NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

“If we plan to meet again, it will have to be in heaven. So, please listen to the missionaries’ message so that we can meet there someday.”

Translation Seminar The whole Da’an team traveled to another province to join in on a translation seminar. This event was vital for our role in translation in the Da’an. There were four of us, Anton (church elder) Veci, Markus, and myself. For two weeks we studied translation principles, exegesis of the Scriptures, and language patterns of the original Hebrew and Greek. Basically, we are taking the meaning out of the original Hebrew and Greek and putting the meaning into the Da’an language, and doing it all with Da’an words and Da’an phrase, sentence, and discourse level features. This is a challenge as you can imagine, but it is an amazing thing to be a part of.

Anton’s Words The other men that joined the translation conference have not yet heard the Gospel. Anton was able to challenge them to get their hearts ready for the message that the missionaries were working towards telling them. His parting words were “If we plan to meet again, it will have to be in heaven. So, please listen to the missionaries’ message so that we can meet there someday.” Anton came home to Da’an telling people he was helping by planting seeds.

Home Assignment December 2012 Our family is now planning a 7+ month “home assignment” or “furlough” starting in December of this year. We are very excited to think that we will be able to spend Christmas with our family. We do want to start forming a schedule of visiting you all. If you have some specific dates at this point in time, from Jan 2013-summer 2013, of when an event is happening either at your church or small group, feel free to start letting us know. We will be contacting churches and making a schedule soon, and then we can let you know when we’ll be in your area. We are sure looking forward to this time of reconnecting.

You here, God? Relationships are key in speaking into someone’s life. Perhaps this is key in each and every culture. It rings true in Da’an. To always be pouring ourselves into the Da’an and not being careful to rely on the Lord for the filling up beforehand has been, to say the least, challenging. God is doing amazing things in and through us. We can sense Him preparing the Da’an for His Word in their language. We can sense Him preparing unbelievers to hear the truth. Why are we sensing Him? Because HE IS WITH US! Please pray that Nicky and I continually recognize His presence in the midst of darkness. That we would be reminded of His guidance and wisdom, and reminded that we are merely His tools, that He holds His plans towards the Da’an. Please continue to pray with us as we seek to draw near to His presence daily and that our steps would be purposeful and our words would be Spirit filled. Despite the fact that we are in a battle, we know Who is He who has already won! We want to draw near to our Victor who strengthens us with all we need.

Abiding in His Care, The Poarch Family James, Nicky, Emily, Luke, & Sami

What does a ride in the ambulance look like in the middle of the jungle AND one that goes on water???

The past couple of weeks flown by in a whirlwind! We’ll try to give you to abbreviated version through this update First of all, we had some friends come and visit and help our team out with physical needs we have. Physical needs such as fixing our lawn mower, fixing some solar panel and battery problems, giving us a lesson on jungle medicine to treat sicknesses that arise in the tropical climate, etc. We had a great 7 days with the Mellingers and if you’d like to read about their visit from their point of view, check out and read their blog at http://blogs.ntm.org/jason-mellinger/2012/03/11/how-do-you-get-to-work/

Recently, our co-worker came down with a very high fever. For about 24 hours, he had a fever of 105. No matter what we tried to do, we couldn’t get it to go down. This just happened last weekend, we ended up taking another trip in the boat downriver to bring him closer to medical care. James has been driving our boat (with an outboard motor on it) now regularly, but I have never sat in the front of the boat directing James and pointing out big pieces of wood to avoid.

As you see in the picture attached (the ambulance), we took our boat and made a canopy for our co-worker and I sat in the front and James drove us downriver. We made it just fine (PTL). A few days later, he still wasn’t getting better, so his family then went to the larger town on the coast. After they arrived in the town, they found out that he has dengue fever. He is doing better now, but is still very weak and would appreciate your prayers.

Since we brought the boat down, we now had to bring it up to the tribe again. So I became James’ “first mate” again in helping direct and steer the boat. It was kind of fun just having our family in the boat, without relying on the already busy tribal men.

Now we are back in the tribe, Valentine (the girl staying with us and teaching our children) is continuing to teach our kids. Valentine is with us until mid May. Nicky is plugging away at finishing a 100+page report with conclusions on what we’ve learned about with the Da’an culture. This report has to be finished before we take our final language evaluation. James and I also have been adding words into our Da’an dictionary. At this point in time we have 2000 words! Not too bad for a language that has never had a dictionary before!

James is getting ready to leave for a trip to another province. James will be joining a two-week translation gathering there. This will be the longest I (and the kids) have been left in the tribe alone (23 days). Please be praying for our time of separation. We have asked an elder in the Da’an church to keep an eye on me and the kids, if there is any emergency that arises or any needs.

Many of you have been hearing that our family is taking an early home assignment this year. In December 2012, our whole family will be basing out of AZ for seven months. Originally, we were going to be back in the summer of 2013, but because of wanting to start translation that same summer, we will move our home assignment up 1/2 year. We will keep you updated on our plans as the time gets closer.

I was recently sitting with one of my neighbors. He is an old man whose father had once killed and ate a wild rhino years ago. I was asking him about the Da’an word for “God” or the creator being, which is in Da’an [Mohontara']. I asked him about the background of this [Mohontara']. He explained that [Mohontara'] was always good, and that [Mohontara'] created everything and that everything that was created was good. My neighbor then became silent and sat thinking for a bit. We were sitting on the floor of his house and he motioned towards the floor and cracks in between the boards and then asked me, “Why then did [Mohontara'] create mosquitoes, and biting ants, and centipedes? If [Mohontara'] made everything good, and these things hurt us, what happened? I then had an opportunity to explain to him about how things started out perfect, then were ruined by man’s sin, then how [Mohontara'] made everything perfect again by sending his Son.

Please be praying that [Mohontara'] would open his eyes and heart to this message.

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February Update Serving in West Borneo, Asia-Pacific amongst the Da’an people

PRAISE THE LORD, our first language check is BEHIND us now. We’re 50% finished with learning the Da’an language. We had a very encouraging time as our language consultants came and visited. We now have more goals and vision for where to explore more in the culture and have been encouraged with the techniques we have been using to learn language. These are the very techniques we were trained to use all those years ago while in the States training with New Tribes Mission. Our HOUSE ADDITION is going very well. We’re so thankful for the funds we’re still receiving for this. We can hardly wait to have MORE room in our house as well as our team office to get up and running. Thank you all for praying for us! Enjoy the pictures below!

PRAYER REQUESTS FOCUS After having a 2+ week break, pray that we would all have an easy transition back into tribal life. FRIENDS Would you please pray with us for our children to make friends in the tribe? They do have friends, however, we’d like to see these friendships reach a deeper level. TEAM Pictured above is just part of our Da’an team. As you know another National couple is on our team…as well as the whole Da’an church. Pray that we would have unity within this international/multi-cultural team. Pray that His Name would be glorified as we work together. MOM A few weeks ago, we received word that James’ mom got diagnosed with cancer. Will you please join us in praying for her as well as the whole family? Three out of four of the children are serving overseas. James’ sister will be traveling back to be with her as she faces surgery on March 4th. After that, she will have radiation treatments.

Love, James & Nicky Poarch

The Poarch Page January Update, 2011 Building Update. Imagine living in the middle of the jungle on the island of Borneo in Asia-Pacific! Now imagine all the “perks” of living there. The privilege of using the “best iron-wood available” for building your house. “Best iron-wood available” meaning the hardest and longest lasting wood in the world! Wood that has been on a tree for hundreds of years, and that will last at least another hundred years being a post on your house! Wood that lasts longer being stored in water! Also, imagine the privilege of building most of your house “log-cabin style” using wooden pins (almost the same type used on the Ark during Noah’s time). Now, imagine being able to live in this place for the purpose of translating the Bible into the language of the people, people whose language goes back to the Tower of Babel. (well, I guess all of our languages more or less go back there . What a privilege to be able to enjoy these things, we are blessed more than we can imagine.

The plans for the addition on our home seem to be taking off now. This includes our team office where the translation will take place. There has been a lot to do in preparation for the actual building. For a couple of weeks now, we have been getting the wood ready. We have consistently had two workers working on planing our wood. We could have had this work speeded up much more, however, we haven’t wanted James to lose out on the time he also needs for language & culture study. So we have been taking it slow on purpose so that he can do both. This week, our workers have grown to 6 now. We had a meeting with those wanting to work to talk about their pay. As the addition gets built, we will keep you updated with pictures.

First: the men are working to get the wood ready. Stacks of wood we’ll use for our addition. Second: Here is the meeting we had in our home regarding pay.

Language Check: In about a month’s time, we will be having our first language check. Maybe you’re wondering “What does a language check consist of?” OR “What is it?”. Since this is the FIRST TRIBAL language check, we’re also learning what it entails…however, we do know that consultants our field has come in for about a week. They then test James & I to see how well we’re progressing in language learning. There are 4 checks in all, and since our ultimate goal is to translate the Scriptures, we have to pass all 4 checks. In order to start literacy, we have to pass check 3. For this check, James will be checked on check 2 and myself on check 1. On top of language, we also have to be showing fruit of diving into the culture as well. In our ‘culture file’ we are asked to have about 180 different ‘cultural events’ or cultural things we’ve experienced along with the tribal people which teaches us more how they live and think. Some of these ‘events’ that we’ve already experienced have been burning rice fields, planting rice fields, picking green vegetables, cooking, fishing, funerals, weddings, etc. There are MANY other ‘events’ yet to be observed, and 180 is the recommendation up until check two, after that we will need to add more! This file is kept as a team and it’s so good to study them out more after experiencing them. This greatly helps with our language learning AND relationship building. The people seem to love that we’re taking an interest in their lives.

Something funny that is going on right now is that as we’ve told the people our language check is coming up, they have recently ALL become our teachers, correcting our grammatical mistakes as well as our pronunciation mistakes directly. Usually they are not as bold in HELPING us so it’s kind of nice to see the people cheering us on in wanting us to pass!

The Sindels, our co-workers, are also on check 2 along with James. Our National coworkers, the Korengkengs, are finished with all 4 language checks. They will be coming back from their six month furlough at the end of this month. Since they are finished with their checks, they are free to move onto teaching, literacy, or other ministries.

Health: Since taking Luke off milk, his stomach problems have definitely been less. There have been flare-ups where he complains about it again. But during those times, I can usually trace it back to an ingredient that had milk in it. I also started taking Luke off gluten, but after switching to rice flour, it seemed to make his stomach aches worse! So for now, we’re sticking with the non-dairy milk diet. Eventually, we would like to see an specialist about it. He also struggles with allergies to mold, dust, etc. It’s been challenging to stay on top of all that living here in the jungle!

Realizations: As we have been meeting with the believers in the village in different settings, it’s been eye-opening to us how much they do not know much about the Scriptures. Except for the elders, who do know their Scriptures well, the rest really don’t. I’m sure they were taught in the past, however, they haven’t understood. Perhaps it’s because they’ve never been able to read it in their own language OR whenever they have heard the story, they have only heard the story in the National language and their National language ability is poor. OR they could’ve just forgotten! Whatever the case may be, the Lord is showing us how much these people NEED HIS WORD in their own tongue. They do not have a good grasp of who God is. We often hear believers saying, “God’s going to punish you for doing that!” OR “He’s sick because God is punishing him”. This is their concept of God. They haven’t yet connected with God’s love in a real way. Oh, it’s going to be so great when they can read and understand ANEW of who God is and how He thinks towards them. We can hardly wait!

Thank you all for praying for us. We know you have been and at times when we feel strengthened beyond our strength or when we understand something in the language anew, we’re reminded of Him who is enabling us to be here, and we’re often reminded of all of you praying for us too.

Because He said “Go”, James, Nicky, Emily, Luke, & Samantha Poarch

The Poarch Page November, 2010 The Newsletter of James & Nicky Poarch Serving in West Borneo, Asia-Pacific with New Tribes Mission.

After our two week break in town, we returned to the tribe here refreshed & ready to dive into language learning again. We’re learning how important it is to take some breaks in a different setting (like in town). This break helps us gear up again for living here. We may come out from the tribe every 3-4 months for a 2 week ‘break’.

As we said in our last newsletter, our church has been teaching through the Scriptures Chronologically, starting in Genesis. Last week, James had the opportunity to teach the lesson about Shem, Ham, & Japeth and how they spread throughout the world and which corners of the world they went to, and to which nations they started. It was neat to hang up a map of the world and have the people learn and see the plan which God had in placing people in certain parts of the world, with their specific skin tone, with the type of weather that is there. It pointed to a God Who created a perfect world! (See picture above of James teaching).  Meanwhile, we are joining in as much as we can with the people in their daily activities as well as any special things going on. This helps us learn new words and converse with the people daily in a natural setting. Please pray that we would be able to consistently get language either through these activities or through meeting with people in their homes. It’s a busy time right now with the people taking care of their rice fields. So at times, getting a good language session can be difficult.

Sometimes we will be sitting at our kitchen table and we’ll see a large amount of boards being carried on someone’s shoulders. James & I usually start craning our necks to see which guy has been working & cutting wood. Lo & behold…it’s usually not a MAN but a WOMAN who is carrying this heavy load. The majority of the hard work in this village is actually done by the women. A couple days ago, James & I joined a husband & wife to their rice field (see picture on far below). As the wife & I were doing the work, the husband just stood there and watched and talked with James. James offered to help us, but the husband laughed and said “no, no, this is not our work” meaning it was the work of a woman to work in the fields. The labour that is solely the man’s in this tribe is chainsawing wood. All other work is either the woman’s or both, but usually the women do almost everything else. This fact is just incredible! I tried to explain one day to another lady that in America the heavy lifting is left for a man to do (usually), of which she replied, “oh, women in America don’t work!”. Obviously I didn’t get that across the right way! I’m sure with us living here, it will allow these people to see how our husbands help us carry things and even help and care for our children. Having them see things done in a different way will definitely broaden their worldview.

Prayer Requests: 1. We need to be able to start our addition soon. It’s a bit overwhelming to actually begin this process, we have to count our wood according to the measurements of our addition, we have to get workers, and it will take James huge amounts of time organizing it all. We also need a bit more money than we originally thought. At the moment we have $2,500 towards this project, we are projecting we will need closer to $4000 than the $3000 earlier projection.

2. Health. Luke has been having some health problems with his digestion. Please pray that we would find ways daily to help him eat things that would be a help. It’s hard when certain foods run out. Please also pray that our family would remain malaria & dengue fever free.

Thank you all for being a piece of our ministry as the Lord is choosing to use us here amongst the Da’an people.

In His care, James, Nicky, Emily, Luke, & Samantha Poarch

Hi All,

This may sound like a popular movie title at first, but sometimes this is the reality. We recently “attended” an activity where all the people in the village went to a small tributary to our river (a large stream) where they made a fence across the stream for when the large “Bornean Giant Catfish” will spawn up the river. When they do spawn during high water, the people guarding the gate, will close the gate and trap the fish. Some of these catfish are as big as I (James) am! The people will then attempt to spear the fish with special spears and then jump into the water and drag them into shore. Once this happened and the fish was not yet dead and the thing bit one guy on the head. Actually put its teeth around the man’s head and bit him. I don’t think the guy will do that again.

We hope to join in on the action, at least everything except for getting bit on the head by a fish. I would love to bring my double-barreled shotgun for this event, but sadly guns are not allowed in this country. So, I am stuck with using a spear just like everyone else.

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Serving among the Da’an people of West Borneo, Asia-Pacific

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to update my blog and let everyone know that I, James, made it safely to the village. I am posting this via satellite modem that we have for use here. I arrived last week in the rain and was able to bring everything in on the boat. I loaded the boat and then took the trail bike over the mountain to meet the boat at our village. Everything arrived safely. I am now in the process of working on our house and fixing it up for when Nicky and the kids come in. I am taking out some of the ceiling and opening up the inside of the house. I am also fixing all the AC and DC wiring in the whole house and adding some solar panels to the existing panels that I have. My solar electric system is working well. I am the only house for miles around that has lights and no noise of a generator!

Thanks to all who are praying for this time Nicky and I are apart. James

Hi all, just wanted to update you on our status.

We made it safely to Asia-Pacific and are planning for our trip into our village. I, James, will go first for about 3 weeks as there is some work that needs to be done on our house first.

James & Nicky

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James & Nicky Poarch

www.ntm.org/james_poarch

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Well, we are here on the other side of the Pacific ocean.  I am in Malaysia while Nicky and the kids are on their way to Asia-Pacific.  I have to stay here for a few days to see my skin doctor (all this tropical sun which I love…).

Thanks for praying for us and our travels, we are doing well and getting adjusted.  All our bags seem to have made it fine and nothing missing [which is nice ]  Its nice to be near home again.  And the food is great once again!  I do like American food, but nothing beats authentic asian food, fried rice, fried noodles, and lots of it.

James and Nicky and kids