Samuel Gill Servant in Training with NTM 
Sebastian began playing guitar last semester when he was challenged by the need for help on the music team at the Hispanic church. Although he has taken some drum lessons before, he is otherwise quite unlearned in music. Now seven months later, Sebastian has convinced not only me but also his parents that this is a commitment that he is serious about. A few weeks ago he played his first song in front of the church as a special number with the rest of the youth joining him in singing. Now his parents are offering to buy him his first acoustic/electric guitar. It’s so fun to watch him improve and want to use his new ability to honor the Lord.
Our most recent courses here at the missionary training center have included Grammar and Animism. Grammar has provided a good review of some of the material I learned at Moody. It has been helpful to have some more practice analyzing different grammatical structures and seeing how New Tribes organizes the information a little differently. I’m looking forward to the day when I get to implement this knowledge. 
If you’ve ever been told that seeing a black cat cross your path is an omen of bad luck, then you have had a taste of what it means to be an animist. Animism is the missiological term referring to any worldview system that believes in many spiritual beings and forces that inhabit the natural world. Animists are consumed by fear as they try to figure out what powers controls their world and how they can manipulate those powers for their own ends. The vast majority of religious systems around the world fall under this label. Our professor, a veteran missionary from Papua New Guinea, stressed how important it is for the missionary to make it his ambition to be a student of his audience and their worldview. He reminded us that without this, communicating the Good News of Jesus accurately is impossible. I wonder if this is true within our culture as well. . .
Among the many things that I enjoyed this past month, I recently had an experience that does not fit that category. First, allow me to back up for a second. As many of you know, I love to run. Unfortunately, my knee no longer shares my passion. I have tried multiple times to try to broaden it’s perspective. However, as it insists that running is no fun, I have decided to play along for the time being. Before you judge me as weak-willed, I must say that it has furnished some fairly convincing arguments.
Luckily for me, running is not the only cheap aerobic exercise; there’s also cycling! After finding a free bike and cleaning it up, last week I was excited to take the first of many rides which I assumed would follow. I had been treating my knee with extra care – perhaps even spoiling it – in hopes that it would reward me with total compliance for this debut ride last Wednesday. Yes, just as I had hoped, my whole body seemed to be basking in the delight of this new form of exercise. Although my lungs and muscles were taxed by the work, every sinew and joint was responding wonderfully to these smoother movements. I finished my first ride without the slightest complaint from my knee and was turning the last corner to arrive back on campus when suddenly things went south. I realized I was moving too quickly to make my right turn, so rather than ride past and then come back, I opted to apply both breaks as hard as I could. What I forgot was that I can break the bike, but not the momentum of my body. Needless to say, the biked stopped sooner than I did, giving me that uneasy impression you get when you leave home convinced you are forgetting something important. As we well know, the body is a delicate organism.
Fortunately, I was able to minimize the extent of the injuries by offering my face to cushion the fall. You will notice from the pictures that this was a pretty effective move. Apart from the fact that I didn’t know who I was or where I lived for about 15 minutes, I sustained relatively minor injuries – just a couple bruises and raspberries. Fruit can be expensive this time of year, so that was a nice bonus.
