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.