Still on the planet

 
Hey Y'all,
It has been quite some time since I have posted. I'm sorry if you keep coming back only to find nothing new. Well for a quick update, Esther and I are now in North Carloina. We have already been here about a week and a half and have enjoyed getting to see and spend time with old friends. In fact tonight (Sunday) we are having a fellowship coffee to share our MAF ministry with folks from this area.
Many of you might be asking what we have been doing while "away". Well, we have been all the way to Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New England. We can't believe how long we've been away from home, but it seems like it has gone pretty quickly.
For you numbers people out there we have put 5000 miles on our car since we left MN on September 11.
We have been encouraged by the different people we have met along the way. It has been wonderful staying with folks and sharing with them what God is doing in our life and hearing about their lives.
As far as our ministry support goes we are now 23% on our monthly goal, and 32% on our outgoing goal. We praise God for the partners He has brought along side of us in this ministry.
Well, I need to get ready for tonight but wanted to give a quick update. Thanks for all the prayers in our travels. 

Prince Edward Island

 
We have had a wonderful time in PEI the past week. Esther and I have been able to speak in a church and meet with some individuals and share our ministry. I was also able to hook up with a group of guys and go mountain biking. We have also had a good time visiting with Esther's grandmother, aunt and uncle.
Thanks for praying for us, the Lord has been teacking us many things and we look forward to seeing how He will work in the coming weeks. 

Maine Attraction

I wrote this a few nights ago. We are now in PEI Canada having a great time. I'll be sure to post again soon.

It has been a while since my last post. Right now Esther and I are in a library in Lisbon Falls, ME. We have had a good trip so far, but it has rained most the time while driving. The first three days of travel (Monday to Wednesday) were tough. We did about 500 miles per day and when we got to the places we were staying we were pretty tired. We have been driving through some really beautiful country. Monday night we stopped in Wheaton, IL, Tuesday night we were in Sherman, NY (good luck finding that on a map), and Wednesday night we were in Bedford, NH. I have really enjoyed meeting and staying with a lot of people
Today we are taking it a bit easier, Esther’s mom is big into tracing her family’s genealogy and we are catching up on some work while she’s tracing some of her ancestors here in Maine.
The Lord has continued to be faithful (isn’t He always) in our support raising. We have been encouraged, surprised, and excited about the team that the Lord is putting together as we look forward to heading to Democratic Republic of Congo. Thanks goes out to those who are praying for us, supporting us, and encouraging us. Please continue to pray that we would be effective communicators of God’s work in our lives.

Calendar of Events

I think in a past post I said that I would give you a little more detail on our calendar as far as traveling goes. Well, I'm here to do that now. We have been in Worthington, MN for about 4 weeks now and are getting ready to head into week 5. Esther's parents are going to visit us this next week and we are looking forward to that.
After their week here Esther and I are heading out on tour again. The other day I was thinking that I felt a bit like a musician only I don't have a big fancy bus, roadies to carry my stuff, and a bunch of other people do to make road tours works. That's ok though, we really enjoy getting out and meeting folks and letting them know what God is doing in our lives. Anyway, we'll be heading up to the north east New England area and then across the boarder to Canada. Most of our time there will be in Nova Scotia, but we'll also stop by Prince Edward Island to see Esther's' grandma and an aunt and uncle. That trip will take us up to September 30. For there we'll head back south down to Ohio and spend a week there with a Church at a missions type conference. From there we head straight south down to North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The grand total for weeks away from "home" is....11.
Please pray for us that we would have safety driving many miles, the car would run smoothly, and that we would be able to effectively communicate what God is doing in our lives.
I will do my best to publish from the road, but it might be hit and miss. I think one of the highlights I'm looking forward to (other than meeting folks and seeing the east side of the country) is the CAT ferry. We might be using this on our way back to the south instead of driving back around through Maine. We look forward to this time and sharing what God is doing.

Profile Photo

I'm going to try and get a photo on my profile. I was searching the other day through some old pictures and came across this one and thought my readers would appreciate it. Let's see if it'll work.

A Child's Last Day on Earth

I know this page is supposed to be about missions but i couldn't pass this post up. I just have one phrase about the photo "effective birth control!!" I'll let everyone else make comments.

Operation ACCESS

For the past three days I've been trying to come up with some good blogging material. My wife and I have been in Worthington for about three weeks now reconnecting with friends in this area and sharing our MAF ministry. We have also been working hard at figuring our next move as far as people and churches we need to contact. I'll post about that when we know more.
I found something interesting just now. It has been under my nose for a few weeks and I haven't even seen it until today. Most folks know that aviation is expensive, just look at the cost of airline tickets today. Due to this concern and some others people always have the question whether or not mission aviation is still a cost effective way of spreading the gospel. My answer to this question is a strong "YES"!!!! MAF just released it's Operation ACCESS study. This study has been going on since 2000 in some of the most remote areas of the world. What it has shown is that there are still huge barriers that need to be overcome to reach the world with the gospel. These barriers are not just geographical, but also language, political, and education. I'd encourage you to take some time to check out some of the results of the study. I know time is not something that a lot of people have these days so I'll link you to the "Fast Facts" sheet and then you can get a little more of a feel for what the study is about. The Operation ACCESS website also has some good info. I hope with this information we cannot only sense the need that is our there, but the urgency to reach the unreached for the Kingdom of God.

What is your Quest?

Some of you may have to forgive me on this post. My wife sometimes thinks I am too much into airplanes and she doesn't like it when I get together with my buddies and "talk shop". I admit, I do sometimes get a little carried away when it comes to sharing about my job and what is going on in the mission aviation community. However, today I was thinking about what to post and I thought, maybe I should share a little bit about the future of mission aviation. The biggest thing that MAF and other mission aviation organizations are looking forward to is an upgrade in aircraft. The current fleet of aircraft are mainly Cessna 206s. These planes are very good for short rough strips as well as have good payload. They are also aging and the fuel they run on is becoming more scarce in developing countries where most missions operate. A new aircraft is needed to fill the void. Many agencies are using the Cessna Caravan, which is a huge monster of a plane, but is not as capable as the 206 on the short stuff. This is where Quest aircraft comes in. They have developed an airplane called the Kodiak which is nicely suited for bush type flying. It can handle the short, rough runways, and it operates on common jet fuel. Right now this plane is going through it's FAA certification flights. As of this post they are working on spin tests. Check out their website for a little more info and lots of cool pictures of the future mission aircraft.

Land Ho!!!!

Since this is a blog about missions I think I should get back to some of that stuff. Today I just wanted to post a link to a website about a boat named the Stap Isi. The couple that owns this boat are missionaries with Pioneer Bible Translators and they work in Papua New Guinea translating the Bible into a national language. What does the sail boat have to do with anything you may ask? Well, where these folks do their translation there are many rivers and they have found that living on the rivers helps them do their work more effectively. So they decided to buy a sail boat in the US and sail it basically around the world to use it in PNG. This page tells their story. I'd encourage you to take a little time to read the log book (which they update when they can). They have a very humorous way of writing and someday it'll make a good book in the 'travel essays' section of your nearest bookstore.

Jack-a-What????

Yes, that is a picture of me riding a giant Jackalope. I guess by doing some three second research it is one of the rarest animals on the planet. I also read that it can mimick the human voice, so much that cowboys used to hear them mimick their campfire songs. But really folks.... I think it might be some sort of conspiracy. Maybe it is a close kin to the mighty bigfoot. Well let me guide you to some very factual research sites that the good ol' www has brought us.
The first one has some good photos. The second one comes from the Wikipedia encyclopedia. If you would like more info on this famed creature do a google search and you'll get more than enough info.

Home Sweet Home

Well, today I am writing from my home office...no not the the MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho but at our home in Worthington, MN. We had a great trip back across the states camping, seeing some family and friends, and dodging motorcycles on their way to the Sturgis rally in South Dakota. We both had a great time in California and were sad that we had to leave a place where we met so many new friends. On our trip across we continually thought about things that had happened and people we had met. It is great that the Lord brings his people together.
We do praise the Lord that we are now at 11% of our monthly ministry support and 5% of our one time outgoing. It has been awesome to see the Lord put together our ministry partners who pray for us and give financially.

Some of you may be interested in the election news from DRC. Well, I'm not as informed as I should be but BBC news has some articals that might be of interest. I visit this site on a regualar basis just to see what is happening over there.

Well I need to move on to some other things. More stuff to come later...

KOA Camping?

Some of you may know that I am a outdoorise type of guy. I enjoy mountain biking as well as backpacking and camping. I'm also blessed to have a wife that enjoyes camping. becuase we enjoy this type of activity we decided to camp on our trip out to California as well as camp on the way back. We have been staying in some national parks and things like that so they are kind of primitive. Well the past couple of nights we have stayed in a KOA campsite. which by now you may have picked up that they have not just internet connection, but wireless. So i'm writing this while sitting in our tent waiting for a rain storm to blow through. This experience has taken camping for me to an all new level...now i just need to get one of those huge bus type rigs.

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.