The Week Ends

The week finished well and the weather turned fall-ish instead of winter-ish. It was still a nippy 28 degrees this morning with frost but it was over 70 degrees this afternoon with a clear sky.

Not only that, but gas is currently $2.20 per gallon at Wal-Mart.

Tomorrow we're planning to do some fall projects: move wood from the woodpile to the front porch, move the porch swing from the front porch to the garage, Karen's going to tackle some insulation projects while I paint the walls and woodwork in the basement landing. You might remember the earlier blog about my painting the steps while Karen was away. Now our Saturday schedule has cleared to such a point that it looks like we'll be able to finish the job.

Tanner's allergies are still symptomatic. We're keeping him on Benedryl for the time being. It does seem to help.

I'll be playing the drums for worship as well as teaching Men's Sunday School this week. Thanks for checking in. We're so thankful to have you with us as blog followers.

Have a great weekend.

Thursday Evening

Don't you think Karen does a great job with the blog? I'm thrilled with the way she's adapting and learning and writing and taking pictures. If you haven't read yesterday's post by Karen, go a head and scroll down or click on "older" post.

After having Karen work at the the mission for five years on Fridays, having her come in on Thursdays too makes every Thursday now feel like a Friday even though Friday isn't going to arrive until tomorrow. It's a funny feeling. We did have a great day together at the mission. I so appreciate her being there to help me every week. Among other things she handles the phones (what a wonderful relief not to have to stop whatever I'm doing to answer the phone every time it rings as I've been the primary phone answerer at MMS for the past eleven years). That's one responsibility I'll gladly hand off whenever I can. Dwight helps me with the phone on Mondays and Rena on Tuesday afternoons as able.

Today I trained Karen how to process partnership slips for the folks raising support. It's a critical part of the "partnership" process. It includes sorting the slips received over the past week, sending the correct thank you letters for the specific partnership pledged, organizing and mailing packets for the respective missionaries, updating quota sheets, and distributing related information to me as well as to accounting.

I also facilitated our 4th group meeting related to creating a team vision. We meet for two hours every other Thursday in order to provide a group forum to brainstorm, discuss concerns, share ideas, troubleshoot organizational issues, and encourage open communication between all members of our group. With effective communication being the basis for healthy relationships, we're all learning how to become better communicators. It's not easy, but I'm so proud of everyone at the mission as this whole process is way out of most of our comfort zones and is a lot harder than fixing airplanes.

Here I am getting this morning's meeting started.

I'm sure everyone would appreciate your prayers throughout this process. I know I sure will!

Meet Kerry and Jackson

Kerry and Jackson came for a visit today. Kerry Croghan is the daughter of our pastor at Fresno Bible Church. She and her husband Ben work with the youth at our church among many other responsibilities.

Kerry and I used to visit often until about a year ago. In fact, our visits often ended with a prayer asking for the blessing of a baby. Jackson is the answer to those prayers. God is so good! We celebrated Jackson's first birthday earlier this month. He's a delightful little guy and Ben and Kerry are such good parents. It was fun to have Kerry and Jackson come for lunch and some play time today.

Being only one year old, it takes a brave little guy to visit our three dog household! As you can see in this picture, Tucker (the smallest of our dogs) is still taller than Jackson when she stands on two paws. Jackson was great with the dogs. He was a little leary of their barking when he arrived but he gave them some space at first and then was brave enough to go right up and let them sniff his hands. Great job Jackson!

Hey! Jackson! Where'd you get that hat? Is that the Phillies Phanatic?

GO PHILLIES!!!!!!
Have a great day in the Lord and take time to appreciate every little blessing that comes from above.

It Shouldn't be Winter in October

Since I've stated my weather opinion in the title of this post, I don't really need to cover the subject in today's entry. Instead, I'll focus on a couple project updates. But I tell you what, it's dark, gray, cold, and damp out here. When we started having the snow flurries yesterday, the guys in the hangar played a Beach Boys song over the PA in my honor. Jolly.

Honduran 206
The guys continue to push the project ahead as much as they can without additional funds. Josh is tasked with repairing one wing's leading edge. Making the repair will save the mission the $1,000 a new leading edge would cost.

Josh fabricates the repair.

Chad 206
The restoration of the Chad 206 is complete. Now the focus is on completing the mountain of paperwork required by the FAA in order to verify all the parts repaired and/or replaced meet standards and that all repairs have been properly made. This is a monumental task with a project of this nature.

Dale, Gertjan, and Paul coordinate paperwork.

Moody 182
Scott L. is overhauling the retractable landing gear system on Moody Aviation's Cessna 182.

Scott inspects the nose gear fork prior to reassembly.

Admin
The past two days I've focused on preparing immigration paperwork for one of our apprentices already in the hangar and for an approved candidate who's preparing to come over from the United Kingdom. I should have everything wrapped up and in the mail tomorrow. This afternoon was spent preparing for Thursday's group discussion related to defining a vision for MMS. I'll continue my preparation along those lines tomorrow.

Stay warm and stay dry!

Weather Report: Snow Flurries

I just wanted everyone to know we're having our first snow flurries of the 2008 Winter and winter is still, officially, two months away...

Autumn Breezes

Autumn has always been my favorite time of the year. Perhaps this came from growing up in the mountains of Pennsylvania that are so full of color in the fall. Altoona, where I was born and raised, is surrounded by mountains so in the fall we were encircled with glowing leaves. I walk with Hope, Tucker and Tanner in the mornings here in our neighborhood. As we wade through fallen leaves on the sidewalks it brings back those good feelings of playing in the leaves as a kid.

As the season changes Keith and I notice the changes around the house. The mums are in full bloom. As you can see below, some have even found their way into the house! The vegetable garden is bare with the last of the jalapeños picked and waiting to be made into hot pepper jam. Pumpkins now sit on the steps by the new railings that Keith and Tanner installed back when the weather was warmer and leaves are all around.


Today we are accomplishing some of the fall "to do" list at 368 McClain. Cooler weather puts me in the mood to bake and I've baked some of Keith's favorite cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip). We changed the bed sheets to flannel and the air conditioners will soon be stored in the closet until next Summer. The storm windows come down and the doors start staying closed to keep out the chill.
I do hate taking the porch swing down this time of year but stacking fire wood on the front porch takes some of the sting from that job as it means that soon we'll have glowing warm fires in the fireplace again! Soon we'll have a day to work on that but not today. Today we are headed to an open house for a new apprentice that has started at MMS. If the weather holds out we may even have a bonfire and some smores!

The changes of season remind me of our creative God. How beautiful He made the earth! Even in it's fallen state there are so many lovely and incredible things all around us that show us his handiwork. When I get to do some creative things like baking or sewing and I feel the reward of creating something little and pretty I think of how God must have felt after he looked at what he created on each of the six days of creation and said, "It is good." Wow! Imagine the rush of THAT creative act!

A Rainy Friday Evening

It was a balmy 45 degrees when I rode my bicycle up to the hangar this morning. It was a wet 55 when I rode home in the car with Karen this evening. It looks like it could be wet all weekend. Lord willing I'll be able to get back up to the hangar and ride my bike back home before Monday.

Karen and I had a quiet but productive day up at MMS. Karen handled the receipting responsibilities, worked on the MMS mailing list, and started to organize a set of files used by various office volunteers over the past several years.

I started my day meeting with an airplane mechanic from the Dayton area. He has an interest in missions, learned about MMS through a friend, and drove up this morning to learn more about what we do. We had a good tour of the facility and then chatted for a while. It looks like he may start volunteering with us as his job allows.

A good portion of the rest of my day was spent working with Bob, our Training Manager. One of the recommendations from the MSI safety consultation two weeks ago was that we initiate a Safety Management System (SMS). Bob and I discussed related material we'd received from another mission organization which already has an SMS in place and started to review their 200 page manual in order to analyze their procedures, evaluate their documentation, and then brainstorm about how we might use their basic framework to help us construct a SMS appropriate for our mode of operation. This is going to take a while, but I'm convinced the long-term benefits will far outweight the effort invested in putting it all together.

Bob and I review the Safety Management System manuals.

Speaking Of The Dogs
Tanner is struggling with allergies right now. We had him in for a steroid shot that was supposed to give him relief for 21 days. He was sympton-free for seven days. It was like he was a different dog. Now all the symptoms are back. We're adding in a Benedryl every twelve hours to see it that helps give him some comfort. The allergies are making him crazy.

New Photos of Keith & Karen

We were able to get out and snap some pictures yesterday. We thought you might enjoy seeing the two best of the bunch.

Honduran 206 Update

Work continues on the Honduran 206. With the wings getting closer to completion, Mike has finished tidying up all the wires and cables behind the control panel, Scott has completed fabrication of the floor panels and is riveting them in place, Ian is back fabricating one of the elevators, and the windscreen was set in place today.

Bob and Mike install the windscreen.

Scott rivets the rear floor panel in place.

Admin
My day was spent recruiting, working on my director's report, taking photos of the work in the hangar, responding to emails and directing phone traffic, and starting to type up the minutes from last week's staff meeting. Lord willing, I'll have those finished tomorrow.

Friday I'm scheduled to spend the morning with a mission-interested A&P mechanic who works in the Dayton area. He's driving up to see the facility, learn more about what we do, and discuss what opportunities there may be for him to volunteer.

Next week I'll be focused on drafting Citizenship and Immigration Services paperwork for two of our apprentices. One set of papers for an apprentice from Holland who is already here and needs to extend his status and the other for an approved candidate from the UK whom we expect to arrive in January.

Karen will be in the shop tomorrow and Friday.

It was another 28 degree bike ride this morning! We hope you're having a great week.

Support Development Seminar

Hey, I had a great time working with John and Mark the past day and a half. John and Mark are the leaders of Compass Aviation Ministries in Shelby, NC. They flew in yesterday morning to visit our facility and to also provide me with the privilege of leading them in support development training. It's really fun when I can help other organizations learn how incorporate faith support into their ministry model.

I never mind talking and it was nice of John and Mark to be such polite listeners. They asked good questions, we had valuable discussions, and we covered a large quantity of information in a relatively short amount of time. They stayed awake, I didn't lose my voice, and we even worked a lunch in today at the Yucatan Mexican Restaurant here in town. It's the best Mexican restaurant within an hour's drive in any direction. Of course it's the ONLY Mexican restaurant within an hour's drive in any direction but all kidding aside, their food is great.

We wrapped up the orientation about four this afternoon and shortly after that John and Mark released the tie downs on their Cessna 206, taxied off to refuel, and then launched into the fall Ohio sky headed back to North Carolina.

It was a pleasure to get to know them as brothers as well as co-laborers in Christ. It's going to be fun to follow their ministry as God reveals His will for Compass Aviation Ministries.

Working through the support development material.

Mark and John with their 206.

Taxing over for fuel before departure.

Bike Riding Clarification
In yesterday's post I wrote about riding my bike up to the shop. Please don't think I ride my bike up there five days a week. Sheesh. Do you think I'm crazy? Have you seen the hill? There's no way I can do it five days a week. That hill is a substantial climb and my 50 year old knees can't take the strain every day. My thirteen year old car has to wheeze up the hill...I ride on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I apologize for not clarifying this in yesterday's message.

28 Degree Bike Ride, Compass Aviation Ministries

Whoooeee, 28 degrees can be a bit nippy when riding to work. Actually it wasn't all that bad since I'd layered up, but my nose was running at a pretty good pace toward the end of the ride. While the first fifteen minutes of the ride creates its own "wind-chill" factor (as I'm moving fast across flat terrain) the last ten minutes is all up hill, along a tree shrouded road, requiring an elephant-like effort to move at a snail's pace. I'm hotter when I finish the ride than I am colder at the start and by the time I make it up to the mission I'm ready to remove a layer or two. Having my headlight fall of its mount and self-destruct after crossing the 5th street railroad tracks just made it more interesting this morning.

If someone would have told me I'd be riding my bike up to the mission in the dark in 28 degree weather...I would have told them they were crazy. But I really enjoy riding to the shop and once the snow and ice starts...I'M NOT RIDING!

Compass Aviation Ministries
Compass Aviation Ministries in Shelby, North Carolina is a relatively new ministry also focused on preparing people and planes for worldwide mission service. Their ministry model is still being developed and is different than the one we follow with MMS. Mark and John are the leaders of Compass.

They flew up this morning in their Cessna 206, toured the facility with Dwight, and then spent the afternoon with me discussing the basics of how to raise a support team. We'll continue through the day tomorrow and wrap up when their last question is answered. It's a blessing to be able to share what we've learned at MMS to help them grow the ministry God has called them to start. It's all about cooperation in The Kingdom!

I hope to have some pictures to share tomorrow.

Apple Butter Stirring Festival

After walking the dogs this morning, we pedaled over to Roscoe Village to take in the Apple Butter Stirring Festival. They turn the main street of the restored canal town into a pedestrian walkway so crafters and food vendors can put up tents to share their wares. It was a brisk 42 degrees when we rode over with the sun playing hide and seek behind puffy white clouds.

It was fun to mingle with the local natives. Karen found a Christmas present for a friend and bought a bag of fresh made cinnamon glazed pecans. The pecans were still warm when we ate them. Highly recommended on a cool fall day. There was a blacksmith demonstration, tap dancers, dulcimer players, potters, jewelry makers and all kinds of interesting things to look at. And of course there were apple butter stirrers.

Here are a some photos:

A picture of the typical native foods in this area.

Apple butter stirrers.

Karen buying our bag of pecans.

Recapping the Week

Admin
It was quite a week. We held our monthly staff meeting, had our group meeting (staff plus apprentices and trainees meet as a group every other week), I pulled the December GroundCrew newsletter together, sent it off in rough draft to Tammy who handles our final publication design, and prepared material for the support development orientation I'm leading Monday and Tuesday for the leadership of Compass Twenty-One Ministries. An additional responsibility I have on Fridays is to clean the five offices, receipting room, conference room, and reception bay that make up the administrative area. I dump the trash, vacuum the floor, and clean the bathroom and the kitchen area.

There is a lot of change going on at MMS right now. Partially in response to MSI's recommendations from their visit last week and in a larger sense from our organizational drive to define a "vision" for MMS. Once we have the vision defined we'll be able to start determining how to best implement "living" the vision on a daily basis personally as well as in our administrative and hangar operations. It's a challenging process requiring extensive mental and emotional investment of everyone in the group. It's good, but it's hard.

Tanner
I took Tanner to the vet today. He does pretty well there. As long as he can see me or touch me he stays real calm. He's developed an allergy of some sort that caused inflammation and itchiness in his paws and ears. He was having it pretty rough the past couple days but we were able to get in at our wonderful vet's office. Doc gave him a thorough exam, determined him to be in great health, beyond the allergic inflammation, and gave him a steroid shot. That did the trick. What an improvement!

Taking in the Local Culture
This weekend is the Apple Butter Stirrin' Festival in Roscoe Village here in town. It's the last festival of the tourist season in Coshocton County. We may try to get over there for a few minutes tomorrow.

We hope you have a great weekend.

Honduran 206

Thanks for your prayers for the Honduran 206 project. Unfortunately, even with the best efforts of our guys in the hangar, the immediate deadline is not going to be met because: 1) substantial corrosion was discovered in the wings; and, 2) the Honduran flight program needs to provide additional resources in order for us to continue the project. Restoration will go on for as long as it can using parts already purchased for the project, but no new parts will be purchased until their maintenance account is replenished.

It's a tough situation. Pray for encouragement and endurance for the guys working on the airplane: Mike, the team leader, Ian, Chuck, Josh, Scott G and Bob. Pray for George, the pilot of the airplane, as he makes contacts related to continued financing. Scott L. has moved back to the Moody 182 to gain some valuable maintenance experience overhauling the retractable landing gear system.

Happy Birthday Karen!

Today is Karen's birthday!

To celebrate, Pastor Chris and his wife, Kathy, joined us in a trip to Tom's Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville, about 45 minutes from here. Tom's is something of an institution in this region and is rated one of the top places in the US to go for ice cream. Pastor Chris used to go there with his parents when he was a boy. Founded in 1948, Tom's hasn't changed much, if any, from when it first opened. That's part of the appeal. Going to Tom's is like stepping back in time. The prices are low, the service is good, and the ice cream is great.

Happy Birthday, Karen!

Tom's Ice Cream Bowl, Zanesville, Ohio

Kathy, Pastor Chris, and Karen (with her back to the camera) inside Tom's.

Kathy and her sundae. That's my little dessert in the foreground.

The Birthday Girl!

Admin and Maintenance Update

Welcome to Monday!

HR Update
As this weeks starts I have a truck-load of administration projects to be working on: preparation for Wednesday's staff meeting (and writing the minutes afterward), preparation for leading Thursday's special staff meeting to work towards determining the MMS vision, opening application process with a new candidate, establishing arrival and start dates for our next apprentice from MAF-UK, writing the December GroundCrew newsletter, preparing the MMS weekly update, communicating with prospective candidates and several prospective volunteers, beginning to prioritize (and act on) the new set of administrative tasks formulated in response to the MSI safety consultation last week, and getting ready to present a support raising seminar for the leadership of another ministry on Monday and Tuesday of next week.

In talking with Mary, our Director of Office Administration, I learned that she'll be training Dana, who previously worked for me once a week, to work for her in accounting. The second day a week that Karen's going to work will now specifically be to help me with HR responsibilities. Karen will work for me on Thursdays and will work for Mary on Fridays. Moving Dana from HR to Accounting is a good swap for the organization and Karen and I can take advantage of the additional day together. It's win-win.

Aviation Maintenance
With the King Air project completed work is focused back on the Honduran 206.

Chuck removes paint from one repaired wing.

Josh is nearly ready to rivet the new skin on the other wing.

Ian and Mike inspect the fabrication of an elevator for the 206
before riveting components in place.

There's a lot going on! Thanks for being part of it. Stop back often and feel free to pass our link along to anyone you might feel would be interested.

GCI's King Air Returns To Service

Ian, Dale, Gertjan, David M., Paul, Scott G., and Tim closed up Gospel Carrier International's King Air 200 yesterday and returned it to service after completing the phase inspection and performing maintenance on the airplane's air-conditioning system.

Here are some shots of the engine run.

The King Air on the ramp outside Hangar A during engine run-up

Ian (standing) and Tim (kneeling) monitor the engine run.

Tim monitors pressures within the air-conditioning system from a test set attached through the nose gear bay.

We continue to enjoy absolutely perfect weather and it feels good to have a weekend ready to start. We're taking tonight "off" and hope you're able to do so as well.

Thanks!
Thank you so much for your continued gifts and prayers especially in this difficult economic time. The sacrifices you're making on our our behalf are what keep us in ministry. Your faithfulness is the basis for our ministry. Thank you and may the Lord richly bless you!

Riding Home, The MSI Interviews

Riding Home
As dark and wet as yesterday was, today was as warm and dry. It was very "fall-ish" with deep blue sky, cool air, and warm sun. I actually drove in this morning, then drove back home later to pick Karen up to work at MMS. That way, she'd have a car to drive home and I could ride my bicycle which I'd left up there yesterday. Karen's working two days a week now at MMS, on Thursdays and Fridays. She's increased her hours to better keep up with mission need.

Here I am out front of MMS before pedaling home this afternoon.


The Interviews
The MSI interviews officially wrapped up yesterday but I had a two hour secondary interview with a different team member this morning. We received hard-copies of the preliminary report late this afternoon and are to meet as the Senior Management Team first thing tomorrow to discuss the draft with the MSI team. Once the report is finalized the entire group will assemble for a formal reading.

The result of all this hard work on MSI's part is a document that is going to provide us with list of observations and recommendations related to increasing our operational and administrative safety. We've had these safety consultations previously in 2000 and 2005 and have benefited greatly from each one.

The Ride, The Interviews, The Plan For Tonight

The Ride
I really needed to ride my bike to the hangar today. I normally ride Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I was looking forward to the ride as it was 24 degrees warmer this morning than it was yesterday. Since there'd been some talk about rain today I just checked radar as a matter of course at 6:15 and realized that if I didn't jump on my bicycle in the next five minutes, I was probably going to be soaking wet by the time I made it up to the hangar.

The 4.5 miles of flat ride went warm, well, and fast. It started to sprinkle as I began the 250 foot climb up Airport Road. I made it inside the hangar still relatively dry and twenty minutes later the downpour started. The downpour sounded a lot better from the inside of the hangar than it would have felt outside on my bicycle!

The Interviews
Our interviews with the consultation team from Mission Safety International went well today. Karen was interviewed for two hours and I was interviewed for three hours about safety related issues at MMS.

After that I took care of some recruiting, worked a bit more on a new brochure for MMS, and handled the phone calls that never seemed to stop this afternoon. Sometimes that phone can be more of an enemy than a friend when I'm trying to focus on a task. I also led a tour with local couple who stopped by to learn more about MMS.

The Plan for Tonight
Once we consume the chicken pot pies heating in the oven, Karen is going across the street to proctor a test for Tim and Michele and I'm off to prayer meeting and worship team practice.

No photos today, but we'll see about coming up with a couple for tomorrow!

Safety Survey

This week a team from Mission Safety International (MSI) is visiting MMS to conduct a Safety Survey of our program. It's a comprehensive survey of our entire operation in the hangar and in administration covering procedures, policies, personnel, relationships, family, facilities, and grounds all from the perspective of safety.

MMS subscribes to the safety services of MSI which includes safety training and a safety consultation each year, with a full survey done every three to five years. A large part of the information gathered is through individual interviews with each MMS associate and, if they're married, a separate interview with their spouse is scheduled as well. The interviews range from one hour to four hours in length. Here's picture of what you see throughout the administrative area right now--a lot of closed doors with this sign over the door handle:

With thirty-one individuals to be interviewed by Wednesday afternoon, the MSI team is staying very, very busy. All the administrative offices and the conference room are being used for interviews at various times.

Karen and I are scheduled for separate interviews on Wednesday morning.

MSI assembles and analyzes all the information in order to provide a report with recommendations for us to consider as we move ahead as an organization. The group will get the full report on Friday.

Saturday in Coshocton

Cleaning the Jelly Bean
This Saturday is a bit different than most as Karen's away at the MMS Ladies' Retreat. On Saturdays we usually sleep in, walk the dogs, and have a big breakfast together. Not this morning, though I did sleep in a bit. Nope, this morning it was two cups of coffee, scan the headlines on the internet, and then off to it.

Today turned out to be the perfect day to devote some special attention to the faithful little "Jelly Bean," my car. (It's actually Jelly Bean 2, as I totaled my first Jelly Bean on December 26, 2001 by spinning it off an icy road and into a ditch.) The first Jelly Bean, also a Ford Aspire, gained its nickname from Dwight, MMS President & CEO, back in 1996 even before I started my service with MMS.

As part of the candidate evaluation process I met Dwight in San Diego to participate with him in the 1996 International Association of Missionary Aviation Conference. We roomed and worked together for the duration of the conference. But it was when I met Dwight at the airport in my Aspire that it gained its nickname of fame. As we walked up to the car, Dwight looked at it and said (in his Kentucky twang), "Why that's just a little jelly bean of a car." The name stuck and when I replaced the first Jelly Bean with the second Aspire, it too became a Jelly Bean. The first one was blue. This one is red.

Today I washed, waxed, vacuumed, changed the oil, checked the tires, replaced the air filter, installed new windshield wipers, and cleaned all the windows. That took a good portion of the day. Don't you think it looks pretty good for a 1995? And don't you think I look pretty good for a 1956?

Referee
Just as I finished my lunch this afternoon, Tucker and Tanner decided to have something of a disagreement over the empty plate. It got ugly real fast as sibling conflicts can. Tanner outweighs Tucker by a good ten pounds but when it comes to gnashing and snarling and biting and thrashing...Tucker can hold her own. As Caesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer, would say, "The dogs were in the Red Zone." As the only referee in the house, I stepped in to break it up. Valuing my fingers, I went for collars and stuck my knee into the middle of melee.

Maybe I should value my leg as much as my fingers...

No blood, no vet or doctor trip, but Karen now has a mending job to attend to. Tucker and Tanner are fine. As if two Cocker Spaniels can ever really be fine...

Slow But Sure Progress

Progress continues on the Honduran 206!

Here's a shot of Josh fabricating a new skin...

to be used to cover the opening on this wing section.

Here's a shot of Scott G. laying out a new rib based on the old rib in front of him and...

then test fitting the new rib inside the fuselage before final installation.

We hope to have the King Air inspection wrapped up next week and to return to being totally focused on completing this project as soon as possible.

On the Home Front
Karen's off to the MMS Ladies' Retreat so it's just me and the dogs through Sunday afternoon. I'll be heading to Columbus Airport Sunday afternoon to retrieve on of the team members from Mission Safety International who will be here to conduct a Safety Audit of MMS. MMS subscribes to MSI's safety services. There will be six members on this audit team and they'll be at MMS all week. Karen and I are blessed to be able to host MSI team members Steve & Gail Quigg at our house. Steve will be with us through Friday, Gail has to leave on Tuesday.

We go back several years with Steve and Gail so it'll be fun to be able to spend some time with them while they're here.

I Can't Believe it's Already Thursday

It was quite a day today. No photos to illustrate it, but trust me. It was quite a day.

There are exciting things going on inside MMS and everyone is involved in the process. We had a meeting of all the guys in the hangar today. We're actually having meetings like this every two weeks now, typically from 10 AM to 12 Noon. MMS is boldly going where it's never gone before in order to create a consistently "vital and energized" approach to our ministry.

Then after a lunch break, Dwight, Tim, Mary, Bob and I met for an additional two hours as the Senior Management Team discussing current operational, training, and administrative topics of short-term and long-term interest to MMS.

By the time we adjourned at 3:05 most of our brains had turned to mush. I know mine had. Meetings are critical to good inter-departmental communication but man, do they wear you out! Well, they wear me out and I enjoy meetings!

Karen came in to cover the phones over the meetings, process receipts and work with the organizational mailing list. She also organized a mailing of 480 or so pieces. In fact, there's so much going on at MMS Karen's going to start working a second full day. Now she'll be at the mission on Thursdays and Fridays.

Thanks for being part of it all. And you ARE part of it all through your friendship, gifts, and prayers. We are encouraged here, knowing you are there.