Archive for the ‘Ministry’ Category

October 2009 – Praise and Prayer Update

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

This is a long post–it is the quarterly prayer letter we are printing and snail-mailing. :-)

October 2009

Thank you for praying for us and partnering with us financially as we help to plant churches among tribal groups around the world.  Click here to view an 8-minute video about God’s working in the Moi tribe of Indonesia!

Ministry News

The chairman of the NTM-US Information Technology committee, Tom Young, recently moved here to Sanford.  He is a proactive guy who is suggesting some reorganization and other positive steps to move things forward.  Jack likes his ideas and we are glad to have him in the Computer Services dept. here. 

 
 

 

Gravity, the new personnel system Jack and his partner Rodd have been working to develop, is nearly ready for release.  Also, NTM Computer Services has a new partnership with the computer department at Taylor University to jointly develop a student tracking program.  The goal is that this software will be compatible with Gravity.

Jack was asked to teach Phys. Ed. for Grades K-4 at Lake Monroe Christian Academy, NTM’s Christian school where our children attend.  Having a degree in Phys. Ed., he didn’t feel he could say no. :-)  So he has brushed up his old skills and teaches two classes a week.

While our children are in school, Alice is serving two mornings a week at the reception desk in our main building, answering the phone and assisting staff and visitors.  NTM had a need in this area, and it is a good fit for Alice’s personality and skills.

 Family News   

Jack’s parents, Art and June Corbett, have arrived to spend the winter near us! They purchased a mobile home less than three miles away.  It is GREAT to have them close by–makes Florida feel more like home.  Spending the holidays here, which we plan to do this year, will be much nicer now.

Alice’s parents,  John and Mary Jane Ames,  are doing fairly well!  Although health concerns are ever-present, we are grateful for Mom’s recovery from her aneurysm and that much of her speech has been regained.  God has provided family members who are such a help with errands and laundry . . . things Alice would like to do but can’t.  We do ask for prayer that their house in NH would sell in God’s timing. 

In August, we enjoyed a week with Alice’s sister Lois Tignor, her husband Chris, and their four children, who came to Florida for a visit.  They have since returned to Ecuador for their third term as missionaries with Baptist Bible Fellowship.

Jack’s involvement with the Orlando Professional Association of SQL Server (OPASS) continues to provide great professional development and networking for him.  In our last update, we asked you to pray about the possibility of Jack’s attending the national PASS summit in Seattle in November.  God has answered!  Jack received a complimentary conference registration ($1,500 value) due to his volunteer work with the local OPASS group.  NTM is covering the airfare, so Jack’s only cost is lodging, which he will share with another attendee. 

Our children are doing well. Danielle (10) is in Grade 5.  She is getting quite good at playing the electric guitar she was given, and has also written a few songs!  Her inquiring mind is curious about so many things–history, science, politics.  Evan (8) still enjoys sports and reading, and is our “dependable” child.  Regan (6) is in first grade, easily distracted, but very expressive and highly entertaining.  We are so grateful for the good health that we all have. 

We are planning our trip North next summer to visit you, our prayer and financial partners who make our work possible!  Approximate tentative dates are July 1 – August 8, 2010.  Please contact us as soon as possible as to when we might include you in our itinerary.

Praises:

  • God’s working to open tribal people’s hearts to Him
  • New partnership between NTM Computer Services and Taylor University’s computer department
  • God’s provision for Jack to attend the national PASS summit
  • Stable health for Alice’s parents currently
  • Jack’s parents joining us in Florida for the winter
  • Good health for our family

Prayer Requests:

  • For the salvation and spiritual growth of tribal people around the world
  • For Christians to be willing to give sacrificially, even in tough times, to enable the Gospel to go forth
  • God’s wisdom for Jack, Rodd and others working to complete and release the new NTM Gravity personnel system.
  • Safety as Jack travels to Seattle the first week of November, and that he would be a good witness for the Lord
  • Wisdom in teaching our children, and that we would model Christ
  • That Alice’s parents’ house in NH would sell
  • Several boxes that Alice’s sister Lois and her family shipped to Ecuador are caught in government red tape.  Please pray for a quick resolution, and peace in their hearts about the situation.

For more frequent updates, you can also find us on Facebook.  Thanks! 

Thought we’d share the kids’ recent school pictures:

Danielle  Evan Regan

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Missionaries’ electronic dilemma

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

We were working this week on one of the most important aspects of missionary life . . . updating our e-mail address book. You, our friends and family who care about our work and pray, are a valuable and precious part of our lives.

Each time we send a group e-mail update, an average of 10-12 messages are returned as undeliverable. These were folks who at one time requested our updates. We don’t want to lose them, so we do our best to make the needed corrections to our address book. But at the same time, we can’t help but wonder: Do these folks REALLY want to stay in touch? If they did, wouldn’t they have given us their new e-mail address?

Every missionary is grateful for technology that allows our partners to have up-to-the-minute information without the time and expense of photocopying, folding, stuffing, sealing, and putting postage on letters. But many electronic options are available, and we wonder which option is best.

So we ask ourselves questions like the following: If we regularly update our blog, should we still send e-mails? If so, how often? If we e-mail our prayer letter as an attachment, can you open it? WILL you take time to open it? What if we ask you to subscribe online in order to get our letters?

Some missionaries believe that those who have Internet and truly care and pray will make the effort to subscribe. Other missionaries feel that because your lives are as busy as ours, we should make it as easy as possible for you to read our letters, even if that means a little more work for us . . . and a few more e-mails in your Inbox.

What do you think?

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Am I “investing” properly?

Monday, July 27th, 2009

The other night I woke up at about 3 am and had trouble falling back to sleep, unfortunately this has been a fairly regular occurrence the last few weeks. The difference this time was that for some reason, my mind was fixed on the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Here’s quick synopsis of the story:

A man has to go away and entrusts his stuff to 3 servants. To one he gives 5 talents (a sum of money in Bible times), another he gives 2, and he gives the third 1 talent. Each servant is given an amount that the master believes they can handle. The first two servants go out, invest the money that has been entrusted to them and double it. The third servant buries what he has been given because he knows the master is tough and is afraid to invest the money for fear of losing it. The master returns and calls the servants in to account for what they have done. He praises the first two who have wisely invested the talents and then disciplines the third servant, even taking the 1 talent he was given and giving it to the servant who had 5 talents and turned them into 10. The point of the story is summed up in verse 29:

"For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (ESV).

Here’s what I was thinking that night/morning. Am I properly "investing" what God has given me?

I think this was on my mind because we are halfway through our 4 year commitment with NTM, and as we shared when we did Partnership Development, our goal is to transition to Career membership with NTM as long as we are financially able. We knew when we made the move to Florida that our current support and savings would allow us to fulfill the 4 years, but to continue beyond that we believed that we would need some more support. As I have contemplated that, I have had to consider my financial and time management habits, especially since I have procrastinated on continued Partnership Development efforts. I can certainly make a case that there isn’t much wasted in our regular spending and that time-wise our priorities are good. The problem lies in that I make that case in comparison to other people, not God’s standard, and His standard is much higher than mine or any other person’s.

So how does God think I’m doing? Are there areas I can do better? What am I going to do about those areas?

What about you?

More to come on this later.

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June 2009 – Praise & Prayer Update

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Dear Praying Partners,

Mom and Dad Ames

In April, Alice’s parents, John and Mary Jane Ames moved into an assisted living apartment at Ledgeview Living Center in West Paris, Maine. It has been difficult, as they had to leave their home of almost 40 years. The blessings are that they are close to Mary Jane’s family, they have a safer living environment, and they can attend the church where they were married and still have many friends.

On May 14th, Alice left Florida for Gorham, NH to work on cleaning out her parents’ house and preparing it for sale. On May 13th, Jack’s parents arrived in Florida to help Jack with the children, so he can continue to serve in his ministry with NTM.

Alice has been sorting through "stuff" that accumulated over the years trying to determine what has enough sentimental value to keep, what has yard sale value, and what may have value to collectors or antique dealers. We are thankful for help from friends and family!!

Jack and the children will also be heading up to Gorham, on June 9th. We are hoping the house will be cleaned out by June 23. Jack would like to return to our ministry in Florida then, and hopes to have the whole family with him when he returns.

Several people have expressed interest in buying the house, which is a blessing as we hope that it sells before winter.

Ministry News

Back in Florida, Jack and his partner Rodd are still developing Gravity, the new NTM personnel system. We plan to release an early beta version of the main part of the system to the U.S. Personnel department here in Sanford on June 12th! Summer is a slower time here in Florida, as our Northerners visit supporters, but some testing will still get done. You never can tell if your software will meet the needs of the business until people start using it! We are asking the Personnel department to provide us with one person to do dual entry, to let us know what works and what doesn’t. This will be an exciting time.

When school starts in the fall, Jack will be taking on a new ministry as the Physical Education teacher for grades K-4 at Lake Monroe Christian Academy. Jack is not exactly excited, but is willing to do this as his degree is in Physical Education and God has provided him with the ability, so he will be filling the need. Pray that he will be able to come up with a curriculum that will educate and entertain children from 5-10 years old.

Alice will continue as one of the Art teachers at LMCA next year as well.

Family Life

Danielle (10) graduated from YM Junior Leadership School with a promotion to Lance Corporal. She gave a speech on "endurance" and was then asked to give her speech again for a veteran’s organization’s Memorial Day ceremony. She did an excellent job! She looked like she spoke in front of crowds on a regular basis.

Evan and Regan played six weeks of Upward Basketball and had a great time, even with Dad as their coach. Now all the children are enjoying summer vacation and looking forward to seeing their friends in New England in June.

In late April one of the brake lines let go in our 1999 Chevy Venture, so we took that as a sign that it was time to buy a new van. We had asked for wisdom in doing this in our last prayer letter, but anytime Jack has to spend a lot of money he procrastinates. We were able to find a 2006 Toyota Sienna CE with about 65,000 miles for $2000 under book value, so we bought it after having the mission mechanic look at it. It is a nice van and is getting about 30-40% better gas mileage than our Venture, so eventually (about 343,000 miles at $2.40/gallon) it will pay for itself. You can do the math to figure out how much we paid for it ; ). We were able to pay for it from the money we have left from the sale of home, but that, of course, reduces our emergency/buffer fund.

Ministry at PABC

We have continued to be involved in ministry at Palmetto Avenue Baptist church. Alice and Jack are on the worship team, Alice as Sparks leader in Awana, Jack as a trustee, Bible study leader, and Upward basketball coach and referee. At the Upward Awards ceremony several children accepted the Lord, which is the reason we do the program. We saw at least one family begin attending church because of the Upward outreach.

Prayer Requests

  • Opportunities to continue to minster to others
  • For God to minister to Alice’s parents physically and emotionally.
  • For strength and wisdom as we clean out Mom and Dad Ames’ house, and that it would sell before winter.
  • Wisdom in rearing our children.
  • Wisdom in recommending areas where process changes could help the mission and ministry.
  • Finances. Buying the van took a big bite, as has the poor economy, with some supporters having to reduce their support.
  • Jack would like to go to the PASS Summit (a professional conference) but it will cost close to $3000. Pray that if God wants him to go the funds will be available or he will be selected to speak or volunteer at the event and have the conference fee waived.

Praises

  • For God’ working in John and Mary Jane’s lives where they saw the need to move.
  • For God providing is with a new to us van (2006 Toyota Sienna) at $2000 below book value.
  • For God’s continued provision physically, spiritually, and financially.
  • For opportunities to be a blessing to others.

Your support and prayers are such an encouragement to us! We thank God for you, and pray for Him to bless you, and fill you all with His power to live out His love every day.

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Prayer & Praise Update – Dec. 2008

Monday, December 15th, 2008

Dear Friends and Partners,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from cold New Hampshire. Jack is a little disappointed that he will not spend Christmas at a nice, warm Florida beach . . . maybe next year. For now, it is a blessing we can help Alice’s parents following her Mom’s brain aneurysm on September 18, while continuing to serve with New Tribes Mission.

We arrived in NH on November 5. We are thankful for a safe and uneventful trip, and for the Lord’s provision of a nice three bedroom home. We share it during working hours with the garage next door, as their office is in the house. We only need to pay for heat and utilities, so Jack is trying to keep the lights off and the heat down! Thanks so much to Al and Leora Host for offering their home to us, and thanks to Beth at A&A Auto Repair for not letting on how much Jack’s singing and the kids playing bothers her while she’s working. Thanks also to Aunt Jane & Uncle Danny for the use of their car!

The children are attending Community Bible Academy (at our sending church), with Danielle and Evan doing their assignments from LMCA (their school in Florida) to keep up with their classes there, and Regan joining in the CBA Kindergarten class. Alice is helping organize her parents’ house and affairs and chauffeuring them to appointments and shopping. She is also the main interface between Doctors and other providers. We are very thankful for many people who helped John (Alice’s Dad) during the seven weeks that Mary Jane (Alice’s mom) was in the hospital.

Jack is consulting part-time at the Fraser Papers mill in Gorham, where he worked previously, in order to help pay our additional expenses. He works remotely for New Tribes Mission the rest of the week. The Gravity project, NTM’s new personnel system, continues to move forward. Rodd and Jack have "frozen" the database and are working on the user interface and reporting. Working from home is more difficult than being in the office, but Jack is adjusting and being more productive as each week goes by.

Alice’s mother, Mary Jane Ames, came home November 10th, and is getting stronger! Mom Ames - home safe and soundShe has been getting home health aides and therapists, but is weaning off their services. She still has occasional episodes that we originally thought were TIA’s (mini-strokes), but it is more likely that they are minor seizures caused by the blood that remains on her brain after the aneurysm. This blood will be absorbed by the body, and these should eventually stop. You can continue to follow her progress at www.maryjaneames.blogspot.com.

Praises:

  • Continued healing and strengthening of Jack’s sister Cindy
  • The miracle of Alice’s mother, Mary Jane’s recovery from her brain aneurysm
  • The support of NTM and our supporters for our extended return to Gorham, NH to help Alice’s parents.
  • The faithfulness of our supporters
  • The faithfulness of God

Prayer Requests:

  • Peace and healing for Alice’s Mom, Mary Jane
  • Wisdom in making decisions regarding future arrangements for Alice’s parents
  • Wisdom in going forward with Gravity
  • Wisdom in deciding when to purchase a new(er) vehicle as the body of our van is going, and it likes the winter even less than Jack.
  • Continued provision for our daily needs.
  • That the hearts of tribal people around the world would be open to the Gospel

Thanks very much for praying!!! We treasure your partnership with us.

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