On Our Way...Again!

We are getting ready to head up the the big white north on Saturday. We've been in Nampa, ID for the last 10 weeks gong through what MAF calls technical standardization. Basically what that means is that I have been working in the hanger learning a bunch of stuff that MAF does with their airplanes overseas. It's been a good experience and I've enjoyed getting my hands dirty again after not working on an aircraft for a little over a year.
On Saturday we depart from Nampa and head to Canada in order to learn French in Sherbrooke, Quebec. We'll officially start classes on the 7th of January but we are going to set up our apartment and get settled in before hitting the books.
Thanks to all those who continue to lift us up in prayer while we are traversing North America. We'll continue to try and be in better blogging form after our brief hiatus.

Bringing Home Joy

We are so thankful for the blessing of our new daughter, Anna Joy Writebol. It has already been one week since we brought her home from the hospital and we can't believe how fast it's gone and how much joy she brings us already. Yes, there are the 2 am feedings and diaper changes but for the most part the transition has been great. Esther is doing really well too and doing a great job at being "mom". What a privilege and responsibility it is to be entrusted with the care of a little one. It gives me an added respect for my parents that I've never had before.
As you can imagine we are taking lots of pictures and have put them on a web album for friends and family to check out. Here's the link. I continue to add pictures on a regular basis.

It's been a looonnng time!!

Well I suppose it is time for me to post on the blog again. I'm sure a lot of people have stopped checking this page in the WWB because of the lack of posts. Maybe my creative juices are just not happening at all. Well a lot has been going on. We are a mere five weeks away from having our baby, our support to go to Africa is coming in, and we find ourselves busy meeting with people and Sharing MAF.
Last week I started biking with a group of guys. If you don't mind the 5:45 am wake up call and the grinding climbs it is a pretty good time. Helps me kind of balance out all the good food we have when meeting with people.
Anyway, we are still in Santa Rosa, CA. We have been encouraged the past couple of weeks by being able to speak at a church as well as meet with a couple of mission committees. We are continuing to plug away while we see God's hand go before us.

We've also been hearing some bits and parts of things that are going on in DRC. It makes us really want to get over there, but we know there are things that have to be done before we land in DRC. A couple of things that are going on in DRC is MAF's involvement with sharing the JESUS film to different tribes and language groups. MAF is also working with national pastors in order to be more of a service to them as well as partner with them in some distance education. These are exciting times and our hearts are really growing to love the people of DRC and Africa even though we haven't been there. Praise the Lord for the work that He is doing!!!

Videos

Many of you have seen our "Overcoming Barriers" video. We like it because it shows the many different ways in which MAF uses technology to reach others with the gospel. There are several other videos that show some other sides to MAF that I think are good. This link will take you to the videos so grab your popcorn and enjoy.

Church

Well, it is official we have left Worthington, MN and are now living in Santa Rosa, CA. We had a pretty good drive over even with all the wind and some blowing snow. So what are our next steps? Well, at this point we are trying to get into as many churches as possible. This is done one of two ways, being refered to the chruch by someone who know someone else in the church or by visiting the churches and seeing if they are interested in hearing about our ministry with MAF and if they might be looking to bring on some new missionaries for support. Right now Esther and I are praying that there would be a few more churches that would be willing to bring us on. We are thankful for the Churchs that have already teamed with us and we are excited to see what else the Lord has in store during our time in Santa Rosa. It has been really neat to see how the body of Christ comes together. Thanks for the continued prayers and support.

Baby on Board

Esther and I are proud to announce that we are expecting!! Baby is due mid June and most likely will be born in California. We are excited about this new addition to our family. We recently were able to announce our good news to our families and wanted our friends to be the next to hear. Please pray for us as we prepare to embark on parenthood!!! Pray also that it would be a healthy pregnancy and baby.

New Look and New Plan

Since a lot of the blogs I read are doing some winter updating I thought I would give mine a fresh look as well.
Most of the people who read this page get our newsletter but it's nice to get a little more frequent update. Well, if you have been keeping tabs on us just a little bit you might remember that Esther and I were praying about having our support come in by January so we could go up to French language school in Canada. Well the plan changed a bit. Mainly God's timing isn't ours. So, we have a new plan. It goes a little something like this: Dec. 16-27 Christmas with family, Dec 28-Jan 5th pack up Worthington house, Jan 6-9 drive to Santa Rosa, CA, Jan 9- an unknown date stay in SR area.
We are really looking forward to be on the west coast again and reconnect with the folks we met out there this past summer. Well, that's it for now. We hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas season.

13,016

The odometer on our car now reads 176,198 as it sits in our freezing cold driveway here in Minnesota. The odometer read 163,182 back in July when Esther and I left scorching hot MAF headquarters in Redlands, CA for Santa Rosa, CA. A quick calculation shows that since we left Redlands we have put 13,016 miles on the car. Trust us, that is a lot of seat time, a lot of coffee, rest areas, fast food, and different beds. We are thankful to be back in Worthington for a couple of weeks before embarking again on a trip. We are also thankful for so many safe miles with relatively little car problems. We attribute this to the prayers of our supporters. Thanks to those who remember us regularly, let us crash on your guest beds, floors and sofas, and thanks to Saab for making a comfortable "moving house". 

Funny Story

The picture above is of me falling off a cannon in Canada. The story goes like this... We were doing a little touring around the area where Esther's mom grew up and went to university. We were in this small historic town and went to see a historic site. Someone (I can't remember if it was Esther or her dad) suggested that we get a picture riding the cannon. Well, I climbed on top of the cannon and started to slide out to the end of the barrel when the next thing I knew I was sliding around to the bottom side of the barrel. I really didn't know where to grab to keep from falling off, or where to place my feet. Thankfully Esther came to my rescue while her dad just took pictures. We all had a pretty good laugh at my expense and we still laugh when we look at this picture. 

Questions and Answers

 
I think on this post I'm going to try and answer any questions that anyone might have about our ministry with MAF. So if you have a question just post it in the comments and I'll try to answer it to the best of my ability. I'm going to let this post sit for a couple days just so it'll generate good discussion. 

Democratic Republic of Congo Info

Due to the fact that Esther and I are headed to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) I have been known to search out news about the country. Right now is a historical time for DRC has they have had there run-off elections last Sunday and are awaiting the results. These elections come 40 years after their last truly democratic elections. Right now we are praying for a peaceful acceptance of the new government as well as a start to peace in a war-torn country.
I have just recently been made aware of a website that posts some news about DRC. It is put out by the United Nations and like I've said before in other news type posts I don't necessarily agree with everything said I just think there might be some good information shared here. One article even shares a little bit about MAF.
So I encourage you to explore the site, read, and think of ways you can pray with us for DRC and our work there.

CAT

 

Well, one of my readers reminded me that I needed to update everyone on our CAT experience. For those of you who do not know what that CAT is go here. You may have guessed by the picture that we didn't end up taking the CAT. The main reason was the cost. It's VERY expensive. Not only do they charge you per car, but they also charge you per person in the car along with various taxes and surcharges. All said and done it was going to be about $300.00. The other reason the CAT was not a good option for us was scheduling. They only operate the boat at certain times of the week and our travel schedule wasn't going to permit that.
So we ended up on this ferry from Digby, Nova Scotia to St John New Brunswick. It was about a 3 hour cruise (where have i heard that before) and was actually pretty nice. I watched a movie while Esther caught up on some work.
I was a little disappointed by not getting to ride the CAT but I was thankful for the time that we got to sit and relax and not be driving.
The cool thing is that in the future we might have to go back to Nova Scotia and an oppertunity to use the CAT might happen.
So there you have it our CAT experience. 

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.