NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

JULY/ AUGUST 2010 UPDATE

Well, there is always a first time for everything….. and for us, it was the first time we were held up at a road block. We were on our way from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz and before leaving, we had called 3 different places to check to see if there were any road blocks. That is just something you should do before traveling anywhere in Bolivia. The places we called, said that the road was open and operating normally. We were making good time, but then coming through one of the “trancas” where you pay road tax, the man informed us that there was a road block up ahead and we should make sure to have extra water on hand to drink. So we stopped as soon as we could and bought a 2 liter bottle of water, and began to pray that God would lift the road block so we could get through because you never know if violence will break out while you are waiting.

About an hour later, we came to the small town where they were blocking the highway the highway. After waiting for about an hour, the line started to slowly move….yeah! they were opening up the blockade! As we slowly progressed, I prayed that they wouldn’t close it again before we got through because we had heard that they were opening it every 2 or 3 hours but then closing it again. Praise the Lord we were able to get through without a problem.

By that time it was getting dark, and Dwight had to deal with all the crazy driving of all the trucks and vehicles trying to get out of there and on their way to their destinations. Sometimes there were a half a dozen cars on the left side of the road all passing someone! It was crazy! But we made it to the Santa Cruz guesthouse early evening after a couple of “close calls” but thankful to the Lord that we had made it safe and sound! Our 8 hour trip ended up being about 10 hours….not so bad actually!

To make a long story short, before we left to the US, Dwight got his Paraguay trip in. He was able to renew his pilot’s license once again, so his Bolivian license would continue to be valid. Then on July 16^th Dwight and I boarded our flight to Miami. The week long Peacemaker’s seminar was excellent! We were able to get in a quick visit with my sister in Tampa, and then flew up to Wichita to be with our daughter. We had meetings in three churches, a support group, and visited as many precious friends and supporters that we could squeeze into our limited time. Dwight Samuel came down to Wichita after he finished his classes. He is now an official graphics designer! We spent a week all together,  before heading back to Bolivia (with Dwight S. who came along to see where we live).

Prayer & Praise:

-Dwight got his Paraguayan paperwork all renewed within two days.

-Dwight S. finished his last semester of college!

-the seminar in Sanford was a huge blessing to us (pray that we will put the things we learned into practice)

-we ended up on the road more than we had planned, but God gave us safety and a good time with friends!

We thank each one of  you…those who put us up and those who put up with us! We are so privileged to have you as our co-workers in this huge job.

Till next time!

Dwight and Diana Brown

May 2010 Update

May has come and gone, and so we want to catch you up on what has happened that month.  It was a special month for me as a Mom, as I got “Happy Mother’s Day” wishes from the US on the 9^th, but then on the 27^th (Thur.) was Mother’s Day here in Bolivia. Our friend came over that afternoon, with her 2 daughters and 1 son.  They brought me a small pillow and a rose; and that evening we took them to a special hamburger place in town, and then went to get ice cream.

Not only that, the Sunday following (30^th) there was a special program at church for the mothers.  The climax of the program was the last skit….which the men put on. Dwight took part in the skit, and since “pictures speak louder than words” I will just let you look at the pictures. Many of the ladies were laughing so hard….Dwight was tagged as the “estudiante intercambio” (the exchange student).  After the program, we all went out to the yard of the church where the moms got to serve themselves first to the yummy chorizos the guys had grilled.

You think that would be celebration enough, right? Well, I’m not done yet.  The ladies group wanted to have a special mother’s day ladies’ meeting.  I invited them to have it here at the Mission home since we have a small chapel with a piano.  We decided we were going to grill hamburgers since there were two grills.  Well, the small chapel “went out the window” as the number of women grew from 30-40 to about 60!   We couldn’t fit 60 chairs in our small chapel, so Dwight and I worked hard getting 3 of the 5 tables out of the dining room and then  set up the chairs in there.  When we had more help, we brought in the piano also.  Well, the ladies started coming and filled up the chairs!  There were ladies standing up in the kitchen area!  We ended up with 79 ladies! I was told later that some of the ladies had brought friends that were not saved, so the speaker brought in the salvation message in her sharing.  It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun, as several helped to put things back in place afterwards, and then sat and visited over a cup of coffee!

On to another topic now: on the 19^th and 20^th the leadership had their meetings again.  It was approved for Dwight and I to attend a seminar being offered in Sanford.  It is called the “Peacemakers”.  It is course on how to help solve conflicts in a practical way.  Dwight and I are very desirous of going, as we feel this could really be a positive thing in helping us develop more in the roles we have here on the field.  We are looking forward to being in Sanford, FL on the 18^th-23^rd of July. Of course since we are on American soil, we want to take advantage of that and spend a bit of time with our kids and if we can find some “wheels” we would like to go visit our church in Iowa.  We will only be in the US for about a month, and we will be bringing Dwight Samuel back with us to Bolivia for a short visit. He has been given a donation towards a ticket.

One more thing I want to tell you, is that I took a friend from church who talks Quechua to meet my “mamita” and to tell her about the Lord in her mother tongue.  Please pray for mamita that she will get saved before it is too late. That day we went, I was so exhausted I was tempted to postpone the visit till a later date.  But all I could think of was: “What if she dies?” and I didn’t want to go just because I was tired??!!  Her life was worth way more than that! She got really sick after we had made our visit, and I was so glad that I had taken that time.

Dwight, along with our church planting consultants, flew into two remote areas to encourage the believers and see how they are doing. When they flew into the Chimane work, they took in the “fixed” transmitter for the radio station.  They hooked it up and it ran for several hours and went out again.  So it was once again flown to town where our co-worker, Carlos (who is very handy in things like this) fixed it.  Dwight was able to fly it back up there later on, and went in and hooked it back up.  The radio station is in operation again…..sending out teaching in Chimane and even a few other languages.

Prayer requests:

Pray that our time at the seminar will be very profitable and that we will retain what we learn.

Pray that we will have a time of rest and relaxation, as Dwight and I are really feeling the need for a break.

Pray for Dwight S. as this is his last semester in college. He was encouraged to find out that NTM has 4 openings for a graphic designer!  Pray as he works to pay off his student loan and looks to the Lord for raising up supporters.

Pray that as we interact with our local church, that we will be a challenge to them to get involved in reaching out to others in their own country who have not had a clear understanding of the gospel…..especially in those hard to reach places.

March/April 2010 Update

Hi, everyone! Another update is way overdue.

In the last couple of months, we have had many “firsts” that we have experienced.  One was that

we attended our first “family retreat” with our church here in town.  We went out to a campground about and hour and a half away.

It was quite interesting observing the laid back culture.  Breakfast isn’t on time??  Oh, well, we will have devotions first then.  Lunch won’t be ready on time….so we get in a few more competitive games before lunch.  My thought was….why can’t I be like that??!  Why do we get so uptight when things just don’t go the way we expect them to?  It was so much fun to get to know our church family better.  Tim Sanford and Paul Dye were here at the time and Paul was able to share during the morning session.  We were asked to give our testimonies around the campfire that evening, and the Pastor reaffirmed how that they as a church consider us part of their family. That was so special to hear!

Another first was that we attended our first Bolivian funeral.  We went with the Pastor and his wife, and upon entering the funeral home, we greeted family members and then sat down.  As we sat there, a lady brought around some espresso coffee, then a bit later some snacks, then a bit later something to drink like pop, or water, etc.  We just sat there for a long time visiting, and because the man who had died was related to our friend at church, our friend asked the Pastor to share something.  So he got up and shared the plan of salvation to a whole room full of unbelievers.  I was praying the whole time that he would get through to someone.

The third “first” was something that I hope I never have to repeat.  I had been running a high fever that kept creeping up to about 104 degrees.  I went to one hospital emergency room and they sent me home with some strong antibiotics. Nothing doing!  The fever continued, so we went to another emergency room at a hospital that was known for having good doctors, although a bit more expensive.  They could see that there was something else going on, and interned me right from the emergency room.  After running all kinds of blood work and such, they finally found the “culprit”…….an infection in my lungs.  It wasn’t the typical pneumonia….but a different strain.  I had no cold or runny nose or cough. Thank the Lord they were finally able to find the nasty little “bugger” and after a couple of days of strong antibiotics intravenously, the fever came down.  I was in the hospital for 4 and a half days!  Funny thing though, was during this time God kept reassuring me that this too, was His will for my life at that moment in time.  I just needed to be patient and be a witness for Him as much as possible.

Praise:

Dwight signed some paper work in La Paz to renew the organization that the flight program is under.  This has been a long time in process and we are thankful to the Lord that the paper work has been finalized.

He enjoyed flying the plane to La Paz  the following week where the elevation is 13,300 feet. You do not try to run any races at that altitude.

Prayer request:

-for more laborers for the field of Bolivia

-for Dwight Samuel as he begins his last semester of college (thank the Lord he

did very well in his classes last semester)

-for Darlena that her job will continue and she will do well

-for the Coria family in our church here; she fell which resulted in having a

miscarriage

Song that our church sings: (translated into English)

There are no problems that God cannot solve;

There are no mountains that He cannot remove;

In the darkest of trials, God will comfort you.

Yes, He took my burdens upon His shoulders,

And I know, my brother, that He will sustain you!

Hi, everyone!

I didn’t send out a Jan update as things were hopping with having to make arrangements for our annual time together, and then coming home and getting Dwight off to Paraguay two days after our return home, and also filling in for Jenny office work  for a week so she could take a break. So this letter is for both months.

Our annual time together (in Jan) was a really good.  We had two main speakers who were Bolivian Pastors from two churches in Cochabamba.  Also I got a ladies’ meeting organized and we had the wife of one of these pastors speak to us.  I also arranged for a refreshment time for a very special couple who was retiring after many years of service here in Bolivia.  Many individuals shared their memories of the Snyders, whether they were serious or funny, and then Dwight presented them with a gift from the field.

This year the leadership made up a list of people to invite, so it was really neat to see so many people from different walks of life sharing the Lord’s supper together on the last evening together.  We had Canadian, Quechua, Simba, Bolivian, German, Ecuadorian, Paraguayan and American.  Wow now that’s international!

We flew home  in time to get Dwight off to Paraguay once again to renew his pilot’s license.  He returned home after one week.  It has taken almost two month in Bolivia, but we are pretty sure that next week his renewed Bolivian license should arrive.  This will be the last time he can do this until he gets a permanent visa.  His renewed license runs out again in July and we probably won’t get our permanent visas till sometime in Oct. Pray that NTMA will have wisdom in knowing what to do in that gap of time.

Well, better go.  We have some other things we need to do before going to help clean the church.  We are also in charge of the refreshments after the morning service tomorrow, so we bought some cookies and two cakes. Another couple will make a cornstarch drink with cinnamon and lemon. Interesting?!

Prayer requests:

-Please pray for our son. He has three classes this semester and works 6 hrs a day, and has tons of homework.  If he can get through this semester, he has only one more to go; which will be less classes, but will be working on his internship hours.

-Pray for Darlena that she will not be laid off, as her company considers re-organizing.

-Safety for Dwight as he begins to fly once again.

-Pray that our kids and a friend will be able to come to see us in August of this year.

-Pray for my mamita’s salvation and that of her friend, Doris.  Today Doris really started asking me questions about God’s Word.