NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Ron and the guys made it back safe and sound after a great trip. 

Thank you for your prayers for the guys, we know God answers!

As we make trips into the mountains God is continually showing me that He is with me, way out there and intimately involved in our lives.  

One afternoon as Ron and I were preparing our afternoon meal we talked about sharing a plate of food with someone who had previously shared with us.

I was hesitant because I had planned our food out to exactly what we would eat, so I thought.  I planned 10 tortillas for us to eat that meal.  If we gave away what Ron suggested, that meant we would only have 8 left.  

I did not want to share, plain and simple.  I knew the person we were going to share with had enough to eat, they didn’t need our food. 

Ron assured me that he didn’t need the tortilla, he could eat the meal without.  So, I reluctantly agreed, thinking, I could eat the meal without a tortilla too. 

I fixed the food to share and walked to the house. I greeted the lady and offered her the plate of food, explaining it was a Mexican-American mix of flavors.  She thanked me then proceeded to offer me some of the fresh corn tortillas she had just made for their afternoon meal.

The tortillas were made out of blue corn, very pretty. They were fresh and still warm.  A perfect addition to the meal we were eating.

I went back to our place and the kids eagerly clamoured to eat some of the fresh tortillas.  Ron and I were able to eat our fill of them, too.

It might seem like a small thing, but it reminded me of an important lesson I learned long ago…God always provides what we need as we walk with Him. 

Sometimes we miss out on blessings when we are not willing to ‘give up’ something we have.  Often times he wants to give us better than what we have now.  But we have to take a step of faith knowing that God will provide all we need.

Please pray for this trip to the mountains this week. 

Ron is helping teach the people how to build a certain type of latrine. 

Pray for his safety and that of Tom and another missionary.  

Pray that God would continue to open the necessary doors to have a missionary presence living among the Nahuat.   

Pray that God would bring together the team He desires so that the Meshikaneros would be reached for His glory.

Thank you!

What do airplanes and latrines have in common?

Alot when you live in a remote area that only has outhouses. The one can be the means to the other.

This week Ron is there with Tom Elkins and another missionary.  They are training the people to make latrines.  This will help with their sanitation. 

A few months ago as part of an assessment of the area and people it was seen that this type of thing would be a great help.  In fact, several people requested it as a need they saw for their community.

We are glad to help provide this necessity.  All the while praying it will help them see Christ’s love for them shining through us.

Pray for Ron and the guys as they are there this week.  Pray for safety in the planes and on the road.  Pray as they have contact with the people, that God would give them His words to say. 

We had a wonderful time in the Meshikanero community with the family. We were again warmly welcomed into the village and were received well at every house we visited during our stay.

Thank you for your prayers for our health. Emma was pretty sick when we were preparing to leave and we had some second thoughts, but praise the Lord that we have the book of James that says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” So we asked the Lord, He gave us wisdom and we left, not doubting, but trusting Him and knowing that He would take care of us. Praise the Lord, Emma got better and we had a wonderful time with the people.

The flight in a small plane was a first for most of the family. Even though it is dry season, the scenery was breath taking, and the high vantage point of the incredibly rugged terrain clearly showed how the 15 hour road trip from Durango can be reduced to 1 hour in the air.

Our first day in the village overlapped with the last day of another dental clinic organized by our partners Tom and Teresa Elkins. Like the first clinic we did, this was a success, with the visiting dentist doing some amazing things. They saw 59 patients, doing 222 different procedures!

The next day there was a strange sense of isolation as we watched the dental team leave, but it quickly faded as Mexicaneros began to stop by our camp site and say hello. On Saturday the flow of visitors stopped so we headed out to do some visiting of our own. These little jaunts were a mix of excitement and anxiety. We are eager to make friends, but we know very little of what is culturally appropriate. But a friendly smile and genuine interest seemed to gain a lot of forgiveness for any of our missteps. We returned to our tent rehearsing our first Mexicano words, feeling very thankful and praising the Lord.

The kids really enjoyed their time also. The Mexicanero kids and ours were a little shy of each other, but that barrier is beginning to break down.

On Sunday we continued our visits. There seemed to be a lot more activity that day and the setting sun caught us by surprise. We found ourselves packing in the dark for the next morning’s flight out. We put the kids to bed, fixed some coffee and started to put all our gear away. It didn’t take long because we were only allowed 120 pounds of cargo. (For a family of 6, that ain’t much!)

We arrived at the airstrip and had a relaxing flight back to Durango.

We are now making new plans for our next visits. Ron will head back with Tom in a couple of weeks and we’re looking at another family visit during spring break in April and the next probably in early June. And finally, we are planning a short (2-3 months) furlough in Oregon during the summer school break. We will get the dates of that trip out when we have them.

Thanks again to you all for you prayers, support and interest in our ministry here in Mexico. May God bless you.

Well, by the Grace of God, things seem to moving right along for us.

Since our last newsletter many things have changed. The first thing we’d like to share with you is that Ron has finally finished Spanish study! In December, just before the Christmas break, he successfully passed his final interview. While “fluent” is still a hard word to quantify, he is officially an “advanced mid” Spanish speaker.

As we have been transitioning out of language school, we have begun working our way into a Mexican tribe in southern Durango state: the Mexicanero tribe. The first week of December Ron was able to go out to the tribe and help with a dental clinic. It was headed up by our partners Tom and Teresa Elkins along with an American oral surgeon from Kentucky and a Mexican dentist from Durango.

It was a very successful trip. We saw about 70 patients and did over 100 procedures, mostly fillings and some pullings. The people continue to be open and friendly and we are really looking forward to the day we move in. Our major hold up so far is that we don’t have any partners ready to move in with us. Tom and Teresa will be mostly support for us and will continue to live in Durango.

We need at least another family to move into the village with us and help balance out the team. There are perspective families down here and it is just a matter of timing, their gifts and abilities (so we can have a well-rounded team) and, of course, their interest. We are confident that the Lord is moving and arranging in all these areas, so we are excited to see how he pulls it all together.

In the mean time, we have been helping out in the National Language Department where Ron has been teaching Spanish grammar classes and Tasha has been helping to coordinate childcare for some of the families. And in the midst of this, we have been planning a "whole family" trip to  visit the Mexicaneros.  So far everything has worked out for this trip. Not perfectly, but certainly sufficiently. 

We will be leaving today, the 13th, flying out tomorrow and then spending 5 days camping out there. Please keep us in your prayers, even if you get this letter a bit late. We have never camped in such a remote place and we would like it to go well. Also, one of the main purposes of this trip is that we begin to bond with the community and start developing good friendships. These friendships are a key part of our ministry. Also, Emma and Ron have been sick this week, so pray that they recover well and that all of us can stay healthy.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support on our behalf. You are a vital part of our ministry and we praise God for you. We will get an update on how the trip went as soon as we can.

Thank you for all your prayers!!!

Ron has officially graduated from the Spanish language program with high marks! Although he won’t be a student in the program, he will be helping teach some of the grammar and other lessons. Tasha will be helping out with discipleship and child-care.

We are so pleased and looking forward to what God has for us this semester.

Pray for us as we seek to be earthen vessels that God can use in others’ lives.

Ron made it back safe and sound. 

He had a wonderful trip.  The dentists treated more than 60 people over 4 days.  Incredible!  God is continuing to open doors of ministry to these people.  Please pray with us as we wait on God’s timing as to partners and when we will be able to move into the Meshikanero community.

As some of you know we feel God is leading us to minister to a tribe in the sierra of Mexico. These beautiful people call themselves Mexicaneros. They are descendents of the ancient Aztecs and they don’t even have one word of God’s precious letter to us in their own language.

Ron and I were able to take a trip out to visit this tribe for the first time in October. It was a wonderful experience that left us amazed and in awe of the power and love of our Lord. On our way home, Ron and I agreed that we feel more and more strongly that God has chosen to use us ‘earthen vessels’ to bring His glory to the Mexicaneros. We are humbled and rejoicing in this.

This week Ron left to go out there again. He was invited to help with a dental clinic facilitated by Tom and Teresa Elkins. Tom and Teresa are helping us to build relationships with this Meshikanero village. As we build relationships we hope the people will feel the confidence to accept us into their lives and help us learn their language and ultimately be able to share God’s precious word in their own heart language.

Please pray for Ron as he has contact with the Mexicaneros again on this trip. Pray that the Holy Spirit will open doors of communication and mutual respect. Pray for the health of the people involved, the dentists who have volunteered their time, the missionaries who are sacrificing their time to serve these precious souls, and the Mexicaneros, that they could in some small way see the Holy Spirit at work in the dentists and missionaries so that one day they will be ready to hear our life saving message. And pray for the kids and I as we are without daddy for a while. 

We value your prayers very much and know that only through the power of God will anything be accomplished that has eternal value.

Love in Christ,

Tasha for the family

Well, we just finished a wonderful trip out to the Meshikanero community!

Thank you all for your many prayers on our behalf! We made it into the village after 23 hours on the road. It was an 8 hour drive to Durango where we met up with Tom and Teresa Elkins. Then we left our van and drove the remaining 15 hours in a 4×4 on some of the windiest, bumpiest roads we have ever driven. Nathaniel did very well the whole time, and his one complaint was, “They need to fix this road!” And despite the physical discomfort of the drive, we had a great time of fellowship with Tom and Teresa. We are really looking forward to working with them to reach the Mexicaneros (that is the name the people use to refer to themselves instead of Nahuatl.)
When we arrived in the village, we were greeted with curiosity and friendliness. We found that most everyone spoke Spanish to some degree, so we were able to communicate right away. Nathaniel fascinated everyone and all the kids would gather around him and watch his every move. He sometimes got a little more attention then he could handle, so he would make an escape into the cab of the truck to play with some of the toys he brought. But considering the circumstances, he held up very well. Tasha really hit it off with the village women. They were open and friendly and seemed to appreciate our visit. The men were a little more reserved, but I did get a chance to meet the community leaders and chat with them off and on during our few days in the village. They all seemed very friendly and not suspicious of us and from what we have heard, that is not usual with most Mexican tribes. We see this as a good sign that permission to live among them and learn their language will be granted without difficulty. We thank and praise the Lord for this as it looks like He is preparing a way for the Gospel to reach these people.
During this visit we were formally presented at a village meeting and we will now wait and see what they decide. We will continue visiting the village as often as we can, our next one being a dental clinic the first week of December. I will be leaving the rest of the family in Chihuahua for this trip, but we will get the whole family in as soon as we are able. Pray with us as we make these contacts: that the community will allow us to live among them and we will find a good location to build our house. We are also looking for more partners, so pray that God will provide well suited additions to our team. Thank you again for your prayers and support. We will continue to pray that God be the one guiding this endeavor and be preparing the way even as we prepare ourselves to go.

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9