"Two weeks"

Wait. The mention of the word brings up visions of time gone wrong. Everything is in slow motion. A point in time seems light years away, and one seems to feel like they are growing cobb webs........."Two weeks". That is what we are being told as we await the arrival of our Kingair A-B90. I don't mean to be impatient, but it seems that every time we think the plane is going to show up........(Ringggg) "Hi, sorry the plane as another issue" Don't miss understand, I want the plane to be fixed before it gets here. I suppose that I sound like a little kid at the ice cream store; you know, jumping up and down with anticipation.
I can't wait for the day when we can carry a larger load, and get there and back in a decent amount of time. Looking back I must say I'm spoiled. I remember flying the same route in an Aztec, let me tell you at 130kts it takes a little time to get there.
Then again it never was about speed, it was about meeting the missionaries; getting out of the plane and your comfort level, and shaking their hand while looking at them square in the eye. Then it slaps you in the face why we do this. Ever thing matters, words, actions and the things you bring become God's tools for His kingdom. At time like these I feel a glow, and I thank the Father for using me...little me. God is sooo good!! Two weeks, yeah, I can wait.

Mark, the Carribean Hurricane Jinx!

Hi, it's Kristin...

I've decided that Mark is the Carribean hurricane jinx... Notice how it's been a few weeks without a hurricane over Hispanola? Well, that's because Mark wasn't scheduled to fly!

He was scheduled to fly the week Gustav was around. No flight. He was scheduled to fly the week Hannah was around. No flight. He flew for one day between Hannah and Ike. The week of Ike - his week. No flight. Then Jeff was scheduled for one week and John Olinger was scheduled for last week. No Carribena hurricane activity. Mark is schedule to fly this week, and there is a tropical depression right between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic! Here's praying I am blogging prematurely and NOTHING HAPPENS! But if there is a hurricane, blame it on Mark!

Or the other possiblity is, God really wants me waking up early and running in the mornings. I have been spoiled this month and not had morning-boy-duty. I have been able to go to the Y and exercise. When Mark is gone, I have to go in the afternoons and I am not nearly as productive!

Flying between hurricains

Flying down on September 5th was not your "usual " flight. Nothing went wrong, the weather wasn't all that bad even though hurricane Hanna's effects were being felt. No, what was unusual was that on the way over to Exuma to refuel it was made known to us by the wonderful folks at Miami A.T.C (air traffic control) that we had two DC3s inbound to the same airport. We had one in front, and one behind us. When we all landed John Ohinger & I recognized them; it was our brothers in Christ from M.F.I. (Missionary Flights International). We all started talking and how we we all getting our flights in while we could. I had a chance to look over the paint jobs of their planes, as Charlie (our director) wanted me to do, and I must say the paint job looks great. So Charlie if your reading this, I say its a "go" for having the plane (our new Kingair) painted in the D.R.

After passing customs and refueling we all departed for Haiti. The effects of the hurricanes that have been pounding this poor island were very evident. Many towns were flooded, and many of the meager crops that people were growing were also flooded. Now more than ever the Haitian people & the missionaries that that serve there need your prayers. Here in the States our biggest worry is if there will be any plywood at the box store.

When all was done , we flew into Cap Haitian, Port Au Prince, & Les Caye, we had departed Venice at 6:30am and returned the same day at 10:30pm. I've got he greatest job in the world! I fly for Jesus Christ.

Mark

Kingair Training-an exersise in faith.

On Aug 28-29 Jeff and I went for simulator training. You my ask, "whats the big deal?" but you see it is a big deal. Jeff and I did'nt have to spend one red cent! I was all worked up on how we were going to afford $5000.00 worth of training. God is soooooo good!! A freind of Agape who resently retired from the airlines, works part time at a training facility, and through the grace of God he asked if he could bring some friends in that needed some trianing. His boss said yes and we were in! Praise God!
Now we were able to do all of the training that we couldn't do in the real airplane. All of the white knuckle stuff that you don't do in the airplane. Things like engine failures on takeoff, Systems failures, you name it, electrical, hydraulic, and yes, engine fires. Let me tell you, these aren't the little beauties that you find hooked up to your PC. These are full size cockpits, and you could not tell you were in a sim. So needless to say our palms got a little sweaty! Our instructor Jim gave us a real workout!
I just want to say that Gods timing is ALWAYS perfect. Our plane is just about ready and He puts Jim in our lives. He knows that our wallets are light. He knows that we (both Jeff & I) came with no money(I mean NO money), yet we ate at Jim's house, and then, at the facility during dinner, it was instructor appreciation day, and we were invited to eat in the staff break room to a wonderful pasta dinner(by the way, Jeff & I are both flight instructors). God Is good!! ALL THE TIME!!! In scripture it says to worry about nothing, but pray about everything. How true.

Me? I don't have an eating problem!

How many times have you heard that. In my 40 + years I've heard that a lot of times. I just thought I would never be the one with the eating problem!
So great now what? Do I follow the made up rules and falsehoods of "don't eat this ,& don't eat that" I say NO! My wife Kristin has been taking an on line course called Setting captives free. It has worked wonders for her.
So I've decided to take this course also. I an learning to fill myself with God rather than stuffing my face. The true food lies in the word of God. No food will ever satisfy my soul, God is the only one that can do that.
Its so easy to let let ones guard down and give in to the flesh. I'm weak! Last week I fasted for the first time in my life. Let me tell you I was not easy. But every time I felt hungry I prayed to Jesus that he would take the hunger from me, & the temptation, and the urge to be mean.
God is so good!
This is so huge. I feel as though I have been walking blind. Totally oblivious to this problem, now I see how I use food. I eat out of boredom, I eat hurriedly, I eat out of control.
I see all this now, now I ask humbly the God of the universe for help; and I know that He will.

Mark

What we've been up to...

Nothing exciting and earth shattering is happening in the Mikarts' world, but we haven't posted in two weeks so I'll just ramble on about a few things that come to mind!

The boys started school last week - and I would upload a picture of them in their uniforms, but Mark hasn't taken it yet. Zach and Ryan ride the bus and they LOVE it! Zach has Ms. Dana again and he absolutely adores her. This is his 3rd year with her and I'm not sure what we will do next year when he moves on to another teacher. She is a saint!! Ryan has Mrs. Mirville again and she is also an incredible person. How anyone can work with kids like Zach and Ryan is beyond me! I spend 20 minutes working on the ABC's and I'm done!!

We've been spending a ton of time at the playground lately. Ryan is a daredevil and loves to hang over the openings of equipment. He has this crazy laugh and I know he is playing "chicken" with me - who is going to crack first? Will Ryan get both feet on the playground sooner or later than Mommy jumps to the opening to catch him? I finally taught him how to safely get down and "jump". Zach has also learned how to hang from the monkey bars and throw himself to the ground. I figure this is actually safer than not letting them do all this. But the funny part is, Ryan can master crazy playground equipment but the curb on the way to the car causes the blood! He scraped his cheek when he fell off the curb. Go figure...

Last week was our first hurricane day in about 4 years. It was overcast and ugly and not one drop of rain (well, maybe 5 minutes of rain). But then the next 4 days it rained off and on like crazy. Today is the first sunny day and so we splashed in the pool. Ryan is getting to be quite the swimmer boy. He has the biggest grin while he swims around.

The last thought running through my head is that I'm FINALLY excited about this school year from a work perspective. My heart wasn't into my work until about 3 hours ago! I suddenly caught the excitement of all the places God is going to be working at VMS/OPS and I want to jump on board and be part of it! I can't wait to see what He accomplishes. What a great feeling!

Kristin

Gavin joined us for our hurricane day... The boys were worn out - can you tell?? They all ran around like crazy and then crashed in front of Elmo.

A day in the life of a missionary...

Ha... yes, flying to and from the Caribbean sounds great; and it is! But what about when I'm not flying? Being the facilities manager is a big challenge. Think of it as a huge honey do list that if unfurled at the top of the Empire State building, would have no problem making it to street level. O.K. no problem you might say, but one has to remember who my boss is...You guessed it, God, and I work at doing things to my best!

With this in mind, there are lots of things at the hanger that need attention. Plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work which at times can be quite challenging. The volunteers that work at the hanger are a huge blessing! How would you like to work with a rocket scientist, a nuclear engineer, or retired pastor. What amazing conversations we have!

Some of my favorite volunteers are the folks that come to Agape for community service. I get the privilege of working with these people on a one on one basis. I see many of these people come in bummed out, but usually by the time their community service is up, many come back as volunteers, and I have had the privilege of sharing my faith with them! God is good!!

If anyone out there reading this is good with landscape - let me know! I have some huge flowerbeds that would love your loving touch and/or ideas!

Mark