NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our meetings last week! One evening, a few days before the meetings, some of the Konyagi from church came to my house so we could pray together. It was such a joy to pray with them! God has answered our prayers – the meetings went very well and He directed us in all our decisions. I’m thrilled to be able to share with you the outcome of these meetings!

First of all, let me introduce you to my new coworkers…

Brian and Sherri Hofer, with their kids Elise, Braden and Landon

The Hofer family is American. They arrived in Guinea in October 2008, and for several months, they were my neighbors in Guinea. I know many of you remember Jody who used to work with me. Sherri is Jody’s sister. At this time, Hofers are working at the mission center in Guinea. Having said that, this week their daughter fell and seriously injured her arm. We thank God for His protection throughout this trying ordeal. They are returning to the United States so that Elise can receive the medical care she needs. Lord-willing, they will be moving to the Konyagi region around June.

As well as…

Jakob and Lina Nachtigall with their kids, Colin and Timon

The Nachtigall are from Germany. They arrived in Senegal in March 2011 and are about to complete their orientation and French language study. They will have to return to Germany for a few months (due to necessary paperwork) before they can move to Guinea.

I thank God that after so many years, we finally have a good missionary team to work among the Konyagi!

You may have noticed that everyone is going to Guinea… yes, it’s true. After praying, evaluating, and discussing the situation among ourselves and with Bonéré, we decided that the best way to impact the larger Konyagi community would be for us to focus our church-planting efforts in the Konyagi homeland in Guinea. Having said that, we certainly don’t want to forget what is happening in Senegal, for we want to see God do His work in the lives of Konyagi in both Guinea and in Senegal.

In order to have an effective ministry among the Konyagi, our first priority is to be fluent in Wamey (the language spoken by the Konyagi). It is obvious that the best place to accomplish that is within the large Konyagi community in Guinea. Therefore, I too will eventually be moving to Guinea.

But for now, I will continue to train Bonéré in the chronological Bible-teaching method. He will continue to prepare the Bible lessons in Wamey, and we will check them afterwards with the help of another Konyagi to make sure that they clearly communicate the truths of the Bible. Bonéré also plans to begin teaching these Bible lessons to the church in the village on Sunday mornings. He wants to begin this Sunday, so be praying for that!

Once we think that Bonéré is able to continue with this work without my full-time presence, I will also move to Guinea so that I can concentrate on mastering the Wamey language. Even though we won’t have a full-time presence in Senegal, we still plan to make regular visits there in order to stay in touch with the church and help Bonéré in his work.

During this time of transition, I will continue studying the language. This time will also allow me to make sure that the village understands the reasons for my move to Guinea. It will also allow me to see the completion of the well project. I expect that I will be in Senegal for many more months yet.

In March, we plan to send a delegation (of which I will be a part) to the Konyagi region in Guinea in order to present to the Konyagi there our desire to bring God’s Word to them and to ask for the permission and advice of the Konyagi leaders as to how we can proceed with this task and integrate into the community. Our next steps will be determined by what the Konyagi leaders decide.

You can see that there is a lot of change in the air, a lot of unknowns, questions, opportunities, and work. So, continue to pray for us and for the work among the Konyagi! Praise the Lord with me for all that He is doing!

Prayer & Praise

 • Ministry among the Konyagi

Pray for Bonéré as he prepares Bible lessons in the Konyagi language. He is presently working on lesson 11. Pray that these lessons will be well done and be a great help in sharing the Good News with the Konyagi.

Pray for the lesson checks as it’s a demanding job. This week we hope to check lesson 6.

Pray for Bonéré ,who plans to being teaching the Bible lessons to the church this Sunday. Pray that he may teach well, that many people will come and, of course, that the people will understand.

Praise God for His help and direction during our meetings! Pray that He would continue to clearly direct us at each step of the ministry among the Konyagi.

• Culture and language study

Praise that the language seems to be coming back to me little by little! On the other hand, I am realizing all over again how difficult this language is, so please pray that I may have the motivation, perseverance and ability to learn this language and culture well. Once a week, instead of my regular language session, I participate in an activity with the women – going to the well or preparing a meal. Pray that these times will allow me to build some good relationships with them and help me to progress in the language.

• Konyagi missionary team

Hallelujah! Praise that God has added two new families to the missionary team! Pray for each of us in this new adventure, that we will work well together as a team. There is much planning and preparation for each of us and plenty of unknowns, so your prayers are appreciated!

• Konyagi Bible translation

Praise for Sue Jenkins from SIL and Papa who are working on the Konyagi Bible translation. The book of Genesis should be complete in March! What a privilege it will be to use it during the teaching of the Bible lessons! Communicating God’s Word clearly and accurately in another language and culture is an extremely important and difficult job so please pray for them. Sue has been feeling better lately – thank you for your prayers!

• Konyagi people

Praise for the work that God is doing among these people – let’s keep praying! Praise that there is another group of Konyagi who has recently expressed a desire for Bible-teaching! Pray that God will go before us to prepare the way and will continue to prepare the hearts of the Konyagi to hear the message of salvation and that it will transform their lives.

• Well project

Praise that World Vision may be willing to help with this well project! It would be a great help to me! Pray that they will follow through and do it. Pray for the arrangements and decisions that must be made and that soon the water problem in the village will be resolved.

• Wisdom

Pray for wisdom to deal with the various situations that come up and the decisions to be made.

• Spiritual well-being

Pray that my top priority each day would be to know God better and that I would become the woman God wants me to be.

• Physical well-being

Praise that I am healthy. However I often battle fatigue. Pray for health and strength to do all that needs to be done.

• Mental well-being

Pray that I may stay encouraged despite the challenges. During the past weeks I’ve had moments of discouragement due to the difficulties in learning the language, which made it difficult to have meaningful relationships, which in turn meant that I felt lonely. Thank you for your prayers.

• Safety

Praise for God’s protection (even when a gas stove exploded)! Pray that God would continue to protect me. Elections in Senegal are planned for February. Pray that there will be calm and peace during this time and pray that God’s will be done.

Tags: New Tribes Mission, NTM

This entry was posted on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.