Graduation!

Imagine yourself standing at the base of Niagara Falls. You have been given a very important task. You are told that you need to successfully catch as much water as you can because your going to need it later. You say "That doesn't sound too hard." But here's the kicker, all you have to get the water is a dixie cup. Well, this last year and half was a bit like standing under a waterfall with a dixie cup. Let me explain, there was a torrential downpour of information everyday in class, and often we felt like all we had to hold it in it was a little bitty cup. While we do feel prepared to go and live and do ministry overseas we also feel completely inadequate to do the task God has laid before us. The most pressing thing we learned in this last year and a half is that we are in desperate need of God daily. He has chosen to use us weak and broken vessels to reach the world.

So, after two years of Bible School and one and a half years of missionary training we're finally finished with  formal schooling! Not to say that we're done learning but we are excited to be done with this phase of training. We will officially become New Tribes Missionaries in early July. The most important and exciting thing is that we are one step closer to the foreign field!

There we were again... Our little brown Camry loaded down, 15 plastic totes packed up, and apartment cleaned out. It was time to say good bye again. We loved our time at the MTC and as difficult as it was to leave our friends that we had made we we're ready to move on. It was truly a blessing to learn from such an amazing staff.

Graduation with Erin's parents

We finally have an answer to the question that has been ringing in our ears. "Where will you be going?" We are currently in the process of applying to serve in The Philippines! We have been praying and considering this decision for quite some time. Thank you for praying with us!

Right now we are looking for partners who are interested in seeing the unreached of the world reached with the Gospel of Christ. We are looking for people who will join us through finances, prayer, and encouragement. So over these next months we will be meeting with individuals and churches to see who wants to be a part of our team and invest with us in the people of the Philippines. Please pray for us and the team that God is preparing.

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!