NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Mio buying breakfast

It’s been one week since we arrived in Indonesia and we finally feel settled and over the jet lag. Friends here have taken us around the city showing us what all has changed since we were here a few years ago. Nara started the week running a low grade fever for a few days, but has gotten better and is back to her normal self. Throughout the day sellers pass up and down the streets in front of the house pushing small carts selling a variety of food. If you want what they are selling, you go outside with a bowl or plate and stop them. Mio bought breakfast the other morning from this guy, rice cereal. The prices vary depending on the food, but the rice cereal cost her .15 cents!

At least we got a bulkhead seat.

Waiting in Germany

She loves no car seat, but misses the air conditioner.

We finally made it to Indonesia. The flight over took us from Houston, to D.C., to Germany, to Singapore, and finally Jakarta Indonesia. We then had a short flight and a 1.5 hour car ride to our home for the coming months. Nara traveled well sleeping on most of the flights. We also are excited to tell you that all the tools made it and we had no problems getting them through customs!! (Thanks for your prayers) We had forgotten how hot it is here, but was quickly reminded as you can see by Nara in the van. So far we have been meeting some of our team here, catching up on eating everything we missed, and getting over jet lag. Thanks for all the prayers, encouragement, and support as we left last week. The sending off was amazing and we are blessed.

We booked our plane tickets today, which means we are leaving soon. In fact, we are leaving May 27th!! Tomorrow we are going to the consulate in Houston and pick up my visa. Pray that the process goes smoothly and for Mio as she is still in shock that we are leaving next week.

We leaving when?

NTM Aviation’s Kodiak airplane stopped overnight in Eunice this weekend. Four guys from NTMA are bringing the plane from Arizona to Florida for the Sun and Fun Airshow taking place this week. We were able to feed them some of south Louisiana’s finest cuisine (sauce picante, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee) and my brother Tommy gave them a short tour of the crawfish and rice farm. We could not find a ladder tall enough to reach the fuel tanks on top of the wings, so we improvised. The plane will be on display at the Airshow and the guys will have a chance to tell folks how aircraft are being used to help plant churches in unreached people groups around the world.

As April 1st passes we continue to wait for my visa that I need to enter Indonesia. We are told it is being processed now, but may be a few weeks longer. In the meantime we continue to visit, pack, and do whatever else comes up. Nara was helping me this past week bubble wrapping tools for the trip over. If you ever wondered what bubble wrap taste like, just ask her.

We made it back to Louisiana 2 weeks ago after finishing the airplane portion of the training in Arizona. This week we are in Missouri visiting friends from the training we did here last year. We will also get to a Pastor friend and his family I attended seminary with down in New Orleans. Mio and Nara went with our friend this afternoon to town for window shopping and Nara tried on some of the latest fashions. We are still waiting on my visa, and expecting it at the end of March. Let us know if you would like to get together, even if it’s just to see Nara.

One part of the Airplane training here involves package drops. Some of the missionaries in the tribes don’t have runways for the planes to land, so they get there smaller stuff dropped in. We practiced with small bags, small boxes, and medium boxes simulating medicine, books, etc. The target was the size of a queen size mattress and was harder to hit than we thought.

The first of 13 Kodiaks arrived today here at NTMA in Arizona. The kodiak is a turbine aircraft that can carry 9 passengers and still perform well on the short undeveloped strips NTMA uses.

We made it back to Arizona after a great time back home in Eunice. Thanks to all who made our time there memorable and fun. Before we left Phoenix we looked around a bit and stumbled upon this European sausage shop. I think Nara’s smiling helped me score some free samples. We get back to the training tomorrow morning and I am excited to start flying again.