NTM

We took a spur-the-moment mini-trip this week and did a loop around Florida.  Not exactly what I would recommend for a road trip when you only have 3 days and when you have a pregnant wife and a one-year old.   But that’s beside the point.  It the recommendation of several people, including our pastor, we realized the benefit of visiting a ministry in North Ft. Myers FL called ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization)

ECHO is a very unique ministry.  They are a team of Christian scientists and botanists who are concerned about the people around the world who are starving.  Especially when God has made plants that grow and give food in any environment.  They started this ministry to research what plants grow best in what locations to provide the greatest harvest and nutrition with the smallest investment. 

Today they are headquarterd in North Ft Myers where they have their "Global Garden".  At this garden they grow plants to experiment how to grow them best, test their nutritional content, and harvest seeds for their seed band.

How does this apply to us and tribal missions?  ECHO does not have any missionaries.  They exist simply to assist missionaries already overseas by sending them seeds, telling them how to grow the plants, and encourages the missionaries to save the seeds from the crop to give to the people they work with.  Once the people have seen the crop it will inspire them to plant the seeds the missionaries give them and grow them to feed their family.

In a place like Paraguay, the tribal people have been taken advantage of and exploited for years, hence they are typically closed and stand-offish towards outsiders.  However, an outreach like this could be what completely throws the door wide open for relationships.  While we would never want our ministry to become about solving world hunger, we will use whatever tool we can to bring people into a growing relationship with Christ.

We are glad we visited for a brief tour of the global gardens at ECHO and are looking forward to seeing how they play a part in planting a church in an unreached people group in Paraguay.

Truth Trek was the material that our church used for Vacation Bible School this year.  At our church we have many evangelistic outreaches during the year, but one that we put alot of effort and attention into is VBS.  We had a lot of kids show up this week, and nearly a dozen placed their faith in Christ for salvation.  Praise God!

But where was I?  I was across the street in the "old sanctuary".  Who was I with?  I was with the "old kids" otherwise known as adults.  Our church tries to offer an adult VBS class every year, with the idea that parents who drop their kids off at church can stay and have their own class, and pick the kids up at the end.

We try to make it just like the kids class.  We sing, do crafts, play games, and have a lesson, all with an adult feel to it. 

While it may not seem very much like tribal missions, it makes sense why we are doing this when we look at the big picture of tribal missions.  We are not lone ranger Christians blazing a trail into the great unknown.  We are just regular people who used to have 9-5 jobs, an apartment, and a family pet.  We also used to be regular members of our church.  As we have stepped out by faith into this life of tribal missions, we are still a part of our church.  They are the ones, like us, who believe God would have us go to Paraguay.  And they are sending us out.

New Tribes Mission is a parachurch organization, meaning that they help facilitate our church send us out into a tribal context to preach Christ.  We are more a member of our church than we are of New Tribes. 

With these things in mind, it only makes sense for us (since the Missionary Training Center is out for the summer) to be immersed once again in the activity of the church.  We are a part of them, and they are a part of us.  It is a joy to serve in VBS or whatever else the church decides to do.

We are thanking God for a successful June, and looking forward to a very different July.  Jen and the baby-to-be are still healthy, and Jamen is our travelling trouper.  Jon has been able to stay focused on our goals and reaching them.  God remains faithful to the expanse of the Gospel.

One of my favorite places on the planet is the Okefenokee swamp.  Its only an hour from our home church area here in Georgia, and it was the destination of several childhood trips.  You hardly notice the mosquitoes and gnats covering every square inch of exposed skin when gators are crawling about in every direction you look.  

This week our church helped put on a Vacation Bible School in a local community.  The setting for the week was the hokeybadjokey swamp.  The title was Crocodile Dock.  The week focused on teaching the kids they didn’t have to fear with God.

Basically Jen and I were just adult leaders.  There were many teenager volunteers who managed the groups of kids, and there were other adult volunteers who did the bible stories and crafts etc..  So all we did was provide a little adult supervision for the teenage group leaders. 

I can’t say that we did anything spectacular, but I will just share one story.  One of the boys I was praying for looked at me randomly and unprovoked towards the end one day and said "whats a sinner?"  I’ve never had a kid pay so much attention to the answer.  Nothing came of it this week, but perhaps later understanding his state before God will bear fruit. 

The second full week back home in GA did not have anything extraordinary on the church calender.  It was refreshing for sure to have a "siesta" for a bit.  The only major change this week was that we moved from the place we were staying with a couple from our church (THANKS SO MUCH GUYS!!) to house-sit for another family in our church who are on vacation.  It’s nice to be part of a church that loves us and sacrifices for us to have a place to stay.

The relaxed church calender provided us with some time to pursue more relationships.  We had 5 get togethers this week with people to explain our future ministry in Paraguay and how they could be involved.  Very encouraging things happened in these meetings and are looking forward to the future as God grows our partnership team.

We also had a meeting this morning on our upcoming Church outreach VBS here in the community.  We are doing a VBS called "Crocodile Dock" in a community here in the area.  None of the 70 kids who are signed up are from our church.  This is all community.  We are looking forward to seeing how the week plays out, and to continue getting our hands dirty with fellow First Baptist folks.

Speaking of First Baptist we were also happy to unload our new Youth Pastor’s family U-Haul last night.  The Norris’ just moved down from NC to work with our youth, and as of last night they are officially here.  The many hands made light work, and again it put a smile on our faces being with everyone.

Thanks for your continued prayers during this busy summer.

After only 5 days home we hit the road again to help with kids camp.  We wanted to be a help with the activities going on in our church this summer and asked how we could be involved.  They decided it would be fun for the kids to have a "missionary moment" time everyday for the kids.  The kids were from 4 different churches in the area (including our church) and we went to a facility in Statesboro GA.  The camp was called gospel mystery investigators, searching the mystery of a Savior.

We decided that, rather than try to do a missionary time that wasn’t related to the camp, we should tell missionary stories as they relate to the themes of the day.  The themes were:  sin-less, servant, and sacrifice.  The last days theme was Savior.  Naturally the missionary stories I told related to the themes of the day.  That provided for a little more continuity. 

I have to admit that talking to 120 kids was out of my comfort zone.  I have talked to a group of 20 kids before, which is quite a bit easier to see how kids are tracking.  120 was a challange, and I had to adjust strategies and lessons as I went.  The last day I painted my face and put on a wig as I told the Ee-tao story from the Mouk perspective. 

Several kids made decisions for Christ, whether they believed the gospel, wanted to be baptized, or wanted to give their lives to ministry.  It was a very encouraging time, and very encouraging to serve with people from the churches.  Thanks for your prayers. 

A side note is that Jamen handled the week like a pro…even made some friends with some of the kids.  He slept good, played outside, and ate constantly it seemed.  We had one scare this week, when Jen (who is almost 3 months pregnant) nearly passed out in the kitchen while cooking Jamen’s dinner.  We were able to keep her conscious and she soon got the colour back in her face and feeling back in her fingers.  We think it may have been caused by the heat in the kitchen, but praise God momma and baby seem to be fine still 4 days later.

Pray for us this week as we are meeting with some friends in our church to share with them about our ministry in Paraguay, and also for some meetings we will be attending.

After driving all night and going 4 days on 11 hours total sleep, we arrived in GA to smiles and good ol southern hospitality on Wednesday morning.  This place is our favorite place in the world.  We love the pine trees, fresh peaches, coastal living, and armadillos.  Every scent and sight invoke the deep emotions of home.

But why are we taking 8 weeks in St. Marys GA?  To recap, our home area is Camden Country GA.  We have spent the majority of our married life there, and Jon has spent the majority of his single life there.  We have always been a part of the same church here at First Baptist St Marys, and they just so happen to our sending church.  We only left to go to training at the Missionary Training Center in Missouri last year.

Now we have a summer break from training for 12 weeks.  We have decided to spend the lion’s share in our sending church for 3 reasons.  The first reason is we are a bit homesick.  We miss the sights and sounds, and are jumping at the oppurtunity to be back home.  The second reason is to help our church with their busy June church calender.  We have a kids camp and two vacation bible schools during June, and workers are needed.  We are thrilled to jump right in next to our friends.  The third reason is to explain our ministry and financial needs to both our sending church and individuals within the sending church.

We are having a blast staying with a couple in our church.  They are really sacrificing for us to stay in their home for 8 weeks!  Praise God for these people!

Anyway, this is just a quick update to where we are and why we are here.  We will update next week and discuss what happened at Kids For Christ Camp.  Till Then

For those who don’t know yet, Jen is pregnant with our second child due in December.  She is definitely feeling the pregnancy sicknesses and fatigue, and we are pretty busy this summer.  Pray for her as she finds the balance between being a mom, pregnant, and missionary all at once :) 

Please be in prayer for Jamen this summer as we are asking alot of him.  He really likes routine, and this summer we are going to be in-and-out of peoples homes, traveling long distances, and sleeping in a pack and play.  That’s alot to ask of a one year old.

Just a note on that, we are 4 days into this summer, and he is doing magnificent.  He is such a blessing.  But even still, we are praying for him daily and ask you to do the same.

I took four years of Spanish in high school.  My teachers all had degrees in teaching, and had lived in Spanish speaking countries.  Their classes were the best.  I passed all with a 4.0 average.  I loved the Spanish language.  I went out of my way to study more.  I decided back in 2003 that I wanted to go to Argentina to live for a year.  I figured I was ready. 

Day one in Argentina left me wide-eyed and drop-jawed at the fact that I could not communicate the simplist of things to my 7 roommates from different latin american countries.  The only thing I could do with confidence was ask where the restroom was.  While that was helpful it was not enough.  How could it be that after 4 years of dedicated spanish study at the high school level could I be so incapacitated by a lack of ability to actually speak the language?

Here at the Missionary Training Center, the trainers have seen it all too many times.  They have experienced it themselves.  It seems that somehow book-learning causes learners to come up short in ability to speak the language, which leads to frustration, and sometimes even quitting.  After seeing it over and over, it led us as a mission to explore an alternative to studying language the traditional method.  And it seems that scientists (or doctors) have figured out why.  It all has to do with how God made our brains to work.

It seems that there is a language "partition" in our brains.  What we know how to communicate to other people is stored in there.  Whenever we go to speak, our minds automatically go to this section of the brain to retrieve whatever is in there.  The interesting thing is that facts that we learn in school, such as history and science, are stored in another section of the brain.  You could call it the "information" section of the brain.  What happens is that when we study language as a bunch of grammar rules and vocabulary, our brains process the data as information, and rightly so.  The only way to get the language data from the information section of our brains into the communication section of our brains is to actually try to use the language we are trying to learn.

It’s a novel concept.  What do babies do?  The listen for months to the mom and dad talk (although some moms and dads dont talk to their kids at all, the just make the most ridiculous baby noises imaginable.  I wonder what babies think when we are making ridiculous baby noises at them?) without saying anything.  They just hear the language all day every day.  Eventually they start sputtering sounds, followed by words, followed by sentences, and before you know it they are fluent in the language.  No matter how hard a language, the kids always learn how to speak it within the same general time frame.

That’s our strategy to learning language.  When we first go into a new language setting, we wait for weeks or even months as we just simply listen to the language.  They say the longer you just listen without speaking, the less of a foreign accent you will have in the language.  Once we have "warmed up" to the language we begin the process of language learning but not in a classroom setting…we plan sessions of actually using the language.  One of our greatest tools in these learning sessions is a strategy called Total Physical Response.

Total Physical Response was not invented by New Tribes.  In fact, leading language software is already implimenting this idea of TPR.  Imagine a stack of 3 items on a table.  We, as language learners, would simply point to one of these objects and listen to our language helper tell us what the name of the object is.  We would continue pointing radomly at the 3 objects until we have heard enough.  Then we ask our language helper to say the names of the items in random order, and with each thing that our helper says, we have to try to point to the item.  First we point and listen, then we listen and point.  Once we have a handle on the 3 items, we add another one, then another and another, and next thing you know we have started learning a dozen new words. 

This whole time the vocabulary is being stored into the language section of our brains, because our body is involved and engaged in the learning process.  The data isn’t going into the information section of the brain.  The result is better language retention, faster learning, and a good ear for what the language sounds like.  We keep up this process for a long time learning nouns, verbs, adjectives and even small phrases.

This is what we are doing this week at the MTC.   We are learning how to plan and structure these sessions when we go overseas.  We are practicing with a Norwegian speaking language helper (yes, we are still going to Paraguay; no they do not speak Norwegian in Paraguay; this is just practicing on Norwegian) so that we can get a feel for the process.  In the picture above I am listening to our helper tell me phrases descibing the pictures on the board, and I am having to decide which picture she is talking about.  Really fun, and best of all…IT REALLY WORKS.  Learning another language is possible.

Just another glimpse into the practical side of the Missionary Training Center and how they are preparing us for tribal ministry in Paraguay.

Even though our second semester at the Missionary Training Center is winding down and we are gearing up for this summer, we have one last class here in Missouri that is of extreme importance.  The class is Culture and Language Acquisition Methodology.  (WOW, that sounds important huh?)  Or, in normal English, the class could be called:  When you show up in the tribe, how do you start learning how to communicate with the people and how do you find out what things are important to them and what things need to be analyzed.  This class is the "how" to function and get from the place of being an outsider in the village on day one, to be a functioning member of the community by the time you begin teaching.  (I think you get it)

The basis for learning language and culture is relationships.  This may seem obvious, but in all reality this is a fairly new strategy within the mission.  In the "old days" (even though some missionaries were relationship centered) the plan was get a little info from the village, study in your office really hard, and when you understand all your data, go get a little more.  The result was a missionary who was extremely lopsided in the office and not in the village, communicating to the people that they didn’t have time for them.  Culture was not experienced, and therefore not understood.  Teaching in this scenario only started after years and years of language study and sometimes was not well accepted because the relationships had been neglected.

When New Tribes Mission adopted this relationship centered approach to Culture and Language Acquisition, some shifts began happening.  Most notably language learning time was dramatically reduced.  It’s a novel concept, but basically the more time spent in the village listening and speaking with the people in the native language, the faster the language was learned.  Languages that in the past took our missionaries 5-7 years to learn were then being learned in 2-4.  There are some languages in the islands of Papua New Guinea that are now being learned in 1 year!  The Gospel getting out was accelerated.

But probably even more importantly, people have been more receptive to the gospel now that they perceive the missionaries to be friends and not foreigners.  Think about it:  would you believe a friend or a stranger if they told you something "outrageous"?  I would imagine your friend would hold greater sway.  It is no less true of unreached people groups.  While they are different in their culture from us, they are still people at the end of the day.  The words of a friend are powerful.

Center language study on relationships sounds good now, but when you start thinking about it practically you realize what a ride you are in for.  How many friends do you have that are non-Christians?  Not aquaintences…friends.  I would guess that our Christian friends greatly outnumber our non-Christian friends.  And how about people with whom you have nothing in common?  How many friends like that do you have?  I am talking about real 100% genuine friends.  If there is nothing or little in common it isn’t easy to have a friendship.  Unreached people groups, are by definition, non-Christian, and culturally they are very disimilar to our culture.  We are already burdened with the fact that we need God’s love to shine through us, because humanly speaking, our love isn’t going to be pure enough to have good relationships on the mission field. 

The Gospel being proclaimed depends on us loving those people.  How can we do it?  Only through Christ’s love being manifest in our lives can we expect to have genuine relationships.  You see, the "relationship centered" principle of our methodology is not simply relationships with the people themselves, it also includes our relationship with God, for that is the basis for all other relationships.