Getting Ready for Two Weeks in Rus Rus

As many of you already know, I will be heading to the jungle on February 15th to see our new mission's hospital there.  My goals are to see what life in the jungle of Rus Rus, Honduras is like, to see and gain understanding of the present hospital there, see how an experienced annual medical team functions on a short-term missions trip, and just get to know our missionaries there and the people we serve with Missionary Air Group.

MAG's jungle hospital in Rus Rus, Honduras

Getting ready to go to Rus Rus has been a bit like going through labor (you know, like having a baby). Strange comparison you say? Sometimes spiritual analogies are best made in your areas of greatest knowledge. Let me explain.

When it was decided at our first MAG strategy meeting that I would go to Rus Rus so I could observe and learn while a medical team was there to run a clinic in the jungle hospital I was excited! Just like it's exciting to learn you are expecting a baby. But, it is also fear inducing to think about labor and delivery! As I moved into the 'labor' of actually preparing for the trip I have battled with fear. I have traveled out of the good ol U.S. of A. only twice. Never alone and never to a country where I did not speak the language.... let alone a jungle! But despite my fears, 'labor' had started and I was determined there was no going back.

I give God praise because that 'labor' is giving birth to faith, trust and peace in what God has called me to do. God has used many 'instruments' to impart that peace. I've talked with others who have taken this trip before. I know another of our MAG staff will be meeting me at the airport, I've talked with the missionaries who live in Rus Rus who will be flying me in and out of the jungle and hosting me while there. I've gathered information about traveling, purchased tickets and am gathering all I need to make this trip successfully as far as I know. Many of you are already praying for me and God is answering. It is a blessing to have the prayers of fellow believers!

I am looking forward with excitement to the delivery of this trip and know I will surely have stories to tell, pictures to share and memories of God's faithfulness as I encounter for the first time the full picture of Missionary Air Group's work in Honduras of taking hope and help to the Moskito people in Rus Rus, Honduras.

Please pray as I prepare to go:

• For good health

• For courage and excitement to enjoy this new journey God has me on

• That I would think clearly in preparation for this trip even in the midst of all the transition we are in

• That I would be an encouragement to the missionaries in Rus Rus, a help to the medical team as they run the clinic, and a clear witness of the Lord to all whose lives I will encounter.

The Land Between at -3 Degrees

God is teaching us how to live in "The Land Between."

We've left our roles with MMS but can't yet fully assume our roles with MAG. We're packing, but we have no place to go. Our house is for sale but no one's coming to look. We've "left" but we're still here. Please don't take this as a direct analogy, but process-wise Karen and I sometimes feel as if we're the nation of Israel wandering in the wilderness sometime after Egypt but still far, far away from making it to the Promised Land.

Cleaning and re-painting a corner of the basement wall in preparation for house sale. (Yes, I'm wearing safety glasses and a respirator.)

Sorting through basement stuff and packing as best we can.

In our Coshocton basement realizing they don't have basements in North Carolina. One more box for Goodwill!

Desert. Wilderness. Purgatory? It's an interesting process...one that God's using to reveal things about ourselves and our faith that we need to work through/grow in. It's forcing us closer together as husband and wife while drawing us deeper into God himself. We've been praying for and seeking that for several years so why are we surprised when God answers that prayer? I guess we shouldn't be surprised that that's a prayer He will always answer...we just never expected His answer to look and feel like it does.

I'm spending time in Psalms. Karen's spending time in Exodus. We're both being ministered to by Sarah Young's "Jesus Lives" devotional. Our missionary friends Paul & Kristin Gettle (serving with JAARS) sent us a DVD of a seminar they went through as part of their training that addressed transitions. It was helpful. We'll watch it again. We've discovered we're poster children for transitional symptoms and manifestations and look forward to reading a book recommended in the seminar: "Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes," by William Bridges.

On Another Note
Karen just bought an English to Spanish dictionary for her trip to Honduras. Dwight, MMS President and recent Honduran traveler, is briefing her on what to expect when she arrives at the airport in San Pedro Sula. John, the leader of the International Health Services medical team traveling to Honduras is in communication with Karen orienting her on how the team is going to operate (no pun intended) once they're in-country.

I'm talking by phone and emailing regularly with Sean, MAG's President, as part of the process of learning how to work together in a remote context. I'm still helping up at MMS as needed in something of a simple consultational role related to my former duties/responsibilities.

And it's currently 12 degrees outside (-3 windchill). I know that's warm compared to North Dakota or Minnesota right now, but it's still downright chilly to me and most other Coshoctonians.

Thanks
Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us and in paying for us as we serve. Your gifts and prayers are what keep us in ministry across the physical, emotional, and spiritual spectrums. We couldn't do this without you standing beside us. We're able to serve because you continue to "send us" week after week, month after month, year after year.

May God richly bless you for your sacrifices on our behalf and may He graciously "credit your account" as you generously continue to bless ours.

Empire Mine, Grass Valley, CA; August 2012

For His Glory Photography

Tickets Purchased, Inoculations Received

Karen's preparation for Honduras reached two more milestones: 1) yesterday we purchased her airline tickets and, 2) today we drove into in Zanesville where Karen received her "pre-field" inoculations and a flu shot! We also stopped by WalMart here in town to pick up some bug repellant, a rain poncho, and hand sanitizer. Gotta keep the germs, bugs, insects, viruses, and rain at arm's length down in the Honduran villages. Her anti-malarial medicine has been ordered

Unfortunately, as hard as she shopped--Karen wasn't able to find any snake, tarantula, or scorpion repellant to take along.

It turns out that Karen will be flying to Honduras on her own as Carlos (MAG's Director of Pastoral Ministries) wasn't able to get a seat on the same flight as originally planned. Carlos is now scheduled to arrive a day earlier and, Lord willing, will meet Karen at airport in San Pedro Sula...otherwise Karen's going to receive a crash course in speaking Spanish and looking lost in a foreign city and an unfamiliar culture.

Karen heads in to receive her inoculations.

Me? I'm spending my time updating MAG's ministry brochure; developing documents to use as tools for expanding MAG's financial support structure; and becoming more familiar with MAG's administrative guidelines, ministry facts and figures, and Standard Operating Procedures. It's not quite as exciting as preparing for two weeks in Honduras...but someone has got to do it.

Thanks for your continued prayers. We're needing every one!

To Burlington And Back Again

We just returned from our latest trip down to Burlington, North Carolina! This was our first trip in our now "official" roles with Missionary Air Group (MAG) as Director of Operations (me) and Medical Services Coordinator (Karen).

We drove down last Sunday to participate in two days of meetings with Sean Donnelly, MAG President; and Carlos Paz, MAG's Director of Pastoral Ministries. We spent Monday & Tuesday together in MAG's conference room brainstorming, strategizing, and goal setting. Sean did a great job leading us through the process. He was well prepared and passionate in his presentation. Praise the Lord for dry markers, white boards, coffee, and chocolate!

 Getting started Monday morning: Sean, Carlos, Karen.

 Sean's a mad man with a white board once he gets warmed-up.

 Carlos and Karen

 Here I am waving my arms.

Keith, Director of Operations; Karen, Medical Services Coordinator; Carlos, Director of Pastoral Ministries; Sean, MAG President.

We left the meetings better informed about the diversity of MAG's ministry, with an increased understanding of the internal workings of the organization, and a better grasp of the developing nature of our own roles and responsibilities within Sean's vision for MAG's growth.

It was a blessing to spend so many hours working so closely with Sean, Carlos, and Karen. As MAG's Medical Services Coordinator, Karen's going to be much more involved in day-to-day mission operations (internationally and domestically) than she had opportunity to be during our years with MMS Aviation. In fact, speaking of international involvement, Karen's preparing to leave for Honduras for two weeks next month!

That's right, Karen's currently working out the details to travel to our jungle hospital in Rus Rus, Honduras in mid-February. During the course of her two week trip, she'll meet Hospital Rus Rus' indigenous staff of one nurse and her assistant-in-training, become acquainted with the hospital facility and its services, and observe how things work as an International Health Services medical missions team spends two weeks in the village conducting medical clinics.

Hospital Rus Rus with one of our Cessna 206's.

We'll provide more details about Karen's trip as the details are determined. She's scheduled to receive her international inoculations next week. Carlos Paz will lead the MAG team and act as MAG's medical translator between villagers in need of treatment and the medical specialists providing the care. After Karen and the medical team leave, Carlos will remain an additional three weeks in Rus Rus to work with indigenous pastors in the area, build relationships in the villages, disciple new believers, and initiate some literacy work.

Me? I'm stocking up on hot dogs so Tucker, Tanner, and I won't starve during Karen's absence.

No news on the house. We're slowly boxing things up, sorting through other things to determine if we're going to box them up, and waiting for the Lord to provide a buyer.

Special thanks to New Covenant Fellowship for the blessing of being able to stay in their missionary cottage during this latest trip. We've stayed there twice now and have greatly enjoyed each visit. The cottage is a wonderful oasis of peace, privacy, and rest.

New Covenant's missionary cottage

Thanks for your continued interest and involvement in our growing ministry with Missionary Air Group! We greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we prepare to send Karen to Honduras, begin our MAG responsibilities while still living in Coshocton, and wait on a buyer for our house.

MAG Meetings in Ohio and North Carolina

Full-winter greetings from Coshocton, Ohio, where it was six degrees yesterday morning when we woke up. There's still plenty of snow on the ground and it's the time of year when 32 degrees is so WARM you don't even need to wear a jacket.

On the MMS front, I finished cleaning out my office today and had several meetings with staff related to candidate development, candidate evaluations, and some of the other administrative processes I've handled for the past 15 years. While we remain in Coshocton, I'll continue to work closely with MMS staff to facilitate the distribution of my former responsibilities between various offices and personnel.

On the Missionary Air Group front, it was a blessing to have Paul Jones back at MMS between sessions of language school down in Costa Rica. Paul is a graduate of MMS who joined Missionary Air Group last year. After completing language school this spring, Paul will move to Guatemala and develop MAG's flight operations in support of Hospital Shalom. Paul is a pilot/mechanic and will be MAG's Guatemalan Program Director.

With Scott Grote, our other MMS staff member going on-loan to MAG, we had something of a MAG Director's meeting today right in the MMS hangar. Scott is MAG's Director of Aviation Maintenance. Here's a shot of the three of us in front of the airplane MMS is preparing for Paul to use in Guatemala.

Keith Dodson, MAG Director of Operations; Scott Grote, MAG Director of Aviation Maintenance; and Paul Jones, MAG Guatemala Program Director

Scott and his family hope to move to Burlington after their girls finish school this summer. If you'd like to see photos and read short bios of all the full-time MAG staff members, just click here.

And speaking of MAG meetings, Karen and I are heading back down to Burlington, NC this Sunday in preparation for meetings with Sean Donnelly, MAG President; and Carlos Paz, MAG's Director of Pastoral Ministries. The plan is for the four of us to spend all day Monday and Tuesday brainstorming, strategizing, and goal setting.

Karen and I hope to spend Wednesday morning with Carlos and then look at a few more houses in the Burlington area Wednesday afternoon. Lord willing, we'll drive back to Coshocton Thursday.

Thanks for your excitement, encouragement, and your prayers as we officially begin our service with MAG, continue trying to sell our house, and wait on the Lord to arrange all the related details!