Till March... I'm off to Sudan!

Howdy Yall!

This may be my last post for a little while, till I return from Sudan. WhenI get back, I'll have plenty of pictures and stories to share, so I sure hope to see yall back here about mid-March!

This Sunday, Feb. 20th, I will be sharing our story at the morning worship service, 11am, at Woodhaven Baptist church in Houston, and then again at the evening service at Deerbrook Baptist Church in Humble at 6pm. I have been asked to share with several different groups also in Sudan, and I am really looking forward to that, to bringing Hope and the message of Faith to the Sudanese people. When I return, I have been asked back for a third time at Second Baptist, and am scheduling times with some other churches as well. Mycol's favorite verse: God will use all things to His glory, for His good, through those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (paraphrasing Romans 8:28).

Flying is giving me much needed rejuvenation. I went over to LaPorte last night and did some touch and go's. There were two other guys in the pattern and one of them, the one who was there before me, was in a faster plane. I had tuned in to the LaPorte frequency to see what runway was in use (there are 4) and I heard runway 5, so I set up for entry to runway 5. Then I was on final approach when this other pilot says they're going to be using 12. Well... (for those who aren't pilots, imagine an X. at the NW corner, heading SE is runway 17.Going clockwise, as with a compass, the runway on the NEcorner, heading SW is runway 23. The next, in the lower right, heading NW is runway 35 and the other is 05. Ok, got that?) So, as you can see, if I'm landing on 5, and he wants to come in and use 12, well... we might meet somewhere in the middle, a/k/a, a collision. So he radios, "We're gonna be using 12, but go ahead and use 5 and we'll just watch out for ya and work around you." I'm thinking, ya, well, he's probably okay and all, he sounds like he knows what he's doing, but hey, I am still a student pilot and I'd rather just be in the same pattern so I said, "That's okay, I got you in sight and let me do this one landing andI'll transition to 12." I don't like transitioning to other runways but it's good practice and I need to be able to do it. So I went out a little bit, out of the pattern a couple miles and came in and joined the party. Then this other guy comes on and says he's coming in to do some touch and go's and he announces intent to use runway 5! LOL... I got on, "Active is runway 12"... no way did I want to have to transition again! :-)

When I go to Roanoke, before we leave for Sudan, weather permitting, I am going to try out a Piper Cherokee. So Anthony and I were talking about that last night - a Cherokee is a low-wing - so he took me out in a Beechcraft Sierra, also a low-wing, so I could just get a little taste of it before going up there. The Sierra is a bigger plane than the Cessna 152 I've been flying and it has a little faster approach speed, but I did okay with it. He helped me out some with the controls cuz it's a complex airplane (meaning it has retractable landing gear and flaps, and the prop is not fixed pitch). Also, it was already dark by the time we went up in the Sierra. It's different finding your way around at night. We shot a couple landings at LaPorte and then came back to Ellington Field. I'm gonna miss hanging out with NASA's T-38's and the F-16's while I'm gone!

I will appreciate your prayers for a fruitful time in Sudan; may God be glorified in all we do.

Thanks and Love to you all.

Linda