Wow! We have been at NTM’s US Headquarters for 7 months now. What a privilege it is to be involved in what God is doing in tribes around the world.
The past few months have been very busy for us.
Our House Sold!
In April, I (Jennifer) traveled back to Virginia to close on the sale of our home there. Praise the Lord! It was only on the market for three months, and everything from the contract to the closing went smoothly. In the months since we’ve been gone, Patrick’s dad and mom helped clear out the attic and finish up some last-minute repairs on the house. Without their help, we couldn’t have moved on down here in December.
Our realtor-friend from our home church, Roxanne, worked hard to advertise and show our house; but most importantly, she prayed for us and for the sale of the house. It sure is nice to know the realtor is trusting God to sell the house. We definitely saw God’s hand in it all. I also got to visit with some friends, getting in some girl-friend-time with coffee and chocolate.
Visit and Passing
Our sovereign God also worked an extra day into my time there, so I had enough time to drive up to WV to see my Grandma Abel, who was not healing well after a surgery. As it turned out, that was my last visit with my grandma. I’m so thankful our Father built that extra time into my schedule.
In May, my Grandma Abel went to be with the Lord. All of us traveled to WV for the funeral. It was good to be with almost all our extended family. On the way home, we visited with family and friends in WV, VA, and SC.
Vehicle
Just weeks before our trip to WV, our Father provided a new-to-us 12-passenger van for our family. As many of you may remember, our old Suburban had over 250,000 miles on it, and it had numerous problems during our travels to churches last year. The day after I returned to Florida from closing on our house, the electrical problems we had last year started up again.
We knew it could be dangerous to attempt a long trip in the Suburban and hoped to find a newer vehicle before the summer. As it turned out, the perfect van was for sale by an individual nearby, and the price was a great deal. God provided the money, and we bought the van just in time for the long drive for my grandma’s funeral.
Caleb and School
During the school year, we also spent a lot of time at school, working with our Caleb on his reading. He has always been a late-bloomer, and reading seems to be no exception. Patrick and I took turns working with him one-on-one with reading while his classmates were in their reading class.
Caleb has really worked hard and come a long way. We’re still tutoring in reading, and he will probably need our help again in the fall. We’d appreciate your prayers for this – that Caleb would be excited about learning to read and that we’d have patience and creativity in teaching him.
Tourette's
We have also noticed in the past few months that our Silas has all the signs of Tourette Syndrome, like his big sister, Rachel. We haven’t had him formally diagnosed yet, but we are sure he has TS, mild OCD, and probably ADHD.
So far, the tics haven’t been a problem at school for either Rachel or Silas. We’re praying that’s also true for next year when Silas is at school for full days of first grade. Please pray for wisdom in disciplining both Silas and Rachel and for great patience for us. Sometimes tics can be crazy and wearying for all of us.
Ministry
In the midst of family life, we continue in the ministry here at New Tribes and in the community as well. We’re taking our turns teaching in KinderChurch at church. I’m involved with Bible Study Fellowship during the school year, taking Jackson and Griffin along for the wonderful children’s program. And, of course, we are living and breathing tribal ministry here at Headquarters.
Patrick loves what God has called him to in the communications department. It’s been fun to see how God is using his specific gifts and talents and learned skills. We know our Lord knew exactly how He would use Patrick here as He was knitting together those gifts and his personality and as He directed him to jobs in the past to learn specific skills.
Patrick is writing and editing and managing projects in the communications department. He’s involved with the production of in-house publications, the quarterly magazine, various brochures, memos and announcements for our NTM family, video production, radio stories, and much more.
Both of us are helping create over 120 radio stories that will help get the word out about what God is doing through New Tribes in remote parts of the world. It is exciting to tell the stories of tribal people, knowing that God will use their stories to touch hearts, knowing that their stories are really His story, the story of His amazing love for the world. Please pray for open doors at Christian radio stations throughout the country so that many people can hear about unreached people groups and the need to get the Gospel to these tribes.
Summer Travels
We are planning to be in Virginia, South Carolina, and West Virginia for a few weeks at the end of July and beginning of August. One of the main goals of this trip is to continue to raise our level of financial support.
Please pray for safe travels. Since we’ll be spending a lot of time sitting in the van, which is really difficult for young boys, please pray for contentment and good imaginations for the boys and for creativity in making the trip fun for me. Please also pray that the many and varied Tourette Syndrome tics will be met with a sense of humor from everyone as we’re all in the van together.
We hope to see many of you during this time.
Thanks so much for your partnership in reaching tribal people with the love of Christ. We couldn’t be here without you. And we wouldn’t want to be doing this on our own!
Disclaimer: This personal ministry website is provided by New Tribes Mission (NTM) as a courtesy to its members. NTM makes no warranty regarding the accuracy of the information on these pages. Opinions expressed are provided by members in good faith, but are entirely those of the member and do not necessarily represent policy, doctrinal position, or opinions of NTM. If you encounter information that you consider questionable, please e-mail the NTM web team.
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