David to Work/Kodiak Dedication

I got the call Thursday mid morning that all the administrative process had been approved for me to go to work at the hangar. I received my orientation and was put to work right away...washing airplanes! Hey, no complaints. I was very happy to just be around airplanes and if that meant washing them, fine with me! I know it won't be my last time. Where I will be flying there is plenty of mud to go around, so I had better get good at it!

The staff at the hangar is very friendly and I have been having a good time getting to know the folks and learning about what I will be doing. It has been good settling into a normal routine.

I get up plenty early (by my standards) to get the kids up and ready for school. That gives me time to exercise and spend some time in the Bible before I have to be to work at 8:00. Lunch is a full hour and we are living only a couple of minute bike ride from the hangar, so going home is easy. Then back to work until 5:00. I get home and spend time with the kids until supper where we have sat down to eat as a family 6 days in a row now! New record!

This is going to be a welcome change of pace for us and is going to be very good to bond us together as a family and make up for my crazy schedule the last year and a half.

Kodiak Dedication

Today was the new president installation for JAARS as well as the Kodiak dedication ceremony for service in Papua New Guinea. It still has some work to do here before being flown over in August.

It was very enlightening listening to both ceremonies and hearing how all the people here are so focused on giving God the glory for everything and seeking his will in all areas of the work. Since being here and listening to everyone talk, the goal of Scripture translation is always at the forefront and they try very hard to keep that there and not let all the material things that we work on get in the way. It's hard to explain, but it is a pleasure to be a part of this group that is so intent on serving God in areas that could easily become distractions rather than tools - technology.

One reminder came from the daughter of Cameron Townsend, founder of JAARS, Wycliffe and SIL (all organizations for the same purpose) who was one of the speakers at the president's installation ceremony. She said: "My father was a man who, before the airplanes, before the technology, before JAARS, before Wycliffe, before SIL and before anything, was a man who was called to serve God and who loved him."

We had a great time meeting new folks from around the U.S. who are faithful supporters of JAARS who came to witness the ceremonies. God blessed with a beautiful sunny day in the midst of a week that was very rainy and overcast.