Another Day in the HR Department

On Thursdays, Karen comes in to help me with HR tasks, handle the phones, and manage the MMS mailing list. It's a real blessing to be able to serve together at MMS.

On the HR side, Karen writes thank you notes to general donors, tracks giving to general operations, processes new partnership pledges for approved candidates raising support to begin service, writes letters, assembles and mails information packets for prospective candidates, makes photocopies and generally makes my life easier at MMS as well as at home!

Karen at her work station processing a stack of about 100 address changes on envelopes returned from the latest MMS GroundCrew mailing.

Karen assembles five program information packets for people who are interested in learning more about our ministry.

The Toner Guy

And yes, the Director of Human Resources is also the "Toner Guy" when it comes to our high-tech copier. MMS' old copier only required three steps to replace the toner cartridge. This new copier/scanner/fax hub requires sixteen steps (though if I study the instructions hard enough, I can learn French, Spanish, German, and Chinese and Japanese in the process). Progress doesn't always make things simpler...

Restoration Takes Time

Rivet by rivet, skin by skin, bolt by bolt, piece by piece...the full restoration of an aircraft takes time. Regardless of whether the cause of the restoration is hard use in a difficult environment, neglect, accident, or maybe a combination of all three, the result is the same--you know there's ultimately going to be a large investment of time, energy, and money. Less money if we do the restoration because of our unique ministry, but there's still a substantial cost.

Whether it's the Honduran 206 or on the Moody 182, it takes a great deal of dedication to work at this depth of maintenance for such a long duration.

Josh drives and Scott bucks the last few rivets to finish the floor panel installation in the Honduran 206.

Terry (sitting), one of our volunteers, assists Ian in detailing the 182 wings before they're moved to the paint booth.

David and Gertjan detail the 182's vertical stabilizer while in the paint booth.

An analogy could be made to restoring people as well. Regardless of the cause of the damage, there's going to be a large investment in time, energy, and resources along with a high level of dedication in order for physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration to occur.

MMS is in the ministry of preparing the people who maintain and restore the airplanes that make the Gospel of Jesus Christ accessible and spiritual restoration possible for those in remote locations around the world. Thank you for being part of this strategic ministry through your prayers and your gifts.

One of Our Little Buddies

Here's a shot of Karen and I with one of our little buddies, Jackson. He's the one year old son of Ben & Kerry who serve as the youth leaders at Fresno Bible Church. We were blessed to hang-out with Jackson for a bit over the Thanksgiving weekend. He's getting to be quite the character. Kerry, thanks for taking the snapshot!

Gertjan Gets Into His Work

We're back to a full and busy hangar again now that Thanksgiving is over. The guys are really focused on the Moody 182 project. Flaps are being fabricated, floor panels are going in, landing gear is being prepped and installed, the nose bowl repair is almost complete, control panel work has begun, and testing the wings for fuel leaks should happen this week.

Here are two pictures of Gertjan getting into his work fabricating a flap for the 182.


At My Desk
Me? I had my head buried in my computer most of today working on emails, recruiting, candidate supervision, tracking charts, monthly reports, editing newsletters and, when away from my desk, taking photos down on the hangar floor. Bob and I did meet for about an hour as well.

With the snow blowing sideways by the window for most of the day, having my head buried in my computer wasn't necessarily all bad. I did change my desktop photo to a warm, sunny, surf scene.

Thanks
Thanks for your continued visits to the blog, your prayers, and your gifts in support of our work with MMS. Please feel free to share our blog with your friends. It's always fun to learn of new visitors!