June 2020

Fallen, But Hopefully Not Falling

Safety wire is Biblical. Safety wire is a metal wire that aviation mechanics use to secure anything in need of securing. Think of it as the elastic waist in pants, it’s there, just in case, to prevent a disaster. Safety wire is Biblical because in Genesis 3 God says ”cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;” Safety wire is sharper than you can imagine. You are probably imagining chainsaws with tiger and shark teeth, but trust me, it’s sharper than that. When used by a rookie, safety wire tends to stick into your finger/eyes/cheeks/gray matter in a heartbeat.
Recently during a nice warm day, I crawled to the back of a fabric-covered aircraft to do some safety wiring. What makes that difficult, is that fabric aircraft skin will damage if weight is applied, and the structure under the fabric consists of small metal tubes in all directions. The best way I can describe what I was crawling into was a Pre-school jungle gym, wrapped in expensive tissue paper. This was not an easy job, but at least I got it done right.. on the third try.
Safety wire serves a very useful purpose. Without safety wire in place, oil filters, turnbuckles, bolts, and nuts could loosen and fall off. Parts falling off seems to make pilots whiny, and mechanics get annoyed at whiny pilots. By purposely safety wiring that turnbuckle right, the plane will be able to serve for a long time with minimal safety concerns. A safe, reliable plane makes it possible to deliver food and medical aid to orphanages in Haiti where it serves. Medical supplies at the right time will save a life. God doesn’t demand us to be special, just faithful (John 15:4). Faithful – I guess like safety wire.

Speaking of faithful, the yellow plane below was a large project that left MMS in May. This project has been an ongoing for a few years at various locations, and ministry partners. MMS was able to assist in getting this plane flying by installing a new engine, propeller, and avionics. This plane will serve the missionaries working with the Yanomami tribe in South America which have been without air support for over ten years.

A large project completed and a tool back to work!

Climbing into the tail of a fabric covered airplane…

Mission Spotlight

Missionary Air Group or MAG serves the Miskito people of Gracias a Dios, Honduras. The lack of quality roads in this area makes rapid travel by land almost impossible. The roads there are often dirt
that frequently washout due to heavy rain leaving the 100k plus
people with little options for medical transportation. MAG flies a Cessna air ambulance and operates a hospital to help save lives in the region. MMS is currently doing a major rebuild on one of their Cessna 206 air ambulances.

Quick update about the end of April, May, and beginning of June

MMS was shut down all of April due to Covid 19, in an effort to comply with the governor’s stay at home order. I was going nuts towards the end, and could not wait to get back to work. Finally, the 1st workday of May arrived, and back to work we went.

I am still working on a plane that serves in Haiti. We are getting so close to completion that I can almost hear the engine roaring, or maybe that’s the bad tuna I ate.

With Covid downtime, we explored our local hiking spots. Salt Fork State Park is beautiful, where we enjoyed hiking and Aria enjoyed eating sand and small rocks.

One of the best restaurants ever, is East Main Kitchen. But with Covid, no inside eating was allowed, and it was a cold day…. Minivan picnic to the rescue! I don’t care who you are minivans are one of the marvels of modern society.

My folks made the quest from Pa to Oh this month. We enjoyed their company and God blessed us with some beautiful days and great memories.

Aria turned one in May. Her cake was loaded with wildflowers, macarons, and sugar, lots of sugar. We are blessed to call her our daughter, and can’t believe she is a year old!

When restrictions lessened, we went to the cabin with our friends. It was great seeing them again, and we had a fantastic time playing games and eating too much.

Prayer

Pray that we will sense God’s direction for us after MMS and MAG. That is a long time away, but time flies (not a pilot pun)!
Pray for the unreached. I have been listening to the “1040” podcast and am reminded again of how desperate the need is.

Praise

Praise: Aria burned her hands, but the burns were not too severe. Her blisters are almost healed, and she doesn’t seem to mind them much.
Praise: We are back to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been happier to go to work in my life.

Till next time,

We picked wild flowers to adorn Aria’s cake, because of their beauty, and because we are cheap:)

Minivans are the best invention mankind has accomplish

My folks were here for the weekend! They were great to have here and it was fun to say “while you are under my roof, you will do such and such” to them.

April 2020

Stinky Diapers, The Sun, COVID-19

Children stink. As anyone that has ever raised a smaller version of themselves will tell you, children cry, stink, sleep, and are happy equal parts in one day. It is a constant balancing act to keep any one of those verbs/adjectives from overpowering the others. Sometimes if they are happy and stinky its best just to let them be. That being said, children are also a huge blessing! They keep us humble and make us better. A few days ago, mid-morning my 4 yr old son asked me when the sun was going to come out. I said that the sun was already shining, but we couldn’t see it because of the clouds. I could see the gears turning in his head, and then in his little high pitched voice answered “the sun is out even when we can’t see it? Oh, that’s cool!”
Right now it seems impossible to see the other side of this dark cloud. All of us do not know what the future looks like right now. Voices are telling us what to believe or not believe about the virus, and about the future. We are confused and buying way too much toilet paper (this newsletter is paper, you’re welcome)!
Planes fly into clouds all the time and rarely have any problems. During most of the flights you have taken in your life, the plane flew through clouds. Planes have instruments that guide the pilots even when they can’t see anything. In fact, when you are in a cloud your senses become useless. Your gut is telling you that the plane is going up, when in reality it is descending. Your gut is telling you are flying straight and level, when you are turning to the left. An untrained pilot flying into a cloud, will on average lose control of their aircraft in 178 seconds.
The Bible is our instrument to guide us through this cloud; we know the One who made it! We have confidence that we will see Him on the other side of this cloud, because the Son is always there. We were never promised tomorrow (James 4:13-16), but God promises to be good and faithful.
Unreached people groups may not get Covid-19, but they have crop failures (economy), and deaths from diarrhea (health) and can probably relate well to us right now. However we have the Bible, we have salvation paid for by Jesus, and WE HAVE HOPE! This is not to downplay the very real impacts this virus will have on our lives, not at all. But pray and weep for those that have no hope, that have no instrument, and do not know the Son.

Mission Spotlight

Missionary Flights International or MFI serves various missions in Haiti, the DR, and the Bahamas. They fly WW2-era DC3s with new turboprop engines. With these planes, they can get into some of the roughest strips, with tons of supplies, food, or anything else the missions may need. We are currently inspecting one of their engines for airworthiness at MMS Aviation.

Chris Jutte teaching Josh and I about Turboprops.

There is no dignified way to stand under a wing.

We were honored to host Maria’s parents and grandparents…

…and brother and his girlfriend the following weekend

Before: Our porch had nasty, moldy carpet that Aria liked to lick.

Prayer

Pray for my family and me as the leader of the house. The next few weeks, and months are scary and the future is uncertain.
Pray for the safety of healthcare personnel, my sister Bonnie in particular.
Pray for the people dying alone during this crisis; and family members that can’t be beside their loved ones in the last hours

Praise

Praise that Freddie broke through a plate glass coffee table, scrambled scared amidst the broken shards of glass, and only received a few small cuts.
Praise that we found a faith family that we can plug into at Crosspointe Mennonite Church.

February 2020

Things That are Important

My name is Bryan. Not Brian, Bryon, Bryen, Byron, Brain, or Bry3n. It warms my self-conceited little heart when I see my name spelled right on some invite, email, or official US document. Look, I don’t blame you for spelling my name Brian, there are almost a million more people named “Brian” than there are “Bryan”. I think my folks chose the “Y” becaused the elegant, and classy way it looks. 🙂
Besides my name spelled wrong another thing that bothers me is when the front door is left open in the dead of winter! Ask my wife, If I am painting and can barely breathe because of the fumes, I will still keep the door shut to save on heating. Heating doesn’t grow on trees! Well, it does if you heat with wood….
None of this matters really. We have been created for one thing; to worship God. We think that a million other things are important, or that they will bring us joy, but no, they are empty. If the Eagles won every Superbowl, if every deer in the woods was a jumbo buck waiting for me to miss it, if every tool was free and already nicely laid out in my toolbox, and if I was already the best A&P mechanic in the world and I would never have to study again, none of that would matter.
Ultimately planes are not important. Planes are like shiny lawnmowers; they are air-cooled, loud, carbureted, and spin metal blades really fast. Cessnas, like John Deeres, are amazing tools that can accomplish much. Cessnas, unlike John Deeres, can fly over jungles and aid missionaries to bring God’s word to the hard-to-reach, to those that have never heard.
That is important.

Mission Spotlight

JAARS works with the Mato speaking people in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. They have been working to translate the Bible into their language for 24 years and finally in September of 2019 they received the Bible in their heart language. Pray for the Mato people as they read the Bible, and that through reading their faith may be strengthened!

Bryan’s corner:
I am an MMS apprentice! My first day was January 2nd, which was inventory day! Every year on the first business day of the year MMS counts almost everything to update our inventory. After that, I began my basic training. In basic training, I cut aluminum sheets to measurements within 1/64 of an inch, rivet solid rivets in weird and unusual fashions, and had my first of many battles with safety wire. I am studying like crazy right now and my brain hurts almost constantly. I am excited and grateful to be here! Please pray for my brain to hold some of the knowledge that is getting thrown at it.

Maria’s corner:
Life hasn’t changed very much for Frederick, Aria, and I! My days are spent doing household chores and keeping the children alive. The MMS ladies get together every-other Monday evening for prayer and sharing time, and really I love having the chance to get to know them! (I also love that Bryan stays home with the children so I can have a relaxing evening.) Bryan usually has a test every Friday, so in the evenings after supper, I do my best to keep everyone quiet while Bryan studies a little. We don’t always succeed. But he did get 100% on the last two tests, so maybe a little noise is fine… or maybe it’s the fact that he gets up at 5:30 am to study as well!
We had our first out-of-state visitors in Jan! My Uncle and Aunt Steve & Rhonda Hurst and their children spent a few hours with us. Bryan got to give them a tour of the hangar, and we ate food and talked about all things aviation.
Freddie turned 4 in January, and was beyond delighted to go to a restaurant called “Freddy’s” where he even got to drink soda!! I think that was the highlight of his year so far. We are doing a little “school” here and there. It mostly consists of art, watering plants, helping me bake, and going over numbers and letters. Our current plan is to homeschool him, at least until Bryan is finished with training and we settle on the mission field. That is still about 4 &½ years and multiple moves away, so a consistent teacher in his life will offer some stability.
Aria is 9 months old and getting into EVERYTHING! She crawls, walks along with furniture, and rarely laughs at anyone but Freddie, whom she adores.

Prayer

Pray: For my(Bryan) poor over-taxed brain! Right now I feel like my brain is a strainer trying to
absorb knowledge in an
ocean of facts.

Pray: That God will give us discernment in finding a church to attend while we are here. We went to Crosspointe Mennonite church two times now, and really appreciate it. It is only a 30-minute drive, which is a plus, considering the fact that the others we looked into were an hour away.

Praise

Praise: We had a great trip into PA for Christmas! It was wonderful to be with loved ones to celebrate Christ’s birth.

Praise: We are adjusting well to our new home. The children have been mostly healthy, and have been taking well to the adjustment. One benefit of Ohio not having an auto inspection, is that my rusted out Mazda finally fits in!