What came to your mind when you read the title to this new article? I hope the picture in my mind came across to yours: paperwork! Paperwork can be pretty tedious sometimes. Whenever I have to fill out paperwork I thank God that He didn’t call me to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a secretary, because I would have to fill out a ton of paperwork probably on a daily basis.
Well, you may wonder why I spent my first paragraph talking about paperwork. Mainly because it is on my mind…I just did some. But, for the first time in my life I was happy to fill out paperwork. This was a special stack of papers…our application papers to New Tribes Mission!
It may seem a little strange to some that we even have to “apply” to New Tribes Missions. It may be strange to others that we haven’t applied already, so let me explain the process. About 2 years ago we applied to the New Tribes Mission Missionary Training Center. Our goal was to one day be a full-fledge member of the mission. As the process goes, you cannot join New Tribes Mission until you have completed the training. During the training process not only are you equipped to serve as a missionary with the organization, you are also evaluated to see if you and the mission are even a good fit. When the training is completed you apply to become members of the team.
We currently stand 4 weeks out from completing our church planting training, and our official interview is in two weeks. It’s not really a concern that we might not get in. Remember how I said that during the training we are evaluated? The Missionary Training Center won’t let someone complete the training only to say that they are not allowed to be members. That wouldn’t be fair to anybody. If there was an issue with the person or couple becoming members of the mission, they would have let them know long before so that the issues could be worked through.
All that to say is the paperwork is in! We have gotten far enough along in the process that now we can officially apply to the mission! Our interview is with a couple from the home office in two weeks. If all goes according to every indication we will accept membership January 1st. We are standing at the thresh-hold, one step away from walking through the door.
We covet your prayers these days. Praise God with us that He has gotten us to this point. It’s been a long time since that day in Argentina in 2003 when I decided I wanted to be a part of what New Tribes Mission was doing. But here we are today, and the time that has transpired was worth every second.
Remembering the past, and turning away from what lie ahead
Till All Are Reached
Jon and Jen Quast
Jon and Jen Quast Preparing for Tribal Church Planting in Paraguay 
Maybe you’ve noticed that is has been three weeks since our last weekly update. It’s been incredibly busy. But then again, maybe you didn’t notice because it seems like business is a subject to which we all can relate, because everyone’s busy. Sometimes we are busy with things that we have to do. Sometimes we are busy with things we want to do. But other times we are busy with things we get to do.
Most of the time, before Friday night comes, I have a pretty good idea what I’m going to write about this week. This week I was continue to give news on our Culture and Language Acquisition Practicum, that continues to stretch us and prepare us for ministry. However, occassionaly a topic comes up rather unexpectedly that I can’t wait to write about. This weeks topic is one such topic. It simply cannot be put off for another week.
Right now at the Missionary Training Center, the third semester class of which we are a part are engrossed 100% in our course called the Culture and Language Acquisition Practicum. We however effectionately call this class “Dobu” for reasons that I will explain as we get going in this post.
This is the class where we try to pull everything together that we have learned at the training center thusfar. How we are doing it is one of the highlights of New Tribes Mission training. Our professors, about 10 in all, have been dressing in complete tribal “disguises” and acting out the Dobo tribal culture to us. They speak some English which, in this drama, is the trade language, but they mostly speak their tribal language. We right now are engaged in sessions where we are trying to learn their language and culture using the tools we have. Jen and I are in a small group of 6 people who meet regularly with a man named Kinosi. Kinonsi is our language helper we have hired. On top of these individual sessions we get to watch all the professors act out a Dobu tribal scene, so we can gain insight into the culture.

