NTM

Christmas is almost here! Jason and I pulled out a tub that we had some miscellaneous decorations in. We were so excited to put our little sentimental ornaments around the house to celebrate our most favorite time of the year, a time when we remember our Savior’s birth.

We have an arrangement of ornaments for our tree given by family members. Most were made by my mom.

I thought I would just share something about our most important Christmas things. The first being a figurine of Mary, holding Jesus, and Joseph. Jonie’s Dad brought these wooden structures back from his trip to Israel. They are not the typical nativity scene that we are used to. 

My dad also brought back this is a crown of thorns. These things mean so much to me as I reflect on their relevance to the birth and death of our Lord and Savior.

Traditionally, our friends here at NTMAviation wake up Thanksgiving morning to play a rough game of two hand touch football, which Jason joined in this year. There were enough people to have four teams, and they played several games.

Us wives sat, watched, and cheered our husbands on as we discussed the details of the big meal of the day.

I did make an album for the pictures we took on Thanksgiving day, including more shots of Jason playing and the women watching.

We all enjoyed a huge meal celebrating Thanksgiving. Thank you Lord! Afterwards, we enjoyed some great time of fellowship and games like Mexican Train, Sequence, and Dutch Blitz.

Our neighbors and good friends celebrated Jane’s 30th birthday this month. Her husband and family will be one of the wonderful coworkers we will be working with in the Philippines.

All the students came over and celebrated for this occasion. I actually spent the day with her away shopping, while the guys and other students decorated her house and prepared a feast for the evening. When we arrived, Jane was so shocked, and I have to say that I did a pretty good job not spoiling the surprise!

The aroma of Russian Tea is just what I need to remember what it is like back home in Alaska at my grandmother’s house at Christmas.

Because I love it so, I thought that I could put the recipe online so you could make it also.

Mix all together and store in an air tight container. When you are ready to enjoy some wonderful Russian Tea just add two rounded Tablespoons to about 6 ounces of hot water.

In the beginning of November, Jason started flying again to get his tail wheel rating. The only airplanes that New Tribes Mission has in the Philippines are 185s and are tail draggers. When he received his pilot’s license before, he never went on to get this special rating, and we thought it would be good for him to get the experience "just in case."

Jason will need to put at least 10 hours into the training with an instructor before he is able to fly solo. By the middle of November, he should reach that amount and be able to take passengers.

If you were to come and visit us, I know Jason would be happy to take you up for a spin!

I created a photo album of the pictures that I took of Jason flying on our website. You can click on the "Photos" link above and then click on Jason Flying. Enjoy!

Early Sunday morning I had woken up and walked into the living room checking emails on the computer, when I received a phone call. It was my next door neighbor telling me that there was a medical need, and I should get ready to leave. Only moments later, a young girl was banging on my door. She frantically told me that something was wrong with her 12 year old sister and that I needed to come right away. I quickly put on my shoes and ran out the door. As we sprinted to her house, I began to pray, "Lord give me the wisdom to know what to do."

I was immediately taken into their home and entered this young girls’ room. She was laying on the bed with blood coming from her mouth and was unresponsive. I look back on it, and I see  God’s peace was there with me as I was not frantic. I only used the education that I had to help this young girl.

I, by no means, can say that I saved her life, but I really felt that God used me to be the first one on the scene to help care for someone in need.

I cannot help but think about a big decision that Jason and I had to make only one year ago. We were deciding whether or not to go to Papua New Guinea. We were originally drawn to serving there because the mission had a medical clinic. However, we found out that New Guinea’s need for another aviation mechanic was not as severe as that of the Philippines. Jason and I had always said that we wanted to go where the need was greatest, and we saw this as God’s direction leading us to the Philippines.

The time has finally come for the Fall 2007 edition of our newsletter to be out. We sent them off on Monday and should be in your boxes soon. If for some reason you were unable to receive one by mail or email, please let us know and we can fix the problem.

Jason and I will be trying to send out as many newsletters as possible via email in the future as we will be needing to send them from the Philippines. So if you have an email and check it regularly, please send us that address and we will email you the newsletters from now on.

If for some reason, you would like to be taken off of our newsletter list, we would be happy to do that also.

Enjoy the beautiful Fall season!