Flowers!

So not everything I do is aviation related, or really has anything to do at all with college...

A couple months ago, my roommate walked into our room with a big bag of potting soil, some pots, and seeds. he had randomly decided that we were going to grow flowers so that we could impress the girls!

I was dubious to say the least, but hey, what's the worse that could happen?

I honestly didn't think that the plants would survive or even sprout, so you can imagine my surprise when I checked on them and saw this.

Success!

Since these photos were taken, we've had even more flowers bloom. Who said college guys can't garden?

Flying, Car Shows, Races and Africa

So, last week (was it really last week?) I passed my flight test. In theory, that means I'm a licensed pilot, but in practice, I still need to finish off the paperwork. (I probably could have gotten it done a day or two after the test, but I'm lazy). I've started the next module of my flight training called IT&E (Initial Time & Experience). Basically, I do lots of cross-country flights and get introduced to class C airspace.

Yesterday I did my first flight since the flight test, and my first ever flight into class C airspace. (For those of you who don't know, Class C airspace is a busier airspace where the planes actually communicate with a control tower.) For this flight, I went to Springbank (A nice town a few miles west of Calgary). The Calgary class C airspace is the third busiest airspace in Canada, and Springbank airport is the ninth busiest airport. With all that information, you might think that I had a hard time, considering that I learnt to fly in the quiet airspace of central Alberta! but it was a piece of cake! Other than a minor incident involving the map telling me to use a radio frequency that wasn't right, that flight went great! My next flight (which was supposed to be today, but we're having some really ugly weather) will be again to Springbank, but solo this time!

The weekend after my flight test, Three Hills had a car show in town. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so I couldn't get any pictures. That Sunday though, we closed the airport and hosted drag races! That was pretty darn cool! I volunteered to help out in the pit, parking trailers and what have you, but that meant I got to be up-close and personal with the race cars! And boy were they loud! Again, I didn't have my camera, so I don't have any pictures. (Sorry)

My Africa trip this Christmas is going very slowly, there is so much to do and so little time! Right now my greatest concern is financial. God has blessed me with many people saying that they are praying for me, but precious few people have said that they will support me financially. Chad is an expensive country to travel to, tickets vary between 3000 and 3500$, and I still have to get food and have somewhere to live. Once everything is said and done, I'm looking at a cost of around 4000$ possibly more. Please, I need support if I am to go on this trip. If you want to know more, you can read my previous posts here and here, or you can comment this post, e-mail me, or send me a letter. Also, if you want me to send you a prayer letter for our church or small group or what have you, let me know! And thank-you in advance!

PARTY!

So, I had my flight test this morning...

I got up at 0530, and got cracking. I had to check what the winds were so that I would be able to properly calculate headings and ground speeds. Then I got my butt to the airport for 0700. The oral brief started at 0900, and lasted about an hour and a half. That all went well, I knew all the information. Then we took off at 1130.

Now, you must understand, there were thunderstorms building several miles to the west, and coming our way... So as the flight went on, things got turbulent! But at first, the skies were silky smooth. I didn't even need to hold onto the yoke! Then things started to get bumpy, and I started to get tired. The last few exercises didn't go so well. After simulating an engine failure, I started to do some low-level exercises. Those are difficult and stressful at the best of times, But I had some good turbulence, a tired brain, and the stress of an exam... It wasn't very good to be honest.

Finally, we landed. I shut down the engine, and the examiner got out almost right away without a word. You can guess how I felt. Almost an hour later he sits down with my instructor and myself and starts to pick apart the flight. It took about half an hour for him to get through all the things he had to say. By the end, I was positive I had only gotten a partial and would have to fly again.

Then he told me I passed! Man was I excited! He gave me the sheet with all my marks, and I realized just how small the things that I thought I did bad on really are. I guess it goes to show that generally the things that you think were terrible usually aren't that big of a deal.

I'm really tired now, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some rest!

Test Stress!

So tomorrow I'm doing my flight test for my Private Pilot License... I'll be spending tonight planing for that. I'm a bit stressed... Like a lot!

There's a lot of work that I have to do, a lot of paper work, and a planing, and even though I'm confident that I will do well, I'm still stressed out of my mind...

The state of the kitchen table... My desk is a bit to small. And this is just the beginning!

Updates

So I realised it’s been almost a month since I’ve posted about Africa, so I figured I would let you guys know what’s up.

Not a whole lot. Things are going slowly. I’m having to trust God and pray a lot for the finances and other logistics.

I’ve been reading up about missions and the problems it’s facing. One thing that I know I’m guilty of is thinking of missionaries as quasi-divine beings. When in reality, they are human as well. Mistakes happen. I’ve been looking at these mistakes and trying to figure out how I can not make the same ones. I’m being challenged particularly with what I’m planning on doing. I want to go there to find out whether full-time ministry is for me, but I need to be very careful that I’m not doing something that one of the nationals could do.

I don’t want to get too caught up in missions philosophy, but I do need to be careful about what I’m telling those I interact with through my actions.

On the financial side, fundraising is going very slowly. I need to raise 3500$. Every little bit helps. if you want to help me, comment this post, or e-mail me at dominicvilleneuve1995@gmail.com .

I would appreciate it so much.

Also, I have some prayer points, please pray that I would know God’s will, that I would be able to walk in step with Him, and that the finances would be available.

Thank-you soo much!

Why Alberta?

So it’s May 3rd, I look on Facebook, and all I see are pictures of green grass, growing flowers, sunshine, camping trips and swimming in the lake.

Then I look out the window, and I see snow falling.

Fairly heavily.

And I ask one question: Why did I move to Alberta?

Seriously though, there are no mountains (I feel so exposed!), It’s windy like you wouldn’t believe (Biking against the wind is worse that any hill I’ve ever faced), and it’s cold (yuck).

I must be crazier than I thought.

Africa!

As the title suggests, I’m going to Africa. Or rather, I’m planning on it. There are a lot of logistics to sort out, and a lot of things that I still need to figure out. But I’m going to give you what I can. When I was younger, I was taught the 5 “W”s, I figure they’re still valid…

Who: Me. Obviously. Seriously though, I will be going alone (at least, that’s what it looks like for now). I’ll be under the care of an organisation called Mission Aviation Fellowship. MAF is an aviation organisation that uses technology, particularly aviation, to reach people around the world with the gospel.

What: As for exactly what I’ll be doing there, I’m not exactly sure. That’s one of the logistics that still needs to be sorted out. What I can say with relative certainty, is that I’ll mostly be helping out with more “hands on” tasks, as well as getting an idea of what life is like for a MAF missionary. That being said, I’m still very much hoping to spend time with the local people, and see their side of the world.

Where: Chad. An average sized country about the same size as British Columbia north of the Central African Republic and west of Sudan. I’ll probably be spending most of my time in N’Djamena, the capital. (If you want to know more about Chad, here’s a good website)

When: Christmas break. I’m not exactly sure of the dates (partly because my college only has a tentative schedule for next year at the moment), but this trip will take place during my Christmas break.

Why: Now that’s the million dollar question. There are a few reasons why I want to do this trip and they are mostly quite long. (except for one that is only two words: The warmth) But the main reason I decided to do this trip, stems from a friend of mine who went on a christmas trip a couple years ago. She was sharing about her experience, and I started thinking about how cool it would be to sacrifice my Christmas to try and help spread the Gospel. I haven’t been able to shake this thought, so I decided a couple weeks ago to see if it could work. They said they would love to have me. So here I am, trying to follow through with a crazy idea.

The second reason I want to go is that I have felt called into full-time service as a missionary with an organisation like MAF. This trip will give me an idea of what this will look like.

Back in my first paragraph, I mentioned that there are a lot of logistics to sort out. Some of these I don’t even know exist and/or need to be sorted out, but I’ll share what I’ve got: In my mind, the greatest challenge is the fact I’ve never done this before; I have no idea what I’m doing. What I mean is this: although I’ve been on missions trips (one) before, and I’ve travelled plenty (twelve different countries, some of them multiple times), I’ve never had to do it alone. I’ve never had to organise travel tickets, visas, money etc. This is where you come in, if you could pray for me, that would be appreciated.

This leads me to the second big challenge that I can see right now: I’m a college student. I have few things, and money isn’t one of them. Chad is an expensive country to travel to, and to be honest, I don’t have nearly enough money. Again, this is where you come in, if you have it in you to give, please, comment at the bottom of this post, send me an e-mail at: 

dominicvilleneuve1995@gmail.com 

send me a letter (snail mail!) at:

Box 4852
Three Hills, AB
T0M 2N0

 Heck, send me a message via homing pigeon (on second thought, please don’t. I don’t know how to clean bird poop off my carpet. Also, what do you want me to do with the pigeon?), and I’ll get back to you about how to send me financial help.

Thank you guys for supporting me, prayerfully and financially. I appreciate it tremendously. Also, I promise to keep you guys up to date with what is going on, so that you can pray more specifically for me.