NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

We’ve been in class for three weeks now! It’s a little bit like, well…going back to second grade again! Of course, that’s where you begin! It’s just comical when you think about it. We now know how to say numbers one to thirty, our colors, and we can introduce ourselves. We also spend an hour a week reading the Bible in French to one of the French speaking Bible students. We’re thankful for their patience to repeat over and over, "No, you pronounce that word like…"

We met a family in our apartment building when we first arrived, and we had them and their kids over this week to play UNO in French. It was a blast. Their parents came over and we drank coffee while trying to communicate a little bit about ourselves in French.

Our teacher has made a, "No English…at all" rule at the beginning of this week. She won’t speak it, and we’re not aloud to speak it to the other students, or to her. We realize it’s for our own good, it’s just that it can be a challenge at first. Especially when it comes to grammar terms!

En Francais, s’il vous plait,

(In French, please,)

Shawn and Jenn

Bonjour! We are now officially, "learning how to swim" in the French language! We started classes one week ago. Although it has only been a week we have mixed emotions. Naturally, we are still overwhelmed when we listen to the radio, receive French instructions in class, interpret road signs, etc. We realize that learning a new language takes LOTS of time and effort. Yet we were reminded on the first day of orientation that it is possible with God on our side. As well as motivation, determination and hard work. Pray with us that we will work hard everyday. Even when we try and try, and words or phrases don’t come naturally.

The other emotion that we are feeling is gratefulness. Gratefulness for a nice apartment, new snow tires, a good teacher, a fun class, and even some French speaking local friends!

God has already answered our prayers by providing some French and English speakers as friends. We met some people who live in the same apartment building that we do. They are fluent in both Spanish and French, but no English. They are a Christian couple who are more than willing to help us with our pronunciation. They are very hospitable. The same afternoon that we were introduced to them, they had us in for a delicious Latin meal! Their kids were a blessing, too! They helped us read a children’s book, and played, "teacher" as they graded our French.

Also, as random as it may be, we met a young woman from France who works in the phone store at a local shopping center. We found out that she and her boyfriend want to perfect their English, and as you all know, we are in the process of learning French. So it was another great contact from the Lord! Plus we can compare the Quebec French with the France French. We are already able to pick out some different sounds.

We like the area here in Quebec. Above you can see a picture of the apartment building we live in, an old church, and a park. There are lots of hills in the town, reason number 1,000 why we are grateful for snow tires! So far we haven’t had extremely cold weather. Cold, but bearable. There are some neat historic buildings, come nice coffee shops, and a big river here in Sherbrooke. We have been told that the river is a nice place to walk… in the spring! We think we will wait and take their word for it.

After only one week we feel like we have made a lot of progress and we’re ready to continue learning this new language.

"The, "Can you please repeat that one more time?" missionaries",

Shawn and Jenn

Well…we made it! We packed up our home, loaded up the car, and we have arrived in Sherbrooke, Quebec for our year of national language study. We will be learning French full-time at a Word of Life school that has both a Bible program and a French program. We will, of course, be in the French program.

We have an apartment about ten minutes from the school. In our building there is another family attending the school, as well as two single ladies. Other than that, it seems like most everyone is fluent in French. Our neighbors don’t speak any English, so hopefully we can spend some time with them!

We are learning the ins and outs of the area, and unpacking before classes on Monday. We’ve only been here for a few days, and already we realize, "Wow, we need to learn French fast! We want to be able to communicate!" We’ll keep you posted!

In Quebec for HIM,

Shawn and Jenn

Also, check out our contact page on this website, for our updated contact information!

How was your Christmas? We had a wonderful Christmas celebration here in Ohio with Shawn’s family, and earlier in December with Jenn’s family in Colorado.

Now it’s crunch time! We have a little over a week to pack up our home, decide where we’re going to store our belongings, what we want to set aside to take to Guinea, what we want to get rid of, and what we want to cram into our little car for the trip up north…all in time to begin studying French full time in Sherbrooke, Quebec! Yes, we’re feeling a little bit overwhelmed right now, but as always, we know that God will work out all of the details. We certainly are learning a lot about TRUSTING in Him!

Aren’t we fortunate to serve a mighty God who goes before us? A God who knows our future, and cares for us, and what we may be going through in this life here on earth.  

Despite the hectic few days we have before us, we are excited to move to Sherbrooke, to meet some new people, and to dive head-first into the language.

We are renting an apartment off campus, about ten minutes from the school. That’s really all we know about the area, and where we’ll be living. So we’re interested to see and learn more.

As always, we value your prayers as we pin point our schedule, what to pack, what to store (and where) and all the details that come with a move.

We hope you have a great 2008 looking to God, the author of our faith!

Breaking out the boxes,

Shawn and Jenn DeAtley

You have probably heard the song, "Tis’ the season to be jolly…falalalalalala." I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard that song. I don’t know who wrote that song, or why the song was written, but I can tell you one thing: this is indeed the season to be jolly!

Is it because we have stockings, fruitcakes and presents? No. Although they are an added bonus, they are not the true reason for joy. We CAN be jolly because this is the season to remember the birth of Jesus! He came to save to lost. He came that we (sinners) might have life! He came to bring us hope and joy!

We hope you and your family embrace these exciting truths, and that you will have a holly jolly Christmas, and a wonderful 2008!

Love to you and your family,

Shawn and Jenn DeAtely

At the end of October, we were in Dublin,  Philly and in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. We were seeing some family members, visiting some future co-workers, and speaking at a church. It’s a church we have visited in the past. So it was nice to return and see some familiar people.

For Thanksgiving and into the first week of December, we were in Colorado with Jenn’s family. It was nice because we were able to see some Uncles and Aunts that we hadn’t seen in awhile, and enjoy time with them.

We spent some time in Estes Park and we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to see the beauty of the mountains.

We were able to celebrate Christmas early while we were out there, as well as speak to our group of Awana kids who have mentioned before. It’s fun to slowly learn the names of people we meet at church, and to develop friendships with them!

We’re back in Ohio now, and we plan to be here for the remainder of December, aside from a weekend visit or two.

We’ll keep you up-to-date on what’s to come in January!

While we were in Colorado, we had a Sunday evening to speak to the Awana kids at church. This was a fun evening for us, and we hope the kids were informed, and maybe even challenged to they, themselves, embark on the great adventure of tribal missions!

We brought along our, "friend" Cadui (a big picture of an Ayore Indian from Paraguay) to put a picture in their minds as we spoke about the need for the Bible in their own language, and the need for missionaries to bring the gospel to many language groups around the globe.

We also had some large bow and arrows that we brought back from our short term trip in Bolivia, to illustrate how tribal people often make a living for themselves by hunting, fishing, and so forth.

They were amazed when we told them how Cadui lived: in the jungle, with his whole family, and no, he does not have a Play Station 2!

We described to the kids that as American’s, we are very fortunate, and we have many things that Cadui does not have. Cars, refrigerators, toys, but one thing that we have that Cadui doesn’t have is the news of Jesus!

It’s neat to see the response the kids have to this news, and it’s interesting to hear the questions that they come up with.

At the end of our time with the kids, we did tell them that someone (our friend’s Rob and Cheryl Ketcham) did eventually come to teach Cadui about God! They came to where he was living in Paraguay, learned his language, his way of living, how he thinks, and now, years later, he is saved. When he dies, he will be in heaven spending eternity with God! Isn’t that exciting!?

The next week at church one mother came up to us and said, "My son came home after Awana last week and said, "Mom, I’m going to be a tribal missionary." "

We were happy to hear that this little boy was making future plans to serve God, and we hope that many other kids choose to do the same thing.

We flew to Colorado for a week (thanks to our friend with benefits: a frontier flight attendant. Thanks!) October 6th-14th. We saw Jenn’s family, caught up with local Colorado friends, and spoke to group of kids at church.

We enjoyed the sunny mountain weather, and relaxed in between gatherings with people.

Another special aspect of this trip was to meet in Denver, the mile high city, with Shawn’s cousin Annie and her new husband Andy. We hadn’t seen her in over a year, so we were grateful for the chance to meet up and visit.

We’ll return to Colorado in a number of weeks for thanksgiving. Since we’ve been married, we haven’t been present for this holiday, and we look forward to a mini reunion with relatives.

Certainly something, "to be thankful for"!

Since French is the national language in Guinea, we will spend ten months studying the language before arriving in Guinea.

We were planning on heading to France for our schooling, but we have changed directions, and we are now planning on attending Word of Life in Sherbrooke, Canada.

At this point, it makes more sense for us to go to Canada. It’s more reasonable for us right now. Plus there are issues with the visas, and we don’t feel that we should apply, travel to Chicago for the application, pay the money, without having a guarantee that the country will even accept our visas.

Financially, it will be cheaper because we won’t have to buy plane tickets! Plus, it will give us the opportunity to come back for a little bit before leaving for Guinea.

Classes start in January 2008!

Those are our plans; we’ll see what God makes of them. After all, He holds our future.

After three weeks on the road, traveling to ten different states, sleeping in ten different beds, and visiting with lots of great people, we’re happy to be home again.

 We had a profitable time sharing our ministry with churches, supporters and friends.

We have another trip to Philadelphia at the end of October, and we will most likely be traveling to Colorado sometime during the month as well.

We’re happy to jump back into working with the youth group (whom we’ve missed!) and to continue to help out where needed at our two local/supporting churches.