Nathan and Rachel Allen “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
WARNING: THE CONTENT OF THIS POST MAY PROVE TO SHOW US VULNERABLE AND GOD-DEPENDENT PEOPLE. NO COERCION OR PRESSURE IS INTENDED BY POSTING THE ENCLOSED INFORMATION. IT IS MERELY A METHOD TO SHARE WITH OUR CURRENT AND FUTURE PARTNERS. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. (more…)
Our summer here in Jersey Shore, PA is coming to an end. We have had a wonderful time this summer and we so look forward to seeing some of the fruit from this summmer as we head back to the Bible School in Jackson, MI. We will be traveling on Wednesday the 3rd back to our home in Jackson. Please pray for us as we make the 8 – 9 hour trip.
Also, we are so blessed with some of the best co-workers anyone could ask for. One of them is Danny Mixter. Danny is a mechanic and he offered to look over the van before we traveled home. I was thankful because the brakes seemed to start squeaking lately. Upon inspection he determined that we should go ahead and get new rotors, drums, shoes and pads – that was some squeak! He also is switching the van over to synthetic oil – which runs better and I don’t have to worry about changing the oil as often. Of all the things on this planet I hate, car work is at the top of the list. The expense (about $400 in all) was unexpected, but I am so thankful to have a qualified honest individual that I trust to be doing this necessary work. He even volunteered which was such a blessing! Please pray for Danny as he finishes up the work on our van.
The funds for this came from our “emergency fund.” A small amount of money we’ve been able to save to cover these kinds of unexpected expenses. If you would like to help with this expense, you can do so by going to our website here: http://blogs.ntm.org/nathan-allen/give/
As always, thanks so much for being a part of our prayer team.
It’s amazing how fast the second half of the summer is going! We had a very busy week off during the 4th of July week with close friends and family visiting all week. Our best friends, Wes & Jodi, from Michigan stopped by overnight on their way out to Maine and then stayed with us for a few days on their return trip to Michigan. Jason and Laken Cizdziel spent the holiday weekend with us. Rachel’s brother and sister-in-law and family spent about 24 hours with us on their way home from Massachusetts. A very busy time indeed. It took us a little bit to recover, but I was well rested when it came time for camp to start for our third week.
This group was from Denver, Colorado 14 in all. They traveled 30+ hours in two days to get here. This group is from a supporting church of one of our co-workers – Greg and Hannah Lilley. So their oldest two boys, Luke and Levi, joined the group for the week and slept in the hammocks in jungle camp with them. What a committed group of teens and leaders! We had a great time with this group and we are looking forward to their future decisions about serving God.
As our time here is drawing to a close, we have booked just about everyday with friends to see. Including a trip to an Amish farm where one of our current students at the Bible School, John Beiler, grew up. A trip to Washington D.C. for the first time in our lives, with the kiddos! We are going to be staying with Jason and Laken. One of the interns, Josiah, is coming with us. We will be getting back on Sunday, the day that our next group arrives.
Pray for us as we travel and that our times of visiting with friends will be fruitful!
Thanks for reading our update!
Here we are again at Wayumi for the summer. I tell some people this is my disneyworld – the happiest place on earth. After last summer I couldn’t wait to get back here and see many lives changed once again. We started out with 6 weeks of camp planned – 3 weeks straight with a week off for the 4th of July, then another 3 weeks. We were hoping to have 4 interns, a guy and girl from both Bible Schools and I was going to be exhausted when it was all said and done.
Well, true to the Word of God, Proverbs 16:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” (NLT) Here are some of the steps: We were only able to secure one male Bible school student to be an intern. We found out the week before we left Jackson, MI that one group had already cancelled, and then the night before we left a second group had cancelled. Major disappointment began to set in. But I slowly began to realize once again that God is still in control.
We arrived here Saturday June 4th and quickly set up house and began to get the camp in order for our first group of 28 people that arrived on Sunday June 12th. After arriving I was introduced to a girl by the name of Marie “Meezie” Sanford. Meezie is an NTM MK (missionary kid) and volunteered to help out for the summer. Jeb Wishart is our guy intern and is a Bible School graduate. Also, another Bible School student, Rachel Minium has been available to help as well as my intern from last year, Josiah Vanderdecker will be joining us next week as well! So I now had four interns! What a blessing that has been!
The first group arrived on Sunday and the week was off and running. We learned a lot last week, especially the interns, getting their feet wet and are now better prepared to run with me for the rest of the summer with 4 more weeks of camp. As it turns out, with the cancellations we will have camp every other week all summer.
In the Amazon rain forest lives a group of people who are called the Yanomamo. They have a tradition in their culture to leave their village for a specific period of time, to go to a specific location, for a specific purpose. They call this tradition, “Wayumi,” pronounced “why-you-me”. (more…)
This summer, when we were not running the camp at Wayumi, we were busy working on our partnership development. Before we left for the summer, we attended a training workshop by NTM to help guide us into expanding our partnership team. NTM has set a goal for us to reach 100% of our recommended support in the next 3 years. Our plan is to share our vision for ministry with individuals and churches and invite them to partner with us by praying for us, supporting us financially, encouraging us, or even going with us! This is not an easy task for us to undertake, but one that we are learning to trust God with more and more and see Him provide for us through the body of Christ. (more…)
Often in life, I find myself in situations for which I am completely unprepared for and wishing someone had told me, “You are going to encounter *this* in the near future and here is how you should respond.” Even worse is when someone does say what is coming up – and wishes you “Good Luck!” Great – thanks for nuthin’.
Such was the case when we began our journey of support raising many moons ago. (more…)
The Village
Wayumi = To go to a specific place, for a specific time, for a specific purpose. We had the opportunity to lead a group of 17 people to one of the first weeks of Teen Camp at Wayumi in Jersey Shore. (more…)
Youth Day is a fun pack twelve hour day for teens to get a better idea of what God is doing among unreached people groups and how they can be part of His work. Nathan got to be the Master of Ceremonies this year. He brought two Bible school students as well as two teens from our youth group to join in on the days activities. They all had a blast. Below is a photo journal of the day. (more…)
