NTM

We wanted to let you know some things that we would like your prayers for.

Finances for the Linguistics Program – we were not anticipating all of the costs (thank you to our home church who provided the money for the down payment)

Kendra as she will have a lot of difficult studying during the Linguistics program.

Logan as he will be taking care of Laken and trying to do some Partnership development.

Wisdom - as we raise a one year old!

Partnership Development – Pray that the Lord would continue to provide church’s and individuals to support us not only financially buy also through prayers and encouragement as we press towards leaving for Indonesia. We are currently at 20% of what we will need for living in a tribe in Indonesia.

That’s right. We are finally done with our training. Well sort of. On December 19th we will graduate from the Missionary Training Center. After almost 4 years of training with NTM we are officially no longer just students. We become members of New Tribes Mission around January 1st. We will then be classified as en route to Indonesia.

It is crazy how the time flies. When we first started Bible school we thought it would be so long until we could ever go to the mission field. Now it seems as though it is just around the corner.

Well now that you know we are finished with our training we will give you a brief overview of what the next few years of life looks like for us. Keep in mind that though we are officially done with our training, we technically have lots more to go!

January ‘09 – November ‘09

Linguistics Training for Kendra

Partnership Development for Logan

November ‘09 – April ‘10

Partnership Development

April ‘10 – ? (about 18 months – 2 years)

Off to Indonesia to learn the national language and culture.

After we do all this and a little more Partnership Development we will be moving into a tribe. (man after telling you all of that it seems like forever away)

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as the Lord continues to guide and direct us. We appreciate you all so much. It is only because of you that we are able to do any of this. Thank you again for your continued prayers and support.

This last month of classes has been truly eye opening. As we continue to go through the Building on Firm Foundations lessons we are realizing what a huge task the Lord has called us to. It has been really exciting to work as a team and prepare lessons just as we would on the field some day.

In our class we have been going through the Bible lessons that we will teach to the people. We start in Genesis and work our way through the ascension of Christ. After the first phase of teaching we pray that we will have believers, if we do we then begin to teach through the book of Acts followed by the epistles and so on. It has been really neat to go through this and discuss the possibilities of different reactions to the stories from God’s word that we will be teaching the people. Going through the Old Testament and trying to grasp the concepts as if we had never heard them before has been awesome as it just reminds us of how Great our God is.

It is so exciting to think that some day (hopefully in the near future) we may have the opportunity to be a part of a church plant. Please continue to pray for us as we finish up our training and move on to the next step. (Which just so happens to be more training for Kendra!)

Wow! What a crazy two weeks! We learned about how to do everything from cooking from scratch to cutting down trees. For the past two weeks we were learning several practical skills for living in a tribal situation. Each day we spent time learning new skills that may be beneficial for field work. We will try to break down for you day by day.

Monday – Scratch Cooking

We were introduced to what we would be doing for the next two weeks. We were not able to leave campus for the entire two weeks except to go to church. We also found out that for five days we had to cook completely from scratch. Even snacks. We had to make a menu of all the things that we would be eating. Kendra made home made noodles and tortillas! Logan even had to cook two of the meals! (They turned out very tasty by the way!)

Tuesday – Bread Baking Day!

Today our entire class learned to bake bread from scratch. The set up tables around our big lecture hall and we went around to different stations adding the ingredients and then kneading our bread and waiting for it to rise! We had a lot of fun. We will try a post a picture of this soon.

Wednesday – Supply Buying

Because we were not able to leave campus we had to use a supply buyer to get our groceries. This was practice for the field because in many cases as tribal missionaries a supply buyer will be the one getting your food and toiletries and sending them to you. We had to make a list of our items and then order them over a radio. The supply buyer then picked the items up for us and dropped them off later that evening.

Thursday and Friday – Small Engines

On these days we learned about the maintenance of cars, motorcycles and boats. This was all very basic obviously but it was very helpful. We learned how to do things such as fix a puncture wounds in a tire, choose the right kind of boat for different weather types, and that it is best to buy motorcycles on the field and not try to ship one over.

Monday – Pressure Cooking in Staff Homes

Today we learned about cooking in a pressure cooker. Our class was split into groups of about 10 people. We went to staff homes to make a meal from scratch together. We made a delicious meal from the Philippines.

Tuesday – Plumbing and Building

In this class we basically learned how to plumb our tribal home. We learned very valuable things such as the different part of a toilet, how to install a sink, and how to sweat copper pipping.

We also learned about some basics of buiilding. We started out learning the MANY MANY uses of a square, such as how to make a perfect circle. We were also taught some basics of a tape measure. We finished up with learning how to build some basic trusses.

Wednesday – Chainsaw and Building

Basically we now know how to clear a plot of land and use the wood to build our home in the jungle! Well….kind of. We did learn how to use and maintain a chainsaw, as well as cut down trees properly. We practiced taking chainsaws apart and cleaning them. We also learned how to sharpen the blades. After taking care of the chainsaw we learned the proper way to cut down trees. We watched a few people actually practice cutting down dead trees.

After practicing cutting down trees we had another lesson in building. We went over a little more on trusses and then we learned how to use a water level. Pretty amazing that you can find out if something is level by a bucket of water and some tubes! Our biggest project for the day was how to build a basic stair case. WOW there is a lot of math in carpentry! We finished up with learning about some basic tools and how to build a stool.

Thursday – Hair Cutting

This was quite the experience. We were taught how to give a basic clipper cut and scissor cut to a man and a basic cut for a woman. We practiced on some friends and brave volunteers. Logan had just recently buzzed his head so no one would could really practice on his hair!

Friday – Knife Sharpening

We learned how to properly sharpen knives. We were able to bring our personal knives to practice sharpening. It was very helpful.

Friday afternoon to Sunday morning – CAMPING!

To end our practical skills we went on a camping trip. Logan went ahead and built our shelter (we couldn’t use tents). Later that afternoon Kendra and Laken met Logan for their long trek to the campsite. Logan made Laken a nice little bed in our shelter. Kendra and Laken spent one night and Logan stayed until Sunday. We had a really good time but it was REALLY COLD!!!!!

For the first 8 weeks we did a Culture and Language Practicum. We spent this 8 weeks practicing what it would be like learning another language and culture. We met with our language helper 2-3 times a week. It was an awesome experience learning a totally new culture.

As Americans I think we often forget that in other parts of the world people do things differently than we do. It was very interesting learning the appropriate ways to do different things. You would never think that it may be offensive to cut a yam a certain way or for a man to get his hair cut by woman other than his wife. The Lord really used this class to show us that we are going to ultimately have to trust in Him for wisdom on the field. There is so much that we will have to learn in order to adequately share the gospel with a tribe in Indonesia. Please continue to pray for us as God continues to use our classes to teach us better ways to share His Word.