On the road again....

Esther and I are on the road again...well not at this moment but we will be tomorrow. Right now we are in Redding, CA visiting Esther's brother, sister-in-law, and new neice. Anyway, we plan on taking off tomorrow morning. We have really enjoyed out time out on the left cost but now we need to head back to the frozen tundra of Minnesota (we are in the three weeks of thaw right now). We'll keep you posted.

Interesting Links

Today I found a couple of interesting links that i think folks might find equally informative. the First is a "news" peice that PBS did about MAF and their work in Democratic Republic of Congo. You can understand why I feel like it is somewhat useful for others to see the kind of work that MAF does in DRC. Here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week947/cover.html

The second thing I found I got off of BBC's news website. It is a report done by UNICEF on the condition of children in DRC. I looked it over and again found some good reasons for why MAF works in this country. The link to the main webpage is:
http://www.unicef.org/childalert/drc/index.php

If you click on the "Download the more detailed full report" link you'll get the information i read.

I know that there might be a little bit of some skepticism in these reports due to the scources. My main thrust here is not to endorse the agendas of some media spots but to try and show folks some of what MAF does and the needs of Christ all over the world.

If the links do not work (don't forget i'm new to this) i think you can copy and paste them into your browser address bar and hopefully they'll take you there. I hope this is helpful. Til next time.....
P.S. I just posted this and then tried the links. It looks like you have to do the ol' copy and paste deal, sorry i haven't taken the advanced blogger course yet.

Extended Family Grows

We would like to welcome Rebecca Grace Chapple into the family. David and Melinda (Esther's brother) are the proud parents of this beautiful baby. She was born on Wednesday July 19th and they brought her home Saturday the 22nd. We are looking forward to meeting her on our trip back to MN.

Chop Chop

All i have to say is, esther told me she was going to get a "trim" but when she came back from the stylist she had more than a "trim". I consider this a huge modification!!! But i like it, now it is time for me to get a "trim". Off to the barber i go!

A Bit of History

I think I need to back up a bit now that i'm starting to have a little more traffic on the blog. if you got to my page through the Fellowship of Nicaea "Support Missions" link than you might be asking what does this blog have to do with missions so far? so let me explain to those who don't already know so that we can all be on the same page. My wife Esther and I are new missionaries with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. I am a aircraft mechanic and we are headed to Democratic Republic of Congo to work in an MAF hanger supporting the extensive flight program. Right now though, we are starting to raise our ministry support team. This team will is individuals and churches who will come together with us in prayer and finacial support. We hope to have this support team in place by January 2007 so that we can start our language training (French) and technical trianing. We are happy to be in this place and are excited about what the Lord is going to do through us. I have a link to MAF in case some folks want to know a little bit more about their ministry overseas. You can also find a page that explains a little more about Esther and I and our calling into overseas missions. As we continue on this jounery we will also update the blog and maybe with this little bit of history things will start to come into place.

In Redding, CA

Esther and I have traveled to north California today to the city of Redding. Esther's brother and sister-in-law live up here so we are visiting them for a few days. The drive from Santa Rosa was nice, we ended up on a windy road around Napa but had fun. I'm not sure if i have any pics to post but may in the next few days. So far we have had a good time in California, though i think we both want to get back to our bed in Minnesota. It is offical, we have been away for 5 weeks, with about 2 more here to go, and then another 4 days traveling back.
I can say, this will be a trip that i will remember for the rest of my life (In a good way).

This is us at Rocky Mountain State park in Colorado. We went up here for a day trip and had a great time.

For all you picture lovers out there, here's one of my wife and I at the Grand Canyon on our trip accross the country.