Katrina with one of her many friends at the Senior Banquet.

I am finally down to my last few weeks of classes at New Tribes Bible Institute. I can hardly believe that I have been here for almost two years. The time has really flown by!

People have started asking me what some of the biggest things are that God has been teaching me over my time here at school.

I would say a few of the biggest things God has brought to my understanding are my source in Christ, the area of abiding and the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. John 15:4 talks how we cannot bear fruit outside of abiding in Christ.

I have started understanding how much my new identity is sourced in Christ. Just as a branch cannot bear any fruit outside of its vine so I cannot bear any good works without having Christ as my source of strength and enablement. The more I understand how much I need Christ for every situation, opportunity and trial the more I learn to rely on Him through His Word and through prayer.

As I think about almost being done with classes I am not as sad about it as I thought I would be. As I look back over the last few years I know that God taught me a lot through classes, but I also feel like I have learned a lot more through the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. He has been so faithful to teach me through different situations and through various trials. I am confident that He will continue that work as I finish classes.

As for future plans, I have been accepted for the position of intern in the Childcare program next year. I will be working with the young children of the married students while they are in classes. I am excited to spend more time with the staff as I work alongside them, continue to build relationships with people at the church and continue to look for opportunities to serve God.

You can be praying for me about the friendship I have with Amy. She expressed the desire to go through the Bible with me, but when I asked about a time to start teaching she wasn’t very clear. Over the last few weeks I have brought up the area of studying a few times and she has made excuses every time. Satan certainly doesn’t want her hearing and understanding God’s Word. I still meet with her every once and a while just to talk, but she has not expressed the desire to study together again. I know God will continue to work in her and pursue her, but it’s hard not knowing how I can help her.

Also be praying for me and my plans for the summer. I am heading to a retreat after graduation and then will be flying home and spending the rest of my summer with my family, with my church and working. I want my summer to be used for the opportunities God has for me. I don’t want to miss out on what He wants to accomplish through my summer.

Thank you so much for praying for me and for being interested in what God is doing with my life.

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Katrina graduates from New Tribes Bible Institute on May 19.  If you’d like to mail a card to her, you could send it to:

Katrina Abbott
915 North Hartwell Ave
Waukesha, WI 53186-5099

Katrina with friends at NTBI

This semester has been so good. God has been teaching me so much both in class and outside. I’m also making plans for next year.

Through Revelation class God taught me who Christ is to believers and unbelievers. In His first coming He came as a servant and loving Savior, but in His second coming He will come as a Judge, Warrior and Mighty King.

Revelation 1:12-17 gives us a description of Christ. Even though He is the mighty and sovereign judge to those who have rejected Him, He is still the loving, kind Husband to those who have accepted Him.

I’ve really been enjoying working with kids at Foxriver Church twice a week. I am teaching them through Paul’s first missionary journey and we are having good discussions during the teaching time.

I recently started praying that if God wanted me to work with more than just kids that He would provide the opportunity for me to do so. Last week I was walking up from class when one of my friends ran up to me and started off by saying, “Katrina I have an opportunity for you!” He told me about a lady that lives a few blocks away.

Amy really wants to go through the Bible with someone and he asked me if I would be willing to teach her. I still get so excited when I think of how cool it is that God answers prayers according to His will for our lives. I got to meet Amy last week and will hopefully be able to start teaching her through Firm Foundations next week.

I am hoping to intern at New Tribes Bible Institute in childcare next year and then wanted to go to the Missionary Training Center in Missouri. We had a Missions Emphasis Day this week and some of the students from the Missionary Training Center in Canada came to speak.

God really burdened my heart to go to the Missionary Training Center in Canada instead of the one in Missouri. They teach the same classes; how to learn culture, language, how to teach, phonetics etc., but instead of big classes this campus is pretty small with only 12 or so people in a class. I think the smaller campus would help with building relationships with both students and staff and would provide good opportunities for discipleship as well.

Thank you so much for praying for me while I am at New Tribes Bible Institute. God is so good and faithful. I go through hard times still, but God is faithfully carrying me through. His consistency and grace in my life has taught me to trust Him so much more.

Please be praying that the teaching time with Amy will go really well and that she will come to an understanding of who God is and the sacrifice Christ made for her. Also be praying as God continues to direct me in the plans He has next for me after Bible School.

A look at the New Tribes Missionary Training Center in Missouri

Katrina at the beach in Florida on Christmas break.

My junior semester at New Tribes Bible Institute was pretty difficult. I struggled with heavy depression among other things. I found it difficult to think, but I was very sure of the goodness and closeness of my great God who in Hebrews 13:5 promises to never leave us or forsake us.

Even with my trust in God through my hard situations and trials, I was very thankful for Christmas break. I enjoyed fellowship with my wonderful family and friends. God used my break to teach me more about Himself as well, reminding me yet again that He is holding me tight and will never let me go.

As I head into my last semester at Bible School I have a stronger hope and trust in my faithful God. He desires a deeper relationship with me and He will pull all hindrances out of my grasp until I look to Him alone for my strength and guidance.

I have learned that every hurt, struggle, pain and trial is a sweet reminder that this world is not our home. Philippians 3:20 reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven and Colossians 3:1-3 reminds us to fix our minds on things above and not on things of this earth.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement. It means so much to me.

• Please be praying with me that my last semester at school can be used to serve and encourage others and to glorify God.
• Also please be praying with me as I try to decide where God wants me for the year after I graduate.

I am either going to intern at New Tribes Bible Institute in the childcare or I will go home for a year and work before going through the rest of the New Tribes missionary training in Missouri.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support in where God has me now.

(Katrina will be graduating from New Tribes Bible Institute on May 19, 2012.)

See Christmas break photos

See a video about New Tribes missionary training

Katrina and Caleb in Wisconsin

Four of us set out on Tuesday afternoon, around 3:00, on a 24 hour journey to the New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, Wisconsin. We arrived at the Bible School on Wednesday around 4:00. We were very happy to see everybody and everybody was very happy to see us. We hung out with people until dinner that night and played some volleyball and card games afterwards.

I woke up on Thursday morning at 7:30 and showed up about 20 minutes late for breakfast, but still found something to eat. After breakfast I went back up to my room and got ready. At 8:30, we met at the chapel for Missions Emphasis to listen to Rich Brown speak about his discipling in the Moi tribe in Indonesia. I personally found this very helpful because it gave me a good first-hand view of tribal missions and what it’s like.

At 12:30 we went to lunch. My sister is a volleyball-adict, so she organizes a game just about every day. We played volleyball that afternoon. I also played some fuzeball and a game of pool with Luke. That night we went to a Green Letters study at one of the teacher’s homes.

On Friday, I woke up 15 minutes before classes started. I rushed to get ready and met Katrina outside the classrooms just before classes started. The classes Katrina has are Ephesians, Hebrews, and Galatians. They were all excellent classes and I enjoyed all of them. I especially liked listening to Katrina’s teacher Dave Field teach. The classes were very well taught and very deep.

Saturday was mostly a “sleep-in/lounge around” day. Brunch was at 10:30. The food was very good, concidering how many people had to be fed every day. Katrina and I wen’t out to eat at Chili’s for supper. We had a great time talking and being with each other. On Saturday night, we went to a birthday party.

On Sunday, we got up at 6:30 to go to Katrina’s church, which is an hour away. The sermon was very good and the people were very kind. When we got back to the school, we spent the rest of the day hanging out with friends.

We left the school at 5:00 p.m. We made it back to my house at 8:30 p.m. It was a great trip and I had a great time visiting everybody and getting to know the school better. I had an awesome trip and would do it all over again.

Katrina and a friend from Florida who is also an NTBI student

The last few weeks have been a really dry time of learning for me. I sit in classes and want to learn and understand what the teachers are saying, but it seems no matter how hard I try and concentrate nothing is going in. I have been reading on my own in the mornings and as I read I see the truth of God’s Word, but thinking deeply about what its saying is hard to do.

Through this hard time I have seen God teaching me and working in me. Our God is so good and faithful no matter if we are faithful or not. God has been teaching me that it doesn’t matter how I feel because feelings don’t always match up with truth. What God says in His Word is true whether I can see it or feel it.

Jeremiah had one of the hardest ministries ever. He was persecuted, ignored and exhausted in every way possible. The book of Lamentations may seem depressing, but it shows how Jeremiah was feeling and what he was going through. Lamentations 3:22-24 says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

I have learned that even if I can’t feel God’s love, mercy, grace or nearness, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t real. Because whether I feel that God is good doesn’t change the fact that He is good. Just because I don’t feel God right beside me through the hard times doesn’t mean that He isn’t right here with me. God’s truth is the solid rock on which we stand. There is nothing else we could possibly lean on because only God is faithful and consistent.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Our lives don’t need to be based around our circumstances. We can look at the circumstances around us to decide if we are going to be happy or not, but if we do that then we will go up and down so much. But if we base our attitudes off of God’s Word and the truth we find in it then we will remain consistent. Our day can be good simply because God is good and we know that He will work all things out for good as we follow His perfect will and plan for our lives.

God has been faithful to teach me even though I feel so empty and dry right now. I am tired, depressed and so busy, but I know that God has me here for a reason and He will be faithful to work in and through me as I keep depending on Him.

You could be praying with me as I continue to juggle classes, homework and jobs. I want to get the most out of my time here as I possibly can.

You could also be praying for the whole student body. There are huge waves of sickness, exhaustion and depression going through the school right now. Satan is real and certainly doesn’t want us spending so much time in God’s Word, serving each other and learning how to love those around us.

God is a good God and He is working! If He is for us who could possibly stand against us?!

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Katrina’s Birthday is November 15.  If you’d like to send her a card or care package, you can mail it to:

Katrina Abbott
915 North Hartwell Ave
Waukesha, WI  53186-5099

Katrina is a Junior at New Tribes Bible Institute.

We have been going through some amazing classes at New Tribes Bible Institute this semester. I have gotten to take 2 Corinthians, Romans, Missions in Church History, James and Angelology.

Right now in Romans class we are going through verse by verse and learning about man’s desperate need for God, about how God provided the only way for man to be cleansed, and about our new life in Christ- our justification, sanctification and glorification.

I had always loved reading the Old Testament. I loved seeing how God showed Himself faithful to individual people, fulfilled His promises and did signs and wonders that could have been done by no other than the Creator of the world. But this semester I have seen something else. I have seen how God shows Himself in the New Testament.

As I read through the testimonies of believers and how God worked with the early church it just amazes me. Our God never changes. He is always consistently working with people, staying faithful to His word and His great love is constantly being poured out on us!

We deserve nothing that He has given us, and yet He loved us enough to not only provide the only way to be saved, but that He completely finished the work on the cross. John 19:30 …He said, “It is finished!” There is nothing more we can add to the already finished work of Christ. All we can do is accept the gift by believing in what God says He has already done!

I was so worried before I left home that my focus would get off of God and on other things around me. Last year I really struggled with finding balance in friendships, homework and my personal time with God. God has been so good and faithful to me though.

The more I study His Word and learn about who He is and the personal relationship He wants with me the more I desire to get to know Him more. My focus has remained on God so far and I pray it continues to stay there …because all else apart from God and His will for my life is completely meaningless and unsatisfying.

Thank you so much for praying for a job for me. God is so good and faithful to provide us with exactly what we need. God has provided a few different jobs for me.

I work on Wednesdays nights at a church babysitting. I clean at another church on Tuesday and Sunday nights. On Sundays I have a seasonal job at a farmer’s market.

Please be praying that I can keep up with homework, continue to build relationships with the girls in my room, and that my focus will remain on God and what He has in me. I know that God will remain faithful as I look to Him.

Romans 4:21 “And being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”

(Leave a Reply below if you are praying for Katrina or found her update encouraging.)

Katrina and Caleb on a family hike in North Carolina.

When it was time to leave New Tribes Bible Institute and come back home for summer break I was really struggling with leaving friends, leaving classes and fearing that I would loose my desire to study God’s Word and that my relationship with God would fall apart.

This summer has honestly been one of the best things God has done for me. Being home with my family, getting to reconnect with friends, not having a schedule, and just having time to think through all the classes and what God’s taught me over this past year has been so helpful.

I’ve been able to study so many things out this summer! I read through Ephesians and learned so much about this new life that we have in Christ. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We were saved by the grace of God. We did nothing to save ourselves! We could do nothing but accept the free gift of salvation that God gave us. We have been given this new life with good works that we were called in advance to do. Ephesians 3:12 says, “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”

We can approach God with freedom and confidence through Christ as our mediator. We can come to God with any struggles, fears or desires. He wants us to talk to Him and share things with Him. We weren’t saved just so we could go to heaven when we die. God wants a relationship with us now!

As I study out God’s Word more and more I realize how much I don’t know and it makes me want to study and learn so much more. Our lives are not about ourselves, but about Christ and being His ambassadors here on earth. 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells us that we are ambassadors to make an appeal for Christ on this earth. We cannot live out this new life on our own. We need the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to guide us daily!

I have been working hard this summer to save up for initial payments for this next semester and I’m looking for a job for this next year. It was great having a year off of work to be able to spend my time studying and building up relationships, but I’m going to have to work hard and trust God to provide for me this next year.

I have just a few days until I head back up to the NTBI campus in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I am really looking forward to getting back into classes again, but I am really going to miss my family. I could use prayer in saying good-byes, trusting God with finances and getting back into a crazy schedule.

Katrina with one of her friends on Spring Break

Classes have finished, but the fun certainly hasn’t! For two days after classes end New Tribes Bible Institute has work days.

We all get divided up into groups inside and outside to clean, do yard work and fix things. My job is washing, vacuuming and waxing the school vehicles. I get to work with one of my friends and we are having a great time together.

One thing that is great about finishing something up is looking back on all you learned. I have certainly learned a lot this past semester … this past year. I have learned to trust God with so much more while I’ve been away from home. I have seen God work in some amazing ways in both my life and the lives of other students around me.

I have really enjoyed the deep, Christ-centered relationships that are built here at school. It’s been so amazing to learn, grow and encourage brothers and sisters throughout the year. God’s taught me so much about keeping my focus on Him.

I know that I’m going to struggle my whole life with focusing on Him instead of on my wants and desires, but I know as I continue to learn God’s Word and ground myself in Him I will begin to trust Him more with my life. As my relationship with Him grows, my life will begin to show more of His love, desires, thoughts and actions.

John 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” We can do nothing to glorify God unless it is done through the strength of Christ! He wants us ‘abiding’ in Him alone for all our strength, wisdom, joy, peace and love.

We often think that only work done ‘for God’ is when we ask for His help, but really, what are we supposed to do that is NOT for God? Everything we do should be done for the glory of God!

You could be praying that it won’t be too difficult to say good-bye to friends I’ve made and seniors that are graduating. I know that there are several seniors that don’t know where God is leading them yet. I head for home on the May 23rd and am excited about seeing friends and family again!