MMS Visit 3.14.15 (part II)

Saturday was a day for the books. We made it through but we’ll never do it again (if we can help it!).

We woke up in Coshocton after a late night visiting our friends Jamie and Clifton Martin and their ADORABLE kiddos Kylie, Addie, and Ammon! We were not packed AT. ALL. So, we spent 2 hours packing, cleaning up the guest house, packing the car, showering the kids for the first time in 4 days…the usual. We left Coshocton at 10am and headed for Youngstown, OH, two hours away.

 

In Youngstown we stopped to visit some CCO friends Garrett and Mandy White. We did CCO New Staff Training with Garrett and Mandy in 2009. Thankfully, they have 3 kids so there was plenty of play time to break up the car ride! They fed us a delicious lunch (including a pork roast from Lamppost Farm…wait till you see where we stopped next!). It was great to catch up on their life and ministry with college students and share how God is working in our lives.

From Youngstown we drove about 45 minutes to Lamppost Farm. My way-back friends from CCO outdoor leadership teams days, Steve and Mel Montgomery, are farmers now! Steve gave us a tour of the farm and we saw the cattle, pigs, and sheep (along with their guard llama). We are excited to get meat from Lamppost once we move to Ohio. It was a good and muddy time! It is really great to know we have so many good people surrounding us when we move to OH!

THEN – yes, we kept going – we drove about an hour to Cranberry, PA to visit The Nan! Nan is a dear friend from Wesley Church, where we served doing campus ministry. Many of you know that was a dark time but friends like Nan, and a few others, were gifts from the Lord to sustain us. We had a too-short visit with her but the kids enjoyed the St. Patty’s cupcakes that Nan’s daughter Kim had for them!

We made a quick stop to pick up dinner-to-go and made the last leg of our trip (for that day!) to Pittsburgh. WHEW. We stayed with my sister-friend Sarah in her luxurious guest room and we all slept in till 7am! Sarah owns a coffee bar called Caffe D’Amore at the Pittsburgh Public Market (and other mobile locations) so you can bet that I had some super-duper coffee on Sunday morning! We chilled and breakfasted and drank all the coffee with Sarah and our new friend Michaela before heading home for Harrisburg.

 

Did you count? That was three stops between Coshocton and Pittsburgh! In a 24 hour period we met with 5 people, shared our story, and had the gift of listening and learning from each of them. It was so worth it to spend time with wonderful people and know what special places each one has in our journey.

MMS Update:
We are on a support raising whirlwind! We’ve got 3 months to raise an additional $1500/month to reach 100% of our needed support.
Here’s a visual breakdown:
10 supporters @ $100/mo.
10 supporters @ $50/mo.
= $1500/mo. 

Could you be one of those new monthly supporters?!?! Maybe those exact numbers don't fit your budget but perhaps you can see yourself giving at another level. 

MMS Visit 3.14.15

Andy spent Friday morning in the hangar. I am sure you can imagine that he sort of enjoyed this...hahaha! It was personally encouraging to be there and a solid reminder that this is where we belong. All signs point towards a great need for more qualified mechanics in the mission field. MMS has a year-and-a-half backlog of work! The hangars were busy and full of projects. While we were visiting, there was a group of students from LeTourneau University on a spring break work trip. It was also a great encouragement to hear repeatedly, "We can't wait for you guys to be here!"

 This is a Cessna 206 flown by MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship).

This Piper Aztec (nicknamed the "AzTruck") is flown by Arctic Barnabas, an organization based in Alaska. The airplane was donated to Arctic Barnabas. Despite being well kept, MMS found 114 issues that need to be addressed. The aircraft will serve the Alaska community well because it is a heavy hauler and can fly in the rugged terrain.

Andy installed spark plugs for this engine. This plane flies in Africa. The organization used to trade out engines with Continental for $30,000/engine. Now they bring their engines to MMS (often over time in many pieces) to do an overhaul for $15,000. This gives the organization the ability to have 2 engines overhauled for the same price and ready for mission service.

Andy talked to many of the MMS mechanics throughout the day, learning from their perspectives and stories. One of the staff commented that each person brings unique skills and gifts to the hangar. Andy is eager to contribute to the ministry at MMS.

MMS Visit 3.13.15

Friends are so great. Old friends. New friends. Future friends. ALL THE FRIENDS! Our journey to missions depends on friends. We can’t do this alone and along the way God uses people (aka friends!) to make it possible for us to serve. God is sovereign and he directs our path. He can do it without us but he demands our obedience and desires our hearts to follow him. YES. So our friends partner with us in prayer and financially to SEND us into the mission field. And this is not new. Since the early church began, church communities have been sending missionaries out to spread the gospel. Think Paul. Timothy. Silas. All the apostles were SENT. And they WENT!

Today was filled with old friends and new friends and yet-to-be-friends. The old friends remind us of all those who, prompted by God, have believed in what the Lord is doing in our lives and partnered with us. Their prayers and support have brought us 70% of the way to being fully funded. Jamie and Clifton (pictured below) have been our friends since 2001 when we are all either students or campus ministry staff. They live about an hour from Coshocton, OH (home of MMS)! 

Our new friends give us a sense of hope in transition. The Pottners and Hammitts welcomed us into their homes over the past few days and offered gracious hospitality. 

Over lunch, I met not-yet-friends and it warms my heart to know God is preparing us for new relationships. We will leave behind a strong community in Harrisburg but we trust in God’s provision for friendships.

Someone asked us today what some of our greatest prayer needs are right now. In the spirit of sharing and opening our lives to our friends, here is what we told them:

1.  The remaining 30% of our funding. This is an additional $1500/month. We know that God has called churches and individuals to support this ministry and we are praying for them to come forward quickly!

2.  Housing in Coshocton when we move in June. It is a little too far out to think about leases/rentals but we are praying for the right house and location for our family. We'd like to live outside of town, have some space to garden and play, and possibly expand our family to include chickens! 

MMS Visit 3.12.15

Hey all! We’re in Coshocton, OH -- home of MMS Aviation! You know how close we are to being fully funded and starting at MMS. It is such an encouragement to be here and reconnect with how God has called us to serve. Even in the short time we have been here, God has affirmed his plans for us! We are grateful to rest in his faithfulness and provision!

We had a great trip out to Ohio. It takes about 6 hours from Harrisburg so the kids were prepared with lots of car activities and snacks!

The first stop was the hangar -- OF COURSE! We got the see lots of familiar faces and some new ones, too. A few MMSers, who we hadn’t met yet, knew us from our facebook posts and approached us with an inquisitive, “Gudemans? Great to see you! Can’t wait till you get here!” We had the distinct pleasure of seeing a modified Cessna 182 belonging to SIM USA take its first test flight since modifications. This was the same airplane with the diesel engine that we mentioned in our summer newsletter (2014). It was so great to see that project come full circle.

We are staying at the Stalter House, MMS’s guest house. Upon arrival, we were settling into the bedrooms and unpacking our cooler. Andy called me to come upstairs. He said I just had to see what was in the bedroom closet. I was unsure…was it gross or funny or weird??? So, for the past two years I have been blaming Andy for losing a favorite skirt of mine. He does the laundry at our house and I was sure the skirt had gone the way of single socks. Turns out, I brought that skirt with us to MMS for our initial interview…and left it hanging in the closet which is where we found it yesterday!

Dan and Juli Pottner (Dir. of Human Resources for MMS) welcomed us for dinner and we are quickly feeling like part of the MMS family!

On this trip we are scouting out housing options and schools as well as visiting with MMS families. We only have 30% of our funding left to go so it’s time to start making concrete plans for moving.

Look for updates over the next few days while we are at MMS!

-Trisha