Exciting News! The Asas 206 Makes Its First Mission Flight Today!

I'm passing along a message from Rachel Joy, wife of Asas de Socorro Chief Engineer (and MMS grad) Ryan Joy, about the Cessna 206 we restored for them and which recently arrived at their base in Brazil.

Rachel has some exciting news to share--The 206 is to take off on its first mission flight today! From Rachel:

Hello All:

Ryan called home at 9am and all is set -- the new plane, soon to be PT-MMS, is in the water, fueled up and ready to take off for its first mission flight today from our base on the outskirts of Manaus. Tim is piloting the plane, this time headed over the Amazon, not the Caribbean! And Ryan is accompanying him!

Tim will do some training at the local airclub then they'll head to the Nhamundá River, where they'll pick up some missionaries in Kassawá, bringing them back to the city. If you want you can follow them on the SPOT at www.adsfrota.blogspot.com clicking where it says PT-MMS (novo avião). This is where I'll track them today! Lord willing, by 4pm, they will land back out at our hangar.

Hope to send you fotos from this first mission soon-told Ryan not to fall off the floats into the river with the camera!(He did that once a long time ago!) Ryan is excited to be able to participate in this first official mission flight for the new plane. Thank you all for the part you had in it!

Update to come. Working Together Till Jesus comes, Rachel

Lord willing, we'll have some of those photos to post soon!

38 Degrees and Rain: Post-Christmas Thoughts and Snapshots

Welcome to "Winter" in 2011...warm and wet. This is the warmest winter I can remember in the 15 winters I've experienced out here. I may even have to mow the lawn again...Of course, last winter was the coldest winter I remember (and one of the longest) so it seems it all evens out in the end.

Somehow another Christmas has come and gone...the speed at which life is passing is breathtaking, surprising, and at times...frightening. The less we have of time the more precious it becomes...but then in the context of eternity--what is time, really?

Time is one of God's graces in this fallen world as time has an end. One way or another this life WILL end. We will all run out of time on the face of this planet, time inside these bodies, and then real life begins free of time and free of disease, decay, and destruction (for some). Real life (for others) will be a shock instead of a reward. Either way, the new creation, the restoration process initiated by Christ's coming to Earth 2,000 years ago will be revealed to all, for all, and, after one final battle, will come into its perfect fullness.

And in the meantime we have symbols and shadows and glimpses...

Christmas is one such symbol, a shadow, a glimpse backward mixed with the promise of eternity future as our gift giving reflects the one True Gift...HOPE in the God-become-man, the promise of resurrection to a new life in Christ, reconciliation with God, and reward and release for those surrendered to Him.

Here are a couple snapshots of our own celebration this year.

Our $20 Christmas Tree bargain!

Tucker and Tanner receive their pre-Christmas-morning briefing: "No opening presents without permission!" "No growling or snarling at each other's presents!" "Remember, we kept your crates, so no ripping, tearing, shredding anyone else's gifts but your own or you'll find yourselves back in your cage"

Tanner likes to help by protecting EVERYONE'S gifts...

Tanner inspects the packages as part of his in-house security service.

Before any presents are opened, we always read the Christmas Story!

Tanner enjoys an edible canine Christmas Card.

Sometimes things get rather frenzied!

Tucker unwraps presents very carefully...

Christmas family portrait.

Thanks for your love, friendship, gifts, and prayers that enable us to celebrate Christ every day here in Coshocton County! May this New Year be one of Glad Tidings, indeed.

A Merry Christmas Celebration

The week before Christmas we were able to travel to Pennsylvania and enjoy celebrating Christmas with Karen's family. Four of the nieces and nephews weren't able to make it but we had a good crowd and a fun time. Here are some pictures of the evening. Merry Christmas!

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Coshocton Flyer: November 2011

We're posting it a bit late...but here is our November 2011 Coshocton Flyer!

Depending on your computer, you may need to click on the image to open it and then right click to "view image" in order to enable the zoom feature...