Newsletters and Holmes County

Karen and I've spent the past two days working on the December issue of Coshocton Flyer, our personal newsletter. All the hard copies hit the mail box this afternoon. We're including our new prayer card with the newsletter. We hope you enjoy both the newsletter and the prayer card. Our new card has more of an "Ohio" feel to it.

Once we wrapped up newsletter production and stopped by the post office, we headed north into Holmes County which is the heart of the Ohio Amish population. It'd been several months since we'd been up that way and it's always a relaxing and a beautiful drive. We did some Christmas shopping, some browsing, and picked up a couple products we enjoy that can't be found locally. There were quite a number of Amish buggies on the road today, the corn stalks are all stacked, and at farm after farm, the horses and cows were lined up along the fence lines watching the sun set. It was quite interesting. But then when you're going to be standing outside all night in 15 degrees, even the animals hate to see the sun go down...

Here are some scenes typical of Holmes County:

Amish Corn Shocks

Holmes County road sign

A Holmes County road

Happy Thanksgiving

Karen makes apple pies under the watchful eyes
of the Canine Quality Control team!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and may we truly thank Father, Son, and Spirit for their work, grace, and goodness in our lives.

Tanner's New Hobby: Recycling

There's nothing like coming home in the evening to find
that Tanner's been busy recycling things in the kitchen.

Vacation's Over

It was back to the hangar yesterday morning and it's taken Monday and Tuesday for me to get back into the swing of things. Lord willing, I'll be back up to full-speed and all caught up tomorrow just in time to enjoy the long Thanksgiving weekend.

But while we were on vacation MMS was still busy preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service. All our regular readers are aware of the push to get the Honduran 206 completed. Well, that's pretty much on hold now due to a lack of funds. Consequently, all the manpower (Mike, Ian, Scott, Paul, David, Josh, Gertjan, and Chuck) has shifted over to the Cessna 182 restoration for Moody Aviation.

Chuck pre-fits the rudder pedal assembly inside the fuselage.
That's Scott in the lower left corner installing the nose gear.

Gertjan bucks while David drives a rivet into one of the flaps.

Brian (a visiting MMS grad) works with Ian
to repair the horizontal stabilizer.

As you can tell, there's still a substantial amount of work left to accomplish on this project too.

Brian, Terah, and their three children finished MMS a little over a year ago and now serve with Missionary Flights International, in Ft. Pierce, Florida. They're up for a visit over Thanksgiving. It's great to have Brian back helping in hangar and to have Terah, Evan, Luke, and Sierra back in the neighborhood for a week.

Saturday In-Activity

Karen and I are enjoying a quiet Saturday as we wrap up a week of vacation-at-home.

We enjoyed a late start and a big breakfast together. It's easy to sleep in when it's only 17 degrees outside. Toughing out the weather, Karen went into town to run some errands and I took our kerosene heater out to the garage to replace its wick. After getting that done, and working together to cut back the mums, rake some leaves and prune a branch or two from our rose trellis, we called it a day around noon. But so did the rest of Ohio as the Ohio State/Michigan game kicked-off about then. The entire state of Ohio suspends all non-essential activity during Buckeye games. Folks are pretty serious about their football out here.

Karen stitching her quilt

But that's okay with us. We'll take a slow day now and then. Karen's working on her quilt, Ohio State is beating up on Michigan (sorry Scott & Lela), I just finished a bowl of Karen's home-made Side Street Salsa with tortilla chips, and the dogs are sleeping.

The beating underway

And after the Ohio State game ends...the Penn State game starts! Does a double-header get any better than that? As Karen's a Pennsylvania girl, she'll be pulling for Penn State. I'll probably root for Michigan State to keep things interesting. I'd better grab another jar of salsa, another bag of chips, and open another Dr. Pepper.

Posting this blog

We hope you're having a great day and that it's warmer wherever you are than it is where we are. Thanks for checking in!

Contrasts

In traveling, there are always contrasts. Before trains and planes, an overland trip from Coshocton,OH to Los Angeles, CA could have taken several months. Now, by aircraft it only takes several hours. This heightens the contrasts inherent in travel.

We'd like to share some photos of the contrasts in our recent weekend trip.

California

One of the locals surfing at Sunset Beach

75 degrees at 9:30 AM

Barefoot, short sleeves, short pants and a big smile.

And then...four hours later...

Ohio

Warm shoes, tall socks, long sleeves, jacket and a frigid grimace.

21 degrees at 7:30 AM

One of the locals hauling wood in Coshocton.

Now THAT's a contrast...

Thanks for your prayers.

Our Weekend Trip to California

If you've been following our recent posts, you're aware we flew to southern California over the past weekend to celebrate my grandmother's 100th birthday.

Our trip began simply enough with an uneventful 75 minute drive to Port Columbus International Airport. We have three airports to choose from within a two hour drive of Coshocton (Columbus, Akron-Canton, and Cleveland) but typically fly out of Columbus. We parked the car in the Red Lot, shuttled to the terminal, cleared security and made it to our gate with time to spare. The stewardesses arrived, the pilots arrived, all the out-bound passengers arrived...all we needed was an airplane to fly in. Unfortunately, our airplane didn't arrive until an hour and a half after we were supposed to leave!

The airline did get the airplane unloaded and cleaned, and then loaded us on board in about 40 minutes. Then it was off to Atlanta where, because of the departure delay, Karen and I hurried from one terminal to the next in order to get to the gate where they were already boarding our connecting flight to Orange County. At least there was a plane at the gate!

We made it on board, buckled up, and caught our breath as there were only a few minutes left before the plane was to push away from the gate. It was very warm inside the plane and it was only getting hotter as departure time arrived. Just then the stewardess came over the PA system to apologize for the heat: "We apologize for the heat," she said, "but we don't have any pilots to turn on the air-conditioning system. In fact, we don't know where our pilots are, but we're trying to find some." That's nice. A fully loaded airplane. No pilots. 90 minutes later our pilots arrived and thirty minutes later we departed on what turned out to be the most turbulent four hour flight we'd ever experienced.

Along with that...the personal video systems didn't work, they ran out of food before they got to our row, and we were seated in the very aromatic section next to the lavatories. Delightful.

But praise the Lord, we landed in Orange County late but safe, picked up our rental car without any problem and drove up to Dad's where Karen and I were staying the weekend.

In Columbus we had pilots but no airplane. In Atlanta we had a fully-loaded airplane but no pilots!

Grandma's 100th Birthday

On Saturday, November 15, forty family members (including me and Karen) gathered from across the country and throughout California to celebrate Grandma's 100th Birthday by having lunch at the Jagerhaus Restaurant in Anaheim, CA.

Grandma Piatt, 100 years old!

It was a great time of fun, fellowship, and great German food! Grandma looked great, enjoyed all the company, and ate her fair share of the red cabbage, goulash, sauerkraut, carrots, knockwurst, bratwurst, polish sausage, and spatzle.

For those of you already experiencing WINTER, the weather out there was in the 90's and, if it weren't for all the ash and cinders falling from the smoke-filled sky, it would have been beautiful. The "Triangle Complex Fire" (Chino Hills, Brea, and Corona) started as we drove to the restaurant to prepare for the party. We saw the early smoke plume. The fire was several miles east of us but nearby freeways were closed because of the fire threat and needing them for emergency equipment. This was after the Sylmar fire, several miles northwest of us, started during the night.

"Fire Season" is part of living in Southern California. Also, there was an earthquate "swarm" while we were there. Sorry you missed it...

But the party was great and we were able to spend Sunday afternoon with Grandma as well.

Jane, Dad, me, Karen, and Grandma.

I'll write more about the trip soon.

And yes, there's snow on the ground here...

Welcome Calvary Bible Church Members!

A hearty Midwest welcome to all our Calvary Bible Church blog visitors! Thank you for stopping in.

Keith & Karen

We hope you'll enjoy looking through the recent and archived posts and become regular visitors to our blog. By regularly visiting our blog, you'll be able to stay updated on our ministry at MMS, at Fresno Bible Church, and our missionary lives at home.

Karen and I appreciate each one of you who are interested in us, care for us, pray for us and support us financially. Please feel free to leave a comment using the comment link below or email us direct at kdodson368@gmail.com.

Our two month visit with you earlier this year was still way too short. Consequently we're excited to be able to stay connected with you through our daily blog. It will be a great encouragement to us to know you're stopping in for a look-see.

Please know we are praying for Calvary and hope to be back in Grass Valley in 2011.

May God receive the glory!

Administrative Activities

Another week draws to a close up at MMS. Yes, I know it's only Thursday, but more about that later. Karen's up at the shop today assembling & mailing information packets to prospective candidates, preparing the "calendar" letter for mailing next week, and tackling the somewhat daunting task of maintaining and updating our "wall of the world" which illustrates the worldwide impact of MMS Aviation.

Karen and the "wall of the world."

We use this map as a visual tool to help people grasp the strategic impact of MMS' ministry of preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service. The map features photos of the families and individuals who have completed service with MMS and where they continued their mission service beyond our hangar doors. The map also features "airplanes" which identify the more than 87 different missions we've served (and continue to serve) and where an airplane has come from to be repaired here in Coshocton. There are "wrenches" on the map representing the locations where MMS has sent maintenance teams to repair airplanes that weren't able to come to Coshocton. MMS has sent 116 of these Rapid Response Teams to locations around the world.

One small part of the wall with grads, airplanes, and wrenches.

After so many years, many of the photos have suffered some wear and tear. Karen is removing the photos, re-backing them in a uniform format, laminating them, and replacing them one by one. She's also collecting prayer cards from recent grads and adding them to the wall.

Keith's Day
My morning was spent working on a combined project with Bob, our Training Manager, and then taking part in a group meeting. My afternoon was spent on a drive to Zanesville to pick-up the December issue of the MMS GroundCrew newsletter from the print shop. The newsletter is scheduled to be sorted, stuffed, and prepared for mailing next week.

Here I am after returning from Zanesville with a "Jelly Bean" full of GroundCrew newsletters.

A Short Week
I started out mentioning that the week at MMS has drawn to a close. Well, at least for Karen and I it has. We leave tomorrow for a weekend trip to California to attend my Grandmother's 100th Birthday! We leave for CA tomorrow morning and head back to Ohio Monday morning. It's going to be quick trip but a fun trip. 100 years is pretty amazing.

But then, my Grandmother IS pretty amazing. We love you Grandma, and we'll see you very soon!

One Done, Much More To Do

MAF 206 Completed

The MAF 206 project is officially finished with the closing and locking of the shipping container's doors!

What Now?
With that project completed Dale, Paul, David, and Gertjan will receive new team and project assignments which could include:

1) assisting with the work on the Honduran 206. The wings are nearly completed, the floor panels are in, the vertical stabilizer is coming together, and paint is being removed from airframe components and control surfaces,

The nearly completed wings

Ian rivets the vertical stabilizer.

Airframe components with paint remover applied.

2) shifting over the the restoration of the Moody 182,

3) or whatever else Tim might dream up as Production Manager.

With several more projects waiting in line: an engine overhaul, a double engine overhaul and annual inspection, and another full restoration of a Cessna 206, there's plenty to keep the guys busy in the hangar. Thanks for praying.

Containerizing the MAF 206

The process of containerization is nearly finished. By this afternoon the doors of the container should be closed and sealed for its over land, over sea, over land journey to South Africa.

Heavily damaged by a windstorm in Chad, Africa, repaired and restored at MMS, and now returning to a different field of service through your prayers and gifts, this airplane will continue to contribute to the story God is writing in the hearts and souls of the African people.

It's a blessing to see this year-long project come to a close as the container doors are latched. Thank you for being partners with us as we serve.

The MAF 206 last week.

The MAF 206 this morning.

Chad 206 Update

It took a year to restore and repair, it was all together three days, it flew three hours, passed it's FAA inspection without a hitch, and now it's already being taken apart!

The shipping container arrived at MMS last night. We're providing assistance to a missionary from Canada who has come down to oversee the containerization of the airplane. He will ultimately travel over to South Africa to reassemble the airplane.

Here is the container and the 206 inside Hangar C.

Work is blazing along on the Honduran 206. I hope to have more pictures for you next week. The floor panels are almost installed. One wing is ready for paint. The other wing is nearing completion, and the vertical stabilizer is back on the fabrication jig.

Karen was up at the mission today. She's going to take on the project of updating and upgrading the wall-map of our graduates and projects. We'll include a photo of the wall-map in a future posting.

I spent the first part of my morning working on a communication project then finished my morning leading a couple from Detroit on a tour of the facility. The afternoon was spent in a meeting with Dwight, working on the December GroundCrew, and handling some last minute loose ends to wrap up the week.

There are a lot of exciting things going on at MMS. Thanks for being part of it all through your gifts and prayers!

Tanner's A Happy Dog Again

Tanner has had quite the fall season this year. The poor little guy was about crazy with scratching his ears, gnawing on his paws and trying to reach his belly with his back paws. When his ears were getting red and swollen inside we decided it was time to go and see our friends at A-1 Vet Care. They always take good care of our dogs. Unlike human care these days we can generally call A-1 and get the dogs in the same day.

Just like a kid, Tanner wants to be VERY close to us when we get to the vet's office (Keith's lap being the place of choice). He reluctantly, but obediently, sat on the scale and weighed in at 39.5 lbs. As Dr. Poland confidently and carefully lifted Tanner to the examination table, Tanner looked to Keith for comfort. How can anyone resist that face???? Keith came to his side and Tanner did what he often does when he is submitting to something he is not keen on, he buried his face in Keith's arm pit. Tanner is very good at "burying his head in the sand"....or in this case, in the pits! His philosophy? "If you can't see it, it can't hurt you!"

As we left the examination room he darted for the door but we had to stop at the front desk and say hello. He got a treat just for showing up! By the time we reached that point, Tanner's courage began to return. Then his courage and dignity fully returned and he began to growl at the next animal (and person) that came in the Vet's door! He's ba-ack!

So, now with some medication Tanner is feeling quite good again and as you can see from this picture, he is resting quite well. No more itching! Yeah!

Tanner Lou snoozing contentedly. Ah! Allergy relief.

Our Picture On The Way to Vote Yesterday

As we walked into our polling place to vote yesterday, one of the photographers for the local newspaper snapped our picture! You can click here to see the photo!

Painting at Home and a Test Flight at MMS

Painting at Home
Hey, I finished the paint project this evening and I must say that Karen is very happy with the basement landing's new look. We're not going to miss the "Pepto-pink" walls and trim in the least. I finished the second coat on the trim and have pulled the painter's tape. The brushes are clean, paint's put away, and the trash is outside. There are a couple minor spots to touch-up but I'll need real daylight to finish them out. With the time change there isn't much daylight left by the time I pedal home.

The Master Painter

Test Flight at MMS
It was a big day at MMS. The restored Chad 206 launched into the sky for its first test flight this afternoon! Team Coates had been working extremely hard to have all the final paperwork completed by this morning so the airplane could fly this afternoon. Around 2:00 Tim called everyone together around the airplane to pray. After committing the airplane and the test flight to the Lord, Ian (one of our team leaders and our Chief Pilot) taxied the 206 down to the runway threshold, ran his final checks, pushed the throttle forward and launched in to the sky. It was a great flight. There will be a few more flights before the aircraft is officially turned over to MAF.

The Chad 206 returns to the sky!

Here's Team Coates after the flight: Paul, David, Gertjan, and Dale.

Back in the Kitchen
Just a note, as I write this post, Karen's in the kitchen boiling up a gallon or so of hot pepper jam. Heh-heh. Actually it's quite good dumped over cream cheese and then spread on crackers. The jam has become something of a wonderful holiday treat around here. (Thanks for getting her started, Cindy).

Painting and Sunday School Preparation

It took about six hours to prepare the lesson for tomorrow's men's Sunday school class. We're in a six part DVD series called Deeper Connections. This series focuses on six parables of Jesus. I'm filling in for Chuck tomorrow and am covering the third video discussion of the fifth lesson wrapping up the parable of the Wedding Banquet with verses 11-14. There's plenty to talk about in those four verses, let me tell you!

I did have a short break around 8 when Tanner walked me down to the Circle-K for a cup of coffee.

So, it was noon before I could even think about painting but by 3 this afternoon I'd prepped, taped, cut, and rolled the walls and ceiling of our basement landing. While the paint dries in 30 minutes, I won't be able to put the second coat on until 7:00 because of a four hour wait before re-coating. But by then it will be too dark to paint as there's no light on the landing.

So, tomorrow after church I'll re-cut and re-roll coat two. Once it dries I'll go ahead and get the first coat of accent color on the kitchen doorway, the side door, and all the wood trim. We going from pink (the color when we moved in) to Cottonwood. Trust me, Cottonwood looks a lot better...

The weather today was too warm to think about moving firewood.

Have a great day of worship tomorrow!