Following the Hurds June 2008

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June 2008 update

Jerry and Breanna at Kinbrae Supper Club

Jerry, Breanna,
Olivia, Grace & Isaiah Hurd

Olivia, Grace, and Isaiah on park bench

Preparing for ministry through aviation with Africa Inland Mission & Proclaim Aviation

Departing:

January 9, 2009

Now, for the preparation to pay off, a new dream must emerge:

OUR DREAM shared together. We cannot do anymore on our own.

You are the next chapter!

Dreams

Dressed in grimy cargo pants and an oil smeared jacket, I was surrounded. Pre-school children gazed up at me, eyes large like twin intakes straight to their brain. The hangar was a whole new world to them, and they were soaking it all in.

I asked if anyone knew how to become a pilot. I gave a nod to their accompanying teacher, since school was the answer I was angling for. A lot of school ...

A bright eyed girl near the front hesitated, then shot out: “You have to dream!” The adults all laughed, politely of course.

If I were wiser, I would have stopped right there.

Preschool children watching Jerry talk in the hangar

These passing days I have thought about her answer and what it took to reach this point I am at. Sure, there were 16 years behind a desk at school, lots of hours in a cockpit, evaluations, and many bills.

Then there were the people that came to put a hand on my back, and arm around my shoulder, or sometimes a swift kick to spur me along. People like the seasoned war veteran who was my first flight instructor - teaching pro bono because I was interested in missions.

My time working at Cessna allowed me to be around high calibre aircraft professionals and gain flight experience for a bargain. Then Proclaim Aviation gave me experience as a mechanic and polished my skills for the technical evaluation last January.

And yet none of this could have happened without a dream. It was placed by God, and was the fuel that powered this voyage. In western culture, dreams are usually relegated as intangible and wistful, a product of marketing exaggeration. Deep down, though, they define our purpose and propel us on. They encompass more than our heads can understand. The good things which have happened in history began as dreams ... freedom from slavery, freedom from tyranny, taking God’s story to Rome, and then beyond.

This dream has carried me through all possible forms of preparation. It is a dream of reaching people’s hearts in a land dry and thirsty and yet wet with bloodshed and tears. It is a dream of attaching wings where the church is courageous, passionate, and growing faster than our heads can comprehend. To use aluminum, oil, and gasoline to reach beyond deserts, destroyed roads, mountains, and even wars.

Now for the preparation to pay off a new dream must emerge: our dream shared together. We cannot do anymore on our own. You are the next chapter.

While journalists will report statistics and the ongoing turmoil, I promise to share stories as I see them unfold.

I hope to pass on the stories that might not make it even onto page six of the newspaper. I can imagine the passengers that may grace the cabin of the small Cessnas I will fly. I see a nurse with a mud encrusted skirt and cracked boots - perhaps a distant stare from her preoccupied mind. Her thoughts are of the prostitutes she has worked hard to win over in friendship so she can help them understand the disease sucking life out of their bodies and those they love.

Panther Bior returns home to Sudan, via an AIM-AIR plane, after many years as a refugee. He is helping to rebuild his country torn apart by civil war. Photo was taken by pilot M. DeLorenzo.

I can also see a Sudanese pastor with dark skin and a large frame hunched into the seat. In his left hand he subconsciously grips a letter from a new church back in his home country. His grip is hard enough to wrinkle the ragged paper. The church is a phoenix, literally rising from the ashes and crater of the bombed remains of what was his childhood home.

Let me tell you where we are at. We are excited, no we are sold and passionate on going to help one of the largest growing churches in the world - the African church. We have gone through rigorous preparation. We have passed extensive examination. We dedicated the last five years just to come this far. We are ready.

Will you help? What we need are individuals who will join our monthly support team. I can’t promise your name on a plaque anywhere, but I can hope for God’s name on a chief’s heart and food in a child’s belly. We are willing to relocate and physically be in Africa. What we are asking for you is to: be willing to support us with a monthly financial amount and also through prayer, relocate with us.

Will you come with us? We are cutting our time working with Proclaim two months short in order to travel and share our story face to face with anyone who wants to hear more. Please let us know if would like to visit with us. If you are willing to pledge an mount, please include Please contact us if you would like to hear more. If you are willing to pledge an amount, please include a note to us or the AIM address in this letter.

Please Pray:

Strength, endurance, and safety for Jerry & Breanna while traveling and apart from the kids.

Strength & endurance for grandparents as they care for the kids :)

Giving Thanks:

Safe travel to Wichita and back in April!

The blessing of being here in Minnesota with Proclaim Aviation

Current Monthly Pledges:

Monthly Support @ 44%

Donations
May Be Made
online here

Or Sent to:
Africa Inland Mission

PO Box 178

Pearl River, NY 10965

*Please include a note indicating the funds are "for the ministry of Jerry and Breanna Hurd." Please do not write our names on your check.

Keep up

with the Hurds:

1692 Airport Rd N, Worthington, MN. 56187

cell (316)651-6624

our e-mail

Check out our website

July 1-23: West Coast Trip (Mom Hurd watches our kids in MN)
July 8: Jerry's Birthday
July 24: Olivia's 10th Birthday
July 28: Isaiah's 3rd Birthday
July 28-31: Pack up MN house, drive to Breanna's parents' in Indiana
August: Kansas & Texas trip (Kids stay in IN with Breanna's parents & sister)
September 15- November 21: Technical Orientation (T.O.) in North Carolina
January 9: Fly to Nairobi, Kenya for Africa Based Orientation in Machakos, Kenya.

With our Love and Thanks,