Today will be my last day at the Airport as a mechanic. It has been good building experience but The Lord made it pretty clear, as we sought him that it was time to move on when I got a new job meeting all our criteria after one day of looking!

Now deciding whether to continue CFI at the Marion airport or another local airport. Please pray for us as we make this very important decision and also look to finish up 501c3 paperwork and select a board of directors.

I accomplished my first engine removal today! Good experience before starting new job.

Last week we went 1600 miles to Spokane WA. A week prior we sat down and did our first serious budget in over a year. We were feeling conviction about taking better care of our resources and becoming more committed to eliminating debt. Well we had about $500 in savings and it was going to cost at least that just for gas. We knew God wanted us in Spokane to finish an electrical seminar at Moody Aviation so we waited. Well God provided as always, first with a gift of $250 then another of $500 prior to leaving. Now we had MORE than we needed to set out.
The Test: 700 miles into the trip 90 miles east of Rapid City SD at 3 am we were too tired to continue. So we pulled into a little hotel in Kadoka SD (synonymous with MiddleofNowWhereVille). 5 hours of sleep later we piled into the van and were on our way... our so we thought. Instead the van began to jerk violently and would not shift. back to our hotel. We sat there for 2 hours tired and feeling defeated. I called a friend and my dad. While I was talking to my dad a friend was working overtime trying to find a solution. I shared my discouragement with my dad trying to figure out why this was happening. I had ultimately decided that it was just best to go home and try again next year...
BUT GOD! Eric had found a solution for us PTL. A generous contributor paid for us to drive a rental from Rapid City to Billings MT and Eric would pick us up in his van. But how to get to Rapid City. It was 90 miles away remember? Well that was when God gave me the idea to disarm the electronic transmission fuse but pulling it out of the circuit. By doing this it made the van go into default mode and would only drive in 2nd gear. Do you know how fast you can go in second gear at 3000 RPM? about 40 miles per hour according to my iphone app I used to calculate groundspeed haha. 2 1/2 hours later we dropped the van off at a dodge dealer and swapped into the rental. 38 hours from the start of the trip we ended in Spokane at 7 am Sunday morning. WHEEEEEWWWW we were tired.
  I digress... back to the financial testing. Normally at this point because of bad habits we would have just put the cost of repair on a credit card, but we determined a week prior that we were going to start living by faith again. So we were definitely being tested. How were we gonna pay for a rental back to Rapid City, gas, and the repairs for the van? it was going to be at least $750 and that was with a cheap repair.
  Two days later the mechanic called with the repair cost. Total: $189 how awesome is that? the cost of the rental: $320. And gas: an estimated $250 for a grand total of $759. When I tallied how much money we had if we drained everything to $o: $782, enough for even a few meals haha.
  The Adventure: at the same time, 2 weeks prior we began to feel that God was going to open another opportunity for employment because Daniel's current situation was not providing enough to live on. We sat down and did a bare bones budget and we were still short. We began to pray and seek God and wise counsel. After listening, we decided Daniel needed to check a few places out. He went out to the Cedar Rapids Airport and dropped of his resume but no one was hiring... darn! On his way home, he remember this Aerospace place that he had heard about from a guy off Craigslist that bought our old washer a few months prior. He had one resume left and decided to drop it of there as an afterthought.
  Well, in the middle of the fiasco in Spokane where we were broke and trusting God, this Aerospace company called and said they wanted to interview Daniel for a position! We told them we were out of town and would be back and available Monday (Feb 11th). The interview was today and they offered Daniel the job working on disassembling aircraft components and reselling them. There is much room for growth. As part of the interview Daniel shared his desires for Paraclete Aviation to make sure there would be adequate time for him to pursue this dream on the side. They were accommodating to this dream and so Daniel took the job as starts in two weeks.  
The Ice Cream:
  Ice cream you say? or maybe just the whipped cream on top. two weeks ago when we sat down to do the budget we also cast a vision for the year with ministry and our personal goals. We asked God to give us a new job or raise by March 1st (done), to pay off half our debt by Sept 1st (already happened through unexpected tax return!), and give us our airplane for ministry by Aug 1st among other things. Well when Daniel got home from the job interview he checked his email. In it was a message from the owner of the airplane listed on our news section that is for sale. Only he had decided not to sell it a few months ago when another buyer offered on it. Now he wrote an email saying he changed his mind and wants to give us the opportunity to buy it before he lists it online. Coincidence? Or God continuing to show himself strong on behalf of those who are devoted to Him? (see 2 Chronicles 16:9).
In Romans it says that God "calls into existence those things which don't exist". Well we believe that we are to partner with Him in faith and call into existence an airplane because He assured us last year in prayer that He had one for us. Stand with us in prayer and watch how awesome God is!
Be blessed and Trust in Him,
Daniel and Dawn Dietz
Alena, Azaryah, Hosanna, and Selah