people of Indonesia heard

the Gospel last week and

several have put their faith in Christ. (read story)

  Wanos listening to God`s message.

I can hardly believe it is November already. Time just seems to fly by. Speaking of time flying by, our daughter Rachel turned 16 in October and now has her driver’s license. How is that even possible. Next year TJ will get his permit, and Elizabeth is growing like a weed. We are so thankful for our kids, and the personalities God has given them. We are so grateful that we can serve God together in this ministry of sending laborers to unreached people groups like the Wanos of Indonesia, and our “friends” in South America. Please continue to pray for more laborers to take God’s message to those who have never heard. We just received word from Bruce and Cindy down in South America that our “friends” could use our prayer. They are having a hard time getting fuel for personal living and their outreach trips, and he talked of other obstacles as well both with their outreaches and in the main village. Please pray that our brothers and sisters would be encouraged in the truth of God’s word, and that He would continue to open doors for the translation of the New Testament to be completed. Thank you for your continued partnership in the Gospel. The task is great, but our God is infinitely greater. A good friend of mine told me the other day that “We are in a constant battle, but we are fighting from a place of victory.” Praise God for the hope that we have in His awesome greatness and power that abides in each believer.

Keep looking unto HIM who is able…

Love, Joe and Jackie

Can you believe that God chose us to communicate His message? What a privilege to be a part of reaching into a World that is without hope. God could have chosen anything or any means to communicate this Good News, but He chose His children. What about the millions that are still without hope? Have you asked our Daddy God about what you can do to be a part of His great commission? We are sending over70 laborers each year all over the world with the tools they need to communicate clearly the Word of God. Jonathan and Jenny wrote, “I think if you often. How are you? I am so thankful for the investment you and Jackie made in Jenny’s and my life. I seriously cannot tell you how often I think about our conversations and just hanging out.” They are now in Quebec studying French to minister in West Africa.

Village update: Bruce writes, “I heard a report that they were able to present the Gospel in a village that they were teaching in, and that there are now some new believers there. I haven’t heard any specifics, but we were very happy to hear the limited news we did. This village is actually the first village we attempted to do an outreach to while we were still there, but they were not interested at the time. At the beginning of this outreach as well there was initially a lot of resistance, but the teaching team persisted, and it sounds like their work has been fruitful.” Praise the Lord for our new brothers and sisters!

Thank you for your continued partnership in the Gospel. God continues to build His Church and prepare His Bride for Christ’s return.

Keep looking unto Jesus…

Joe and Jackie

We were able to spend 4 days with our former co-workers from South America last week.  We stayed at a missionary retreat called Fairhaven Ministries in eastern Tennesee.  We enjoyed catching up on news from our friends back in South America. 

The church in the jungle is growing, and they continue to receive new scripture portions.  Thank you for your continued prayers for our “friends” in the jungle.  Jackie and I are praying about taking a trip to South America over Christmas to reconnect with our “friends”, and also spend some time in the national church there. 

Please pray that God will open up the door for us to spend some time with our dear brothers and sisters there. 

Love,
 Joe, Jackie, Rachel, TJ, and Elizabeth

Their house wasn’t very big, but it seemed to always be a bustling center of activity as a steady stream of people stopped in to grab a bite to eat from the seemingly bottomless fish pot, or to practice reading, or to just chat and while the time away.

When Bible teaching began in the village, Kalina took it upon himself to keep the meeting room clean and comfortable, at least to jungle standards. During the teaching he would sit at the front of the room, tracking so intently that he would sometimes blurt out the conclusion of a thought before the teacher could.

Tama’ye, though, presented a different story, or more accurately, an indifferent story. She just didn’t seem to care at all about the Bible teaching one way or the other. She attended the meetings, but more as a social exercise than anything.

Her husband Kalina and her children were quick to embrace the Gospel, but Tama’ye was a different story. She initially showed little inclination to put her trust in the God of the Bible. Thankfully, over the course of time she also became convinced, and joined her family in believing. No one guessed that her faith would be the first to be put to the test.

Not too long ago, she fell ill. Initially no one was overly concerned, but as days dragged into weeks, the tribal people began realizing that something was seriously wrong with her. The village medic didn’t have sufficient training to diagnose her sickness, so her family loaded her onto a dugout canoe and made the three-day trip out to town where they hoped a cure would be prescribed; it never was.

Eventually, after having spent months taking their mother to doctors near and far, and having exhausted their financial resources and medical recourses, Tama’ye’s two sons were left with little option other than to take her back to the village so she could die among her own people.

Her family was distraught, but once again, Tama’ye was a different story.

She told everybody not to be sad; that she would soon be in heaven with God and that she was happy and they should be, too. Choosing to ignore a long-held tradition of her people, she said she didn’t want to be buried with her valuable possessions, but that her family should take all that was hers and use it when she was gone. A few days later she died. Although Kalina and others in the family and village still feel her absence deeply, they can’t help but thank God for the hope that Tama’ye both felt and shared in her final days.

Please be praying for Kalina and others who continue to adjust to life without Tama’ye. And thank you for the role you’ve played in bringing the life-changing message of hope to this tribal family.

Davey and Marie Jank

December 03, 2007 at 07:51 PM EST

This morning I ask Micah if he wanted to use his spell board.

He looked up and 45 minutes later, he had spelled two things:

1. Up sooner
2. Turn bed up

He wanted the temperature of the water bed turned from 88 degrees to 92 degrees. He remembered what he set it at before his illness.

And for the first request, getting up sooner, we realize we need help. Micah wants to get better and he wants to work very hard.

These new requests have brought us to the realization that an extra hand would be very beneficial for him at this time. We can’t keep up with him!!!!!

So Mon-Fri our insurance will pay for someone to come and help us out for 8 hours. This will be a huge adjustment for me and I ask for prayer that it would be a good fit and benefit Micah in many ways.

We found out today that the fact that Micah’s body has the ability to know if it is hot and cold, numb, hurts in places etc. and the fact that he can communicate his needs is further indication there is major healing going on in the brainstem. This is very significant progress and we can’t step back and take all this in as we are just trying to keep up with all the changes and new requests.

A Bible study group came to pray for Micah tonight. There are 10 beautiful women here to intercede for Micah and pray for his complete restoration. We are truly blessed to be apart of this amazing work that God is doing.

Amazed and dazed,
Sherrie

We are slowly learning new information about Micah. First of all, the eye movement is very legitimate and accurate. He now looks up for yes and down for no without the signs. The alphabet can be introduced eventually and he will be able to spell out words,
by us pointing to the letter and him moving his eyes.

Secondly, we are learning that his personality remains content and easy going. He understands what happened to him. He does not remember the day it happened or the events leading up to it. He was happy to see his diploma, and know his Moody application is still active. He always answers yes to being hungry, but is not in any pain.

This brings us to the third bit of information. . .He can not feel anything from his neck on down right now. At first this was discouraging however, he suffers much less. He doesn’t itch, hurt, or feel all the discomfort that would come from his condition.

Fourthly, he is slowly and faintly finding his vocal cords. He makes noises and has more mouth control. We have let him taste some things on his tongue that the doctor said was O.K. We have not used the suction machine in two days as he is handling all his own secretions on his own. He also can communicate he doesn’t like the oxygen in his nose and the Doctor has said it is time to wean him off of this. We measure the oxygen in his blood and it is always normal.

This is amazing progress. This is restoration. This is an act of God. This is answers to prayer. This is humbling. This is us, soaking in healing rain, looking at a double rainbow, wearing turtle track shoes and sizing up the elephants.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things.”

Rejoicing that God is at work making a new brain stem for Micah; resting in the path of the wind,

Sherrie

We are finally getting settled here in Roach, MO. Monday was our first official day of classes. We have three couples we will be working with, and have enjoyed getting to know them this week. It didn’t take long for Elizabeth to steal every one’s hearts. Last Wednesday as she was playing at the lake, a little boy accidentally bumped into her while he was swinging and she fell and broke her forearm. Her poor little arm was obviously broken. We took her to the emergency room and she amazed all the hospital staff with her cute little explanation of how it happened, and her pain tolerance that has allowed her to have several X-rays, and trips to the Doctors with no tears. They had to give her an I.V. and put her to sleep to set the bone. We are surprised at how little it hurts her. We are having trouble keeping her from doing to much. We would appreciate your prayer for her complete recovery.

The kids started school on the 21st of August and are all doing well. They all three have nice teachers. Thank you for your prayers for their adjustment.

Jackie and I are starting to fit into our roles here at the MTC. On top of our Student Life responsibilities Jackie does one day of Child Care per week. I am in charge of Furniture storage and I am getting to know the new curriculum with hopes that I might do some teaching next year. Thank you for your continued prayer as we settle into our ministries here.

Our nephew Micah continues to surprise Doctors with his improvements. He isn’t winning any races to get better, but each week there seem to be something new that he is doing or some kind of improvement. Please continue to pray for Micah and the Magnusson family. Here is an article from the Lansing State Journal with an upcoming event: http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070822/NEWS01/708220340

I have been in contact with our friends in South America, and things are going pretty well. There are several who are sick in the village and they are asking for prayer. One of these is the captain of the village. Please pray for Caya that he will feel better. Also several kids are sick with flu type symptoms. Please pray they will be able to get the medical help they need. Translation checks will be done with one of our brothers later this month. Please pray that things will be ready for a big translation check this fall.

We appreciate your partnership with us as we help facilitate new missionaries for cross cultural evangelism. Please pray that God will prepare them for the work He has for them, and that He will be glorified through the lives of each one of these students.

Joe and Jackie
Student Life/Personal Development
New Tribes Missionary Training Center
www.ntm.org/joe_bruce

This morning they started Micah on another medication to help him “wake up”. So far nothing has happened. We would have loved to have something like that when he was in school trying to “get up” for 1st hour! Probably would not have worked then either! We will watch him today for new signs of alertness. You could pray that his brain and body would respond to this new medication.

This morning I could not help thinking about John 11 again, especially as we have our “evaluation” tomorrow. I thought what would Lazarus’ medical evaluation have looked like? It really could not have been any worse. I could just see the medical chart.

Day 1 – Slightly dead – little to no movement
Day 2 – Still dead – no movement observed
Day 3 – Really dead today – little hope of recovery
Day 4 – Dead & Buried – case closed

Jesus chose to show up after all hope was gone. Even Martha and Mary were “cautious” as to what believe God for.

Luke 11:23,24 “Jesus said to her, “Your brother shall rise again”. Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day”

Luke 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet saying to Him “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died”.

In other words his medical condition would not be so bad if You would have intervened sooner. Sherrie and I understand their caution, yet also their unspoken, “under their breath” hope. Jesus had sent word back at least 4 days ago that this sickness was not unto death- but for God’s glory. However Lazarus was surely dead. Did they misunderstand what Jesus had said? Had the messenger gotten His words confused? They had probably told everyone what Jesus had said about this not being “unto death” and now this. Were they making Him look bad?

Today we continue to believe that we have heard His words clearly regarding Micah.

LORD despite what we see, despite what we hear, we do believe that this “sickness” is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.

And Jesus answered them saying “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” John 12:23

Dale & Sherrie

80 July 23, 2007 at 12:25 PM EDT

They are safely in CO!!! I just received a call from my mom and she said God gave them an extra push all the way there and they arrived in CO an hour ahead of schedule. They are currently on their way to Craig’s hospital in a van. Micah is strapped in a wheelchair in the back and did amazing the entire flight.
My mom said to apologize for the lack of post yesterday. They were busy getting ready for their trip and in the midst of it all; Micah had a really bad night on Saturday night. He seemed to be really uncomfortable and his breathing was labored like he was in pain. Sunday morning, my mom called some of Micah’s football friends and asked them to come help her with something. My Dad was giving a short update at New Hope Church in Haslett, when he saw the doors open and Micah being carried up the isle by his friends! My mom told the congregation that they needed a miracle. Micah needs to be at his strongest for his time at Craig and instead he seemed to be fighting something. The church spent the entire service with their hands on my brother and parents lifting them up in prayer. When I asked my mom about my Dad’s reaction when he saw them coming up the isle, she said it closely resembled the look he had on his face when she bought him the buffalo as a surprise for a Christmas present.
Micah had a much better day yesterday and a strong night last night. My Aunt
and Uncle slept in his room, so my parents could get some rest before their trip.
We truly believe Micah is ready for his time at Craig. This past week we have continued to see improved responses and we are trusting God to do BIG things while he is there. Thank you for trusting with us!
~Kara for all.