AWAYO – Fear to Faith from New Tribes Mission on Vimeo.

Sometimes do you just feel like you can’t walk another step, and you just need someone else to pick you up and carry you or you won’t make it?  Isn’t it awesome to know that we have a heavenly Father who has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us.  He will walk with us every step of the road.  He has told us to “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  Matthew 11:28-29

As we serve here at NTM Aviation, we sometimes find ourselves in similar situations.  Phil planned two trips to Sanford, Florida for meetings and then at the last minute his mom scheduled back surgery.  Trying to balance his meetings and care for his mom was a challenge, but we are very thankful that it happened while Phil was there. Sharon, Phil’s sister arrived in time to help bring Mom home from the hospital and care for her. Although Phil ended up being gone for 20 days the Lord provided a quick trip home for 4 days to see Ellen and catch up on a few things before returning to Florida. This trip, as well as the three weeks we were gone in July, puts Phil pretty far behind. Now, he needs to get caught up before the next trip to Florida.  We praise the Lord for the strength that God has provided.

Loading the helicopter in the container

Yesterday, August 30, was a day of celebration here at NTMA McNeal as the shipping container arrived, and our men loaded it with the helicopter and miscellaneous other items to be shipped to the Philippines. 

 Thank the Lord with us!  He has provided the rest of the money needed to ship this helicopter to the Philippines.  There are many families anxiously waiting for it so that they can get in and out of their remote ministry locations. 

Brian Schaadt and his family are in on northern Luzon,  preparing for the day when it arrives.  He was in Manila in July to take his Philippine pilot’s license exam.    He is doing survey work into the tribal areas,  building relationships and finding a place to use as a hangar.  

Zach Keller and his family are in Manila doing language and culture study until they are needed to assist with the helicopter program in up north.

A walk on the beach

July 24 we returned from a trip to the East coast to visit Dennis and Nancy in Newport News, Virginia and to attend a workshop at our NTM USA home office in Sanford, Florida.  We thought Arizona was hot, but we were in for a big surprise when we arrived in Virginia.  Some of the days saw temperatures over 100 degrees with high humidity.  Living in a dry climate, I am not familiar with my glasses fogging up when I get out of the car or walk outside to the laundry room to get the clothes.  I am not used to being outside for a matter of minutes and having my clothes wet from perspiration.  Oh, the advantages of the  DRY heat!!

Seeing our nine month old granddaughter Aurora was a huge treat.  She surprised us when she came right to Phil and me as if she had known us for months.  No strangeness or shyness.  This was very exciting to us grandparents!    She loved the Kohl’s shopping cart while we were babysitting her and buying Uncle Travis pants for his birthday.  Yes, Travis was there with us, and we thank the Lord for the time we could spend with him.

The last day in Newport News, we went to the beach on the Chesapeake Bay.  Aurora loved walking in the sand with Nancy holding one of her hands and me the other.  This lady from the desert hadn’t been on a beach in over 20 years and loved every minute of it.  The next week in Florida we got to walk on the beach again…twice in one week is a record!!!

Dennis, Nancy & Aurora

Aurora Madeline Koop came into the world on October 2, 2009.    Grandpa and Grandma were very excited to welcome this new little one into their family and were thrilled that the Lord had provided money for them to make the trip to Virginia.  Phil made it possible for Ellen to connect into the office via the internet, and so she was able to stay longer than she otherwise would have been able.   It was a wonderful time to be with Dennis, Nancy and Aurora.

October in Virginia is beautiful with the kaleidescope of colors emerging on the trees contrasted against the delightful shades of green.  Thinking of home in Arizona, I remembered one videographer telling us that all we had in McNeal were various shades of brown.  It almost seemed dismal in contrast until I remembered that God created both the lush forests and colors of the eastern states as well as the ever changing deserts of the western ones.  God delights in variety and is so caught up in diversity that He created fascinating and almost unbelieveable fish in the deep oceans of the world that men may never see.   He created a universe so infinitely large and diverse which we will never explore and never see unless He gives us that honor in eternity.

In the same way that God delights in the immense tapestry of diversity in the natural world, he also finds great joy and pleasure in the vast variety of differences in the human population.  Each one of us is an  individual created by a loving God to have a unique set of physical traits, talents, skills, interests, work and ministry.  No two of us can minister in exactly the same way and in the same place.  We often look at others and are jealous of their appearance, abilities, or the path that life has taken them.  How much more exciting it would be to ask the Lord to show us what He has in store for us and to surrender our will to His as we follow His leading wherever that will be?  For some of us that will mean taking the gospel to a new tribal group in a remote part of the earth.  To others it will mean supporting the efforts of those tribal missionaries through various ministry opportunities on the field or in the U.S.  And for others it may mean giving and praying so that these others can serve where God has placed them.  Each of us is valuable and has a spot to fill that no one else can. 

Let’s rejoice in diversity in the same way that our Creator God does and enjoy serving wherever He places us.

Our dinner guest: Fergusons, Burnhams, Rasmussens

Tuesday night we were privileged to dine with some of our heroes, men and women who have served the Lord for most of their adult lives and who now at retirement age, rather than sitting back and letting the younger generation do “the Work of the Gospel,” continue to serve tirelessly as the Lord enables them. 

Paul and Oreta Burnham arrived in the Philippines in May 1970.  Because of their 39 years of faithful ministry, there is a thriving church in the Ibaloi tribe today.  Burnhams raised their five children in the tribe and later four of those children and their spouses returned to the mission field to continue their parents’ legacy.  Martin, their oldest son, gave his life for his Lord after he and Gracia were  taken by insurgents in 2001.  During that year long ordeal, Paul and Oreta parented Martin’s three children back in the US, providing physical and emotional support to the family.  Although officially retired from New Tribes Mission, Paul and Oreta continue to make trips to the Philippines to assist in the translation of the Bible into the Ibaloi language and to reconnect with the believers  When they are in the US, they provide encouragement and a place to stay when any of their 23 grandchildren needs them.  We have been friends with the Burnham family since our own years in the Philippines and were delighted when we heard that they were coming to visit.  They wanted to see the three families in McNeal whom they knew from the Philippines and what better way to accomplish that than to get together for a Filipino dinner? 

Jim and Edna Ferguson are retired from NTMA and live here in McNeal.  Before becoming a missionary, Jim was a crop duster pilot to support his family.  After joining New Tribes Mission, he and Forest Estelle, another pilot, were challenged to start a flight program to provide air support for missionaries serving in tribal locations around the world.  They purchased their first airplane in 1969 and based it out of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.    From July 1972 to April 1976, Jim served as the pilot forthe flight program on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.   He and Edna served Paul and Oreta by providing aviation service into and out of the Ibaloi tribe.  Upon returning to the U.S., Fergusons continued to serve in leadership roles with Tribal Air/Communication (which later became known as NTM Aviation) in Grant, Nebraska and then McNeal, Arizona until their retirement in April 2002.

 Monty and Kathie Rasmussen were challenged by Lee German to go to the island of Palawan in the Philippines to serve our tribal missionaries there.  They first arrived on the field in November 1970 with their four children and served on both Palawan and Luzon until they were relocated to McNeal in 1986.  Martin Burnham flew in and out of the tribe for years in Monty’s plane and claims that it was Monty’s example that challenged him to become a missionary pilot.  We met Monty and Kathie in May of 1982 when we first arrived in the Philippines.  They have been dear friends and close associates ever since and we praise the Lord every day for their example in our lives.  Although they are at retirement age, Monty continues to work part time in our engine shop and Kathie and I co- teach the student ladies class every Tuesday morning.

 As we sat around the dinner table and listened to these six reminisce about the early days, laughter sporadically erupted from the group, and we caught a glimpse of what it will be like in glory when we sit at the marriage supper of the lamb and feast with all those who have come before us in the faith. 

As I thought of our time together the words of Steve Green’s song “Find Us Faithful” kept running through my mind:

We’re pilgrims on a journey of a narrow road, and those who’ve gone before us line the way,
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary,  their lives a stirring testament of God’s sustaining grace.

Surrounded by so great a crowd of witnesses,  let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who’ve gone before us, let us leave to those to those behind us,
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through Godly lives.

Chorus:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.  May the fire of our devotion light their way.�
May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe, and the lives we lead inspire them to obey.
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone, and our children sift through all we’ve left behind,
May the clues that they discover, and the memories they uncover,

Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find.

 May God find us all faithful!

She arrived as predicted one afternoon the middle of May.  At 6 pounds and 10 ounces you would not expect that she could make much of an impact on our lives.  We knew for nine months that she was coming and had all that time to prepare.  But when it actually happened, and we came face to face, cheek to cheek and heart to heart with this little bundle, holding her in our arms and snuggling close, what could we do?  We were unprepared for the intense feelings that overwhelmed us as we were smitten with love for Elissa.  Two normally sane and serious people became adoring grandparents and sometimes made seeming fools of ourselves.  We soon realized that life would never be the same again.  We couldn’t go back to whom we were before, nor would we want to miss any of this.  When we walk into her house, we neglect everyone else in the room to go and get our hands on this little one.  Then we can look around and see that there are other people in the room who might want our attention.  If she enters our house in her car seat or in the arms of her parent, one of us is quick to set her free of her restraints so that we can snuggle her and whisper our own secrets in her ear.  She has stolen our hearts,  and we quickly realized the truths of what all those grandparents before us have warned us about; grandchildren are the best thing that happened to us since our own children were born.    We are hooked.

Twenty five years ago Phil and I met Monty and Kathie Rasmussen on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.  Monty was our NTMA pilot, and he and Kathie worked together as a team serving our NTM missionaries in the bush.  Kathie has became a big sister to me over the years, and we often consider ourselves part of the Rasmussen family.   After serving together for several years in the Philippines, we have worked with Rasmussens here in McNeal since 1992.

Our NTMA class of 2007 arrived in August of this year.  We have six couples preparing to serve in the Philippines and Indonesia.   The men are working all day receiving technical training on the aircraft they will be flying and servicing on the field.  What kind of training do their wives receive?

In September Kathie and I began a Monday morning class with the student wives at the Koop house.  Having served with Monty since 1970, Kathie brings to the class a wealth of knowledge, experience, and years of walking with the Lord.  Together Kathie and I are editing the teaching outline she has used for years.  The topics we cover include the NTMA Wife and: Her Rights Before God, Her Walk with the Lord, Her Relationship with her Husband, Balancing Her Home and Her Work, Her Children, and Her Relationships with Her Co-workers. 

All of these topics have already been covered before in the training these ladies have received.  What makes our times together different is that we cover many of the unique challenges that will be faced by these ladies as they serve with their husbands in an aviation ministry.

Please pray for Kathie and I as we teach these wonderful ladies in preparation for their ministries abroad.  In addition, pray for these six, Bailey, Kelly, Jane, Melissa, Candy, and Missy, as well as Jonie, Kari, and Gloria as we spend time together every Monday morning.  Praise the Lord for a couple of staff ladies and one homeschooled teen who babysit  the nine children under 5 years old so that the mothers can participate in the class.