NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Meet Dave and Laura Percy! With 14 years of service with NTM in Thailand, and 2 years with the Wayumi program in Pennsylvania, and a love for people and the Lord, they come to us with a wealth of experience and gifting.  This summer the Percy’s will be moving to Missouri to join our team as we begin development on a new location for this innovative program. The Wayumi program exists to creatively challenge people to seriously consider their role in reaching people around the world who have no access to the gospel.   Our team’s goal is to extend the reach of this powerful program to challenge churches and individuals throughout the Midwest.
The Percy’s are an answer to the request for teammates we’ve been praying for over 2 years now, and we are so thankful to see how the Lord has answered this prayer!

Christmas was spent with the Brammer Clan in Northeast Missouri

Justin spent 2 days fighting our ’88 Suzuki Samarai, and it finally relinquished it’s ancient clutch in exchange for a brand new one

Mmm, making 600 cookies with Shelbi’s mom for the students to enjoy during their first few days of orientation meetings with the start up of the new semester.

And, here comes baby!  Only 2 months left until we get to meet our little girl!

Uncle Justin’s getting ready to be a fun daddy

You have been our faithful readers, prayer and financial partners and have journeyed with us through our struggles with things like a miscarriage and too many miles traveled.  You’ve also humored us by participating in our attempts at being creative through our fun challenges along the way.   But, I feel like we haven’t had time to really share with you some stories that hold more of an eternal perspective.  As Christians, I believe that we should be able to look back at our year and recall how God has used us for His glory.  So, with all of that said, we wanted to share with you some stories of how God used you to enable us for what I like to call “kingdom stories”.

Story one, some missionary friends of ours got in a car accident that ended up totaling their car.  After hearing their story, God really laid it on our hearts to offer them our vehicle for well below its value.  So, we drove over to their house and let them know what was going on and shared with them the price God had laid on our heart.  To our utter surprise, they shared with us that one of their supporters sent them an email not an hour before saying they wanted to help them buy a car and were writing them a check for the exact amount we were offering them ours.  Needless to say, their family is still enjoying the vehicle.  But that was not the end of the story for us.  See, we did not have a back-up plan and were now left without a reliable vehicle with a 600 mile trip to Wisconsin to make.  The Lord kept it running, and we made it to Wisconsin in a snow storm in our rather unreliable soft top Samurai.  Then, an even cooler God thing happened when we finally bought a car from a guy on craigslist.  He turned out to be a believer who went to a Bible study for years at the house we were staying at during our time in Wisconsin.  His church was also one that Shelbi worked along side of this summer at Elmbrook as she helped their children’s pastor learn about setting up their own day camp.  Talk about a small world!  …or maybe it’s just a world that happens when we let go of our vehicle/control and let God take care of the rest.

Story two, involves our miscarriage.  As tough as that time was in our life, we have been amazed at how the Lord has deepened friendships and brought new interactions with others going through their own battles with infertility.  We have been encouraged by and been an encourager to more people than we could have ever imagined because of our now common denominator.  It’s always difficult to walk through tough times, but being able to connect with people on a deeper level because of it, can be one of its many blessings.

Story three, friends of ours from Wisconsin decided to plant a church in a rough part of Milwaukee with few churches and no evangelical ones already existing there.  One afternoon, Shelbi and I decided to make a trip to the building they were remodeling to use for this ministry.  We walked through and heard their story of how God led them to this point of planting a church in this part of Milwaukee.  They were being told along the way by countless people that white people couldn’t have any kind of ministry there, but they knew this was what the Lord was calling them to, and they needed to keep pushing through the barriers.  One of many things on their heart was to reach out to the people in the neighborhood with practical things like laundry and providing meals.  Unfortunately, not really having a budget to purchase the appliances necessary to make this a possibility, they knew this was going to be a tough task.  As we left that day, we decided to start making some phone calls.   One good thing about traveling around a lot and meeting lots of people, you end up with lots of connections.  So, within a month’s time, through people such as yourselves, that church is now serving meals from a brand new kitchen.  Through this they’ve also had an amazing platform to share Christ with people whom no one else wanted to reach out to.

There are many other stories such as these, but we wanted to share just a few to let you guys know of the impact you are having on eternity.  It’s that whole body principle of 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 actually being lived out!  All of these interactions and stories have taken place because of friends, like you, who’ve stood with us, working as the body of Christ.  These kingdom stories are just as much your stories as they are our’s.  THANK YOU for standing with us this past year!

With much Love,

The Brammers

That’s right, the original 90% prediction from the first ultrasound shot to 100% at the next one when we got a nice shot of her girl parts.   So that means sometime mid-March we’re looking forward to welcoming our baby girl into our lives, knowing full well we have no idea how she is going to change them forever – we can’t wait!

As our support raising journey continues, we have seen the Lord continue to provide for us in ways that simply blow our minds.  He’s raised up financial partners from among our dear friends and others we would never have expected.  Thank you to all who have given to see us reach 60% of our recommended monthly support level!  Continue to pray that the Lord will raise up those who will fulfill the last 40%.

Hanging out with our couple’s group from Spring Creek Church in Wisconsin for a neighborhood Halloween meet ‘n greet on the night of Trick or Treating.  Check out our awesome costumes.  Justin, the ever-so-pious looking monk, and me as the red m&m.

Helping some friends get ready for their new restaurant opening: Parkside 23.  If you live in WI, you should check it out!  Yummy food!

Our 4 month old nephew, Sage, showing how big and strong he is.  We all think he looks like a cute little old man.

Shelbi’s dad hanging out with his 2 grandkids over Thanksgiving.  We had a great time in Missouri with Shelbi’s parents and brother, Sid, and her brother, Ryan, and sister-in-law, Susan, and their 2 kids, Selah and Sage, who had driven down from Wisconsin.

Selah getting ready to ride grandpa’s horse.

After 9 months on the road doing support raising for our ministry, we were blessed to be able to take a break and head up to Camp Forest Springs in northern Wisconsin for a week of camp.  The only catch… it was the Senior Adult Camp week.  Ha!  That’s right, we were the youngest people there by more than double our age, other than Justin’s parents. But, it was awesome!  Just what we needed, a week to relax and be refreshed and encouraged.   The other campers were thrilled to hear that we were pursuing missions and offered tons of encouragement and some hilarious advise.  Here’s a few pictures from our time:

Justin trying his luck at mountain boarding.     There were even puppets!  John and Diane

Windle do an amazing job with the puppets.

Hayride with Justin’s mom to our hike at Blueberry Bog where we all learned about the interesting life of a bog. (stay on the boardwalk!)

Justin and his dad talking cameras,                    High Ropes course that all the other campers

trying to outdo each other with the best shot.         wanted Justin and I to do so they could

watch (But alas, pregnant women are not allowed on it, so I will have to wait til I can strap the little munchkin to my back. Ha ha!)

Justin’s Camp Forest Springs’ animals from his all his years growing up going to camp and the sign his mom made welcoming him back to camp after 5 years.

For those who are thinking our big news may be that we are at 100% of our support level, sorry, that’s not the case.  We’ve recently crossed over the 50% mark, which is the hardest point to get to, and we’ve seen the Lord do some amazing things to get us here!  There’s still a ways to go though.

For those who are thinking that maybe we’ve decided to pursue a career in ballroom dancing, that’s not the case either (with my lack of rhythm, we’d be in for a short career ) .  We’re still passionate about starting our ministry with NTM in Missouri investing our lives to see a new generation of missionaries raised up.

So… what is this big “small” news?

In the words of Shelbi’s ever humorous dad, Justin’s not worthless.  That’s right, We’re Having a Baby! Around March 13, there will be another little Brammer entering the world.  At this point, we’re not sure if we’re more excited or nervous about the idea of being responsible for a little life.  But, we’re thrilled that God has blessed us with this baby!

(Getting a little parenting experience with our new nephew, Sage Michael)

So with our big news revealed, we will be heading to Missouri on September 3 and will be spending the month developing a new strategy for our support raising and will be keeping you up-to-date on this process and how you can be a part of it.

That pretty much sums up our summer in Wisconsin so far, but for those who like more details, here’s what we’ve been up to for the past month and a half:

SHELBI’s working with Elmbrook Church’s day camp, Camp Vertical again, but in a new capacity.  She handed off her directorship roles to  several other people and has spent the summer training the children’s pastors of 2 other area churches and 4 of her senior leadership staff from Vertical how to start their own day camp programs next summer.

(Shelbi meeting with one of the children’s pastors and 2 of her staff)

JUSTIN’s photographing several wedding’s this summer, gets called upon by friends in the area to help with house projects, and has become an expert at mowing the family’s yard where we’re staying this summer.

(Justin heading out last Sat to a wedding with all his gear)

WE’re still in this wonderful season of partnership development (yes, that was a little sarcasm, as it’s been a growing, but really challenging season ).   After last summer’s experience of moving 8 times during the 2 1/2 months we were here, we are so grateful for some friends who opened up their basement for us to stay in the entire time we are here  this summer!   Much of our time here in Wisconsin is devoted to a couple of key things.  First, spending time with those who have ALREADY joined our partnership team, we desire to continue building those friendships and taking the time to express our incredible appreciation for their sacrificial giving.   Second, meeting with those who have expressed an interest in us and our ministry, so that we may INVITE them to partner with us.

OUR more flexible schedule this summer has provided us some unexpected opportunities to step into some of our friend’s lives who are going through some tough times.  We grateful that the Lord has been able to use us to hopefully be a blessing to others during our time here.

(Shelbi’s unconventional way of getting nuts into smaller pieces to put in her granola)

Challenge #4 Winner

The challenge was:  Where do my grandparents, who are retired NTM missionaries, live?  In Sanford, FL at NTM’s retirement homes

Congratulations, Michelle from South Carolina!  You were the 3rd person (in honor of Shelbi’s 30th birthday) to answer correctly.  Your prize:  It’s a surprise!  You will find out what it is when we send it to you (and once we actually decide what it’s going to be)

And now… the winners of Challenge #1: how many miles we traveled  Over a 3 week period, we stayed in 12 different cities and traveled 4,310 miles!!!

In 4TH PLACE with a guess of: 3680 miles, Dave and Sue from Waukesha, WI (Your prize: We randomly went to a polo match when we were in South Carolina – you get the ball those guys are getting ready to hit)

In 3RD PLACE with a guess of: 3852.78 miles, Torie, from Branson, Missouri (You’re the winner of a snack bag of granola!)

In 2ND PLACE with a guess of: 3837 miles, Sarah from Waukesha, WI (You’re the winner of a quart-sized bag of granola!)

And, drum role please… in 1ST PLACE with a guess of: 4679 miles, Drew and Noreen, from Eustis, FL (You’re the winners of a gallon of granola!!!)

A few other fun facts from our GPS: we spent 69.5 hours in the car, and had a moving average speed of 59.6 mph, those cities really slow down the average.

Thanks SO much for your prayers (the Lord kept our car running wonderfully, our traveling weather was beautiful nearly every day, and we got lots of chances to share about our ministry both with our friends and some new people we met along the way)  Thanks also for having a little fun with us on our journey!

So at mile marker 2,363 our trip finds us in Raleigh N.C.   Where does your mileage guess line up with our mileage so far???

I know you are all excited to learn who and what was won with the latest challenge.  The winner was by default, as no one sent us a picture (guess you are all too busy for such shinanigans ), and only one person replied to even wanting to send us a picture.   Bill of Branson, MO, you win the grand prize.  And this prize is a box of bacon and cheese flavored crickets.   Mmmhhh, I’ll bet you’re all wishing you got one of these.

The next challenge before us is this.

Shortly we’ll be heading to Florida to visit some friends from college and Shelbi’s grandparents who are retired NTM missionaries.  Can you guess where her grandparents live?  In honor of Shelbi’s 30th birthday, which is today, the 3rd person who responds correctly gets the prize!

18 people responded to Challenge #2

16 guessed correctly

1 most interesting guess: Bill turned his guess into a suggestion that we should go visit Barbourville, KY home of the giant chicken, who stands along the road at a gas/food/laundry station, which also doubles as a hair salon during the day.  Thanks Bill!

The Winner:  Lynette from Iowa    Congratulations!  Check out your prize (we’ll be mailing it to you soon)

So far we’ve had a great time with Justin’s parents checking out the Creation Museum (very cool), reminiscing about our high school years with one of my close HS friends who now lives with her husband in Indiana, laughing a lot with friends who are graduating from Taylor U in a few weeks, catching up with one of our Bible School friends who lives in western PA, and now we write to you from the Wayumi campus in Jersey Shore, PA  encouraged after hearing about the exciting opportunities they continue to have challenging hundreds of people from all over the northeast to get involved in global missions.

Challenge #3 – A picture’s worth a thousand words

… Or perhaps a thousand laughs

Your challenge is to recreate the Lincoln Memorial and send us a photo of your most creative interpretation of it by noon next Tues, May 18.  The winner will be judged on creativity, and pretty much we’ll pick which one makes us laugh the hardest.     Please save your picture as a smaller file size when you send it as our e-mail has trouble with big files.   Bet you can’t figure out what city we’re visiting next?  If you aren’t up on our country’s memorial locations, we’re heading to Washington DC to see the real Lincoln Memorial.

… was the road sign that kept popping up as we drove to visit Justin’s uncle in Dallas last weekend.  We always get a kick out of the weird road signs different states use, but this one really made us wonder what they were warning against since we saw nothing but wide open space and lots of cows all around us.  We discovered from the welcome center lady that during the summer there are terrible grass fires that sweep near the freeway with thick smoke making it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of your car.  If you drove into smoke like that, you would have no idea if anyone was in front of you until you literally hit them.  Hence the warning, “Don’t Drive into Smoke!”

It made me think about what the Lord’s been showing me lately, how easily I give into my own fleshly reactions to the adversities in life.  Things like fear, worry, insecurity, jealousy, and anger come all to easy for me.  I so quickly head down these “smoke-filled” paths without thinking of the consequences.  I certainly should know better!  I mean, the Lord’s made it perfectly clear in His Word and shown me in my own life the danger of going down these roads.

Even now, as we venture into the unknown of being self-supported missionaries, I feel daily that temptation to head down that danger-filled, self absorbed, smoke-filled road that leads to disaster.   In the midst of that struggle, I sense the Lord is at work battling for my attention, desiring to turn me back to Him wanting to renew my mind, as Rom. 12 teaches me.  He reminds me that I have not been given “a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Tim. 1:7)  His Spirit brings to my mind that truth in Rom. 8:32, that if the Lord was willing to sacrifice His own Son to take care of my eternal salvation, why would He now fall short of providing what is truly best for me in this life, which is far more fleeting.

So, when the struggles of today taunt me to let my mind and my heart head down those smoke-filled paths, I want to respond to the Spirit’s warning, “Shelbi, Don’t Drive into Smoke!”