Feel the Burn

I do! Yesterday Joy and I decided to get out and enjoy the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, so I found a good hike for us to go on. It took quite a while to even find the place, but we finally did, ate a little lunch and were on our way. Somehow I missed the whole fact that even though the hike is really short (only 2.5 miles to the top), the trail gained 2,000 feet in that distance. The last half mile was flat, meaning that the trail gained 1,000 feet every mile! It was like the never ending stair master! Nevertheless, I made the trek to the top in about 45 minutes, although I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest! The views of Mt. St. Helens were exceptional though.

I thought the way down would be an easy hike, but oh no, the trail was so steep we had to go slower than we did on the way up. My legs were literally shaking by the time we got back to the car. I guess it was a good workout though! We had fun; it was nice to get out of the house and smell the pine!

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent (at least for me) working on our cars. They both needed oil changes and they both have "check engine" lights on (well they did). I decided to focus my attention on the Honda, the one we drive the most. It seems that the EGR system was all clogged up. So I spent a couple hours unclogging it, and everything seems to work fine now. No more light.

We also are excited to share that we got another supporting church, thanks in large part to Joy's sister--she went to the church and made a presentation on our behalf! With their support, we are now over 18%. We have a big open house tomorrow where we'll be giving our presentation probably more than once, because we were expecting around 30 people, but it's going to be more like 100! We're in for another busy week of meetings, presentations, phone calls, and letters! We remain encouraged and can see God's hand guiding our efforts daily. Our next newsletter is almost ready for release, just a few more days until it's hot off the press and into your hands!

Have a great week!

A Whole Week!

I can't believe I haven't written anything in a whole week! You must be hanging on the edge of your seat, waiting with eager ears, to hear what has happened in the past seven days! Well, not much. We've been working hard on the support raising end; we're making some headway, but it's been slow going the last week. We're currently at 15.5% so it's still climbing, which is definitely a good thing, but I think we both wish it would go a little faster.

We're learning to rely on God and be patient to wait for His timing in this process, but sometimes it's pretty hard. We're also learning to celebrate the small victories and achievements, otherwise we'd probably go crazy! Each day brings new mercies and blessings, and it's been so wonderful getting to meet so many individuals.

This is a sunrise photo looking towards the Cascade Range on a clear Pacific Northwest morning. Every Friday I get to wake up before the sun and go to a men's small group--we're going through a curriculum called Men's Fraternity. I've actually been through the course before back in Spokane, and I got to lead the session yesterday.

Other than that, we're waiting to hear back from several different churches to see if they'd like to become part of Team Konop. We are also starting to prepare for our trip to Ohio and Maryland. From here on out, it's going to be a whirlwind around the country, and hopefully by the time we land back in Vancouver, we'll have completed our team and will be ready to go through more training at MAF, and then attend language school next summer...and then fly to Africa.

Life sure doesn't slow down!

Silver Falls State Park

Joy and I went to Silver Falls State Park yesterday and went on a 7 mile hike touring 8 different water falls. Some were little more than a trickle; we haven't had much rain here at all this summer (very unusual). Others had a little more water flowing! It was nice to go somewhere new and enjoy our God's creation. We even saw some trees that were over 5 feet in diameter!

Fall Colors

Every day it looks a little more like fall around here, although the temperatures still remind us that summer is holding on with an iron fist. Yesterday and today it was about 90 degrees, but the trees are telling a different story as they slowly turn from green to yellow and orange.

Since airplanes have been such a big part of my life for the past 7 years, it's kind of been fun to take a step back and focus on something else for a change. Don't get me wrong, I haven't flown for 4 months now, and I definitely still have the itch! But it's been fun to do ministry without the airplane too, and focus more on relationships. I love hearing people's stories and how excited they are for us and our ministry. It's fun to get to know people better.

Here's one I had to dust off from the archives. Ever since I was little, I could spot an airplane or helicopter with no problem, and I couldn't help but look, a habit that still exists today!

We appreciate your prayers and support of our ministry. What a great team we already have with us! We're going to make a great impact in Africa! If you'd like to join the team, feel free to contact us or go to the MAF website and read our biography at www.maf.org/konop

Slow but Sure

Our support slowly climbs towards 100% as the weeks roll on. We're at 14% now. To some that might not seem like much, but having started MAF with zero just a few short weeks ago....it seems like we've come such a long way. Another nice thing about it is that ministry partnership has a way of gently reminding us that 1) God is in control and has His own timeline, and 2) "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency flows from God." (2 Cor. 3:5) We are reminded daily that this is God's work and we get to be a part of it...and we get to invite you to be a part of it too!

It has been truly beautiful weather here in Vancouver since we've been back. Joy and I have started running in the cool morning air; what a refreshing way to start the day, and good exercise too! Joy has been such a great help these past couple months. She is truly amazing! Working together and seeing each other at the "office" all day every day has been really fun. We've worked well with each other so far, and her smile always makes me happy whenever I'm in a bad mood!

In case you didn't already know, MAF has a program in Haiti and I'm sure you've all been watching on the news as hurricane after hurricane has just devastated that island. A local Idaho news station did a story on MAF and their relief efforts in Haiti as they bring hope in the midst of widespread flooding and destruction. Take a look at the video here:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-sep0808-haiti_relief_mission.59361c92.html

*The airplane behind President John Boyd is actually the airplane I flew in April during my technical evaluation!

Until next time!

Still Alive

Just an update for you--we're now at 12.3% of our monthly support goal. Our team is growing slowly, but steadily. We're still making lots of phone calls and meeting with people and writing lots and lots of thank you notes. We're finally settled into our new place, and we kind of like it. It's nice in a lot of ways to be out away from town. It's a lot quieter here, and there are lots of places to take nice peaceful walks.

We've also been asked to play/sing with the worship team at church again, just while we're here. So that's been fun. It gives us something to do other than ministry partnership, and we love doing it!

Here's the fam (Joy's side) just outside our cabin in Estes Park, CO. Look at that front row of cute kids!

Here's a photo of the MAF hangar in Nyankunde, DRC. This is the old base that got ransacked and looted in 2002. Hopefully this is where I will be flying out of in a couple years.