Dave and Ruth Brendle Connecting to Tribal Missions through Computers and Bible Lessons Without a mother
Rosalie grew up without a mother. Her mother had passed away when Rosalie was 15 months old, which started a life including foster care, school struggles, a step-family, and lots of rejection and put-downs. As a young adult, she found pleasure in the things the world has to offer. But then, she found more. She was wonderously and gloriously saved, and God eventually guided her into missionary service with NTM. God used her in a special way in Papua New Guinea and then as a consultant to help other missionaries with literacy. Now she is retired, but not really…. Many had encouraged her to write her life story, and her book is currently in the process of being published. Â
Rosalie and I (Ruth) worked together about 8 years ago to develop a Literacy Manual as an aid to teach missionaries how to set up a literacy program for tribal people. So when Rosalie needed someone to do a final read of her book, she asked me. Â
One day when she called about the book, she asked if I’d been to Maine lately. (She is also from Maine, and so that is another of our connections.) Well, just that day I’d been looking at flights to Maine as my mom had some physical setbacks. My sister and I wanted to go and spend some time with her. The cost of flights shocked me. So my response to Rosalie’s question was that I wanted to go to see my mom, but the cost was prohibitive.
The next day, Rosalie talked extensively with Dave. She had decided to give me the $400 fee for the round trip flight to Maine. And the reason was because she grew up without a mother and she wanted me to be able to see mine.Â
Thanks, Rosalie. I had a great time with Mom and my sister. Got to see lots of family. And I was so encouraged at the progress that my mom made, even during that week we were with her.
By the way, Rosalie’s autobiography is charming. I highly recommend it.
Salvaged Printer
Jan came to Dave with a problem. Her printer gave out after 15 years of use.  Dave knew exactly what to do.  He pulled a printer out of the salvage pile. Perfect solution!
Praise the Lord for the salvaged computer equipment rescued from the new building. And praise the Lord that Jan is back up and running. May this printer last as long as her other one did.
By the way, for those of you who know the history of our family, Jan has been a big part of our lives. She taught Nathan kindergarten, and Joy loved to go to her class while Ruth taught art. In addition, Jan is the widow of Art – and Art worked with Dave for many years as the head of the Computer Department. It meant a lot to Dave to provide this small service for her.
Salvage
A few remaining tenants have been renting space at NTM’s new office building in town. These tenants are in the process of  moving out, and intended to clean out all their equipment, including their remaining computer equipment. They didn’t want it, and were going to hire a salvage company to come in and remove it. Andy and Alan, from the Computer Services Department, were checking out some things at the building, and learned what the tenants intended. They suggested that they could take care of it all, rather than the company hiring someone to do it for them. So the Computer Department ended up with boxes upon boxes – keyboard, printers, monitors, desktop towers, UPS, and so on.  Dave and Alan worked one day last week, and Alan and Karl finished up.  Already, six missionaries have been blessed by some of these printers. Praise the Lord for this salvage!
1 Thessalonians lessons
After four years of working on the Firm Foundations series, we have resumed revision of the cross-cultural Bible lessons. Praise the Lord! Join with us in praying that we can quickly get back into the rhythm of revising for a different audience. After years of thinking about how to communicate to a Western audience, now we need to think about how to word the lessons so they will transfer easily into a tribal culture and language.
Empty canvas
 Sometime in the next few years, NTM will be moving from our current location to an office building in town. Dave recently explored the space where the Computer Services Department will be. This photo shows what will be the “Shop” where new computers are set up and old computers are repaired.  Dave and his co-worker will both have offices along the windows on the left. Please pray for the planning being done for this move.
Co-worker recovering
Trevor, author of the Firm Foundations series, has been in the hospital. A simple infection went into his blood, and he was very ill.Â
Praise the Lord that he is improving. Pray that he will quickly regain his strength and be able to resume his work with Ruth on revision.
Life-changing
Nathan is still sorting through all he learned on his trip to Brazil. The one word he keeps using is “life-changing.”Â
He loved many aspects of the trip, like:
- • Working with VBS in the Brazilian towns.
- • Having devotions on the roof of the boat on the River
- • Leading worship songs for the evening meetings in the towns.
- • Hearing how his testimony touched the heart of the Brazilian lady who translated for him.
- • Helping in the clinic on the boat.
He says that Brazil will always be in his heart.  And, thinking of his heart, one of the things that touched him the most was when one of the Brazilian team members told him that she could see he had a missionary heart.
Enjoy these few pictures:
Ministered in 5 towns
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One-day VBS in every town
Handed out soccar balls
Someday IS Today
Nathan leaves TODAY on a church-sponsored missions venture to Brazil. The motto of this short-term missions program is SOMEDAY IS TODAY. And it is really TODAY!
Nathan’s team of 18, along with two other short-term missions teams, were commissioned on Sunday, July 24th.Â
His team leaves Northland Church by bus at 11:59 pm tonight (Friday). They fly from Miami to Manaus, Brazil on Saturday morning.
Thanks to all who gave toward his trip expenses. Interestingly, the total cost of the trip per team member ended up being $124 over the initial fee. Thanks to your generosity, there was overage in Nathan’s account of $125. Is that cool, or what?Â
A special thanks as well to those who gave towards Nathan’s out-of-pocket expenses. That covered:
- • Shots (over $200)
- • Tee-shirts and shorts (most of which Nathan will leave for new Brazilian friends)
- • A guitar (Nathan found a lovely-sounding Yamaha on Craig’s List, very inexpensive.)
- • A journal to record his journey and what he learns
- • Spending money
Pray for good travel, for bonding with the team, and for wonderful ministry opportunities on the boat and in villages along the river.
Ask about Brazil
Nathan plans to go on a missions trip to Brazil in June. We had a yard sale recently as a fundraiser, and he netted enough to pay for his passport.Â
We’d appreciate your prayers for him. Â
Continue reading to check out the letter he wrote about the trip and why he wants to go.
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One Hundred Dollars
What can $100 buy?
-        • 100 cans of Arizona Sweet Tea
-        • Groceries for a week Â
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-        • Gas for a few days
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A few months ago, Nathan heard a call from the Lord. Our church here in Florida has a short-term missions program with the theme, “Someday is Today.” Nathan believes his “Someday” has come!Â
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