NTM

Hey, I just wanted to drop you a quick line to ask for your prayers. I am really excited to finally be able to have the full backing of my church, The Village Church, and a clear health report from my doctor to pursue heading to Papua New Guinea (PNG) with New Tribes Mission (NTM). I had to put it on pause for a few months and it is good to be able to head that direction again.

I am still working through the details of time frame and what that will all look like. I have been talking through it all with the missionaries in PNG that I would be serving with and they are excited to have me coming down. Amy and I are trying to work through what this will look like for our relationship. I am serving with a Non profit here in Dallas that works with refugees and want to finish well here as I look to the future.

In all of this I am going to have to go back to raising support and sharing with people what I will be doing and how they could help it all happen. It is exciting to see how all of this will have to be the body working together and how I can in no way do it alone. I am praying that God would make Himself and His direction mightily evident.

Please pray with me for these things:

That God would make the time to go very evident.

That the provision and open doors would such that He gets all the credit.

That God would give my girlfriend Amy and I peace in this all and a clear sense of Gods leading.

That God would provide people to partner with me financially providing the needed funds to go and serve.

That I would be able to dive deeper in my relationships as I look at leaving

That God would surround me with a multitude of people on their knees running to God on my behalf.

That I would finish my responsibilities well and not get lost in the transition.

Thank you very much, it is going to be an exciting journey, and I covet your prayers. I will be sending a more detailed letter very soon, I just wanted to let you all know where this is at. I will also update my website in the next couple of days.

Thank you,
Ryan Carpenter
www.ntm.org/ryan_carpenter
574-850-0343

I found myself over the past few months wondering just what God was thinking. I had every hope of being in PNG this fall and getting used to the culture and routine of things by now. It was very difficult to keep waiting on God to move. The finances just hadn’t come in for me to go like they should have, I mean if I was being faithful in sharing the need then why wasn’t God bringing in the funds to enable me to go??

It is funny to me that I profess to believe in the sovereignty of our God and yet in those moments when I cant see I begin to doubt Him. Yet he works in spite of my doubt!

I went in to the dermatologist in Dec to have a couple of moles removed from my head based on a history of carcenoma thinking that it was best to do that now before I was in the bright New Guinea sun and only antagonizing them.

The doctor asked about another mole on my neck wondering if I had any more and after looking found a 3/4 inch one in between my shoulder blades that had her really concerned. I had both the one on my neck, the one on my back and two more on my head removed. The biopsies showed that two of them were stage three melanoma. The doctor wanted to do more tests, and the biopsy had shown that they had missed some of the one on my back.

They ended up removing a 3 by 2 by 1/2  inch section from between my shoulders and two lymph nodes for further testing. It turns out that the cancer had spread to one lymph but no farther and that the surgery had removed it all. I will have to do one more recheck in three months and another in 6 months and if all is clear then I can leave at that point.

I find it incredibly encouraging and humbling that God knew all along what He was doing. The doctor said that as advanced as it was that it was only a short matter of time before the cancer had spread to my entire lymph system and became much much more dangerous. To think that he caused things to go slow and gave the doctor the wisdom to see. I am so grateful for His hand in my life.

Please pray that my back will continue to heal and the soreness will go away.

Please pray that the tests will come back clear in May and August.

Please also pray that God would bring in the finances both for the doctors bill and for the support to head out in 6 months.

His timing is perfect and all is in His hands. If he can do this I can’t wait to see what else he is capable of in the future. God is so amazing!

I wanted to update you all on where I am. I have set my date of departure as October 12th 2008. Much needs to be done in that time. I am currently at 50% support and God is providing more. I also still need the funds for my plane tickets and for the tools another things I need to take with me.

Please pray that as I finalize plans to leave for New Guinea that God would bring in the rest of the funds necessary. That he would burden people to be a part of it all. Also pray that things would go smoothly as I pack and prepare to leave.

If you would like to be a part of this you can click on the following link  www.ntm.org/ryan_carpenter/give.php  After you choose the amount you can denote if it is a one time gift or a monthly recurring amount. I also want to say that no amount is to small. I have several people giving $5 dollars a month. I can’t help but think of the widows mite in this situation.

Being a part and doing what we can is more important than the amount. I have always said that I hope to find 300 people to help with $10 a month. A thing which I know is entirely possible. Thank you for keeping track of me and keeping me in your prayers. I can’t wait to see God be a part of all of this.

Many of you are praying and I am very gratefully for those prayers. I realized the other night just how much I covet your prayers. This is a journey I am not strong enough or able enough to walk in on my own. It is by God’s grace and mercy alone that I am able to do it.

Please pray for me continually as I am finalizing many things and continuing on in deputation. Finding your knees on my behalf and on the behalf of those I will be serving. Please pray as I share that many would be excited to be apart of it all.  That in whatever way it is whether by praying, giving, or going, God would move all who hear, to be a part of it all, meeting the need in whatever way they are able.

I am at about 30% of needed support and have a long way to go before all is ready. Please pray as time continues that God would bring in the finances needed to make all of this possible. I am so glad to know that everything is Gods and I don’t have to worry about it. 

Please pray that God would open doors for me to share and ears to hear what He is doing around the world. If want more information on exactly here I am financially or other ways you can possibly be involved please email me at ryan_carpenter@ntm.org and I would be happy to send you more info.

Finally it has been difficult as I have shared with churches and people. The economy being what it is coupled with the falling value of the dollar, many churches are hurting as well as the missionaries they support.

Please pray that God in this time would prove He is faithful and those who are already on the field serving him would find their every need met. That the churches who have faithfully supported them would be able to continue to do just that, and more. Meeting the rising need as things continue to change around the world.

Psalms 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in HIM!"

How is it I have come to be here? God truly is amazing in the way He works in our lives. Every day that goes by I am more and more excited at what He is doing. I have spent the past several days going through courses to prepare me for the ministry that I will be moving into this fall.

The days here have been beautiful, and the classes informative, the food amazing, and the people wonderful. Oh yeah did I mention the manatee. The head quarters sits on Lake Monroe in Sanford and in that lake there are manatee, and alligators. It is almost too good to be true; I am sitting in a wonderful place getting ready for my new life in Papua New Guinea and I couldn’t be happier.

As I sit here and listen to the testimonies of different ones I can’t help but exclaim that my God is awesome. I keep seeing and hearing of ways that He has faithfully moved "mountains ". He is proving himself faithful in the lives of those who are serving Him around the world and in the lives of those preparing to go . It is so exciting to see Him moving in my life as well.

I am truly enjoying all of what God is teaching me here, as many are coming and teaching what we will need to know to fit into the ministries we will be a part of soon. It is almost information overload, but in a good way. My mind is being stretched as we look into issues from culture shock, international life factors, to ministry quirks for our specific countries. It is a great experience seeing so many who are faithfully serving in so many different capacities around the world and hearing their stories.

Please pray that my mind would soak all of this in and that I would get as much as possible from what is being shared with me. I am so excited to be preparing for this ministry but much has yet to be done. Please pray also that God would continue to bring people to me as partners in ministry. I have a long way to go yet in raising support and a short time to get there.

God is faithful and I am excited to see Him moving. Please pray for timing as well. I have been asked by the administration in PNG to try and get there in August. It is my hope to be able to do just that. I am also waiting for my work permit and visa as well please pray with me for that process to be swift. God is so good and faithful, I am passionately and patiently waiting on Him.

Please pray that God would speak through me as I share with people what He is doing in me and on the feild. It still amazes me how little is know in my community about the lost state of the world. I hope that my testimony stirs the hearts of those around me to the point that they can’t help but be involved. That the world beyond their community becomes a priority. That people no matter where they are in life, will be seeking how to shine Christ to the whole world in one way or another. Please pray also that I have wisdom in everything I say and do that nothing in me would hide my savior.

Please pray for God’s provision as I seek Him to provide for the future. That in everything He would be known and everything would point to Him.

It is amazing to me to see how God brings our lives full circle at times. I lived for a time in the jungles of Papua New Guinea where my parents served as missionaries with New Tribes Mission. As a child there I saw a world that needed to, almost begged to hear of a God I almost take for granted. After nearly fifteen years God has opened the door for me to return. I can hardly contain my excitement.

It amazes me to see God provide and bring things about in such a way that I will be a part of the team in PNG. It is almost overwhelming to think that my savior sees fit to use me. That He will allow me to help others bringing the message of Christ to people who have never heard His name.

I used to think that I had so much to offer Him. Life and Gods hand has slowly taught me otherwise. The only thing I can give Him that is not already His is my heart and life. These I give hoping that He works in me to give me the strength to give them even more every day.

Please pray with me as I am sharing what God is doing both in me and on the mission field. That God would soften the hearts of those who are listening and that they would become burdened in such a way that they can’t help but be a part of showing Christ in a hurting world. I am excited to see God provide in such a way that only He could have done it.