NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Paraguayan Birthday Party

Rather than give you all the details of what we’ve done these last couple months, I thought I’d try to describe a typical day.  Given that every day is so different, I scrapped that idea and decided to move out to the smallest time frame I could describe – a week.  Keep in mind that at this WhiteHouse, we’re juggling at least three schedules:  mine, Mindy’s, and the kids’.

I’ll start with the kids’, because it is the easiest to describe.  All four are attending a Paraguayan private school only a block away from our house all morning.  The difficulty in this is that they are fully immersed in Spanish during that time.  Of course, that’s what makes it such a great opportunity, too.  Added to their afternoon schedule – and influencing ours – is their homework.  We can help them with that when it’s in Spanish, but it’s quite difficult when it’s in Guaraní!  Another great opportunity for Elijah right now is that he is enrolled in a soccer program that practices twice a week outside of school hours.  He’s having a great time and got to have his first game the other day.  These are great opportunities for the kids, but it’s not always easy with the language barrier.  Please pray for them.  Click here to see specifically what you can pray for.

To give an overview of what we have been doing, let me say that we have been doing a lot of fishing – fishing for men and women – but not in the evangelistic sense yet.  We have been striving to find people able and willing to help us with learning the Paraguayan culture and language.  You might be surprised how tiring it is to engage in conversation with people in a language you don’t know well.  The job, though, this work of missions, does not consist of just preaching the Gospel.  It must be built upon relationships.  So, we are doing a lot of visiting and we have to be the initiators because really it’s a lot of work for them to understand our poor language and try to communicate with us.

Macayla and Her Teachers

A high schooler has been coming to our house once a week pretty regularly.  Pedro – sometimes called Pedrito to distinguish between the other Pedro in our church – has been helping me quite a bit with Spanish.  He is studying English, so I get to reciprocate and help him with his homework.  Throughout the week, I have met with several people for some language help.  They haven’t been real regular, but they may be able to soon.  If they do, I may end up meeting with a language helper 4 or 5 days out of the week.  Another thing I’m doing is spending an hour or two per week in different stores—office supply store, hardware store, lumber yard, et cetera—learning several of the items they sell each time.  This is all to try to “catch up” with the Paraguayans who grew up in this culture and speak this language.

Mindy also has one somewhat regular language helper, along with several other ladies that are willing to help.  She has been able to get together with a mom of

one of the kids’ classmates.  There is also a lonely old lady from church that she is beginning to visit with and practice what she’s learning.  Helping the kids with their homework is also a source of learning.

Once a week, our missionary culture and language learning advisor comes to our house to help us in our endeavors.  On Friday afternoons we then have a meeting with everyone else in the culture and language study.  During this time, we discuss things like current events in Paraguay, the state of tribal church planting, and language learning strategies.  Most people look forward to the weekend as a time off from work.  For us, the weekend is when work really picks up, because that’s when the Paraguayans have more free time, and our work is very dependent on their schedules.  Besides these weekly events, there have been several other things that we have been able to attend to get a glimpse into the Paraguayan culture and to practice speaking.  We have attended the Paraguayan Expo—which is like a county fair, only on a larger scale.  We’ve also been to a typical Paraguayan birthday party, wedding, and funeral.

Visiting Church Friends

It is with the people that we learn the most and solidify what we have learned through practice.  Therefore, we try to never go blind into an experience or event.  We plan in great detail what we expect to learn in each encounter.  Then, upon leaving an encounter, we process the information that we have gathered in a way that can be easily recovered, studied, and practiced.

This is all working together to tie up about 45-60 hours for me and 20-30 hours for Mindy per week.  Please pray for us in these endeavors.  Click here to see specifically what you can pray for.

Outside of our culture and language study, we have had a couple other opportunities of ministry.  One lady that Mindy is trying to get with regularly is our neighbor across the street.  She and her family are Roman Catholics, and Mindy is hoping for an opportunity to share the Gospel with this lady when she knows the language much better and can do it out of a developed relationship.  Down here, living in Ascunción, the capital of Paraguay, we had two non-christian “missionaries” from the U.S. come by our house.  One is from Arizona and the other has family in Klamath Falls, OR.  We have been able to share with them some and we are expecting one more opportunity.  Of course, something else is on our minds as well:  the tribes of Paraguay.  Please pray for all of these.  Click here to see specifically what you can pray for.

Our family in front of our house

Our plan was to land in Asunción, leave the airport, and go straight to our house—fully dependent on our Paraguayan host church to set up house. In that way, we would emphasize our role as learners, we would show our need of our local church, and we would foster friendships with our host families.  This was not meant to be.  A missionary here was trying to find a house for us six weeks before we came.  For some reason, God saw fit to provide a house for us to move into 54 days after arriving in Paraguay.  It wasn’t our plan, but it reassures us to know that God has a plan.

And we are so blessed to be in the house that He has provided.  Come to our photos page to have a look around the place. It is a nice house and it seems so big for us.  It also has a very nice front and back yard for the kids to play in and for having guests.  This really is a wonderful house for this stage of our ministry as it will be our center of operation for our Paraguayan culture/language study.  We have already been able to have an asado (Paraguayan barbeque) with several people from our host church.  These same people were key in bringing us to the point that we are at now.

There are a few good places within walking distance of our house.  Our church is six blocks.  Two supermarkets are within three blocks.  The barber shop is three blocks.  A mini market is half a block.  And several of the members of our church are six blocks or closer.

In the meantime, we have been able to enroll our kids in a Paraguayan Christian school that is only about a block away from our house.  Hannah just finished homeschooling 2^nd grade and is now in 2^nd grade here.  Elijah just finished homeschooling 1^st grade and is now in 1^st grade here.  Macayla and Daniella are in Kindergarten and Preschool, which happen to be together in the same class.  The school year here is from February to November, so they’re coming in about 1/3 through the school year.  They are fully immersed in Spanish, as none of the teachers speak English.  Hannah’s teacher even seems a little nervous about what she’s going to do with this non-Spanish speaking kid!

We’re not too worried though.  We put them in the grade that they just completed so that they wouldn’t have to work too much about the academics and they

The kids in their school uniforms

could just soak in the Spanish, which they seem to be doing quite well.  This is a wonderful opportunity for the kids to learn Spanish.  Right now they’re listening really well and picking up on the sounds.  I know that when they start speaking, it’s just going to come flowing out of them!  Our hope in this also is that it will give us opportunities to get involved with the school and the other kids’ parents.  These opportunities have already started popping up, and we’re just trying to take advantage of all that we can.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.  We’ve been through a lot while we’ve been here, and we’re excited to be where we are at now learning the language and culture of Paraguay.

Our Host Church

Many, many months of training. Weeks and weeks of packing. Day after day of final preparations. Hour upon hour of traveling. All leading up to our entrance into Paraguayan culture and lifestyle. This time of studying the national culture and language is called Equipping 2—or E2. This has been some event out in front of us for so long, but now it is a reality. This first week has actually been rather relaxing as we ease into our Paraguayan E2.

Most new missionaries down to Paraguay will be given a host church and a host family from that church to help with adjusting to the culture and setting up a household along with any other questions that come up. Our host church is Iglesia Evangelica Bautista las Buenas Nuevas and we do not have a host family; we have six host families plus the pastor who have all eagerly volunteered to help us!

We were greeted at the airport by the missionary couple in charge of our E2 (Randy and Laurie Steel) and several people from our host church. It is so encouraging just to know that they are excited about us being here, as are we! That night we went straight to the NTM Guest House because we still don’t have a house. We got a taste of some Paraguayan food when we got some Lomito Árabe, which is kind of like a burrito with beef or chicken, but a thicker ‘tortilla’ and different seasonings.

The next day was the first time we ventured out by ourselves. We walked about twelve blocks to a hardware store and bought a llave francesa (crescent wrench) and some pinzas (pliers) to replace those that were confiscated in Santiago. On the way back we stopped in a market to get a look around and bought some water. From there we jumped on a bus (thinking it would take us back in front of the mission) but it ended up turning off the main road right away. So we just got off at the next stop and walked the rest of the way back. But at least I found out how much the bus cost, and that the kids are free (I found that out after having paid for them)!

Buying a grounding rod

On Friday, we met with one of the other missionaries in charge of culture and language study; she and her husband also just happen to be our missionary host couple (Steve and Ithie Jackson). Every Friday, everyone in E2 will be meeting together for some group training, so we joined in with that right away, also. That evening, all the New Tribes missionaries in Asunción came to the mission offices for a bienvenida (welcome party) for us. That way we got to meet them as well as the others that are in E2.

Saturday, Randy drove us out to the neighborhood where our church is to see a couple of the prospective houses for us to rent. We only saw the outsides though and got an idea of their sizes. The main purpose of the drive out there though was to meet the pastor and his wife at our church. They are Pastor Sergio and Josefina.

The next morning, Randy and Laurie drove us back out to our host church. We had a great time meeting many more from there. The church service was about an hour and 45 minutes, with the kids being at Sunday School for an hour and a half. They all went to their classes and did very well with it. Not that they understood anything, but none of them came back crying, so that was a good first step! Elijah said, “Well, I found out that whenever anybody says anything to me I don’t know what they’re saying.” At least he realized that. That evening we went on our first profitable bus trip when we rode back out to church. Someone from in the church gave us a ride back home, though.

The big accomplishment on Monday was getting a javelina, or grounding rod, since Paraguay does not generally have any grounds. I will use that once we’re in our house to ground our computer equipment. Through Saturday, we had been having meals with other missionaries, so we also had to do our first grocery shopping. On Tuesday we went to a fresh fruit and vegetable market where there were quite a few items unfamiliar to the US, but also quite of few things that we are used to. Since we have been living right here at the guest house instead of 45 minutes away by bus, we went ahead and did all our administrative orientation on Monday and Tuesday as well.

Avacados from outside the guest house

Wednesday brings us to the end of our first week. We’ve found that most of the missionaries communicate via cell phones and text messages down here, even some out in the tribal areas. So I went out and got a chip for my phone. I know that looks like an English word, but here it’s pronounced “cheep.” So I do have a cell number now if you ever want to venture into the world of international calling or texting. Go to our Contact page to see how to get a hold of me.

I’m sitting in front of a display board with all the missionaries currently working in Paraguay, those in E2, and those that will soon be coming. I am privileged and humbled to look up and see a picture of our family included. What the board doesn’t show is the large quantity of people and churches standing behind each of the 57 missionaries currently in the country. I know that there must be hundreds of churches represented by this group and thousands of prayers lifted daily, all together for a common purpose: to see the Gospel proclaimed among the tribal nations of Paraguay. It isn’t just a picture on a display board. Thank you for standing behind us and for lifting your prayers up on our behalf and for the sake of the Gospel reaching those without it!!!

Us with Lucille

We’re in the middle of transition number…umm, I’ve lost track.

Almost 8½ years ago, Mindy and I made the move up to Jackson, MI to attend the New Tribes Bible Institute and begin the process of preparing to serve as tribal church planters.  It has been a long road full of stress and growth and disappointments and accomplishments.  It seems like every time we got through a twist, there, up ahead, was a turn.

This last bit of preparation was a practical study of linguistics with the Cherokee language in Oklahoma.  We had a very sweet Cherokee lady named Lucille Wilson as our language helper.  We are very thankful for the time that she gave us for those seven weeks.  We especially appreciated her patience as we fumbled along, trying to speak Cherokee while digging for patterns in the sounds and grammar of her language.

Of Course the kids also provided some excitement to the adventure.  They were involved in killing a tarantula.  Daniella had a tick attached to her chest.  Hannah had a case of poison oak.  Macayla hit her head on the cement slab, adding an extra hole.  Elijah “lost” his first two teeth—one was extracted with a seat belt, the other by another kid’s head.  (He just “lost” his third one with the help of Hannah’s thumb!)  Click here to see some pictures of our time in Oklahoma.

And now, with our linguistics Cherokee Write-up complete, our training is complete as well.  We’re now looking ahead at new curves in the road:  packing, planning, paper work, pronouncing our plans, and finally making our pursuit of Paraguay a reality in March.

This seems like a lot of work and a lot of headaches; maybe even with more stress and disappointments.  But it’s worth it; because we’ll see more growth and accomplishment as well.  Of course, it was God that brought us through the training, and it’s Him that will bring us to Paraguay, and it’s Him that will do the accomplishing after we’re there.  With the final destination in mind, we’re trusting God for what’s around the next turn in the road.