On December 7th, 9:12am a little 7lb-9oz boy by the name of Benjamin Parker was born! We are very blessed that the birth went very well and both the baby and momma are doing wonderful!

JAARS Technical Evaluation

September 12th, we drove from home (Sarasota, Fl) to JAARS headquarters located in Waxhaw, NC for our Technical Evaluation.

We arrived late Saturday evening and checked into our little apartment on the JAARS center.

The helicopter flying portion of the evaluation began Monday morning and we were able to progress ahead of schedule and completed that by Wednesday. The flying consisted of air-work – climbing turns and completing the turn on x degree heading at x altitude – emergencies – landing and takeoffs in confined areas – slope landings -etc.

The final flying day consisted of a cross country flight simulating a real world mission flight. I was not able to use GPS to navigate to the three locations assigned, but by headings, leg timing and visually looking for landmarks (dead-reckoning and pilotage). I was to figure out how much max fuel we could take, one passenger, pickup cargo and another passenger, then drop off at x location and return to base. Then plans changed at one of the stops for “an emergency medivac” and I needed to re-plan weights, fuel, heading and timing and ETA.

On Thursday the 17th, I began the aircraft mechanic part of the evaluation. I completed projects from electrical troubleshooting – aircraft inspection – sheet metal fabrication – magneto rebuilding and engine running – engine shop – fuel system troubleshooting – and an oral examination. I finished the evaluation on the following Thursday the 24th and then Friday we waited to hear from the JAARS team if we passed the evaluation. They called us Friday evening and we met with the team and they gave us the news that we were accepted into JAARS as a Pilot plus! Which meant we passed the flying evaluation but suggested we pursue aircraft mechanic mentoring with them onsite if we wanted to serve on the field as a mechanic also.

So we started on the next step on September 28th, Wycliffe Bible Translator membership. We were assigned a gentleman to walk us through the membership process of completing work history forms, resumes, and have had several video call interviews. We were originally slated to become Wycliffe members on February 1st, but due to us missing a meeting with SIL/Papua New Guinea the day our little Benjamin Parker was born, the meeting was postponed and due to schedules not suiting for another meeting before the end of December, we missed our membership deadline.

So, what’s next?

On January 18th, we have a video meeting scheduled with SIL/ Paupa New Guinea to complete the official invitation process and determine official roles. The next opportunity for us to become Wycliffe members is on April 1st, 2021. The next step after Wycliffe membership is to begin an online Wycliffe training course lasting about six weeks, and then two weeks of onsite training, “Equip”, at Wycliffe head quarters in Orlando, Fl, on June 12-25, 2021.

Below is the JAARS timeline for an overall picture of the stage we are in. We have finished with the Candidate Stage and are waiting to be accepted as members with Wycliffe before beginning the Pre-field Stage.

Please pray with us

  • Praise God for the arrival of Benjamin Parker and the health of momma and baby!
  • Papua New Guinea meeting and Wycliffe membership status would go according to God’s will and timing.

Thank you for your interest and support in our lives. The prayer and encouragement we receive is valued and greatly appreciated! – Kenneth and Meghan