Gone Fishing

Here I am re-rigging my Berkley ultra-light pole on a lake somewhere in Virgina...I caught one tree and two bass. Ralph, my brother-in-law, caught three nice bass and had a tree get away...

Karen was having a manicure party with her sister and niece.

Gabon 207 Video Update

Here's the latest video on the Gabon 207 restoration project. Dale's crew has really hit their stride and are on track to have this project wrapped up early this fall. I was down in the hangar yesterday shooting fresh footage of the guys removing the tail cone.

It's Time For A Hangar Update!

Gospel Carrier International's Cessna 310 Arrives.
With the arrival of GCI's Cessna 310 for annual inspection, GCI's 172 Cessna departed, but yes, the hangar is still filled with Cessnas.

GCI's Cessna 31o is the twin-engine airplane on the left.

Work On The 182 Continues
Mike, Jim, Andy P., Mark, Paul, and Ben continue to push the Cessna 182's annual inspection toward completion. Some corroded components needed to be replaced, work on the nose gear was completed, some discrepancies were found in the exhaust system, and some structural repairs are being taken care of inside the cabin. The project is providing good operational maintenance experience for our apprentices.

Mark works with the 182's exhaust system.

Paul performs maintenance on the 182's nose gear.

Continued Progress On The Gabon 207
Another major step was initiated today on the Gabon 207 as the tail cone was removed from the cabin portion of the fuselage. The tail cone was substantially damaged in the airplane's forced landing and with its removal, the way is cleared for this last major component repair.

Chuck, Josh, and Dale begin removing the tail cone of the 207.

Chuck and Josh remove skin panels as Dale drills-out additional rivets.

Dave & & Guido
Part of the recent "Raise The Roof" fundraising effort was to purchase a newer piece of equipment for mowing and snow removal. After extensive research, a barely-used Kubota F3060 was purchased. The F3060 has since been affectionately named "Guido" after a similar looking character in the original "Cars" animated movie. Dave is greatly enjoying the power and torque generated by its 30 horsepower diesel engine.

Dave puts Guido through its paces.

Thanks for your gifts and prayers which make our ministry possible. We couldn't be here doing what we're doing without you back there doing what you're doing!

Heat Index and House Guest

Heat Index
Oh my, it's been warm lately. Ohio was part of the recent heatwave and Coshocton (while not being Dallas, Texas, with 3 weeks of triple digit temps) has had its share of triple digit heat indexes this past week. Take 98 degree temps and add 75 % humidity and zowie...the air feels like it's 114 degrees.

The guys in the hangar have really been sweating it out in the most literal sense. But within that, they're also thankful that they were able to work inside the shade of the open hangars though 114 degree air is still 114 degree air...while all the guys down there are affected by such extremes, our apprentices from England and Scotland are especially sensitive as they've never experienced such temperatures at home. For amusement, the guys were shooting their digital temp gauges at various items and found that the concrete ramps around and between the hangars stayed at 120 degrees. It's been an interesting week. It appears the worst has either headed further east or returned to the Texas/Oklahoma region.

Karen and I've been blessed to work upstairs in the air-conditioned administrative area where the central AC units were able to cool the air down to 80 degrees.

Karen and I are thankful for our little window mounted air conditioners at home (and our local coal-fired power plant) that allowed us to cool the main floor and bedrooms as necessary. Upstairs temps in our bathroom stayed at 90 degrees overnight. But that's not news to anyone west of the Rockies...The shock of walking from a cooled bedroom into the upstairs hallway or just climbing from the first floor to the second seemed rather severe to us.

House Guest
We were blessed to have Keith Kettenring stop in for an overnight visit on his way from Lancaster, PA to Dayton, OH. Keith is involved with a ministry that focuses on leadership development within the church and missions. He was one of the co-leaders at a seminar Karen and I attended two weeks ago. It was privilege to host him in our home and to renew relationship with our new friend and dear brother in Christ.

There are several similarities between us. My name is Keith Allen, his name is Keith Alan. I grew up in Southern California, he pastored in Southern California for 22 years. We share a deep passion for leadership development, are similar in age, have strong love of reading, and share similar desires in pursuit of deeper relationship with God. He also has a long-time connection to North Carolina's Outer Banks region and Karen and I were married there nearly nine years ago (our anniversary is next month).

It was a treat to enjoy his fellowship and to have the continued opportunity to draw on his spiritual insight and wisdom. It's exciting to see God weave Keith into the tapestry of our lives. It was fun (and a bit sweaty) to lead Keith on a tour of the MMS facility yesterday afternoon.

Keith Allen Dodson and Keith Alan Kettenring

Thanks
Thanks for your prayers and gifts and love and friendship all of which encourage us and enable us to serve. We're thrilled to have you standing with us and are privileged to represent each of you in our daily ministry.

A Hot & Humid Update

Weather
It was a cold winter, a wet spring, and now we are deep into a totally hot and humid summer. The way the weather's been lately, I think everything would be drier if it'd just rain. It's so bad I'm dreaming of snow...go figure.

Salsa Garden
Our salsa garden is struggling this year. Maybe it will finish well, but at this point we're fighting tomato blight, the Roma tomato plants just haven't grown as big as they have in the past, and our jalapeno and banana peppers are coming in fast. The bell peppers aren't sure what they're doing--large plants, very few peppers. Early peppers/late tomatoes, it's hard to keep everything coordinated.

Our Short Salsa Garden

The Monster Yellow Squash Plant

Now if we were in the yellow squash salsa business...we'd be doing great. The squash and cucumbers are going crazy. The green beans are doing okay. Actually, our grape tomato plant is going great guns...but it would take a lot of grape tomatoes to make salsa...

Coshocton Flyer
We're in the process of producing our latest Coshocton Flyer newsletter. Lord willing we'll have it in the mail over the next couple weeks. Be watching for it in a mailbox near you.

MMS Aviation
The mission can be a crazy place with everything that God's doing simultaneously in the lives of fifteen staff families, five apprentice families, and five aircraft projects. Throw in the three families I'm currently supervising as they raise support to start apprenticeship; the administrative challenges as we continue to evaluate organization priorities, policies, and procedures; and the changing nature of worldwide mission effort (and how that directly affects us as we prepare tomorrow's missionaries) and the days seem way too short. Which, I guess, is a good reminder that TIME is short.

Fresno Bible Church
I'm still playing the drums on worship team, Karen is part of the singing rotation for worship team and continues to sing "specials" as part of the "Ladies Trio." Karen also serves in the nursery ministry and continues to be a mentor to a lady at church.

Marriage
Yes, we're still married. Which, after nearly nine years, continues to be a miracle and testimony to God's love and grace. Some days we look at each other, scrunch up our faces and have to ask: "What planet are you from?" But most other days we're moving right along in tune and in synch.

Dogs
Tucker and Tanner are fine though developing their own middle-aged aches and pains and muscle pulls and "fatty lumps" that seem to grow on so many Cocker Spaniels. Sometimes we just call both of them "Lumpy." Who knows what they call us.

Tanner Keeps Watch Over His Kingdom

Well I think that rounds out our general update. Lord willing there'll be more going on worthy of blogging in the future. It's just been a whirlwind of a year for us and we're still just hanging on in several areas but no worries, it's just God at work growing us up and drawing us closer to Himself.

Thanks for your gifts and your prayers that keep us in ministry in Coshocton, Ohio.

Video Update on the Cessna 402

The engines are on and the main landing gear is in the Cessna 402!