Anyone who follows our ministry knows how busy this time of year is for us. We arrived back in AK in March, and we still haven't finished unpacking boxes that we packed up before we left for furlough... which begs to question, “How important are these things anyway?”

It has been a delight to get back and minister in the village of Manley Hot Springs! There have been some struggles in the lives of some of our friends, but the Lord kept and protected them through the long winter. Thank you for praying for them. The number has dwindled from the 15-20 attending services to around 10. We had one family move out of the village this spring. Please pray that the Lord will allow us to see others trust Christ and for more folks to start attending. Would you also pray that Earl will discern our Lord's leading in this ministry?

Thanks to Bro. Jim Parvis for coming up to help on Bro. Ronnie Starr's Cessna 207. This plane is now busy flying for Operation Saturation. Next was Bro. Jim Poleman's Cessna 172, then Bro. Starr's other plane, a Cessna 206. There has been an estimated 240 hours of labor spent on four missionary airplanes, not including ours. This amounts to nearly $23,000 of savings in labor for these missionaries. With the downturn in the economy and missionary support dropping, the maintenance aspect of our ministry is proving even more valuable!

Earl finally completed the annual inspection on MAC's twin engine airplane (the Navajo). There were a few “opportunities” that hindered its completion. Of the 4 mechanics, who volunteered to come help, only one made it. Earl had to hire another mechanic to work on our plane in order to fulfill our commitment to other missionaries. Because of these “opportunities” and the cost of airplane parts, a few flights had to be canceled.

The new plane has been sitting around drawing a crowd, since we flew it back. The FAA has held the paperwork up, but just last month, the mission board received the registration. Praise the Lord! We are now waiting on the FAA to transfer the registration from the mission board to Mission Air Care, and it will be actively involved in flying missionaries around the state!

The Youngblood family were faithful with the distribution ministry and took good care of everything at our home while we were on furlough. They are now branching out to filling in for missionaries short term. If we are going to lose them, this is what we would like to lose them to. We need more laborers in these villages. Time is short! Please pray for them.

Our family has jumped back into the routine of the ministry. Lynn has kept Jeremiah going in homeschooling (he only has a few more Math lessons for the year. ) She also keeps the constant flow of missionary guests fed and happy. Along with shopping for missionaries, taking Earl's mom to the doctors and picking up after Earl! Jeremiah is back into the bus ministry here in Fairbanks and has become more valuable to his Dad at the airport. Earl's mom, Terri, has settled in nicely. She had surgery in May for a mass on her ovary. Praise the Lord it was benign. She is healing up and eager to get back to normal again. She loves AK, but misses her other kids and her friends at her church in NC.


And for those of you who graciously took the time to read to the end of this letter, we reluctantly admit that we are having to downsize. Our support has dropped to 2001 levels, yet our expenses have not. Pray that we make the right choices. Please know that we will pray for you to have a fruitful summer for our Lord. Our ministry could not happen without your prayers and support. For that, we are very thankful.