have a church of sorts. We have a building at least, though in need of extensive repairs. The current 'pastor' is a police officer who really doesn't pay much attention to the church, other than to teach the Sabbath School lesson for 2 hours on Sabbath morning. The church here used to be a lot more healthy, but gradually the members began drifting away. Some of these members have been contacted and they tell us that they would still come to church if it weren't for the pastor and his wife. Wow, how sad . . . So, things need to change and I'm praying that I can be part of that change in some way. Yes, it can be lonely here, but God has provided another young lady with a missionary heart to be my friend here. She is the teacher at the little SDA school here in town, and while we don't share all the same likes and dislikes (ie. she is NOT adventurous and dislikes hiking/climbing/etc), we both wish to be used by God to reach out to those around us.

Someone may be wondering, what about your plans to fly as a mission pilot in Papua New Guinea? I have not given up on that dream. God has provided an instructor who is willing to come to Chinle to train me as soon as I have an airplane. I'm still waiting on God to provide that airplane, but it looks like we should have one soon . How soon? Well, only God knows, but I am hopeful that by the end of next month, possibly sooner, I'll be in the air. I plan on talking with the pastor who is in charge of the SDA work on the rez and finding out if I can be of service with the airplane. If there is a need, I will try and fill that need as much as possible. Not only would it give me excellent experience as a mission pilot, but it could also help God's work to progress faster here in the Navajo Nation.

One of the biggest blessings of the last four months came just a week ago when I had the opportunity to fly to Houston, TX and attend the Generation of Youth for Christ (GYC) conference. What a blessing to interact with young people from around the world who love God and want nothing more than to be used by Him! It was such an incredible blessing! The theme of the convention was "Fill Me: Our Earnest Plea" and as you can guess, studying about and praying for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the main topic. While there, I saw so many obstacles in my life that I myself have placed. These obstacles keep God from the doing the work that He wants to do in and through me, via the presence of the Holy Spirit. My prayer now is that God will give strenght and motivation to get rid of these obstacles so that He can use me in any way He wants, without self getting in the way. I pray that each one of you will also examine your own lives, identify the obstacles and then ask God to get rid of them so that together all of God's people can receive the promised rain.

Thank-you to all of you for your prayers . . . please keep praying not only for me, but also for our church and our world. Stay in close connection with heaven, for that is the only way to true and lasting happiness! The way may become dark and dangerous, but the destination is worth every sacrifice!

Blessings,

Corrie

Mission Pilot in training
Hope On Wings Foundation

Website: http://www.hopeonwings.org/
Pictures: www.picasaweb.google.com/cosample

Hepler Happenings - an update on what God is doing in my life :)

2012-01-23T01:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Its time for another update on happenings in Hepler :) For those of you who don't have time to read the whole thing, I'm going to put a list of prayer requests here at the beginning. I would really appreciate it if you would remember these during your prayer time. God is working in marvelous ways, though sometimes He works differently from what we think He should. We have a list of things we think He should do, but we are learning to leave them in His hands, since we know that He will provide what He knows we need and in His time. It is such an awesome journey learning to trust Him completely! Please join us in lifting these requests before God! The more people praying, the better!

Prayer Requests and Praises:

Small airplane for training purposes - we need a small certified (not experimental) aircraft with IFR certification to get pilots license up to Instrument rating.
Praise that my parent's house in Edgewood has sold, my brother and his wife and kids will be moving to this area, and we have what we need to finish our house, so we don't all have to live in the 1-bedroom single-wide mobile home!
Decisions - I'm struggling with a decision of whether or not to get a job as a nurse. The benefit would be that I could get my training done quicker, but it would take away an element of learning to trust God fully for every need. Please pray that if God wants me to get a job, He will make it plain to me and lead me to where He wants me.
A highly experienced mission pilot and his wife are considering the possibility of joining our team. Please pray that God's will will be done.

The sun has been shining here in Hepler, and Spring is definitely here! The trees are leafing out and the grass is green and growing! Last week I spent most of my time working outside, picking up construction debris that the wind had blown all over the place and then mowing the lawn. On Thursday of last week I got some of the garden planted, but the the worst thunderstorm we have had blew in that night and uncovered some of the seeds. There are signs of growth, though, so I don't think it damaged the garden too badly. That was quite a storm! As we were sitting here in the house, the wind sounded like a freight train and it was so dark it looked like the sun was completely down, even though it was only about 7:15 in the evening. Our mobile home really shuddered and moaned in the 60+ mph wind, but its anchored firmly to rock :) Reminds me of how we are to be anchored firmly to our Rock, Jesus, and when the winds blow, we may shudder and groan, but we cannot be moved!

Towards the end of last week, my parent's home in Edgewood, NM finally sold! My brother and his wife have been living in it, so now they are planning on moving here to Hepler. Ray is very involved with Hope On Wings as well, so it will be very nice to have him nearby. They are planning on moving into the mobile home we are currently living in, so now there is a flurry of activity to get our house at least campable. The water line just got hooked up yesterday, so in the next couple of days we will have a working shower, toilet, and kitchen sink :) There is so much that needs to be done, but only 7 work days left before Dad heads down to NM to help Ray and Crystal move. The last few days have been filled with hanging sheetrock, taping, and mudding . . . I'll be glad when we can move on to the painting!

Wow, I have now typed three or four paragraphs and then deleted every one of them! There is a lot on my mind and heart and I'm not sure how to share it! The past couple of months have been difficult ones and yet awesome ones! I have had more time to spend with God, and the more I look to Him the more pitiful I see myself to be. I say that I wouldn't choose to serve any other God, but then I look at my life more closely, and realize that self still sits on the throne more often than not . . . and then I get so frustrated because once again I have neglected to give God the controls. He wants ALL of me, not just what it is convenient to give. Its so simple, and yet so hard. But His character MUST be reproduced in me, otherwise He won't recognize me when He comes to take His children home. So now is the time for me to learn these things. I really believe that He has given me this time in order to teach me how to fully surrender so that He can use me. Even though it seems that nothing is going the way I think it should . . . we still have no airplane, no flight instructor, and no funding to remedy either of those problems. I work everyday outside doing things that don't seem to have any relation to being a mission pilot. And yet, every problem that comes my way, every failure, every success, is part of my training. Learning how to lean on God, to give up my perceived right to defend myself, to blend my desires with God's desires, to separate myself from the world, and how to allow God to change me into someone He can use. I don't want anything blocking Him from living in me.

Anyhow, I don't want to ramble on for too long, lol :) However, I do want to share one Bible verse with you that I discovered not too long ago. Its found in Ezequiel 24:25.

And you, son of man, will it not be in the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters.

Strongholds - everything that I put my trust in (such as training, jobs, money, other people, etc)

My joy and glory - pride, selfishness, looks, intelligence . . . everything that I love more than him.

The desire of my eyes - things I value more than God, or things I do instead of spending time with God . . . could be spouse, books, pleasure, movies

That on which I set my mind - what I think about

God wants to take away all of these things so that He may become my stronghold. He wants to be my joy and glory and the desire of my eyes. And He desires that I set my mind to thinking about Him. Wow. He wants to be absolutely everything to me! He will strip away everything else, all of my security attempts to conform to the world, in order to become the central and leading figure in my life. It can be a painful journey, and I may not understand why He asks me to give up some of the things He wants me to, but it is the only way. What an AWESOME God we serve!

In His service,

Corrie

Our Mandate

God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24

Click on this link to read this and past newsletters on the website. http://HopeOnWings.org/news.html

Click Here to make tax deductible donation online This is where you can easily set up an automatic $10 or more monthly deduction from your account or do a one time donation of any size.

OR....

Send tax deductible donations by check payable to:

Hope On Wings Foundation
PO BOX 122
Hepler, KS 66746

Hope on Wings Foundation is a tax exempt 501C3 organization.

--
Corrie Sample

Mission Pilot in Training

Hope on Wings Foundation

PO BOX 122 Hepler, KS 66746

Website: http://hopeonwings.org
Blog: http://corrie5boom.blogspot.com
Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/cosample

Ok, and now on to a little more detail :)

A Blustery Day

2011-03-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can hardly believe that is March 9 already! The wind is blowing outside, the sky is overcast, but we are warm and cozy inside with the fireplace burning brightly in our house, and God's love burning brightly in our hearts :)

So, what have I been up to?? No good, I'm sure someone might say . . . lol. Mainly I have been outside working on the construction project, though at times I come inside and do bookkeeping on the computer. So much as been accomplished on the hangar and homes over the past few weeks that they hardly look like the same places! God is so good!

This morning I worked out in the house part of the construction, mudding the sheetrock that got put up a little while back. I love playing in the mud! And now I'm obviously inside . . . typing this. I'm also working towards contacting the pastors of churches in this area and letting them know that I'm available to come and share mission experiences at their churches. We'll see if I get any response from the emails I've sent out . . . I absolutely LOVE sharing what God is doing, but finding places to share is a challenge for me. But, it is part of my responsibility, therefore I need to just get busy and do it! Praise God that He promises to give the strength!

Most recent - Rainbows of Promise

2011-03-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

A quick note before the letter I wrote back at the house. When I got down to the office here and connected to the Internet, I was so pleased to feel the waves of love from the home base. The donations are coming in. I have not had a chance to check on prices yet but I don't doubt for a minute that God is going to provide the exact amount we need. At the very least, Rose will travel by plane even if I need to take the luggage on the ship. I don't mind the ship and have survived it before. THANK YOU!

I apologize for the errors in the last email. I was embarrassed as I looked at the grammar and spelling mistakes when the email showed up in my inbox. I had to rush things a bit and didn't do my usual proof reading.

Dr. Rose slept all day yesterday while I went to town to take care of faxing some paperwork over to Madang regarding our planned series over there and send the email to everyone. She was feeling a bit better by evening and God strengthened her to speak. Again this morning she was strengthened. It is really obvious that without God's strength she could not stand and preach with such power.

This morning's meeting was about the significance of the rainbow. She talked about how the covering that made the ceiling of the tabernacle was the color of the rainbow and it reflected on the gold side walls. I learned that God has instructed us through the Spirit of Prophecy that whenever we teach the ten commandments we must teach about the rainbow as well. God's throne where the law is kept is encircled by a rainbow symbolizing His mercy. The law is about justice and the rainbow is about mercy. We are also told that the angels rejoice every time they see the rainbow because it is the symbol of the promise of salvation (covenant) which centers around His justice and mercy.

The people were visibly moved as Rose talked about the many times God has answered her and encouraged her through the rainbow. By the end of the meeting everyone was expectantly looking to the west for God's sign that He was with them. He did not disappoint them. Just as we began singing the song for the alter call (I have decided to follow Jesus) a faint rainbow began to shimmer in the early morning light. As we continued to sing it got stronger and stronger. The part that impressed me was that they were the first to see it and point it out. They were expectantly waiting for it. It continued to be visible through the quiz time up to the closing prayer. The part I liked was that we did not have to deal with rain. The cloud went on its way without giving us any rain.

It seems that God is working on some hearts here. Some have asked me how they can help Hope On Wings. They are quite proud that they assisted in raising the money for the plane that was purchased from the 13th Sabbath offering in 2008. They have also asked how they might help us with funds to go on to Madang. We can see God is really working and they are caring for us with tender love. They are very happy that I can come and sit down with them and help them to understand Dr. Rose's needs. Today I helped them understand how they could cut the fruits without contaminating them. Dr. Rose is really sensitive to any germs from the water or surrounding environment. They are eager to learn. They even brought breakfast for her this morning at 4am! Now that is love!

So far I have been blessed with good health other than a bit of a sore throat that responded well to eating raw Noni Fruit that grows naturally here. Not the best tasting stuff but it gives immediate relief to the pain of a sore throat.

One way God is stretching our money is that we have not had to pay for anything here. Even the fax I needed to send yesterday was paid for by the local governor who is one of the elders of the Vanimo Town Church. It just may be that God wants them to participate in this and that is why we had to arrive here with only $60 in our hands besides the US money I could not get exchanged because it was too old.

Unfortunately it is not mango season. I see well developed mangos hanging from the trees but they won't be ripe till after we leave. We have to settle for unlimited fresh pineapple and papaya. Well maybe not unlimited but we haven't run out yet.

One way that I suggested that they help Hope On Wings was to campaign for the money to finish paying for our property here at the airport so someone else doesn't get it before we get the money to finish paying for it. The need there is for about $5500 to $6000 depending on the exchange rate when we make the final payment. Business is beginning to pick up here in Vanimo and we will not be able to delay much longer if we want to keep our initial investment.

I am so eager to get out into the bush where the real needs are. I don't know if that will be possible on this trip. I was so hoping. Maybe I will get someone to drive me to Bewani for an overnight if Rose can spare me. There is land there that has been given to the mission for a laymen training school. The landowner who gave the land is a member of the Vanimo town church. She is a precious little widow who is now the head deaconess here. What a beautiful servant heart she has! Yesterday she asked if she could enter the sanctuary to clean the floors. I didn't know so I asked Dr. Rose and her eyes lit right up as she said "absolutely!"

I would like to get pictures. I made the mistake of leaving my camera battery charger and spare battery at home so I will only get what I can take with the one battery. It should be several hundred pictures but I am very careful what I take.

It is really fun to talk with leaders here. They get a real kick out of it when I can name all the villages up the Sepik River in their territory. Most have never been into the interior so they like to "see it" through my eyes. When I asked in church if anyone would go to work as a volunteer missionary in the bush, one lady quickly raised her hand. She was on the trip I mentioned that Silas took to Green River and is quite a little missionary. Her name is Florence. I'll be sure to get pictures of her. She is also the one that wrote the welcome song for us.

The need for the little bush plane is so obvious when I am here and the people are really excited about the potential. The District Director doesn't get to very many of his churches in one year. They are just too inaccessible and spread out. I believe the time has come and we will need to move quickly if we want to be a part of what God is going to do in this corner of the world. It is an inestimable privilege to be a part of this and will greatly strengthen the faith of each of us who participate. If we hesitate others will move forward and take our place. God will not let these people go without being warned of His soon coming. The one thing that shows God's love and touches lives the most is a healing ministry accompanied by sharing personal testimony of what God has done for us. The very thing that Jesus demonstrated with his life.

I love the promise that those who send will enjoy the same rewards as those who go. There needs to be so much more sending! Dr. Rose was talking this morning about a sermon she heard about needing to THROW more missionaries into the field. The idea was that there is so much more need we need to be putting all our strength and resources into this work to finish God's work of warning the whole world of the soon to be closed door of mercy.

Thanks so much for the part you play in making this work in Papua New Guinea possible. This piece of real estate has more "tongues" per square mile than any other in the world and many do not have anyone who knows the special message we share. It is way past time for Laodicea to wake up don't you think?

Keep praying! God has shown Himself and I saw it with my own eyes this morning in the promised rainbow at the exact time in the program it was expected by Dr. Rose.

In His service,

Jack Sample

Director

Hope On Wings Foundation

P.S. We don't want to forget our needs on the home front. We are about a month behind on expenses there. We are so much in need of getting the BushKing kit as soon as it is available. They are waiting for us here!

Visit our website at http://hopeonwings.org/ to give online or send check to...

Hope On Wings

PO BOX 122

Hepler, KS 66746

updates from Dad while traveling to PNG - Part 3

2011-03-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

March 6 - In Vanimo, PNG Vanimo updates - God is working!!!!!

At last we have Internet in Vanimo. Thanks to the District Governor who is an elder in the Vanimo church, I am able to get this message out.

We are certainly well rewarded for our persistence in coming. It was not an easy road. Starting with the canceled flight in Kansas City, I knew full well that the enemy was doing what he could to prevent our travels and the accomplishment of the presentation of the simple gospel through the model of the sanctuary. My sister, Dr. Rose, thought she had succeeded in checking her bags all the way through to Port Moresby but I wasn't so sure as each time I tried, they told me it was impossible to get past Sydney without claiming our bags and re-checking them after going through customs. In Australia, the International terminals are usually quite a distance from the domestic terminals and they have no way to stay on the secure side in the transit. I had claimed my bag and we were about to head over to the domestic terminal when we both felt impressed to go check and see if her bags were stashed in some room because we had not claimed them. Sure enough, there they were and the challenges began. We had 7 bags to transport, each weighing the full 70 lbs. They required us to take them to the transit bus and then after arriving at the terminal, we had to get them in to the check-in desk. Problem number 2 came up when they hear our flight was not leaving till 7am the next morning. We were politely told in no uncertain terms that we could not check them in till morning and we could not stay in the terminal. So we had to find a hotel and a taxi big enough for all our luggage. It required a minivan or station wagon. Well, we were still hoping that since Rose had checked the bags all the way to Port Moresby that all funds for the excess baggage that she paid in Spokane would cover us all the way to Port Moresby. At 4am the next morning, the taxi picked us up and off we went for the next step in our adventure. Sure enough, they told us that we had to pay another $800 to get the luggage from Sydney to Port Moresby. I tried to go get money changed but they were closed that early in the morning. Thankfully, I had noticed that two donations had come in that would cover this expense but I had to get them into an account that I had a card for. With a quick call to my daughter Corrie, we were able to spread the charges over two cards and off we went.

Our stopover in Brisbane was where we made the transition back to the International terminal. Unfortunately one of the security guards was having a bad day and decided to make an example of Dr. Rose. He weighed her carryon bag and got all excited about how heavy it was. With his insistence the counter clerks charged her the maximum and when she tried to ask for lenience, they just laughed and told her to throw the bag away. It was quite the satan party and it was a real challenge for Dr. Rose's sensitive nature. Several standing around joined in and it was a scene that has not often been seen among those who serve in the travel industry. We began to realize that someone was trembling when he found that this program was going to be presented in Papua New Guinea and he was pulling out all the stops to keep it from happening. The cost to get that one bag just from Brisbane to Port Moresby was over $250.00 bringing the total expense for excess to well over $1750 from Spokane to Port Moresby. I hated to think what I would face when checking in from Vanimo to Port Moresby. I had thought that the money I was carrying would be there to provide for our trip from Vanimo to Madang and back to Port Moresby but I was beginning to see that my faith was going to be severely tested. My temptation was to hang on to the money I had planned for the return but I felt impressed that God wanted me to experience the level of faith that required that I spend all to get there and let him handle the return.

At last we boarded the plane for Port Moresby. I tried to comfort Rose by telling here that the welcome we would receive in PNG was well worth all the troubles so far. Thankfully, we had at least one thing to be very thankful for. The customs officials in Sydney allowed us to keep the food we had in our carry-on bags! When we arrived in Port Moresby, we were again fortunate in that they let us keep our food and when I told them why we were there, they quickly ushered us through. As soon as I stepped through the door into the main room and looked outside, there was my good friend Bob Wagi and I knew our troubles were over the the tie being. I was not disappointed in the warm welcome of one of the closest friends of our family.

During our stay with Bob at his home on the campus of Mount Diamond Adventist High School we had many good experiences. Rose spoke twice and many came forward to dedicate their lives to Jesus. I went to town to exchange my US dollars to Kina and found out that they would not take any bills older than 2003 or so. So now I had to face the fact that the money I still did have was only half as useful as I thought it would be. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what was in my pocket but I knew it was in the neighborhood of K1200.00 and I was concerned that it would take more than that to get the bags the rest of the way.

Friday morning we got to the airport early enough to be first in line with our mountain of luggage. You can imagine the looks we got as we pushed our carts piled high with bags up to the counter. The girl checking us in was not a happy person that morning and I knew we wouldn't get much mercy from her. The man helping her was trying to convince her to find a way to cut the costs but finally she gave us a piece of paper to take to the excess baggage counter to pay for it. I stepped up to the counter and hander the paper over to her and waited to see what the Lord would do. She played with her calculator for a while, each time wincing when she saw the total. Finally she told me, "That will be one thousand five hundred fifty five Kina." God gave me a peaceful calm as I replied, "I don't think I have that much but lets see..." as I pulled the wad of money out of my pocket. I started counting it out and, much to my surprise, I had exactly K1552.00. I said, "Praise the Lord! I still have 2 Kina for him to multiply!" I had taken some time to talk this over with the Lord and had come to the conclusion that I needed to be willing to spend all that I had to get us there and watch to see what God would do. I have never done this before and have often had some interesting thoughts when watching my sister do this repeatedly when she travels.

So, with all the mountain of luggage on board we boarded the plane for our final destination. I wondered what kind of welcome we would receive. My brother Silas had told me he wouldn't be able to be there because he still needed to work on the preparations in Madang. Believe me, I was not in the least disappointed! Many of my friends from the Vanimo Town church were there to greet me and they took us to a beautiful guest house on the hill overlooking the sea. They planned to clean up the pastors house and have us stay by the church but had not been able to get it done in time so they had paid for two nights in this guest house.

Work went into full swing for setting up the sanctuary and we got it partially assembled for the Sabbath. Our first meeting was Friday night and I hadn't even had a chance to get a shower. They had a welcome planned for us during the first part of the program. They had Rose and I come up and they sang a song of welcome that one of the church members had written the words for. The words repeatedly talked about Jack and Dr. Rose and the words from God we were bringing and how they hoped to get a spiritual feast from them. It was really touching and both of us were crying. Neither of us have ever experienced anything like it and we hope to get them to do it again so we can record it for any time in the future when we might get discouraged.

Yesterday on Sabbath we had the opportunity to do 4 meetings and today we started at 5:30 am with the first one for today. They everybody sprung into action with finishing the sanctuary set-up and fixing up the house for us. I am writing this as they are all doing this work. We are eating very well and apparently they are not expecting us to pay for the guest house they got for our first two days. We feel like royalty. Better yet, we feel like family. There is such a genuine love given freely to us. There have been nine so far that have come up to express interest in baptism. The meetings are very powerful in their simplicity and I am getting many comments from my friends that they have never heard anything like this even though they have studied the Sanctuary many times. They are thrilled.

I also got to speak with a lady that was actually on the trip that Silas took to Green River that I often talk about. I found that the actual journey they took was different than I imagined. Instead of going by ship to Wewak and then to the Sepik and up to Green, they actually went by road into the bush until they got to the head waters of one of the tributaries of the Sepik. They went down this river until they got to the Sepik at a village that I have visited several times when I lived in Tipas. There are more stories surrounding this trip that will be fun to share in the future. The story I told about the branch of a tree that broke against Silas' back is even more interesting than I had heard. The 6 inch limb actually shattered into several pieces when it hit him and it was indeed a fresh living branch. He had no bruises and seem quite unconcerned according to those traveling with him. It reminds me of Paul when the snake bit him and he just shook it off. I will take great pains to get the full details of all of this trip when I am with Silas later. He has not come to Vanimo because he has to get everything set up for our meetings in Madang.

I think I will be going down to the town tomorrow to see what kind of costs we might be facing to go from here to Madang for our next series. We believe God will provide but we must be truthful. We do not have enough money or even access to enough money to pay for the next leg of our journey. I personally believe God has probably already provided for this but I have not had a chance to check any email or accounts since last Wednesday while we were still in Australia. I am hoping to go to one of the elder's houses here to get on and send this email. Hopefully at that time I will also place a phone call or two to family to see if there are funds to move on.

If God should impress on you to assist, there is a way to send us money that will be immediately available and spendable here. You can send a moneygram from http://MoneyGram.com or at one of the many places such as Walmart where a moneygram can be sent from. Just tell them it is to go to Vanimo, Papua New Guinea to be picked up by Steven Jack Sample. Secret question is "Father's Middle Name" Answer: "Russell" Please send email to me, Elana (elanamay1981@yahoo.com) and to Corrie (cosample@gmail.com) if you send money as there is no other way I will know to go and check. The moneygram is very fast and will be available to us both here in Vanimo and in Madang at a WesPac bank office.

At this time I do not know what it will cost. We need to pay for excess baggage to Madang plus get our own travel tickets. Then after the meetings there, we will need to get transport to Port Moresby where we have our return tickets in hand. There will still be excess on the way home but not as much. We have discussed the option of going by ship but I would hate to put Dr. Rose through that. I have personally spent a couple of nights on one of these coastal ships and it is the most difficult travel in PNG if you want to stay healthy. There is smoking on board and the smell of the diesel exhaust mixed with smoking as well as the movement of the ship will take out all but the strongest traveler. We can't afford for Dr. Rose to have to travel this way. It may be that I can go with the luggage on the ship and she can go by airplane. It all depends on how God provides. The ship is a monthly schedule and it just so happens that it is scheduled for the trip from Vanimo to Madang on the exact days we have planned to travel and the same dates we could go by airplane.

Just a quick update on Monday, March 7 before heading for town. We have had a total of 9 meetings so far and God's Spirit is working. There is a solid core group who come. Prayers are needed for the various churches in the area who may have some jealousy as to which church should have hosted the meetings. The District Director finally came to a meeting last night and I got a good picture of what has been going on. It was great to find that the new District Director is the little brother of another of my best friends in PNG, David Kumbere. David has also claimed me as a brother so the District Director is a brother of mine as well. Also prayers are needed for the required approvals for the series in Madang. So far the enemy has blocked every attempt to fax the required papers to Madang. I will be going to try again this morning and am probably doing this work as this message lands in your email box if all goes as planned.

Also Rose is feeling a bit of fever this morning. Her eating schedule is very difficult for the people here and they are still learning. They are so loving and so willing but it has taken time to get the understanding across. They now I am just one of them and there is no worries that I will get plenty to eat but Dr. Rose has specific requirements for the time she needs to eat and it can sometimes be very difficult to meet and still get to attend the meetings. They do not want to miss the meetings. Their love is overwhelming and we are so blessed. We are now in the home by the church that is normally for the pastor. They don't have a pastor right now so the house was empty. It is very handy to be only 75 feet from the church. I am hearing the ladies outside talking about the meetings and how to take care of dr. Rose. They are so wonderful. It is like I am home. I can't wait till I can share this family with my wife and eventually my daughter as we begin our work here. The need is so great. I am praying God will provide for the airplanes and pilots very quickly and we can make our offensive for the Lord to reach all of the people in the bush area of this district. The District Director is really excited about what we hope to do for them.

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! I am at the office of the District Administrator, one of the elders of the Vanimo Church. He has helped us greatly by transporting us wherever we need to go. He is allowing me to use his Internet this morning. He just told me that he is very deeply impressed by the meetings. He was weeping this morning when listening to the stories Rose was telling about the times she has seen God's evidence of being close through the pillars of fire and cloud. He just told me that the men here don't usually cry but he could not help himself this morning during the service. It is easy to see by several indications that the enemy really wants to stop these meetings. He tried to keep us from getting here and he is trying his best to interfere now. Dr. Rose is feeling sick this morning and is currently sleeping as I do the work of finding a place to send our messaged and see what we can arrange for travel to Madang. Thanks for your prayers!

In His Service,

Jack Sample

updates from Dad while traveling to PNG - part 2

2011-03-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

March 2, 2011 (In Australia) - Unexpected's before getting to the land of the unexpected!
Just a quick note saying thanks for the fantastic prayer and financial support. We can feel the prayers on our behalf. Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare and we ended up having to transport the luggage that Larose thought was checked through to Port Moresby. This was quite difficult as there is over 400 lbs including the sanctuary model and God-Pods, bibles, medicine and much more.

Actually it was God's impression that caused us to check the room where luggage that is not claimed is held to seem if per chance her bags did not go on as we thought they would. Sure enough, there they were waiting for someone to claim them. If we had not been impressed to check, we would have arrived in PNG with no hope of all the items God had provided making it there with us. We had quite the fun trying to load all those bags on a cart that would make it so we could move down the corridors with everything in tow. We had to take a bus with all that luggage over to the domestic terminal and then transport it all inside to the desk only to be told they would not check it till the next morning since our flight was not going out till this morning.
They would not allow us to stay in the airport overnight so we were forced to hire a taxi to transport us and our mountain of luggage to a nearby hotel. This morning we were faced with an unexpected $720 in australian dollars to get the luggage on to Port Moresby. The money exchange was not open and I didn't have enough on my cards so a quick call to my daughter was necessary.

The part that humbles me in all this is the so far, God has provided exactly what we have needed through unexpected donations in the last two days.
We are in great spirits only because we are in "The Spirit." God is blessing us and it has been a delight to be a part of this. I am so thankful I pulled out all the stops to make sure I was on this leg of the journey with Rose and not following her later. I frankly can't imagine how she goes on these journeys by herself. I am learning a lot!
My heart is overflowing as I realize that in less than an hour I will be boarding for the next to the last leg. A quick drop into Brisbane where we do NOT need to handle the checked baggage and then on to Port Moresby where I believe we will be met by a great welcoming committee of Bob Wagi and friends. That will be WONDERFUL!

If God impresses you that we will be needing more before we get though with this journey, the quickest way to make it available is to use our online option. You can send by check however because there are other designated funds that we can use if we know the replacement funds are on their way. Just email cosample@gmail.com (my daughter) and let her know it is on its way so she can transfer the funds to an account we have access to on the road.
Papua New Guinea is called the "land of the unexpected" for good reason, but I sure didn't expect the "unexpecteds" to start before we even got there. :)

Under Orders in His service,
Jack Sample
Director
Hope On Wings Foundation
620-670-4475

Our Mandate
God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24

updates from Dad while traveling to PNG part 1

2011-03-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,
My Dad just left a week ago for Papua New Guinea. He will be there for the entire month of March, working with my Aunt Larose who will be presenting two 'Follow the Lamb' Seminars. These seminars are evangelistic meetings that share the gospel through the symbolism of the Old Testament Sanctuary. The next couple of emails are ones that he sent from airports along the way, as well as two from the destination. I didn't expect him to be able to communicate with us, since internet access there is sketchy at best, but we have been blessed to receive these. I hope you will enjoy as he shares some of the blessings and lessons in faith he has experienced along the way so far!

March 1, 2011 (In Australia) - Sitting in Sydney on the way to PNG
I wrote this note while flying from Kansas City to Los Angeles yesterday and wanted to share it with you. Currently my sister Larose and I are comfortably resting in the International Terminal in Sydney. Our flight out isn't until 7:00 am in the morning so we are planning to hang out here over night if we can since we don't have funds for hotels.

Here is my note...
When traveling on God's journeys, one often meets with unexpected delays and interruptions. Often these become more than minor inconveniences when the interruption threatens to sabotage the entire trip. This was the case on Sunday, February 27 when I was to begin my journey to Papua New Guinea for the planned evangelism with my sister Dr. Rose.

During the previous night the fog rolled in and when I arose at 5:30am I noticed that the drive up to Kansas City was not going to be the pleasant one I had hoped for. The plan was to leave the house at 8:00 am for the 2.5 hour drive to the Kansas City Airport to allow plenty of time to prepare for my 12:10pm departure to Los Angeles via Minneapolis - St. Paul.

I figured there would be no problem with flight delays due to the mid-day departure. Everyone knows the fog lifts by noon under normal conditions. Well after going through all the routines of getting the boarding pass, checking the bags and security clearance, I began the wait, anxiously watching out the window for some sign the fog would lift. I began hearing announcements for other flights that were delayed, or even worse, canceled. Still, with undaunted faith, I waited for the fog to lift before my flight time came. Surely God planned for me to be on that plane after He had provided the funds for the non-refundable tickets didn't He?

I called family members and posted on Facebook and shared the need for prayer. Many were praying that God's will would be done and sure enough, it was! The fog did NOT lift! "What?" You say. "I thought you were going to say that you saw a miracle and the fog lifted just in time for your plane to slip down and land so every thing would be just exactly the way you hoped for.

So what do you do when the miracle you hope for does not materialize and you have to make major changes to your plans? I called the Delta agents and they said they could get me on a flight the next day and on to Sydney a day later, but it arrived 1 hour and 40 minutes after my connecting flight on to Port Moresby so that wouldn't do. With a little walking, I checked at the SouthWest ticket counter and was able to get on a non-stop flight to LA that arrived 3 hours before my outgoing flight to Sydney. Yes, it cost an extra $475 but God had already impressed someone's heart to send a $500 gift just a couple of days before heading out.

I had planned to use that $500 in PNG for the many needs there, but God knew I would need it even before I got started. So back to the question... How do we handle situations where it seems that God does not answer prayers the way we hope He will. For me, it is simple. I have to realize that it just isn't about me! I am not even close to the most important person in God's master plan that would make it so that everything has to go the way I plan for it to go. Is there a divine appointment God has for me on this plane? I don't know and maybe never will. I am simply at peace with the fact that God is in control of my life and even if I had been unable to make it to LA on time to travel with my sister, that is ok.

For me, the important thing is to ask God to give me the peace and contentment of knowing that at all times, He is in control of my life. I want to make a point to be encouraging, affirming, kind and gracious to all who are around me in a situation like this. The ticket agents, gate agents and all who make it their job to make travel by air as comfortable and hassle free as possible. I would not want to be in their shoes on a day like today.

I am writing this as the plane wings high over the darkened landscape. In an hour or so, we will be descending into Los Angeles and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me there. There is nothing quite like being on His mission!
***************
Back to the present. Thank you so much for your prayers. It means so much to Larose and I to know you are holding us up in prayer. Tomorrow I get to be welcomed to my favorite country by one of my favorite friends and it doesn't get much better than that.
I do not know when I will be able to get another note out as Internet connections in Vanimo are minimal and last time I was there I could not get out at all.
Sincerely,

Jack Sample
Director
Hope On Wings Foundation
620-670-4475
Our Mandate
God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24

a challenge

2011-03-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today has been rainy, windy, and downright cold, so I thought I would take the opportunity to sit inside by the woodstove and write.

The construction projects are really moving forward rapidly. I'm really enjoying the work, which is just one more opportunity to learn something new :). However, life is not without challenges. One of the biggest challenges that I'm facing right now, is how to find the churches that would love to have a mission presentation. Part of my job description is to go around to churches and share the story about what God is doing, which I LOVE doing! But finding places where I can do that is challenging for me. If any of you can help me out with that, let me know! Thanks! I'm so excited to see how God is moving.

Blessings,

Corrie Sample

Mission Pilot in Training

Hope on Wings Foundation

PO BOX 122 Hepler, KS 66746

Website: http://hopeonwings.org
Blog: http://corrie5boom.blogspot.com
Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/cosample

February Update

2011-02-20T15:28:00.001-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, what a month! It's not quite over yet, but February has already been full to overflowing with activity! The first week found me driving from Placerville, CA to Pueblo, CO in my van fully loaded with everything I own. The poor vehicle was sitting very low on its haunches and found it difficult to climb over mountains, but God's angels were with me and I made it safely. I spent nearly two weeks in Pueblo, visiting with friends and sharing mission stories and pictures in church and in various homes. It is such a blessing to share what God is doing in my life, because then others are drawn out and start sharing what He is doing in their lives as well. This results in a praise session as we realize just how much God has blessed!

One week ago today, I completed the last leg of my journey, arriving home in Hepler, KS around 7p last Sunday. God blessed us with a week of warmer weather, some days nearly reaching 70 degrees! As a result, we spent the majority of every day working outside on the construction project. But my favorite part of the day is the evening. Once we are cleaned up and sitting around relaxing, Dad sometimes goes over various flight concepts. I love it when I have one-on-one with a teacher instead of having a bunch of classmates! I'm able to ask questions and clarify concepts until they are clear in my mind, which helps me to remember them later. But at 8:00p our activity stops. We gather in the living room and then pray and read together for family worship. What a way to end a day! The day begins with personal prayer and devotions and then ends with the family coming together and praying, reading, and discussing spiritual things. It is such a blessing!

So for now, the days are filled with construction work and my evenings are filled with ground school and family time. One week from today, my Dad will be heading to Papua New Guinea for one month. He is going with my aunt Larose McCluskey, who will be doing two 'Follow the Lamb' seminars in two coastal cities. I would have loved to have gone with them, but God did not see fit to provide for my tickets and I'm needed here at the home base for now.

Thanks so much to each one of you for your prayers. It is your prayers that are making any of this possible, because they give God permission to act in our behalf. I have seen Him working in so many ways, both in my personal life as well as for Hope On Wings Foundation.

--
Corrie Sample

Mission Pilot in Training

Hope on Wings Foundation

PO BOX 122 Hepler, KS 66746

http://cosample.hopeonwings.org

Upcoming Trip to Papua New Guinea

2011-02-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Prayer Partner, February 15, 2011

We are enjoying some warmer weather and the mounds of snow are rapidly disappearing. It is nice not to have to fight freezing water pipes and leaky windows during nights that are now staying above freezing! The two weeks of staying inside has allowed me to do some major reworking of our website. I think you will find it to be a refreshing change. There are still a few pages that will say "under construction" but you will find much more information than was on the old site. Go have a look... http://HopeOnWings.org

It is nice that Corrie has arrived and will be joining our team of hard working volunteers. Also we are expecting Blaine Robison to arrive mid week to lend a helping hand for a couple of weeks. It is such encouragement when God sends us mission minded helpers to make the work go faster.

There has been progress on the Kitfox project. The engine mount is finished at last and will be in our hands along with the engine just before I get back from Papua New Guinea at the end of March.

God has seen fit to provide for my travel tickets and I will be in Papua New Guinea for the month of March. I will be accompanying my sister, Dr. Larose McCluskey as she will be sharing two "Follow The Lamb" seminars, one in Vanimo and one in Madang. My brother Silas Morgan has made the arrangements and will host us while we are there.

This news note is specifically to ask for your prayers for the success of this trip. The truths as illustrated in the Sanctuary are especially powerful in demonstrating the plan of salvation and God's amazing love. The enemy does all he can to prevent those who need to hear it from being there and if possible to stop the very meetings from happening. Please pray that God's Spirit will be poured out and that we will be fit representatives of His Kingdom.

There are many needs yet that would make this trip more of a blessing to the people. We are taking as many "GodPods" (Mp3 players with Bible recorded for those who are unable to read or see) in the local language as we can. Also we have cassettes and are taking little cassette players from yesteryear to give as gifts and rewards at the children's meetings. The cassettes have Bible stories and the like. If you have an old walkman that you just haven't been able to throw away... now you know why. If you send it to us we will take it along for this great work.

While in PNG, I will be looking into the property I put half down on when there in 2007 and assessing what it will take to bring it up to a useable status. I believe that we can finish paying for it for somewhere between $5000 and $6000. This is about a one acre field with a metal clad building right on the airport in Vanimo. It will be invaluable for storing our fuel and other items needed for the aviation program there. It would be nice to be able to finish paying for it while there next month.

Another side trip I hope to take while in Vanimo is a short hop into the bush to visit the Green River area where Silas began the work and the people are waiting for a missionary to come and assist them in establishing a church. A generous donor here in the States and others in Australia have taken an interest in the project and another good friend of mine, Gideon Apen, has answered the call to go and do this work. I hope to travel with Silas and Gideon when this work begins. I believe the launch of this project is scheduled to be when we are there.

If you are interested in assisting with any aspect of this trip, please mark your gifts "PNG-March-2011"

I am humbled when I realize that God touched the heart of a young couple with two small children that has a very small income to give the money for my tickets. I recognize the sacrifice that makes this mission possible and my pledge is that I will do all in the strength God gives me to be sure the money is well spent. I receive such a blessing when I see people respond to God's prompting and willingly give of the means He has entrusted them with.

There has been good news on the BushKing front as well. Chris tells me that their first kit for the U.S. has already been shipped and they will soon be in full swing on the first one. As soon as that is done, we will be invited to join them for building the succeeding kits with the South African designer and builder who will be in the States to train the U.S. builders. Chris has taken a real interest in our project and this is a tremendous offer. Please pray that funds will be in place to take advantage of this. I have seen God working in so many ways to forge the relationship with BushKing and the owner, even though he does not profess Christianity, has commented over and over that things are going so much more smoothly than expected. I told him that with hundreds of our prayer supporters praying for the success of this project, He could expect to see some amazing things happening as God blesses this little airplane project!

The next miracle we are praying for is that God will touch the hearts of 2 individuals who are flight instructors and airplane mechanics with the inspector rating to join our team. One which will end up as our check pilot and trainer in PNG and the other that will remain in Hepler Kansas to train our future mission pilots. It is not easy for anyone with this level of skill and experience to turn it all over to God and step out in faith on a journey like this. Please join us in prayer that God will find these team members for us. We are not doing the searching but allowing God to bring them to us.

This week, the chimney and rock work for the wood stove corner in our little house by the hangar will be done. The weather is finally warm enough to work on masonry. You can't do masonry if it is going to freeze before it is set up. Once that is done and we can heat the place we can begin doing some sheetrock work. Our hope is to make the place so we can at least camp in it by April so Ray and Crystal can get moved over here.

Once I get back from PNG, we will be going into full swing towards finishing the Kitfox and getting it in the air. It would be wonderful if a fiberglass specialist would come give us a hand in developing the cowling as that will be our most challenging work during the final phase. Chris Visage' from BushKing plans to come out and do a thorough check on our work before we take to the air. He also wants pictures so he can promote his engine kit for the Kitfox. He has really been helpful during this whole process.

For anyone wishing to lend a hand this Spring, here are some of the projects that are on the to-do list:

Get the airstrip widened and prepared and grass planted.
Finish gutting out office building, wire and plumb and sheetrock and finish.
insulating hangar and install interior walling.
build large horizontal bi-fold hangar door and install
install 12 foot roll up door.
finish house
Finish Kitfox and begin flight testing
General clean-up and finishing a bunch of small projects that have been started but not finished.
And there will be mowing and smoothing ground and other such grounds work. Landscaping and more.

Bring a tent or RV and camp right here on the grounds and enjoy a working vaction!

Sincerely,

Jack Sample
Director
Hope On Wings Foundation
620-670-4475

Our Mandate

Specific needs:

Increased Prayer Team - Send website link to friends and invite them to join the newsletter list. Tell them to watch the video

More Ambassadors

March PNG Trip: Funds for materials to take along and for flight into Green River

BushKing: Initial $35,000 for kit (estimate $75,000 for completed)

Sharing Project: 1000 DVDs and brochures for Ambassadors - $1400

David Hicks: Airplane - $75,000 launch - $25,000 (includes shipping airplane) Monthly - $7500 (Training costs come out of monthly while in States)

Corrie Sample: -Airplane - $75,000 launch - $25,000 (includes shipping airplane) Monthly - $7500 (Training costs come out of monthly while in States)

Flight Instructors / mechanics - monthly to be determined

Home Office - monthly expenses

Vanimo base

Click on this link to read this and past newsletters on the website. http://HopeOnWings.org/news.html

Click Here to make tax deductible donation online This is where you can easily set up an automatic $10 or more monthly deduction from your account or do a one time donation of any size.

OR....

Send tax deductible donations by check payable to:

Hope On Wings Foundation
PO BOX 122
Hepler, KS 66746

Hope on Wings Foundation is a tax exempt 501C3 organization.

Hope On Wings Newsletter - 2/3/11

2011-02-03T12:08:00.001-07:00

- Show quoted text -

- Hide quoted text -

Dear Corrie, February 3, 2011
It is a cold -6 degrees outside this morning but in my heart it is warm and delightful! God has spread over me His mantle of peace and I am reveling in His love. There is true joy in serving Him like no other.
We had a little blizzard on Tuesday and our road has been covered with drifts till this morning so nobody has been coming or going. I am using the time to do a makeover on our website and work on other office type work.

We got the Kitfox unloaded into the hangar just before the storm and hid it in the garage portion with a large tarp over the opening. It is a good thing we took those precautions because with the large hangar door opening still un-covered there was 1-3 inches of snow everywhere in there.
Thankfully our little attached home on the South side was closed in well enough that the wind only managed to force a few handfuls of snow in.

We are in full preparation for the trip to Papua New Guinea in March. I have been in contact with Silas Morgan and he has set up two venues for the evangelism thrusts. One in Vanimo and the other in Madang. My Sister, Dr Rose McCluskey, has been able to get some of her tickets and she tells me the prices are lower than ever due to the flooding in Australia. I have never seen prices this low. I am expecting that God will provide for me to purchase tickets soon.

Silas tells me the people in Vanimo and Madang are really excited that we are coming and are preparing for the programs. Specific prayers are requested. There is always opposition when the Sanctuary message is proclaimed and when Dr. Rose travels she has hundreds of pounds of luggage.
This will be evangelism programs 139 and 140 for Dr. Rose. I am delighted to be able to assist in preparation and possibly in translating. Also while there I hope to be able to make a trip to Green River where we have recently sent my friend, Gideon Apen to continue the work that Silas was able to get started. I hope to bring back many pictures to share. My intentions are also to make some connections regarding our launch later this year with the BushKing.

We have received good news from Chris Visage from BushKing as well. He has told me that everything is going more smoothly than expected and the dates for the first kit to arrive in North Carolina have been moved up considerably. I told him that with so many of us praying for the success of this project, he could expect that God would be working in a powerful way. I am confident that God will be providing for us to take Chris up on his offer. He has reminded me again that as soon as they get this first kit done, it will be time for a few builders to join them for kits 2 and up and benefit from the training of the South African builder and designer. He wants us to send two or our team for that. It may be that will be as early as May or June now.

There has been considerable interest in our New Mexico home and we are hoping that will sell soon. Ray and Crystal have scheduled concerts in Arizona and New Mexico through February and March and He is working on April dates closer to Hepler in faith that they will be moving by end of March. We believe we can finish our home here in time to make this one ready for them.

I have simply not had the time to prepare another color newsletter for mail out as I have been concentrating on redoing our website so it will be easier to keep up to date and reflect what is happening. With two pilot trainees sharing the story as well as several ambassadors bringing people to the site and showing the videos, we need to be sure the website is always current. So today will be another day at the computer.

Just before the storm, Dave Pearson, Bob Medcalf, Elana and I managed to finish putting the metal siding on the East and West ends of the hangar and install the walk in door on the West end. It has been too cold to do the masonry work on the house so things are on hold for warmer weather there.

We are excited that another volunteer has offered to come help us with the construction in the next few weeks. Also Corrie will be arriving for good next week and she is a great help. The more hands the better and when there are several helping, I have more time to do the office work.

We are hoping the equipment will be available very soon to do the work on the airstrip so we can get the grass planted in the early spring. We have scheduled a fly in camp-meeting in September and need a place for them to land!
I want to thank you personally, Corrie, for your pledge to pray daily for Hope On Wings. It is your prayers that keep God's work going forward. Pray for all of those on the front lines who rely on God for all daily needs. Remember, it is very much like a military campaign. Missionaries are on the front lines and rely heavily on the supply lines and communication links to be able to have the upper hand in the warfare they are fighting against principalities and spiritual powers.

God is making bare His Holy Right Arm and people in His church are waking up everywhere to the times in which we live. Last weekend we attended a wonderful seminar on the baptism of the Holy Spirit by Dennis Smith. It was exciting to see how many people came from all around. The stories I am hearing from many churches are very encouraging. One man told me his church gathers to pray daily for the baptism of the Holy Spirit at 6pm. DAILY! WOW! There is a spiritual awakening going on and I want to be in the middle of it. How about you?

Sincerely,

Jack Sample
Director
Hope On Wings Foundation
620-670-4475
Our Mandate
God's people have a mighty work before them, a work that must continually rise to greater prominence. Our efforts in missionary lines must become far more extensive. A more decided work than has been done must be done prior to the second appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's people are not to cease their labors until they shall encircle the world.--6T 23, 24
Specific needs:
Increased Prayer Team - Send link to friends and invite them to join the newsletter list. Tell them to watch the video
More Ambassadors
March PNG Trip: $3,500 minimum (current high priority)
BushKing: Initial $25,000 for kit (estimate $65,000 for completed)
Sharing Project: 1000 DVDs and brochures for Ambassadors - $1400
David Hicks: Airplane - $65,000 launch - $25,000 (includes shipping airplane) Monthly - $7500 (Training costs come out of monthly while in States)

Corrie Sample: Airplane - $65,000 launch - $25,000 (includes shipping airplane) Monthly - $7500 (Training costs come out of monthly while in States)

Flight Instructor / mechanic - monthly to be determined
Home Office - monthly expenses
Vanimo base
Click on this link to read this and past newsletters on the website. http://HopeOnWings.org/gallery/news
Click Here to make tax deductible donation online This is where you can easily set up an automatic $10 or more monthly deduction from your account or do a one time donation of any size.
OR....
Send tax deductible donations by check payable to:
Hope On Wings Foundation
PO BOX 122
Hepler, KS 66746
Hope on Wings Foundation is a tax exempt 501C3 organization.

Welcome to my newsletter list - 2/1/11

2011-02-03T12:05:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to send out a short note to welcome those of you who just joined my contact list! I will be sending out updates at least once a month, sometimes more often when exciting things are happening :) I'm writing this note from Daystar Academy, in Utah. I'm on my way back to Kansas from California and spent the night here last night. And after looking at the weather forecast, I decided to spend an extra day here and then continue on my trip tomorrow.

Some of you may be wondering what I was doing in California . . . well, before leaving for Bolivia, I spent some time with friends near Placerville and I left my vehicle and all my belongings there. So I had to go and pick them up :) I spent several weeks in California, visiting family and friends, and no I'm heading home to Kansas. I'll be spending this weekend with friends in Pueblo, CO. I'm scheduled to share some of my mission experiences in the Pueblo West SDA Church this Sabbath.

So that is what I'm up to now. :) I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate your prayers and your interest as I begin this new venture of preparing to be a mission pilot in PNG. I hope and pray that God is blessing in each of your lives!

In His service,

--
Corrie Sample

Mission Pilot in Training

Hope on Wings Foundation

PO BOX 122 Hepler, KS 66746

http://cosample.hopeonwings.org

Back from Bolivia! 12/31/10

2011-02-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

So I am back in the good ol' USA. :) I very much enjoyed my time in Bolivia, but I have to say that I'm also very glad to be back in the U.S. My time in Bolivia was actually a huge challenge for me, mainly because I didn't feel like I fit in any of the places where I worked. There was lots of adventure and fun, but I never felt like I was where God wanted me. However, I know that God was working through it all to change me even more into the person He wants me to be. I learned so much about myself . . . most of which I didn't like to see. But I'm encouraged because I can see that God is still working in me. I'm still a work in progress, and He hasn't finished with me yet.

The last few weeks I have been really wondering and praying about what God would have me do next. Where does He want me go? What does He want me to do? Who does He want me to be? I have also had to ask myself questions about my motives for wanting to be a missionary. So often, I believe my primary motivation is the adventure and excitement that comes with mission life overseas. And that is not the right motivation. So I have been asking God to give me a love for the people and give me direction as to what country He wants me in. And I praise Him that He has been answering, and is opening a door of opportunity for me to serve in the country where I grew up.

Hope On Wings is an organization that is beginning a very important work in Papua New Guinea. The main focus of this program is to connect the willing, trained national workers with the villages where they are needed using airplanes. Each pilot working with Hope On Wings will provide air support for 10-15 of these national missionaries, many of whom are trained as Bible workers or nurses. The dream is to have a whole fleet of small aircraft blanketing the country supporting national missionaries in every unreached area of the country. God is working in a spectacular way to get this project off the ground, and already one pilot and airplane are nearly ready to begin flying. God has also provided a home base in Hepler, Kansas where those who wish to become pilots and work in PNG can receive their training for as low cost as possible. I believe that God is leading me to become one of the pilots, so I have decided to join the Hope On Wings team full-time. My student loans are still pressing, but I believe that God wants me to move forward in His work and He will provide what is needed to make that happen. I could work for a couple of years to pay off loans and then enter the mission field, but people are dying without a saving knowledge of Jesus. So I’m entering upon a faith journey, believing that God will provide for ALL my needs. I covet your prayers, as this journey will not be easy. I have such a strong tendency to try to work out everything in my own strength and do things according to my own understanding. Surrender of my own will has never been easy for me. But I truly believe that this is what God wants me to do.

So now I am in Hepler, Kansas. I will be helping with a little bit of everything here, while at the same time beginning my flight training. On weekends I will be heading out to various churches to share the story with others and provide an opportunity for people to share in the mission project as prayer supporters or as financial supporters, if God should impress them to give. I would really encourage each of you to visit our website at http://cosample.hopeonwings.org and watch the short introductory video found on the home page. This video provides a great picture of the need in PNG and how we are hoping to fill that need. If any of you would like me to come and visit your churches, let me know. J

To see pictures and video of my adventures in Bolivia, visit the following links.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKRxKjSU4RI
http://picasaweb.com/cosample

Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers!

In His Service,

Corrie

Bolivia Update 3 - 11/15/10

2011-02-03T12:01:00.002-07:00

Hey, what do you know . . .an update two days in a row! Enjoy it, because this one will probably be the last one in quite a while! Plans have changed at the last minute, as they usually do. I´m once again sitting in the internet café, though previous plans dictated that I be sitting on a bus all day today and all night as well. Daniel is on that bus, but I´m not . . . I found an opportunity that I just couldn´t pass up! There is a missionary family that lives in a little indigenous village named Las Amalias, located 3 days upriver from the nearest town, Riberalta. They just moved to the village in May of this year and are working to establish a clinic and missionary training center there. The goal is to establish a place where young people can continue their education once out of secondary school (equivalent of high school), then place them in various villages along the river as missionaries. However, since they are just getting started, they are still working on establishing a relationship with the various villages along the river. So, over the next two months, the plan is to travel to those various villages, spending a week or so in each one, and hold medical clinics, health education meetings, and VBSs, and I will get to help with all of them :) So I´m rather excited! We are leaving by the end of this week and I won´t be back in communication until the end of December at the earliest. Please continue to pray for me . . . this next adventure will be sure to stretch my comfort zone way out beyond its already stretched boundaries! I can clearly see God leading in this direction, and I praise Him for making things plain and for always having such perfect timing! Serving Him is the most exciting thing anyone could ever do, though sometimes it can be quite painful too. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and your interest in what is happening here in Oblivia!

Hugs!

Bolivia Update 2 - 11/14/10

2011-02-03T11:59:00.003-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I´m sitting in an internet cafe in Guaiara, Bolivia, up near the Brazilian border. Daniel and I have been traveling by bus for the last week in order to get here in time for the graduation ceremony at the secondary school here. Some of Daniel´s kids (ones he taught a couple of years ago) are at this school, so we came to visit them before they leave for their summer vacation. We will be traveling for another 3 weeks in the same manner, so don´t be surprised if you don´t get any long newsy letters from me. The plan is to return to Familia Feliz and then go from there up to La Paz. It looks like others will be traveling with us the whole way as well. Then we will head back to Familia Feliz for their graduation before heading back to Santa Cruz. Once we get back to Santa Cruz, or maybe while in La Paz, I will try to write up a more newsy letter telling you some of the fun things that are going on. But for now, I must say goodbye and God bless!

Hugs!
Corrie

Bolivia Update 1 - 11/03/10

2011-02-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I have been in Bolivia for two weeks now, and it’s about time I sent out an update! Too much has happened to give you all the details, but I will do my best to give a picture of what is happening here. After I arrived, I figured out pretty quickly that one of the biggest needs was for cooks. There are three different locations here in Santa Cruz where various volunteers are working, and only one of these locations has regular meals being prepared. I also found out that no one wanted to be in charge of finding things for me to do. My nursing is not needed at the Albergue (rehabilitation house), and the people around here just ignored the fact that I was here and let me do whatever. That suited Daniel just fine, because he had plenty of ideas as to what I could do. My main responsibility is to cook lunch for the airplane mechanics that are working on the various airplanes. After that is done, I run around with Daniel and just help with whatever I can.

Adventures in Prison – Sabbath, Oct. 23

By 7:30am I was headed out the door with Mikaela and Elisabeth. Once out on the main road, we caught a microbus, #73. We rode until we got to the intersection with the Indian statue, then got off and waited to catch #71. After about an hour of riding, we finally arrived at the prison. We joined the women’s line, waiting to get in. Daniel was to meet us here and since the men’s line was much shorter, he was able to come a lot later. By 10:30 we were finally in. We went upstairs and joined the children. Some older children were helping out and leading the singing. No one could sing on tune, but a joyful noise was definitely made! J These children live in this prison with their mothers. Most have been abused in some way and many do not know who their fathers are. One little one, Blanca, told me that both her mother and father were in prison. She and her little brother lived with her mother, but her two other siblings lived elsewhere. She asked a question, too, that I could not fully understand. These kids are full of questions. And even though they have such hard lives, they are happy! Those who come to Sabbath School have been introduced to Jesus, and many of them have asked Him to be their friend. The change in their lives as a result is a joy to see! And often, they become the tools in God’s hands to reach their mothers. Daniel told me the stories of several children that did just that, and now their mothers attend the church held in the prison each Sabbath. The experience reminded me of when Christ told his disciples that we must become as little children, fully trusting in our Father, in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

A Bible Study – Monday, Oct. 25

The motorcycle wove in and out of traffic as we tried to get through the nearly blocked intersection. We were on our way to do a Bible study at the home of a family that Daniel had met while the mom was in prison. Traffic finally opened up and we were able to speed onward. Lupe (one of the little girls in the family that Daniel lives with) was sitting sandwiched between Daniel and I. Night had fallen and we were coming to a somewhat dangerous part of the road. Dangerous because the road turned to dirt and we had to navigate through dirt and dust up to 6 inches deep. The back end of the motorcycle kept sliding around, but Daniel managed to keep it upright. We arrived to find the family at home and very happy to see us. We started out by asking if they would like to watch a video called ‘El Gran Conflicto’, created by Amazing Facts to illustrate and share the story of the great controversy between good and evil. I hadn’t ever seen it before and was very impressed with how well it was put together. They definitely wanted to watch it, so they invited us into their bedroom where there was a table to set the computer on. During the video, Daniel would pause every now and then to clarify a concept or to answer a question. The adults were spell bound by the story. They had heard bits and pieces of it before, but all the bits and pieces had never been put all together in such a simple way. We were at their home for at least two hours, watching the video and answering their questions.

Camping in the Mountains – Friday-Monday (Oct. 29-Nov. 1)

We were sitting in the street, playing our recorders and waiting – waiting for the truck to come that was to take us up to the mountains. The family that Daniel has been living with owns a piece of property about an hour out of town and they were heading up to work on it a bit. We got tired of playing, so we started singing . . . first in English, then we started singing songs we knew in Spanish. The kids perked up and started singing with us. It was so much fun! Songs like “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy” and “Jesus Love is Bubbling Over” kept us going for at least an hour. The kids wanted to sing them over and over again so they could learn the motions along with the words. The truck came and we loaded up and headed out, and the singing continued. J Then the kids settled down and fell asleep. I wasn’t in a position to sleep, so I stared at the stars. At times like that, God feels so close. I know He is always close, but often I don’t feel Him. When I’m out under the stars, it’s as if I can just reach up and take His hand and other distractions are gone. I praise Him so much for counting me as one of His daughters! We arrived at the property about 1am, set up camp by 2am, and finally crawled in bed by 3am. Then it started to rain and I quickly discovered that my tent does not do well in wind or rain. There were puddles in the tent by 6am and I had to abandon bed. There was a hut on the property that provided some shelter, so thankfully there was a dry place to sit. The rest of the day it continued to rain, but that didn’t stop us from hiking in the mountains and swimming in the river that was nearby. This weekend was my first opportunity to really get to see the workings of this family. Daniel has been living with them for quite a while, and has been trying to share and show principles of Christian living. I don’t have time or space to go into all the dynamics, but it was interesting to see how the family interacted with each other and to see the Bolivian culture up close.

So that gives you all an idea of what I have been up to. I praise God for the ways I see Him working and leading.

God bless you all!

Corrie

Almost on my way!!!

2011-02-03T11:56:00.002-07:00

Hi Everyone!

This is just a short note to update you on the recent happenings in my life. On Sept. 27 I took my nursing boards and I found out soon after that I passed!!!!!!! So now I am officially a Registered Nurse. :) I'm so thrilled to see how God has brought me through the training and then helped me on the test. Now my dream of being a missionary nurse is very close to being fulfilled.

On September 29, I flew to Guadalajara, Mexico with Fred and Diana Adams. I went along on their one week trip in order to help in whatever way I could. The purpose of the trip was to fly in the mission plane up into the mountains where the Huichol Indians live. Pastor/Pilot Dagoberto Cirilo flew us to several different villages and we were able to talk with and encourage various Adventist Huichols, who face persecution from their own people when they forsake the traditions of their tribe that do not fit with their new beliefs. Fred was also able to provide encouragement to a young man by the name of Luis. He had been paralyzed in a car accident about a year ago and hardly ever left his home because he was ashamed of needing help getting around. He still had a lot of function, though. He was paralyzed from the waste down, but still retained control of bodily functions and was even able to stand, though he couldn't take steps. With hard work and therapy, he probably will be able to walk again. Fred, who is a quadriplegic due to a construction accident that occurred in Mexico 23 years ago, talked to Luis about getting rid of the word 'impossible'. He encouraged him to do as much as possible for himself and push himself beyond what he thinks his limits are. The visit seemed to be a big encouragement to Luis and that evening, he and his parents came to the evening vespers program held in the Adventist church. It was the first time his dad had come to church, though he had been invited many times. I really enjoyed the trip, helping to lift Fred into and out of the plane and vehicles, walking around the villages getting pictures and videos, and helping to cook meals. The one week passed really quickly.

The past two weeks I have been staying with Fred and Diana while preparing for Bolivia. And now, I only have today and tomorrow to finish the last minute packing and details. I fly out of Sacramento, CA early Wednesday morning and will arrive in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Thursday morning. I would appreciate your prayers that all the travel goes smoothly and that I won't have too terrible a time getting my Bolivian visa once I arrive. I'm so excited to see how God is leading and providing and am looking forward to seeing in what areas I can serve once there. It's impossible to know exactly what I will be doing once there . . . there are so many options, I just have to wait and see what needs I can best fill.

If you want to see pictures of our trip to Mexico, you can visit http://picasaweb.google.com/cosample The pictures are also posted on my facebook profile.

Thank you all for your love and prayers!!!!
God bless!
Corrie

Life Update 9/26/10

2011-02-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

Wow, it has been such a long time!!!! Some of you haven’t heard from me in a long time . . . while others have maybe seen and heard from me more than you wanted! :) The last year and a half has been quite a roller coaster for me, as I survived an accelerated nursing program in Pueblo, Colorado. It was every bit as intense as they say, maybe even more so. But in the 14 months of school there, I obtained a BSN and soon will have my RN (if I pass my boards, that is).

But that is all in the past. I’m assuming you would like to know what I’m doing now and in the near future. Well, the biggest thing coming up is that I’m going to Bolivia in less than one month!!!!! Hmmm, can’t tell that I’m excited can you? :) Gospel Ministries International has a mission aviation outpost and a media center in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Part of the aviation program includes a home where patients who have been brought to the hospital by the mission plane can stay. Many of them cannot afford to stay in the hospital, yet they are not able to return to their villages because further care is still needed. I will most likely be working at this home, helping to provide the care they need. I learned about this opportunity from Daniel Adams, a mission pilot there who is a very good friend of mine. He and I worked as student missionaries together in Venezuela back in 2006 and part of 2007. We bumped into each other again at the last Generation of Youth for Christ conference (GYC) and he invited me to come and work with him in Bolivia.

In the meantime, I have been staying with Daniel’s parents, Fred and Diana Adams, in Placerville, CA since my own parents are currently nomadic as they work towards their goal of returning to Papua New Guinea. Over the past month I drove up through Oregon and Washington to visit my parents in Moses Lake, WA where they were building an airplane. If you don’t get their updates and would like to, go to www.cosample.hopeonwings.org and sign up for the e-newsletter. I spent several weeks with them and visited other friends and relatives on the way up and back down.

I went on an adventure while driving back down from WA to CA. I decided to stop and camp in the Diamond Lake/Crater Lake area, which is where my family used to go camping during the time we lived in Sutherlin, OR. I have so many amazing memories of the family time we spent there, that I wanted to go again and relive those memories. Even though I was going alone, I decided to hike in 4 miles towards Mt. Thielson and then camp at the base of the mountain. My dad, brother, and I had done this a while ago and had found an amazing rock shelter with a view of the mountain, and I wanted to find that shelter and camp there for the night. I got a rather late start, though, and by the time I was two miles in, the sun had set and dusk was fast turning into dark. The moon was only a sliver, but I was still able to see the trail ahead so I didn’t turn on my headlamp immediately. It was an incredible experience to walk through the woods at night … and surprisingly I wasn’t afraid. In the past, being in a forest at night with all the sounds and rustling was a frightening experience, but I knew that my angels were walking with me and I had no need to fear.

I arrived at the base of the mountain at about 9p, but rather than setting up camp, I continued on the Pacific Crest trail heading down the other side of the ridge and going beside the mountain. Somewhere just below the trail was the rock that I wanted to camp under, so I left the trail and headed down a wide ravine looking for it. I had my light on by now, but nothing looked familiar. It was obvious that avalanches had come through in the past winters and the new growth was difficult to push through at times. After about an hour of looking, I gave up and went back to the top of the ridge to camp. I unrolled my pad and bag and crawled in. As I looked at the starry sky above me, I couldn’t help but think of the God who created those stars . . . and as I thought, I realized some lessons that God wanted to teach me. God has created a path for me to walk in . . . He whispers ‘this is the way, walk ye in it’. This trail that He has set for my life is not necessarily easy; it has ups and downs, twists and turns, that are often unexpected by me. On this trail, shortcuts are not a good idea because I don’t know where this trail will lead me next; I have no way of predicting the next twist or turn. But if I do choose to try a shortcut, I miss out on the blessings that would have come by sticking to the trail. Even then, though, all is not lost because God is able to create trails leading from wherever I end up back towards the purpose He had for me originally. But I must choose to follow. As I walk along this trail, the most important thing for me to do is search for the Rock, only this Rock will always be found by those who look.

The next morning I woke up early and decided to again look for the rock . . . but I never was able to find it. I had just enough time left to climb to the top of Thielson, looming more than 1000 feet above where I had camped. The trail to the top was only a mile, but the elevation gain made that mile seem a lot longer! But the view from the top was totally worth the climb! I have uploaded pictures to my Picasa web albums (http://picasaweb.google.com/cosample)

I’m now back in California at the Adams’ home, doing last minute studying for the NCLEX (nursing board exam). I take the exam tomorrow. On Wednesday (29^th) I’ll be flying to Mexico for one week, then it will back here for another two weeks before flying to Bolivia on the 20^th of Oct. Life is moving fast and God is leading and blessing tremendously! I’m looking forward to seeing where He takes me in the future! I pray that God will bless each and every one of you as well. I plan to send out a monthly (or more) newsletter via email, just to keep everyone up-to-date on my mission adventures. If you don't want to be on my list, let me know.

Blessings,

Corrie

And the weeks march on . . .

2010-02-20T20:03:00.005-07:00

Another Sabbath is over . . . and another week is beginning. The Colorado sun never came out from behind the clouds today here in Pueblo, but there was still sunshine in my heart :) Sabbath is always an amazing day especially with such an awesome church family! The afternoon was spent making music, a small orchestra playing hymns . . . one violin, two recorders, and a piano. Oh how much fun though :)

I realized not too long ago that it has been well over a year since I last updated this blog site. Shame on me!!!!! So much has happened too! My last blog had me heading to back to Union, and now I find myself in Colorado! I don't know how many people actually read this blog, but in case anyone wonders how or why I'm here, just keep reading. If you already know, well, keep reading anyways, you might learn something ;) Seriously, though, God has done some amazing things in my life in the past year and I cannot doubt that His hand is leading!

While at Union from Aug. of '08 to May of '09, I looked at several different nursing school options. I finally decided that I would attend South Dakota State University Accelerated Nursing Program because I figured that would be close to my parents, who were still living in South Dakota at the time. However, February of '09 came around and lo and behold, my parents and brother and sister-in-law all decided to move to Albuquerque, NM. Not too surprising for them to be moving again, but it threw a wrench in my plans because I wanted to be as close to home as possible. The closest accelerated nursing program I could find was in Pueblo, CO. The other option was Las Cruces, NM. I applied to both programs. I preferred the one in Pueblo, though, just because it was located close to mountains! But their application deadline was clear back in October, so I did not expect to get in . . . but God had a surprise for me! They called me within four days and told me that I was accepted!!!!

The program started the day after I graduated from Union, so no summer break for me! The first semester was incredibly hectic with up to 4 exams per week, every week. But God's strength was sufficient and I made it through :) The second semester was even harder than the first because not only did we have a full class schedule, but we also had three clinicals weekly, totaling nearly 30 hours/week when we could not study. By the time Christmas vacation rolled around, I was desperately needing the month off! But through it all God has remained constant . . . His promises are sure . . . and He has provided many opportunities to witness to my classmates. It has been a very interesting experience attending a non-Adventist university for the first time. My classmates can tell that I'm different, but most of them really respect and even appreciate the differences. They admire the fact that I stand for what I believe in . . . that I won't do school or clinicals on Sabbath . . . they don't understand, but they respect it. In fact, when they plan parties or get-togethers, they often try to plan them so that they can invite me . . . ie. games at someone's house rather than going out to the bar.

I'm now in my third semester . . . only one more to go after this :) My church family here has been absolutely amazing! I never go home to spend my Sabbath alone after church . . . they won't let me! They consider me as part of their family and treat me as a daughter or grand-daughter. Its so amazing to have such a supportive family here!

So, the next question I often here is "so what do you plan to do when you get done?" Guess . . . go to the mission field of course! At this point it appears that God is leading me to Bolivia. There are still mountains that need to be moved, but in faith I have asked God to move them and I'm certain that He will in His own time. I praise Him so much because He is faithful to fullfill His promises to me . . . not only to finish the work He has begun in my life, but also to prepare me and fit me for His service. We serve such an amazing God!

Today there was discussion after lunch about popularity . . . one friend said that he was not popular, not at all. The others in the group agreed . . . I didn't. I am popular . . . maybe not by this world's standards . . . but the King of the universe knows my name . . . the entire universe is watching my life with intense interest and is rooting for me . . . hoping I will choose life and not death . . .therefore I am very popular! God Himself takes an interest in my life! And friends, He takes an interest in your life too! We are all popular with God . . . He WANTS to spend time with us . . . to share His heart and mind with us . . . WOW! WHAT AN AWESOME GOD!

I'm gonna go back to Union again . . .

2008-07-07T13:40:00.001-06:00

I'm gonna go back to Union again, the college in the West, back to new Rees Hall once more, the chapel and the new bookstore. I'm gonna go back to Union again, the college I love best; I'm gotta go back, I'm gonna go back to Union again. And yes I'm gonna get busy slingin' the ink and passin' the pen along. =)
How did this come about? I know, I left Union last semester because of finances and because I was looking at other options. I have been looking for the quickest possible route of getting an education in the medical field so that I could go overseas to do medical mission work. Union did not seem to be the right place. However, nothing else seemed to be working out either. I finally went back to the original plan of getting a nursing degree. The fastest way to do this is to complete my International Rescue and Relief degree at Union College this next year. After graduation, I will enter an accelerated nursing program at South Dakota State University where I will be able to get a BSN within 12 months.
It has been amazing how God has been working things out for me. I think that Union is the only college available where I could apply, get accepted, set up financial plan, and get preregistered within two weeks. The staff are so incredibly helpful. Of course, it helps that they are my friends (first-name basis). I don't know any other college that is like that.
So, anyhow, that is where my life is now. July 14 I will be starting an online class and then August 17 I will be heading down to Union. I already have an apartment lined up and a roommate for second semester at least. God is soooo good!

Plans: How God likes to change them!

2008-06-08T09:36:00.002-06:00

I guess it has been awhile since I have updated this blog. But then, I don't know if anybody even reads them, so . . . Anyhow, no matter. The fact is that over the last three months my plans for my future have changed ever so many times. Its so frustrating trying to figure out what education I should get in order to be the most useful in God's work. My dream as a little girl was to be a nurse, but somehow as I got older, nursing training in the U.S. did not appeal to me. So then I headed towards a pre-med degree in order to get into Physician's Assistant school. But that also did not seem quite right. There was something wrong with being in school for so long and incurring so much debt.
So I left off that plan and came up the Black Hills Health and Education Center for a few months, thinking that I would then go to Wildwood Lifestyle Center and take a course being offered there. But God was trying to get through to me that even that wasn't where He wanted me. So then, where do I go God? Do I go for massage therapy, or midwifery, or what? That option in the Phillipines for midwifery looked so wonderful, but that door was shut. Then a midwife program at Wildwood is in the process of being put together and I could go there. But even that is uncertain. They might get the program started in January of this next year, but they might not.
Then my dad brought up an option that had been on the table for a long time that I had been ignoring. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until a friend called and I told him about it. Then my dad made the comment that he has been trying to get me interested in doing this option for some time. So I started thinking and praying some more. This option involves going back to Papua New Guinea and being the only American student at the Adventist University in Port Moresby, the capital city. The school year starts in February so I would only be here in the U.S. for another eight months. I would be doing the nursing program at Pacific Adventist University, so I would be there for at least 3 years. Kind of scary to think about, to be honest. I love the unknown and I love international travel. But I still get nervous thinking about it. However, I know that I would love it once I got there!
But anyhow, thats where I'm at for now. I really believe that PNG is where I should go, just because a nursing degree is much more broad and will open many more doors in mission work. Later on, if I need to, I can pick up a specialty in midwifery or in any number of other areas. So it would be smart to start out with the nursing and then get the specialties, instead of starting with the specialty and limiting myself to that. So that is the goal. If God has the same ideas I do, then by February I should be on a big 747 jet on my way to the other side of the world.
What an adventure!

EMT work on Indian Reservation

2008-03-23T18:08:00.000-06:00

Brrrrinng, brrrrinng, brrrrinng. The incessant ringing of the phone jarred me out of my sleep. Three in the morning is not my favorite time for the phone to ring, but that is normal here at work. Not that I like it. Dispatch tells us there is an assault victim at a house on Hwy 18 East that needs to be checked out. Assault. I don’t like the sound of that. But it’s quite common here on the reservation. So far most of the time the victims are just a little bruised, but you never know. So off we go, with lights and sirens going strong. We find the right driveway, just a dirt trail that reminds of roads in Papua New Guinea. Partway up the drive, it branches into three trails. We take the middle one. We arrive at a house, but it is completely dark inside. My partner goes to the door only to find out that we are at the wrong house. So now where to? We don’t see any other houses anywhere nearby. We call dispatch again and they tell us that there is a light blinking to the west of where we are. That is where we need to go. I can barely see the light they are referring to, but it is there. We go back out to where the road branched. This time we take the branch to the left.
But now we are really confused. There really isn’t a house out in these parts. We pass a shack, but it’s completely dark. We continue down the road, but a fence not too much farther on blocks it off. So the shack must be it. It doesn’t look like much. It’s pretty small, maybe 15’ by 8’. There is a semblance of windows, but no glass; just old rags covering the holes. Again my partner goes up to the door and this time, we are in the right place. I join my partner and enter the hovel. There is a single bed on the far end of the shack that barely fits width wise. A propane bottle in the corner feeds the little one burner stove used for cooking. The inside of the shack is just as cold as outside, which in mid-March is none to warm in South Dakota. A man is lying on the bed, wrapped in blankets. He says he got beat up a bit. We check him over and find only minor bruising. He doesn’t want to go in to the hospital. His wife wants him to, but we can’t force him. So we ask him to sign a refusal of services form, and then we leave. I wonder how long it will be before we are again called out to this residence.
Many of the people we transport are well known by the ambulance staff. We transport them almost every week. Mostly their complaints are for minor issues, or ones that completely made up. They just want attention, and this is the best way to get it. So many are living with no happiness or joy. They just subsist from day to day. They don’t know any different. They don’t know that life could be different. I only hope and pray that in the short time that I spend with them in the back of the ambulance, they will see something different. I pray that God will give me opportunities to tell of His love for these people.

snowboarding :) what fun!

2008-03-16T18:32:00.002-06:00

Lots of people say that snowboarding is more fun than skiing, so today I decided to give it a try. I have always been a skier, and I'm pretty good at it. Good enough not to fall much at least. And I usually make it down the hill in pretty good time. I don't like moguls, but they are doable. Snowboarding on the other hand, has made me pretty sore. I immagine tomorrow my rear and my knee caps are going to be quite colorful :) I definitely took my share of the spills. I haven't fallen that much in all my time skiing put together!!! But wow, it sure was a blast!!! Yeah, the bunny hill got a bit boring, but there was a solution to that. Don't do the bunny hill! Do a bigger one! Get on the chair lift, never mind that you don't really know how you are going to get off without making a scene, and then have some fun falling! But I must say, towards the end of the day, I was starting to catch the idea and have some fun rides down the mountain, WITHOUT falling. And getting off the ski lift? No problem. Just stand up and slide.

Anyhow, that was the fun of the day. Of course, there is always that nagging thought that I should have been studying, but . . . I'm not sorry!

God's Hand

2008-03-09T10:56:00.002-06:00

Wow, so it has been awhile since I updated everyone as to what has been going on in my life. I do finally have a job and I have now done two 48 hour shifts, with a combined total of 16 calls and over 1000 miles of riding in the ambulance!! Such an adventure! I was really nervous at first, especially when the first call came in for chest pain. My partner was telling me that if it was a real heart attack, I could be needing to do CPR before reaching the hospital 40 miles away. But it turned out to be someone faking the chest pain with good vitals and none of the body signs of heart attack. Whew! But now I'm getting more confident and learning to ask the right questions and make the right calls. Of course, so far nothing has been very emergent.

It was so amazing to me too, how God worked it out for me to work on the reservation. At first, I thought I would be working for a man named Marvis in the town of Wanblee (110 miles from where I live) where one of the ambulances is stationed. But then he said that Lori, from Kyle (80 miles away), was supposed to hire me on to her ambulance crew stationed there. But she never contacted me. I kept bugging the ambulance service, and finally they passed my application to Dennis, stationed in Lone Man (only 65 miles away), and he was the one who finally hired me on to his crew. I found out this last Thursday that Marvis, who was the originally going to hire me, had been arrested for not paying fines from several years back, and was going to court for trying to sexually assault one of his employees. Praise God I didn't end up working for him! Where I'm at I can trust the men I work with. Neither of them smoke or drink, and one is an ex-cop. So I count my blessings.

AND!!! to make life even more exciting!!!! God has opened the door for me to take the massage therapy course here at Black Hills as a self-study course so I can continue working and volunteering. I just have to do all the book work in my *free* time. So within six months I will be able to sit for my national exam to become a certified massage therapist. I'm soooo excited to see God leading! Its amazing what happens when we seek His kingdom first. Everything else just falls into place :)

So thats whats going on with me :) I would love to hear from you how God is leading in your life as well. If you like adventure, let God take control of your life, 'cause you never know where He will lead!

God bless you all!
Corrie

I FINALLY have a job!

2008-02-26T13:49:00.003-07:00

Wow, it took awhile, but I finally have a job down on the ambulance service in Pine Ridge. In fact, my first shift is tonight. I'm kinda nervous, but I'm sure that my memory won't fail me. I will head down there around 11:00pm so that I can get there when my shift starts at midnight. Makes me sleepy just thinking about staying up that late! But I know that God will sustain me. Thankfully, we won't be busy all the time, so I will be able to get some sleep and time for study in as well.

The base where I will be staying for my shift is in the town of Lone Pine, which is just 5 min. north of Oglala (on the reservation). It is a little single-wide mobile home with two bedrooms/two bath. Its actually quite a nice setup, since there are only two people there for each shift. There are beds for us to sleep on, TV to watch (if we want), a table to study at, and a computer we can use (but no internet :()

It makes me so happy to see God working in my life and providing for my needs. He gave me a job that will get me out of my comfort zone, and its only 65 miles away instead of 110 (the station they originally wanted me at was this far away). So starting tonight I will be getting experience in responding to and caring for emergencies and their victims.

New Opportunities

2008-02-15T09:57:00.004-07:00

"Hi Corrie, this is Karen. I just wanted to let you know that my mom passed away this afternoon so we no longer will need you to come take care of her in the afternoons." And just like that, I'm jobless again. Now what? I just turned down an amazing firefighting opportunity because of Sabbath issues, and now I don't have the one job that was keeping me going financially. Did I do the right thing? Is God really that particular about the Sabbath? Fighting fires is something that has to be done, no matter the day of the week right? I would be saving land, houses, and very possibly lives. Aren't those things that could be done on Sabbath? But then, also, I would be expected to help in non-emergency situations to clean up after the fire. There would also be scouting for potential fires. Knowing myself, the strain of working long hours and not getting enough sleep would cut down my time spent with God and would cause more problems than it was worth. So I knew the decision to decline that job was sound. But now to start jobhunting.
That all happened Tuesday night. Well, God's timing is impeccable. Wednesday morning at 11:45, while I was up at the Wellness Center helping out in the office, I got a phone call. It was one of the crew supervisors for the Oglala Sioux Tribes Ambulance Service. I had applied with them over a month ago to work as an EMT and hadn't heard anything from them. But they called with a job offer and said that I could probably get the shift I want. Its a 48 hour shift from midnight Tuesday to midnight Thursday every week. This will allow me to still help out at the Black Hills Health and Education Center, be a part of the Hayward Volunteer Fire Dept., and have weekends completely free. God knew exactly what He was doing!!!
Don't we serve an amazing God! And not only did He provide work for me, but He has also provided an amazing business opportunity online. A company that my Dad has been with for the last 3 years is going public sometime this year with internet technology that allows them to offer a MOBILE internet connection that is 7x's faster than DSL, PLUS Voice Over Internet Phone service that can be used anywhere anytime with unlimited calling and blanket coverage of the entire continent! All for only $30/month! Now thats unbeatable! So I'm just gonna let people know about it, 'cause it coming out soon. If you want more info, check out the Wireless Internet link on my sidebar.
So anyhew, thats whats going on in my life at the present. It is such an adventure, when God's ways are followed. He knows exactly what we need and what we want. And as long as we stay connected with Him, He will direct us in such a way as to fulfill all of our hearts desires.
God bless you all!
Corrie

God is Good

2008-02-11T16:59:00.001-07:00

It struck me today while I was reading Early Writtings how far I still have to go to reach God's ideal for my life. She was saying that in these times in which we live, all of our free time should be spent studying the Word of God, becuase only by it are we going to be able to stand when the trials come. This really steps on my toes, because I have a hard time knowing how to really dig deep in the Bible. I can read it, and I see the many precious promises. But how do you dive in deep? She was also saying that one of the major problems in our time is that many of God's people neglect prayer, especially "secret prayer". That is something else that really steps on my toes. Then she was recounting how in one of her dreams, she saw Jesus but He was frowning upon her and was not pleased. What if He is frowning at me? I am so far below the ideal, and so are most of us, that I wonder who will be able to stand? How do you obtain the clean hands and the pure heart that David talks about in Psalms 24 as being the requirements for ascending the hill of the Lord (entering into His sanctuary)? As I was pondering these thoughts and feeling so overwhelmed by my own unworthiness, it was as if God placed a thought in my heart that brought me hope and peace. "Let me do the work! Just give me permission to change you! You don't have to do anything except surrender. I will finish the work that I have begun in you. I promise!" What an amazing God we serve!!!! Not only does He have a desire to reconcile us back to Himself, but He is willing and able to do whatever it takes to get us there. He will do the work! He has already made the sacrifice and paid the price. We just have to accept it and let Him take over our lives. I don't know about you, but I want Jesus to smile when He looks at me. And when He comes, I want to be one of the faithful. But now is the time to prepare to meet Him. Now is the time to surrender. Now is the time to allow Him to make intercession for me in the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary. It is past time for all of this. I'm convinced that Christ is coming soon. There is no time for focusing on what to eat, drink, and wear. God will take care of all that. Now is the time for heart searching and prayer.

Anyhow, these are just musings that have been running around in my brain all morning. I just needed to put them in words. I only pray that you will also hear God's Spirit talking to your heart and leading you in His path.

Corrie

And its snowing again!!!

2008-02-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

Wow, the Black Hills are beautifull in winter. I can't compare the hills here with the mountains we had in Oregon and Washington, but they sure do beat the flat of Nebraska!!!!! Its snowing again this morning. We have been having beautiful 40 degree days with lots of sunshine, but I guess that is over for a little while. The nice thing around here though is that the cold doesn't just go on and on. It comes and goes, so the snow never really builds up.

Life here is beautiful also. I am having a ton of fun working at the center in the mornings and then taking care of an elderly lady in the afternoons. Evenings are free time for study, reading, crafts, or whatever else I find to do. Tuesday evenings I get to go to the local volunteer fire department and hang out with a bunch of fun people. We play with our equipment or listen and learn from those wish to talk. Fact is, I don't have firefighter training, but they still gave me all the needed equipment and a pager so that when a call comes, I respond with the rest of them. So I will be getting on the job training even before taking classes and getting certified.

Last week Thursday (Jan. 31) I got to go to a rodeo!!!! It was an absolute blast!!! There were so many beautiful horses to see and of course, lots of guys getting thrown around like rag dolls. In the middle of the program there was a special show from a charro, or Mexican cowboy. His horse was an amazing silver white with a long mane and tail. The music started playing, and the horse came out dancing! He danced and pranced for a while before doing several bows to the audience. The rider then showed his skill with the rope by twirling the lariat all over and around both himself and the horse. It was amazing.

I have to say though, Sabbath is my favorite day of the week. Its the one day that people can be convinced to go for a hike out in the hills. This last Sabbath we hiked down into a canyon where there was a beautiful waterfall that had completely frozen over. The falls itself was also frozen. We played out on the ice for a while, than headed upstream on the frozen water for a couple of miles. It was just so amazing being out in nature with friends. After climbing out of the canyon, we hiked the ridge back to where the cars were waiting. I love going on this type of hike, because we were not following any trail. We could just go where we wanted to explore.

And that pretty much brings you up to date on my life just now. God is blessing and I know that I am where He wants me for now.

God bless!

Corrie

Where in the World am I?

2008-02-03T12:08:00.001-07:00

God sure likes to cause changes in my life, and He likes to make them happen in a rapid and almost unbelievable way. Six weeks ago I was getting ready to go on Christmas break, when an unexpected opportunity fell in my lap. I was asked to join the Union recruiting team going to Generation Youth for Christ, an amazing 4 day conference jam packed with 20 seminars to choose from, morning and evening meetings, outreach, and lots of other stuff to fill in the time. While there I talked to lots of people about the International Rescue and Relief program at Union and encouraged them to check it out. But I wasn't satisfied with it. I had heard about a program at Wildwood Lifestyle Center in Georgia so I went and looked for their information booth. What I discovered was program that focused on medical missionary training. They go into such detail and cram so much into the three years, that by the time you are done, you are equiped to do the work of a doctor in a third world remote situation. It was exactly what I have always been looking for. But I didn't want to even think about going there. I was comfortable at Union. I had some amazing friends that I didn't want to leave. Plus, I was only 3 semesters away from graduating with my undergrad degree and then entering the Masters in Physician Assistant Studies offered there at Union. But then I got to thinking. Staying at Union would put me at least $100,000.00 in debt which would take at least 3 years to pay off. So I would be looking at 7 years of studying and working in the U.S. before being able to go overseas which is where I fully believe God is calling me. Plus, I really wouldn't be equiped to work in a third world environment because the diseases are completely different. And I wouldn't know any natural healing methods that I could teach the people to use.

God was speaking to my heart and telling me that Union was not the place for me anymore. It was time to move on to where I could get better training for the service He wants me to do. So I didn't go back to college after Christmas vacation. Instead, I moved up to South Dakota with my parents where I am now working to earn $$$ for the program at Wildwood.

I'm living at the Black Hills Health and Education Center where I'm volunteering in return for a place to stay and food to eat. I also have a job in the afternoons taking care of an elderly lady who had a stroke not too long ago. By the time summer comes around, I will have my firefighter training and will be able to work all summer on a traveling fire department that responds to fires all around the country.

It shouldn't be so amazing to me to see God leading in such a significant way in my life, but it is. I love watching it! What He asks of me is often not easy, but that is only because He wants me to learn to depend on His strength and learn to trust in His plans even though I can see no reason for what is going on. He often puts me in places where I am not comfortable, but that is when I depend on Him the most because I feel inadequate and I know that I need Him. God is soooo GOOD!

I hope and pray that all of you who read this, will also listen to His voice calling you to trust Him and let Him lead. He has such amazing plans for everyone, but most are not willing to follow those plans. So have a great week deepening your trust in God! :)

Corrie

New Beginnings

2007-12-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I have decided to blog my updates now instead of trying to email everyone at the same time. I tried this before and didn't keep up with it, but this time maybe it will work.