One thing we always hear, and are fully aware of by now, is that missionaries must be flexible. It’s not because God changes His mind or spontaneously decides to do something different with us. But it is because God knows His plans for us and we do not. God’s plan was not for David to build the temple, it was for Solomon to build it. And His plan was not for Paul to preach in Asia, but in Macedonia. As we walk with Him and trust Him, His plan becomes more clear.
Last week we received some news that creates a change in our plans, but it doesn’t change God’s plans. The Paraguayan field leadership team met for their regular quarterly business meeting and, among other things, they discussed the benefits of us going to Mexico before Paraguay. The result of that meeting is that we no longer have to go to Mexico before we can go to Paraguay! The field of Paraguay isn’t completely set up for this change yet, so it may be March before we’re able to go down there, but it will still be months sooner than was originally planned. We were never against going to Mexico first, and we have been willing to go along with the leadership’s decisions, but there are so many benefits to this change that we are excited about. Praise God with us for His orchestration of this. Now we just have to readjust our thinking when it comes to packing over these next few months. Please pray for us as we make the necessary adjustments to go to Paraguay early next year.
What does a day in the life of a linguistics student look like here in Tahlequah, Oklahoma?Well, I will give you a sample of one of the busier days. We wake up at 7 to go over and set up breakfast in the dining hall for the whole group of 37 people.We eat breakfast at 7:30 and then head back to finish getting ready for the day.At around 8:30 or so, four little ones come over to be babysat until 11.So, from 8:30 to 11 we watch eight children ages 7 and under.That gets a little crazy on a rainy day—of which there seem to be plenty here.At 11:45, I head over to the dining hall to make lunch for our four kids and Bryson and me, while Bryson prepares for our Cherokee session.Bryson and I eat lunch and then head off to our language helper’s house for a couple of hours.While Bryson and I are learning Cherokee, our kids go play with our neighbors’ kids.When we finally get back, it is about 4:00 and the kids are ready for some quiet time.They work on school or play games, while Bryson and I work on filing and practicing the Cherokee we learned.Dinner is at 5:30, then it’s time to clean up the kids and get ready for bed.Once the kids are in bed, more studying happens as we try to get a grasp on the Cherokee language.Exhausted reading this?We are too!So, if you think of it, you can pray for stamina and health during this crazy 7 weeks.
Our family in front of the Cherokee church we're attending while here
Wow!What a summer!It was so good to see many of you and share with you about God’s mission to redeem the lost and our vision to be a part of it.We were able to stop and see some old friends of Mindy along the way.At the beginning of summer, we got to see a dear couple that pastors a church in Idaho now who actually taught my parents in Baker City, Oregon when they were going through the missionary training.On the way to Oklahoma we stayed in a couple houses that are part of a hospitality network for missionaries.One of the couples that we stayed with happened to be the same couple that I stayed with when I was traveling with my parents from Missouri to California 15 years ago.
Along with people that we haven’t seen for many years we got to visit with many people that we’ve been in contact with over the last few years and it was very good to have that fellowship.But we also got to meet a lot of new people as God worked out opportunities for us to share in some churches that we have never been to before.Praise God that the news of God’s plan of missions is spreading!We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with the many people that we got to do that with.
After a busy Summer, we’re now heading into a hectic Autumn.We have arrived in Tahlequah, OK and we already have one week of language sessions behind us.I get the feeling these seven (six now!) weeks are going to fly by.We have a very sweet lady named Lucile Wilson as our language helper.She is a believer and we will be going to her church while we’re here.We’ve learned some of the important initial sayings for entering any new culture.
The Cherokee Baptist grounds that we're staying on
Osiyo, tohiju means “hello, how are you?And you respond to this by saying osta, “I’m good.”And to ask what something is we need to say kataustia.This is only the beginning though and they say that the easiest is behind us—well that’s good to know!Thank you all so much for your prayers and for the encouragement that you are.Oh, by the way, there is no word for “goodbye” in Cherokee.
There have not been that many new missionaries headed to Paraguay through New Tribes Mission for a while…until now. There are now several families and singles enroute to Paraguay to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the unreached of Paraguay. We are a part of the group heading there that graduated from the Missionary Training Center in December of 2008.
The Fourth of July is a celebration and a time to remember the sacrifices made to bring our country freedom. As believers, we have our own periodic celebration. Communion is the time that we set aside to remember the Great Sacrifice that our Savior made on the cross to bring us freedom from our sin. These two celebrations are somewhat similar. Each is a remembrance of a sacrifice made.
The Fourth of July is also a recollection of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was a statement made by thirteen colonies declaring their intentions to break off from the rule of England. As believers, we make our own declaration. Baptism is a statement made by believers. But while the Declaration of Independence was declaring intentions, the believer’s baptism is declaring what has already taken place. Baptism is the declaration of a believer to other believers and to unbelievers of his identification with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. It is a one-time occurrence in which a believer declares to all that will listen, “Jesus Christ died for my sins, I believe that, and I am now part of His family.”
The Fourth of July for us this year was not only a day for remembering our country’s sacrifices and declaration; it was a day for two fairly new believers to make their own declaration of their belief in Jesus’ sacrifice and their identification with Him. In Matthew 28, Jesus instructs us to make disciples of all nations and to baptize them. We are looking forward to doing that in a far away nation, but it was a tremendous privilege to baptize Hannah and Elijah last Saturday! If you’re on Facebook, you can go there to see a couple videos. You can also go to our Photos page here to see some pictures.
I was unsure about adding Facebook to my list of things to do, and I had a lot of excuses not to. For me, once most everyone else is doing something, it loses its appeal. I don’t want to go with the flow or do something just to fit into the crowd.
But as missionaries, there’s more to this overseas ministry than what’s done overseas. I believe that it is God’s will for all believers to be a part of reaching the unreached with the Gospel, so part of our ministry is to keep you informed about what God is doing, so that you can be involved prayerfully and financially. Another part of our ministry is to try to inform those that are unaware of the need to take the Gospel to all nations.
So, with that purpose in mind, since there are so many people on there, it seems right to move over into Facebook. Anyone with a heart for taking God’s Word to the ends of the earth is welcome to join us as a “friend”. And if you have read this far on our New Tribes site I would assume that’s you, so hop on over to our Facebook site to see what we have there: www.facebook.com/bryson.white.paraguay. I hope to see you over there, but don’t forget to come back here; each site will have different information.
And by the way, don’t expect to get a twit from this MK twerp anytime soon. (If you don’t know what that means, don’t ask me, because I don’t know either.)
We are well aware of the fact that there are tribal people dying every day that have never once had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. That is one motivating factor for us to do what we are doing. We are headed to Paraguay, but as of yet, we do not know in which tribe we will be serving. But we do know that whatever location God has planned for us, it has the same situation of people dying without the Gospel. That is our motivation to get there as soon as possible. With our complete training in the states coming to an end in October, we have set the goal of going to the field in January of 2010. Please entreat the Lord with us to allow us to do this. As of now, it is a matter of raising the amount of support that is required by the field before we can go. Please pray with us for God to raise up partners who want to join us financially and prayerfully so that we can begin our Spanish study in January.
Below is a little video about our time in Missouri. It works best if you push ‘play’ then ‘pause’ and let it buffer until the gray line is half way across, then push ‘play’ to watch it. Click the four-arrow icon at the bottom to watch the video full screen.
The latest edition of the NTM@Work had a couple articles that are near to the path we’ve been on and will be following.
For the past year and a half we’ve been in training at the Missionary Training Center in Missouri. As we come up on the completion of this endeavor, take a look with us at where we’ve been and the coming changes to this campus that is dedicated to preparing missionaries to take the Gospel overseas: Get Ready to Go.
For the next few years, our kids will experience various manners of education as they participate in public school here, MK school on the field, and home schooling in between. Eventually though, several years down the road, they may enjoy the benefits of an NTM MK school in Paraguay. Take a glance at this school that will be part of our future in Paraguay: Paraguay School Renovation
At first glance, this may appear to be a boast of our giving and willingness to sacrifice. But really, this is a tribute to God’s provision.
You see, just because we’re training to be missionaries, doesn’t mean that we no longer have the responsibility to give financially to missions. We already had a couple commitments of giving before entering the training in August of 2007, so we kept doing that. I’ve never been one to be strict on giving an exact tithe, but I have looked at 10% to be a gauge of our giving. Well, due to those commitments of giving, for our first year and a half here we were giving about 12.5% of our income, which doesn’t seem like all that much except when you consider that the 12.5% came to a grand total in the double digits.
But recently, God has seen fit to increase our support as we get closer to leaving for the field, and we saw that 12.5% fall to 6.5%. Of course, that means that we’ll be increasing our giving, but the glory cannot go to us. The glory goes to God who sees fit to “give us a raise.” Thank you to those of you who responded to God’s urging in your life and have committed to supporting our ministry. I hope and have prayed that God will bless your generosity. Know that we’re in this ministry together. If you want to witness God’s provision in our lives, keep an eye on this graph that we’ll be updating monthly.
Bryson and Mindy White Enroute to Paraguay 
