September 2012 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Well it is Spring again for another year. The past Melbourne winter has been extremely wet, windy and grey and to tell you the truth the past few months have been just a little grey for us as well.

All this poor weather has caused havoc with Keiran’s flying and has caused his whole class to be months behind schedule, simply because they cant fly. One upside is that they are ahead in their theory subjects and exams which we are pleased to say Keiran has done quite well in. A large problem that has come about due to the weather and its subsequent flying delays is that Keiran has now been waiting for the past 2 months to sit his Private Pilots Licence flight test—every time it looks like he will be able to do it everything seems to conspire against him! We ask that you pray that the weather would cooperate and everything would fall into place so that he can sit and ultimately pass his test this coming Monday 1st October.

 

Unfortunately, Corinne’s job came to an end at the end of August. She has been looking for Temp work with a company and has applied for several other positions but is yet to find anything. She is currently finishing her last subject of her BA, translation, and because she has to attend half a day a week she is finding it hard to get work. We ask that you pray for her during this time that she can find encouragement and strength and draw closer to God. Pray also that she can make her days productive.

Due to Corinne’s job finishing and being unable to find a new housemate we have found ourselves in a tight financial situation. After much discussion and prayer Keiran has had to drop back to part time studying and has picked up his work hours at Bunnings. This has meant that he was unable to fly last week with the rest of his class up to Arnhem Land. Every year part of the flying hours completed are done flying to and from Arnhem Land in the N.T. This is done to build experience in remote flying, but it also gives the students a taste of what they could be doing once they complete their course. Whilst up there the other students will be billeted out to various stations with current Mission Pilots and their families to get a first hand glimpse into the mission flying job and lifestyle and the challenges that come with it.

 

Pray that Keiran would be able to be positive through this unexpected challenge. He is now flying at a 50% load in between working about 30hrs a week at Bunnings, which will probably increase to 38hrs when he gets a full-time contract. It is sad and disappointing that we have had to make this decision, but we realised during it that the only reason why we were disappointed was because life wasn't happening the way that WE wanted it to happen. We trust that God is in control and Keiran is still carrying out his flying, and we are still headed towards the mission field, this is just one small bump along the road. Pray that God would give us strength and perseverance, that He grant us patience and many other things that we are sure He is currently teaching us through this experience!

We truly value your prayer and support as you partner with us through this life that God has called us to.

 

It has not all been grey however! There is a new ray of sunshine from the Sampson line, or should I say Roberts line… Keiran’s sister Ilana and her husband Andrew had their first child August 22nd: a boy named Jedidiah Abel Roberts. He was born 2 weeks early whilst Keiran’s parents were visiting us on their way back to Sydney from Africa. He is their first Grandchild.

Corinne's Brother Jarryd also got married in late June to his new wife Sarah & Keiran’s oldest sister Gemma got engaged over winter to her now Fiancé Kevin and are due to wed here in Australia in December. Pray for both couples as they prepare for and adjust to married life.

We would love to hear from you so please feel free to send us a line!

God Bless

Keiran & Corinne

April 2012

Dear Friends,

Autumn has arrived in Melbourne after what has felt like a very short summer. We have both hit the ground running this year. After a short few days with Corinne’s family for Christmas up in the freezing cold Mountains (a nice break from boiling Melbourne—ironic) we returned to Melbourne – Keiran to almost full time casual hrs working at Bunnings and Corinne to her job at Eastside Community Training.

Corinne is settling into her job much better now, not as tired anymore when she comes home, and has at least some idea of what she is doing. Unfortunately, the company is still waiting on the government to finish the registration process for them to become a training organisation. For about a month there was almost nothing to do, but now she feels she is inundated with mountain-loads of boring tasks such as document formatting and little else.

But now… the news you’ve all been waiting for… Keiran has started flying! Yes, after three long years of study, two years of work before that, not to mention his longing to fly since he was three, Keiran has finally gotten behind the cockpit and is on his way to becoming a pilot at last.  He began his classes on the 16^th of January and took to the air on the 18^th, not to mention his first solo on the 16^th of February However it hasn’t all been smooth flying with Keiran suffering very bad air sickness the first 4 flights. We had anticipated that the start would be a little shaky with Keiran having suffered with travel sickness all his life as many of you possibly do as well! Thankyou so much to all those who prayed for him, since those first few flights he has been doing extremely well and only on a few occasions has he felt unwell. We would really value your continued prayers as Keiran flies, that he would fly safely, with clarity and a calm stomach!

 

We have begun our application with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and have our second stage of interviews this Monday. Pray for us as we both seek God’s guidance with our future and whether he wishes us to serve with MAF or elsewhere. We would also value your prayer on how he would have us serve on the mission field (apart from flying), especially for Corinne, as she is unsure of what her role would be as a pilot’s wife.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all those who have come alongside us the past 6 months as we made the step of faith regarding studying this year. Thank you to all those who have supported us both financially and most importantly prayerfully. I (Keiran) have been struggling with the idea of letting go and trusting in God, but This year I have really felt those prayers, and am feeling so much more at peace, especially to do with our finances.

 

Unfortunately, we have had to step down from running the Bible study that we led last year. With Corinne working full time, and Keiran at ACMA 5 days a week and working 15 hrs on top of that we found we didn’t have the time or the energy to be able to put sufficient effort into running the group. We are hoping to join a new group that is being formed by an older couple from our church and we pray that it is a time that we can really grow closer to God and others in our church community.

We are so sorry that this update is so far behind and thank you all again for your prayerful support.

God Bless

Keiran & Corinne