NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

As we made our way back to Ontario, we enjoyed several evenings of reminiscing with friends from our Bible School days (lots of water has passed under the bridge since the 70′s). Another highlight of the trip was having a few hours with one of my nieces whom I haven’t seen since 1989.

It goes without saying that a few days with the grandkids was very much enjoyed before we were off again to the NTM Canadian Headquarters. We are so thankful we could be there for the 40th anniversary celebration of NTM in Canada. We didn’t realize when we were students that we were only the 7th class. We have seen lots of changes and much growth in the past 33 years.

More travelling around the province of Ontario gave us the opportunity to share in a Bible School in Peterborough, have a reunion with some N.B.B.I. classmates and our husbands in Toronto, a few days with my sister in Ottawa and then back to Durham for an evening with students who are interested in going to the Philippines.

We are so thankful for all that the Lord allowed us to do during these past few months in Canada, and now we are excited to move on, and get started in our new ministry in England.

Being in the Maritimes for the last couple of months has been so encouraging. God has used many people in our lives over the past 33 years, and we are thankful that we were able to visit and spend time with almost every family and church group that has been part of our ministry.

Time with other NTM missionaries in Nova Scotia was unknown on our first ‘home assignment’. That definitely has changed, and in just these past few weeks, we enjoyed fellowship with four families also involved with NTM in helping to get the gospel out to the unreached.

We were also blessed with time with my two aunts (mom’s sisters); my brother Peter, lots of cousins and some former classmates from my Middle School days. Friends met us at beautiful Peggy’s Cove, took us to fun parks and beaches, a Gospel Concert and even places near where I grew up that I had never been to before.

Sleeping in different homes night after night, and spending hours on the road each day are not always our favorite way to spend weeks in a row. But when we look at the blessings we received, the ways we were pampered and the things the Lord has taught us, we leave the Maritimes with cheerful and grateful hearts.

What a treasure of memories this past month in Nova Scotia has been!! Catching up with lots of friends and family has brought us great joy! Being treated like royalty as we slip in and out of people’s homes has certainly spoiled us though. It is hard to believe that six years have slipped by since we have last been here. No wonder we were so excited to make our way to the east coast – a place where we could also enjoy fresh shrimp, crabs and lobster once again.

We were blessed to be invited to spend a week with good friends in their new home, right by the ocean – a place that makes us both feel at home. One special day was spent island hopping – building a fire and roasting hot dogs right by the sea and exploring around a small island. Rocky also had several opportunities to fish while we were there. Other friends took us to places we have never been before, introduced us to new members in their churches, provided help and encouragement for us as we needed to get caught up on paper work etc.

One project that basically took the good part of a week was cleaning out a big room of things we had stored for the last 8 years. A job we were not looking forward to. We found things we had forgotten about as well as things that we couldn’t yet part with!! Before we needed to move on though we were able to find homes for almost everything, and very glad to have that job behind us.

This past month found us heading farther north in Ontario, and west to Manitoba. We really enjoyed our week at the Canadian NTM Headquarters. Spending time with the students in Jungle Camp brought back lots of good memories. We are also thankful for time with our supporters in that area, and several members of the staff at the Training Center. There never seems to be an end to the things we need to be updated on.

Our time in Manitoba allowed us to get caught up with more supporters, several coworkers from the Philippines, as well as friends that we were with in  Missions Training with, one of them being one of my bridesmaids. It had been 24 years since we had seen each other, but our time together seemed as if we had just seen each other the day before. Seeing God’s provision in so many details sure was encouraging. Each family made sure that our time was well spent – lots of worth while activities planned. One family even lent us a car so we had our own transportation to get to the different areas.

A note from Canada.

We safely made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean after waiting in the Manchester airport for over 11 hours! What a joy it has been to meet precious little Selah, and spend time with her, her older brother and her parents!! We feel so blessed to have this time with them.

The month of May found us in several locations. Our last two weeks in the Faroe Islands went by quickly as we made our rounds to many homes for lots of good cooking and fellowship. Saying good bye to Rocky’s parents is never easy, but we are so thankful for our 8 weeks with them.
We flew to England and had a fun week with Craig, Claire and their girls. Rocky was able to help them with some projects around their house, including painting their fence. Liz enjoyed helping in the kitchen, and of course Grandma time with Ellie and Rebekah.
Then we had a few days at our new home in North Cotes. We were able to get almost everything unpacked and put away, and it was starting to feel like home.

Now we are in Niagara Falls for a couple of weeks with Ryan, Kara, Noah and Selah. Later this week we plan to go to the NTM Headquarters in Durham and get caught up with our support team there.

April was an exciting month for us, bringing us two wonderful occasions. 

1 – A new granddaughter – Selah Irene Niclasen!!!  April 3 was a special day in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  Little Selah joined Ryan and Kara’s family.  Noah thinks the world of his new little sister.  We have enjoyed the pictures they have sent of her and are SO EXCITED that we get to cuddle her later this month.  We fly to Hamilton, Ontario on the 27th.

2 – Rocky’s parents 65th Wedding Anniversary!  What a milestone to reach, and we are so thankful that we could be here with them for this big event.  Craig, Claire, Ellie and Rebekah were also able to be here.  Around 250 people joined them for a delicious 4 course meal, followed by singing, special music, speeches etc.

Our time here in the Faroes is slipping by extremely fast – just 2 more weeks and we will be on our way to England.  It has been great to reconnect with so many people and have lots of time with family.  The Lord has encouraged us in many ways through a wide range of activities.  Just to mention a few – Rocky was asked to share about our work in the public school where he once attended; we have met and spent time with several Filipinos; we had the opportunity to help in a Christian Camp when men from all over the islands gathered to change the roof on one of the main buildings and fellow NTM missionaries are here from PNG whom we seldom see – he and Rocky have gotten together every day that they are both home for a time of prayer. 

We are thankful that we were able to go to our new place of service in England for the second week in March. Our container arrived the day it was scheduled to, and when we broke the seal and opened the doors, we were pleasantly surprised to see that everything looked just like it did when we closed the doors and put the seal on in our yard in the Philippines!!

Lots of men joined us that morning in emptying the container.  Then we went to work taking the cardboard off our furniture, emptying boxes and trying to find a home for everything.  Our neighbours were so kind and helpful in offering to burn the old boxes for us, having us in for dinner, giving us a ride to town to set up new accounts etc.  The week went by quickly but we were very encouraged with all that got accomplished. 

Now we are in the Faroe Islands for 2 months.  We are enjoying the time with family and friends, in-between meetings and traveling to various towns and villages.  The cooler weather is also a blessing, and we try to get out each day for a nice long walk.  We also can’t believe how well we have been sleeping here – maybe we are playing catch up from all the extra activities that have been filling our weeks recently. 

Now we are writing from England.  We are thankful that the flight went smoothly and uneventful.  It was great to be met at the end of our journey by Craig, Claire and Ellie.  After so many, many good-byes, it has been wonderful to be saying lots of ‘hellos’ this past week. 

The most special ‘hello’ was to our new little granddaughter, Rebekah Jasmine, born February 27 (the day after her sister’s 2nd birthday.)  She sure is a little gem and we are so thankful that we could be here for this wonderful occasion.  We enjoyed being the baby sitter for Ellie while her parents were in the hospital and helping out in various ways since they came home.

This coming Tuesday we will be going up to the NTM Headquarters.  The container with our belongings from the Philippines is scheduled to arrive at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.  We will see how much we can get unpacked in the following few days before we head to the Faroe Islands for a few weeks. 

Thank you so much for praying for us as we said our final good byes in the Philippines and our hellos in England.  We appreciate you continuing to pray for us as we try to get as much done as possible in our new home next week; as we travel to the Faroes; our time there with Rocky’s family and wisdom in knowing when we should book tickets for Canada. 

We just watched the truck drive down the hill with all of our belongings. The container will be on its way to Great Britian tomorrow. It was sad for us to watch it drive away, yet at the same time we are happy to have that job behind us. If everything goes according to schedule we will be unpacking the container at our new home in England the second week of March.

Our coworkers just returned from their Home Assignment in Australia yesterday. We will be spending lots of time with them this week, going over the many things that have happened while they were away. We have made lots of notes so hopefully the things that we forget to pass on will be minimal.

The next few weeks are jammed packed with appointments and activities. We know our departure date will be here all too soon. At the same time, we know God is guiding us in this huge change of ministry. We are excited to see all that He has planned for us. We are also excited to see lots of you this summer.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being part of our team this past year in helping to spread God’s great news to the tribal people in the Philippines!! We know we could not be here without you ‘cheering us on’. God has blessed us in many ways this past year and you were a big part of that.

Many of you let us know that you were praying for us as we celebrated our last Christmas here in the Philippines. Thank you – God answered your prayers. We had a fantastic time with 4 families who joined our family, plus six other families here on our center. A planned activity for each day brought all 48 of us together. Our progressive dinner, hot dog roast, Christmas Pot Luck Dinner, picnic at the water falls, mountain climb and Christmas Carol sing in our home were all enjoyable, but our favorite was when we walked around the valley here singing carols and sharing a blanket with each family in our neighbourhood. Their faces lit up and their smiles showed their appreciation.

Now we look forward to His plan for us for 2008. Our new year got off to a great start. We always enjoy our time of getting together with our coworkers at our annual conference. Having a chance to spend time with all of the other missionaries is so encouraging. We love hearing how God is working in each tribal area. Rocky shared in one of the evening meetings, and I did a lot of reminiscing at the Ladies Luncheon. At the banquet our colleagues surprised us with a time of remembering our 29 years here. We were presented with a plaque and a beautiful large painting for our home in England. Also many people got up and shared encouraging words about our years here. God’s grace was evident even amidst the numerous tears shed as we hugged many friends for what might be the last time.