Goodbye Summer Hello MTC

Our summer was amazing! Because we have two great sending Churches and a few individuals who are supporting us financially we were able to go to Bethel Memorial Church this summer and say, "Put us in any holes that you have this summer! We're all yours!"  Here are the different ways we were able to serve with Bethel over the summer.

We...

• taught a college age Sunday school.
• helped in the new transition room for the kids.
• taught the missions portion of VBS.
• spoke one Thursday at several local retirement homes. 
• spoke for one Sunday evening service.
• were senior camp counselors at Shakamak Bible Camp.
• spoke for one morning session at Bible Camp.
• had a few discipleship opportunities with family and friends.  

The best part of the whole summer was getting to spend time with family and friends - and making new ones:)

Summer is over and we are excited to be back in school at the Missionary Training Center! We're starting off the semester with a small groups Romans class where we discuss Romans 5-8 and we are also in Missionary Technology (where we get to learn about using solar panels, wiring your house, Tech. maintenance....). They are both great classes for different reasons.

(Erin using a shunt and multi-meter to measure the amps being used by a halogen light bulb)

To see all of our classes this semester and a brief summary follow this link   2nd Semester

To read and hear amazing stories about how the world is being reached with the Gospel follow this link  New Tribes Mission News

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Arrival at the MTC!

We are here!

After traveling many days we have finally made it to the  Missionary Training Center (MTC). Our travels were very uneventful which was great! An awesome answer to prayer as we traveled for 5 days (counting back from Indiana) with not a single mishap.

We had a great couple of weeks with Erin's family in Indiana. The weather cooperated for awhile so we were able to get out of the house a bit. We got to see Luke play some basketball too! Talking with Pastor Kevin it sounds like we're going to have a great summer at Bethel Memorial where we'll be getting involved wherever we can. It is something I look forward to since I haven't spent much time with Erin's church family.

Being back in training with New Tribes Mission is great. We've been able to spend lots time with friends from Bible school we haven't seen in awhile. It's also great to meet new people who have the same desire as us - to see the unreached reached! I'm really trying to challenge myself with remembering names. It's always been a struggle of mine...

We've mostly been in orientation the last week but the little taste of real classes we have had made us excited to get started. I'll write more about our classes as we are going through them. For now here are pictures of our apartment.

Above: This is our apartment. There are 4 apartments to a building.

SO... Why did I nail my doormat to my porch? It was the third night we had been at the MTC. The weather had been great that day, 70! Well the next day was supposed to be much much cooler I think around 30. Well some of you already know where this is going... That night the warm front and the cold front hit each other. I woke up to the sound of a loud siren as if there was an air raid! After nudging Erin to wake up I got up and took a look out front to see what was happening. Everyone was running around. At that point I pretty much knew it was a tornado :-/ Luckily the day before we had gone into the 'tornado shelter' to grab a microwave (The room also serves as a place for unwanted items). We got to spend about 45 minutes during the middle of the night in a tornado shelter. Two tornado's had been spotted heading in our general direction. What a welcome and what better reason to nail your doormat to your porch?

Above: Looking into our apartment from the front door.

 Above: Looking to the left after walking in - our kitchen table with fish:)

Above: Our small bathroom next to our kitchen:) We are praising God we have our own though!

Above: Looking from our kitchen out front. You may notice the construction of a new large building out front.

Above: Our spare room or 'catch all' To the left of this there is another window and a desk and flint - our white's tree frog.

Our bedroom is the same size as our spare room but I don't have a picture because Erin was taking a nap after church while I took the pics :-) 

We're Leaving!

Erin and I are going to the MTC! Our last day in Oregon will be the 29th of December. We'll be spending about a week and a half in Indiana with Erin's family before actually going to training. We're looking forward to it!

It's so exciting because this is the next step for us to become missionaries! It's always a bummer having to leave the place where you have been having such great times and building relationships. We're ready though! Except for the packing, shipping, driving, unpacking.... That's the real bummer :-/

Here is the really exciting part. Awhile ago while thinking about the MTC I was roughly calculating the cost for Erin and I to be there. I tried to take everything into account - School costs, food, insurance, travel etc. I figured we would be 100% funded at around $1,500 a month. I hadn't really talked to anybody about the amount but kept it in the back of my mind as a rough goal. We didn't even expect to reach that goal because we have been saving quite a bit while here in Oregon. Well God provided in a way we didn't expect! Between Keizer Community Church (Alex's home church) and Bethel Memorial Church (Erin's home church) we have exactly $1,500 dollars of support a month! We Praise God because we know He is the One in control.

If you want to learn more about where we are headed please take a look at the previous post.


Please Pray for our Trip!

We will be driving all the way to Indiana!

MTC - The Next Phase of Training

    Our next stop in training with New Tribes Mission (NTM) will be at the Missions Training Center (MTC). This post, as previously promised, is to inform you about what it is exactly and why we are going. As most of you know Erin and I have a desire to see those who are unreached with the gospel of Christ to finally have a chance to hear and accept the good news. We are in training with NTM and have completed two years of Bible training at New Tribes Bible Institute and are now planning to attend the MTC.

Here is how NTM briefly describes the MTC.

     "The Missionary Training Center prepares you for career ministry with New Tribes Mission. Think about it: If you were given the opportunity today to plant a church in an unreached tribe, would you know where to start? Missionary training teaches you about the complex concepts involved in tribal church planting, such as understanding culture and learning language, so you can effectively communicate cross-culturally. We’re also vitally concerned about your walk with God, so that in an isolated, high-pressure environment, your relationship with God can survive and even thrive."

Here are some links if you would like more details about the MTC.

MTC General Page
Here you can read and navigate yourself through all the information NTM has to offer.

MTC Curriculum
Here you can find all the classes offered at the MTC.

MTC Cost
While at the MTC they would like the students to be able to focus fully on the training. For this reason full time jobs are not allowed and only occasionally are part time jobs allowed. This means that while at the MTC we will be relying on financial support from others and our savings from our year in Oregon.