NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

     Nine days of meeting new friends, discussing what NTM is about, culture jolts, how to avoid the pitfalls of making poor choices while moving through cultural adjustment, how living in a foreign country may affect families, and how to handle conflicts. These are just some of the topics we covered through lectures, demonstrations, Q&A sessions, role plays, a game and of course our final dinner, a traditional style Papua New Guinean meal. We eat on the floor off of banana leaves and dress up. Our friends Susan and Brian just home from PNG helped and of course my coworker Tom worked in a tribe for many years and speaks Melanesian Pidgeon English well. Tom and Sue and Brian spoke only in Pidgin to help simulate what it may be like stepping off the airplane in the Land of the Unexpected where many of our attendees are headed.

     PFO is always the highlight of the year for us and is a lot of work, but we always try to have some fun too. In the end we are encouraged as the attendees arrive wondering what we can possibly do for nine days and leave wondering how they could have possibly done without the tools they’ve gained during PFO.

     You are an important part of our team through your prayers and support. Thanks for helping us prepare these new team members who will all have a significant role in expanding the reach of the gospel to least reached tribal peoples.

     Be sure to click on the photos tab above to view our photo gallary of PFO 2011.

We are excited about the prospect of some additional living space. A team of friends from NJ have arrived this past weekend to help us build a deck on the back of our house. Things got off to a good start but we were interrupted by rain today. I’ve posted some pictures in the Photo section of the progress.

John W. Slater - 9/9/1916 - 9/9/2010

My (Dave’s) step-father, John W. Slater passed away this week the same day he arrived. He died at his home in Missouri most likely of a heart attack. Our family will be remembering his life at the Davis-Wagner Funeral Home in Woodbury, NJ on Thursday September 16.

The picture above is how I remember John, a faithful companion to my mother. A frugal and hard-working man, a good provider for his family. Most importantly he knew Jesus as his savior. He also loved his grandchildren; their presence would always make him smile.

John with Emma and Andrew

    

It’s exciting around here this week. Only 24 days to go until a tribal group in the Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea will begin hearing Old Testament stories leading up to the Life of Christ and the gospel. The light of truth about Jesus is ready to shine in a dark, isolated part of the world.
     I am a part of a team that prays for the work in Africa each week. Unlike the people in Papua New Guinea, villagers in Guinea, West Africa do not often assemble for meetings for teaching. So missionaries have written Bible lessons in their language and have had a new tribal believer record them. They distributed free solar powered MP3 players to the people in a village containing the first 11 lessons from Genesis. People are listening to them and had a lively discussion about what they are hearing when the missionary came to town to check on them.Â
     Back in Papua New Guinea a new church has been born in the Highlands. Tribal believers did much of the teaching and play acting. One widow upon hearing the gospel at the end of the weeks of teaching was clapping, rejoicing and laughing. She said, “My sin was like the cloth that wrapped Lazarus in his tomb. It was all around me, it consumed me. As you taught God’s word from the beginning I began to understand more and more. Now I know that Jesus took the wrappings of my sin with him to the cross and completely paid for all of it!”
     You who encourage us with your prayers, financial gifts and friendship are an important part of the team expanding the reach of the gospel to unreached peoples. This year we are helping to send more workers to both of these countries as well as others. Each person is a part of the church planting team as are you.
     Will you pray with us about these things? Please pray for me as I continue to experience a good bit of fatigue, probably from the radiation treatment I had 10 months ago. We are preparing for a trip in May to a missions conference. Please pray we will make good connections with people looking to serve in missions.

About two weeks ago Ryan had a minor accident which is not so minor when one’s car is old. It was not worth fixing so…… What do we do? We were a three car family now with two cars. First things first, we began to pray. Ryan needs a car to drive to work and school. He only works part time so he has no money. We had saved some money for a used car but it was not enough to purchase a replacement. Pray. We sent out a newsletter and prayed some more. Some gifts came in but it still did not seem like enough compared to the prices for what was available. I looked and was nearly ready to purchase a Mazda whenDaniel came home for the weekend. “Let’s go look at it” I said. He enjoys that kind of thing now that he works on the yacht and besides cooking he likes helping the mechanic. After crawling under the car he said, “I wouldn’t buy it. It’s been to the beach too many times, it has rust.” OK, what now? We both were praying. As we drove home Jill called to tell us about some friends whose neighbor was selling a Toyota Corolla. The owner was an elderly lady who drove it only around town. She was now in a nursing home and had to sell it. Although it was 8 years old it only had 18,000 miles on it. “She is asking for the blue book price for it.” Wow, what an answer to prayer. We have passed on another older car to Ryan to use until he saves up enough for his next car and are enjoying the answer to prayer.  “And my God will meet all your needs, according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:19

The Lord Provides - Thanks Lord!