Getting Married Soon :)

Friends,

An update on the wedding: For any who I forgot to tell, our wedding is
coming up in a few weeks. The date is set for November 7 in
Collegedale. I hope all who know me and can make it will make it. It
will be outdoors, so we're praying for a nice warm sunny day. Min and
I are both excited as the day approaches, and planning for Africa as
well. We may leave as soon as December for Chad. For now though, we're
working, planning, saving and preparing for marriage. I hope you all
are well! I'll be very busy the next three weeks, but drop me a line
if you have time. Pray for us! You all are in my prayers.

God Bless,

Scott Sterling

Engaged!

Friends,

 

I've just returned from a visit to Seattle, Washington with Min. I received the guidance I sought from God and decided to ask Min to marry me there. She said yes! I am very happy, and the whole reality of it is yet to set in my mind. I'm happy with my decision though, and we are going to preparatory counseling and are planning the wedding for November. We decided it would be best for me to stay and work to save up for bringing two people to Africa, and of course, the wedding. I am back in Collegedale. Our plan is to go to Washington when we are ready, and depart from there to Africa (so my parents can see us off).

 

We have already received much help in planning the wedding. God has shown his hand as well, in the provision of a wedding dress: It seems one was donated, new in the box, to Gospel Ministries in McDonald, TN. A friend of mine knew I was getting married and held on to it. It turns out it fits Min perfectly! (Of course I haven't seen it yet). It seems to have been tailored for her, although whoever donated it could not have known who would receive it.

 

I hope this encourages you and keep us in your prayers as we prepare for marriage and a launch to Africa as missionaries!

God Bless,

Scott Sterling

Finished!

Friends,

I only have a minute to post this good news. On Friday the Lord blessed me and I now have a Commercial Pilot's License! I arrived in Seattle, Washington with Min yesterday at 1pm. We plan to stay here two weeks and visit with my family. I'm so happy that everything has worked out to this point. 

God Bless,

Scott Sterling

Coming Events

Friends,

I wanted to give you a short description of what I have been learning as to the events soon to come on the earth. Some of you  may know that I joined the Seventh-day Adventist church in 2005. This is a summary of what I have learned that may be pertinent to you all. Feel free to disagree and write me to express your view... I merely want to be helpful to those who may need it.

According to my study of the Bible and the books by one whom I believe to be an inspired writer, Ellen G. White, this is an approximate order of events:

1. Spiritual Revival. There will soon be a spiritual revival taking place all around the world. It may be that soon there will not be such thing as an Athiest. This will be accompanied by miracles, and eventually the appearance of the "spirits of the dead", who will claim to be departed loved ones, the 12 disciples, and spiritual leaders from the past, even heathen ones. They will all claim to have been in heaven, and bear a similar message.

2. Financial Crisis/Moral Decay. Although things may look better for a while financially, there will be a worldwide financial crisis and more moral decay. The ultimate end of these two burdens on society will be the pressuring of political leaders to enact laws contrary to the United States Constitution: Laws of a religious nature.

3. Sunday Sacredness/Revealing of the 7th day Sabbath to the world. It will be suggested worldwide that the moral decay and financial crisis are the result of "God's displeasure at the lack of Sunday sacredness". Political leaders in the United States will eventually succumb to pressure by the people to enact laws protecting Sunday worship, and forbidding work on the same day. There will be a relatively small group of people who will claim that God's holy day was never changed, and continues to be the Sabbath of the 7th day of the week: Saturday. Eventually this group of people will be ordered to work on Saturday and rest and worship God on Sunday. 

4. Calamity. As a result of the United States enacting such "Sunday laws", natural disasters and other calamities will begin to fall on the large cities in the United States (perhaps worldwide, I do not claim to know). It will be urged that these are a result of this small group of people who keep the 7th day rest day, and "do not honor Sunday". They will be taken to court, fined, not be able to buy or sell, jailed and eventually a decree will go out that they should be killed in one day.

The time we are in right now is called the "sealing time". Those who are following God honestly are being drawn closer to Him and becoming more like Him in character. Those who are not serious are drifting further away spiritually and becoming more interested in the pleasures of this present world. A test is coming. (Right now I recommend that we get to know God as best we can in daily prayer and Bible study.) When the laws enforcing Sunday worship are enacted and the question is raised, "Which day is the Lord's Day?", those who know God's voice will join Him by keeping the 7th day Sabbath, though they be in the minority. Those who are willing to succumb to peer pressure and threats of poverty, ignominity and death will keep Sunday at that time, though they know in their hearts that it is wrong. The plagues mentioned in Revelation will fall on those willingly disloyal to God and Jesus will be seen coming from the sky "in the clouds of heaven" to take the loyal ones home.

I hope this is insightful to you, and feel free to reply with your thoughts and differing opinions. May we all be found ready and faithful to the end.

God Bless,

Scott Sterling 

Exam Passed!

Friends,

I have really good news! Yesterday I had the opportunity to take the final exam for the Private Pilot Instrument Rating, and passed! This important rating allows me to fly on days when visibility is so poor that you cannot effectively navigate or avoid other aircraft by sight alone. I can now file a flight plan with Air Traffic Control before I go, and they will help me to avoid traffic I can't see. They will also authorize me to set up for a landing at an airport and come very close to the ground without seeing anything until I descend through the clouds and see the runway in the last few moments. (Pilots know what this rating means but I am explaining it so I hope that everyone can appreciate it). 

This makes me a much more useful pilot with Gospel Ministries Intl, and is a requirement to be a solo mission pilot with our ministry. It is the second of three ratings that are required. The last one is the Commercial Pilot rating, and this will come in the next few weeks, Lord willing. 

I wanted update everyone on this, and I thank everyone who prayed for me! It helped a lot! I realized on Friday how many things could go wrong and prevent me from taking the test, or from passing it, and it was almost overwhelming. The Lord gave me peace as I realized that He has been leading along this path to be a missionary pilot, and if it was His will that I take this test and pass, as long as I made the effort that I could, He would ensure success. I was still nervous and fasted that afternoon, and I was excited when I finally heard the words, "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?", as the check pilot prepared to print out my temporary license. (The real one will come in a few weeks).

Life is really peaceful here, but several of my friends have been feeling oppressed lately spiritually. Prayers have been ascending for these people as well as the rest of my family and friends, and I've been blessed to see real results in their lives. Min and I are happy and dreading the time when I'll leave for Africa and we won't see each other for 6 months to a year. However, we are thankful for the time we do have, and have been counseled that the separation will only serve to test and strengthen our relationship. I need to know that I am suited to serve the Lord in Africa, and we both need to know that prolonged separation will not weaken our relationship.

I hope that you all are doing well. I pray for health, joy and peace for you all, and that you may know my Jesus.

God Bless,

Scott Sterling

Waiting for a Plane

I've been trying to communicate more with others and here is another effort to keep that commitment! I have been uneasy the last two weeks during the work day. The main reason is that, in the past year, God has almost never given me the resources I need in advance. If I need to move forward in my plans for being a missionary, I seem to have to start filling out a visa application, or signing up for flight lessons, or putting together my passport application, etc. before I know how I am going to pay for these things.

As of last week I found out that all of the funding for flight training (at least according to my estimate of what it will cost) is available to me. However, we do not have an airplane available for me to use. There are planes available to rent, but they cost roughly three times what it costs me to fly one of our planes. I've been uneasy because I want to move forward, but everyone I've talked to agrees that waiting two weeks for the plane to arrive makes more sense than spending three times the money just to advance a week sooner. I want to know what God's will is though, so I am praying in this matter. The trip to go buy the plane and fly it from California to here has been postponed until next week. I am thinking that soon I may make plans to rent and move forward and trust that God will make up the difference so that I can finish flight training.

Aside from that anxiety, the good news is that since I haven't been flying, I've been available to help with the remodeling that is going on here at the GMI Media Center. In the next couple of weeks we should have an ideal layout of the offices, and a custom receptionist "command center". I'll post some pictures soon. We may be running a production studio for 5 TV stations out of this humble building soon. Many people have a sense of anticipation as if God is going to move in a mighty way to remove all the current barriers to our reaching the world with God's last-day message. Even non-Christians have been more open to receiving literature about the Bible recently when I offer it. May the Lord come soon.

God Bless,

Scott Sterling

Winter in Collegedale

Things are going really well here. It's snowing outside but the roads are clear and sunshine is forecast for tomorrow; things are kind of peaceful. I am glad that we are living in a place of relative peace in the world for a moment. I am surrounded by those that I love and they all are working in the highest calling they know. I will miss the friends and "extended family" I have found here in Collegedale, but I am sure God will provide others wherever He sends me in Africa.

 

The great news is that I've been courting someone I met here just over two months ago. We spent over a week making the decision, considering I will be leaving very soon to Africa. I received good counsel from my parents, friends and mentors, and prayed a lot. The final decision was that it would be ok to get to know each other and see if we are matched, as long as we are careful. We do not want to cross any lines in our relationship that would make it difficult for us to just be friends if that is God's will. Just as I'm typing this it seems to me that anyone deciding to court someone else should follow such a plan, but I know that I definitely have not in the past. I have allowed myself to get more intimate with someone before marriage than I would choose to now. I don't hold myself up as an example to anyone else, but after counsel from some friends, we have decided not to kiss before marriage. To the friends I grew up with in Seattle, this would be quite radical! So far though, I'm very happy with just getting to know this person, the conversations that we have and praying for each other. I am looking forward to any ministry we can do together while I am here, aside from preparing for Africa. Her name is Luzmineth. Min for short.

 

As February 14th is approaching and many people are thinking about love, I wanted to share a beautiful text from the Bible. This is from 1 Corinthians 13, and it's in the New Living Translation:

 

 ---

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.

It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Love will last forever...

 ---

 

May we all live up to such a description of love! I hope all of you are doing well. Please write me if you get the time by posting a comment. Pray for Min and I for direction and faithfulness to God. One praise I want to mention is the funds for flying for the rest of my flight training appear to have come in! This often doesn't happen where I have the funding beforehand, so it seems to me that God is encouraging me to rush forward and expect all other obstacles between here and Africa to disappear. I have a plane ticket to buy, and a visa to apply for and final decisions to make on what to pack, but all of these are small things for God.

 

May God bless you with the peace that passes all understanding and true love this week.

 

Scott Sterling

Back in Collegedale

Friends,

I hope all is well with you and you have the "peace that passes all understanding" today (Phil. 4:7).
I am back in Collegedale, TN to finish flight training. Before going home to Seattle for a month, I attempted the instrument checkride. I passed the oral portion but I was given a "discontinuance" on the flying portion because the weather was not good enough for us to do the flight. I would only have to come back to him after I returned to Collegedale and we would finish the flying portion of the test.

While I was gone we had an unfortunate accident: http://www.newschannel9.com/video/?videoId=61734834001&lineupId=1137849423
One of our students took off early in the morning for a long cross-country flight to Canada and crashed just after takeoff. It is a miracle he survived, and much moreso that he only lost 3 teeth and needed a few stitches. He's almost fully recovered, and our plane will soon be replaced by a Cessna 150 and a Cessna 172RG. This hampers my plans to finish my checkride, of course, but as soon as we get the Cessna 150 I'll definitely be able to move forward.

In the meantime I've been studying, and I have an interesting new experience to share. As of three or four months ago, my plan has been to get to Africa without considering any kind of courting relationship with anyone until I arrive there. This was largely affected by advice I recieved from my father, who said "If there is a young lady who is as dedicated to African mission work as you, she's probably already out there."

Two weeks before I went home to visit family in Washington, I met a friend who goes to my local church here in McDonald, TN. We kept in contact over email while I was at home. It turns out she grew up in Africa (her parents were missionaries there). About six months ago I finished a list of qualities that I believe someone would need to have in order for me to consider marrying. It includes vital things such as common religious faith, and some optional things that I would like. As I have gotten to know her, the things we have in common became more prevalent, and I subconsciously began to compare this person with the list I had written.

Two weeks ago I wrote her to be honest about my thoughts in this area, and she wanted to speak with me. We've been getting to know each other more and I've been seeking the counsel and guidance of my parents, mentors and close spiritual friends. I've been doing a lot of praying as well. I still intend to depart the area, Lord willing, in six weeks for Africa. I do not know how we will get to know each other after that, but we are taking caution not to cross the line of being friends, and are happy just for the experience of being friends and praying for each other.

This relationship has been different for me from any other since High School, in that everything has been out in the open, and I believe that we have the approval of God in all that we have done so far. This has resulted in a wonderous new revelation to me: In my prayers in the evening, instead of my thoughts and feelings toward this person becoming a hinderance to my relationship with God, on the contrary they have advanced it! Jesus thinks toward us as a husband toward his wife (Eph 5:25), and it is quite a revelation to me to realize how He thinks of me. It's been a blessing.

I wanted to share one more thought with those who are interested: You are the only you that ever has been, or ever will be. God could not create another you, even if He wanted to. He gave you free will, and the choices you have made and the experience you have had on this earth have shaped you. If you are not in heaven, you will be missed. You are a jewel in God's eyes (Malachi 3:17) and just as a gemstone is unique in the way it reflects the light of our sun, so you are unique in the way that you can reflect God's character and goodness. He has great things for you already planned in the world to come. If you are not there, those plans will have to be cancelled, and God will be sad. Please don't disappoint Him.

The grace and peace of our Lord be with you.

Scott Sterling

Chad Update

Friends,

I am writing to let you know I am currently in Seattle, Washington to visit family for a few short weeks before potentially finishing flight training and heading to Africa around the second week of February. A lot still needs to happen between now and then but God is mighty and I believe He will keep moving obstacles out of the way as I step forward to face them. I hope and pray that all of you have been well taken care of by the Lord and are in good spirits. I pray for you all whenever I think of you. My purpose in Seattle is to see all of the family members I can, go through years of collected belongings and sort them, and to study for the Commercial Pilot checkride that is coming roughly two weeks after I return to Tennessee. Please pray for these endeavors! And write me an email or call to say how you are doing. My phone number is at the bottom of this email. 

I also wanted to share a couple of things I have found comforting this past week. One is a children's book that I think we all can identify with. By the third or fourth page I knew exactly what the author was describing with the "dots" and drew great comfort from the end of the story. The second item is a video that you can watch online called A Father's Love Letter. It is worth watching in my opinion. I hope these are a blessing to you.

Father's Love letter is at: http://www.fathersloveletter.com/video2.html

There is one that is narrated but this is my favorite.

The book is called You are Special by Max Lucado. I have a copy given to me on pdf and I am contacting the owner of the copyright to see if I can distribute it to my friends. As of now the book is $2.00 with free shipping on at least one website I found.

God Bless,

Scott Sterling

425-485-0031 Seattle Home
http://www.missionpilotscott.blogspot.com