Graduation! (December Newsletter 2011)

 

GRADUATION: As Mike and I reflect on the past 2 years at New Tribes Bible Institute, the words overwhelmed, humbled, and blessed immediately come to mind. Our graduation this past weekend was such a great way to close this season. What an encouragement it was to share the experience with Pastor George from HDC, who flew all the way from California to see us! We made some great memories with him, and we will always remember his visit with us. We have truly been blessed by the Biblical teaching we received here and are so grateful for the time spent studying and growing in our walk with the Lord. There is still so much to learn, and we are thankful for God’s grace in our lives! Many of you have supported us through prayer and finances, and encouraged us through emails, phone calls, facebook and texts. THANK YOU with all our heart!!

           

Us with NTBI President Ron Lindsey        Us with Pastor George from HDC

NEXT STEPS: We are moving to the New Tribes Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Roach, Missouri on January 6. There, we will continue learning and studying about missions! This process lasts 1-½ -2 years. During our first semester, we will be studying Church Planting, Christian Living, Stewardship, and Culture/Language Acquisition. Our first semester starts January 17! We are all very excited for the move, but have come to love Waukesha WI, and will miss it here!

These kids deserve an honorary graduation!

THE KIDS IN CAPS AND GOWNS: The kids deserve to wear the cap and gown too! Here's a few reasons why. They were troopers through this process! They gave up their own bedrooms, gave away more than half of their things, and moved away from friends and family! Nicole helped us study for tests, learned Greek verb tenses with Mike, and learned the definition of Animism with Kristi. Jesse enjoyed laying next to Mike at night and falling asleep while listening to him read Basic Theology and other textbooks. We would not have felt comfortable going through the process of moving and training for missions if our kids were willing to adjust and have great attitudes! So...we dressed them up and snapped a photo!

MISS NICOLE: is growing up so quickly! She turned 9 this past March. She loves reading with a passion, and just finished the first Lord of the Rings book (over 400 pages!) She enjoys math, music, and art. Last spring she was the lead in a musical at her school, and did an excellent job! We are so proud of her. She continues to grow in her understanding of the Bible, and we cherish the time we get to spend with her talking about God’s Word.

JESSE BOY: is our active and crazy 7 year old! He brings us so much joy and keeps us laughing! He is doing so well in reading and has moved along rather quickly, we have been very proud of his determination to learn to read. He also does very well in math and enjoys counting as high as he can. He told me he can count to a million, and when I said when have you done that?! He said, “well I haven’t but I know all of the number combinations!” We are so touched by his compassionate heart for others; his love for animals, babies, and kids with disabilities. What a sweet boy he is!


Thanks again to all of you who made this possible! We love and appreciate every one of you!

Love, Mike, Kristi, Nicole, and Jesse

   

Visiting The Missionary Training Center (MTC)

We pulled into the Missionary Training Center just after midnight. As we rubbed our eyes, the dim light revealed dirt roads, apartment buildings, playgrounds, a lake, and various other facilities. The grounds reminded us of a Christian camp. We found our apartment and got ready for bed right away.

The next morning we gathered our supplies and walked to the shower room. We were staying in the old housing, built as a “temporary” solution in the 1960’s. All of the new housing is very nice and has bathrooms and showers in each apartment.

At chapel, the worship team played current worship songs. The speaker, George, shared many of the struggles of tribal church planting. He was refreshingly transparent about the ways our flesh can have the better of us in the midst of tribal church planting. He emphasized the importance of humility, teamwork, and forgiveness in the body of Christ.

Our first class was about animism, a common tribal religion. Animism is the belief that things in nature have souls and are conscious, that supernatural forces animate and organize the universe, and that people have spirits that can exist separately from their bodies. This belief system leaves people superstitious and terrified, imprisoning them to perform rituals when they cut down a tree, or walk on the grass, or kill a pig.

Our second class was phonetics, which emphasizes points of articulation, manners of articulation and the human speech apparatus. This is just one of many courses designed to give tribal church planters the ability to learn unwritten foreign languages, develop an alphabet, teach literacy, and translate the Bible into a peoples heart language.

Meeting some of the staff, talking with the students, attending classes, and touring the grounds gave us a much better understanding of the training and lifestyle we will receive during our 2 years at the MTC.

The biggest encouragement during our visit was seeing the kids go from apprehension to excitement about another move. The campus is on 400 acres right on the shore of the Lake of the Ozarks. There are several playgrounds, rope swings, mountain bike trails, open fields, and a creek! 


Jesse got to shoot his first .22, and Nicole had a blast swinging on rope swings over the creek. We all had a great time, learned a great deal about the training, and have a better idea of what to expect if we end up moving there after we graduate from NTBI in December 2011.

3rd Semester Is Starting!

The view of the city from NTBI

We have been here for a year! It's hard to believe we are already halfway done with the Biblical Studies portion of our education. One more year to go, then two years of missionary training at the MTC! Spring semester started Sunday, January 16. Mike is really busy planning, scheduling, rehearsing, and leading the worship team for the 3-day orientation. He usually plays drums or guitar, and lets some of the other students lead vocally.

Making a gingerbread house

We couldn't afford to fly home to California for Christmas. We sure missed seeing our loved ones, but we managed to have a nice time as a family. We made some neat memories sledding, taking a walk while it snowed on Christmas Eve, going ice skating, and spending time with a few of the students who also stayed on campus over the break. We were so blessed by friends and family who made it possible for us to buy Christmas presents for the kids! Thank you so much!

The Day Family 4

We are reaching a point where we will need to rely on the Lord for financial provision more than ever before. As we look to Him and see His faithfulness displayed in scripture and in our own lives, we feel excited about what He has in store for us as we depend on Him to meet our needs. But, when we look at the things of this earth, we begin to feel very uneasy. Please pray that we will trust the Lord as we seek wisdom and direction to navigate this next chapter in our journey to the mission field.

The back of NTBI this fall

Classes officially start Wednesday! Here's a list of the classes we are taking this semester. 1 and 2 Peter, 2 Corinthians, Angelology, Ephesians, Galatians, Hebrews, James/Jude, Missions in Church History, Pneumatology, Romans, Soteriology, Family, Decision Making, Greek 2, and Perspectives in World Missions.

Roots

This is Mike, here to introduce something Kristi wrote. I appreciate her so much, and am so blessed by how God is working in her life. We have been through so much change over the past year after transitioning out of full-time church ministry, selling our home in California, saying goodbye to family and friends, moving to Wisconsin, and entering a 4-year missionary training program. After reading (with permission) a journal entry of hers this week, I asked permission to transcribe it and share it on our blog. She didn’t originally intend anyone to read it, so it lacks the pretense and polish that can often accompany writing. What struck me was her honesty about the struggles she faces, and her faith as she looks to the Lord in the midst of it all. I hope it’s an encouragement to you.

Kristi ~ December 7, 2010

I have been thinking lately about belonging, security, routine, and roots, and have been missing those feelings. Memories of spending time with our family in our own home, playing in the yard, doing yard work, and swimming in the kiddie pool on the hot summer days are consuming my thoughts. I hope I am not ripping security from my kids, and that they are adjusting well.

My roots seemingly have been cut from where I felt comfortable. It’s not that I feel too uncomfortable here, in fact I have enjoyed being here a lot. It just dawns on me sometimes that my little family of four left everything that was safe and predictable, and now live without a job in Wisconsin. We got rid of well over half of our belongings, and are still always trying to get rid of more. Here we are trying to live a balanced life of raising our kids while going to Bible school, and I feel lost [misplaced]. It seems so silly to even say that I feel lost. I have learned so much here and have really tried to stay away from being attached to material or earthly possessions. I have been looking at eternity and realize that this is what we were made for. Still, I don’t want to mess up our kids, and one day hear them say, we moved so much, my parents made me get rid of stuff all the time, I had to change schools in the middle of school years, leave friends behind, watch friends move on, and I hated it! How can we establish roots in such a fast paced, unpredictable, different life style?? Maybe our roots aren’t going to be attached to one city as the kids are growing up, or one house, or one steady group of friends, but rather to Christ and our position in Him. A tree has roots, and unlike the roots of a tree that don’t actually grow towards anything, or in any particular direction, my roots, and that of my family’s, are to grow toward Christ and attach themselves to [Him] the giver of life. I need to learn how to do this better. In order to avoid root disease there needs to be a healthy, vigorous environment around the tree. I can apply a lot to my life using this analogy.

I want my kids to know and love God and learn to put their trust in Him and be secure in Him. The examples they see through my actions will help them grow. What is ‘normal’ will change from time to time in the life we are leading, and it may not always be fun or easy. I hope as a family we can unite together and create a new normal, with our security firmly planted in the Lord, while establishing a home full of love and commitment, and enjoying our relationships both near and far. The saying ‘Home is Where the Heart Is’ can mean something. As best I can as a Mom, I will help my kids look to the Lord as they go through struggles. The truth is, from what I can see, they have been adjusting very well. I just really want to be aware of the subtle things, and not be too busy to notice them. Oh, and it’s probably okay to be a little homesick. ~ Kristi

2nd Semester!

We are blessed with beautiful sunsets almost every night at NTBI. I took this photo tonight from the 4th floor of the guys dorm, sitting in the windowsill. It was one of those perfect moments where everything just feels right for a minute, and time stands still.

As we get ready for classes to start tomorrow, we can't help but reflect on all that has happened in the past year. It's overwhelming to consider the many things God has taught us, the way He has provided for us, and the blessing that our time here has been. That doesn't mean it's been perfect. Life is never perfect, in fact, it can be messy. But learning to walk with the Lord through the struggles of life is an adventure worth living!

This summer our family enjoyed a road trip back to our home state of California! Round trip, we drove through 15 states, slept in 19 different beds, endured 10 thunderstorms, 1 tornado watch, 1 hailstorm, and we left a broken down car in Colorado! Thanks to the many friends and family who blessed us with hospitality, prayer, and generosity!

These are some of my bros getting ready to go on a hike at Devil's Lake. We were on a student leadership campout designed to both train us with leadership principles, and bond us together as a team. My role in student leadership will be to oversee the worship teams on campus. This is so similar to what I did during my last 2 years at HDC, it's all coming back to me! Many of the staff and faculty, including the president, went on the campout. I can't tell you what an encouragement it is to see the heartbeat of the staff as they interact with the students here. They truly care about training and descipling young (and not as young) students, and they are not afraid to dive right in and grow, worship, struggle, laugh, and cry with us.

This semester I (Mike) will be taking 19 credits, and Kristi will be taking 12 credits and auditing several classes. Our classes will include Hermeneutics 2, life of Christ, Bible Basis of Missions, Theology, Anthropology, Hamartiology, Christology, 1Corinthians, Prophets, Acts, Job, and Living Biblical Greek.

I have decided not to work this semester. I truly believe I would not learn and grow as deeply as I need to if I did. This is not just about a grade, this is about being equipped to potentially serve the Lord in a tribal setting where people have been literally enslaved by sin, superstition, and demonic forces for generations. This is no joke, and I believe I need to put my all into the training. That said, we are trusting the Lord to continue providing for us like He has done faithfully so far.

Please continue to pray for us. More than anything, that we would be transformed by God's Word. Without an incredible work of the Lord in our own hearts and lives, we will fail at the task set before us. Thank you all for the love and encouragement you have shown us through our first semester! We look forward to all God has in store for you and for us in the year to come!

Mike

Stranded In Denver

We've always wanted to spend some time in the Rocky Mountains, so we were all looking forward to the camping trip we planned as we passed through Colorado on the way to California. What we never expected was that we'd spend all 4 days of our time in Denver stranded at a hotel with a broken down car.

I must admit that there were times of discouragement and self-pity as we struggled through the hassles that come from being stuck in a city where you don't know anyone. I have not worked since November 2009, so our budget is set up to barely scrape by as we go through missionary training. But overall, we were trusting that the Lord would provide for us. The Lord did provide, and we were blessed with a new car! Here's the story...

Our car started acting up the day before we arrived in Denver. We took it to 2 mechanics, and both times the symptoms were not apparent while the mechanics looked at it. The next day, we arrived in Denver and knew the problem was getting worse. We got a hotel and found a mechanic the next day. We found out later that we needed a new transmission. Our 1989 Mazda MPV, with its complicated 4WD transmission, was too expensive to fix. We were stuck!

I visited a used car lot, and was discouraged to find nothing in our price range. I told the salesman, who was not a believer, about God's provision in the past. I explained that it would be hard to buy a car from him, knowing that at any moment God might provide a far better option. I don't think he was too convinced.

That night, a friend called and said, "some family members, who live in Denver, are selling their '96 Corolla, and we just bought it for you!" I called the car salesman the next day and said, "guess what, God just provided us with a better option!" I don't think he was too thrilled.

We were so thankful and amazed! God had provided us with a good car, and had done so through good friends! We were hoping all of our luggage and camping gear that barely fit in our van would fit in the Corolla.

Kristi and I installed a roof-rack, and assembled an inexpensive car-top carrier from Sears. The blacktop was hot, hot, hot, so we had to lay blankets down while we worked.

The other guests at the hotel we were staying at were curious about all the mess we had made in the parking lot. It looked like we were trying to have a garage sale!

Done! We were able to fit most of our things in the car, and there was a dumpster nearby for the few things that wouldn't make it. We thought about shipping those things home, but it was too expensive, so we cut our losses, rejoiced in the gain of a new car, and got back on the road in a jiffy!

Epic Road-trip Part 1: Wisconsin To Iowa

It rained the whole first day of our trip. It was a little stressful knowing that we were planning to camp that night. We discussed the possibility of sleeping in the car or getting a hotel room, but were hopeful the rain would clear.

This place claims to be the worlds largest truck-stop. I'm pretty sure they are right. It is only a little smaller than "The Mall of Victor Valley!" Well...I'm exaggerating.

We saw this sign and thought..."that looks like a good place to camp." A few miles down the road we saw a sign for the same place that said "private campground, members only." I decided to proceed thinking, "what exactly does "private" and "member" mean?" I assumed it meant that passers by were welcome to join their secret club for the evening.

The owners let us stay for the night even though that wasn't the policy. We set our tent up in the rain and it rained off and on till about midnight. The tent kept us warm and dry, and Kristi read a chapter in "My Side of the Mountain" before turning the lights out.

I stepped out at about midnight to see what the weather was up to. All the clouds had cleared! There is not much light pollution in the middle of Iowa, so the stars were beautiful.

While I was outside, I ran into this firefly that I named "Phil". I brought him back to the tent to show Kristi and the kids (yes I woke them up at midnight to show them a firefly) and he flew around the tent. He landed on the window, and I snapped the picture above to the left. Then he landed on my camera lens so I took this splendid closeup of his backside. I hope this picture gets glowing feedback ;)

We enjoyed a bowl of Cheerios (product placement) before setting off for Nebraska. Despite the rain, we had a great night and really enjoyed our stay at Koch's Meadow Lake Campground.