Our Family South of the Border

One of the things we enjoyed most about being in Mexico was just spending time with family.  As many of you know Vern's siblings are spread over several countries so any time we get together is very special.  We also had the joy of meeting our newest great niece within an hour of being born.  We normally don't see our great nieces and nephews until they are several years old.  So how neat it was to hold baby Reese as a newborn.  We treasured each day and all the special moments we had together as we don't know when our paths will cross again.

Equipping in Mexico

Those of you who are on Facebook know that we had the joy of being in Mexico last week.  It is one more thing I can mark off my bucket list.  :)  We were in Arizona for some meetings and Vern's brother Howard and his wife Susan live five and a half hours from Tucson.  Howard graciously made the trip to come and pick us up and drive us down to their place in San Carlos, Mexico.  They have started up a Bible school there for Mexicans.  Their daughter Katie also works with them as well as a few others.  It was such a thrill to see their work and what they have been invovled in.  Right now they are just running classes for one semester.  They are in the middle of a building program and will be adding a second semester in the future.  It is always neat to see what God is doing in another country and to see how he is using his servants to equip others for life and ministry.

Home Again!

With three of our children living in the states it is always a joy when one of them comes home.  This week we have the joy of having Titus home with us for the Thanksgiving break.  Although, with the snow we just got it almost feels like Christmas break.  We have many things we will be busy with and Titus has several projects and paper to do but we are looking forward to as much connection time as possible.  I know the week will go by way too quickly.  

Happy 1st Birthday Aubrey!

A year ago today the Lord blessed us with our 4th grandchild Aubrey Esther.  She was been such a gift to our family.  I don't know if I have ever seen a happier little girl.  What a joy it is to be her grandparents!   Happy Birthday Aubrey!  We know God is going to use your life in an amazing way.  You just keep smiling your way through life!

Teamwork

Our time here has come to an end way too quickly.  We have met so many incredible people.  It really has been so neat to see just what is happening here through the aviation branch of our mission. A highlight yesterday was connecting with a precious family who had come through the training program in Canada.  And then today we had lunch with a dear MK whose parents were our coworkers.  Later her and her husband were part of the aviation team on our field and her husband was one of our pilots.  So it has been cool to reconnect with these dear people.  I don't know if it will ever work out for us to pass through here again so we have totally enjoyed every moment here.  Although we all work in different branches of our mission we are unified in all working together to see unreached people groups reached with the gospel.

Behind the Scenes

We are still here at the NTM Aviation center.   And although we are here for some meetings it has been such a JOY rubbing shoulders and getting to know some pretty amazing people.  As I already shared in my last post, our family relied heavily on our mission planes and pilots to be able to minister in our remote location.  We had so many tremendous pilots throughout the years.  However, all that they did for us could not have been possible without the support team at the NTM Aviation center.  We enjoyed sharing coffee break with just a few of these "Behind the Scenes" people who are such servants doing everything possible over here to see remote people groups reached with the gospel.  How I thank the Lord for the team here!  

NTM Aviation

We just arrived at the New Tribes Mission Aviation Centre   What a joy and privilege it is to be here.  NTM Aviation has been such a blessing to our family and was such a big part of our lives when we were in South America.   All those years of living in a remote location meant flying in small six seater planes.   NTM Aviation was our life line to the outside world.  All of our food, other supplies, mail (before there was anything called email), family, friends, and volunteers came in via a small plane.  If there was a medical emergency we used a two way radio to call in a medical emergency.  If it happened to be a "Plane Day" (which sometimes didn't happen but once a month) it was always fun to make it out to the airstrip to connect with our pilots and to see what "goodies" might have made its way onto the plane.  As our family grew it was getting harder and harder to squish the seven of us on a six seater plane since we were eight with the pilot.  Many family memories were made on those small planes, on our airstrip, and with our pilots.  When we arrived at the Tuscon airport we had the GREAT JOY of flying on the new Kodiak plane.  This is a much bigger plane which seats 10, but it still brought back such precious memories of all our flights in and out of the tribe.  How we praise the Lord for the ministry that NTM Aviation has in helping to reach remote people groups with the gospel!