A Busy Spring

Homeschoolers and a surprise visit!

Top-Left: Madeline sharing a little about aviation, Bottom-Left: Governor Parsons handing out medallions, Top-Middle: The governor and homeschool group in front of his airplane, Bottom-Middle: Kevin sharing his knowledge with some of the younger students, Right: coming in for a landing.

From time to time we have different groups come to the airport to tour the facilities. This past month we hosted a local homeschool group from Bolivar. We were able to show them the airport and some airplanes, while teaching them about mission aviation. While they were visiting we heard the Missouri Governor might be flying in. It is not abnormal for him to visit our airport as he has a house locally. However, we were not expecting him at the same time that the homeschool group was touring. We warned his security just in case there would be any security concerns. To our surprise, he wanted to stay and visit with the group. He let them tour his aircraft and gave them medallions. It was such a fun surprise for both us and the students.

Mail Drop and Simple Living!

Left: Little Truitt, Top-Left: Seth and Deb in front of the community space for this group, Bottom-Left: Inside AJ & Stephanie’s living space, Middle-Right: Our group visiting AJ’s home, Top-Right: Wood frames are all that is here when the families arrive, Bottom-Right: Stephanie decorated their home in scriptures inside and out.

This time of year at the Ethnos360 training center, the missionaries in training complete a Simple Living Experience. They are located in close to us Roach, MO. Several of our missionary candidates have chosen to serve with Ethnos360 so we are always excited to visit them near the end of their experience. Simple Living is 17 days where the students at Ethnos360 training center get to experience what it’s like to live in a remote village with their family. They are given a wood frame and they have to come up with the materials to live during these 17 days. Many families are young and have littles. During Simple Living this year, one of our missionary candidates, AJ, his wife Stephanie, and their 1-year-old little boy Truitt attended Simple Living. We were able to visit them during one of their last days. It was fun to see the house they built and all the things they rigged to make their space livable. During Simple Living SOAR partners with Ethnos360 to fly over and drop mail in the same way that many missionaries do on the field. The people living there do not have cell phone contact or access to any technology. So the letters they receive are a welcome encouragement to the families. AJ and his family have just finished the remainder of their training with Ethnos360 and have officially been accepted by their organization. Please pray for them as they begin their transition period.

This is a video Deb created in 2021 for the Mail Drop!

A new missionary trainee!

This month we welcomed Julia Cagasan to our group. She has been sent to us in partnership with JAARS to help her receive the flight portion of her training. This means that Seth will be finishing up Bailey’s Private Pilot at the same time he starts Julia’s Private Pilot. This makes for a busy season but we are grateful for God bringing us people that we will be helping send to the mission field.

Upcoming Events

Please pray as we plan for the IAMA conference. Pray for us as an organization to continue to create relationships as we connect with sending organizations. Also, pray that we personally will represent SOAR well to other organizations.

Help us make our Goal!

This year our goal number needs to increase to meet the impact of inflation on our family. This means we need to increase our partners. If you are currently a partner through either through prayer or financially would you consider 5 people who you think might want to hear about what we are doing at SOAR. We would also love to connect and share at your local church. If you are not currently partnering with us would you consider partnering with us through prayer or financially. Lastly, please pray that God will provide for our family to continue the work that He has called us to.

Ways you can be praying for us & SOAR in 2023

• That God brings clarity and unity and we are able to find direction as a leadership team.
• That Seth is able to get his CFII done this year.
• That God grows and shapes our candidates to be used on the field and that he opens doors for them to be able to serve.

Ways you can be praying for us in May:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed.
• For the Safety of Seth and the students he is training.
• That God shows us direction for the next season here at SOAR.

Going on year 3!

For those of you who are new to our journey, we thought we would share a couple of videos about who we are and what we do.

This is a video we created about us personally and the beginning of our Missions journey.

A little bit about us from when we began.

This video features Nathan White who completed his training through SOAR. Do you know someone who wants to become a missionary pilot? This is a great resource.

The journey of a missionary pilot from one of our former missionary candidates.

This video is about another organization, Ethnos360, where three of our Missionaries are serving. Church planting and bible translation are a big part of their work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi2xVzWqxVg

We are so grateful to be a part of SOAR and to be able to partner in the work that these organizations are doing.

These are the faces of those we have sent from SOAR. Pray for them as they serve all over the world.
These are our current missionary candidates. Please pray for them as they work on gaining the skills, knowledge and attributes to serve on the mission field.

Looking Foward into 2023

Training new flight students from the start is both rewarding and nerve-racking. For the last 3 weeks, Seth and Bailey have been working hard on Bailey’s first flight milestone, his first solo. The weather has been challenging with freezing conditions and high winds limiting the days that are beneficial for Bailey this early in his training. Pray that in the next weeks, he can achieve this milestone. Seth will also begin working on his CFII rating which will allow him to teach pilots to fly in instrument conditions.

Seth and Kerrick Tweedy our CEO have been working together weekly to teach Seth some of the business aspects of SOAR. This allows Seth to take some of the daily operational load from Kerrick and allows Kerrick to do more strategic partnership and relationship building. Kerrick has taken up the role of helping the International Association of Missionary Aviation(IAMA) as CEO to help guide the overall industry to new horizons. This doesn’t interfere with his role at SOAR but it helps it. It aligns with our vision as SOAR to be more intentional in providing readiness to non-traditional candidates.

Top Left: Our first day Jan 2021. Top Right: Kerrick and Seth sharing SOAR’s story. Bottom Left: Bailey and Seth. Bottom Right: IAMA’s tent at EAA AirVenture.

When we began this journey 2 years ago we weren’t quite sure what God had in store for us. As we begin this new year we are looking back to see how God has been faithful. From getting us here on his time to launching mission candidates. In all of it, he has proven that he is doing the work at SOAR.
As we begin this next year please pray for us. Pray for unity within our team. Pray for God’s Will, that it would be the direction we are constantly aiming for. Pray for our missionary candidates currently training, and the missionaries we have launched to the field. Pray for safety. Pray for families and marriages. Pray that God’s name is made big both here at home and abroad. We are so thankful we get to partner with him in what he is doing. We are so thankful for those of you who have chosen to partner and help us do what God has called us to. We could not do it without you.

Ways you can be praying for us & SOAR in 2023

• That God brings clarity and unity and we are able to find direction as a leadership team.
• That Seth is able to get his CFII done this year.
• That God grows and shapes our candidates to be used on the field and that he opens doors for them to be able to serve.

Ways you can be praying for us in February:

• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed.
• That we can make time for family.
• That God shows us direction for the next season here at SOAR.