We've finally hit the last week of classes. It's hard to believe that our first semester at MTC is almost over! Time seriously flies when you're busy!

So life has been pretty crazy recently. Different things have been stretching and growing me. It's painful, but really, really good. Sort of like when you have your wisdom teeth taken out.......   the painful part is, well, the pain, and the really, really good part is all the pudding and Jello and wonderful thoughts about never ever having to go through this again......

Ok, so maybe bad analogy.

But at any rate, I've been reminded over and over how God wants me to trust Him, no matter what happens (even if the pudding falls on the floor and gets eaten by your dog... hypothetically speaking, of course). As our pastor here in Missouri was saying recently, you have to keep putting your mental car in neutral. We often want to reverse or drive forward in certain situations, but God wants us to be willing to put the car in neutral and wait for Him to clear obstacles or give us directions.

Much better analogy. :-)

Now for some less heavy stuff:

A group of us went down to Branson, MO on Friday to see the show, Joseph, at Sight and Sound Theater. We were able to get half-priced tickets, which was awesome! If you haven't heard of Sight and Sound before, you NEED to look them up!!! My family saw the show back in August, and we LOVED it (nothing at all like Joseph and the Technicolor Coat... or whatever that show is called). Sight and Sound is like the Broadway of Christian theater. They have incredible shows, cast, sets, and soundtracks. If you ever are in Branson or Lancaster, PA (they have two theaters), you MUST check out their shows!  www.sight-sound.com

The show was absolutely incredible. It painted such a vivid reminder of how God is still in control, even when situations are literally the pits (like in Joseph's case).

At Sight and Sound!
Back to front, left to right:
Josiah, Janel, Jared, Clint
Dan, Katie
Holly, Melanie, Cassy, Anne
Rachel, Me, Brian

Puzzles

My friend, Rachel, and I working on a puzzle :-)

Calling?

I always question the Christian-ese term "calling". I think people use this as an excuse not to go into missions or witness to other people, saying "I'm not called". Obviously, if God isn't leading, then one shouldn't go into missions (though witnessing anywhere is definitely necessary), but what makes this "career" so different than anything else or any other ministry? Sure, it takes a bit more effort, but it is so rewarding! I really liked the following quote on the subject:

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world."
       -William Booth

Photos!

Yes, the long awaited photo slideshow is FINALLY here!!! :-)

I'm Taking Linguistics!

I only got 3 wrong on my Linguistics test, which is REALLY good! If you miss under 10, they highly recommend that you take it, and under 5 is a definite recommendation. So, as of today, I'm signed up for the course! Of course, God could always close this door if He has something else, but it seems that He is leading in this direction. It's super cool!

So what does this mean?
Instead of only being at MTC for 3 semesters, I will be here for 4 and 1/2 semesters. The first semester of the linguistics course, I will be here on the MTC campus studying. Then, for the 1/2 semester, I will be in Oklahoma doing a practicum with the Cherokee people. We'll put everything we learned in Linguistics to use there.

What do linguists do on the field?
Being a linguist means that you are better equipped on the mission field to analyze the grammatical structure of the target language. Linguists typically are the ones to develop an alphabet for unwritten languages and set up the literacy program in the tribe (i.e. teaching people to read their own language). Since they have extensively studied the grammar and language, linguists are also often (though not always) the ones who translate the Bible after there are believers in the tribe.

What kinds of classes will I take?
Here are the classes I will be taking as a part of this course:

• Phonology (108 hrs.) presents an in-depth look at the decision-making process used in determining what the alphabet should be for an unwritten language. The candidate will learn to distinguish significant sounds from insignificant sounds and write up a description of one
• Morphology (57 hrs.) gives a detailed look into the way that words are constructed. The course will use a variety of languages to present examples of morphemes and their alternate forms. The candidate will learn to correlate language forms with meanings and to organize an explanation of the language in an orderly and understandable way.
• Syntax (103 hrs.) looks at the many ways languages can form multiword constructions. Phrases, clauses, and sentences are all studied as preparation for the study of an unwritten language.
• Applied Linguistics (51 hrs.) gives the candidate an opportunity to deal with a large set of language data in order to determine its inherent phonological and grammatical structures. The candidate will prepare a paper explaining their insight into the language
• Advanced Linguistics Issues (45 hrs.) combines an introduction to discourse analysis with a look at some less common phonological situations.
• The Practicum (325 hrs.) gives the candidate the opportunity to put into practice the skills and abilities developed during the previous courses. Language data will be gathered from native Cherokee speakers and analyzed. The candidate will summarize the findings regarding phonological and grammatical structure and compile them in a paper.

I would really appreciate your prayers as I am trusting God with this next step of my life. I am also currently in the process of researching mission fields to see where God may have me serve overseas. I'm super excited, but it's also a lot to think about. I would definitely appreciate prayers!

Back in MO

After a long 12 hour drive yesterday, I'm glad to say that we're safely back on campus in MO. We had an awesome time with family and friends back home. It was great getting to see everyone back home! We had a pretty full house with my friend, Rachel, from MTC as well as Josiah's brother, Jotham, and his friend Ryan from New Tribes Bible Institute. Overall, it was a very great and relaxing time!

My surgery went well (I don't remember it), and I slept almost 2 full days (from medicine, I think). Thursday-Saturday, I was in a lot of pain because I stopped taking the heavy pain meds, but thank God for Advil! Thankfully, I'm doing pretty good right now. My jaws are a bit sore and stiff, but I'm not in much pain, which is a huge blessing. Thanks for your prayers!

Today, we got back into classes. We had a class on time stewardship, and then we took an hour long test that determines how good we might be at linguistics. Linguistics is a huge part of tribal work because it deals with the nitty-gritty of how languages work and the grammatical structure behind the language. The linguistics training here at MTC is an extra 1 and 1/2 semesters after the basic 3 semesters. Only a few people can get into the linguistics training each year, so they test people to see how well they would fit in the program. If you're not going to do well in it, they don't want you to take it (for obvious reasons :-) ). Plus, they want you to have a genuine interest in the subject. I find it quite intriguing. It's like a puzzle, and I love puzzles, so it's pretty fun! Anyways, I'll let you guys know how I score on it pretty soon!

Like I said in my last post, I'm working on getting pics up. Hopefully they'll come within the next day or so!

Update on Surgery

Surgery went really well, thanks for praying! I woke up freezing cold in the operating room, and my whole mouth was numb, but I wasn't in any pain, thankfully. Since then, I've been sleeping pretty much all the time. There's been almost no pain, swelling, or bruising, so I'm very thankful!!! I'm able to eat soft stuff pretty regularly, and I'm a bit more alert this morning (already had an 1 hour long nap). Thanks for all your prayers!

Since I'm home for the next few days, I'm going to try to post a bunch of pics so you guys can see my last couple of weeks at MTC.

Back home!

We made it back home safely! Thanks for all your prayers! The drive was long, but bearable because the four of us took shifts driving.

I have surgery in 1 hour, so please be praying! It'll be good to get the teeth out, but, as my grandparents were saying, I'll be enjoying Thanksgiving through a straw... yay.

:-)

Losing my Wisdom (Teeth)

We figured out why I'm having fevers each morning. My wisdom teeth are bothering my mouth (basically, I'm teething... go figure...). So, my parents talked with the dentist yesterday, and he said I need to have emergency surgery to get them out. The plan was for me to have them out two days after Christmas, but now, I am having surgery on Tuesday at 10:30am (yeah, two days before Thanksgiving...). I'm kind of nervous because I've never had surgery before (which has been a huge blessing!). So, Josiah, two friends, and I are driving the 12 hours home this Sunday instead of on Tuesday like we had originally planned. Please pray for safe travels and calm nerves for me. Thankfully, the dentist prescribed an antibiotic, which I started yesterday, so hopefully that will start pulling down the fevers.

Thanks for praying!

When Trials Come

I don't know if any of you have ever heard of the song "When Trials Come", but it's an incredible song that has given me a lot of encouragement over the past few days. Life here is wonderful, but sometimes stress creeps in, and I find myself discouraged. I've been having a fever on and off for the past few days and there are a lot of other things that could cause me to quickly throw up my hands in defeat and exhaustion. But God is more than faithful, and I know that I can depend on Him.

 

When trials come, no longer fear

For in the pain our God draws near

To fire a faith worth more than gold

And there His faithfulness is told

And there His faithfulness is told

 

So what's up with classes? Last week, we started our Phonetics class, which has been SUPER fun so far. This class will continue until the end of the semester. We are learning how to recognize, hear, write symbols for, and speak every sound that humans (in any language) make in speaking. It's pretty cool, but it's also making us see how incredibly stupid the English language is at times! This knowledge will help us further down the road when trying to learn a language that has never been written before.

 

Within the night I know Your peace

The breath of God brings strength to me

And new each morning mercy flows

As treasures of the darkness grow

As treasures of the darkness grow

 

Things at ministry are still really neat, but also discouraging at times. We never know what to expect when we show up. Last Sunday, I ended up talking for an hour one-on-one with one of the guys who told me basically his entire life story. It made my heart hurt so much for him. He is a Christian, but he hasn't been discipled very much, and it shows. He's scared, hurting, and very much alone in the world. It's so hard to hear stories like his, and yet, it forces me to my knees in prayer for him and all the other guys at the home. Every night, I know His peace.

 

When I am weary with the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in its shadow I shall run
Till You complete the work begun
Till You complete the work begun

 

Ultimately, through everything that's going on right now, I'm struck by the brevity of our lives and the urgency that we have to live every moment for Christ. Our world is dark and only going to get darker. Our society has wholeheartedly embraced evil, and, while I did enjoy getting to vote for the first time yesterday, I think that America is quickly setting itself up for failure. As such, we as Christians need to be even more proactive about sharing the Gospel because we never know how much time we'll have. Whether it's here with the guys at the boys home or overseas, I want to constantly see the triumph of the cross and run in its shadow until Christ completes the work He's begun in my life and in the lives of those around me.

Some quotes

“If God calls you and no board will send you, bore a hole through the board and go anyway” – Samuel Zwemer

“To stop or linger anywhere, even to repeat the rejected message so long as there are souls beyond that have never heard is at least unjust to those who are still in absolute darkness” – Arthur Pierson

“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land flooded with darkness than a land flooded with light.” - John Keith Falconer

Totally epic quotes that are more humorous than anything:

(about the people living in the land of Canaan when the twelve spies went to spy out the land)

“Think of it this way. The Expendables meet the Avengers, Chuck Norris is their king, and they don’t want to move”  – one of the students during the student teaching portion of our Foundational Bible Teaching class

(during one game when I was constantly in the middle)
Me (laughing hysterically) - "I hate my life"
Luke Buzzard (an adorable 10-year-old boy) - "You can't hate your life because I'm in it!"

Haha!

Exciting Ministry News

Outreach ministry is a huge part of our week here at MTC. We get a priceless opportunity to reach out to those in the Camden County community to build relationships and share the Gospel. Each student is involved in a ministry team, and there are quite a few on campus. I am involved with the Boys Home ministry. There are seven of us on the team: an MTC staff member, two student couples, Josiah, and me. Each Sunday afternoon, we go over for about an hour to teach the guys at the home a Bible lesson. It's been incredible to see the guys' understanding about the Bible, God, and man grow by leaps and bounds as we've gone from Creation through Abraham and Isaac. Many of them have at least heard some about the Bible, but they never have connected all of the dots. Two of the guys especially are starting to really get excited. Last Sunday as we taught through the story of Noah and the Flood, one of the guys, Cody, (a seventeen-year-old tough guy) threw his hands up in extreme frustration and cried, "So we're all sinners!" When he put together the fact that all men are born outside of the Garden of Eden (and therefore are sinners separated from God) and the fact that all sin deserves death, he was completely overwhelmed with despair. He had never figured this out before.

This Sunday, we taught from the Tower of Babel through Abraham and Isaac (which was an incredible amount of ground to cover in an hour!). The guys really got into the story of Abraham sacrificing his son, Isaac. One of the guys was shocked that Isaac basically let his father sacrifice him. He exclaimed, "I would have poisoned my dad on the way up the mountain!" While this was pretty funny, it made us on the team think. None of these guys would EVER trust their dad with a knife. It saddened us to think of their rough backgrounds. But, despite this mentality, the guys were totally into the story and were literally on the edge of their seats as we dramatized the account for them. They were so sure that Isaac was the one through whom the promised Deliverer would come, and they were scared that he would be killed. When God provided the ram as a sacrifice, you could almost feel the relief they felt! It's so cool to see God bring these stories to life for them!

Most people would think that these guys wouldn't be paying attention to Bible stories (after all, these guys are teenagers). But, God is definitely doing a huge work in their hearts. It's amazing to be a part of it!



The guys at the Boys Home

Please continue to pray for the guys, especially Cody and John who are recognizing their need for a Deliverer and are faithfully coming each Sunday to the teaching. Please also pray for the rest of the guys as we continue to develop relationships with them through our times on Thursday (where we do activities and projects with them) that they would have open hearts to hear God's Word. We never know how much time we'll have with any of them, so what time we have is precious! Please also pray that we'll be able to get through to the story of Christ by the end of the semester. It seems like you would be able to do this right away, but without an adequate foundation, these guys would be completely lost. Without the Old Testament stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, etc, Cody would not have come to the realization that he, too, is a sinner who cannot come to God on his own. It is our prayer that this foundation that we are building (which is also the method we will be using in our tribal works overseas) will prepare their hearts for the story of the promised Deliverer, Jesus Christ.

I've survived 2 months!

I feel like I haven't posted in forever, and, in fact, I haven't. So, what's been happening since I last wrote? A lot. We finished several classes in the past few weeks, which gives one a sense of accomplishment (however small it may be). The classes we finished are Child Protection (one of the hardest classes I have ever taken in my life, not because of the work, but because of the content), Love and Respect (a marriage class which I think I have mentioned before), and a class on Stewardship (making the most of our time since it is so short).

So what's going on right now?

• Foundational Bible Teaching = We are working on student teaching right now. Our class of 47 has been divided into a bunch of smaller groups. We are all taking turns teaching through chronological Bible lessons. In total, there are 70 lessons, so the teachers had to condense the material into 27 lessons for us to practice. I get to teach tomorrow (Wednesday). My group is going from the Israelites entering Canaan through Solomon building the temple. That will be a LOT of material!
• Form and Meaning = We just started this class yesterday, and it is about Bible Translation. We are going to be learning how the form and meaning of Bible passages is crucial to understand when translating the Bible into another language (which is something that most of us will have a part in at some point on the field). This class will last through next week, and I'm pretty excited about it!

Some fun events we've been doing:

• Last Monday, our pastor and his wife, who are also our E-linc leaders, took my friend Rachel and me (the two of us are known around campus as "the twins" or "sisters") shooting with guns out on the shooting range. It was a lot of fun! We ended up shooting a 22 rifle, a 20-gauge shotgun, and a 40mm Glock. Super fun!
• We've been playing a lot of awesome fun sports weekly, including volleyball, Ultimate Frisbee, and soccer.
• The leaves are changing colors here, and it's really beautiful! We went up to Ha Ha Tonka state park again this last weekend, and it was awesome to walk through the woods with the colors. I'll post pics ASAP!

It's hard to believe it's been two months since I was last home. I am loving being here!

Please pray for rest and strength as I am starting to get a bit run down with all the activities we are doing. I know God is in control, but being here sometimes feels overwhelming since there is so much information and we are constantly with other people. There are some personality tensions going on as well, so if you could pray that God would give us love and wisdom to deal with situations as they arise, that would be awesome!

Thank you all for your love and prayers! Missing you!

Last Day of September

I've survived an entire month away from home... wow! There are definitely times when I wish I could somehow beam myself back (ok, so that was a bit sci-fi there), but at the same time, I'm loving things here.

Highlights from September

• Labor Day hike to Ha Ha Tonka State Park
• Incredible classes (including, but not limited to:)
  • Communication Skills: Learning how to effectively communicate
  • Worldview Analysis: Learning about a worldview, which is how people view life, and its importance
  • Learning Styles: Learning how people learn and how to work with differences
• Playing Ultimate Frisbee every Friday afternoon
• Starting my ministry at Green Gables
• Learning lessons such as:
• Trust and confidence in God
• Importance of prayer at all times
• Playing with babies :-)
• Making lots of really close friends (we feel like a big family, especially all of us singles since we hang out together all the time)
• Eating lunch outside at the picnic tables
• Enjoying the beautiful weather and the gorgeous scenery

Classes this Week

The main classroom for the first semester students

Classes are still interesting (for the most part). This week, we have Foundational Bible Teaching and Love and Respect. In our Foundational Bible Teaching class (abbreivated FBT), we're just starting to hear the chronological lessons. The teachers are going to model the first 6 lessons for us, and that will take us from "What is the Bible and why is it important?" up to Noah and the Flood. Then, we will be broken into smaller groups so we can take turns teaching the remaining lessons, which go from Noah and the Flood to Jesus' Death, Burial and Resurrection. This is really cool hands-on experience for the field, and it's in a safe environment where we can learn from our mistakes and receive feedback from our teachers, most of whom are former missionaries who have used this material several times! It's exciting to see it all start coming together!

Worldview Analysis Class with George Walker

The Love and Respect class is also fairly interesting. We were warned by a second semester student that all of the singles in our class will either be married or engaged by the end of the class (thankfully, that hasn't happened to anyone yet... but we still have a week left... lol). Seriously, though, the class has been pretty cool. It's all about how men and women can relate better, whether they are in a marriage relationship or just working with each other in a team or whatever. In any relationship, men need respect and women need love (both need both, but this is an inherent need in each of them that is pretty deep). This is why Paul is always telling men to love their wives and women to respect their husbands. It's been pretty interesting to see the differences and how to relate better. We're actually watching a video series. So far, the speaker has been very engaging and the information is very helpful. I'd definitely recommend it to everyone to see, even singles (and no, you won't be married by the end. I am walking proof) :-)

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Yup, you know I'm having fun when I start holding babies all the time :-)

Dinner with Phil

Dinner with Phil

Last night, a bunch of the singles had Phil Sutton over for dinner. He works at the Sanford, FL office, but he and a few other staff are here until Friday for some meetings and stuff. So we decided to have him over since he is the one who processed most of our applications. It was pretty funny because only one of the single girls signed up on the sign-up sheet to host him, so when he arrived, there were like eight people and more kept coming. At one point in the conversation, one of the guys (who is pretty crazy) said "This might come out wrong" (here I warned Phil, "Brian speaks his mind, so don't be offended!") "But you look a LOT younger than you sound on the phone." Poor guy, I think we scared him a bit. :-)

Ministry Life

"Did you know that Satan has a brother?"

I was pretty stumped. Rapidly, I searched my brain for an answer. "Um, no I didn’t," I replied carefully. "Where’d you hear that?"

Not noticing my obvious discomfort, the fifteen-year-old rattled off a lengthy description of the supposed character from Native American legends that left my head spinning. How anyone could come up with such a crazy story? And he claimed he heard it from a pastor? There was a brief pause as I scrambled to get my thoughts together and come up with an intellectual reply to his slightly humorous (and false) story. But, as I looked at this kid, Byron, a hurting boy who had been placed at Green Gables Boys Home, tears suddenly filled my eyes. Who was I to judge his ideas as crazy? Byron had never had anyone who loved him enough to teach him the truth.

Byron is just one of several boys at Green Gables. Most of them are from troubled families, and all of them are still unsaved. For my community outreach ministry, I am privileged to go with a small team of seven people from MTC to work with the boys twice each week. On Sundays, we share a Bible lesson in a chronological format and discuss it with them. We talked about Creation this last Sunday, and the boys really got into the story. They were pulling out some things that I hadn't even seen before! On Thursdays, we spend time getting to know the boys, teaching them skills, and working on projects with them. This last Thursday, we worked on car maintenance with the boys. That was fun, and I actually learned quite a bit! :-)

I’m so excited to be able to share the love of Christ (and the truth of who God is) with these guys! Please be praying that they will be responsive to God's Word as we continue to teach them over this semester!

Day in the Life of an MTC Student

I'm sure many of you probably wonder what we do all day here at MTC. Well, here's the basic run-down (with my typical day for an example, of course, since that's the main one I go by) 

7:15am-8:00am—wake up, eat break-fast, have devotions

8:00am-9:45am—classes start. (on Mondays and Fridays, we have chapel from 8-8:45). We normally have two classes with a ten-minute break in between.

9:45am-10:00am—break



Me with the other four single girls in my E-linc group.
They call us the Fabulous Five! :-)



10:00am-10:20am—prayer time. We pray as a class, and on Mondays, we pray with our outreach ministry teams

10:20am-12:00pm—classes resume (on Fridays, we have E-linc group from 10:45-12:00). We have two more classes with another ten-minute break

12:00pm-1:30pm—lunch (on Wednesdays, my E-linc group meets for lunch and a meeting until 2:20)! Everyone makes their own at their own apartments, but a lot of the singles on my road end up eating together outside at the picnic tables. 

1:30ish pm-5:00pm (Monday-Wednesday)—work detail, (Thursday)—outreach ministry, (Friday)—more of a free day, homework, Ultimate Frisbee, etc

5:00pm-whenever—homework, dinner, hanging out, swimming, whatever until bedtime (Thursday evenings, I have worship practice at church)

So, as you can see, we have super full schedules here. It's quite a bit different than home, but God is teaching me so much, and the friendships I am making will definitely last a lifetime!



Friday night singles game night... fun times!



What It Really Takes

In one of our classes today, we learned what kind of person it takes to be a tribal church planter. It really put things into perspective for everyone here, and I thought it might be interesting to share with you guys as well (excuse the lame grammar at times... I concentrate on taking notes, so sometimes my grammar suffers as a result :D)

What kind of person does it take to create a tribal church (not that we will be perfect in this, obviously, but we should be growing in each of these areas)?

• Spiritual Qualities
• Humility, compassion, patience, faithfulness, perseverance, dependence on God, longsuffering, commitment, joy of the Lord, love, forgiveness, diligence, wisdom, self-control, peace, kindness, discernment, teachable, willingness, courage, stamina, prayerfulness, generosity, teamwork, loves God’s Word, passion
• Ministry Capabilities
• Be able to read, continue learning, time management, teaching, empathy, physical fitness, able to hear and reproduce sounds you hear (for language study), organization, studying, flexibility, leadership, able to work well with others (on a team), technology skills, be able to feed yourself, cook, cook from scratch, healthy diet, linguistics, weapon safety, health care, ability to laugh (at yourself when you make mistakes), carpentry/plumbing skills, money management, partnership development, self-grooming, cleanliness, navigation skills, hard work, communication skills, traveling skills

Wow, I had never really sat down and thought through all of those things!

Our teachers were saying today, you can't just go into a people group, preach the Gospel, and start a church the next day. It takes a lot of time and effort. Here's a summary of how long the process will probably take:

1. ? years = Trained by Local Church in the United States
2. 4-5 years = Trained by New Tribes Mission (this includes Bible school and MTC training)
3. 1-2 years = Partnership development (connecting with churches and others as a support team)
4. 1-3 years = National Culture and Language Acquisition (learning the language and culture of the country)
5. 3-4 years = Tribal Culture and Language Acquisition (learning the language and culture of the specific tribe that I will be in)
6. 1 year = Evangelism (teaching the people from Creation through Christ; includes Literacy programs)
7. 10 years = Beginning of a Maturing Church (from first converts through Bible translation)
8. Mature New Testament Church

This is a rough estimate; some works are longer and some shorter, depending on how things work. However, God's been teaching me that when I start to think about how much it will "cost", I should to stop and think about those people. If I were in their shoes, wouldn't I want someone to give their life so that I wouldn't have to spend eternity in Hell? God's been really emphasizing to me through the classes that people matter. Nothing else does. Who cares if I "waste my life" out in the jungle somewhere? I'm investing in the only thing that really matters in life, and that is such a cool thing! I am so blessed to have all of you guys back home supporting me through this! I would never be able to go if it weren't for you all sending, and that is such an awesome blessing! I thank you, but I know that the people group that I will be influencing someday will thank you even more!

Labor Day Adventures

This past weekend was fun since we had a long weekend with Labor Day. A few of us went over to Ha Ha Tonka State Park on Monday afternoon, and it was pretty cool! There's a ruined castle up there that some guy built back in the early 1900s. There's also a spring, some caves, a natural bridge, and a bunch of neat hiking trails. Pretty neat!

Announcing the New Addition!

I would like to announce the new addition to our small 67C family. She doesn't have a name yet, but she just arrived today. She's not the cutest thing in the world, but she's ours, and we are very proud!

And here's a picture for you...






Ok, so maybe we're not as proud as it sounds, but it's a cute turtle .We're going to get her a bigger box, and I think we might keep her at least for a bit. At any rate, thought y'all might be interested! :-)

Wow, this week has totally flown by! It's been pretty full and busy, which is why I haven't had much of a chance to write. I'm starting to build some close friendships with people. That has been a real blessing! In my E-linc group (about which I mentioned in my last post), there are three student couples and five single girls (including myself), and we have an absolute blast!!! I've been connecting a lot with the other four girls. The two staff couples that are leading the group, the Hazens and the Tureks, are also really awesome! They are sort of our advisors and mentors for the entire time we are at MTC, and their desire is to help us grow spiritually and to invest in our lives. They are both former missionaries, so it's been cool to hear their stories! We meet as a group every Wednesday and Friday for about an hour and a half to connect and share what God is teaching us throughout the week.

This weekend has been pretty nice so far. Because of Labor Day, we don't have any classes on Monday, so we are all pretty happy about that! ;-) I hung out with some friends today at a "Things Party" (yeah, I never heard of it either until I went). Apparently, you bring whatever "things" you are working on (reading, homework, etc) and just hang out as a group while you work on your stuff hahaha. It was pretty fun! And then we ended up playing games for a few hours and eating tacos together. Yum! :-)

Tomorrow, I'm going to be helping with worship again at church. I'm super excited, but I REALLY miss MVAC! Love you guys!!!

For classes this next week, we are going to have Culture and Language Acquisition (which is a class that teaches you how to go about learning a culture and language that has NEVER been learned before!! o.O), Communication Skills (clearly, this class teaching you how to communicate better ;-) ), and Foundational Bible Teaching (which will take us through all of the main stories in the Bible from Creation to Christ, laying a foundation for why man needs a Savior). The last class will go through the end of October, and it is one of the most important ones that we will take this semester. I am pretty excited about that, because, even though I know the Bible, it is so cool to see how it all makes sense together. Can't wait!

This weekend has been pretty awesome and fun! Thursday afternoon (not really the weekend, I know, but hey, it's my post, so... hahahaha :D) I rode a jet ski for the first time ever which was insanely amazing! One of the staff guys owns a jet ski and was giving people rides, so that was a really cool experience! Friday, I ended up singing for our chapel service, which was fun! We also had a fire safety drill (not quite as fun) and then played Ultimate Frisbee (YES!!!). Then Saturday, we went on a 6-hr canoe trip. That was pretty awesome! I'm a bit sore today, but it was definitely worth it! Sunday, we visited the same church that we went to last week, Lake Area Evangelical Free Church. It's a very small church, but the people are very friendly and they do a lot of outreach. The pastor, Jim, is a staff member at MTC, and he and his wife, Connie, are co-leaders for my E-linc group (which is a small group program that we have on campus where staffers meet weekly with designated groups of students for fellowship, encouragement, fun, and accountability. it's really neat program!). Interestingly enough, they are also the people who interviewed me when I came out here in May to visit. They are a really neat couple! Jim asked me to help lead worship yersterday morning with their music team, and I was absolutely thrilled! That is definitely one of my passions, and they really need some help on their music team. I think that God might be wanting me to go there, which is awesome!

Oh, and as promised, I am posting some more pics. Enjoy :-)

Day 4

We just learned in our NTM History class today that Day 4 of classes was the day when 14 of the first New Tribes trainees were killed as they helped fight a forest fire out in California back in the 1940s. They tried to escape the oncoming fire, but, instead of moving uphill as expected, the fire moved down into the valley where the men were hiding. The underbrush was so thick that they couldn't escape. Yikes. That was a pretty sobering (not to mention slightly nerve-wracking?) way to start out the day.

But the cool thing was, the widows of the men continued to work with NTM, and they didn't take the disaster as an opportunity to give up. They were so dedicated to getting the Gospel out that they didn't leave, even though their husbands had died.

All that to say, NTM has a very rich and deep heritage. Many people have given their lives for the cause of winning souls to Christ, and that is so cool to hear. It challenges me to be willing to give everything as well. After all, that's what Christ calls us to do, right?

Ok, so on a lighter note, we've finished orientation (finally!) and we had our first official class today about learning styles. It was SUPER fun and interesting! We'll be continuing this class through Tuesday. I learned today that I am a Concrete Sequential learner. This means that I like order, logical sequence, following directions, predictability, and getting facts. I think this is a prety accurate description of myself, but I might be slightly biased... :D

Work detail has been pretty fun so far since I've only had to work one day this week haha. I'm working at the Front Office, which is pretty cool! I get to answer the phone, make copies and send faxes for people, and do other administrative tasks. It's kind of nice because I get air conditioning (and heat in the winter, yay!), and apparently, I'll have a lot of extra time for homework. That will be great!

Speaking of homework, we got our first assignment today (due tomorrow afternoon). We have to describe a worldview and where the concept is found in the Bible. Should be pretty fun! This will probably be the easiest assignment we get the whole semester hahaha. ;-)

I'll be taking and posting some more pics very soon!

First Day of Orientation

Our first day of orientation classes has gone really well so far! Our first three sessions (starting at 8:30 and ending at noon) were led by missionaries from West Brazil. They worked for many years with the Yanamamo tribe, and their stories and experience were very beneficial. We also watched several short videos that gave us a vision for what we will be learning and doing this year, namely reaching tribes and transforming lives (that's the theme for this semester here at MTC). Later today, we'll be having a session about our work details. Each student is required to do at least 7 hours of work on campus, which helps keep the costs low and cut down on the number of staff required to be at the training center. I think we're also going to have some safety/general information for our campus life.



Roomies! :-)



It's been pretty great getting settled here and starting to meet new friends. My roommate is awesome! Her name is Elise, and she's really sweet! She went to New Tribes Bible Institute up in Jackson, Michigan, so she actually knew my cousin, Josiah, previously. That was a cool connection. Josiah has a great roommate as well, Jared. We've all been hanging out a lot and having lots of fun playing games and fellowshipping together (and I'm cooking for the guys... don't know how they convinced me to do that, but hey, it's kind of fun :P).

I really miss my family and everyone back home, but it's been awesome hearing from friends and chatting with some of you on Skype! Now that we have internet up and running (at least most of the time :D), I'll try to update more frequently about the things we are learning and doing around here. It's a really beautiful area, and I'm sure we'll be pretty busy learning, working, serving, playing sports (ultimate frisbee!!! hurrah!), and hanging out!

We're Here

Just wanted to post this so that everyone can finally rest easily and breathe a sigh of relief (oh yes, I know you all were holding your breath and sitting on the edges of your seats just hoping that we'd make it to Missouri safely...). Well, we made it (though the van was so stuffed that at times, I wondered if we might have to get out and push it up the hills. Actually, it wasn't quite that bad, but it did make starting and stopping rather interesting... :-) ) Anyways, we made to Missouri without any problems (thankfully!). Yesterday and this morning, we set up things in our apartments. Thanks so much for everyone who contributed to our stash of stuff!! ;-) It's really been a HUGE blessing! It's starting to look a bit like home. We even took a shower in the shower house... definitely not what I'm used to, but I'm grateful to have warm, running water hahaha (waayyy better than the jungle showers in Nicaragua for any wondering :D)! I'll post some pics ASAP!

Departure Day!

So the day has finally come. I kind of can't believe it, but at the same time, I have to. I'm feeling excited, nervous, and sad simultaneously. It's been hard to say "good-bye" to all of my friends here. I'm going to miss everyone so much!!!

Today, Cari, Marissa, Josiah, and I are heading out around noon (at least, that is the plan haha). We'll stop overnight at Josiah's grandparents' house, and then we'll finish the trip to MTC Friday. We'll drop off all of our stuff and stay overnight at our apartments there. Then, we'll head to Branson, MO to meet the rest of the family for a few days for a family vacation. It'll be great to spend more time as a family!

Thanks everyone for your love and support over the past few days! I'm excited about this new opportunity, but I'll definitely miss all of you!

The Countdown begins... in earnest

So we leave Thursday (yes, I know i said the 10th in a previous post, but, hey, things changed). Cue theme music "Frantic People Packing". Or is it "People Frantically Packing"? Something of that nature...

It's funny how you never know how much stuff you have until you empty ALL of the drawers and pull ALL the stuff out of the closet. And then you find even more stuff. My sisters are enjoying it, though, because they are getting all of my extra things. One of them (I won't release names) was picking up things that weren't in boxes and asking "Are you taking this???" very innocently. She ended up with a lot of things too... don't really know how she talked me into it, but... :D

The one thing that is sad is leaving everyone here!!! I'm saying good-bye to a lot of really good friends, and that is hard. Thank goodness for Skype!

So... 3 days left until we leave!!!

Commissioning Service

This last Sunday, the 29th, our church, Mountain View Alliance, had a wonderful commissioning service for me and my cousin, Josiah, as we prepare to head out to MTC. It was really special! Our pastor Ed preached a very encouraging sermon for us about focusing on the cross of Christ, no matter what others may say, think, or do. Josiah and I were also able to share for a few minutes each how God led each of us individually to be a missionary and to go to MTC. At the end of the service, many of the members came forward to lay hands on us and pray over us as their first full-time missionaries. What a blessing!!!

My parents hosted a reception afterwards with some delicious food and great fellowship with friends, including many I haven't seen for years (such a cool surprise... thanks guys!!!).

It's been so incredible to see the love of all my friends and family. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do through our relationships over the years!

Thanks again to everyone who made Sunday so special for us!!!

By the way, 9 more days until Missouri!!! It's coming up SUPER fast!! :-)

Room Photos

Today my hosts at MTC sent me some pics of my apartment . Pretty sweet looking! I thought I'd post a few to give everyone an idea of where I'll be living.

My apartment is the second door from the right. 67C :-)

Living area, kitchen, and two separate bedrooms

One of the bedrooms

Half-bath minus a shower (shower house is down the road hehehe)

d-day

Ok, so to dispel any more myths, I wanted to officially announce when I'm leaving for MTC (i'm sure for some it can't be soon enough hehehehe :D). We (the fam, Josiah, and I) are going to leave August 10 to head out to Branson, MO for a few days before we head up to the MTC campus to move in on the 15th. I'm super excited, and it's coming up FAST!!! In exactly a month, classes will be starting, and I'll be beginning my preparation for the mission field. Can't wait!!!

More about Nicaragua

So, as I posted a few days ago, Nicaragua was incredible. I wanted to post a bit more detail for those who might be interested as well as a few pics (which I got from my wonderful friend, Jessica... haha thanks :D).

Construction at Iglesia Adonai





Iglesia Adonai with new doors and paint (inside and out)

We arrived late Friday night at about 7:30 Nica time, which is two hours behind GA time. While this wasn't extremely late, it made things slightly difficult because we still had to unpack all of our team gear and eat dinner before going to bed (which wasn't successfully acheived until around 12:30am Nica time...). The next morning, we hit the ground running. We had two studies at Iglesia Adonai (our sister church in Nicaragua) at 10:00am. The men watched the movie "Courageous" in Spanish. The women had a separate study about God's faithfulness even in difficult times. They also painted handbags and fellowshipped. I got to lead worship for the women and participate in the study, which was really neat! Later that same day, at around 4:00pm, the youth from our team (both Americans and Costa Ricans) led the Saturday night Youth Service at the church. We played music, shared some testimonies, presented a powerful drama, and one of the Costa Ricans, Daniel, preached. It was a really powerful time!

The next day, Sunday, we headed back to the church for the Sunday morning service, where we played music and the pastor from our church, Ed, preached with a translator. We ate lunch at the church and fellowshipped until the afternoon youth service where one of our team members gave the sermon in Spanish. He had been praticing this speech all year, and it was really cool to hear him read it in Spanish! It was also neat to see so many of the youth rededicate their lives to serve God.

Iglesia Adonai with beautiful new doors, stonework, and paint!

Monday, we worked at the church all day. The guys mainly worked on digging a trench for water pipes and constructing a sidewalk out of concrete outside of the church. The rest of the team started painting the inside and outside of the church, which was an ongoing project for the entire week. Tuesday and Thursday, we went evangelizing door-to-door in the neighborhood, which was very powerful. Due to the witness of our team members (especially those from Costa Rica), several local people professed genuine faith in Jesus Christ. That was so exciting to see! On Tuesday, we also had a small service at the church, during which Pastor Carlos (the local Nicaraguan pastor) preached. That was very encouraging to hear! Wednesday was definitely our most difficult day because almost half of the team was sick and unable to leave the hotel. Those of us who were feeling well enough went to the church to get as much done as we could. That was discouraging, but God had the victory! We still had our VBS session that day, and we saw almost 140 kids with about 10-12 mothers! How exciting! Thankfully, by Thursday, almost everyone was back on their feet and able to work. Satan tried to stop us, but God overcame him! Friday, we had another VBS session, and we saw about the same number of kids. We also had an evening service at the church (during which we played music and performed our drama again) and a wedding! The cool thing about this wedding is that it was the union of a former gang leader and his girlfriend who had previously been living together, but who now wanted to live in a manner glorifying to God. That was so incredible to witness! During the church service, we also got to share communion as believers from three different nations. That was definitely an amazing experience. How cool it is to see God unite believers as one! And finally, to conclude an already awesome evening, several people were saved, and their profession was genuine. It was so overwhelming to be a small part of God's work there in that neighborhood in Nicaragua! Praise be to God!

All in all, God really used the team despite Satan's attempts to discourage us!

Lake day!

Saturday, we had a tourism day. After spending the morning at the Nicaraguan market, we went to a beautiful lake where we all relaxed, swam, and ate lunch. We all had a lot of fun fellowshipping together after our difficult week.

One of the things that God taught me through this week is how powerful He truly is. No matter what scary circumstances Satan presented us with, God had the victory. It didn't matter what was going on, God prevailed. He brought several people to Himself and caused all of us to get to know Him better. Wow! I wouldn't have traded this experience for ANYTHING else in the universe!!! All glory to God!!!

Nicaragua Team 2012

Housing and Roommate!

Just thought I'd let everyone know, I just learned that I am going to be living in "The Projects" at MTC, which will be quite fun! This housing area has this particular name due to its facilities (or lack thereof). My apartment (which I will be sharing with another girl named Elise) has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a small living area, and a half bath. The missing facilities include a shower and a laundry area. However, I will not be without any means of bathing. The lake is a two minute walk from my apartment, but, thankfully, there are also two shower houses located nearby and a laundry facility (yes, you can breathe again). :-)

But seriously, I'm really excited about going to MTC in about a month. The housing facilities are actually extremely nice, and I'm definitely looking forward to my clases and all the new friends I am going to meet. I can't wait to see what God is going to do!

Thanks for all your prayers and support! I appreciate them more than you will ever know! :-)

Nicaragua Trip

Just got back from Nicaragua today, and we had an amazing trip!!! It was so cool to see everything God did there. We had a LOT of opposition from Satan, but we accomplished much, including finishing painting the inside and outside of the new church building, completing a sidewalk outside of the church, evangelizing in the very poor neighborhood, leading VBS for the Nicaraguan kids, leading worship for each of the services held in the church, performing a powerful drama, and seeing several people profess genuine faith in Jesus Christ!! What an amazing God we serve!

It was also incredible to witness the strong relationships that our team formed with the Costa Rican team and the Nicaraguan locals. We had a lot of fun together, and we all worked well with each other, despite the language barrier. I definitely had a great time improving and practicing my Spanish. I especially enjoyed spending time with my "family" from Costa Rica, the Chaves family, our Puerto Rican friend, Maritza, and our American intern friend, Jessica. They all came on the trip last year, and they are such a blessing to me and my family! The Chaves kids all play musical instruments, which was really helpful when we led worship at the church. They also participated in the drama. Very cool! And all of the Costa Rican team members are VERY hard workers (their tasks in Nicaragua include translating, preaching accounting, preparing and serving food, working on construction, playing on the worship team, and helping to lead VBS)! Our team couldn't do what we do without their help!

I will post more later, and I will try to put up a few pics! Thanks for all your prayers back home!

Host Family and Nicaragua Countdown

I just received an e-mail from my host family at MTC. They are the Snyders, and they will be helping me get settled in to the campus when I arrive. It's pretty exciting!!!

Also, I leave for Nicaragua in 3 days!!! Yippee!!!

I'm Going!!!

I received an official acceptance letter a few weeks ago and have put in my $100 deposit that holds my room! YAY!!!

God has been so faithful in the past few weeks. Here's just a smidgen of what He's done:
~He helped MTC make the decision to accept me!
~He has given me strength to endure some difficult challenges that are going on in my personal and family life.
~He has been providing financially for every need!

What a mighty and awesome God we serve!

On a slightly different topic, I have been discovering how much fun it is to shop at thrift stores! One of my friends found me a beautiful comforter in mint condition (at a thrift store) for my new room at MTC, and I have been having a lot of fun finding little decorations and kitchen items to match (the colors that I'm using, btw, are burgundy, tan, and brown and a few little variations here and there). Someone else gave me a floor lamp that was that icky brass color from the 60's, so I decided I didn't want that color in my room and spray painted it brown! It looks pretty awesome, and I felt very proud of myself for completing my first spray painting project without much damage to myself, the lamp, or anyone else (although I think Josiah might have slightly brown hands today...but I'm sure it was his fault for putting his hands in the way ......... )

Anyways, thanks so much for all of your prayers and support! I appreciate it more than I could ever say!

I am so excited to finally be preparing to go train as a missionary. God's desire for the world to know Him has set me on fire to proclaim the Gospel message to those who are least reached. I cannot wait to see what He is going to do in and through me! Please check out the page labeled "About MTC" to find out more info what I will be doing at the New Tribes Mission Missionary Training Center (abbreviated MTC, but NOT to be confused with the Mormon missionary training center which is abbreivated in the same manner...).

Where things are:
~ I have not been sent an "official" acceptance letter yet, but, as of last week, I was told that I am basically accepted to the MTC training program. How exciting! I'll post as soon as I hear more info.

Thanks for your prayers and support!