We wanted to update you to let you know that our MAF webpage is now working. You can reach it by going to: http://www.maf.org/reed . We hope to have a link to this blog sometime on it, but for now at least you can go there if you wanted to donate online or go to just check it out.
We are going to try to update this regularly as we go through this journey. We wanted to give you guys a heads up about the MAF website. They are doing a major update to it right now that should debut in September. Because we were accepted this summer, our web page is not on the website right now. It should show up in September. (Hopefully a little sooner than that!) The website I am referring to is http://www.maf.org/reed. This website is on our prayer cards, business cards and I think perhaps our newsletters.
2. Near "Where would you like your donation to go ?"Click on: "Choose a missionary"
3. Choose: "Eric and Kristine Reed"
4. Then choose how much and how often. (Give whatever you feel led to give)
5. Fill out the rest of the form and submit it!
Again, we're sorry it's such a long process. We got accepted right at the time when everything was switching over to new databases and new websites. So bear with us and this process will indeed run more smoothly in time. If you have any questions for us, please feel free to ask us at: ereed@maf.org (Eric) or kreed@maf.org (Kristine) and we'll do our best to answer questions. If you'd like to talk with us via phone, please e-mail us and we'll give you our number!
It took us nearly 13 hours to get from Nampa, Idaho to Salem, Oregon but we did indeed make it! We made a few stops along the way to get out and stretch our legs. As you can imagine, having a very mobile eleven month old makes it difficult to travel far without getting out. But she's awesome in the car for the most part, so we are very blessed. We decided to stop near John Day to check out the Painted Hills part of the John Day Fossil park. It was pretty cool! (Pictures to follow soon!)
We got back to our home and saw long green grass in the front yard. Yes that's right, our reseeded lawn grew and grew while we were in Idaho! Now we can have a nice place to lay in the grass. For the past couple of days we had roofers come to re-roof our home. This was no easy task because they replaced the old shake roof with a composite shingle roof. The guys worked really hard and I think it came out well. (Photos to come soon as I can get on the other computer)
Jenna has been doing pretty well since being home. It's been hard for her not having as many kids around or other adults, plus at home she is confined to the living room to roam, so she's adjusting. Now that the roof is done I see many long walks together as a family wherever we are at. She loves to be outside and prefers it over any area of the house. She's definitely a little adventurer.
Now begins the task of sorting through our belongings, organizing our home and contacting friends, family and churches to seek partnership in ministry. This process is different for everyone, but averages around a year.
We are very excited about going to Indonesia and hope to get there by January 2013! Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world with over 85% of it's population practicing Islam. There is a great need there for MAF because a lot of the places in the jungle are remote and have no roads or really bad roads. Recently, MAF had the privilege to fly in the bibles for a bible dedication ceremony for the Kimyal people. This was the first time they'd had a bible in their own language. Here's a video of the celebration:
Isn't that amazing! God is working in the remote areas still! If you are interested in partnering with us in this amazing ministry please let us know! You can contact us at: ereed@maf.org
We'll update the pictures on this blog a little later but we wanted to get a short update out while we had a little time.
We are nearly complete with our initial training here at Mission Aviation Fellowship. It's been a wonderful time getting to know the MAF staff and other new pre-fielders. Here's a picture of our pre-field class:
In this photo are families that are going all around the world to Lesotho, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and Nampa, Idaho. We all got along really well despite having long school work hours and other family pressures. Often you could find us eating at each other's apartments, encouraging each other and talking outside until the late hours after the kids have gone to sleep. It's really been a blessing getting to know each couple, we are sad to leave such a wonderful community but excited for our next adventure!
What is this next adventure? We're officially "on the road" to visit friends, family and churches to see what's happening in their lives, share what's happening in our lives and share the opportunities to be involved in ministry with MAF. We are excited for the opportunity to see everyone again and really look forward to spending this year in great fellowship with them too!
We'll try to keep this blog updated at least every other week to keep you up to date on what's happening in our lives and where we are in the process. First we're heading back to Oregon to our home.
If you have any questions about what's going on in our lives or are interested in partnering with MAF in ministry, please feel free to ask! You can e-mail us at: ereed@maf.org (Eric) or kreed@ maf.org (Kristine). If you have any prayer requests please feel free to ask us too and we'll pray for you!
