SEPTEMBER 1976…
found us on a jet, heading to South America. Greg had visited the field when he was single and had even gotten the chance to be in on opening up a new work. This time, things were different; he wasn’t alone. He was traveling with a wife (me) and a little two year old, Tammy. We arrived at 1:00 a.m. and after a few short hours of sleep we were on our way to San Fernando de Apure in an old, rundown taxi.
OK…just picture this. We’re tired, a little shell shocked from leaving our family and friends. The sweet smells and sound of America seemed far away. We know very little Spanish. We’re in this taxi, our driver has the address where he needs to deliver us and we are at his mercy. Did I mention that we didn’t know any Spanish? That little fact was very evident to us during that trip. We kept passing all these semi trucks all bearing the words: CARGA LARGA. Greg and I commented on the fact that the CARGA LARGA company must be a large one since all the trucks seemed to be theirs. We had no idea that Carga Larga means: Large Load. Like I said, we didn’t have a clue what was happening!
Imagine our relief when we arrived at our new home and were greeted by our friends and fellow missionaries, Dave and Nita Zelenak. After one year of Spanish Study, we headed off to Tamatama.
JUNE 1977
Although we were planning on moving into a tribe after Spanish study, our plans changed. We were asked to fill in for one year as dorm parents. Wow…this was huge change in our plans. Greg was 25, I was 24, Tammy was 3 years old and I was expecting a baby! No, we didn’t feel equipped at all to be dorm parents to ten missionary kids plus our little girl and a baby too. This was the beginning of seeing God use us in spite of ourselves. We learned a lot that year. I learned how to cook in the jungle thanks to the teen girls who lived in our dorm. We also both learned the simple fact that we didn’t want ten kids of our own! (smile)
JUNE 1978
The beautiful mountains of Parima became our home for the next 14 years. After all the years in the training, preparing to get to the field, Spanish language study and then our unexpected year in the dorm, our dream of being tribal church planters was becoming a reality. Language learning became our life along with getting to know the Yanomamo People. We learned to love life in the jungle. After many hours, days, months of language study, Greg was finally ready to teach.
We have great memories of hauling our kids up to the village every evening, sitting in the meeting house, listening to the guys teach. It certainly didn’t look like a Bible class at home. It was loud, dogs running all over, ladies picking lice out of each others hair but it worked for the Yanomamo. Sometimes it was unbelievable that the people could really learn in that environment which was so totally foreign to ours. But learn they did. One of the blessings of teaching among the Yanomamo was when they would respond and react to what Greg was teaching. They would sometimes repeat what Greg was teaching; word for word. This took some getting used to but you always knew what they were thinking because they were saying it out loud. Those were fun days for us.
MAJOR CHANGES…
We received a radio message one morning that changed our lives forever. Greg’s dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. We didn’t immediately go home but eventually we flew out of the jungle for an early furlough to help Greg’s mom and dad through his illness. We never returned to work with the Yanomamo. Greg’s dad was a General Representative for NTM and after he passed away, Greg was asked to replace him. This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever made. So now, instead of living in the middle of the jungle, our new home was central PA at the Jersey Shore Training Center. Greg went on the road, visiting churches and challenging people about tribal missions
JUNE 2002-2006
Greg became the director of the training center along with continuing his job as representative. Training future missionaires became a very busy and serious job. It was exciting to see so many young people with a passion for tribal missions but it was also a huge responsibility. Many of the students that we helped to train are now living in tribes and giving the Gospel to the those who have never heard.
MAY 2006 Wayumi
While our last group of missionary trainees were finishing up, we were at the beginnings of a completely new program called WAYUMI. First let me tell you about the reasons for the Wayumi Program. For years, Greg has been on the road, preaching in churches as an NTM REP, and in essence trying to mobilize new missionaries for this huge task of tribal evangelization. He has really enjoyed getting to speak in churches and