Our desire is to be a part of planting churches among people who have never EVER had an opportunity to hear the truth about Jesus Christ in their own language.
Step One: Training and Prefield Ministry: After two years of Biblical studies, one year of studying how to plant a New Testament church cross-culturally, and one year of studying how to learn unwritten languages, we graduated from New Tribes Language Institute in May 2005 with our Bachelor of Arts degrees in Intercultural Ministries. Following our graduation, we spent two years serving in our home church in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and traveling to other churches to present our ministry and raise up partners who would pray for us and support us. During this time we also finalized passports, immunizations, etc.
Step Two: National Language and Culture Study: We crossed the border into Mexico on July 2nd, 2007. We jumped right in to learning Mexican culture and Spanish, which was quite an adventure. While studying spanish, we enjoyed the privilege of working in two orphanages and working on a myriad of construction projects, etc. Spanish study was a time of clarification for Aaron, as he realized that languages are not his strong suit and he is not wired for tribal language learning. It became very clear to us that we needed to change direction a bit. Taking a good look at how God wired us, we decided we would fit better in a support role than we would out in a tribe.
Step Three: Moving into our ministry role: {WE ARE HERE.} We have decided to move to Durango, Mexico, to serve as the Durango Tribal Support Team. This will be an exciting job, and we are really looking forward to it! In Durango, we will be supporting three works that are logistically very difficult to support from Chihuahua. We are excited about the opportunity to have a part in reaching not one, but THREE tribal groups with the Gospel. Woohoo! That was more than we asked God for, and we are very thankful. We will be serving as supply buyers, government representative, mechanic, carpenter, guest house, dental clinic coordinator, etc, etc, etc. We are so excited about the possibilities to be a blessing to the missionaries who are faithfully dedicating their lives to three people groups who have no other opportunity to hear about Christ. Two of these teams are just getting started, and the third has already done extensive language study and is nearly ready to begin teaching. What a privilege it will be to do everything we possibly can to make sure that these missionary teams are freed up to do what they are out there to do.