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