Fall 2013

Hello everyone,

I hope that this update finds you all doing well. I hope that everyone's summers were relaxing and fruitful. I know that mine was. 

After summer school I had the privilege of going to Alaska in the Bristol Bay Area to commercial fish salmon. I have a friend in school who owns a boat and permit and he had me as crew on his boat. It was ton of fun and full of excitement and adventure as well as hard work. After the month on the boat I spent a month on the beach with his in-laws who happen to be O'Connors. I fished with them and also got to work on their airplanes and fly with them and that was a blast. 

God allowed me to see some beautiful things and have some incredible experiences. I came back to school not really wanting to leave Alaska or wanting to start again, but I know that this is my last year and I need to finish strong. 

This semester is going to be a tough one. I have 19 credits and several extra curricular type activities like Ensemble and the NIFA Sting Flight Team. Next semester will not be any less hectic with my Oral and Practical exams for my A&P license. There are several things that I would love to have prayer for. 

I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the fact that I really do not know what the next step is after I graduate. I have some options but at the moment I am just praying and waiting for Christ's leading. This is the first time in my life that I have not known exactly what the next step is and I am having a hard time trusting God with the intricacies of my future. Another thing that I could use prayer for is motivation. I am a typical senior and I just need some encouragement to push forward and finish strong.  

My contact information is below if you want to send me anything or call me and my number has also changed again.

Joshua-Luke O'Connor

2100 S. Mobberly Ave

CPO #1171

Longview, TX 75607

cell: 903-424-5048

joshualukeoconnor@letu.edu

www.facebook.com/jlkocmissions

Summer 2013

Missions Update

Dear family, friends, and supporters,

Wow! What a semester! It has really flown by. In fact, my college experience seems to be flying past. I am going to start with Spring Break.

As you know, I went to Dillingham, AK for spring break and it was incredible. I completely fell in love with Alaska. God is so majestic and it is clearly seen in His creation. We did a lot at the Youth Center while we were there. We cut a lot of wood and we did a lot of organizing and cleaning. We also did some small repair/handyman jobs as well. The best part of it all was the time that we got to spend with the kids. We had a great group of people and throughout the time that we were there we grew really close to each other. We had daily Bible studies and it was really cool getting to know some people from school that I normally might not have gotten to. We did some skits for the kids every night after we had fed them. While they were occupied and somewhat quiet we were able to share are testimonies. It was amazing to see how God worked through us to keep their attention and plant some seeds in their hearts. I learned a lot about God on that trip, and I also learned some great things about myself.

The weeks leading up to the Alaska trip seemed to drag by because I was really excited about the trip. After we returned, the weeks flew past. The weather started to get nice. I have this sweet set up at my apartment where I barbecue at least twice a week. I built a fire pit and have friends over and I am really enjoying the off campus life. The semester itself went really well and I was able to do well in my classes. A lot of my friends are seniors and they graduated. It was hard to see them leave but exciting at the same time because in less than a year I will be in those same shoes. It is crazy to think that college, by a percentage standpoint, is almost over. The other exciting thing is that a lot of those that graduated are going straight to their new jobs.

Summer school has begun. The degree that I am in requires a four-week session of maintenance classes between your Junior and Senior years. Summer school operates a lot like a job atmosphere. I am really enjoying it. The lab work that we do is much more hands on and 50% of what we do is actual projects instead of mock-ups.

Flying is another story. I started late this semester due to scheduling and maintenance. The weather this semester has not been conducive to flying either. I am almost done but what I need at this point is four to five consecutive flights to be done. The consistency in scheduling that I need just will not happen with summer school. My instructor availability my personal availability just does not jive. So, I am going to stop the syllabus for now and come back early to school in the Fall to get done. My instructor and I both think that this is the best course of action. However, it is a little frustrating and because of my competitive side, it is hard to postpone flying. But, soon I will be a Commercial Multi-engine pilot.

Previously, after summer school I was planning on an internship at Dynamic Aviation. I was kind of banking on that because in past years, they have taken most, if not, all of the LeTourneau students that applied. It is a lucrative internship and I was excited to go do it with my friends. However, God had different plans. Dynamic was taking a lot of time getting back to people about the internship. Just about the time when I was getting nervous about not having a backup plan for the summer, I got an email from Dynamic telling me that I did not get the internship. One full hour later, I had already made planes and confirmed them with a friend to go to Alaska to commercial fish for salmon for the summer. I was ecstatic. God is good and he provides.

Prayer Requests

·         Twin engine flying

·         Financial provision

·         Consistency in daily devotions and prayer life

·         Clear direction for after school

  

Address:

Joshua-Luke O’Connor

2100 S. Mobberly Ave.

CPO# 1171

Longview, TX 75607

Email:

joshualukeoconnor@letu.edu

Cell:

903-431-1283

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/jlkocmissions

Spring 2013

Missions Update

Dear family, friends, and supporters,

This semester is going well in a lot of different ways. I just got back from a weeklong trip to Dillingham, Alaska for spring break missions. God was amazing while we were there, revealing himself through His creation. We worked at a Christian Youth Center and ministered to the kids there every night. We also did a lot of projects for the director, Brian. We went out on three different days to cut firewood and we chopped and stacked enough to finish out the spring so they don’t have to spend money on heating oil. We did some small maintenance projects like painting and vinyl repair and a lot of organization and cleaning. In addition to skits and food and sharing our testimonies, we were able to pour into Brian’s kids. Dillingham is a small village isolated from the rest of the world, as many places are in Alaska. It is accessible by the sea and by airplane. It is center of the road system in that area for a few other villages. Almost everyone there commercial fishes during the summer and during the rest of the year they live off of what they earned or whatever they can collect from the government. There are a lot of poor people there, however, and the spirit of alcoholism is rampant. Brian uses the Youth Center as a positive hang out place where he can share the gospel with kids and show them the love of Christ. Many of the kids that come don’t have a very positive home life and Brian is someone that they really trust. I learned a lot on this trip. We had a great team and I really loved getting to know them. We spent a lot of time in prayer and in the Word and I really love sharing God’s love with people.

            There are several things that God has been showing me recently in my walk with Him. First, He is continuing to show me that He will not share His glory with another. I have found that everything I do has to be with the right motives (God’s glory) to be successful. Even down to becoming free from sin in my life, I have to be doing it that God might be glorified through the victory and not for some other motive such as self betterment, or the benefit of others around me. As good as those motives are, they come back to me and ultimately my glory and God can’t have that.

Another thing that God is teaching me ties into this. I was listening to a sermon the other day by Mason Perry and he described the blessing and protection of God as an umbrella. In the torrents of life’s rains, no one wants to leave that umbrella and no one in their right mind will walk outside the umbrella to purposefully get torrentially soaked. Yet, many of us live our lives exactly like that and here is why. God’s laws are also an umbrella. In fact, it is the same umbrella as His blessing and protection. If we step away from the umbrella of God’s law in any area of our lives, we are going to be outside of his protection and blessing in every part of our lives. We can’t really walk part way under; we are either out or in. We cannot serve two masters. For me this is really challenging. There are lots of parts of my life that I am easily able to surrender to God and submit to his authority. But, there are other areas such as finances or even my thought life that at times I honestly have a hard time wanting to be in submission to His authority.

            Those are just some of the things God has been showing me. As I said earlier, this semester is going well. As far as grades go, my midterms this semester were the best they have ever been. I am now living off campus and God has really blessed me with very affordable rent and I am adjusting well to the changes and differences of living off campus. I am now officially on my own, renting my first place and it is a pretty cool feeling. Flying got off to a slow start due to scheduling and maintenance. But, I am fairly sure that I will finish in time for the summer semester. I am all registered for the summer semester and next fall. I am still waiting for word from Dynamic Aviation about a possible internship there this summer. I am really hoping to get it.

            As things move on I am also getting a better idea of where I will be headed after school. When I graduate, I won’t have quite enough hours to get on the mission field right away and I will need to start paying some debt. So, the tentative plan is to find a place that will let me fly right seat at first as a second in command in a small twin engine plane. That way, I can build some time and get some experience. Eventually this place would let me work into a position as pilot in command of a single engine plane like a 206. There are a few places in Alaska that do this and there is an opportunity in Botswana to do this as well. A maintenance job would be maybe on the side and this would all be just a step to getting onto the mission field full time. God has provided so far for me and I know that He has a plan; I just have to be faithful in the little things and keep trusting Him.

I want to thank you all so much for supporting me in prayer and financially. I am really blessed by the people that God has put up around me here at school and back at home. Below are some prayer requests that I have and ways to contact me. If you want to continue receiving updates please let me know and if you know of anyone else that would like to receive updates please let me know and give me contact information. God bless you all and let His glory be made known!

Prayer Requests

·         Twin engine flying

·         Strength to finish the semester strong

·         Financial provision

·         Consistency in daily devotions and prayer life

·         Clear direction for after school

Address:

Joshua-Luke O’Connor

2100 S. Mobberly Ave.

CPO# 1171

Longview, TX 75607

Email:

joshualukeoconnor@letu.edu

Cell:

903-431-1283

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/jlkocmissions