136 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
This is the first thing that came to mind as I began this letter. “Thank you Lord!” He is so good to us, every minute of every day. He always supplies our needs and even our desires. Thank you Lord for being so good to us!
What a busy quarter for our family! My wife has worked tirelessly, for months. Addy graduated from Union Grove Christian School! Right before graduation, her soccer team was blessed to get to play in her 3rd state soccer championship. They came home 2nd this time but we were honored to have the opportunity. We are beyond proud of her for the accomplishments. She starts her first step in her career in a few weeks as she begins shadowing with a local dentist. She was already accepted into a Dental Assistant program, in Winston Salem, and will start there in August. She has a long rode ahead of her but she’s anxious to get started.
THEN, our oldest daughter Chloey got married! That’s still a little weird to say. She and her husband bought a little home about 2-3 miles from our church, where they will be members. I didn’t do too well with the whole wedding thing but it was actually still much easier than I thought it would be! Please be in prayer for both of the girls as they continue their lives, all grown up. We certainly appreciate the involvement, the influence and the support from all of our supporters that helped mold them into what they are today.
What a blessing to be able to combine Addy’s senior trip and our vacation! She wanted to go on her first cruise and we were happy to oblige and God provided.
We boarded a Royal Caribbean ship and went to the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. We had a blast!!
Just a quick update on our equipment: The truck is currently having the AC and an electrical issue fixed so that if a disaster or need hits it will be ready for service. We’ll need it for the Christmas shoebox program before we know it! The laundry trailer is requiring some work. I found the roof leaking and I’m having to get that sealed up and patched. The next step will be to get the gas, electrical and water flowing again. We won’t be able to use this for ministry until we are able to fix these issues. The single engine airplane is ready for action and has been making ministry flights, including taking a missionary to Tennessee from a camp he was literally serving at that week in NC. Because of that plane he was able to attend a very important doctor’s visit with his dad. The Aztec which was the first twin engine airplane you guys helped us to restore a few years ago, has made lots of mission flights including the most recent just last week, back to the Bahamas. This plane has been a true work horse for the ministry. It goes into annual next week. Though we don’t anticipate any issues there are a few small things that have to be done this time. The Cessna 402, which was the latest donation, is currently having an annual inspection done. A donor blessed us with most of the money to do the inspection, however the airplane needed windshields and a couple other maintenance items done, which went above and beyond the original cost by about $6000.00. (Double) As always, anything “new to you”, takes some repairs and upgrading and we know the Lord will be faithful to provide. I was able to get in all the required training to fly the plane before taking it to the shop. Lastly, our small enclosed trailer needs to be welded. The rear gate is dropping down when it opens and i’m afraid it’s going to eventually drop off! This repair shouldn’t be more than 500.00. We also just bought a little car that I’ve been driving to the mountains and back each week, to preach. After donating the PT Cruiser to a missionary, it was quite a blessing to be able to get the car for 5500.00. We did elect to finance it due to the cost of the inspections that the airplanes are currently under going but the car is still paying for itself with a 32 mpg fuel range vs the 14 mpg we were getting with the yukon.
We are SO BLESSED to have all of the equipment that God has provided for us to do the mission work that we’re doing. We literally, operate on faith each and every month and are trusting and expecting the extra needed support that it takes for every piece of equipment operated. Don’t just scroll past the pictures! Please help us pray for these needs!
Since pulpit supply is part of our ministry, it’s a huge blessing to have been invited to be an advisor to Garden Creek Baptist Church, where you may remember, we did the disaster relief after the hurricane. Well that relief comes in all forms and now we are continuing by helping to “Restart” the church. It’s quite a haul, to drive there every Sunday, but so worth it. They understand that our ministry must take priority and they are happy to have us to help out at the capacity that we’re helping. I am preaching and educating the church on the Bylaws and the Biblical Qualifications of the Bishop and the Deacons that it will take to get the church going forward. I hope to help them to get these men voted in as soon as we can can get the congregation enlarged enough to do so.
In March, we went to the islands of Exuma and Long Island to implement the Men By Design program that I was blessed to be a part of. These pictures definitely don’t do this trip justice. There were over 50 guys in attendance. Don’t worry my wife isn”t up there preaching in our church. She’s updating the church on the number of souls that were saved on the trip and giving testimony as to how they happened. Last week I went back to the islands, with missionary David Mora, for the second qtr meetings where we added a new church to the group. The Long Island trip had to be canceled because we weren’t able to get the logistics completed there, in time for the meetings, so we’ll add it next qtr. Instead I called the people of Rum Cay and they invited me to come preach there again, on the gazebo by the sea. What a powerful service we had, with singing and preaching and fellowship.
Finally, we saved the best for last….
Our Wings of Grace program went great this year! We wrapped up the first year in May, as we basically follow the school calendar. This year we went from operating out of the church to having a hangar at the airport with our very own classroom! Since then donors have equipped the class with a wall mounted tv, soundbar and all the tables and chairs and even the mini split, needed to have the class! WHAT A BLESSING! We have already gotten requests from 3 other students that we’ll add to next years role and we haven’t even started taking applications yet! PRAY for this program as well. This is a huge program for these kids and we are so blessed to be able to mold their little lives and provide them with the biblical training and opportunity to fly for a company or for the Lord. These are the first 13 potential missionary pilots that we are training to add to the others that we are already using in the ministry.
