Missionary Blogs The latest Christian mission news from around the world
Combien en savez-vous sur les peuples non atteints par l’Évangile?
Je me souviens encore de la première fois où j’ai été introduit au fait qu’il y avait encore sur terre des peuples qui n’avaient jamais entendu parler de Dieu.
La liste des peuples non atteints
How much do you know about unreached people groups?
I still remember the first time I was introduced to the fact that some people groups on earth had never heard about God.
Unreached People Groups’ List
Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
This has been the theme in my life since June when I first sensed God calling me to an adventure with Him in Papua New Guinea. It has been a whirlwind since the moment I filled out the preliminary questionnaire to last week when I joined 6 others at the NTM home office for a week of pre-field training. I cannot express how good God is and what peace He has given as I’ve tackled unbelievable amounts of paperwork and e-mail correspondence and not to mention the learning curve called “support raising.”
A new dear friend and soon-to-be coworker in PNG!
This is the beginning of a new journey and I’m excited to share of God’s faithfulness and His provision. Stick with me and we can praise Him together as He reaches the lost with His message of hope!
Why do bad things happen to us and to those we love? This is one of the burning questions that people all over the world are looking for the answer to. For the caretaker of our classroom building, that question became very, very urgent as her grandchild recently fell ill. They have taken him to several doctors and tried many medications to no avail. Her family met and concluded that the local spirit in charge of the area surrounding the classroom building must be upset. They set up a new spirit house and invited the spirit to live in it. No dice. They began praying and lighting incense more fervently and offering ever more extravagant gifts to the spirit. Still the child did not get well. Ultimately, they decided, they had to remove the child from the premises. The spirit of that place simply would not tolerate the child. They’re hoping that the next spirit in the next location will be more tolerant but… one can never be sure.
Benjamin is 11 months old now and although he may be the youngest, he isn't far behind the rest!
Ever since the birth of our fifth child, people ranging from friends to complete strangers have greeted the baby and, upon learning his name is Benjamin, made comments such as:
“Oh, so he’s the last.” (Our thought: well, it is our fifth…I guess a lot of people are thinking that).
“Benjamin! It’s a great name for a fifth baby.” (Well, we thought so!)
“Ah, the Benjamin of the family! So you’re done having kids now…”
People are generally surprised when I tell them we’d like to have more. But I thought the astonishment was all because of the number until someone at last said to me: “Well, why did you name him Benjamin then?”
THAT comment astounded me! So I asked my language helper about it at home and she began to laugh. “It’s a saying we have here in Paraguay,” she said. “The ‘Benjamin’ is the last child in the family because Jacob’s last son was named Benjamin in the Bible…so everyone just KNEW that you were making a statement that this would be your last child! No wonder they’re so surprised when you say it won’t be.”
So I’m enlightened now, and I have a fresh appreciation of how subtle the differences between cultures can be! My friends speak Spanish and so do I, and we had thought we were communicating well, but without the same shared cultural background I had been totally missing the point. This incident and many others have made me very thankful for the training we received, teaching us how to observe and investigate the way a different people group thinks and the things they share in common…it’s not just this tidbit, but hundreds and thousands of different sayings, different ways of seeing the world, and other methods of interpreting everyday happenings. That all adds up and can make all the difference of whether people understand us or not!
Now when people comment to me, I reply – “Yes, his name is Benjamin, but he won’t be the ‘Benjamin of the family.’ I’d like to have more kids!”
Meet our new teacher, Krew Air. Sharon and and Krew Air (krew means teacher) hit it off quickly, making our daily lessons a joy. Basically Sharon and I take turns interviewing Air for 3 hours every day. We record the entire time session, take the data home, process it into our database and then take what we learned and ask other people about it. An example from today: we learned that in the past women in Thailand often didn’t learn in schools and didn’t have jobs. This is something that changed recently so we go around asking people’s opinions of this change. What are the pros and cons of women working outside the home? What are the advantages and disadvantages women face in society today? In the past? These sorts of questions get our friends thinking and sharing their opinions and we become more and more knowledgeable about the way our friends think.
Often our language and culture learning process happens slowly and 90% of the time our victories are small and not very exciting. Sometimes we have mini breakthroughs and those mostly come through shared experiences with our friends. We had just such a experience on Sunday when our friends got out a bag of nuts and began cracking them to pass out after the sermon. This lasted maybe five minutes max but it was fun to sit together and watch while various people took turns smacking the macadamia nuts with a little baton until we’d accumulated quite a pile of shells. Throughout this time I was taking pictures, munching on macadamias and asking my friends about what they were doing. I learned at least 7 new words in two different languages and was able to understand a joke about cracking nuts, a comparison of various nut-cracking methods and a debate about when a macadamia nut is ripe and which kinds are most delicious. This is the sort of environment that language learning really takes off in: it’s the pressure cooker of being in the moment, in the situation and then gathering data (such as pictures) to refer back to later when going into more detail or reviewing what we learned. Hopefully this little snapshot of an everyday activity helps you understand better how even a simple activity like cracking nuts can turn into a profitable language learning experience.
Life has been busy, to say the least, but it’s about to get even more hectic. Today we wrapped up our nearly two-month long tribal simulation, and I have to say I’m a feeling a little depressed. I actually miss our language helper, Kinosi! We learned so much about the Dobu culture during our class, and I gained some keen insights into how I react in difficult situations and work with teammates to come to consensus. This class has been amazing, and I feel like I can take a breath…
…sort of. Lael’s due date for our second girl is tomorrow! Lael could go into labor at any moment, and I know life is about to get crazy again! Within a week, Rynn Crabtree will be brightening our lives and stealing our sleep! Please be praying for a smooth delivery and wisdom and strength in the weeks to come.
Our next class is another simulation called simple living. During this time we’ll have to cook every meal from scratch. Electricity will only work at certain times of the day (some days not at all) because of poor sunlight to charge our solar panels.Water will be restricted, and internet is limited to a few minutes a day. It’s going to be a trip! Then we’ll begin a class where we take all the cultural information we got from our Dobu simulation and develop Bible lessons that directly relate to their culture…talk about exciting!
In the midst of all these events, I’ve been working on a book that will be published in November. The book is called Tipping Our Kings: Finding the Truth in a World Full of Options, but more on that in the next blog. Please pray for balance and wisdom with family/ministry/training!
Love you all! We couldn’t be here without your support!
Jack (for Lael, Nora…and Rynn…soon)
How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!” Romans 10:14-15
“그런즉 그들이 믿지 아니하는 이를 어찌 부르리요 듣지도 못한 이를 어찌 믿으리요 전파하는 자가 없이 어찌 들으리요. 보내심을 받지 아니하였으면 어찌 전파하리요 기록된 바 아름답도다 좋은 소식을 전하는 자들의 발이여 함과 같으니라.” 로마서 10:14-15
When THEY Talk to God…
Andrea commented on the pile of corn on my counter. “Someone gifted you corn, huh? Ours aren’t ready yet because they haven’t been blessed.” She went on to tell me all about the bad things that can happen if you start eating your corn without the blessing. “Who blesses it?” I asked. She told me that it can be done by anyone who knows how to talk to God. Apparently there are not many of those people around. Many of those who can live far away, so Andrea mentioned that they might ask one of us. When I asked her what the people say to God, she answered, “Who knows…I don’t know how it’s done. I don’t know what happens when they talk to God.”
A gift of corn from one of our neighbors
When WE Talk to God…
But we know how to talk to God, right? Of course we do. Our team has been doing that since we were all little. So, what do we say in this situation? If I tell Andrea that I can talk to God, there’s a good chance she will think some of the following things about me:
• I’m very wise (but really too young for such a thing)
• I might be lying, since I’m a woman and everyone knows that women are unclean and not likely to be able to talk to God
• I’ve probably fasted, given up bathing for a time, and learned the customs from my ancestors
• I can be hired out to take the “evil” out of the people’s fields so they won’t get sick
• I might be talking to a different God (a white people’s God) and so he wouldn’t be able to help out with the corn here
And yet I DO know how to talk to God. If we are asked to bless people’s corn, should we? What could be bad about publicly thanking God for the corn that HE made, for the rains that HE sent, and for the health that HE can provide the people? In the Nahuatl’s mind, however, we would be taking the EVIL out of corn that grew with the rains the ANCESTORS sent, fueled by the food the PEOPLE put on their graves. If we bless the corn will we be seen as shaman? What happens if people eat the corn and get sick later? Will the people write off “our” God as impotent before they even know him? Will Satan bring about a banner year for sickness in order to slow down the work here?
So, what’s the answer? For my part, I talked to God about it. I don’t know. There’s no simple solution. I asked for wisdom and freely confessed that I’m not smart enough to do this on my own. There’s a need for the Nahuatl to know God and the need is urgent. On the other hand, the need for clarity about the true God, how he works, and what he expects is just as pressing.
Getting ready to dance to show gratitude for the corn harvest
When YOU Talk to God…
I humbly ask that you when you talk to God you ask him to guide our team. We must rely daily on the Father’s wisdom as we navigate cultural quagmires. Please support us, and missionaries everywhere, in prayer. Pray that we would be given the right words through the Spirit, even when our brains feel muddled. We cannot see end results. We cannot know ahead of time what will come of a decision. But we serve The One who can, so we ask Him to move us along on the right path. When YOU talk to God, ask him to help us, because we desperately need it.
Corn is the main source of food for the Nahuatl. It is dried and ground into tortillas three meals a day, every day. If the harvest suffers, the people will go without food.