Jon and Jen Quast Preparing for Tribal Church Planting in Paraguay 
Dan and Peggy Crane who represented Paraguay this year
This week the Missionary Training Center had its annual “field fair”. Don’t think state fair. There was no ferris wheel, nor was there cotton candy. Field Fair is when representatives from different countries New Tribes Mission works in come to the training center and share up-to-the-second reports on current needs and vision on where the field is going.
It was this time last year that Jen and I were eagerly sitting in the auditorium with ball-point pen and legal pad in hand trying to see where God would have us serve. After hearing the needs and vision presented about Paraguay, and after some time in prayer, we ultimately followed God’s leading to serve in Paraguay.
Alot has happened in a year’s time. We have seen our cross-cultural communication skills increase as we were exposed to phonetics, phonemics, grammar and the like. We have seen our ability to be discerning in culture increase through courses such as Animism, Folk Theology, and Culture and Language Acquisition. We have also grown spiritually as we have been involved in our local church here in Missouri, through interaction with our trainers, and by just good old fashioned time with the Lord.
A year is important as we look back. But a year is also important as we look forward to what lie ahead. One year from now we will have completed our church planting training. A year from now we have welcomed our daughter into the world. A year from now we will have completed our specialized linguistic training. A year from now we will have spent time raising our funding for the mission field. A year from now we will be completing our Linguistic Practicum in Oklahoma. And a year from now the only thing left to do before going to Paraguay will be getting on the plane. Stateside preperation will be complete.
Please continue to pray with us as the day draws ever closer. Pray for the things we will be going through. Pray for our finances that they would be raised up to a level that we can function in ministry. And be praying now for the unreached people group that we will present the gospel to.
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.