Update :)

We want to try to update you as much as possible about our journey and everyday life on this blog. So it's time for a bi-monthly update.

We are starting our New Testament Survey class in February. This class is a correspondence course through Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. In case you aren't sure what correspondence courses are then we'll explain. These courses are taken through the distance learning program. The materials are sent to us via the mail and we have six months to complete them. Usually these courses consist of two tests and two papers. When we complete them we send them in via postal mail.

So as you can see they are very different than online courses and allow us to have ample time to complete them. Hope that helps you in understanding our courses!

We are still working on the house and hope to be able to list it by the end of February or middle of March. Please keep us in prayer that our house can sell before we leave for Michigan. If not then we'll need to rent it while we are away. So prayer for guidance would be awesome.

Eric's still working on his instrument rating training and is making progress. He should be able to complete it by the time we move this summer.

Well that's it for now! We'll update more later. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Time Flies...

It's amazing to think that January is almost over! We have a goal of getting everything we can on the house done by the end of February so we can list our house. Hopefully we'll be able to sell our home before we leave to Michigan. If we don't, we'll work on finding a renter for a year while we are gone. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers about this!

Kristine is feeling sick lately. She thinks it's a head cold but isn't sure. Everyone at her work seems to be getting something, it's that time of year! She is taking a sick day from work to help recoup her body before heading back into the germ factory. :)

Eric is working more on completing his airplane projects (on his biplane) as well as finishing up training for his instrument rating. He's still working at Garmin AT and will until we move this summer.

We both are starting a New Testament Survey class from Moody Bible Institute. We are each figuring out how best to complete this and everything else we have to do in a productive way. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers about this as well!

Change to Blog about donations

(Mt. Rainier from Eric's plane)
Hello Friends!
We wanted to let you know that we've changed our blog layout regarding financial donations. If you are interested in supporting us financially, instead of a link to an impersonal website, we'd love to talk with you personally! If this is a desire of your heart, please e-mail us at: ericandkristinereed@gmail.com. We'd love to talk with you about where we are at in ministry, what our goals are and pray with you. :)

If you aren't interested in donations financially but would like to meet with us to hear more about where our hearts are at, let us know that too! We'd love to sit down and visit with you.

Love in Christ,
Eric and Kristine Reed

Firefox!

Hello! If you are viewing this page on internet explorer, we strongly suggest that you download Firefox and use that browser to view out page. For some reason Firefox shows all of our additions and Internet Explorer doesn't.

You can download Firefox here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Newsletter Part One

Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry for the delay in the newsletter, we were waiting for a few things to happen before we wrote you again. We are still waiting on a couple of details, but figured sending out an edited newsletter is better than waiting another month or so for details to sort out. There are many new things to mention, so this letter/post will be a bit longer than our normal letters. We've separated sections with titles to help you be able to scan the letter. The next newsletter will be much shorter. If this is your first time receiving a newsletter or viewing our website welcome! We invite you to read and enjoy what has been going on in our lives.



MAF

Right now we are prayerfully moving forward with our preparation to join MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship); an organization that utilizes aviation, technology, learning technology, communications and other related services to help individuals, communities and nations be transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can learn more about MAF by going to their website at: http://maf.org/about .

Servant Wings

In July we took a major step towards this goal by being involved in an organization called Servant Wings. (http://www.servantwings.org) Servant Wings helps missionary pilot candidates get the training they need to join mission aviation organizations. They are a stepping stone on our path to joining MAF. Eric is working with them to finish his flight ratings and earn flight hours using the Servant Wings planes. It's been a major blessing for us!

Because Servant Wings is a charitable non-profit organization, we raise full support to be a part of it. Our monthly support helps them to pay for the maintenance of airplanes, student training costs, purchasing aviation fuel, scholarship funds to help eliminate debt and other general costs. If you are interested in supporting us financially, information is located at the end of this newsletter. But first, we'd love to update you on our progress these past few months.



Eric

Huge news for Eric! He earned his commercial pilot rating! Praise God! He's also finished both his Moody Bible School correspondence classes (Elements of Bible Study and Old Testament Survey). He is now working with Servant Wings to complete his instrument rating and after that he'll begin working on his certified flight instructor rating.

Kristine

Big update! Kristine finished her Old Testament Survey class and got a job! It's not as a full-time elementary teacher but as a full-time teacher's assistant in an early intervention program for 3-5 year old autistic children. This program is year round, has a great schedule and more important full health care benefits. She really enjoys working with her co-workers and the students. She's learned a lot about autism and has had great opportunities to be trained in different methods of working with children. Most recently she had the opportunity to attend a Handwriting Without Tears conference in Seattle. She really enjoyed it!

Both of Us

We are now working hard to get our house ready to sell. This includes: painting and installing new molding throughout the house, to finish painting the outside of the house, finishing the main bathroom flooring and some light landscape work. With the help of family and friends we are getting these tasks accomplished in a timely manner. We are also looking to give away our cat Gibson. We would love for you to join with us in prayer for us to be able to finish these tasks and sell our house as soon as possible.

Soon we are starting a new bible correspondence course through Moody Bible Institute called New Testament survey. We are excited about this course because it will allow us to go more in-depth into the bible and to move closer to our goal of 12 college bible credits each, a requirement of MAF.

We also have had a setback financially that is causing us to re-evaluate our path to missions. After looking at options we feel the best school for Eric to attend is SMAT (School of Missionary Aviation Technology) in Ionia, Michigan. He has applied to the program and is accepted. He will start there in August 2009 (This year!). We are excited about this school because it has lower class sizes and is a one year course versus a two year course. It will be intense, but we feel having it be so intense will help Eric to learn it more effectively. It does mean that this summer we are also moving to Michigan! More on this to follow in other blogs and newsletters.

Website

Congrats! If you are reading this you are on our website/blog. We hope to have more frequent updates on here in-between our newsletter updates. This site will also have prayer and praise updates too. Please continue to visit this site to learn more about our journey towards missions.

Newsletter part two

Starting Support

We are also in the beginning stages of raising support for our current training costs and future ministry needs. We would love for you to prayerfully consider becoming ministry partners with us! This will enable you to be actively involved in forwarding the message of Christ by helping send us out and supporting us in our ministry. The best way you can support us right now is in prayer.

Prayer
As we continue on this journey it's really important to have great prayer partners like you to join with us in praying for God's guidance and direction. If you'd like to get prayer updates you can e-mail us at: ericandkristinereed@gmail.com. We can update you via e-mail, postal mail or by phone, please let us know your preference

Newsletter part three (So you can read them in order on the page)

Here are some things we would love for your to pray for this next quarter:

• For us to be able to fix up and sell our house in Salem, Oregon.
• To have a smooth move from Oregon to Michigan in August.
• Eric to complete his instrument rating and to start on his instructor rating.
• Kristine to have a safe commute from Salem to Beaverton for her job.
• For us to give away our cat Gibson to a good home ASAP

Thank you again for partnering with us in prayer about our lives and future ministry. We really appreciate it! If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail us at: ericandkristinereed@gmail.com and we'd love to talk with you!

Love in Christ,
Eric and Kristine Reed

Website update before newsletter...

Please bear with us...we're updating the layout of our website before we post the newsletter. :)