Pictures of our Stay In Michigan

Welcome to the current Dole residence.

It's actually almost Clean.

Snowday Sweet !!!

Our kids enjoyed the snow.

Snow is fun !!!

Great snow for building forts.

"Mom you see this is how you do it"

I wasn't a very good visitor as I felt very little sympathy for those that were complaining and letting the weather get them down. The snow for us Canadians was just a typical weekly storm and it made if feel more like Home.

Blessings Greg

“Trip to the Office”

Well a “trip to the office” as some would say and probably remember was a bad thing. Well for us it is a rare privilege as we may not see the office again until the end of our first term. I have cherished our brief visits in the past and very thankful that we had the opportunity to spend the day there this week. Working away from the office and never seeing anyone from there has been a different dynamic that I haven’t experienced before. I have always had the privilege of working alongside my coworkers daily and seeing the office staff at a minimal a couple times a month it seemed, and sometimes even daily in my previous work. I have missed that dynamic of face to face contact which is why I look forward to our “trips to the office”.

During our stay we were also privileged to be hosted by a wonderful couple that really made us feel welcome and provided a very warm welcoming basement suit for us to rest in. It has been awhile since I have been able to have a quite time that was actually quite.

We also receive a timeline for our training here before we head overseas. The time line is dependent on our support levels so it is subject to change. We will be starting our preparation journey August 24 2011 at School of Mission Aviation Technology in Ionia Michigan. This will last for 12 months ending August 10 2012. We then well head to Nampa September 2012 till January 2013 where we will go through a series of different types of technical and non technical training provided at MAF US headquarters. And once that is complete we will be climbing on a plane for Indonesia.

We had an interesting trip home as well. The border guard was asking the usual questions and I’m not sure what happened but when he asked us if we had any drugs Julie just happened to nod her head yes? And then the confusion started. And yes they proceeded to send us to the side where they search your vehicle. During the vehicle search they had us inside questioning us further which also lead to us answering some questions wrong as we miss understood what he was asking us. We got through that okay and then they asked different questions of what was in the van we got most of that right. As the guard that had searched the vehicle returned to the desk I could tell he had a question and before he asked I was pretty sure I knew what it was going to be. While at the office I picked up a MAF banner that we will be using at an upcoming missions conference we will be attending here in Indiana. Anyway long story short, the banner was inside a homemade case that happened to be a 3” PVC pipe about 2.5’ long with caps on both ends. Yep that’s right we then had to explain the pipe. I offered to open it for them I haven’t check yet to see if they were brave enough to open it. They did finally let us leave and they even let us keep the mystery pipe, and peanuts Julie bought the day before and even the muffins that our wonderful hosts gave us to eat on the road. All in all it was a new experience that started out confusing and a little scary and ended well.

Blessings

Greg

Life Here in Michigan

Life Here In Michigan

Returning home and living with my parents these past weeks has been wonderful. I can honestly say that there never is a dull moment when you share a house with nine other people and three dogs. You can just imagine what Sunday mornings are like trying to get your time for the shower! The children have been soaking up time with their grandparents and getting to know my sister and her new husband Ty. Even though Greg and I don’t enjoy having inside pets the kids are spoiling the three inside dogs here and love cuddling up with them. Franklin has loved going to the barn with his aunt and uncle to feed the horses and take a few riding lessons as well. One night he came up all exciting because his aunt let him clean out a stall and he thought it was the coolest thing ever (you can tell he didn’t grow up on a farm)! I have had some wonderful times getting reacquainted with dear friends and family during our stay. Our family was able to go and see my high school track coach and his wife who was my health teacher in high school as well. It was a great evening of catching up on all the new things going on at school, remembering the past, and hearing how they are doing. Then I was able to see my old youth group leaders who moved to Alaska around nine years ago and have just moved back recently. I don’t think that I will forget that meeting and hug for awhile! Then Greg and I had the privilege of speaking and spending time with the dear people in my home Church that I grew up in. It was wonderful being around these dear and faithful people and being blessed by them again. It felt like I was stepping back in time and made me very thankful for growing up in such a strong and faithful Church. They even invited us to attend their senior’s breakfast and bible study which Greg and I greatly enjoyed. And then comes all the wonderful evenings spent with different family members and meeting all my cousin’s children that I have never met before. The children love meeting new people normally but they get even more excited when they realize that they are related as well. After living so far away from here for so long it will be nice to be only a few hours away from everyone before going overseas for four years. Please pray for continued safety and direction as we have extended our stay here until March and that we stay strong both physical and spiritually. Please keep Isaac in your prayers as his behaviour is getting hard to handle which means that he is starting to feel very overwhelmed with life at the moment. Please pray for Greg and I as we try to help Isaac adjust and feel secure with are every changing and busy life.

Julie

Story from the Field.

"WHEN I LANDED in Dagi a hundred things were going through my mind. The folks in Korapun had asked if I could do two flights from Dagi to Korapun to fly in the produce and pigs needed for the big celebration. This language group of the Mek tribe was receiving their first completed translation of the Bible! And the party would be huge! As I got out of the airplane in Dagi I asked how many kilos of local cuisine they had for Korapun; they had enough for three trips! I told them I could take 380 kilos and they quickly started to help load the plane with sweet potato, corn, pigs, chickens, and some veggies I had never seen before. I noticed one man struggle as he lifted a bag of veggies into the airplane; Papuan men and women are very strong and this man should have no problem lifting the 18 kilos into the plane, (at least that’s how much the tag said the bag weighed.) I asked to weigh the bag using the fish scale we always carry in the plane. The bag came up to a hefty 32 kilos! If all the bags were like this, that meant that I was probably 100% too heavy! Even though the airstrip slopes downhill 15%, I would still be touching trees at the bottom of the hill as I tried to take off! So, with the weather moving around us quickly in the steep, tall and tight valleys, I asked the good people of Dagi to help me re-weigh all of their cargo, which took about 20 minutes. In that time, the fairly open valley system turned a nasty grey, and the clouds began their death grip on the mountains. By the time I got my plane loaded and secure, the wind had kicked up and the weather was closing in fast. I knew I could take off and immediately return to Dagi if the valleys ahead were closed with cloud. Korapun is only a total of 3 minutes away by airplane. I ACCELERATED down the Dagi airstrip quickly and leaped into the air with one passenger (alocal pastor) and the right amount of cargo. I tried to climb a little but ran into the bottom of the clouds. You don’t go into clouds in Papua because mountains are lurking everywhere. I tried to turn right to go to Korapun but that was blocked, so I circled sharply back towards Dagi, to climb above the strip through a hole, but the hole only led to more clouds. I was trapped with Dagi as my only ticket to freedom! “Lord I need help now.” Just as I made another tight turn to set up my approach to Dagi, God answered with a hole big enough to safely get to Korapun. Two long minutes later I was over the airstrip and thanking God for moving the clouds enough for me to land. Yes, I was definitely back in Papua!!"

Story From Isaac Rogers MAF pilot serving in Indonesia

I will from time to time start sharing a story from someone that is on the field. Giving you an idea what is a head for our family as we look forward to serving there ourselves, and creating stories of our own. But till then we will borrow stories from those that are already there.

Blessings

Greg & Julie Dole

Week 2 Winding Down

Well like the title of this post states we are winding down the second week of our stay here in MI. So far it has been a great trip. We have had the opportunity to share at 2 Churches the last two Sundays. And that was all that we planned before leaving MB. However while we have been in MI we have been asked to speak at a couple more churches one of which is the church Julie grew up in. Which is very exciting. I have also been very encouraged by individuals from these past two churches, that appreciated my message that I spoke. Not that I can take credit as it is the Lords work, but it has lifted my spirits knowing that I was used to touch some lives through the words God choose to speak through me. I'm still feeling however, that preaching is not my calling at least on a permanent full time basis at this time. I won't say never though, saying never can sometimes be a sure way of it coming to pass.

I should mention some of our other highlights for the trip so far. We had the chance to visit the School (SMAT) here in Ionia MI on Tuesday. Looks like it will be a good year working with some good instructors in a pretty nice facility. The course I will be involved in is a 12 month course that once completed will give me an Airframe & Power plant licence (A&P). Which will allow me to carry out basic repairs and maintenance on US registered aircraft. Which is a requirement for MAF US whom MAF Canada is planning to loan us out to.

Tuesday we also had the privilege of watching John JR (Julie's younger bother) play Basket Ball. John plays for a Christian College team from Grand Rapids. The following couple pictures were from the game.

Eager Fan did a lot of loud cheering

Ahhh

Saturday the 15th we celebrated Christmas with Julie's family. The kids had a great time of opening gifts! The best part is most of the gifts were small enough that the kids might be able to take most of them with us when we move. And then as you can see in the photos the Granger tradition of jumping in the pile of paper after words was a big hit as usual.

Johnny being a good sport letting his nephews and niece bury him in paper

Michigan

Our trip to Michigan has gone well so far. Friday we fought with some snowy and icy roads but we managed to get to Randville safely. We then had the privilege of sharing with the Randville Bible Church Sunday morning. They were a wonderful congregation, which extended a very warm welcome as they allowed us to stay in their parsonage next to the church for the weekend. Kids were excited even asked when we were moving our stuff in. Monday we had nice weather and roads for the rest of our journey to Constantine (Julie’s Parents). We have started to settle in the basement of Julie’s parent’s house. Glad that we got in yesterday as I write this blog in Wendy’s restaurant the snow is coming down pretty heavy, glad that I only need to travel a few miles back to the house once we are done our shopping and Internet work. I got the better end of the deal to, as I get to sit and utilize the Internet and enjoy some Wendy’s food while Julie her mom and the kids are out shopping. Hope they don’t forget about me and go home without me. We are planning to be in southern MI for the next 5-6weeks, if you are also in the area and would like a visit please contact us.

Thank you again for your prayer as we travel.

Blessings

Greg, Julie

Franklin, Isaac, & Jaclynn

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