15 July

It has been little more than studying, keeping up on maintenance, and avoiding the heat – that is until yesterday. Last night we had our first training flight. It was a good thing I flew with J.R. because it took both of us to stay ahead of the aircraft. There are always going to be a lot of problems with first flights in a new area with a new operations section but we didn’t help ourselves by not allowing for enough prep time. The flight itself wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t smooth and relaxing. I forgot how hot it was in the aircraft with all that armor – I couldn’t drink enough water. It was amazingly dark out there – we managed to scare ourselves a few times but it was good to knock the rust off. I didn’t get to bed until 3AM then the power went off at 6. I took about 10 minutes to get warm enough that I couldn’t sleep. After doing some errands and calling Wendi I went back to bed at 10 only to have the power shut off again at 11. I figured sleep wasn’t meant for me today. The other big news is the personnel problems we have been experiencing. I have spent hours over the last couple of days trying to work things out and it is tiring to even write about it. The only upside is that if we can work things out now it will be well worth it in the long run. I really need some prayer help on this one.
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