The conference format was fairly simple: we spent six hours each day listening to speakers, hearing formal reports from each church planting team, and praising God together as a field. With most content in Spanish we could continue working on language (though Amy kept the translator’s headset available to keep us from missing important details!)
During these sessions an amazing group from a US church provided childcare, ministering faithfully to our kids. Amy and I (Jordan) sang with the worship team – another huge help with our Spanish study! – and Amy also helped coordinate the nursery schedule for the childcare workers. When the days’ sessions were over, we still had hours to fellowship with our coworkers – whether over amazing food, by the beautiful pool, or through massive games of nine square which at times drew in nearly everyone!
For Amy and I, the high point of the conference was getting to know the tribal church planters and hearing their reports. I don’t know if I can possibly convey what it felt like to sit in that room and listen to each. There were stories of tremendous discouragement, incredible challenges, and uncertainty regarding what to do next. Others – often the same people! – shared amazing stories of God’s Word going forward, and describing situations where God had outright removed similarly impossible obstacles! We saw in a new light the unique challenges of church planting among Mexican tribal cultures… yet walked away once more reminded who our God is, and grateful that this work has always been His rather than ours.
These reports also impacted us in another way, as at least seven of the church planting teams are asking for help! Some of you may remember that, as we prepared to come to Mexico, we often shared about emerging opportunities opening up to engage previously inaccessible people groups. Those opportunities still exist, but quite frankly we don’t have enough workers to even consider engaging them! It’s one thing to know intellectually that the fields are white for harvest… and quite another to watch laborers spread thin in a field meant for many more. How can we but obey Jesus’ command, and pray that God would send more laborers?
Because of all this, Amy and I cannot imagine beginning a new church plant work when our existing teams need so much help. (Some of these are long-established works still with much left to do, others are recently started and have not yet begun teaching!) Though many months of work in Spanish lie before any formal request to join a team, we have begun learning more. Since the conference we have met formally with two teams, and spent time with two others. This summer we hope to visit two such locations as a family, and we’re considering plans to visit four more by early 2016. Our focus remains squarely on Spanish and Mexican culture, but it’s exciting to pull back the curtain a little and start to pray more directly about where God will place us after Chihuahua!
If you’d like to learn more about one of the tribal teams here in Mexico, I highly recommend reading “The Joy of Yes.” Amelia Orrostieta – pictured at right, to the left of her coworkers Gris and Miguel – is one of the missionaries working among the Triqui people of Baja California, who speak a particularly difficult tonal language (well more than ‘tricky’, pun very much intended!), and her story is an inspiring example of what God can do through one willing to simply say: “Here am I, Lord: send me.”
Praise God with us!
- We are grateful for the insight we’ve gained into so many of the tribal works, and the opportunities we’ve had to start investigating them further. Amy and I feel so privileged to know each of the amazing men and women we’ve met in NTM Mexico; we count ourselves fortunate to be able to serve the Lord alongside them!
- Though progress at times seems slow and hard to discern, we continue to take large strides in our studies of language and culture. It has begun to appear possible that I (Jordan) could test out of Spanish study at the end of 2015 (thanks in part to my high school Spanish study), and then give Amy more study hours.
- Later in June, we will see some of my extended family… most for the first time since last summer! All but my mom will be meeting Joel for the first time, and we have missed them so much – so this will be a wonderful reunion and time of much-needed rest for us.
Ways to pray:
- Matthew 9:37-38. Please pray for God to raise up more missionaries – both church planters and support workers, who labor together to carry the Gospel to Mexico’s unreached. Please also pray for wisdom, as Amy and I seek God’s will regarding where He wants us to serve.
- We’ve heard that it’s easy to fall into the ‘summer doldrums’ in language study, as many coworkers leave the country and the heat slows everything down. Please pray for energy, enthusiasm, and lots of progress in our work! Pray as well for our hoped-for plans to see two of NTM Mexico’s church planting works first-hand this summer!
- Finally, please pray for the Van Wormer family and Renee Wood – co-workers of ours who are in the US for the summer. (Maria Van Wormer is Amy’s sister, and both share Peaceful Valley Church with us as our home church in Washington State!) They have much to do on home assignment, and we are excited to see how God uses this time for each of them. And of course, we’ll be thrilled to have them back in the Fall, Lord willing!