Well it has finally happened! Melody and I have graduated New Tribes Missionary training and are now full fledged missionaries with New Tribes Mission. This is a huge step forward in our endeavor to serve the Lord full time. The training we received at the Missionary Training Center was outstanding. Mel and I couldn’t imagine attempting to go to the mission field without this vital training. Some of the classes we took were Foundational Bible Teaching, Biblical Conflict Resolution, Teamwork, Animism etc. We are currently state-hopping during the summer. We started in Missouri where we visited my folks and were able to share our ministry at 1st Baptist in Shelbina. We headed to Tennessee to visit Mel’s older brother Tim and his family, and then scooted through to Virginia to visit Mel’s family and our friends at Avalon Hills Bible Church. We are also focusing heavily on developing our team of ministry partners to help us meet our monthly financial needs & continue to bring our ministry before the Lord. It’s so exciting to see God continually bringing these partners onto our team. We have been very encouraged by the generosity and kindness towards our family during the last 9 months as we were in training. God has already brought many special brothers and sisters into our lives that have decided to be a part of our ministry. As for the future, we will remain in Virginia until July 19th and then we will begin our trek westward towards our first official assignment with NTM in McNeal, Arizona at the New Tribes Mission Aviation headquarters. Once there, I (Josh) will begin aMaintenance/Flight familiarization course in which I will become proficient in NTMA maintenance practices and flight operations.
