NTM

Accreditation Inspection

The school had to be accredited as a new government requirement to allow non-EU students to attend. Since we regularly have students from the US we had to go through process. Thankfully we have been approved but the paperwork needs to be in place before we can process application. Pray for no undue delays in the paperwork.

Residential Conference

Our residential conference was attended by over 300 people including many young people. Groups came in from Norway and Germany as well as across the UK. Pray that the messages, tribal reports and the displays will have challenged hearts to join the work of taking the gospel to tribal peoples.

North Cotes Graduation

Graduation will be held on 16 July all three courses that run here at North Cotes. Some of the students who will graduate from Biblical Studies will come back for the Cross Cultural course. Those finishing the Cross Cultural and Linguistics courses will be headed to the field, our daughter, Martha, included.

Martha Begins Partnership Development

Martha has finished her training with NTM and will be entering partnership development. Before her lies a time of sharing the burden the Lord has laid on her heart and trusting God to raise up interested believers to support her in prayer and financially. She also has a goal to get established in a home church which she hasn’t had since she has spent so little time in N. Ireland.

Isaac in Nepal

Isaac is in Nepal and will be working at a Children’s Hospital for five weeks. He is doing so because he would dearly love to pursue medicine when he finishes college in December and use his training on the mission field. He just completed an entrance exam for medical school before he left. Pray God will open up a way for him to pursue medical school.

Lisa’s Mum

Lisa has been traveling between England and Ireland these past few weeks because of her Mum’s deteriorating health.  Her mum is 91 years old and very frail now, we are thankful that she will go home to be with Jesus someday soon, when He calls her, and be relieved. We would appreciate your prayers for wisdom to know when to be here.

New Believers in PNG

Wonderful news from Papua New Guinea is that there are new believers in two of the tribes we work in, new brothers and sisters in Christ, new members in God’s family to bring glory to Him; we are all thrilled about this and praise God for His work enabling the missionaries to go there, learn the language and stay there to teach the people the truth of the Word of God.

We praise God that James, Deborah (who came over from Ireland specially) and I were able to meet up with Isaac in London for just over three hours. (Martha couldn’t get away from her studies as she was in a very demanding phase).

He was there on a special trip with his college as they were taking WW2 Veterans on a trip to Washington DC, London, Normandy and Paris for the 65th anniversary of D Day. It was a privileged trip for Isaac and God amazingly worked out the details for us to be able to spend those few hours together.

Please pray for Isaac as he goes back to work at his college in camp until July and then goes to Nepal for 5 weeks to do volunteer work in a hospital there. He is also taking a very big exam at the beginning of July for entrance into medical school.

We have our annual residential conference from 19th to 21st June here at North Cotes. There are 257 people booked in and more to come as day visitors. Many young people come. Please pray that many would be challenged to missions and encouraged to be a part of this great work God is doing in tribal locations of the world.

Pray for our students of many nationalities to clearly understand the teaching of God’s Word daily. James is enjoying teaching Hebrews at present.

New Tribes Mission European Bible and Missionary Training Centre here at North Cotes needs to be accredited to obtain a licence to enable non EU students to be granted a visa to study here. A final inspection has been arranged for 29 June.  If all goes well we can apply for the license but that could take up to 6 weeks.

There are 8 students waiting for visas to come from non EU countries. Please pray for a successful inspection and that the license would be granted in good time to allow these students to apply for their visas.

Our son Isaac is in his last year of college. Being British, having grown up in Papua New Guinea and gone to college in the USA presents its problems. Here is what he is thinking about his future.

Dear Family and Friends,

I am in my final year at College of the Ozarks and will graduate in December with a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art. I have also been studying Pre-Medicine with the plan to eventually attend Medical School and become a doctor. Ultimately, my desire is to be a missionary somewhere in the developing world and to use medicine as an avenue for reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have been accepted to volunteer with an organization called Projects Abroad to do medical work in Nepal. This will be an excellent opportunity to gain practical medical experience in the kind of environment I hope to work in someday. Here is summary from the Project’s Abroad website of what I will be doing:

You will be working on social and health development projects focusing on providing medicine and healthcare for the underprivileged. This is a particularly important service in a country such as Nepal where the National Health System provides for only 15% of the population.

Work at the Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children, in the Kathmandu Valley involves a unique combination of working with doctors and being involved with care activities.

It has been exciting for me to walk with God through the process of first hearing about this opportunity, praying about it for several months, and then making the decision by faith to go for it. He has already provided some of the funds I need for the trip and I am confident that He is working to bring the rest of the details together in His time.

The cost of the project is $2,245 and the cost of travelling to Nepal is going to be about $2,000. If you would like to help sponsor me for this project, you may send cash or a check to the address below.

Thank you,

Isaac Hatton PO Box 348, Point Lookout, MO 65726, USA isaac_southerncross@yahoo.com

Martha has had a burden for missions for a long time. I remember encouraging her towards college but she was determined to follow her burden and went to Bible School in the US. From there, after two years working in a hospital, she continued her training with NTM in England, still burdened to see churches planted among tribal peoples. Now she is approaching the end of her training and facing transition on several fronts.

While other missionary candidates will be returning to their home communities, Martha doesn’t have that luxury. As she has only lived in N. Ireland for a year at a time when she was growing up, she needs to establish herself in a community and home church. Building relationships take time and energy.

As she considers her future and the burden that the Lord has laid on her heart, she can’t fulfill that alone. Its not her job but the job of the church. She needs to be part of a church and a network of friends committed to the great commission who would be willing and committed to equip and support her so that, together, they can see Christ named where he is not known.

Having been involved in training for the past two years, Martha has been exposed to needs around the world. She has firsthand experience of the needs in PNG. On her missions trip to Brasil she again saw first hand the needs in that vast country. She has heard missionaries speaking of their work in Asia and Africa. The field is the world but she can only reach one tribal group in one country. As much as she needs to develop community, she needs to prepare to enter a new culture.

Pray for Martha that she will have confidence that God who has started a good work in her will bring it to completion. Pray too that she will see these times of transition as part of the great transition that God is working on, that of changing her into the image of Christ.

Transition: the process of moving from one stage or state to Another.

Over the next twelve months, our family is facing transition on several fronts.

Transition starts with An ending – An ending of familiar routines And relationships – the stuff that provides stability in our lives.

Transition continues with loss, grief, tears, stress, uncertainty, fear, pain…

Then comes learning new routines, skills, meeting new people, forming new relationships, comparing the new with the old.

Transition takes time, effort, energy, encouragement, time, failure, trying again, hope And did I mention time.

Over the next few weeks I’d like to share our transition stories with you And invite you to pray with us, partnering with us through this time of transition.

Isaac wasn’t allowed on his flight because his visa wasn’t in order. What had happened was that he had changed status while in the US. He had originally gone to the States as our dependent but when he became 21 he had to change to a student visa. This was done but what Isaac didn’t know was that he had to reapply for a student visa if he left the country.

So, yesterday was spent filling out application forms and gathering supporting documents including from his college in the States. By 8:30pm last night all the documents were in order and today at 9:00am he had his interview at the US Consulate and was granted his visa. His passport should arrive in the next couple of days and hopefully he will be on his way back to the States on Sunday, a week later than planned.

Thank you to all who prayed, we are amazed and blessed to see how it worked out. Pray now for Isaac as he returns to college a week behind that he will be diligent to catch up on missed classes.