NTM

Right now at the Missionary Training Center, the second semester class is taking a course called, “Child Protection” that Carolyn is teaching with some of her co-workers.  She is really loving the class and you can tell she is in her element of teaching about children and their care and protection. Her team in the MK Care and Education Dept. are doing a wonderful job in preparing our students for future missionary service and how to properly prepare themselves and their families for maximum impact in their life, family and ministries.

The third semester class is 100% engaged in our course called, “Culture and Language Acquisition Practicum.” However, we all call this class “Dobu.”   One thing that a tribal missionary must do before he can ever hope to teach the Bible is to learn the culture and the language of the people.   In order to learn a language the students take courses such as Phonetics and Grammar so they can learn how to make different sounds that they are unfamiliar with, and also arrange words in grammatical ways they may not be used to. For culture, they have practiced techniques and also researched kinds of cultures so they can think outside of their American culture and hopefully correctly access the tribal culture.

“Dobu” is the class where they try to pull everything together that they have learned at the training center.  The “Dobu” instructors, about 10 in all, have been dressing up in complete tribal “disguises” and act out the “Dobu” tribal culture.  They speak some English, which is the trade language, but they mostly speak their tribal language where they served. Students are engaged in sessions where they are trying to learn language and culture using the tools they have been given throughout the training.

Pray for us as we continue to train the next generation of church planters.  Pray for these wonderful students as they prepare for one of the most difficult ministries in the world!