Jason and Angie Bechtel Bringing Hope to Unreached People Groups
In this must-see video, Paiye of the Moi tribe tells the Easter story in his own words. This is from the same tribe where we filmed the hit video Awayo.
Check out more videos from NTM and let me know what you think of them. My co-workers are working on adding French subtitles to a couple of these. Which videos do you want in which languages?
Much of my life is spent doing childcare. Okay, all of my life is childcare, but on Monday and Thursday mornings I spend half the morning looking after other people’s children at New Tribes Mission. I help look after the children of students who are training to be tribal church planters. It’s a fun time for me because I get out of the house and my kids LOVE it. Every morning Lorelei asks if we get to go to childcare and both her and Delna get extremely disappointed if we don’t end up going, usually because of sickness.
It’s a nice set-up — there are three rooms side by side so I have one of my children in each. I’m normally in with the toddlers, but every-so-often I end up with the babies and last year I was 3 days a week with the pre-schoolers — so I’m fairly comfortable in any of the rooms. It’s nice for the children too because when they have the same workers fairly consistently, it gives them a sense that all is right in the world. I really enjoy getting to know the children and their parents through this ministry. Definitely a highlight of the week!
Is there anything going on in your life that we can be praying about?
This week is Norm’s first week in the office. Norm is my new co-worker. We are sharing an office, so we appreciate your prayers as we settle into what that means.
On the weekend a co-worker in the office let everyone know they are moving on the end of May. They were tribal missionaries in North Asia, then worked in the home office. They were with NTM Canada for some 16 years I think. So they will be leaving a hole.
Tomorrow some co-workers are going to Toronto to invite some Chinese pastors and elders to an NTM informational event on April 24th. I am involved in promoting this event on the 24th. Please pray that I keep balance with all that I am responsible for. Yesterday was a little overwhelming.
Thanks for praying!
What makes tribal church planting different than regular ol’ church planting?
This video created by some friends and co-workers of ours gives a fantastic explanation.
On the long weekend in February, after a lot of preparation, Jason, along with co-workers, hosted a Chinese youth group from Toronto. The group arrived late Saturday night and stayed until Sunday after lunch. Everyone had a great time.
Friday night they did some role-playing where they ate some things they didn’t recognize. Then Saturday morning they talked about the importance of communicating clearly across cultures. After a few brave souls went tobogganing Saturday afternoon, everyone spent the evening in a tribal hut around a fire talking with Pete Humphreys, a veteran missionary, about the challenges to planting a church in an isolated tribal group. The Sunday morning, Angie’s brother, Sean, wrapped up the weekend with a challenge out of Habakkuk.
All weekend long, the youth were exposed to NTM and tribal church planting!
Want to see someone really excited about their salvation in Jesus Christ? Then check out this video from the Siar tribe in Papua New Guinea. God is doing amazing things around the world.
There is also a list of updates on the Siar tribe on the NTM website.
Let’s see…we’re now in 2012…what has happened in the last little while?? I guess I’ll start back at Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas break. It was fun having Delena home every day. It seemed a little strange though, I’m not sure why since it was only a couple months ago that she was home every day! We actually spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my parents, with my sister and her family and my brother. We haven’t all been together on Christmas morning in three years probably, just because of work schedules mostly.
We spent Boxing Day with Jason’s Mom and all his siblings.
Then the 27th we were back at home in order to have Jason’s Dad over to our place. Each day came with a turkey dinner and, of course, there were lots of leftovers to follow! 
It was also nice that Jason could have a few days off between Christmas and New Years where we didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything!
New Year’s Eve we were home with a few family members and we managed to make it until midnight! It was a short night though with church in the morning!
The next week we had a nice surprise and my cousin was able to come for a visit with her two boys. We’ve stayed at their place a number of times, so it was nice to have them to our place for a change. I got to take them all for the winter version of the ‘Jungle Camp’ tour. I think the kids just liked building the snowman at the end of the tour. They didn’t really care too much for trudging through the snow, but at least they all slept well after that!
Yep, the bridge can hold their weight!
Julie and her boys had never been to Jungle Camp
That week there was also free skating each afternoon at the Durham Arena, so we decided we should attempt to take all the kids skating. Ever been skating with a 1, 2, 3, and 4 year old? That doesn’t even include Myelle! Jason and my brother both came with us to help and it still took us a half hour to get everyone’s skates on! That left us with a half hour to skate, but that was enough. Thankfully some friends were at the arena and one of them graciously watched Myelle on the sidelines and another one helped Lorelei out quite a bit. By the end of the time, the kids were just starting to get the hang of things and we forgot our camera, so we decided to try again the next day.
Lorelei showing us how it is done. Not bad for being the first time on skates.
eventually Delena did catch onto how to use the pilon
Our second round of skating, Jason stayed home with Myelle and just two adults took the four kids. Again, a half hour of lacing, but the allotted skating time was longer, so we could actually be on the ice for a full hour. This time we took lots pictures and the kids did a lot better!
Here is a news story from the field of Paraguay written by Ian Fallis that I loved.
Angie and I have personal friends that worked with this unreached people group for 17 years and are now living near us. Hearing how the Bible translation is coming along is thrilling to my heart. Bible translation is a vital part of reaching the unreached with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and seeing a mature church planted and established that truly glorifies God. And to hear that pastor-elders are being appointed, this is extra special!
All the pieces are coming into place for the Manjui church to stand and grow.
The Manjui New Testament is nearing completion. Colossians and 1, 2 and 3 John were printed and made available to believers and Bible teachers in October. With that step, 24 of the New Testament’s 27 books were printed.
Last month, 2 Corinthians was checked for comprehension, to see how well the translation was understood by Manjui people. “This now leaves only a couple of checks to go for this difficult book,” wrote Gordie and Nancy Hunt, who work among the Manjui people.
The only books left to translate are Hebrews and Revelation.
Three of the Manjui Bible teachers were recognized as pastors and leaders last May, and these men have been teaching through Romans and Ephesians.
“The Manjui church is definitely growing spiritually as the pastors have been teaching,” the Hunts wrote. “We are asking you to praise God for what He is doing among these people.”
For the second year in a row, the NTM@work magazine in November is a calendar. You can see the Canadian version below. If you didn’t get one in the mail, I would love to send one to you. Just email to let me know!
New Tribes missionary Jason Swanson prays for the Siawi church.
New Tribes Mission seeks to establish mature churches among people who are isolated from the gospel. After teaching chronologically in the tribes’ own language and culture, believers are discipled to lead the church and partner in the Great Commission.
