April 2009 Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello! Another month has passed and we thought we’d update you on our life and our progress towards becoming missionaries with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). Last month we told you that we’d been accepted as candidate members in an organization called Servant Wings.

Servant Wings

To jog your memory, Servant Wings is a ministry that exists to help missionary pilot candidates get the training they need to join a mission’s organization. They are essentially a stepping stone on our path to joining MAF. Because of Servant Wings Eric is able to get valuable training and time in Servant Wings planes both through maintenance and flying to help him towards completing MAF's pilot/mechanic requirements. The people involved in the organization are also great mentors to us through the process of praying about joining MAF. Because Servant Wings is a non-profit organization they raise all the funds required to keep this vital ministry going. As missionary candidates we also raise funds to be a part of this important ministry. We would like to invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us in ministry with Servant Wings. More information about this is at the end of our letter, first we’d love to update you on what’s been going on this past month.

Oregon Coast Trip

April has been a busy month for us. We’ve been working hard to try to get more organized to be able to complete everything we need to get accomplished these next few months. With everything going on with work, training, schooling and fixing up the house, we decided to take a few days to rest and have some fun. Kristine had two weeks off in April for spring break so we took an extended weekend trip to the Oregon coast.

It was wonderful to get away from our responsibilities for a few days to just relax, be with each other and enjoy God’s creation. We camped out near the coast the first night and went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Kristine had never been to it so it was a fun time for both of us. We saw the new “Oddwater” exhibit and many interesting fish. Our favorite fish was the Longhorn Cowfish. We put a picture of it in the newsletter so you could see it too! It’s so amazing to see the many diverse fish that God’s made.

After the aquarium we traveled down the coast towards California stopping on various beaches to do hikes and see the Ocean. Our last major stop on our trip was to see the Redwood Forest in California. It was amazing to see how large these trees have become over the course of many years. Also amazing was the fact that many of these trees have been through different forest fires and have STILL survived. In a way it’s like the trials and tribulations we go through in life while believing in God. We may be scorched in the fire, but by the grace of God we can make it through still standing tall as a testament to His glory.

Back to Work...Eric update

After we came back from our trip it was back to reality for us and all the responsibilities that come with it. Eric continued to work on updating the instrument panel and creating an air filter system for his hiperbipe (his biplane) and completed it! Soon he hopes to get back flying in his own plane again to help sharpen his skills when he’s not working with the instructors at Servant Wings and using their planes. He is still working on completing his instrument rating for his pilot’s license. He hopes to be able to take the written test soon. After that he’ll do some more flight training and take the performance evaluation to get his flight rating. With all the bad winter weather it’s been hard to get up in the plane to train, but spring is here and with it longer daylight hours and better weather! Praise God!

Kristine’s job search update

Lately Kristine has been looking again for teaching jobs and finding that there aren’t many, if any, out there. Her main goal of trying to find a teaching job is to give us a good income with health benefits while Eric’s going to PCC full-time. On April 7^th she spent six hours at the Oregon Professional Educators fair talking with different districts and found out that they all have grim outlooks on the next year. It’s a bit disappointing, but we know that no matter what happens that God has a sovereign plan and will take care of our needs in the next year. Right now she is still working as an educational assistant for an early intervention autism program in Beaverton and thankful that she has a job, even if it isn’t in the field she got her degree in.

House Update

We are making some progress on the house. Kristine painted some molding and we’ve been working on landscaping the yard some more. Next we’ll finish the master bath floor and put up molding the main bath. Soon we hope to have some warmer weather to be able to finish painting the outside of the house. Slowly but surely we’re completing our tasks. After we’re finished we’ll list the house and pray to get it sold ASAP.

Class Update

We’re still working on completing our New Testament Survey class by June. Prayer for motivation to do the work for this class would be awesome. We get distracted a lot with everything we have to do and lately have been really working hard to get ourselves on an organized schedule to complete this class. After we’ve finished this class we’ll have to complete just a few more bible credits to fulfill the MAF bible requirements.

Prayer

We’d love it if you’d keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Right now motivation seems to be our biggest obstacle. We have so many things to do that sometimes it can seem overwhelming and hard to know where to start. So prayer for wisdom would be awesome during this time and for us to have a clear vision of where God is leading us in the future. Here are some things you can pray for us for these next few months:

1) Finish our New Testament Survey class by June

2) We spend more time in the word and with God

3) Complete the projects on the house to be able to sell it

4) Wisdom for us regarding Kristine’s job situation

5) Eric to finish is instrument rating by summer

6) For us to be able to raise $3800 a month as candidate members of Servant Wings (details are on the right if you are interested in partnering with us)

Contact Us!
God loves all of you and cares about you very much! We care about you too! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about what we've written or what we feel called to do. We'd love to share our hearts with you and for you to join with us as partners in ministry. You can contact us by e-mail at ericandkristinereed@gmail.com .

With Love in Christ,
Eric and Kristine Reed

Job Searching again....

It's that time again....time to look for teaching jobs! Kristine still holds out hope to get a teaching job somewhere in Washington or Oregon so that we'll have good income while Eric goes to school full-time in an AMT (Aviation Maintenance Technician) program. This time of year is typically when the school districts post their new jobs for next year. Unfortunately because of the economy and lack of funding in the districts, there are very very few job postings out there.

This has led Kristine to apply for teaching jobs near AMT schools in WA as well as Oregon. It's still our hope and goal that Kristine can get a job in Oregon so Eric can go to Portland Community College, but we have to be able to financially make it while he goes to school. Kristine is also looking into other types of employment as well just in case she doesn't get a teaching job again.

So prayers for us during this process would be much appreciated and are vital to help us make the best decision possible regarding where to live and work.

God Bless,
Eric and Kristine Reed

Networked Blogs and update

Hello again! We've discovered an easy way for you to follow our blog. If you are on Facebook just click on Follow This Blog on the right side of the screen and you'll be following our blog! *You can also follow our blog on Google Reader or any number of other sites. If you want information on how to do that please let us know! This is new to us, so we're still discovering how it works...but it looks pretty cool.

Lately we've been praying for the weather to clear up so Eric can fly and we both can work on the house more. We've found that we both have more energy when the sun is shining and the weather is warmer. Well, maybe just when the weather is warmer!

We are still going back and forth on what is the best option for us as far as moving. We know that being closer to Vancouver and Hillsboro is a definite goal. Although financially we aren't sure whether we'll need to rent or whether we'll be able to get a house up there. So prayer for that would be much appreciated!

We thank all of you for your love and support. Thanks for continuing to read and respond to our letters. If you have any questions or are in need of prayer, please e-mail us and let us know at ericandkristinereed@gmail.com.

New opportunity to help!

Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know we are working towards finishing up the requirements to apply to join MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). We are still a couple of years out, but right now we becoming more actively involved in an organization called Servant Wings.

Servant Wings

Servant Wings exists to help missionary pilot candidates get the training they need to join a missions organization. They are essentially a stepping stone on our path to joining MAF. Because of Servant Wings Eric is able to get valuable training and time in Servant Wings planes both through maintenance and flying to help him towards completing MAF's pilot/mechanic requirements. The people involved in the organization are also great mentors to us through the process of praying about joining MAF.

Because Servant Wings is a non-profit organization they raise all the funds required to keep this vital ministry going. As missionary candidates we also raise funds to be a part of this important ministry. We would like to invite you to prayerfully consider partnering with us in ministry with Servant Wings.

How can I help? I don't know how to fly a plane?!?!

Some of you may be thinking, " I don't know how to fly a plane much less repair one! How could God use me in Servant Wings?" Or you could be thinking, "I've never felt called to go overseas to be a missionary? How could I be involved in MAF?" It's a common misconception in the church that to be involved in missions you have to be the one out there on the field. What's amazing is that God has made us each uniquely gifted to be able to spread the gospel and to be a part of the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about how each part of the body of Christ is important, there is no separation of one part from another. In ministry this is the same. There would not be missionaries out on the field without people back home prayerfully and financially supporting them in their journey. By doing this in a sense, every day people and missions organizations back home are the "arm" reaching out to support the "hand" that is the missionaries. Without the arm to support the hand, and the body to support the arm, there would be no hand to do the physical work. It might sound silly, but it's the perfect example of how you can be involved in ministry even if you aren't the one called on the actual missions field.

How you can help now

Right now you can be involved in a vital part of the missions process by helping to support Servant Wings both financially and in your prayers. Your tax-deductible donations will help Servant Wings provide the necessary tools to help prospective missionary aviators reach the field. The money you donate will be used towards: maintaining the training planes, purchasing aviation fuel, eliminating student debt (This is often the #1 reason missionary pilot candidates never get to the field), flight hours (training time) for a missionary student, operation costs and in other areas to support missionary candidates. This is a HUGE help in being able to send missionary candidates onto the next step, applying to a mission aviation organization.

Every little bit counts!

We know that because of the economy that money is tight right now for many of you. That's why we're asking you to prayerfully consider donating just $10 a month to Servant Wings. Every little bit counts and gets spread out to help in all areas of ministry. If you'd like to become a ministry partner in this way please let us know. We'd love to talk with you personally about it and also encourage you to visit the website: http://www.servantwings.org/. There you can learn more about the ministry and because of the technological age we are in, you can now securely donate online. Servant Wings requires that we raise $3800/month. Would you join us in prayer and support to help us reach this goal?

If you are uncomfortable donating online you can send a check (written out to Servant Wings) to this address:

Servant Wings
118 NE 108th St
Vancouver, WA 98685

Prayer and Encouragement for YOU! :)

We want to be able to encourage you all as you have continued to encourage us. If you have prayer needs or requests we'd love to pray for you. Please feel free to e-mail your prayer requests to us at ericandkristinereed@gmail.com and we'll pray for you. Your requests will be kept confidential unless you tell us otherwise. We know it's a hard time for many out there. We encourage you all to continue to look to God for guidance in your daily lives too as we try to do.

Here's a verse that is good to remember:
Jeremiah 29:11-13
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Many people quote this verse out of context, but to give you a little history, this was written as an encouragement by the prophet Jeremiah (speaking on the Lord's behalf) to the people exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. It was to encourage them through the hard times they would be facing in exile. Even though most of us are not living in exile in a sense, it's important to remember that the Lord does have a plan for our lives and that we need to continue to seek His guidance in what we do. Sometimes it is really hard depending on what happens, but that means we need to pray harder to have the right heart and mindset in the hard times to make it through.

Contact Us!
God loves all of you and cares about you very much! We care about you too! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about what we've written or what we feel called to do. We'd love to share our hearts with you and for you to join with us as partners in ministry.

With Love in Christ,
Eric and Kristine Reed

All Over the World: Borneo

This video is from a t.v. show called All over the World that documents lives of missionaries...all over the world. Our friend's the Harms posted this on their blog (In the Shadow of His Wings) . They are going to Haiti as missionaries with MAF. This video is not of Haiti, but is a clip of what MAF does in Indonesia/Borneo. It's a good representation of what we hope to do someday in service to our Lord, enjoy.



Here's another video of a final approach in Tiweano, Ecuador with MAF. We went to Tiweano on a separate MAF vision trip in 2007. This is the same air strip we landed at. Enjoy.