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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. |
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| 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. |
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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.
