The Closing of 2010

Well like it or not 2010 is about to end and a new year awaits us. As I ponder over this past year I look back on a year of many changes and adjustments as well as some neat mile stones as well. As many of you already know we as a family have ventured into quite a life changing career by joining Mission Aviation Fellowship. Which has been one of our highlights this year. I thought I would also mention a few of the other hi-lights for the year. Let's try and start from the begining of last year.

The year for me started with my first tail wheel student that came ready to learn and five weeks after he started he left with a private pilots licence. Which is quite a feat not mention that he did it all in a tail wheel aircraft as well. For those that may wonder why I mentioned the tail wheel part, it is more challenging to learn to land and take off with an aircraft with a tail wheel opposed to a nose wheel. In February I passed my instrument rating written exam (INRAT) and in March I flew my 1000th hour. End of April and begining of May Julie and I left our kids with my mom and sister for two weeks as we left for Guelph ON. Where we spent two weeks at MAF's spring candidacy course. In July and August I had the honor of finishing at Harv's Air with having the privilege of training the two top Cadets this year! End of August we started full time with MAF working through our ministry partnership phase. During our MP time we have traveled to the north end of Vancouver Island and back again seeking out friends and family that would be willing to partner with us in this ministry with MAF. In November our family finally returned to Steinbach 13,000kms later for some much needed time at home.

Franklin ended his last day of public school in June with many hugs and some really good friendships. For most of the summer the children spent there days riding bikes, trying out the skate board park, hanging out with friends, and spending hours swimming. Then at the end of August life changed for them as we hit the road for MAF. They spent days in the van, sleeping in different houses, and hunting through rubbermaid tubs for their clothes. One of their highlights of the road is being allowed to all sleep next to one another. Camping life was a great adventure for them! In September and October the kids loved living near their grandparents and all the adventure of farm life. Franklin learned how to ride a dirt bike, Isaac became a dedicated fisherman, and Jaclynn took great care of all the farm cats. November brought great joy for the children as we finally returned to MB and their own house and beds. Since the boys were so use to sleeping together they moved into the same bedroom and started sharing bunk beds. At the beginning of December we were able to attend our home Church here in Steinbach and attend Sunday School were they actually knew kids. These last few weeks Franklin, Isaac, and Jaclynn have been hitting the sledding hills and greatly enjoying pushing their mother down the hill when she wasn't ready yet. I'm sure they didn't learn that from me! Christmas was a special day as they enjoyed a few new toys and learning how to play their new games. Isaac's proudest moment was when he finally beat me in the game Mouse Trap after I had beat him the first few times.

"This year has been a blur" in the words of my wife. Homeschooling, living out of rubbemaid tubs, MAF stuff, house work and mountains of other things that blend into the blur.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year. May this year be filled with many blessings.

Greg, Julie

Franklin, Isaac, & Jaclynn

Happy Holiday's

As our family is getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus and bring in the New Year here in Steinbach we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We hope that you all enjoy and cherish this amazing time of the year. I will gladly admit that Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year! I love driving through town at night and seeing all the houses decorated with beautiful lights! Or going to our mail box and opening it to find that it is full of Christmas cards from friends and loved ones. I have always saw this as a wonderful time of the year as it should be for we are celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! And this was not just your ordinary birth, but a miracle sent from God. As I'm sure the heavens were rejoicing over this exciting birth I think that we need to remember to really enjoy and celebrate the birth of Christ! One thing that Greg and I do with our children is hold a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas morning. We even bake a cake, light candles, sing to Jesus and allow the kids to really enjoy partying for Jesus. So through out all the hustle and bustle of this time of year take time to pause for just a moment and really look around you. And ask yourself if you really are celebrating Jesus Birth this year or is it just another holiday to you? Christmas is a time for celebration, rejoicing and remembering to celebrate for Jesus! I would love to here from any of you who have begun or continue neat family traditions that help your family celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!

Julie

Planes and Runways

Adding to the theme of Indonesia I thought it appropriately to post a few pictures of the aircraft we use there and some of the landing strips we fly in and out of. As mentioned previously on this post I was hoping to get a hold of some pictures of the new Kodiak. Thanks from some help in the office I was able to get a couple.

New Kodiak 100

New Aircraft specifically designed for such runways

Cessna 206

The reason we are needed is the DENSE rain forest covering RUGGED mountains. Image the Rocky Mountains covered with thick vegetation and no roads.

C206

Cessna Caravan (C208)

A C206 with a great view

Pray For us this is what some of our runways look like

Few C206s under the umbrella of a beautiful rainbow

C208

C206

Cessna 185 on Floats

C206 Sitting on a beautiful runway "I can't wait to try it out"

C206 on Floats

What a Treat

Dear Friends of ours had us over for some Indonesian Food. It has been their tradition to make traditional food from different countries each year for Christmas. And this year they choose to include us and treat us to a wonderful evening of unique but great tasting food. I enjoyed pretty much all of it, Julie enjoyed most of it, and the kids well they enjoyed some of it. My Favorite was the Mango Chicken Stir fry (Ajam Djahe Mangga)

Someday I may know how to say all these words and know what to order

The center dish (white/yellow with no lid) is the Ajam Djahe Mangga which again was my favorite

Huge spread of great food wish I could have eaten more

Crackers of different Sorts: Peanut, Cassava, and Prawn flavoured

Fruit Salad with Mango's, Mangosteen, Rambutan and Pineapple I think?

Durian Fruit the scary looking thing in his hand

Durian was different. I think it would have tasted better if we were hungry. It had a strange texture and a very unique favor.

Rambutan is the fruit on the cutting board. The red part is the outer shell and the white part the inside which tasted pretty good.

Prawns and hard boiled eggs and I'm not sure what else but whatever it was it tasted good.

Home School Gym Night Tonight

Some pictures of the kids enjoying the home school gym night.

Joined the Digital Camera Age

Well we finally joined the digital camera age so now we just need some good reasons to take some pictures. We are excited to be able to up load pictures more often as we don't have to fill a roll and send it for developing. So hopefully we can get pictures on here sooner and put them up the same time we share our stories.

Our very first digital picture which turned out not to bad for a rookie.

More testing shoots as we figure out our new camera

This calls for a cup of something warm.

Nice enough today to finally get the kids outside to play hurray

Franklin getting help with his math from his very cute teacher.

Once we returned home the boys requested that we turn their beds into a bunk bed and share a room. So far so good.

Milkshakes

Well it's -18 C outside with about a foot of snow and Isaac ask's if I can make milkshakes? That actually sounds good right now even with the freezing temps outside. Unfortunately we are short the main ingredient will have to wait till we go shopping next time.

Talking Hands & Tomato Seeds

As I was preparing to share this Sunday morning a thought occurred to me. I will be honest I haven't found this stage of our ministry very easy, in fact at times it has been downright hard. But I keep in mind the end goal and why we are doing this ever before me to keep me pushing forward. Anyway, back to my thought, this Sunday I'm sharing on a couple of parables well not sure if I can call one a parable or not but it resembles a parable fairly closely as far as I can tell. They are the parable of the Talents found in Matt 25 and spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. While looking over those two passages I found this passage in 1 Corinthians 12:14-26

"14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. 23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." (1Co 12:14-26 NKJV)

When I stumbled on to the above passage a crazy thought occurred to me, and a possible cause of some of my struggles, I think. God has gifted me with certain gifts particularly in the area of service that involves using my hands and the technical skills I have acquired. Which, I think I could see me as a hand or a part of the hand when thinking of how I fit into the body of Christ. The thing that I'm struggling with is that I find myself viewing myself as being a hand naturally and now I'm trying to do the work of the mouth. A "talking hand" not natural, however God can somehow still use a "talking hand". His power is shown in our weakness, as well as God's sense of humour! As He uses a pilot who doesn't like to talk much and loves hours of solitude, to speak and share His work done through MAF to large groups and individuals. I mean how backwards is that!! So for the time being this "hand" has become a "talking hand" which is not easy but so far it's been doable through God's in powering, and who knows, (other than of course God) maybe my finger tips may yet grow a set of lips. J

I'm a bit scatter brained in my thoughts these days, maybe the lack of sleep has something to do with that, anyway. Someone a while back impressed upon me what seemed to me to be a very profound thought. And so here it is, not directly connected to the above thought but connected in the sense as it brings me encouragement as well through tougher times. There will be times of seeding in our lives. And these times of seeding will not be pleasant. However I have found comfort in knowing that to be used of God we must die just as a tomato seed has to die before new life can happen. Not that I have found it easy but I'm trying not to stop the seed time in my life as it were and let God work and to do so I must die to myself before Christ can bring new life in me and Truly use me for His Glory. For those that don't know me very well please do not miss read this above line and think that I'm a suicidal this is not what I mean when I say I must die to myself. What I'm getting at is my desires, my thoughts, those kinds of things I must let go of so that I can be filled with Christ's desires and thoughts, as we find in John 3:30 NCV "He must become greater, and I must become less important". Thought I better add that last part so no one starts rumours that I'm unstable and ready to end it all. As this couldn't be further than the truth, I love who I am in Christ as He has made me full, not perfect yet but a work in progress. These, the ramblings of my mind, take it for what it's worth. Maybe someone that is struggling through life can find some encouragement that you are not alone and there is a God in heaven that loves us some much He was willing to die for us. And He offers freely to us the hope that passes all understanding.

Blessings from the "Talking Hands" J

Picture from our stay in SK

Family portrait on the banks of the North Saskatchewan

The snow a little deeper then Isaac was expecting. Boots full of snow and wet wet feet :(

Explaining to the kids about proper driving skills to avoid this from happening to their cars :) Not really but they did have a lot of questions on why and how these cars ended up buried in the dirt

Our Families First Geocache find

Jaclynn helping out in the kitchen with supper.

Pictures Taken By my Uncle & Aunt

Week 2

Well Week 1 back home has come and gone. Not an easy one either, Julie and I, mostly me found it just as hard adjusting back to being at home as the adjustment we made living on the road. Anyway I'm finally glad that I am home and looking forward to this week and the coming weeks here in Manitoba. We will be contacting as many of our MB friends as we can to fill our weeks here with visiting and sharing.

No Greater Love

Media Advisory

From Mission Aviation Fellowship of Canada

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 9, 2010

MAF Pilot Drowns in Indonesia Swimming Accident

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – Benjamin Uskert, 30, a pilot serving with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), died Sunday, November 7, in a swimming accident at a beach near Banda Aceh on the Island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Uskert drowned while he and another man were attempting to rescue two local teenagers who had ventured into deep water and were swept away from the shore. Uskert was pronounced dead at the scene and one of the teenagers was presumed dead after he could not be reached.

"We are deeply saddened by this tragedy," said Mark Outerbridge, president and chief executive officer of Mission Aviation Fellowship of Canada. "MAF friends throughout the world are mourning the loss of these lives. We're praying for Ben's wife, Katie, and their three-year-old son, Jeremiah, as well as the family of the young Indonesian man."

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, November 13, in Banda Aceh.

The Uskerts are from Indiana and joined MAF in 2008. They attended language school in Indonesia for nine months before beginning service with MAF's Sumatra program in December, 2009. Last Sunday, Ben and his family had been at the beach with a group from a local orphanage.

MAF has provided flights for relief and development agencies in Sumatra since 2004, when the organization played a key role in the recovery efforts following the deadly tsunami that devastated much of the province of Aceh, Indonesia.

Founded in 1945, MAF (www.mafc.org) is a Christian organization that provides transportation for disaster relief work and conducts emergency medical evacuations in more than 35 countries. MAF also provides telecommunications services such as satellite internet access, high-frequency radios, electronic mail and other wireless systems.

Today, about 50 Canadian pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers are among the 450 personnel who serve worldwide through MAF.

For more information, contact Claudia Van Riesen in Guelph, Ontario, at cvanriesen@mafc.org or 519.821.3914.

Video

Video from Kalimantan Indonesia Click here for the Video

More Pictures From Our Trip

The Morning after our Stay at Camp Little Red as a bit of a Family get away

Kids each got to take a turn at driving Grandpa's tractor while Cultivating Great Grandma's Garden

Ready for Take Off

Beautiful Full Moon Casting It's Light Over The Trees

Our Home For The First 6 Weeks While In AB

Julie learning to fish in the Trees :)

Julies First Canadian Fish (She did finally figure out that it's better fishing in the water rather then the trees)

Kids Working on a Bird House Apartment Complex (3 Stories High)

Beautiful Fall Colours over the Elkton Valley, AB