NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Thank you for your prayers.

I am in the Washington DC area visiting the Yoakum family that use to work in the Philippines. 

Tomorrow I will take the train to Boston area and visit friends from Bible School days at Prairie Bible Institute.

Then I will return and drive a short distance to friends that use to work in Mexico.

After that I will head for Pennsylvania, up to Canada, over to Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and back down to Missouri to visit more friends that I met either in the Philippines or at Prairie Bible. 

I need to return to El Paso by the 28th.  Please pray for safety and that I will be able to visit all those the Lord has put in my path over the years.

Yours in Christ,

Barbara

Dear Prayer Partners,

This weekend, our third and fourth grade teacher had to hurry home to Nebraska because her ailing dad turned for the worse. We only have two full weeks and a part of the next week of classes. What to do?

I suggested that if we can find someone to sub for this week, I can finish up the kindergarten program and go in and help finish up the third and fourth grade classes. Right now we are struggling for find someone to finish up this current week.

Thank you for your prayers and your support behind me being able to be here to teach our children. Pray the the kindergarten class has a good last week. Pray for me as I help the third and fourth grade class.

Please pray for next year, as we really could use a 1st and 2nd grade teacher. If not, I will teach first grade in the morning and kinder in the afternoon. The other grades will be distributed on up the line: 2nd-3rd, 4th-5th and sixth will have several teachers. Our a mission, as the whole, needs MK teachers. If you are able to encourage your churches to send out teachers, do so. Teachers are needed around the world in Missions.

Pray for our present third and fourth graders. They still have test to take and need to end the year well.

Yours in Christ,
Barbara Russ

This summer I will continue to visit those I missed.

Pray for my travel Eastward.  Pray for me as I start to work out a schedule.

Praise, I have someone to stay at my house.  He is not a Christain but a retired brother of a neighbor.  This neighbor does not live in this community but owns property infront of my house. They use the property for parties and get aways for the family.  He is a government lawyer.  I am not sure what his brother was but he is retired and has lots of time on his hands. 

Pray that I can communicate what needs to be done around the house. 

Pray also as for my travel plans.  I need to move the dates for Jury Duty as well, (Yes, I am up for Jury Duty. Until I am actually called on a case, I am up for it every year.   But I am allowed to move the dates.)

If you read this and would like for me to visit your area, let me know.

Have a great day. 

Love in Christ,

Barbara

Thank you for your prayers, The community pump is running.  They are going to cut the water lines from those who have never paid their bills and are living on free water. 

I also have another praise, a person visiting Chihuahua, has offered his time to help anyone who has an electrical or plumbing problem.  What an answer to prayer, I now have all the lights in and now wires weighting for a kind person to finish the lighting in my house.  I also have a new faucet in the bathroom so I can wash my hair in the sink. 

These are little things but they bring peace of mind as I teach school and work with my neighbors and friends here in Mexico.

Praise also as I am slowly fitting into the church I am attending.  It is hard when it is in another language, but people are beginning to accept my Spanglish and including me in their activities.  It has been a cold church but slowly I am fitting into their cliques and being accepted. 

Thank you for your prayers.

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for your prayers. The Pressure Pump is fixed as well as redoing the pipes around the pump to a standard size. The only other problem that was noticed was that the pressure for the hotwater was low. The lines were full of something so we got everything cleaned out except the bathtub (both hot and cold need help.) Monty Miller is busy right now and will help me with that later. I am glad I had my second bathroom finished while I was in Oregon. It has a shower that works (no sink yet but a shower.)

Right now the village I live in has no water. Last weekend, someone cut the electric lines and stole some of the parts of the pump to the well. The damage will cost our communitte $1500 US to resolve the mess; while the robbers probable only got $35 worth of copper wire out of the mess. They were so mad that the community used a non-copper wire that they cut up that wire into little pieces. The only clue to who it may be were hoof prints around the area. They were riding horses so they could reach the wires. Much of the expense will fall on the "richer ones" as only 1/3 of the communitte even pays their water bill.

Pray for the robbers to be caught. Pray that something can be done to protect the pump.

Also pray that my mission can do something to help this community. We have four of our Mexican trainees giving a couple Bible Studies and teaching English in the area. I have talked with them about other ideas, and they are thinking of us doing a survey to find out what activies would the youth like to do. Right now we are praying together for the Lord to help us with ideas. The Mexican Government wants to see our mission doing more Social Development here in Mexico. We are looking for ideas but we NEED THE LORD’S WISDOM AND LOTS OF PRAYER of which way to go. It takes special people to empliment ideas. I am an idea person, but I can’t carry the ideas through to the finished project.

This is where you, as my partners, come in. Please PRAY for the LORD to lead us and direct us in getting something going in my village so that we may be able to bring up a new generation of responsible people. And above all, to BRING PEOPLE TO THE SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.

Thank you for praying,

Barbara Russ

My home assignment has had to be interupted as I aneeded to return to the classroom

The gal who took my Kindergarten class for this year has come down with mono.  Teaching Music to all grades and have kinder has been a challenge for her and has hindered her health.  Therefore, i have been asked to return to finish out the school year.

The LORD has gone ahead of me as I had thought from the beginning of furlough that a 6 month time in the states would have been nice.  But with someone having my class for a year and having someone in my house for year made a short furlough seem impossible.

The family in my house had been asked if they could look for a house earlier as to allow another family to live in my house for the last 6 months, as there was not room for them at our training camp.  I told them to trust the Lord and look for a house.  If one turned up I would not interfer in what the Lord wants even though inside, I did not want to have a new family in my house for my animal’s sake. 

Well, unknown to all of us, the move was to make room for me.  They will move out a week before I return. 

The Lord’s ways are perfect! 

Please go to the prayer section to pray for my schedule to return to Chihuahua February 23.

Please pray for my quick return to the Mexico field.  Because of an illness with the Kindergarten Teacher, I have been asked to return early.

Pray for me as I finish up meetings in the Oregon.  Say good bye to friends and churches and head south.

Feb. 17th speak at Charleston Com. Ch.

Feb. 18th travel 101 to Atascadero, CA

Feb 19th travel to Long Beach, CA

Feb. 20th Rest at my Brother’s place

Feb. 21st to Tubac. AZ

Feb. 22 to El Paso TX

Feb. 23 to Chihuahua

Pray that i can get moved in before school starts on Feb. 26th.

Pray also, for quick adjustment to the class and them to me as we evaluate and begin to finish up the school year.

Pray for my time here in Roseburg, Oregon and vacinity.

Pray I will be refreshed in the Word of God as I fellowship in various churches and Bible studies.

Pray I will be blessing to those around me.

Pray for meetings in various churches. Pray I will be able to share what the Lord wants them to know about missions.

Pray that my time in this area will be fruitful. 

I am only in the area for three months, pray the time will be wisely used.

{{30717}} Umpqua River north of Roseburg. 

Lynn Dittmar (formally Burggraf) and I made a quick trip to Chihuahua to hand out scarves.{{30464}}

Many churches and friends sent scarves to be handed out to Orphanages and to those who need them.

Because of the hot weather, we did not  feel the children would appreciate the scarves.  Thus we changed plans and handed out only few to one orphanage and left the rest for the future when it is colder.

Lynn and I joined the English Church to put on a party for the orphans at Jeruel.  Lynn and I prepared the food for the event. {{30463}} Sharon Steadman had planned to set up a Christmas Tree for the kids and take pictures for a future gift.  She thought the scarves would help make it a wintery picture.  {{30450}}

The children enjoyed the meal with their scarves as well as sing songs afterwards.  It was fun for us all.{{30452}}

In the future, the highschool kids would like to hand out some of the scarves to the Tribal people who make bricks in the brick yard.  Other gals wanted to take them to other orphanages.  What is left will be handed out next year to other orphanages.  There is always a need for scarves as the weather is cold in the winter.

Thank you for your prayers.

I did not have to serve on Jury Duty.  I used the time to run down to Chihuahua with scarves to be given to the orphanages in December – when the weather is colder.

The Lord has given me safety to travel and helped me with money to pay for the gas.

Praise the Lord for the many visits I have had the past few months with family and friends. The Lord has given me many special people to be part of my ministry in teaching Missionaries children in Chihuahau.

Thank you for your prayers.