Dennis, Nancy & Aurora

Aurora Madeline Koop came into the world on October 2, 2009.    Grandpa and Grandma were very excited to welcome this new little one into their family and were thrilled that the Lord had provided money for them to make the trip to Virginia.  Phil made it possible for Ellen to connect into the office via the internet, and so she was able to stay longer than she otherwise would have been able.   It was a wonderful time to be with Dennis, Nancy and Aurora.

October in Virginia is beautiful with the kaleidescope of colors emerging on the trees contrasted against the delightful shades of green.  Thinking of home in Arizona, I remembered one videographer telling us that all we had in McNeal were various shades of brown.  It almost seemed dismal in contrast until I remembered that God created both the lush forests and colors of the eastern states as well as the ever changing deserts of the western ones.  God delights in variety and is so caught up in diversity that He created fascinating and almost unbelieveable fish in the deep oceans of the world that men may never see.   He created a universe so infinitely large and diverse which we will never explore and never see unless He gives us that honor in eternity.

In the same way that God delights in the immense tapestry of diversity in the natural world, he also finds great joy and pleasure in the vast variety of differences in the human population.  Each one of us is an  individual created by a loving God to have a unique set of physical traits, talents, skills, interests, work and ministry.  No two of us can minister in exactly the same way and in the same place.  We often look at others and are jealous of their appearance, abilities, or the path that life has taken them.  How much more exciting it would be to ask the Lord to show us what He has in store for us and to surrender our will to His as we follow His leading wherever that will be?  For some of us that will mean taking the gospel to a new tribal group in a remote part of the earth.  To others it will mean supporting the efforts of those tribal missionaries through various ministry opportunities on the field or in the U.S.  And for others it may mean giving and praying so that these others can serve where God has placed them.  Each of us is valuable and has a spot to fill that no one else can. 

Let’s rejoice in diversity in the same way that our Creator God does and enjoy serving wherever He places us.

Our dinner guest: Fergusons, Burnhams, Rasmussens

Tuesday night we were privileged to dine with some of our heroes, men and women who have served the Lord for most of their adult lives and who now at retirement age, rather than sitting back and letting the younger generation do “the Work of the Gospel,” continue to serve tirelessly as the Lord enables them. 

Paul and Oreta Burnham arrived in the Philippines in May 1970.  Because of their 39 years of faithful ministry, there is a thriving church in the Ibaloi tribe today.  Burnhams raised their five children in the tribe and later four of those children and their spouses returned to the mission field to continue their parents’ legacy.  Martin, their oldest son, gave his life for his Lord after he and Gracia were  taken by insurgents in 2001.  During that year long ordeal, Paul and Oreta parented Martin’s three children back in the US, providing physical and emotional support to the family.  Although officially retired from New Tribes Mission, Paul and Oreta continue to make trips to the Philippines to assist in the translation of the Bible into the Ibaloi language and to reconnect with the believers  When they are in the US, they provide encouragement and a place to stay when any of their 23 grandchildren needs them.  We have been friends with the Burnham family since our own years in the Philippines and were delighted when we heard that they were coming to visit.  They wanted to see the three families in McNeal whom they knew from the Philippines and what better way to accomplish that than to get together for a Filipino dinner? 

Jim and Edna Ferguson are retired from NTMA and live here in McNeal.  Before becoming a missionary, Jim was a crop duster pilot to support his family.  After joining New Tribes Mission, he and Forest Estelle, another pilot, were challenged to start a flight program to provide air support for missionaries serving in tribal locations around the world.  They purchased their first airplane in 1969 and based it out of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.    From July 1972 to April 1976, Jim served as the pilot forthe flight program on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.   He and Edna served Paul and Oreta by providing aviation service into and out of the Ibaloi tribe.  Upon returning to the U.S., Fergusons continued to serve in leadership roles with Tribal Air/Communication (which later became known as NTM Aviation) in Grant, Nebraska and then McNeal, Arizona until their retirement in April 2002.

 Monty and Kathie Rasmussen were challenged by Lee German to go to the island of Palawan in the Philippines to serve our tribal missionaries there.  They first arrived on the field in November 1970 with their four children and served on both Palawan and Luzon until they were relocated to McNeal in 1986.  Martin Burnham flew in and out of the tribe for years in Monty’s plane and claims that it was Monty’s example that challenged him to become a missionary pilot.  We met Monty and Kathie in May of 1982 when we first arrived in the Philippines.  They have been dear friends and close associates ever since and we praise the Lord every day for their example in our lives.  Although they are at retirement age, Monty continues to work part time in our engine shop and Kathie and I co- teach the student ladies class every Tuesday morning.

 As we sat around the dinner table and listened to these six reminisce about the early days, laughter sporadically erupted from the group, and we caught a glimpse of what it will be like in glory when we sit at the marriage supper of the lamb and feast with all those who have come before us in the faith. 

As I thought of our time together the words of Steve Green’s song “Find Us Faithful” kept running through my mind:

We’re pilgrims on a journey of a narrow road, and those who’ve gone before us line the way,
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary,  their lives a stirring testament of God’s sustaining grace.

Surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses,  let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who’ve gone before us, let us leave to those to those behind us,
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through Godly lives.

Chorus:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.  May the fire of our devotion light their way. 
May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe, and the lives we lead inspire them to obey.
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone, and our children sift through all we’ve left behind,
May the clues that they discover, and the memories they uncover,

Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find.

 May God find us all faithful!

She arrived as predicted one afternoon the middle of May.  At 6 pounds and 10 ounces you would not expect that she could make much of an impact on our lives.  We knew for nine months that she was coming and had all that time to prepare.  But when it actually happened, and we came face to face, cheek to cheek and heart to heart with this little bundle, holding her in our arms and snuggling close, what could we do?  We were unprepared for the intense feelings that overwhelmed us as we were smitten with love for Elissa.  Two normally sane and serious people became adoring grandparents and sometimes made seeming fools of ourselves.  We soon realized that life would never be the same again.  We couldn’t go back to whom we were before, nor would we want to miss any of this.  When we walk into her house, we neglect everyone else in the room to go and get our hands on this little one.  Then we can look around and see that there are other people in the room who might want our attention.  If she enters our house in her car seat or in the arms of her parent, one of us is quick to set her free of her restraints so that we can snuggle her and whisper our own secrets in her ear.  She has stolen our hearts,  and we quickly realized the truths of what all those grandparents before us have warned us about; grandchildren are the best thing that happened to us since our own children were born.    We are hooked.

Twenty five years ago Phil and I met Monty and Kathie Rasmussen on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.  Monty was our NTMA pilot, and he and Kathie worked together as a team serving our NTM missionaries in the bush.  Kathie has became a big sister to me over the years, and we often consider ourselves part of the Rasmussen family.   After serving together for several years in the Philippines, we have worked with Rasmussens here in McNeal since 1992.

Our NTMA class of 2007 arrived in August of this year.  We have six couples preparing to serve in the Philippines and Indonesia.   The men are working all day receiving technical training on the aircraft they will be flying and servicing on the field.  What kind of training do their wives receive?

In September Kathie and I began a Monday morning class with the student wives at the Koop house.  Having served with Monty since 1970, Kathie brings to the class a wealth of knowledge, experience, and years of walking with the Lord.  Together Kathie and I are editing the teaching outline she has used for years.  The topics we cover include the NTMA Wife and: Her Rights Before God, Her Walk with the Lord, Her Relationship with her Husband, Balancing Her Home and Her Work, Her Children, and Her Relationships with Her Co-workers. 

All of these topics have already been covered before in the training these ladies have received.  What makes our times together different is that we cover many of the unique challenges that will be faced by these ladies as they serve with their husbands in an aviation ministry.

Please pray for Kathie and I as we teach these wonderful ladies in preparation for their ministries abroad.  In addition, pray for these six, Bailey, Kelly, Jane, Melissa, Candy, and Missy, as well as Jonie, Kari, and Gloria as we spend time together every Monday morning.  Praise the Lord for a couple of staff ladies and one homeschooled teen who babysit  the nine children under 5 years old so that the mothers can participate in the class. 

Our sons are about hunting, cars, motorcycles, action movies, and computers. They love to terrorize the women in their lives with dead jack rabbits, show off to them when hiking in the mountains, and aggressively beat them in the game “Aggravation”.

It is so refreshing to have daughters in our family. Life is a little calmer with chick flicks, dressing up, makeup, fixing hair, shopping, playing friendly games, and attending tea parties.

Speaking of tea parties, we did just that on September 28 when I took Wendy and Nancy to the Chantilly Tea Room  to celebrate their birthdays.  After raising three sons, Phil and I are enjoying these two daughters the Lord has brought into our lives, and looking forward to having Amanda join our family in June.  Then I will no longer be part of the minority in this family.  Yahoo!

For years our newsletters have borne the title, "News from the Arizona Desert." I’m sure that speaking of the desert brings up images such as barren, dry, lifeless, brown, snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other such unlovely thoughts. One dictionary defines a desert as "a barren or desolate area, especially a dry, often sandy region of little rainfall, extreme temperatures, and sparse vegetation.”

Most of the year, we live in just such a place. Although we live in the High Desert at 4,000 feet elevation in a valley surrounded by mountains, this definition pretty much describes our surroundings. We see sparse vegetation, all of which has thorns or spikes on it. The soil is not sandy but is full of rocks. It is so hard that it takes all day running a tiller to turn the soil enough to try to plant a little garden. On our walks in the desert, we see snakes, tarantulas, jack rabbits, and other sundry insects that spend their days under ground and come out in the cool of the morning or evening. There is a 30-50 degree difference between daytime and night time temperatures.

All that changes once a year during monsoon season, which runs through July and August. The rain comes down in torrents, many of the dips in the roads become flooded and completely impassable, and the plants actually start to turn green. For a couple of months, the desert blooms bringing forth life that has been dormant for the past 10 months. It doesn’t come close to what many of you experience most of the year in your wetter climates, but to us the desert teeming with life is a wonderful change.

What makes the difference between barrenness and life, and transforms a seemingly lifeless waste into something beautiful? It is the presence of water! And what makes the difference in our lives between barrenness and fruitfulness? It is the time we spend with our Lord who says in John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” Just as nothing in the physical world can live and grow without water, neither can life flourish in the spiritual realm without the living water that only Christ can give. According to Psalms 1: 3, he who delights in the Lord and meditates on his Word “… will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”

Travis is now officially a student at Moody Bible Institute, two years after his initial application. After working this summer in Sierra Vista at two different fast food places, he moved home to pack for school on August 12. His friend Amanda flew here to meet our family on August 13 and then made the trip to Chicago with us on the 18th. She was able to visit the Moody campus with us and see where Travis would be attending school before taking a train to Michigan.

We were glad for the opportunity to take Travis to school, see the campus, meet his roommate and attend parents’ orientation where we learned more about MBI. We enjoyed our first trip to Chicago and look forward to returning for a  visit. Travis auditioned and was accepted into a drama team that ministers to young people in Chicago as well as travels to several Midwestern states. He is very excited about using his acting talent for the Lord in this type of ministry. At this point in time, his major is Mass Communication, and his dream is to write and produce Christian videos and movies that will minister to the both believers and unbelievers. Travis was happy that Moody accepted 24 of his transfer credits from last year at New Tribes Bible Institute and Cochise College.

We left Chicago, during rush hour, driving 10 miles an hour in pouring rain, headed for Monroe, Wisconsin to visit my brother Ron. It was great to spend a day together before heading back to McNeal to the work waiting for us here. Our new semester started on August 13 with six new student couples. We’ll tell you more about that next time.

To see more photos of MBI check out our photo album.

For quite a few years now, Ellen has been the Bible teacher for Valley Bible Church’s VBS program which uses materials from Group Publishing Company. In the past we have gone on a Bug Safari, on a Scuba Undersea Adventure, to Lava Lava Island, on a Serengeti Trek, and to a Mexican Fiesta. This year we went to Avalance Ranch where the theme was horses, cattle, buffalo, and western adventures.

What amazes us about our VBS at Valley Bible Church is the size of the program considering we only have an average attendance of 50 people in our church. This year our VBS consisted of about 80 children ages toddler to 6th grade, 20 junior high and high school helpers, and at least 20-30 adult helpers. Most of these kids come from unchurched families, and yet even their parents want to help in any way they can.

On Tuesdays during the school year, children from the local elementary school are dropped off by the bus at the church for Kids’ Klub. For many of these children, Kids’ Klub and VBS are their only exposure to the Word of God. Even though they don’t come to church, they keep coming back year after year to these programs, and when they are too old to attend, they want to come back as helpers. We thank the Lord for the opportunity to share the truth of God’s Word with these children who otherwise have no opportunity to hear the message of salvation.

On Monday Ellen taught the story of Rahab, teaching the kids that God is real. Tuesday we crossed the Jordan River with the Israelites and learned that God is with us. Wednesday we watched the walls of Jericho fall down and heard that God is strong. Thursday we experienced the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and learned that God is awesome. That day at least 6 of the children claimed to accept Christ as their Savior. Friday we watched as Naaman was healed of his leprosy and learned that God is in control.

Following our Friday night program, one of our adult helpers told Ellen that she had never before heard the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy. Was that really in the Bible? Ellen was able to take her to the story in the Old Testament and share with her that God used this disease and healing to bring Naaman to the knowledge of the one true God. This mother is a young believer who is in the middle of a divorce, and Ellen was privileged to share with her how God could bring wonderful changes in her life and the lives of her children, just like he did for Naaman and Rahab. We thank the Lord for the opportunity He gave to participate in VBS this year and to see God working in the lives of the children and adults.