• wisdom— so much is unknown
• hearts surrendered to God’s will

• a safe, smooth move back to MI
• the possibility of us buying a house in Mayville, MI
  • as an investment 
  • to use as a furlough home

• provision for
  • Ben’s flight helmet 
  • the flight training

• a 6-12 month wait for the C185 repairs
• Goal: to be cleared to fly in the Philippines

Transition to training in the Cessna 206

• a 4-9 month wait for scheduling issues
• Since the Philippines only
  uses C185’s and helicopters,
  this would mean a change in
  field.
• Goal: to possibly get to the
  field faster/ to meet needs on
  other NTMA fields

*Please Note* – No major changes are being made without talking to our home churches and ministry partners.

At the advice of our home church pastors, we’re moving back to MI as previously planned. We’re in the process of packing our household into our new trailer.

We’re moving to Mayville, MI (Cathy’s hometown). Her parents are helping us to find housing.

This summer, we plan to visit with as many of our ministry partners as possible.

We still need to raise more support. But the specifics of how and when remain to be seen.

We’re so thankful that Ben and the other pilot were not seriously hurt.

We can definitely see the value of a helmet!!

Please pray for the repairs to go quickly and smoothly.

Dear Family and Friends,
Ben’s bush pilot training is on hold for now. It will be at least a few months before he can resume training. But let’s back up a minute.

You may remember… Airstrips in the Philippines are harder than those in most other countries NTMA serves. Pilots in the Philippines are held to very high training standards.

 
Ben has been progressing through his training. He has several more flights left to finish before he can be cleared to fly in the Philippines.

Here’s the problem: After a bad day at “Graduation Airstrip,” the plane needs several months of repairs. Unfortunately, this Cessna 185 is the only one NTMA has available for training.

Ben’s training is now in a holding pattern.

We have a number of long-term decisions facing us now. Our short-term plan is to communicate with our ministry partners and home churches. (You’ll find more information in Long-term Decisions and Short-term Plan.)

Please keep us in your prayers.

 
Seeking Him,
Ben, Cathy, Benben, Coleen, and RuthE.

Ben’s brother helped us finance a larger trailer.  He’s giving us the options of    

1. giving it to him once our stuff is out          OR    

2. buying it from him if we need it for storage while we’re overseas.

What this means for now:

We’ve been able to put our 10′ x 6′ trailer up for sale.  Lord willing, we’ll be able to get a good price and put that money toward the new trailer.

The difference in cost between the 2 trailers is roughly the same as the cost of a Uhaul truck rental from AZ to MI.

Thanks for your prayers!!

We’re looking for a larger enclosed trailer than our 6×10 for two reasons:

1. For the move back to MI - When we moved to AZ we were packed so tight we didn’t have room for extra hangers.   Since then, we’ve added a toddler bed, crib, changing table, etc.

2. For storage while we’re overseas – Rather than renting a storage unit, we’d like to store furniture and things in our own trailer.  This would allow us mobility and flexibility as well as cutting the cost of both storage and setting up housekeeping on furloughs.

News Flash:

The Koois are learning about flexibility. 

We’ve had some major changes in plan over the last few weeks.

Click on the pictures or links below to hear about plans changing and just plain news.

  We’re no longer planning on getting Ben his helicopter license.  Find out why… 

Since we’re not staying in Arizona for helicopter training, here are our Future Plans.

Interested in hearing about Ben’s bush pilot training?  Find out about Accuracy Landings and Clover Leafs.

Will you be praying for us?  Here are some current prayer requests.

For those of you who haven’t seen Benben’s new glasses, here’s a photo shoot.  He’s doing really well with them, by the way.  They’ve opened up a whole new world to him.