NTM

If you’ve read the news article linked witih this prayer request you understand that we need you to pray with us for:

1. Wisdom and grace to minister to tribal missionaries as well as tribal people

2.Wisdom in training missionary candidates

3.  Wisdom in developing the English program for them

4. Several financial, physical and spiritual needs

Dearest Friends, Family and Prayer Partners,

FROM MELODY’S PEN: I’m sure by now you’re beginning to wonder if I’m a woman of my word or not. Well, I promised an update and here it is! 
Like you, Doug and I have been really busy lately. Since Doug is part of the security committee team here in Chihuahua, he was extremely busy day and night with the recent detainment of our co-worker, pilot John Van Wormer. We are so extremely thankful for the way the Lord worked that situation out and John was released. We are still praying about the situation; however, as we have been told the prosecutor may possibly appeal the judge’s decision to release John and the plane. Along with the security committee team meetings, Doug also had a good bit of buying to do for the mountain missionaries. To help the tribal missionary be able to devote more of his time to evangelism and translation, Doug often gets their varied, needed supplies together to be sent out to their remote tribal station. The tribal missionary is unable to just run down to the store, drug store or hardware store to get needed supplies. Those are all several hours and maybe days away.

In the midst of all that, Doug had the distinct privilege of ministering to a hospitalized Guarijio Indian lady, Felicita, and her adult son Crispin for two weeks by visiting her, interpreting for them due to their limited Spanish fluency and sending updates via emails to missionary coworkers to the family that lives in a remote area.

While Doug’s been busy with his activities, I’ve been busy at the Transcultural Institute teaching English to the students who are training to be missionaries. Above are 3 of my 16 students – Calixto, Bero and Erika (left to right). At the beginning I was super stressed about the whole thing. I had never done what I was being asked to do and I didn’t have a clue how to get started. I’m happy to say now, that the Lord has given me the direction I needed and the class is going really well. The staff at Rancho Siloé is trying to accomplish a couple of things through teaching the students English. Of course it is to their benefit to be able to speak a second language – any language, but especially English since more than likely their co-workers will be English speakers. However, that’s not the only benefit. They are also learning technical aspects of how to learn a foreign language and culture. Hopefully we are giving them tools that they will be able to use when they move to a tribal location and are trying to learn a tribal language. One of the challenges I have with the class is time. We need more time! I meet with them 3 days a week for only 40 minutes a time. I have offered to go out extra days and stay during lunch if they want. If they agree to that I will need more gas money to make the extra trips.

On a little more personal note, we are doing fine. Back in April we mentioned something about the health problems I was having. We are very happy to report that I have been responding well to the treatment. My blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. are all looking really good. I have a few side effects to some of the medication like slight dizziness, but over all I’m doing really well. I’m happy to report that I’ve even been able to lose a little weight. What a relief! Thanks for praying! Now please pray for me to get some relief from the constant back and neck pain that I’m enduring. I think it’s probably a result of being on the crutches so long after that honking big knee surgery I had a few years back.

FROM DOUG’S PEN: For years I, Doug, have been quite baffled with just how God would have our family communicate our needs to our friends and family. Historically, I have withheld the details and depth of our family’s financial needs, believing that God could and would meet our needs without telling others about the needs. Our mission gives us the freedom to take that approach, but encourages us to do just the opposite, which is to let our partnership team join us in prayer asking God to meet our specific needs. So Melody and I are changing our approach and now desire to give all of you the opportunity to pray with us concerning our needs.

This is the third month in a row that our monthly support received has been way below the amount we need to cover our expenses and support our ministries. The shortfalls have been $450, $650, and $300 monthly. Some of you may be wondering "how do you guys survive month after month without being fully supported?" Do you actually "need" the money you say you need? Does your mission fill in your monthly shortfall? Realizing that these questions may be in the minds of many of you, we would like to attempt to answer these questions. First, I’d like to clarify that our mission organization does not cover any lack of financial support. So, where do the funds come from whenever we are short? The lack of monthly committed support is sometimes covered by people who send one-time gifts or by regular donors who send in gifts "over and above" their commitment. When our monthly expenses are not covered we cut back where we can and ask the Lord to provide what is needed to get through the month. However, when we find ourselves several hundred dollars short any given month, or several months in a row, it does drain energy from us wondering how God will provide for the current expenses. And, yes, God has proven His faithfulness during our years of ministry, but the financial pressure is still present month after month, and every now and then this constant pressure leads to personal and marital stresses. If we were able to have 100% support commitments, any extra gifts received could be used to help further mission projects, buy equipment needed for ministry, help our low supported coworkers, etc. And that would be a much more encouraging situation, allowing us to minister without the stress of financial pressures.

It is obvious that God does allow financial shortfalls as part of His purpose in our spiritual growth, leading to greater dependence on Him. These needs also move us to greater fellowship with the Lord talking with Him about our needs. He never gets tired of hearing our requests. God delights to meet the needs of His children. He wants us to keep asking, to keep depending on Him. His Word says that "we have not because we ask not." So, please join us in asking and we’ll rejoice together in God’s answers and perfect timing. Please join us in asking God for the following:

Medical: Co-insurance payment of $180 pending for August & September medicines

Medical: Co-insurance payment for October projected to be $160 for medicines, diabetes quarterly lab work, and doctor visits

Monthly support commitments: $500 per month needed

Ministry needs: Printer cartridges & gas for trip to visit believers in Agua Azul

Personal needs: Dental work, eye exams, shoes, costly van repairs

Spiritual needs: Communication & unity in our marriage

Our jobs may not sound all that dramatic or exciting, but nevertheless they are an important part of getting the gospel to the unreached tribes of Mexico. Thank you so very much for all your help – your prayers and your financial support. Thank you for praying for us and with us!

In Christ alone, our only hope,

Doug & Melody

1. Thanks so much for praying for our trip. The Lord has blessed us with an incredible trip so far.

2. Pray for continued safety as we travel from Colorado to Chihuahua, Mexico the second week of July.

3. Pray for us to have wisdom so we can be a blessing and encouragement to the friends and family we will be relating to this last week of our trip. 

Thank you SO much for praying for our trip and our daughter’s wedding. It has been more than awesome!

Here is a picture of the new Mr. & Mrs. Nick Fried as they were serving communion to the guests at their wedding. Sharing communion with Kate and Nick was one of the most unique and beautiful things I’ve ever experienced at a wedding. It was a beautiful picture of how Christ gave Himself for us and He alone is our sufficiency in all areas of life, but especially in marriage. During that part of the ceremony each guest was invited to come forward and receive the elements from Nick and Kate with cupped hands representing our dependence to receive from the Lord His good gift of salvation and all that entails. As Nick placed a piece of the bread in our cupped hands he said, "Body of Christ, bread of heaven." Then we passed to Kate and dipped the bread in the cup as she said, "Blood of Christ, cup of salvation." Then we returned to our seats as we partook of the elements. It was an extremely moving ceremony. The whole ceremony was an exceptionally powerful reminder of what a marriage is and what a man and woman commit to each other as well as to God as they start a life together. It was the best wedding ever!

Thanks again for your prayers,

1. Pray that Sandy, Denesia and Chema will understand the truth the Lord has been giving them and that they will walk in that light.

2. Pray for protection for new believers in several tribal areas and that they will ge grounded in the faith and will grow strong in the Lord.

3. Pray for a profitable experience with our new houseguest, Tony, and his sisters. Pray Doug and I will be able to minister to him and his sisters.

4. Pray God will provide in every way for our summer trip to our daughter’s wedding. We will be traveling from June 4 to July 15.

Dear Prayer Partners,

In our last letter we mentioned how life and ministry was going a lot slower than we had anticipated. You must have prayed! Life has gotten extremely busy, but that’s how we like it!

Doug has been busy researching various community development projects like building latrines for an extremely poor area of town where a group of Tarahumara Indians lives and makes bricks. One of the problems in this community is sewage runoff from a waste water treatment plant. The government sanitation department will be advised of this serious problem affecting the health of the Indian families. Also, Doug has been involved in marketing Indian handcrafts via a contact in Tennessee. These and other projects are in the very beginning stages. It’s not like in the States where you decide to do something and just go out and do it. Projects like these take months, if not years, to come to fruition. Pray for wisdom and guidance as we as a Mission move forward on these endeavors. While investigating these community development avenues, Doug has also been quite busy learning his two new responsibilities of supply buyer for the tribal missionaries and member of our mission’s security committee.

Below are a couple pictures of the ladies I have been discipling, as well as Chema, the high school student I was mentoring. Pray for them to have a profitable summer in the Lord. Pray especially for Chema to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to bring his heart into submission to what the Lord has for him. Pray for Sandy and Denesia to clearly understand what the Lord is saying to them and to walk in that light.

 Sandy,  Denesia,  Chema (on the right)

In our last letter I mentioned some physical needs I was experiencing. Again, you must have prayed! The doctor I saw changed just about every one of the medications I was taking — removed some, added new ones, and now I am feeling better than I have in a very long time. Also, the Lord has provided the funds to cover all the tests. Thanks so much for praying for that need.

We have just returned from our annual field conference where our hearts were tremendously encouraged. We heard reports from each tribal team on how they were doing and how the work in their area is going. It is amazing to hear what God is doing in some of the most remote areas of the world! We also were challenged and encouraged by our guest speaker on living and ministering from God’s point of view. Boy! Are we ever excited about pressing on for Him here in Mexico! We heard story after story of tribal people hearing the gospel for the first time, of tribal churches thriving and growing, but also sadly of tribal people dying and going into a Christ-less eternity. It was very good for us to see, up close and personal, reminders of why we are here in Mexico with New Tribes Mission. Following are some pictures of some of our new brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray for these little lambs for protection from the Evil One while they are being grounded in the faith. Pray they will grow strong in the Lord and will understand the Word as it is taught to them.                 

There is a new development in our lives we’d ask you to pray about. Amelia Orrostieta is a young single missionary with NTM who has had the sole responsibility of raising her 2 younger siblings, Gaby and Tony.  She works in a tribal area far away from Chihuahua, but Tony and Gaby have lived here in Chihuahua in a dorm situation for the last few years. Now that they have graduated from high school (Tony) and the Bible institute (Gaby), they need a place to stay while they attend university. So, we have opened our home to Tony for this next semester. Gaby will be ministering in Baja California for a semester, and then will be returning to Chihuahua in January. If all goes well with Tony, she will more than likely live with us, too. Pray that we will be what Tony needs.
He speaks English pretty well, but Gaby doesn’t. This should be a good opportunity for us to really advance in our Spanish, but it could also lead to misunderstandings. Pray for clear, open communication. Pray we can minister to this family in a powerful way.

One last prayer request. We leave Wednesday, June 4, for our “summer wedding” trip. The plan is to first drive to Atlanta and spend a couple of nights with my sister. Then we’ll go up to Chattanooga where we will see our youngest son, Zac and his precious family and attend the homecoming reunion at our home church. After that we will head over to Branson, MO to help Kate with the final preparations for her wedding June 28. After the wedding we’re off to Denver to spend a week or so with our Colorado Corley Clan, after which we return to Chihuahua July 15. You know the price of gas! Pray for the Lord to provide physically, financially, spiritually and every other way for this trip. Your prayers mean SO much to us. We’ve seen great things happen when you pray!
“In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” Prov. 3:6

God bless and have an AWESOME day!

Thank you so much for praying for us!

First, pray for God’s timing and direction in the development of the Community Development ministry.

Pray for provision for medical needs.

Pray for safety as we travel to our daughter’s wedding in Branson, MO, this summer.

Finally pray for direction from the Lord whether we should go to Chattanooga, TN, or not for a couple of days before we go to Branson.

April 2008

Praise the Lord; the Corleys are still alive and kicking in Mexico, just not quite as high as we used to.  The community development ministry is making progress, but a bit more slowly that we had expected. It is a bigger job than we knew getting this new ministry organized and up and running. There are a number of projects we could start or get involved with, but we need to analyze each one to make sure that it fits in the parameters of our goals and mission statement. Please pray with us for wisdom and direction from the Lord for each step of organization of this ministry. Community projects are great opportunities for our missionaries to build relationships with the people of their area. We cannot move in and plant a church in a tribal area without first laying a foundation based on relationships and trust. Those happen largely through community development.

In the meantime, our mission leaders have asked Doug to participate in the field’s “safety program” that helps keep our missionaries safe from crime and terrorism. Doug will have the responsibility to review the risk situations on the field and help develop plans that help our missionaries cope with varied threats. He also will have a part in educating our folks in the best methods of safe living. Another responsibility will be to be a first responder for car accidents and home break-ins.
As for me, I have been daily mentoring/tutoring a high school student, participating in several Bible studies, helping with the annual field conference preparations, as well as helping with the Community Development launch. In August I will start teaching English in our mission’s institute that trains Mexicans to be missionaries. I’m really looking forward to teaching at the mission institute. Until then there is a lot of reading and studying to do on teaching English as a second language and on culture and language acquisition.
A couple of weeks ago I began experiencing some unusual physical problems. The symptoms seemed to fit into the list of symptoms for women who are having heart failure. So, we contacted a heart specialist for an appointment. The doctor ordered a chest x-ray and blood tests. He ran an EKG and I took a stress test. We’re thankful that nothing majorly serious was found. However, I do have a heart arrhythmia that requires some medication. The doctor also made several changes in my medications for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. When we added up all the expenses the total came to nearly $1,000 for the doctor visits, tests, and medications. We are thankful that we have health insurance. However, after the insurance company pays their part, we will owe $440. At present we do not have the funds to cover this expense. So please pray with us, asking God to meet this need which will be due by the end of April.

We are looking forward to our daughter’s wedding June 28. We will be leaving Chihuahua for Branson June 6th. We plan on being with Kate for those last few weeks helping her tie up loose ends before the wedding. Before jumping into the wedding scene, if the Lord provides, we would like to zip over to Chattanooga for the annual home coming at our home church, Duncan Park Baptist Church. This year is a very special year for our church family because they just completed an outdoor, covered pavilion for fellowships, homecomings, etc. Please ask the Lord to direct our steps as we once again drive across country. We’re so thankful for our Toyota minivan that has carried us 122,000 miles since December 2001.

There’s plenty to pray for in this letter!! Thank you so much for your continued expressions of love through financial and prayer support.

By His grace,
Doug and Melody

Please join us in prayin for wisdom and direction in laying the groundwork for the Community Development Ministry.

Please pray for the Ameritribes team that is working in a remote darkly depraved area of Mexico giving their all to carry the light of the gospel into that darkness

Pray for physical needs such as excruciating headaches, overall fatigue, etc.

We have mentioned very vaguely in previous prayer letters that we were going to be involved in a new ministry when we returned to Chihuahua. That new ministry is Community Development. We are still in the process of forming a purpose and strategy statement, but one of the primary goals is to organize and document projects that will benefit the communities where the missionaries of New Tribes Mission-Mexico work. Of course, our primary goal as a mission is to carry the gospel to unreached tribes and plant indigenous churches among those tribes. By definition an indigenous church is one that is self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting. We have spent many years working on planting New Testament churches that are self-governing and self-propagating. Now the Community Development team is forming to help focus on self-supporting issues by helping poor families and communities improve their economic situation.

Currently the Community Development team consists of John and Linda Steinbacher and us. We are looking to the Lord for direction for another couple or two to join us in this endeavor. To begin with, we and the Steinbachers are brainstorming together in organizational meetings to lay the foundation for purpose and strategy for the Community Development team. So far we see two branches of Community Development. One is to document projects like dental clinics, micro-enterprise endeavors, engineering projects, soup kitchens, orphanage work, etc. that the missionaries have already accomplished. It is important to document those things and turn in paperwork to appropriate officials. The Mexican government loves it when we can show them that we are here helping their people in tangible ways. Another branch of Community Development will be to seek markets for the already existing micro-enterprises, as well as establish new enterprises for the people we are here to serve. Please join us in praying for wisdom and direction in laying the groundwork for the Community Development Ministry.

One thing Doug has been very active doing is gathering information from as many sources as possible on what kind of projects, etc. folks are wanting to have done. He’d really like to visit the mountain stations to talk face to face with missionaries and get their input. Last weekend he was privileged to make the first of many of those trips. He went with Cyrus Moffett, a missionary with Ameritribes, to deliver a Suburban/ambulance to Dr. Kenny VanKirk’s clinic out in the mountains. Dr. VanKirk is a medical missionary  who has established a clinic in a remote area called for the purpose of ministering to Tarahumara Indians.

The name of the place the went means “the place of crying”. It was explained to Doug and Cyrus that for years the Apache harassed the Tarahumara, attacking them, murdering them, etc. Finally the Tarahumara decided it was time to put a stop to all that, and one night when the Apache were asleep in a cave, set fires above and below the cave of sleeping Apache and burned them alive. Hence the name, Place of Crying. Although the surrounding terrain is beautiful and majestic, Doug said it is probably the darkest, most depraved place he has ever known. Please pray for the Ameritribes team that is out there giving their all to carry the light of the gospel into that darkness.

An interesting side-note, on the way out to the clinic, the men passed a place where some folks were trying to get a recreational park going. The horseshoe entrance gate was quite an interesting site! Be sure and check out more photos in the Mountain Trip Gallery.

  We’ve had another special opportunity lately in the area of hospitality. Erin Douglass came to Chihuahua as an intern for UIM, the mission that takes care of our aviation needs. As an intern Erin was visiting the mission field to find out more about missions and to see what the Lord might have for her in that area. We had the privilege of having her stay with us for a little over 2 weeks. She was SUCH a delight!

As you are praying for the ministry, please pray for our physical needs. Both of us have been experiencing quite a bit of physical distress lately. Doug has excruciating headaches and overall fatigue. It is very hard for him to think when his head hurts so badly. I’ve been having a lot of knee pain, and just this morning we found a painful lump in my back in my kidney area (I think). We don’t have a clue what it is, what kind of doctor to go to, or whether I should go to the doctor. Pray for wisdom. 

Thank you SO much for joining us in prayer. You are so, so important to us and what happens here! Thanks for not forgetting us!

Blessings, in Jesus’ name