November 2022

above: my first day at Missionary Air Group.

I love random facts that most definitely will never improve my life. When I share some fact with Maria she will often answer with a half-hearted “interesting” and then yawn. I will communicate to Maria interesting stories of spacecraft orbital mechanics and the crazy way Bernoulli’s principle affects our daily lives. She communicates that I should be a good example to my son, start eating and stop making rockets out of my mashed potatoes.

above; Our send-off from our beloved church in Ohio.

Here is an interesting fact; Leaves don’t change color in the fall, the tree just stops producing chlorophyll (the green color) which allows the leaf’s true color to be revealed. The yellow, red, and orange are there all year long, but the green is covering it. Fall leaves always bring the feeling of closure to a year. Temps are cooler, days are shorter, football fans are more obnoxious, and the feeling of change is in the air.

above; Maria and our mountain of junk.

The Martin family is in the middle of a season of change too! For example, I write this newsletter from my North Carolina living room which is currently overcrowded with moving boxes. I think every couple should move two times within 3 years just so they can experience the joy of throwing their spouse’s things away. My wife would ask “Bryan why are you keeping these nasty moldy hats?” to which I would respond “it’s my penicillin experiment, why wouldn’t I want to keep them?”

above; our new house.

So, what’s next? Right now, we are still unpacking, the children are still finding friends, we are looking for a church, and I will be starting flight training in a week. Needless to say, we would definitely appreciate your prayers in the midst of this busy season. We are so grateful for all the help that we received from so many people. Your notes of encouragement, gifts of time, food and money has really made this transition easier.
Your encouragement has made this transition as easy, as a photon traveling in outer space. (Maria here, that means easy because a photon is a massless particle blah blah blah yawn) Thanks!!

MMS/MAG Update

A lot has happened since the last newsletter! After working 33 months at MMS, sweating over 9 tests, and after repeated attempts to bribe my test giver (he never took my $5, his loss), I am now a newly minted airframe and powerplant mechanic! Getting my license was an interesting experience.
I had to take 3 written tests at a designated testing center located at a local airport. The proctor was the owner of the testing center, and she was also the remote secretary for a local construction company. My quiet exam room was intermittently interrupted by passionate conversations about roofing.

above; Chuck Egbert shakes my hand and presents me a signed completed test form. Oh, and me grinning like an idiot.

Next, I had to take 3 oral exams. I sat in a room with Chuck Egbert (co-worker at MMS, and FAA-approved test giver) as he asked me questions that felt like they ranged from how to test aircraft fabric strength to why is it that round pizzas come in square boxes? After an hour of intense finger and eventually toenail biting, I passed.
Next 3 practical exams. During this part of testing, he would ask me to perform a maintenance task and then watch me perform it. This was nerve-racking at first, but after a short period of time, I quickly found that I was enjoying it. It was like an escape room but with the fun additional pressure that instead of just failing at a fun game, I would be failing a life calling. After about a day and a half of tasks, he told me to do one more, and to my great joy, it was super easy! Amid finishing that task I realized that I am now an A&P! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the prayers and financial support over the last few years, and thanks for the support of my amazing wife, without it I wouldn’t be here.

above; Posing in front of the MAF Cessna headed for Liberia.

Three days after becoming an A&P I flew out to Missionary Aviation Fellowship USA HQ in Boise, Idaho to aid in preparing a Cessna Grand Caravan for service in Liberia. This was a fantastic experience as before this I had no maintenance experience on this type of common mission airplane. We were doing upgrades stateside before it flew to Liberia as this both helped with reducing the amount of needed paperwork and wait times on parts. MAF treated me well and I was able to stay at one of their beautiful guest houses.

above; MAF’s Grand Caravan.

One highlight was I was able to see Nate Saint’s actual airplane (see Freddie’s video about Nate Saint below). After two weeks of becoming homesick, I headed home one week before moving.

above; Nate Saint’s actual airplane.

Here is a quick update about the end of Sept, Oct, and the beginning of Nov.

above; moving is “fun”

October 29th was moving day. I got home from Idaho on Oct 22nd, and between then and the 29th we had a lot of packing to do. Maria’s mother and sister came out to help the week before and made BIG progress. But it still took most of the last week to pack up, give away, and burn all the stuff we didn’t wanna move. Our house down here was fully furnished so we had to get rid of all our furniture. It was with great joy that I burned our terrible snot-infused sofas!! I have been daydreaming of burning them for over a year, and it made me as happy as I thought it would!
We decided to rent a trailer because Uhaul wanted over $1000 for even a small truck. My co-worker volunteered/I begged and he agreed he could pull our trailer with his Expedition. Little did he know that apparently all our boxes were lined with lead. He claimed it pulled well, even with the hitch dragging on the ground the whole way. We are so grateful for his help and all the help from others unloading!

above; my co-worker overloaded Ford.

Pray for us as we look for another church. A strong church with strong spiritual input is crucial for us as a family. We were blessed with the brotherhood that we experienced at Crosspointe church in Ohio. Please pray for us that God will show us our next church.

Pray for Maria and the Children. Pray that the children will be able to make quick friends. Pray for Maria as we continue to unpack. Having three children and everything scattered everywhere is stress-inducing!

Pray for me as I start flight training. Pray that I will be able to learn and honestly just allow myself to be bad at something. Starting at MMS I felt overwhelmed day after day, but towards the end, I was starting to be useful. Now I am going back to being useless again! So pray that I will be calm and relaxed.

Praise that we had a safe move. We had a convoy of four vehicles and I was concerned because mine are both barely highway worthy, but we had no mechanical issues.

Praise for our new house. It is really nice and we LOVE living in the woods away from the noise of Coshocton. Every truck in Coshocton had no mufflers, and every truck owner loved to hear their truck roar. So yeah, this place is really nice!

Praise that I passed. My Airframe and Powerplant license was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and I could feel all the prayers.

Till next time,