Here are some other prayer requests.  We cannot ship anything by boat or air freight.  Everything we bring with us to Paraguay has to fit on the plane with us in whatever baggage we’re allowed to bring.  Please pray for wisdom as we go through our stuff and determine what is necessary to bring down, what might be able to be replaced down there, and what we might be better off not having there. Also, we so appreciate all of you that are sending monthly support, and we really do consider you as part of the team.  We could not even attempt to bring the Gospel to a tribe in Paraguay without you.  We realize that it is a sacrifice for you and that you are giving unto God.  We consider your support as provision from the Lord to fulfill the work that He has for us.  Please pray for us that we would be wise with the finances and tools that God has provided through you and other supporters.

Us with Lucille

We’re in the middle of transition number…umm, I’ve lost track.

Almost 8½ years ago, Mindy and I made the move up to Jackson, MI to attend the New Tribes Bible Institute and begin the process of preparing to serve as tribal church planters.  It has been a long road full of stress and growth and disappointments and accomplishments.  It seems like every time we got through a twist, there, up ahead, was a turn.

This last bit of preparation was a practical study of linguistics with the Cherokee language in Oklahoma.  We had a very sweet Cherokee lady named Lucille Wilson as our language helper.  We are very thankful for the time that she gave us for those seven weeks.  We especially appreciated her patience as we fumbled along, trying to speak Cherokee while digging for patterns in the sounds and grammar of her language.

Of Course the kids also provided some excitement to the adventure.  They were involved in killing a tarantula.  Daniella had a tick attached to her chest.  Hannah had a case of poison oak.  Macayla hit her head on the cement slab, adding an extra hole.  Elijah “lost” his first two teeth—one was extracted with a seat belt, the other by another kid’s head.  (He just “lost” his third one with the help of Hannah’s thumb!)  Click here to see some pictures of our time in Oklahoma.

And now, with our linguistics Cherokee Write-up complete, our training is complete as well.  We’re now looking ahead at new curves in the road:  packing, planning, paper work, pronouncing our plans, and finally making our pursuit of Paraguay a reality in March.

This seems like a lot of work and a lot of headaches; maybe even with more stress and disappointments.  But it’s worth it; because we’ll see more growth and accomplishment as well.  Of course, it was God that brought us through the training, and it’s Him that will bring us to Paraguay, and it’s Him that will do the accomplishing after we’re there.  With the final destination in mind, we’re trusting God for what’s around the next turn in the road.

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.

Working on Linguistics

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.

dodedakohai

See ya’ll later!

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.

Come…Pursue Paraguay!

Team Paraguay from Bryson White on Vimeo.

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.)

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.

Thanks for watching!

Missionary Training Center from Bryson White on Vimeo.