After spending 6 weeks in Tahlequah, Oklahoma studying the Cherokee language, we are back in Missouri now for our final weeks of NTM training.
We learned many things while we were in OK: what a difficult language Cherokee is, how to make a home out of a small room with lots of bunk beds, how to shop and cook for 50 people, how to balance time for work with time as a family…
And Flo taught us about being part of the team. Every weekday for those 6 weeks we sat around Flo’s kitchen table and learned Cherokee. The very first day Flo pulled out a little yellow notepad and started flipping through the pages. She told us the names of NTM students she had helped with Cherokee over the years. She also knew where most of them were serving on the field. Since 1995 she has been giving of her time to help linguistic students practice what they have learned in the classroom in order to prepare for learning and analyzing an unwritten language.
Flo is 81 years old. She will never travel to Mexico, Senegal, Indonesia or Papua New Guinea as a missionary to share God’s Word with those who have never heard it. But her students have! People that once sat around her table are now spread out around the world – some in tribes teaching tribal people God’s Word in their own language, some helping to buy supplies for missionaries in the tribe, some just beginning to learn a complex tribal language.
And then there’s us – just beginning on the road to serving in a tribe. In a few weeks we will be finished with our NTM training. We will go back to PA to spend Christmas with our family. We plan to spend some time with our home church and then we will begin the task of sharing with churches and individuals the ministry God has given us. We want to share with people how there are thousands of tribes around the world, some in very remote places, that have no knowledge of Jesus Christ and that He died for them. We want to share with them that they can have a part in getting the Good News of the Gospel to these people.
We have been so blessed by those who are a part of our team! Please join us in thanking the Lord for: 1. those who encourage us by praying regularly for us 2. those who send us notes and emails 3. those churches and individuals who support us financially 4. those who show kindness to our boys by sending little notes and gifts…
And now Flo is a part of our team too. It was neat to see how God is using her right there in Oklahoma! What we learned with Flo about hearing, writing down and then analyzing a language will aid us someday when we are in a tribe struggling with the complexities of that language.
We are continually reminded of how weak we are and how much we have to depend on the Lord. He has taught us many lessons through this adventure in linguistics and we are very grateful!
For some recent prayer requests, click here.