Overall is first big day was a good one and we worked off all the calories by going to an indoor play place in the mall. We teach him to eat hearty, and then work off the fat!!

Thanks for all the gifts and cards!

"That goat is wearing my favorite shirt"

The wives handy work of adding Jeremiah's shirt on the goat

Ok! So this is the story….  We had some of our great friends from PA, Jeremiah and Bri Stokes, come and visit us.  Jeremiah has this favorite shirt of his that looks like he ripped it off of Will Smith when he was on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  In other words, Bri hates it. We happened to be gone from golfing for a few hours, and then when we ate outside, we happen to notice a goat running around with a blue shirt.  Huh…That goat is wearing Will Smith’s shirt!!!

So as Jeremiah is looking at the goat with his shirt on, he is contemplating on what his revenge will be. When we receive word on what that entails then I will make sure to blog the story!

When you see Jeremiah wear his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air shirt, make sure you comment on how good he looks in it…

Shandee, our old youth girl and friend surprised us!

While speaking at a church in Grand Rapids, we came across one of youth, by surprise! I was a youth pastor for 2.5 years in Napoleon, while Mel and I was attending the Bible Institute in Jackson, MI.  Shandee receives our newsletters over email, and she decided to drive 2 hours to surprise us. We enjoyed catching up over the 4 years of seeing each other last.

Melanie had this unexplainable draw and connection with the girls in the youth. They always surrounded her, and she was such a great example to them as they went through there teenage years. Now, it is great seeing these girls growing up!

Why are we going to Indonesia?

We will be reaching the “unreached” people groups.  Meaning, God has given us a desire and passion to reach people that have no Bible in their own language, and have never had the opportunity to hear the name of Christ!  How is it fair that when I look in the yellow book, there are over “80” churches in our little town of Hastings?  Then there are over 154,000,000 people in Indonesia who have “O“ churches and “O” Bible.  Our goal is to build a church and tell them about Christ.

Tribal Kids that have no opportunity to hear...

UPDATES:

We have finished our busiest month, and now we are heading into the month of September with a little more traveling out of Michigan.  Omaha is the start of our list of events, which we leave the 11^th, and have meetings with 7 different church leaders.  Then we will participate in a missions conference at LeMars Bible Church in LeMars, Iowa on the 17^th-20^th. So we are excited for the opportunity God has given us to share our future ministry among churches and individuals.

PRAISES:

In the month of August, we have added 3 more couples to Ethnos 77 team and are grateful for their generosity and giving spirits.  We are having plenty of opportunities to present our ministry to Churches and Individuals!  The word is Out!

PLANS:

We planned on leaving this coming January to Indonesia, but through God and other people, we have decided to postpone our departure date until April due to a slow process of raising funds.  NTM leadership highly suggest not going overseas with a low financial status.  There will be enough stress already of many things and would not want the added stress of not having enough money to work and provide for the family.

Pray:

· Daily walks with God

· Strength as we do all of our travels

· Be an encouragement to others and be encouraged from others

· God would continue to provide opportunities to present our ministry & God would continue to build up Ethnos 77

Tough = In the beginning I had a hard time because I battled with these thoughts, “I hate asking people for money, I’m not a good salesman, I feel like a beggar, etc.”  Then God helped me realize that I am not asking or begging, I am giving them a great opportunity to be a part of something amazing, and part of God’s heart !!

Enjoyable = It’s great traveling around meeting with old friends, family, and meeting new people.  Just seeing how God is working all around, and being encouraged by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Discouraging = When you have made all the contacts to all the churches and individuals you know, and you exceeded to 35%.  Satan gets to me by looking at that figure, and seeing that we have 65% left, and we are wanting to leave this April. The sin of not trusting God does occur at times. Then with God’s grace we are encouraged and know that we do have faith and we do trust in His Will.

Humbling = While we are making these contacts, it is very humbling seeing people who you know and don’t know very well, be supportive financially and prayerfully toward our family.  Seeing those people making sacrifices, and willing to give up certain things to get us over to Indonesia, to share about Christ to people who have never heard !!

Israel enjoying the waves

       Where can you go to get cotton candy, elephant ears, hot dogs, & 3 stages filled with live christian music for 3 days !?! The answer is the Big Ticket Festival in Gaylord, MI.
We were able to set up a table and represent New Tribes Bible Institute. There was well over 15,000 people that participated in this festival. Sharing with people about the heart & ministry focus of New Tribes Mission; then helping them understand the purpose & reason of the Bible Institute.
       "Do you like free stuff?" Either it’s the Christian community or the economy crisis, but people love free things! We had drawings either for a T-shirt or a Nalgene bottle every 3 hours.
       Overall, the festival was a success in letting people know about the need of God’s Talk among tribal people all over our world. Also, talking among fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and seeing what God is doing in their lives.
        Thanks for your prayers and support !!!

      Omaha was the mark of Israel’s first haircut. Bye-bye to the dark brown, hello to the newly fresh blonde hair. He could not maintain the looks of his dad anymore. This was one of the many things we accomplished in the city of Omaha with my brother, Jason and his family.

      Does anybody not like dessert? With knowing the answer to that question, my brother, Jason and his wife, put together dessert parties a couple nights that consists of friends and leaders of different churches. These 2 nights helped us to inform them the future ministry we have in Indonesia and letting them know how they can be a part of reaching tribal people with the gospel!!

     We Started out staying a few days, then ended up being there for a week. We kept having opportunities to meet with pastors & leaders of churches for coffee or lunch to share about our ministry. Every meeting, we walked away very encouraged and blessed by these men. Lord willing a couple of these churches or individuals will be a part of ethnos 77, because we like the passion and love they have for God and for the lost. These are the kind of churches and individuals we want on our team!

    Heading out east for 3 weeks is hard on the little guy.  The first week took quite an adjustment on Israel, which was a lesson of patience for the parents, if you know what I mean fellow parents. 

    We had a great 9 days at Shawnee Baptist in NJ, where we were invited to be a part of the Missions Conference.  This is where I was about to present our ministry to the church and Melanie was supposed to be a part but then Israel had a melt down so I had to part without my wife, but it still went great.

    As we did our long travels of meetings with churches and individuals, we were able to site see at Philadelphia, D.C., and Ocean City. 

    This trip was very draining, but also encouraging being among fellow brothers and sisters of Christ.  We were blessed with hospitality wherever we went, and also we were able to add members to our Team 77 !!! 

    We see God’s hand in all of this and we are blessed to be a part of Him and His Work!

      We are in the mist of our 2nd month of Partnership Development (PD) and we find God challenging us in many ways.  This whole PD thing is a challenge in itself, but have really been grown through this process. It is great to see how the body of Christ encourages and strengthens us as we go through this. 

      But the biggest challenge has been through the health of my parents.  My Dad has a disease that has been attacking the lungs and heart.  Then my Mom is having difficulties with her back.  We have definitely seen God’s hand in having us live only 2 miles away as we can help them in any way we can.  I thought these kind of times would have never came so early, but it is amazing seeing how the body of Christ, once again, comes together and helps with everything they can. 

     Life has been a challenge, but we definitely see how God uses these kind of times to strengthen our faith and we know we can rest on God’s sovereignty!