FALL 2006

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. Proverbs 16:9

July and August were busy months sorting through everything we own trying to decide what to keep and what to sell. It is amazing how much stuff can accumulate after 26 years in one house. We dreaded having a garage sale because of the time it would take away from the ministry. Of course, God provided a solution. Our realtor’s daughter, who went to elementary school with our daughter, works for her father now and is a garage sale expert. She and her husband organized the whole thing, advertised, and conducted the sale for us. She was able to sell literally everything we had. There was nothing left over but the dust in some corners. I am surprised she didn’t sell that. We stored a few things we really want to keep, but sold all the furniture, household items and tools. Some of that stuff had very special memories attached from raising our two children and having our grandchildren visit the house. The proceeds came at a needy time and met some needs of the ministry.

We continue to have our house up for sale. Please pray with us that God will provide a buyer soon so that we can be free of that responsibility that takes time from our ministry. We are confident that God’s timing is always perfect and His faithfulness never fails.

No sooner had we finished moving a lot of our stuff around than we found out that our daughter had to move – with two weeks notice. She was scheduled to be gone during that time for schooling, so we went to Virginia to help her find a place and move.

After finishing with our daughter, I received a call that my Dad, who is 87, fell and broke his hip which the doctors then replaced with an artificial hip. We are with my Mom and Dad for a little while to help as we can during his recovery and therapy.

I continue to work on the project aimed at getting a missionary to some outer islands in the West Indies to plant churches and leave a national pastor in place. I have met with the pilot that should be able to provide the air transportation and he is excited about the project.

The air ambulance coverage project is going well and more pastors and missionaries are coming on board as they realize the gap in coverage not only for missionaries, but for pastors and evangelists. Information on the project is now at the AMI web site as well as an application form to take advantage of the group rates offered under AMI. I must reemphasize that AMI receives nothing from this project. Because we do not receive anything, the discount for missionaries and pastors is greater. In the near future, the rates should drop as more people enroll in the program.

We attended a couple of missionary aviation conferences and met more missionary pilots and organizations willing to help us help our missionaries. We also saw some needs developing in the area of missionary aviation. We visited a missionary aviation school that is being closed down after more than 32 years of service, helping to put dozens of missionary pilots on the field. It is not yet clear what God has in mind to fill this developing gap in missionary preparation.

My schedule for 2007 is starting to come together as we look forward to another year serving Him and His servants.