Sept—Nov 2011 Newsletter Updates!

Dear all,

As you may have noticed, this newsletter is a little late. We actually wrote it a month ago, but were unable to send it; so we hope you enjoy this newsletter, most of it written while on our world travels and the rest a fresh update from the lives of the Sampsons.

We are writing to you from Ponoka, Canada, where Keiran’s brother Aaron had his wedding last Saturday. It was a great time to celebrate and catch up with Keiran’s family (as they are all over the world now!). The wedding ceremony was beautiful – there was snow everywhere so it was also VERY cold (-18­⁰C at night)! The journey here took almost two days, including stopovers, and we are so thankful that God kept us safe and kept us from any severe jet lag. Next week on our return to Australia we will be backpacking in Hawaii for a short break – we figured that since our flights are through there we may as well have a few days looking around the island and having a well-earned break from such a big last two years. As grateful as we are for this break from the busy-ness, we also pray that it would be not just a time of self-indulgence, but that God would give us opportunities to glorify Him in as many ways as possible on our journey.

So as many of you are no doubt wondering – what does next year hold in store for the Sampsons?

For the past six months we have been praying and seeking God’s guidance on what He wants of us for next year. Keiran has always felt led that God wants him to be a Missionary Pilot, and felt that God wanted him to do engineering so as to be able to maximise his usefulness on the mission field. For the past six months, though, we have been unsure as to whether we should wait a year and work to get funding for the mission flight training, or whether God was calling us to take a step of faith and in faith start the training with only part of the funding. Over the last 2 months in particular we have both felt strongly that God has been calling us to take a true step of faith and depend on Him wholeheartedly. It is so easy in the modern age and in our wealth to live lives that are so safe and not truly needing God day to day, and we feel strongly convicted from God to wholeheartedly trust in Him. Its not an easy thing to do and if we started the course and half way through ran out of money, it be a disappointment for Keiran, but he realised that the main reason for this is that it would be a huge stab at his pride for it is not as though we would be homeless or destitute. Its not that it’s a huge financial risk since he could suspend his training if required, it is a risk that we may appear foolish. But we don’t think that this is a good enough or godly attitude to take. God has told Keiran that he is going to be a missionary pilot and we need to trust that it is going to happen. We ask for your prayers as we take this step, it scares us at times, and we do get plagued with doubts at times, but we take strength from Gods word where he says that he will provide for us, and that he does keep his promises. 

God has been blessing us the past few months. As we wrote in our last newsletter, Keiran got an interview at Bunnings, and now has a casual job there. He has been getting about three shifts each week, which makes up about 15 hrs. Hopefully he will pick up more shifts at Bunnings throughout the holidays, and also continue possibly in a permanent part time position next year as he studies flight. We would greatly appreciate your prayers that he will be able to cope with the workload, as the aviation program is much more rigorous than engineering when it comes to homework and study. Many of the students doing aviation have found the workload a challenge.

For those of you who don’t know, Keiran’s flight course is designed specifically for Mission flying. Training as a pilot in a commercial situation is focused on becoming a jet pilot. The training at ACMA is carried out by MAF mission pilots who have spent years flying in places such as Papua New Guinea where flying is extremely dangerous with severe weather conditions, mountainous terrain and where airstrips are often too short, on mountain tops and up-hill. The training is designed to teach us from the beginning how we as future mission pilots will be flying; not only flying skills, but also all the roles that missionaries undertake in remote areas of the world. This includes making ethical and moral decisions in life-and-death situations, weather difficulties and fuel limitations. Imagine, for example, you are a pilot halfway through a delivery flight when you receive a radio call to attend a medical emergency in which the patient is going to die in the next three or four hours without medical care. The weather conditions at your destination are dangerous but you may be able to get through if there is a whole in the clouds. Add to this that you have been flying since 6am, it’s late afternoon and you can’t fly once it’s dark. The place you are delivering the supplies to has not had clear weather for weeks and is totally dependant on the supplies you are bringing. This is a situation that many mission pilots face every month, and ACMA’s goal is to train their missionaries to be able to deal with these situations with confidence and a clear head. The job of a mission pilot is not easy. It often a very stressful one, with long tiring days (there’s no one to help load or unload the plane). But Keiran has a strong passion for these remote communities to serve them in any way that he can, and Corinne has such a passion for people, to see that they know God.

Keiran completed his last engineering exam for the year the week before we left. He had been dreading this one exam on electrical and aircraft instruments for over a year, but came away from the exam feeling confident he had passed, and we thank God that he achieved a really good result. He had planned on sitting the last two smaller exams in December, however with our travels to Canada, decided to take the rest of the year off exams and focus on his Engineering Practical work, and he will sit the final two sometime next year.

We do really want to praise God and thank Him for allowing Keiran to pass every exam he has sat over the past 2 years. Most people have to resit several exams with the added stress and expense, and we are so thankful for your prayers that have carried him through the worst of them.

Corinne finished her last exam and essay for the year the day before we left for Canada. We had been told that Corinne still had 2 subjects to finish next year (due to lost credit points with changing universities from Sydney to Melbourne. But after 2 hrs lining up she was told that she only had to do 1 subject to finish her degree, Trans-European Translation, which she will do next year in semester – needless to say she was very excited. It was only ten minutes later that she got a phone call from a Christian training organisation in Lilydale asking if she could have a job interview for an administration position she had applied for. As we left for Canada the next day they were gracious enough to offer her a Skype interview. Corinne came away from the interview really excited and feeling it had gone well, and it must have as two days later they offered her the job which she joyfully accepted. She starts there on Monday the 28^th – the week after we get back.  They are also happy for Corinne to finish her studies second semester next year as well. God does bless us indeed!

Well we have now been back in Australia for 2 weeks and 1 day. Corinne started her new job the Monday after we got back and is loving nearly every minute of it. She is getting used to having her first full time job and is quite tired after the long busy days associated with helping get a new business up and running. Keiran has 1 week left of Engineering for the year, and this past week has spent his time working on a Piper Aztec Twin Aircraft fixing its retractable undercarriage and rewiring all of the warning systems associated with it (they all appeared to have been wired in backwards or not wired in at all by a past student!) He has also been getting many shifts at Bunnings and will keep working there over the Christmas holidays and next year. Pray for him as he is often tired—currently working 5 days at ACMA in the hangar and several more shifts a week at Bunnings after hrs and on weekends.

We will be home for Christmas with Corinne’s family in the Blue Mountains for 4 days over Christmas. Pray that it will be a joyous time where it wont be too stressful and where we can focus our whole attention on Jesus.

There is so much to say, and so little space. If you have any more questions about our Mission Training or what our plans are for when we finish our training, we would love to hear from you and to share with you all that God is leading us into.

All our love and God bless,

Keiran & Corinne

July-August Newsletter

Today is the last day of winter, and here we are snuggled up relaxing in front of the fire, glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice at the ready, watching TV, in our pyjamas… with the flu.

Since we last wrote to you, we have had two birthdays: Keiran turned 23 on the 30th of July, and Corinne had her 21st just this weekend gone on the 27th. We spent her birthday up in Sydney with Corinne’s family celebrating her grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary and Corinne’s even got a surprise birthday party. We thank God for His provision for another year and the opportunity to celebrate all he has given us. Thank you all for your birthday wishes!

Last newsletter we wrote that we had two new housemates moving in with us. With a four-bedroom, one-bathroom house, and six people to share it we anticipated potential difficulties, however it has thankfully been a wonderful two months getting to know each other. It has been great for Keiran to have another guy in the house to compete against for the “Best Husband” award and we have both really enjoyed having another married couple around, similarly aged, and who were married only one week before us. We find the household is a tight-knit group, teaching us to communicate and love one another (even when they drive you crazy leaving the sink messy). It is great training for the mission field community culture with five out of the six of us preparing for mission work.

Corinne is well into her second semester at uni. Her subjects are Writing Poetry, Spanish and Shakespeare in Adaptation. There are only 8 weeks to go until she has finished uni for the year and we jet over to Canada for Keiran’s brothers wedding. Pray that she will be healthy and beat the flu so that she will be able to focus on her studies, even with a subject like Poetry which drives her crazy. Pray also that on our return from Canada, she will be ready to start her search for full-time work.

Speaking of work, pray that the Moo will keep giving Corinne shifts. She was sick three and had to cancel her shifts, and then did not receive another until this Saturday coming. We would very much appreciate it if you would pray that she will be fully recovered from the flu so that she won’t have to cancel again.

Praise God, however, that Keiran got through his first round of interviews for a casual job at Bunnings. He has a final interview on Monday at 4:30pm, and we welcome your prayers that it would be successful. Keiran also passed his latest CASA exam, GB Fuel Injection Systems and Magnetos. Praise God that he only has three engineering exams to go! He has spent much of the past month working on a practice twin-engine aircraft, getting it to run again, troubleshooting numerous faults and performing engine runs and is currently doing a complete teardown and overhaul of a Continental TSIO-360 Engine (a medium sized engine, for the 99% of you who don’t know what that means).  He also had an interesting experience of checking that a newly installed fuel pump was working and not leaking; see the photo opposite to get a taste of how close his fingers are to that propeller (15cm away!). He really enjoys working on these aircraft, however over these past months he has really felt that God has confirmed and has been increasing his desire to be predominately a mission pilot, with engineer as his secondary profession.

We have both recently finished reading the book, ‘Crazy Love’ by Francis Chan. It was an incredibly challenging book for both of us and we have seen in recent weeks how God has worked through the book to draw us closer to Him and to each other. The book challenges our desire for God and how much we truly love Him and not the things that he gives us. He quotes John Pipers book ‘God is the Gospel’, saying,

The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?’

We pray that we will serve God with all our hearts, with a Crazy Love for Him that He deserves.

With Love,

Keiran & Corinne

Newsletter 2011

Since we last wrote to you, life has taken a few turns for the Sampsons.

  

On April 5^th, our housemate, friend and Keiran’s classmate, Luke Teale-Sinclair, died in a motorcycle accident on his way to Coldstream airport that morning. Luke was our friend and brother and his sudden passing was a shock to all of us. His cheeky grin and ridiculous pranks will be missed both at home and at Coldstream, the airstrip where ACMA is based. Despite this tragedy, God has shown His hand and proven that in all things His name will be praised. We now have the painful task of finding someone else to take Luke’s place in our household. Please pray that we will do this with wisdom and sensitivity.

 

We thank you for your prayers for a job for Corinne. She now works as a waitress in The Moo Wine Café in Mooroolbark, only a fifteen-minute drive from our house but unfortunately she has only received about four shifts since she got the job in early March. We would very much appreciate prayer for two shifts per week for the extra income that would bring in.

At the moment, Keiran is also looking for weekend or night work. Please pray that a job comes up that suits the balance he requires so that he is still able to focus on his training at Coldstream.

Both of us are roughly halfway through our semesters ... we began our mid-semester holidays during this Easter week. We are both so grateful for this break, and hope to be well rested for the term to come.

Corinne is doing well in her studies; she has been challenged by the great need for God in Spain having been studying Spanish Culture this semester, and she looks forward to learning more about Latin America in the second semester of this year.

Keiran is also doing well in his studies.  Last month he passed his engineering aerodynamics exam and he has another coming up in a weeks time. Please pray for him as he studies aircraft materials and hardware.

One of his instructors, Ken Baerg, has been in Canada for the past five months raising missionary partnership support so he & his family can be at ACMA (Australian Centre for Mission Aviation). Because of Ken’s absence, there were not enough instructors to teach the engineering students for the first part of this year. Praise God that Ken was able to raise the needed support and is now back in Australia, and starting back at ACMA after the Easter break, with all his energies directed at instructing the engineering class. 

A side note of interest: Keiran & his family went camping in Botswana Africa, with the Baerg family back in 1999 when Ken was an engineer for Flying Mission Botswana. Keiran’s dad & mum are now serving with Flying Mission in Zambia Africa, & Ken & family are now in Australia!

In March, Corinne finished her work experience at the Salvation Army’s Warcry magazine, having proofread many articles and even getting the opportunity to write two herself! She had a great experience learning about the publishing business and sees this as a field she could become involved in in the future. You will find below one of the articles she wrote during her time there.

The Bible study we started eight weeks ago has been going really well. We have been reading through Romans and are up to Chapter 6. Luke was also in our group and we are feeling his absence each Monday night. Through God’s providence, our first Bible study after Luke’s death was Romans 5 which encouraged and challenged us that we are to rejoice in our sufferings because it builds perseverance, character and hope. On the last weekend of our holidays, we and some others from our study had the opportunity to stay at a farm in Horsham, which belongs to one of the girls in our Bible Study. We had a great time with kittens, one-week-old kids, horses, cows stalking us, a huge bonfire, puzzles and a great time to get to know each other better.

After four months of phoning, emailing and chasing Telstra, we have at last gotten the phone line into our house repaired and should have the Internet connected by early May. For this we are very thankful and it should make it easier to be in contact with family and friends than it has been so far this year. 

We would also like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining in partnership with us financially to help us through Keiran’s flight program next year. The flight component of Keiran’s course will cost $65,000 and we do not presently have enough money, and we will not, even with both of us working part-time. If you would like to support us in this way, you can give through the Annabel Charitable Foundation (the organisation who awarded Keiran his scholarship) and your gift will be tax deductible. To do this you can email us or comment below and we will email you the forms!

Thank you all for your prayers and your messages of encouragement over the past four weeks. We are very grateful to know that you have been thinking of us during this hard time and we thank each of you who emailed, called and messaged us with prayers and words of support, and for those who prayed that we don’t know about. This was a wonderful example to us of the unity of believers, the support of the body of the church, and the power of prayer. Thank you.

Prayer Points

· Keiran will find a job

· Thank God for the close friendships we are forming, and for the chance to get away for a few days last week.

· Thank God for Corinne’s job

· God will provide financially for us next year

· For Luke’s family, that they will find comfort during this hard time, brought closer to one another & rely on God.

· We will be able to find a new housemate

Tragic Accident

It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of our friend, Luke, who was Keiran's classmate and one of our housemates. 

Around 8 am on Tuesday the 5th of April, Luke Teale-Sinclair was on his way out to Coldstream to the Australian Centre for Mission Aviation on his motorbike, when he was involved in a fatal accident.  Keirans head Engineering instructor was prompted to take a different route to travel to work today and was at the scene of the accident within minutes of it occuring and was fortunate to be with Luke as he passed. He was then able to pray and share Gods word with the driver of the other vehicle and owners of the property next door who witnessed the crash.   

Luke was 25 years old and in his second year of aircraft engineering training.  Luke’s parents work for MAF and he grew up in Papua New Guinea, stating on Facebook that his ‘home’ was Mount Hagen.   Luke’s goal was to work as an engineer for MAF in PNG once his training was completed here.  Luke’s vibrancy and passion for life made him a popular and well-loved member of the student body.   He will be sorely missed both out at ACMA and in our home.

Pray for his family at this time, his girlfriend Amy, and all those out at ACMA as we miss him each and every day.

Yours in Christ

Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High 

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, 

my God, in whom I trust.”

Yet another year has flown by and its hard to believe it is February already. We both had a good Christmas break up in the Blue Mountains for a couple of weeks visiting with family and friends. We then continued up to Kempsey to stay with Keiran’s Grandparents and visit his extended family and Corinne’s in Port Macquarie. It was good to spend some time with Keiran’s parents as they are leaving to return to the Mission Field of Zambia in March.

Both of us finished our 2010 studies with flying colours. Keiran sat over 20 exams, both in-house and government ones, and passed every single one of them—a tough ask since the pass mark is 75%. Corinne also passed her subjects with two distinctions and a high distinction (two B’s and an A).

Keiran is now back at Coldstream, just starting his third week. Now that he has finished all his theory for aircraft maintenance, this year will be almost exclusively practical. He has already worked on several jobs such as propeller repairs, 100hr inspections and maintenance tasks (similar to a cars full service but much more thorough!) He is really enjoying being out of the classroom, but the heat the first week in which was over 40 degrees in the hangar made him wish that maybe he was still in the classroom. However the weather has cooled down again now and the feeling of Autumn coming is in the air.

Corinne started back at La Trobe this week, doing Spanish, Screenwriting and Publishing and Editing. She has also already started doing some work experience with the Salvation Army’s Warcry magazine. She has done proofreading, editing testimonies and wrote an article last week, which should come out at the end of March. Corinne is having so much fun doing this, and hopes it will lead to some work in the near future.

We are writing this newsletter from the living room of our new house. In January we moved into our new abode, a 4 bedroom house which we are sharing with three other people. The other three live upstairs in the main living area and we live downstairs in what used to be a rumpus room, but have now turned it into a large bedroom with study and lounge area. We are very happy here with so much more space and freedom. Two of the people living with us are also students at Coldstream, Emma and Luke, whilst Erin attends ACU and is studying Theology.

We have been enjoying our time attending Lilydale Baptist church. Keiran is involved with running sound, Corinne still works at the Mustard Tree Op-Shop Cafe and we are planning on starting and leading a small group starting this week.

We are thankful to all who prayed for Corinne to get a job. In September, she began working at Ainsworth Estate Winery as a waitress at their restaurant. This lasted for three months, however unfortunately the restaurant closed down in December. Both of us are now looking for jobs as Keiran will have much more time this year, since his study load is far less. So all those who were praying last time we would really appreciate those prayers again!

We have been blessed again just this week with being awarded a scholarship of $1000 by the Annabel Charitable Foundation to go towards Keiran’s Tuition fees.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and support in our mission training and look forward to seeing many of you on our trips up north and hearing from you.

Prayer Points:

· Corinne & Keiran can both get casual work.

· We will both continue to do well at college/uni.

· God will guide us in the decisions we will have to make over the next 10 months in regards to starting Keiran’s pilot training next year and financial concerns.

· God will continue to strengthen our marriage and our relationships with Him.

Engineer Class from Left

Luke Teal-Sinclair, Daniel Gill, Keiran, Emma Maynard, Nathan Lang

· Thank God for his provisioning of the ACF scholarship.

Lots of love

Keiran & Corinne