Time is an interesting thing. God has nothing but time; but for some reason, we don’t. We are often controlled by it. Definitely during this process of recovery, time restraints have been loosed, and we have time. Time to heal, time to reflect, time to enjoy, time to rejoice. Thank you for your prayers for us during this “time.”

We also have time for “firsts” – Dave celebrated his first birthday after the heart attack this past week – that was significant! Next week we will have the first trip since being out in AZ. It’s an exciting trip because “firsts” will be involved again. This will be the first time we will be with most of our immediate family all together since the heart attack; it will be so special to see everyone. Why? Because we have “a time to rejoice!”

Brian is graduating from Shepherds College in Wisconsin! This is quite a milestone, and we can’t wait to celebrate his perseverance, his hard work, and in general, just the wonderful guy that he is. It will be a celebration to be sure. Little did we know that 22 years ago when God gave us such a special guy to raise that God would accomplish such an outstanding work in him. Brian loves the Lord, has lead several of his classmates to trust Him as their Savior, seeks to encourage everyone he encounters, and has shown character through the hard times. We are so very proud of him!!!

We had this idea – - we will be having a big family celebration on Saturday night and would like to read or present Brian with some notes of congratulations for his life and accomplishments. If you have the time – would you be able to jot down a note of congratulations, a memory, a word of encouragement, Scripture, wisdom, or whatever you would like – we will share these with Brian in the evening after his graduation.

Please respond to this email and we will begin compiling (if you’d be able to send a picture with it, that would be great!!) Thanks ahead of time for your kindness in making this special for Brian!

With Love and thanks,
Dave and Carolyn
Ps. 91

In the middle of the week I got a phone call from a family friend asking for prayer as their daughter, Sonja has been battling cancer and treatments and was fearful of her check up that day.  I had the privilege to pray for Sheri the mom and Sonja the daughter via phone in the middle of the desert and asked many others to pray for them too.  (Update today:  Thank you for your prayers as I just got word early today that Sonja is now cancer free!  Praise God for great doctors, current medical treatment and HIS healing pathway prayers.)

Just today on the MO pathway flight, God allowed me to bump into a young disabled lady in line who was in tears as she missed her early flight and needed some special care. Then in line, I met some adult daughters helping their mother who is sight disabled who needed care through the line and to the gate. The daughters were relieved and called me their moms guardian angel! Funny…I have been called a lot of things in my life but never an angel. What was even more amazing was that of all the gates in the entire area…mom needed to go to mine. As I stepped off the tram with my new travel mom, I stopped to get some fresh Joe. After paying a ridiculous amount for such a small cup, I met up with mom and heard her say on the phone, “I better go as my guardian angel is here to take me to my gate!” As we got to the gate and parted ways I sat down and began to drink my coffee. I looked up and she (mom) found me and then began to ask me about my family. I told her about my great family and then she began to tell me about her daughters and her granddaughter who is in the emergency room in Orlando with a very high fever. Their entire family had been on a FL vacation and just yesterday had to rush her to the hospital, did a spinal tap and still don’t know what is wrong. I am praying for her on my flight right now. Would you pray with me for 2 year old Addison who is very sick today at Orlando Reg. Med. Center?

I hope to get some sleep on this flight home….yet God might have other plans.

Carolyn drives back from WI today with her mom and Megan arrives home from school this afternoon. I wonder what Pathway Prayer stories they will have to share with me?

Oh no…I must go…my flight is ready to leave… : )

Sent from my iPhone

Kickoff of new semester!

Over the past few weeks all of the new students have arrived and classes have begun for a group of church planting world-changers! Pray for all the great families God has brought our way…many who have overcome much to follow Christ and His leading in their lives.

There is so much happening on campus that it is hard to keep up with all of the expansion changes.  Our construction team has worked hard this past summer to prepare the foundation for the new multi-purpose building coming this fall.  We are thankful for your prayers and support that has made it possible to keep this project moving forward so more students can be trained to serve others around the world.

Two families to be united as one on Oct. 9th!

Carolyn and I just returned from a quick weekend away as we worked with our son Kevin and his fiancee, Haily and her family to finalize all the wedding plans for the upcoming Oct. 9th wedding in Phoenix.  To say the least, we can’t wait and look forward to Haily joining our family in 4 short weeks.  God has blessed us so abundantly and Kevin and Haily are a fruit of His love and grace in our lives.

Brian working at his internship at Shepherds College!

Brian continues to prosper at Shepherds College in Union Grove, WI.  He is loving his 3rd year internship and we were just interviewed last month by Christianity Today who is doing a feature story on Brian and his college in the future issue.  He is loving his dorm life as he works with the college resident life staff mentoring the first year students.  It is amazing to see how God has continued to mature Brian and see Him become the very special Godly young man that he has become. Praise be to God.

Megan and her marching band perform this Friday night at the first football game of the season!  She can’t wait and of course mom is almost beside herself with excitement and she is totally engaged with the band!

Thanks for your love, prayers and financial support that allows us to serve the Lord in training students to reach out to some of the least reached people groups around the world!

The third semester class is 100% engaged in our course called, “Culture and Language Acquisition Practicum.” However, we all call this class “Dobu.”   One thing that a tribal missionary must do before he can ever hope to teach the Bible is to learn the culture and the language of the people.   In order to learn a language the students take courses such as Phonetics and Grammar so they can learn how to make different sounds that they are unfamiliar with, and also arrange words in grammatical ways they may not be used to. For culture, they have practiced techniques and also researched kinds of cultures so they can think outside of their American culture and hopefully correctly access the tribal culture.

“Dobu” is the class where they try to pull everything together that they have learned at the training center.  The “Dobu” instructors, about 10 in all, have been dressing up in complete tribal “disguises” and act out the “Dobu” tribal culture.  They speak some English, which is the trade language, but they mostly speak their tribal language where they served. Students are engaged in sessions where they are trying to learn language and culture using the tools they have been given throughout the training.

Pray for us as we continue to train the next generation of church planters.  Pray for these wonderful students as they prepare for one of the most difficult ministries in the world!

Our 3!

Kevin just completed his first month of teaching in AZ this past week and is still loving it!  Brian is now into his second month of his second year at Shepherds College in WI and loving life, his new roommate Brett and all the new students on campus.  Megan finished work and band camp for the summer and just began her first week as a Sophomore at Camdenton High School.  Whew…where did the summer go?

Carolyn and I have been very busy planning for the fall and developing curriculum for the 2 courses we begin teaching this fall.  She is excited about her new “child protection” class and I am thankful to have new staff here to help me teach the new partnership development class.

Opening of new semester...

The new students have arrived and are settling into their apartments.  We had a good kickoff with the theme this year, “Be the Voice” taken from Rom. 10:14.  With around 160 students, 130 staff and families…our Missionary Training Center campus is buzzing.  Summer is coming to a close…but the challenge of training the next generation of tribal church planters is always invigorating!  Thanks for your part as we work together in transforming cultures around the world with the Gospel.

Watch the latest NTM video: