It’s 11:00pm, and I’m sitting on the back lawn of our school. The night is perfect. There’s no wind, no noise, and the weather couldn’t be better. Most of the students have gone home for the summer.
It’s been nearly 6 months since we left our family, friends, home, and job in California. The 4 of us are adjusting to all the changes fairly well, and we are surprisingly comfortable in our 600 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment. Still, we can’t believe we’re here.
If the Lord, indeed, directs us to enter into tribal ministry, life will keep getting crazier. After these 2 years in Wisconsin, we’ll likely raise partial support, then transfer to the Missionary Training Center in Missouri or Canada for a year and a half, then spend a year raising full support, then a year overseas learning a trade language, then 3-5 years learning the tribal language.
One thing we are learning is that it’s really hard to know how the Lord will direct a family once they makes steps towards tribal church planting. Much like the way churches need a whole team of people working together to support the ministry of the senior pastor, dozens of “support” missionaries are needed for every missionary in a tribe. Through the many testimonies we have heard, we are coming to understand that working as a support missionary is also very demanding, and requires a lot of sacrifice. It can be especially challenging for missionaries in these roles to raise support, because many people don’t understand or value the role they play. The truth is, without missionaries who are doctors, accountants, supply buyers, warehouse workers, pilots, mechanics, teachers, construction workers, etc…, tribal church planting and Bible translation would grind to a halt.
The staff and teachers here have been amazing, and we are so blessed to learn from them. They are dedicated to the study and teaching of God’s Word, to the life change that happens in the students, and to the world change that ensues as graduates go out with the desire to reach every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. As we discuss Bible application and the struggles of living a life fully devoted to the Lord, they display great humility and transparency, openly sharing their life experiences with us.
This semester, our courses started by helping us to understand where the Bible came from and how we should view it. We explored what inspiration really means, and the history of how each book was compiled, brought together in the Canon, and translated into the modern English versions we have today. We also studied principles of biblical interpretation, evangelism in a postmodern world, the first 5 books of the Bible, OT history, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs.
This has been a great experience so far, and we are blessed to be here. Please pray for us this summer. We have a long drive out to California, many places to be, and many people to see. It will be exhausting. Please pray that our desire for God’s Word would not wane during our time off, and that we will continue to look to the Lord in the midst of life and it’s challenges.
Thanks for all the help and encouragement this year!
Mike Day
