Keith & Karen's Fall 2024 Newsletter

Salsa Season 2024 Opens with 24 Pints

It's salsa season again here in Graham, North Carolina. It's been an extreme growing season in that it's either been very, very hot or very, very wet. Sometimes both at the same time. But then this IS the South. That being said, June was one of the driest Junes in recent memory and July turned into the wettest month in a while. August? Well, we'll just have to see.

As mentioned in our recent newsletter, 2024 will be a veritable pepper-palooza for sure. Tomatoes...well our first batch was 24 pints and it looks like we might get a second batch in that range as well. Should know by this weekend. Typically we'd get a third batch but with the weather breaking from the normal cycles...we might not get a third batch of salsa. We'll see. We will be pickling peppers for sure.

Part of our first batch

Prepping ingredients

Sadie was our Salsa Assistant

Salsa in the pot, hot, hot hot!

Three batches boiling on the stove. The big blue container is heating up for the canning process.

Karen delicately delivers salsa into the pint jars.

23 Pints! (we pulled one pint for taste testing.)

Summer Newsletter and Bonus Photo

Backyard Bumble Bee on Mexican Sunflower

Does Anyone Remember Photographic Film?

Now that we are digitized, pixelated, megabit, living life on somebody's cloud, and technology's promise has successfully lead us into UTOPIA; things that can't be rammed down a copper highway, pushed through cable, or etherized over a network, still come and go in cycles. Each generation re-discovers what was lost from generations before. And suddenly, it's all new again. Vinyl records are back. Local life is coming back. Backyard gardens are so retro they're cutting edge. Green spaces and places rebound from concrete depths and efficiency's deception. And the noisier life becomes, the more silence increases in value. Silence is free, yet today finding that freedom is expensive.

But I digress. Speaking of cycles, rebounds, and rediscovery...maybe because now I am older and slower (more oriented toward craft instead of mass consumption), for the first time in 50 years I dusted off and picked up the first camera I used in high school: a Yashica Mat-124 G, Twin Lens Reflex.

Old camera, old photographer.

This camera does not make phone calls. This camera does not tell you where you are or provide directions to where you'd rather be. This camera doesn't have SD card slots or power cords or data ports. It does have a small battery, but it will never reach a cloud. No menus, LED displays, auto focus features or auto exposure capability. One has to physically open the metal, collapsible lid and look down through the layer of ground glass to see what's out front. There isn't any software in this hardware. This camera can't order food, has no banking abilities, ticket purchasing power, or global reach. It's reach is limited by the legs and arms of the photographer carrying it around. 

If you move the camera left, the image moves right. If you move the camera right, the image moves left. Up is down and down is up and it's all backwards. In those days "point and shoot" referred to rifles.

Knurled focus knob with depth of field scale. Front of the camera to the left.

No bells or whistles. Just knurled knobs, focal range scale, shutter speed and aperture dials, a film advance handle, film speed window, frame counter, and a delicate lever or two. The top lens is the viewfinder and the bottom lens feeds light into the camera box exposing the film. There's even a small magnifying glass on top that pops up to help fine tune your focus in low light. 

The nifty, pop-up magnifying glass helps focus in low-light conditions. Camera facing forward.

Mechanical f-stop and shutter speed window with a match-needle light meter.

Oh for the long gone days of having my own darkroom. Shooting, developing, enlarging, printing all in the comfort of a darkened, chemical-laden bedroom closet of fluids, tongs, trays, tanks, timers, paper, mysterious aromas, frames and dodging tools. No clothes in that closet.

But again, I digress. Digression is one of the privilege's of age and, if you hadn't noticed, I'm getting age-ier.

Now THAT'S a film advance handle for a real photographer.

And 2.5 inch wide film providing 12 square, black and white images per roll.

Photographic film. I remember it. My little sister and fellow photographic dinosaur reminded me of film. When each shot counts, each shot becomes rich, pre-meditated, envisioned, purposeful. Twelve shots per roll. One thinks before they shoot, formats the frame in the camera, and when all seems right "click"--magic happens when the box camera's shutter lets in JUST THE AMOUNT of light you told it to for the split second of time you selected.

Every roll of film becomes its own Christmas Morning. Days go by, serious time passes, before you see the results of orchestrating point of view, light, film speed, focus, aperture size, depth of field, and shutter speed. Twelve shots. Each. One. Counts. Only the best get printed. One of  twelve? Two? 

In a world out of control, that has forgotten much and continues to forget even more, sometimes it's wonderful slow down a bit, and remember. Convenience, speed, and an endless supply of pixels will eventually kill us.

Don't get me wrong pixels have their place. It's just in a different world.

Now I DO sound OLD.

Four Images Of A Burned Out, Abandoned Textile Mill In Alamance County

Thanks for listening. And looking. And, maybe remembering.

Film. It forces me to see the future.

Photo Update from MMS

Thanks for your prayers. I had a great drive up to MMS Aviation. The car ran great, I was blessed by beautiful weather, traffic was very light with only one slowdown for construction, and it turned out to be another perfectly "pointless" drive (meaning I didn't receive any speeding tickets!). 

It's fun to be back in the hangar with everyone for a week. Here's a photo of "everyone".

Here's "The Crew" at MMS Aviation.

Here are some snapshots of some of the crew working on a project, a project yet to be started, and two projects near completion.

Current Project--Missions Wings Cessna 206; Rebuild and Repair

Sharee reassembles the components of a flap attach point.

Ben "drives" while Chuck "bucks" rivets securing new aluminum skin to the 206 airframe.

Jack pre-fits a flap rib he's fabricating that will save the operator $150 over purchasing it new.

Future Project

 A United Indian Mission Cessna 206 needing fuselage repairs.

Two Projects Near Completion

Dale and Josh prepare to crate a completed engine overhaul for Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Mercy Air's helicopter is ready to ship back to Africa after a complete restoration.

Lord willing I'll head south Saturday morning to start the new week back at my office in Graham, North Carolina.

Thank you for being so invested in preparing people and airplanes for worldwide missionary service!

Birds Flying In, Keith Driving Out

Here's a quick post prior to my driving up to MMS Aviation next week. I'll head up to Coshocton for meetings, reconnection with staff and apprentices, take photographs of the action and, on the way home, stop and buy a trunk-load of Pearl Valley Cheese. 

Backyard Birds

Here are some shots from Saturday:

Northern Cardinal, Male

Downy Woodpecker, Male

Eastern Blue Bird, Female

American Goldfinch, Male

Eastern Blue Bird, Male

Northward Journey: Graham, NC to Coshocton, OH

MAP

Commute

Here's a map of my "commute" to Coshocton, OH. It's really not a bad drive. Good highway between here and there and, Lord willing, good weather. This is a pretty time to make the trip though spring won't be quite as far along in Coshocton County as it is down here in Alamance County.

Pearl Valley Cheese

And there's always the stop in Fresno, OH for Pearl Valley Cheese on the way home!

Third generation, family owned manufacturer of natural, award winning cheese!

Ya can't go wrong with Pearl Valley.

Keith & Karen's Spring Newsletter

 

Meet Meghan and See Our Anemones

Keith & Karen Mobilize Missionaries for Full-Time Service 

With MMS, Karen and I handle the front side of the ministry. That means we're responsible for Mobilizing (discipling/shepherding/preparing) candidates to flow into the MMS Apprenticeship Pipeline. This includes several steps: 1) initial contact, 2) candidate development, 3) handling all preapplication communication and processes, 4) overseeing completion of the application/reference forms, and 5) coordinating/participating in their week of In-Hangar Evaluation. 

Keith & Karen Train and Coach New Candidates Through Partnership Development   

Should the candidates be "Approved for Service" at the end of the evaluation week, Karen and I immediately shift into our Partnership Development roles to train and coach the new candidate to raise the funds necessary to fulfill their vision for full-time service as part of missionary aviation.

Meet Meghan

Meghan in the air over North Carolina 

We've mobilized Meghan since her first contact with MMS in August, 2022. Meghan is called to be a missionary pilot/mechanic and has a heart for remote peoples in Alaska and Eastern Russia. It's taken a year and a half to reach the point where we can initiate paperwork with Meghan towards apprenticeship with us but the paperwork IS initiated! 👍

Meghan's vision is to complete 30-months of missionary maintenance service with MMS in Coshocton, OH, and transition to Burlington, NC to gain her flight qualifications with Missionary Air Group. There are a few steps to take before that vision can become reality and that's where Karen and I continue to walk beside her.

After years of email, we were blessed to finally meet Meghan in person when we drove down to JAARS Center in Waxhaw, NC. We met Meghan for lunch and enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship, food, along with Paige and Kayla who oversee JAARS Next Generation Fellows Program. It's a wonderful, pre-field prep program for young men and women called to service. Meghan will finish Fellows in early June and Lord willing, we'll have her up at MMS for eval the middle of June. 

Keith, Meghan, Karen in front of various Bible Translations at JAARS Center.

The older we get, the younger our candidates become. Go figure. Thanks for being part of developing this young lady into a fully-qualified, field-read, Pilot-Mechanic. We'll keep you posted as the process progresses.

See Our Anemones (NOT Sea Anemones)

Our first flowers that bloom in late winter/early spring are Anemones. You've seen our birds in our backyard but these are flowers in our front yard near our front porch. They're one of Karen's favorite flowers. You can stop by to see our anemones but you can't stop by to sea anemones...if you get my drift.

Thank you for for loving and encouraging us as we love and encourage other to service. It's such a blesssing to be preparing missionaries to be prepared for service. 

He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”

Matthew 9:37-38 NLT

Backyard Birds: February 2024 AND A PICTURE OF KAREN!

Some unusually nice weather enabled me to sneak outside Saturday to take some snapshots of birds who stopped by our backyard for a snack. As I looked over the past year of blog posts...I realized I haven't blogged bird photos since LAST February! 

It was nice to get reacquainted with my camera and our local, and transient, feather friends. Enjoy.

Northern Cardinal: Female

Northern Flicker: Male

Butterbutt: Female

Chickadee

Eastern Bluebird: Female

Northern Cardinal: Male

House Finch: Male

Titmouse

Butterbutt: Male

Pine Warbler

Eastern Bluebird: Male

As a quick update: Karen and I are doing well, there are so many exciting things going on at MMS Aviation, we're set to play ukulele's for church again next month, we're coaching three families raising support to serve, and none of this would be happening WITHOUT YOU!

Karen at her potting bench during a moment of early "spring." Karen likes her potting bench.