I wrote this article for our newsletter a year or so ago, and it is basically my (Bryan) testimony. I will try to add Maria’s testimony at a later date.
The pilot that is scared of heights
I hate heights. Once a year my parents tell me the same story about how, as a young timid child, I rode on this terrifying ride at a family amusement park called Knoebels. On this ride, you, the scared child, controlled the up and down action on a pod in the shape of an airplane. “All the other children were going up and down and up and down, and you were just screaming stop the ride!!” they tell me many times, every year.
As a young adult I went to a bible school in Thailand called “IGO“. The aim of this bible school was to train and inspire future missionaries. Part of the school experience was to be part of a mentoring group. On one of our “group days” my mentoring group thought it would be a fun group activity to climb the tallest fire tower they could find. The ladder extended somewhere into clouds and I decided it best for my fragile ego to death grip the ladder behind my friends. Several thousand feet later when we arrived at the top we discovered a rotted out floor, with nothing to stand on but some rusty metal floor braces. I had a great time death gripping the railing trying not to pass out.
Years after that when I have wooed my girlfriend to the point of marriage, we (her) thought it be fun on our honeymoon to do the giant swing over the 1000 ft deep Royal Gorge. I, being a newly married man and wanting to please my bride, Deuteronomy 24:5, decided to go on this swing with her. I, being the brave man that I am, had my new wife pull the release cord. Her, having the same level of fear as a trained ninja shopping at Walmart, gladly agreed to pull it. There we swung between quick death over the gorge and slow death over the concrete.
Why do I choose to tell you stories of my heroism? To prove to you lesser men how tough I am? Maybe. But lets be honest, if you put me in a tree stand I would shake like a leaf. Using a tree stand/deathtrap, even one bought with rewards points is not worth the mental anguish. Venison is great, chicken is cheap.
The real reason is this. I feel called. God has placed on my heart a vision that has never gone away. When I was 17, I went with my friends to Mission Aviation Fest at Smoketown airport, in Smoketown PA. I always thought planes were cool, and frankly, anything with an engine made my brain spark. I was not prepared for how much that day impacted my life. On that day I really sensed that this what God had for me, this is what He wanted me to do. I eagerly talked to the different aviation missions represented there. Two small problems, 1: I needed to get my airplane mechanic and pilot licenses, and 2: I would have to raise support. I told God, “Cool vision, but there is no way I could ever raise missionary support”, and life went on.
God is patient, and three years later at IGO God once again worked in my heart. As many people close to me will tell you, I am stubborn. At IGO, a bible school especially for mission training, God once again laid on my heart the vision of serving Him in mission aviation. I, thinking I know better than the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, said, “Cool vision but first I want to get married.”
About a year later, I started dating the cute secretary at my work and before long we were married. While we were still dating, I told her about the vision God laid on my heart about becoming a mechanic/pilot and serving God on the mission field. She, having heard this chose not to dump me, but to support me in this. After marriage, I again told God maybe later to this vision, once again believing raising a monthly support team to be impossible.
My beautiful wife is amazing. She has never wavered and has asked me every year why we are not following God’s call on my life. I always can make excuses, for example, one of my favorite jobs was being a salesman. Every year I would make an excuse about how maybe when the children are grown, maybe when the house is paid for, maybe when we have 100k in my IRA, or maybe when Halley’s comet flies by next.
Then January in 2019, My wife and I helped at an Christian youth event called “Youth Connect”. Youth Connect planned a great weekend down at a local camp. Every year we would stay up to late, eat to much pizza, and feel sick for several days after. I was praying in our cabin both for our future and then-present stomach rumblings. It was then that God once again renewed the long-suppressed vision that He laid on my heart 12 years ago.
We applied at MMS Aviation for training. MMS offers a 30 month apprenticeship where you work on missionary aircraft without charging labor cost to ministries. What we love about this model is that as we are here at MMS we are working on missionary aircraft, making a difference from day one. MMS works on aircraft from all over the world, from a floatplane in Brazil, to air ambulances in Guatemala. After MMS we will move to North Carolina to begin flight training with a ministry called MAG.
Before we could get started at MMS/MAG we had to raise monthly support. This was the one thing that paralyzed me for years. I thought it would take several decades to raise support, while my wife thought it would take a long weekend; we balance each other out nicely. This impossible thing, the one thing I keep telling God we could never do, God did in 5 months. So often we trap ourselves into thinking we can never do something, and we forget the magnitude of our great God.
So now we are at MMS, where I serve as an aircraft mechanic apprentice. We do not know where God will lead after MMS/MAG, but we don’t have to know, we only need to know that He is faithful.
Flyin' Bryan 