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.

Work and Play

We worked hard last week calling, emailing, writing, and talking with a lot of people and churches about our new ministry. We scheduled appointments, went to meetings, and asked for referrals. By the week's end, we logged nearly fifty hours of "work" and we definitely need a nap! I never imagined this could be such hard work! It takes a lot out of you keeping good records and meeting with people. We got away yesterday though and drove out to the beach and went for a l o n g stroll through the sand. It was nice not to think about raising money and keeping track of everything!

Just an update on "How Goes It" We're currently just under 10% of our monthly goal and have received several pledges to help cover our outgoing expenses. We've been encouraged by God's faithfulness and provision so far and know that our God will supply everything we need to accomplish this work. To stay on target, we need to be at 18% by September 15--that's 19 individuals at $25/month, or 10 individuals at $50/month. Or we could have a church support us for $480/month! That would work too! We are looking forward to seeing how God is going to meet our needs.
We have a lot of phone calls to make this week, not so many meetings yet.

"Home" Again

We made it back to Vancouver--albeit we didnt' get in until 10pm. Our reunion was fun; Colorado is a beautiful place, and our family is beautiful too! It was great to see everyone. Too bad it was only four days long. We woke up to our first day back with sore throats and pounding headaches. Neither one of us is feeling real well, but we plugged ahead with work anyway...calling, writing, scheduling, and meeting. Right now, with our friends and family behind us, we're a little over 8% in our monthly support goal. To remain on schedule we need to gain about 3% every week or $270/month. We're ahead of the game!

So, Colorado was really nice. Joy and I visited the top of Pike's Peak (the tallest point in CO), as well as the Garden of the Gods before heading up to Estes Park.

We'll be in the Portland area until October 23, when we'll head to Ohio and Maryland to meet with churches and individuals.

Hit the Road, Jack!

We are officially done with all of our classes and training (for this phase) at MAF. We've been in Colorado for the past couple days, visiting friends and family, and building our support team. Wednesday is the beginning of Joy's family reunion. After that we'll be on the road again, heading back to Washington. We've been encouraged by the enthusiastic response as we share our passion with people. Here's our timeline:

100% support by Feb. 14, 2009

MAF flight/maintenance training Feb. 23, 2009

MAF Orientation April 20, 2009

French language school (Quebec) Sept. 1, 2009

Our language school will be 9 months long, and after that we will leave straight from there for Africa. We're excited as we look forward to the future and all the things God has in store for us!

Almost There!

The past couple days we've been in classes learning how to make telephone calls, how to present to pastors and missions committees, and how to write good newsletters. We only have a few days left before they kick us out the door to begin Ministry Partnership. Our goal is to be done with ministry partnership by February 14, 2009, so we can finish up the additional flight, maintenance, and orientation training at MAF next spring. We will be going to Quebec to learn French; that starts in August every year. So, we're hoping to gather all our ministry partners in the next 6 months, then be at MAF for about three months to finish training, and then have a few months to complete all our packing and shipping and tie up loose ends (and visit our families) before leaving for language school in August. It's a very ambitious goal, and a huge task, but we serve a huge God! Joy and I can't wait to share our new ministry with you! We're so excited and privileged to serve God in this way. We have no idea where God is going to take us this coming year, but we know He will take care of us and provide for our needs even more than we can imagine.

You can see why even when there are roads in some countries, it's much more desireable, safe, and efficient to use the airplane for travel. Days are turned into minutes!