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!