We recently celebrated Good Friday. What was "good" about having crucified Jesus? Why did He have to die? He died because it was God’s incredible solution for the "Worst Day Ever." The “Worst Day Ever” when Adam and Eve turned their backs on fellowship with God and eternal life. For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous. Jesus Christ died instead of us. He willingly died as the sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Our sin. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It was not only "Good" Friday, but actually should be called "Best Friday" because God gave us the gift of eternal life thru Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. For God so loved your name that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. It is because of Jesus' death and resurrection that we have such great hope. Easter Sunday should be called the "Best Day Ever."
Have a joyous Resurrection Sunday, filled with hope and new life in Jesus!
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!!!
Dear Family and Friends—Welcome back for the rest of our 2006 Update!!
In August, we traveled to Alaska with Debbie’s Dad. We met Dad in Denver and flew to Anchorage. It was a beautiful trip, going by train from Anchorage to Seward then traveling by catamaran in the Kenai Fjords seeing glaciers and their calvings, waterfalls, mountains, stellar sea lions, otters, birds, bald eagles, and lots of seals on the ice flows by a glacier; plus we visited Sea Life and saw birds flying UNDER water! We visited Talkeetna, but Mt. McKinley was clouded over, then took a bus tour for 13 hours in the Denali National Park. God’s creation is so awesome! 
We saw 3 grizzly bears with a mama and her cub almost within touching distance, plus caribou, moose and her calf, golden eagle, ptarmigan, artic squirrels, and Tiger trees, which look like scrawny sticks with pine needles and are very old. We trained from Denali to Fairbanks and spent most of our time in the dome car enjoying the scenery. Then for 3 days we were in a 12-passenger van with a total of 9 sightseers and 1 guide, driving along the Alaskan pipeline. We drove through some more amazing country side, including the crossing of the Yukon River on our way to Cold Foot, which took 12 hours. We took a 10-passenger airplane flight to Anaktubuk Pass Village—the most inland Eskimo village of Alaska. Our Eskimo guides opened up their new and old churches for us to see and sang “Amazing Grace” in their native tongue. Everything was wonderful! The next day we drove 12½ hours to Dead Horse, better known as Prudhoe Bay. We toured the oil fields and stood by the Artic Ocean then flew back to Fairbanks i
n less than 3 hours. We rounded off our tour with a stern wheel boat trip, an Athabascan Eskimo village tour, and a dog training session. On our own, we drove to North Pole attending church with friends of Dad’s and fellowshipping with them over their home cooked lunch. On our final day we visited the University of Alaska Fairbanks museum and then drove to Chena Hot Springs where we enjoyed the hot pool and Dad enjoyed their thermal heated greenhouse tour along with other thermal energy features. 
All of us enjoyed the Chena Ice House Museum where EVERYTHING was carved from ice, but we weren’t persuaded to spend a night in one of the ice beds at $500 each and temperatures of 20º!! AND coming back we saw Mt. McKinley!! We then flew to Portland OR and visited Debbie’s little brother and wife for a few days and on to Cheyenne and played with Brody and visited with Stephanie, Debbie’s step-Mom, and older brother and family. We had such a wonderful vacation with Dad and seeing our family!
When we arrived back at Port Mercy (Lake Charles LA) the end of August, the Spirit of Grace sailed 2 days later with a crew of 42 (including 2 children) to the great nation of Israel. We were privileged to keep the home fires burning this time and be prayer warriors for our sailing crew as they were while we were in Haiti. They delivered 5,000 cubic tons of medical supplies, bedding, linens, paper products, clothing, furniture, hygiene necessities, school supplies, building materials and more. These goods were received and distributed by Joseph Project, a wonderful humanitarian aid organization that works through a network of agencies throughout Israel that help those in need. Among the people that received help were war victims, new immigrants from many countries, terror victims, Arab families in need, the elderly, handicapped, orphans and the homeless. The Spirit of Grace crew was gone from September 2 to January 2 with 40 days spent in Ashdod and 83 days at sea. We had quite a celebration upon their arrival home!! For more info, log on at www.friendships.org.
Regular work continued for Steve as he was kept busy keeping the John Deere backhoe, golf carts, forklifts, International flatbed truck, Bantam crane, vans, crew’s cars, Kenworth semi truck, lawn mowers, and skid loader running. He also flew to Orlando FL with Friend Ships Director Don Tipton to bring back an RV. They had quite an adventure; Steve keeping the RV running on the 4-day trip home and Don driving it. Plus in 1½ hours Steve helped the warehouse crew load a 20’ container with food, rice, and mattresses donated to another ministry and bound for Haiti. 
Debbie’s supervisor sailed to Israel, so while she was gone, it was a busy time. Debbie received a donation of water maker filters for the Spirit of Grace and got a full refund from DHL by filing for a ‘delivery date failed’—both were answers to prayer and such blessings! Another big project was preparing for the International WorkBoat Show, held in New Orleans, which included asking for donations of lodging, preparing Friend Ships online advertisement and attending the actual show to meet and thank the many companies who donate to us. She also received a “YES” donation from Princess Cruises to ship supplies from Galveston to Roatán. Thank you, Jesus!!
It was great that Deb’s Mom and step-Dad visited for a week in early November. Debbie and Mom (Ruth) worked in the office together and Earl and Steve worked in the yard. December 4th, a gift from our Iowa friends was delivered—a 28-foot, 5th wheel trailer with a slide out. It needs some minor work, but it doesn’t leak! We moved in January 14th and are enjoying it tremendously!
So many highlights this year with the Haiti Medical Outreach, Alaska trip, Deb’s parents visiting, a new home, but the biggest has got to be that ALL of our kids came to Port Mercy for Christmas!! IT WAS SO WONDERFUL!! (Picture on the good ship Hope—Top row, l-r: Stephanie and Brody, Sonja and Lydia, Jason, Kendra, Doug, Steve. Bottom row, l-r: Hannah, Debbie and Abigail, Caleb, Glenn.)
Glenn, Sonja and the kids were here from the 18th-3rd, so they got to see the Grace came home. Stephanie, Jason and Brody were here from the 23rd-27th and had to drive because the Denver airport was shut down due to snowstorms. Kendra and Doug arrived in the wee hours of the 24th and stayed til the 30th. They treated us to barbequed shish kabobs, which we enjoyed at our 5th wheel trailer. We had such a good time together!! (Picture of Grandkids in Grandpa and Grandma's cabin on the Spirit—counterclock wise: Lydia, Caleb, Hannah, Brody, and Abigail.
We toured the Tabasco Company on Avery Island, then traveled via the back roads and saw thousands of water birds and an alligator sunning itself on a round bale that was stuck in a canal ditch. The Maas Mass was also privileged to serve and bless the crew by cooking Christmas dinner. SO MUCH FUN AND SO MANY BLESSINGS! 
Highlights of our kids include: Stephanie is working at Sierra Trading Post. Jason was discharged from the Marines in November. He since has joined the National Guard to train as a helicopter mechanic. Kendra passed her comps and is now an official Ph.D. candidate! Glenn is studying for the M-Cat (a medical test) so he can apply to medical schools. (Picture of KIDS in Spirit's "Upper Room"—Sonja, Glenn, Stephanie, Kendra, Doug and Jason.)We love you! Thanks for sharing our 2006!! From the S-D Maas', Steve and Debbie! XXOOXOXOOOXOOOXOXOOOOXOOXOXOOXOXO
