Tucker & Tanner On The Trail

In November's Coshocton Flyer newsletter, we featured photos of Tucker and Tanner on the trails behind our cookie-cutter housing development. Here are those photos in digital form as well as a couple bonus shots! We hope you enjoy them and that they'll bring you a smile or two in the midst of your holiday preparations.

Tucker and Tanner cross Cocker Spaniel Bridge.

 "Hey, Bull! Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"

"If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck..."

 "...and swims like a duck..."

"...it just might BE a duck or two or three!"

It was a great day for a walk with Karen.

Thanks for being our friends!

Cars In The Garage, Visitors, Turkey, and A Tree

Milestone Of Moving
One of our goals soon after taking the last box out of the moving van, was to have both cars in the garage before the end of the year. Well, we beat that deadline this past week! It's one of those milestones of moving when you get enough of your your stuff stuffed away to actually use the garage for your cars.

There's still a lot to organize and straighten, but at least we can get the cars in!

Visitors
God has blessed us with a steady stream of visitors since we arrived in town. Our latest visitors were Sam & Mary (with their daughter Cathy, from Greensboro) friends from our church in Fresno, OH; and Tim & Michelle whom we served with at MMS Aviation. It was wonderful to spend several hours catching up with Sam and Mary and Cathy and to host Tim & Michelle for a couple days to include our first Thanksgiving in North Carolina.

Karen, Keith, Mary & Sam

Tim & Keith

Michelle & Karen

Thanksgiving Day

Karen whipped up an amazing Thanksgiving Dinner for the six of us (Karen, me, Tim, Michelle, Tucker, Tanner): turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, southern-style biscuits, and pumpkin and pecan pies. Yum, Yum. That's not to mention the candied pecans and pretzel/Hershey's Kiss/M&M/mashes laid out for snacks.

Karen removes the turkey.

Biscuits!

Christmas Tree

After Tim & Michelle departed this morning, we ran up to a farmer's market to pick our Christmas tree off a lot. It's one of the few trees we haven't cut down ourselves in 11 years. It seemed a bit odd to not have to drive into the Coshocton hills to claim our tree with a saw, but when it was all said and done, we ended up with a tree at home that we still needed to saw on.

 Tanner and I get ready to string the tree lights.

Karen adds the single strands of tinsel to finished the tree!

Praising Him For All Things
It's been a wonderful week of Thanksgiving. We praise the Lord for his physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational blessings. We praise Him for each one of you who keep us in ministry through your friendship, encouragement, prayers, visits, and gifts!

Honduras: Emergency Evac, Medical Supplies, and More Power

Emergency Medical Evacuation
On Sunday Wes received a call requesting an emergency medical evacuation for a critically wounded gunshot victim up the village of Wampu. Wes made the flight to Wampu, picked the patient up, and safely transported him to Puerto Lempira for the life-saving medical care required.

Loading the patient into our 206.

Moving the wounded man from the airplane to the ambulance.

Loading the patient into the ambulance at the Puerto Lempira Airport.

Additional Medical Supplies Donated To Rus Rus
Hospital Rus Rus received another 206 load of donated medical supplies. Wes flew to the island of Roatan to retrieve this blessing. With the Stateside donations already received, the pharmacy in Rus Rus is now fully stocked!

Boxes and boxes of medicine and medical supplies loaded in our 206!

New Generator in Rus Rus
A new generator was recently purchased in the US; shipped to the port of La Ceiba in two crates; trucked to the main airport; picked up and flown into Rus Rus by Wes; assembled, installed, and hooked into an newly wired air base/hospital power grid! This high efficiency generator has the capacity to power our entire base using 1/6th the fuel of the existing, older/larger generator on site. More power, less fuel. It's win-win in Rus Rus!

New generator.

What's It Like In Graham, NC?

Woods Turning Color Behind Our House

Now that we've been here nearly three months, we've begun to discover some of the special places around our new home here in Graham, NC. One thing we're especially thankful for are the trees. We always loved the trees in our neighborhood in Coshocton, OH and are so happy to have lots of trees here right behind our back yard. They've been a joy to watch as their leaves turned the bright colors of fall. Now that the leaves are thinning out a bit, we see deer in the woods and are entertained by the squirrels playing in the trees. There are also many birds attracted to our back yard for birdseed. Lots of Cardinals come and go along with Mourning Doves, Carolina Wrens, Chickadees, Tufted Titmouses and various others that we grab the bird book and try to identify. We also have a walking trail around the outskirts of our development. It's been a great place to get some exercise for us and the dogs. Tucker and Tanner love exploring the new territory!

Tucker and Tanner out on the Trail

Centered around the historical Alamance County Courthouse, downtown Graham is a quaint little area with much to offer. We enjoy the "small town" feel and can pretty much find everything we need nearby. There is a great little restaurant on the corner, Barrister's Cafe, where we can eat outside while enjoying the sidewalk tables or take an inside seat with a view of the town square. Barrister's has good food and they make some of the best homemade fries around!

Barrister's Cafe on the Square

On the opposite corner of the town square is The Graham Soda Shop. They make their own ice cream and boy is it rich! Yum! It's not Tom's Ice Cream Bowl, but it's a great place for a three scoop sundae or malt. Keith really likes a scoop of Double-Chocolate, a scoop of Vanilla, and a scoop of Black Cherry with chocolate sauce and caramel. They make their own potato chips too!

Makes you want a malted milk shake doesn't it???

The Graham Soda Shop

Right behind the soda shop is Colonial Hardware, the local hardware store. Every small town has one and we found it! It's fun to walk through its aisles and see what's there. There are always some seasoned handy-men on staff ready to help you solve whatever technical problem you came in with! They've been friendly and helpful to us as we've tackled the many household projects that have needed fixin'. We missed their "Pig Pickin'" in April....maybe next summer!

Colonial Hardware Graham, NC

Off the beaten path of the town square, we've found the biggest and most amazing apple fritters south of Miller's Bakery in Charm, OH! Hard to believe but true. Daily Donuts makes their donuts fresh every morning (most of us would call it night!) and we have often been there to gather up some fritters and donuts to share for breakfast. You can even pick your own donut and they will fill it with your choice of fillings! Look out Miller's, you've got some competition here in Graham,NC!

Daily Donuts Shop

Jim's Hot Dogs is another cultural icon. Known for its wide-ranging variations of hot dogs, the menu provides options you can't even imagine when considering a bun, a frankfurter, and condiments. It's become a regular stop on our rapidly developing "tourist trail" for our visitors.

Jim's

Graham is a nice little town. We are enjoying finding the local places that give it it's uniqueness and personality. For a small town that has nearly been engulfed by the surrounding larger cities, it is striving to keep its identity and its heritage and we plan to support the local businesses as much as we can to stand with them in that effort.

City of Graham Flags

MAG: Giving Thanks and Raising Praises

The first post of this three part blog series, "A Busy Month For MAG" focused on things we were excited about. The second post invited you to "Please Join Us In Prayer" for the many things going on in our field programs and at our headquarters. This final post of the series focuses on the things we're thankful for!

Honduras
We're thankful for:

• the success and hard work of the construction team recently in Rus Rus.
• the completion of the comprehensive survey of our airbase/hospital compound.
• the arrival of Wes & Denise's new generator.
• good meetings between Sean, Wes, Carlos, and medical personnel visiting Hospital Rus Rus.
• the arrival of MAG's crate from Burlington in La Ceiba.
• the arrival of MAG's crates of medical supplies in Puerto Lempira.
• Wes' health and safety as he made the many trips back and forth loading/unloading the all the newly arrived cargo.
• the improvement in Denise' health.

Wes, Carlos, and our Head Nurse Geraldina, discuss hospital operations with Jay, a representative from a Stateside ministry.

Guatemala
We're thankful for:

• Paul's continued adjustment to Guatemalan culture.
• good meetings between Sean, Paul, and Hospital Shalom's leadership.
• Paul and Sean's participation in a medical clinic to a remote village being considered for MAG air service.
• positive interaction between Sean, Paul, and Guatemalan aviation authorities and officials.
• MMS Aviation's (Coshocton, OH) continued preparation of our Cessna 206 for service in Guatemala.

Scott fabricates components for an airframe modification that will allow our missionary pilot to quickly change the 206's configuration from ambulance, to passenger, to cargo.

Burlington, NC

We're thankful for:

• the interest several families have expressed in exploring service with MAG.
• the donated office space we enjoy.
• Keith & Karen Dodson's arrival in Burlington.
• our T-hangar and-a-half at Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport.
• representation at several missions conferences in October.

Debbie & Karen representing MAG at a local women's conference.

Thanks for your gifts and prayers which make this ministry possible. We look forward to keeping you updated on how God is working through MAG in Honduras, Guatemala, and Burlington!

MAG: Please Join Us In Prayer

Our previous MAG post featured current news and updates. This post focuses on many of the things you can join us in prayer for as we follow God's leading in how He would have us deliver help and hope by air in Honduras, Guatemala, and Burlington.

Honduras
Please pray:

• for completion of the hospital renovation and general construction projects currently underway  in Rus Rus.
• for healing for Denise as she continues to battle a bronchial infection and fever.
• For Carlos' teaching and discipling efforts being undertaken in the village.
• For the return of the villagers who've left due to threats from the drug cartel.
• For God's power to be displayed victorious over the spiritual darkness in the village.
• For a successful survey and clear witness of Christ's compassion to the Honduran survey team working in Rus Rus the next week or two.
• For God's clear revelation in recent discussions with visiting medical personnel. 

Guatemala 
Please pray:

• That Paul will quickly acclimate to the local culture and that speaking Spanish will soon become second nature for him.
• That the upcoming MAG village outreach (Sean & Paul) will bear logistical and spiritual fruit.
• That discussions and meetings with Hospital Shalom, regional missionaries, and village leaders will lay a strong foundation from which to launch our new flight program.

 Burlington
Please pray:

• For the churches of Alamance County to embrace Missionary Air Group and join us in the effort to deliver help and hope by air to the remote peoples of the Americas.
• For mobilization efforts underway to recruit additional staff members.
• For Scott Grote, as he oversees restoration of our Cessna 206 up at MMS Aviation in Coshocton, Ohio.
• For funding to complete the restoration of the Cessna 206 bound for use in Guatemala.

Thank you for joining us in this cause...in HIS cause!

Birthday Bash and Dog Biscuit Baking

This past weekend we were blessed by friends visiting from Pennsylvania. Jack, Renee, and Joelle drove down, brought their own birthday surprise for Karen, and baked Tucker and Tanner some home-made dog biscuits! Everybody down here likes biscuits!

Happy Birthday, Karen!

Rolling the dog biscuit dough

 Cutting and sheeting the raw biscuits

The cooks and the baked dog biscuits!

While the girls were in the kitchen, Tanner guarded the baby doll.

Missionary Air Group's newest missionary pilot?

A Busy Month For MAG

October is proving to be a busy month for Missionary Air Group with three teams in and out of Rus Rus, Honduras and with a village outreach and continued flight program development in Guatemala. There are many things to be excited about, many things to pray about, and much to be thankful for.

Today's post will focus on excitement.

We're Excited About God's Work In Honduras

• Carlos (our Director of Pastoral Ministries) is on the ground in Rus Rus with a team of three

  

  Carlos

  men (Matt, Bob, and Craig) taking on several construction/renovation projects at the hospital. Over their two week stay, they will perform electrical work, tile an operating room floor, and take care of some carpentry issues. Carlos will also visit the village of Mahbita to encourage and minister to the Believers there.

• Sean (our President) is in Atlanta as part of a ministry conference facilitating organizational networking in Honduras. Sean departs for Rus Rus tomorrow (Saturday) and will spend two weeks in the village assisting Carlos's team, and working with two other teams scheduled to arrive over next week.  

• Shortly after Sean's arrival, a team of medical personnel is scheduled to visit the hospital for

  

  Sean

  meetings with our missionary staff and hospital staff in order to gain a better understanding of the medical needs and opportunities in Rus Rus. Carlos will interpret for the team.

• A good friend of MAG, Jim, has arranged for a Honduran team from Tegucigalpa to conduct a full site survey of our Rus Rus airbase and hospital facility. They should arrive shortly after the medical team departs. Jim, a US architect, is funding the entire survey effort and providing us with structural, physical, and topographical information critical to our long range planning and the continued development of the grounds, hospital, buildings, and air strip.

Paul

We're Excited About God's Work In Guatemala

• Paul (our Guatemala Program Director) deployed last month. Paul is working closely with Hospital Shalom to lay the groundwork for our new flight program supporting their medical efforts, is becoming acclimated to the county and culture, and is visiting villages to survey for possible air strip locations. Paul will be the pilot/mechanic of our Guatemala airplane once it's deployed.

• After his two weeks in Rus Rus, Sean plans to spend two weeks with Paul for meetings with hospital staff, to assist Paul in developing a base for aviation operations, and to conduct our first village outreach into the Peten region of Guatemala.

We're Excited About Westley & Denise

• Of course of this doesn't happen without Westley and Denise (our missionaries in Rus Rus) and the Cessna 206. Denise provides all the food, care, and hospitality for everyone visiting our base while Westley takes care of everything else including all the flying back and forth, north and south, east and west, required to handle three teams in two weeks and the logistics of operating a challenging ministry in a difficult and remote setting. And without the airplane, our trusty Cessna 206 "one-niner-zulu", none of this would be happening.

Preparing to depart for Rus Rus in 19Z.

Thank you for your gifts and prayers that make this ministry possible!

In The MAG Office And In MAG The Hangar

Reality

Okay, things are starting to fall into place. We don't work in a big green hangar on top of a hill anymore, we're blessed to work in a little brown building on the corner of Maple Avenue and Monroe Holt. We don't live in Ohio any more, we actually are living in North Carolina. Instead of having a pizza place on every corner like we did in Coshocton, we have a Biscuitville on every corner here in Burlington/Graham. Everyone should eat a Biscuitville at least once. I did. Biscuits truly are a way of life down here.

We're adjusting our lives from a rural mode (bicycling/walking around town, watching out for Amish buggies) to an urban mode (driving EVERYWHERE in heavy city traffic). We finally have a dog door in the back door but now Tucker and Tanner are waiting for their fence to appear so they can have unsupervised access to the back yard. They have, however, successfully tested the functionality of the doggie door as we consistently found them in the front yard during its installation! Those two dogs can be rather tricksie.

The house is nearly together, Karen's putting stuff up on the walls, and we're both integrating more into the daily operations of Missionary Air Group.

MAG Daily Operations
Now, these next photos will scare the CFO of MMS Aviation, Mary Sattertwaite (my partner for 16 years in the administrative office at MMS) no end, as they are of me reciepting donations and preparing the bank deposit! Mary, please take a chill pill--I really CAN do something related to numbers and money! And in just one deposit, I made sure MAG received a million dollars...oops...now where did I put that decimal point?

Carol (one of MAG's faithful volunteers) trains me in receipting MAG's donations and organizing the bank deposit.

Turned loose to receipt and organize deposits all by my self!

Video, Video, Video
We recently received three pallets of assorted medical clothing to be distributed to medical clinics in remote areas of Honduras and Guatemala. We needed help with the huge job of sorting, inspecting, and inventorying the clothing and New Covenant Fellowship Church's youth group responded to the task. See if you can find Karen in this video! As Medical Services Coordinator she was rather involved in the process.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and gifts as we continue this transition!

The Mayor And Me

Prayers For Our Friends
Leaving Coshocton, Ohio and moving to Graham, North Carolina has not unfolded without its emotional, physical, and spiritual challenges. But many of our dear friends, family members, prayer partners, and financial supporters are facing life situations and decisions far more challenging than anything we've experienced over the past month. Please know our prayers are with each one of you. We hope our renewed communication will be a source of encouragement in the midst of life in this less than perfect world.

Keith Meets The Mayor Of Graham
In one of Karen's and my trips "up town" we stopped in at the Graham Municipal Building to ask directions. One gentleman in particular was very helpful. He was casually dressed (T-shirt, blue jeans, tennis shoes, baseball cap) but went out of his way to provide the assistance we needed. He took me inside "behind the scenes" to provide the answers we sought, and even tracked down contact information for a person who could assist us with a specific need we shared. I was having a great time with this guy, totally having fun inside the municipal building, and carrying on like we owned the place. He was totally personable, very helpful, and was honestly interested in us as new residents of Graham. As I talked with one of the municipal staff members they mentioned that the guy I was hanging around and joking with was the Mayor!

No way! Yes, way! I immediately asked to have my picture taken with him. What could be cooler than that? He was somewhat reluctant and apologetic as he'd been outside working on a project and wasn't in his usual mayoral garb. But, for the fun of it, he relented. Here I am with The Mayor of Graham, Jerry Peterman.

The Mayor and Me

Over The Past Month

The Hultins came to visit.

(Bradon & Lydia also came to visit but we didn't take a picture!)

We received our NC drivers licenses and new plates for the cars.

Tucker and Tanner had their first NC baths...

...with gentle towel dry finish.

And we found a very dog-friendly bank!

Tanner makes a biscuit withdrawal from Community One Bank.

Ministry Update
Believe it or not, I'm in my second week of full-time service in the MAG office, Karen nearly has the house pulled-together, and there's a lot going on in Honduras and in Guatemala as we move into October! We look forward to adding in MAG news and field reports as the days go by.

Thanks for your continued interest and involvement in our lives and in our ministry. We couldn't be here doing what we're doing without you being there doing what you're doing. We can't do this by ourselves, nor do we wish to. We cherish each of you as precious participants on this journey as God transforms us through this new ministry and this new location.