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.

Karen's Dresses Have Arrived in South Africa and Been Distributed!

The duffle bag of the 83 dresses that Karen made was delivered to Johannesburg Airport, (thank you Jensen and Mtende!) then turned over to a courier where the duffle languished for a couple weeks before arriving at Holger and Maria's. To watch the first blog post telling the outbound story, CLICK THIS LINK.  Here's a video of the event with words from Maria below:

Dresses Across Oceans: A Love that Travelled Across the Globe

We would like to give a huge THANK YOU to Karen and Keith Dodson from North Carolina, USA for handmaking us 83 beautiful, bright and brilliant dresses for our Kranshoek girls.

We can feel the love from 13127 km away. These dresses have journeyed across the continents to bring so much joy to our girls. Shipped from the USA to South Africa, then catching a ride with a wonderful couple from our Capital to Plettenberg Bay, these dresses have had their own story to tell.

To celebrate this wonderful surprise with our kids, we had an impromptu fashion show, photoshoot and celebration at our last Saturday Soup Kitchen.

We are so grateful to families like the Dodsons who share their love with communities like ours. You guys help the world go round!

It takes a whole village to raise a child. And a whole community of people who care deeply. And right now, it’s the children of the world who need the most love, a reminder that we see them and we are honored they will be the next generation.

Maria

Thank YOU for being part of this outreach through your gifts and prayers!