So glad for friends!

It's been really good getting back with my friends here at MTC. We have a lot of fun together hanging out and doing stuff. It's so good to have a break from homework, class stress, and everything else and just have fun. So, so glad for friends! :)

Enjoying the beautiful weather at a local state park

And it's so good to be able to challenge and encourage each other, especially as we're going through our practicum class. We're almost done with that, but all the final papers have been a lot of work. We've had 4 papers due (one of them being 8-12 pages) during the last week. While that's nothing for college, these are the first papers we've written in several months (yeah, I know, it's shocking that we didn't write any over the summer). 

Having fun at a birthday party for Rachel

So yup, it's been fun and encouraging!

Vote for NTM

New Tribes is attempting to get win a $10,000 aviation grant to help buy a new Kodiak plane. The Kodiak is an incredible aircraft. It's built for missions. It can hold a lot of cargo for a small plane, but it's able to still land on some of the most difficult airstrips in the world. NTM has been able to get one of these planes already, but the need for more is so huge! 

The winner for the grant is determined by votes, so the more votes, the better chance New Tribes has of winning. From what I've heard, they are in 2nd place right now, so I thought you guys might like the chance to help out. I think the current 1st place candidate is a company that is trying to get money to fly dogs around. Um, what?????? Anyways, I definitely think people are more important than dogs, so I'm voting for NTM! :)

Here's the link:
http://www.lightspeedaviationfoundation.org/content.cfm/Voting/Get-to-know-the-2013-finalists/New-Tribes-Mission

You just type in your name and email address, and it counts your vote. I used both of my two email addresses to vote. 

This is a really easy thing to do, and it will make a world of difference for NTM missionaries! Would you take 5 minutes to help vote? Thanks guys!

Learning through Ministry

I haven't written about my ministry at the Boy's Home for a while. It's a really exciting time right now! The group of guys that we have currently seem to be hungry for truth. We started out at the beginning of the semester by giving them the Gospel... Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Now, we're going back to the beginning of the Bible and teaching about Creation and who God is. This next Sunday, we are teaching about the creation of man and how much God values us because we are created in His image. The guys are actually interested in hearing God's Word. All of them, except a few, have been attending. We read some from Psalm 139, just pointing out how God knows all our thoughts, and one of the guys said, "I find it comforting that God knows my thoughts. He understands!" 

Wow. Sometimes I find it terrifying that God knows my thoughts. This guy's comment reminded me again that this fact should actually comfort me, because it shows how much He loves me, even when my thoughts are not in line with the truth of His Word. 

Josiah teaching at the Boy's Home

Please be praying for the guys at our ministry. We have about 7-8 guys at the home right now, and most of them will be there for a while still. But our time is so short, and we want to impact them with the truth as much as possible. We know it's only God who can change their thinking. Pray that they would be responsive to Him!

What a Simulation Can Teach You

I never realized how incredibly challenging, encouraging, stressful, and amazing a simulation could be.

That's what we're doing right now... a simulation. It's a 6 week-long class here at MTC where we get to practice things that we've learned over the past year. Actually, not just "things". We're practicing pretty much EVERYTHING we've learned.

Anyone who's ever done a simulation before knows that it helps solidify material that you've learned, but it also brings up aspects of the situation that you've never thought of before. This simulation is no different.

I've discovered so much more about myself and the way I process. But I've also seen how difficult it is to work on a large team. We've had several heated (note the "heated) discussions in our class of 45ish students about various things in the simulation. Things you never would have thought would be an issue. Things like how much to pay someone for helping you learn their language and culture. Apparently, that's a really, really big issue in many places around the world. In some locations, how much you pay your language helper can totally ruin the tribe's society because they aren't used to receiving money like we are.

Another sore topic has been smoking and drinking. Think about it. If someone in the States offers you a beer, it's ok to say no if you don't want to drink. There's nothing wrong with it. However, in a lot of locations around the world, refusing a sip of beer could completely jeopardize your relationships with the people. They might take offense at your refusal simply because it is a way of life for them and it is a way they show that they are friends. And if you don't know the language very well, it could be really hard to fix that mistake.

And there are a million other minute details that you would never even consider when going into another culture. Add to that the 45 different personalities represented by our class, and you've got quite the simulation on your hands.

So yeah, it's been good, but somewhat stressful. All the details, information, and interpersonal issues make it a challenging class, but it's also helping me think through a lot of good stuff. For instance, am I really going to make a good teammate for my coworkers on the field? Am I working to solve issues or simply stewing about things that don't go my way? Am I focusing on building relationships or am I focusing too much on the task at hand? What would Jesus do if He was in the situation?

I guess there's a lot of questions, and I'm still learning the answers. I'm glad I can begin to learn them here instead of on the field where the results could be a lot more disastrous.

Lies

Clint and I were reading this book last night. It's about lies that we as Christians often believe. I've read the book once before, but as Clint was reading the first chapter aloud to me, I was struck by how strongly I believe certain lies. You'd think after 20 years of living on planet earth, I'd be able to discern my thought patterns and habits. Actually, I think the longer you live, the more you realize you're an idiot most of the time, at least in your thought life. Ok, so maybe that's just me, I don't know. It's not usually something I go around asking people, "So, what lies are YOU believing today???" But maybe I should start. Because lies are so incredibly destructive to each one of us.

I guess I've been thinking a lot on this lately because I've been seeing different things that I'm doing every day that are displeasing to God, yet I don't want to give them up because they feel right to my humanity. I feel like that bird that always flies into the window yet never gives up because it thinks there's another bird there. Dumb bird.

And then I look at my life and have to say, dumb human.

I mean really, sometimes we're so incredibly dumb. It'd be almost funny if it weren't so incredibly not. We whine and complain about the craziest things, all because we don't believe that God is really good. Everything He's placed in our lives has a purpose. He has a rhyme behind His reason. And we sin. All the time. Habitually. Returning to the very things we've vowed over and over to never repeat. How dumb is that? Again, we don't believe that God is really good.

Lies affect us so much. They cause us to do stupid things. Cause us to doubt God and therefore get all worked up about things. But we don't see them so often. Here are some that jumped out at me that I believe:

1. "I have to be perfect" Is that really a lie???
2. "My worth is determined by my performance" Yup, believe that one all the time
3. "Life should be fair" Well...shouldn't it? Good American lie right there
4. "I must have everyone's love and approval" .........um yeah guilty.......
5. "God's acceptance must be earned" ouch...looking at it makes it sound bad, but I know I act on it a lot

So yeah, lies definitely affect my thinking. I believe them without even trying. I want to get better at finding them. At weeding them out of the garden of my mind (yes, there is a garden. Not a very organized one, but it's there).

As John 8:31-32 says, "If you hold to my teaching, then you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I want to be free.

First Week at MTC

It's been so good to be back at MTC. I had no idea how much I missed this place. I have a schedule again, which has been so incredibly good. That's one thing I learned over this summer: I work best with a steady, predictable schedule. It's ok if there's a bit of variance within it, but at least I know what to expect next. So that's definitely been a blessing to have back.

An example of the assignments we had for phonemics

Our first week of classes was busy because we had a bunch of re-orientation stuff to do during the afternoons. But the classes have been good so far. We had a 12 hour class called Phonemics for our first few days. It's basically how to understand a language from an insider's perspective instead of an outsider's. It helps you figure out the very depths of a language so that you can analyze it, develop an alphabet and grammatical structure, and teach the people how to read and write their own language. A lot of work for sure!

This past weekened, a bunch of the students from MTC went on a canoe trip down a 9 mile river. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I don't have any pics, but it was so relaxing to get away from campus and just enjoy God's creation.

Today, we finish up a class called "Literacy". We've had that class for the past 3 class days, and it's been a ton of fun! We're learning how to develop primers so that we can teach people how to read and write their own language. We each got to make our own 12-page primer with English words (written phonetically, so you wouldn't know what they said), and it was a ton of fun!!!

All in all, it's been good to be back, but there are still a lot of things that I could use prayer for. I feel like Satan is trying to really discourage and attack me right now in a lot of little ways, including the fact that I picked up a cold somewhere recently. So if you could pray for strength and protection, that would be awesome.

A Tribute to a Cousin

Sometimes cousins are really distant. Sometimes, they are like siblings. This cousin has been both.

He grew up in Papua New Guinea, so I didn't really get to know him very well as we were growing up. So when he came back to the States four years ago and started living with my family, I had a hard time adjusting. I hardly knew this guy, and I'd never had a brother before. But God worked, and we became fast friends. I'll never forget the many hours we spent together laughing, talking, playing games, and doing stuff together. It was a really neat time for me of growing and challenge.

If it wasn't for this cousin, I wouldn't be here at MTC right now. It was his example that challenged me to apply to the MTC last year. And I am SO thankful that he did!!! It's been one of the most incredible experiences of my life thus far!

This cousin is a man after God's heart. He is diligent, hardworking, thoughtful, patient, considerate, and a great friend. He has a heart for people and wants to serve them.

I'm so excited that he's engaged and getting married. While it's sometimes hard to feel like I'm losing a brother, I'm so incredibly grateful to see what God is doing in his life and how He's bringing this marriage together. It's so cool to see!

We've had our ups and downs. Our struggles and quarrels. But that's all a part of being almost-siblings. It sometimes hurts. But it's also full of fun and joy.

Happy Birthday, Josiah (sorry, this is actually a day late)! I'm so glad I know you, and I hope that our friendship continues until we're old and grey, and our teeth are falling out. :) I love you!

I'm Getting Married! :)

Clint asked me to marry him last Saturday out in Oregon. I said "yes"! I'm so incredibly excited! We're thinking of a March wedding, but not entirely sure yet.

I'm so, so grateful for Clint. He is an amazing man who loves God and desires to serve Him with all his heart. We complement each other so well. And he's incredibly good with his hands, so he can fix all the things I blow up overseas. :)

At this point, I have one more semester here at MTC before I graduate, and then we plan on getting married. After that, we'll be raising support to head overseas, and we'd like to be in Papua New Guinea sometime in the next 2 years or so. We're both really excited and trusting God to lead us in His timing for heading to the mission field!

I've attached a few pictures from our time together in Oregon.

Free to Struggle

I heard one of the most incredible songs the other day. I'm sure many of you have heard it, but the words just stuck in my brain. 

I think often about the struggle that we have as believers. We're still sinful human beings, but we are now in Christ, seated in the heavenly places. We're sons and daughters of God. Yet we turn so often to the meaningless, worthless things of this world. We so often settle when God wants us to thrive. We hang on to the chains of sin when they have already been broken off of us. 

Why? 

We have been given so much grace and freedom. Yet we abuse it so often. We often don't fight when we should. We don't stand up when we need to. We don't refuse temptation when it's offered.

So anyways, this song really put it all in perspective for me, and it reminds me that we are free to struggle, but we're no longer struggling to be free. So, so amazing. 

It's hard to believe today is August 1. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the new year, and now it's almost over. This summer has been one of the coolest I've ever experienced during my 20 years of living in Georgia, and it's quite a blessing for a change. But it also makes it difficult to do anything fun outdoors because with the cool weather has come an enormous wave of rain storms. It's rained almost every afternoon that I've been here. It's not unusual for north Georgia to get a lot of rain, especially in the summer. Apparently, we live in the second rainiest place in the continental US after the northwest coast. Go figure.

Last night, we had the biggest thunderstorm I've seen in 10 years here. It rained HARD! Tiny creeks were roaring rivers this morning, and a lot of flash flooding occurred in our area. I guess the storm was big enough that the news channels were even sending camera crews to our town to capture footage. We were out of power for almost the entire day here, and several roads were even washed out due to streams and rivers overflowing their banks. Thankfully, not a lot was damaged that I know of, and everyone is still able to get where they need to go. But still, quite an experience for my last week here!

August not only means a lot of heat (usually...), but it also means the start of school. Classes at MTC start August 19, and I'm really excited to get back into life there! Going to PNG this summer has made me even more excited to finish training and get on the field so I can start the process of heading overseas full time!

August also means that I'll be heading out to Oregon very soon to visit Clint and his family. I'm really excited about getting to see him again! We've been apart all summer, which has been really difficult, but we're discovering how incredibly grateful we are to the inventors of Skype and cell phone service! It will be so good to be back together and get to meet his family as well.

So, all that to say, I'm enjoying my last few days here in Georgia, rainy though they may be. I'd definitely appreciate prayers as I prepare to head out to Oregon, and from there back to Missouri for my final semester of training.