NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Click HERE to read all about our latest trip to Asia Pacific and our ministry at the Missionary Training Center, equipping young individuals to be church planters around the world among unreached poeple groups!

Upon arrival in Alaska for the purpose of going on a road trip with Dad, I quickly discovered that Dad was not in the condition for traveling especially across country.

Dad was having uncontrolled bouts of pain, 24 hour a day flaring in his feet, and irregular sleep habits. Since these three things would be difficult to deal with while on the road, we decided to hold off on the trip for now and focus more on just getting out of the house on little trips.

After being here for a week, yesterday Dad was able to go out of the house for the first time in months for a reason other than going to visit the doctor’s office. We drove about 30 minutes and enjoyed some good food which we ate in the RV and continued home. Overall the night was a success, and we got out of the house!

I’ve enjoyed taking care of Dad during the day and every 2 to 3 hours at night checking on him to make sure his feet are still on the air conditioner. He has tolerated me well in looking out for him and doing things like making his meals, changing wound dressings, laundry, dishes, cleaning, making sure he takes his pills, grocery shopping, taking him to doctor appointments, etc. In fact, I stay pretty busy!

Jason will join me up here in Alaska on May 27th, thats 5 weeks, 4 hours, 10 minutes and 4 seconds from now. But who’s counting We are looking forward to reuniting and praying that Jordan doesn’t arrive before then!

My amazing dad, Jim

For the past two years, Jonie’s Dad, Jim Weed, has been suffering from a medical condition, erythromelalgia. It is a rare disorder where blood vessels in his extremities are periodically blocked which causes pooling of blood and swelling. There is a great deal of pain associated during these times of “flaring.” This disorder has no known cause and no cure. It is extremely debilitating, as Dad is in a wheelchair with large ulcers on his feet that have lasted for months and must keep his feet on an air conditioner the majority of each day. This disorder is also degenerative. It can spread to the hands, nose, ears, and face. Right now, Dad has it in both his feet and hands, and it has begun flaring in his ears.

The last two years have consisted of many doctors visits, many different medications, and regular nurse visits in the home. Sometimes the pain is so severe for Dad that he isn’t able to make any rational decision to take pain medication. I cannot imagine pain like that.

Going from a very active man to being wheelchair bound, Dad has been storing up hope in a recent purchase of an RV. He wants to get out of the house and go on a road trip, anything that gets him moving and out and about. With all the babies that are coming into our family this year, Dad has been holding off the trip for my sister and my sister-in-law’s babies. But now he is ready to go!

With a lack of available people to go with him and a strong desire on our part that he not go alone, I, Jonie, will be going to Alaska and driving with him in the RV on his road trip. Jason will stay back in Missouri and continue teaching and serving at the Missionary Training Center.

After the trip, I will just stay in Alaska until Jason joins me after graduation (May 26th), and we have our own baby in June (due the 27th).

Please pray for Dad and I as we drive from North Pole, Alaska to California and back again. Pray that Dad will have very good days so he can enjoy this trip of getting out. Please pray our baby will wait to greet the world until Jason is able to join us in Alaska.

Please take just a few minutes to watch this quick movie of a tribal man describing the Easter events. The neat thing about this man is how we have served the missionaries in his surrounding villages helping them get the Gospel to these people.

CLICK HERE.

This trip we only went into two villages, and had about half the flights we did last time. But for one of the villages we had to take a boat. This wasn’t a romantic cruise in the least bit, but sitting on the floor of a leaking tipsy dugout canoe for almost 4 hours (one way). The last 2 hours consisted of being in the pitch black of a starless night a hundred miles from any town. Our high powered flashlights strained to show the river bank to the guy steering our tiny 15 horsepower outboard motor. We kept a look out for logs and gravel bars and sat as still as possible lest our boat capsize. Once we arrived at the village and carried our things to the missionaries’ house the picture of the 20 foot crocodile on the wall told me that sandbars weren’t our only problem out there!

The next morning we wasted no time in getting to work, well maybe a little. Our two hour breakfast was necessary to get to know everyone, followed by a 2 hour get-to- know-everyone-a-little-better. Often, we are the only people that speak English that these tribal missionaries get to see for months on end. In this case, there was a national family that spoke no English, a German family that did, and an American family. They were soaking up having someone from their country and culture with them.  We had such fun talking about America, and the differences there are in just the few years since they had been there last.

This tribe is different than any others we have gone to yet. One of the families is a second generation missionary to the same village. The believers in that village were led to the Lord by his parents, and he grew up just up stream a little bit. Now he’s back, working with the local church leaders to train them and give them a Bible in their language. It was really neat to see someone that really had given their entire life to a single group of people!

Jonie was under a constant barrage of superstitions with her pregnancy, don’t sit in a doorway or the baby won’t come out, don’t drink cold water or he will be too big. Don’t scratch your itches, don’t cut your hair, don’t swim in the river after dark, don’t …………… It’s quite sad that simple science and knowledge can disprove these ideas, but the truth and light continues to be dimmed by the darkness Satan tries to keep on these people, and they continue to live in fear. Pray for this church as they grow in the wisdom and understanding of their new Lord and throw off their old.

The boat trip back to town took over an hour longer than expected thanks to water that was 5 feet lower than it was a couple days before, and having 19 people and gear in a boat built for 10. It was quite crampy, and half of those people were kids who didn’t understand balance and sitting still so as not to tip us over. Plus, like any road trip, we had to pull over to a muddy river bank for bathroom stops, and like any group of kids, not everyone had to go at the same time! So now we’ve driven trucks, hiked, ridden motorcycles, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, ridden ox carts and finally boats to the villages. I think that about covers all modes of transportation to get to work! It might take a while, but the traffic is pretty light! We really do have a pretty cool job.

Sometimes we are given a problem and asked to figure it out. Sometimes we are given a car, generator or entire house and told to check it out and find the problems. My years of aviation training have prepared me for this to a great extent. Rarely do we know IF there are problems or what they may be. There could be nothing, but to the trained eye, there is always something that’s not quite right. I enjoy this part of the work, until I have to give the bad news to the owner that things are not as they should be.

One such situation was discovered in our last visit to Asia, and after meeting with the owner of the house who was on furlough, we decided the best thing to do would be to rewire the entire house. To the normal person, rewiring a house would sound overwhelming, and they would never attempt it. However to me, it also sounded overwhelming, but overwhelming or not, it’s what I do. And it’s far less terrifying for me than most of the missionaries I work with. After hours of discussing what exactly would be done, we scheduled the flights, realized the week I needed the helicopter I wouldn’t be able to get it, and then rescheduled a bunch of other stuff to make it work. Due to cost, I left Jonie behind on another island, spent 18 hours flying and sitting in airports to get there, borrowed another helper on that island and flew in. Everything was OK except that I figured on 5 days to do the job and I had only 3 1/2 available before my flight would arrive to take me out again.

The house was going to be easier to wire than I thought, which was good because when we got there water was spraying all over the kitchen and bathroom from 3 busted pipes, the generator didn’t work properly, the refrigerator wouldn’t refrigerate and we had to install more solar panels and a new water pump. So we split up. I supervised the wiring and set my partner loose on it while I ran around working on 5 things at the same time while waiting for pipe glue to dry, water to drain from the fuel, and dug ditches. It was a full day and a half before I got the water on in the house, which working hard on the equator resulted in a stink like I never experienced from the two of us. There was extreme motivation to get water!

The refrigerator proved to become a problem very quickly, as the tool that I brought with me to add freon to the system didn’t work properly. I actually robbed parts off of a little kids’ bike to try to fix it, desperate times and all that, but it didn’t work. I had one more try before I ran out of options, and out in the jungle, you don’t want to run out of options. I was very thankful for satellite internet and the guys back in the Tech Center in America who took the detailed description of my problem and found a detailed solution where they had all the tries they needed to get it to work.

While I waited for their solution I worked late and got up early to finish everything else on the list and a few problems that I didn’t know existed. Some were very challenging and extremely frustrating. But nothing was left undone, except for filling in my ditch after I laid the wires in it. I was about to go out into the darkness a little before midnight when I was chased by a scorpion on our kitchen floor. I was a little faster than him and after trapping him in a cup and killing him in the least humane way possible, I decided that I didn’t want to be out there in the dark that night. I still had a few hours to work in the morning.

By the morning of the last day, the refrigerator was cooling again, and not a moment too soon as I heard the blades of the helicopter cutting the air, 45 minutes early. I scrambled to make sure the water and gas were turned off, the solar system was properly stored for the missionaries arrival in a month, and the generator was disconnected. My ditch would have to be filled by someone else, but we left the house better than it was, at least with the electricity, plumbing and appliances. The spider webs, mouse droppings, scorpions and all the things that move into a missionaries home when they go on furlough will have to be cleaned up by them. Sorry guys!

Although I am trained and have experience in many different skills and professions, I am still asked to fix things that are outside of my field of expertise, like watches, lawn mowers, etc. Sometimes I wonder how in the world I’m going to fix it, but like the sticker says on my tool box, “if someone built it, I can fix it,” even though it is more like if man built it, God can help me to fix it. And those challenges are daily given. Often the hardest thing is a total lack of information given to me. Troubleshooting a problem involves understanding the systems and what needs to be in place for everything to work, what the common problems are, and what has been done in the past that could (and most likely did) contribute to the current failure. This especially includes what the owner did to attempt to fix the problem without knowing the first two things, how it works and what could be wrong.

One such question from a missionary was, “Our grass trimmer isn’t running for more than 10 minutes at a time. What’s wrong?” Other information: none. What’s been done to fix it? Unknown. Who is operating it that would know? Two nationals with zero english. Obvious solution, None. So, I might know there’s something wrong, but no idea what the symptoms may be, like walking into the doctors office and answering “guess,” when asked what your problem is.

In this case, the trimmer was shutting off after 10 minutes. The solution was that they weren’t adding 2 stroke oil, and it was overheating. I’m actually surprised they didn’t melt the engine down. Normally, this would be an easy fix, just mix oil with the fuel. But now I have a cultural and language problem. Though I can find a translator to explain to the guys what to do, the culture here demands that I don’t draw attention to someone else’s mistakes, especially in the area of their profession. I had to delicately teach them the process of combustion and cooling that goes on inside that engine, explaining the importance of the proper oil and mixing ratios. I made them a bottle with the oil and fuel fill-to lines clearly marked. It took an hour of apologizing, explaining, apologizing again, showing them and again apologizing for showing their faults. It wasn’t as if they were refusing to do it right, they just had never been properly taught. They do it the way everyone else has always done it, and just rebuild the engine when it blows up.

Fixing equipment or even Jonie’s nursing skills, isn’t cut and dried. It’s beyond machines or sick people. It’s relating to people in culturally appropriate ways, whether they are nationals or foreigners working in that country. They have been doing something a certain way for many years. It sometimes takes great care to explain the right way, and sometimes it’s hard when they don’t want our help, and even more so when they ask for it, but then refuse to listen to our advise. But our callings don’t include forcing everyone to do things the way we tell them. It’s to take our skills, experience and abilities and be faithful to use them for the Lord. That’s all we’re accountable for. And best case scenario, the grass trimmer runs perfectly all day long, and those men will teach their children proper fuel to oil ratio. And who knows, in a couple decades all of Asia may do it right!

One evening while sharing a meal with some staff members at the New Tribes Mission national school in Asia Pacific, a woman and I began discussing our pregnancies. There is no doubt that being pregnant has opened multiple doors of discussions and allowed countless opportunities for relationships as well as putting my nursing education into practice.

This particular national woman had been to the doctor each month since she found out she was pregnant. Everything seemed to be normal. But she began telling me that there were two other pregnant students on campus who had not been having regular doctor visits and would truly benefit from sitting down with me and going over a few things. I told her that I brought a doppler with me, and we could listen to the babies’ heartbeats if they wanted. She said it would be a wonderful experience because even though she herself had gone to the doctor each month, she had yet to hear her own baby’s heartbeat. She told me the doctor just uses a stethoscope and listens himself. We set up a time to meet with all three native pregnant ladies the following day.

When I arrived the ladies were eager to ask questions and learn more about being pregnant. In their culture little is known medically in relationship to being pregnant and much they do know can only be attributed to the equivalent of “old wives’ tales.” We spent the first hour and fifteen minutes doing basic teaching and simply education on several issues based on the questions they were asking.

COLD WATER:

The first question was, “The people here believe that if a pregnant woman drinks cold water, her baby will be big. And since we don’t want big babies, we drink lukewarm water. But we don’t like lukewarm water, so we don’t drink much.”

I explained that the temperature of their water doesn’t directly relate to the size of their babies. Because more well off financially people are able to afford cold water they are more likely to be able to afford more fattening foods which will lead to having a bigger baby. So I explained that the baby being big would have more to do with gaining weight in excess and the genetic role that plays into each of the women’s lives. I explained the importance of being well hydrated and they needed to be drinking copious amounts of water while pregnant. We went through how much water that was each day and trying to have them count cups throughout the day to make sure they were drinking enough for themselves and their babies.

It's always important to have the right tools.

LAYING ON SIDES:

Another question included, “Sometimes when I lay on my side, I feel my baby kick the mattress. I think I’m squishing it, so I roll over. Can I harm my baby by laying on my side?” I then explained the importance of laying on their sides as opposed to laying on their backs, and how laying directly on their backs can allow the baby to put too much pressure on the inferior vena cava which cuts off circulation of blood returning to the heart. I told them that if they lay on their backs it may be common for them to be dizzy and even faint after standing up and they can also have increased swelling in their extremities due to the blood not being able to return to the heart for circulation. I explained that laying on their left side is the best position for the baby and for the mom, the right side is second best, and laying on their back should not be done.

LEG CRAMPS:

They asked about leg cramps, and while I explained them as normal in pregnancy, I encouraged them to eat foods that are rich in potassium and again to drink lots of liquids to help. They are not taking prenatal vitamins to supplement their dietary needs.

UTI:

One woman describing having a UTI to a tea, yet didn’t have any money to go to the doctor to get checked. The visit, lab test, and medication would be well under $20, so Jason and I covered the cost so she could get treated. We discussed ways to prevent getting a UTI in the future.

STRETCH MARKS:

Another question came up, “We are told that where we scratch our bellies stretch marks will not grow in that place. So we scratch all the time, all over to prevent the stretch marks.” I told them how doctors have learned through studies and tests that scratching doesn’t diminish their chances of getting stretch marks. Stretch marks is only attributed to the woman’s genetic predisposition. We explained that if their mother got stretch marks and their sisters got stretch marks, they will most likely get stretch marks. I explained that using lotions can help with the itching, but it isn’t related to wether or not they will get stretch marks.

The ladies were so thankful for all the teaching on all the different subjects and said they learned more in our conversation than all of the doctor visits combined!

Then the extra fun time came. I had covered all their questions, and they were more than anxious to hear their babies heartbeats. I checked each one of their blood pressures first and asked them if they had felt their babies kicking that  morning. Each blood pressure was normal, and each woman had felt her baby kicking already that morning.

Using my doppler that was hooked up to speakers so we could all hear, we listened one by one each of the woman’s babies’ heartbeats. There were certainly tears. They were amazed and overjoyed at hearing the life that is growing inside of them. It truly is a miracle to know that God put each of those babies there and is knitting them together, making them who He wants them to be. What a tremendous blessing it was to share in this experience with them.

Click on the links below to view the movies:

Listening to Fetal Heart Sounds 1 of 2

Listening to Fetal Heart Sounds 2 of 2

This past week while in a tribe in Asia Pacific, I had the opportunity to go through some basic concepts of doing a physical assessment, using diagnostic equipment, and learning to diagnose through signs and symptoms with some missionaries. The three missionary families in this tribe consisted of one American couple, one German couple, and one native couple. I had a translator so the native couple could learn about medical in their own language.

It went really well and lasted a few hours. We covered a lot of material, and it took longer than I expected because everything needed to be said in two languages, but they were able to have time to ask good questions.

Traveling to this tribe was on a tippy boat, so everything went in dry bags...just in case!

I sure love the book Village Medical Manual. I think it is a MUST whenever traveling outside of America. I took a class that went through this book last year, and I learned so much. Now I’m passing on what I have learned to those who desperately need the information as well, those missionaries in the tribe with no access to medical care outside of what they themselves can provide.