So it\u2019s 2010 already\u2026 where\u2019s my jet pack?<\/p>\n
We had nearly normal amounts of snow and cold.\u00a0 And we have all enjoyed a fair amount of snow in the boots and cold-rosy cheeks.<\/p>\n
Our children have all been sick at least once and made all the appropriate \u201cnoises\u201d in the process.<\/p>\n
Emma is in 1st<\/sup> grade and READING and SPELLING. Do you realize how this forces us to change our parent \u201ccode?\u201d\u00a0 She is a very helpful girl.\u00a0 Very compassionate and seems to really understand the importance of a relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n Josie is getting mentally ready (as are Mommy and Daddy) for Kindergarten in the fall.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t really seem possible that our second child is old enough (or maybe that we<\/strong> are old enough to have a child that<\/em> old) to be going to \u201creal\u201d school.<\/p>\n Addie.\u00a0 That girl is the typical littlest sister.\u00a0 She is such a bundle of fun at this stage.\u00a0 She\u2019s the one who says the goofy, little made up things that melt my heart.\u00a0 She calls my beard (when I have one) my \u201cpokies.\u201d\u00a0 Pocahontas (yes, we realize that they TOTALLY Disneyfied the story line) has been forever immortalized in our house as \u201cHunkapotus.\u201d<\/p>\n Sonny (the dog, for those of you new to this Mathew Meandering stuff) has rediscovered how much he hates snow deeper than 2 inches.<\/p>\n Tamara has not been feeling \u201cwell\u201d as of late.\u00a0 She\u2019s been to more doctors in the last couple months, than she visited in the 9.48 years we have been married, and I have been the healthy one. The ever unfolding saga of Tamara\u2019s health has proven very complex.\u00a0 The Dr.\u2019s are still trying to figure out what is going on inside.\u00a0 We\u2019ve heard a number of diagnoses that it is NOT, but what it IS still eludes us.\u00a0 Tamara has also had a horrible time with her teeth.\u00a0 Ever since Addie was born, it seems that Tamara\u2019s tooth enamel has magically disappeared.\u00a0 She has been in and out of the dentist\u2019s office to attempt to keep the teeth that she has.\u00a0 This has been a matter of much concern for us.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to fill you in on the details if you\u2019d like to know how to pray better\u2026<\/p>\n Yet another change for Tamara\u2019s official ministry role in the Bible School, Tamara has officially transitioned out of the Database Manager\u2019s position (that would be a praise, for those curious as to where that bit o\u2019 info ranks in our books\u2026) and into a \u201cmore flexible\u201d childcare\/lower desk receptionist\/paper grader\/mother of three.\u00a0 Please keep her in your prayers, as she requires massive amounts of energy to keep up with us all.<\/p>\n The Business Office continues to absorb the majority of my daytime hours here at the Bible School.\u00a0 If you had asked me 6 years ago when we were still in the training to become tribal church planters, whether or not I might ever be serving in the Business Office, I probably would have laughed out loud.\u00a0 You see, higher mathematics and I never really got along so well back in school.\u00a0 You might say I was a \u201cbad student\u201d in math.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s where God\u2019s ironic side shows itself.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard many people say \u201cGod really chooses His brightest and best to do His best work.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe this to be the case.\u00a0 Rather, in scripture, we see apostles refer to themselves as \u201cjars of clay,\u201d and we see humble service from Holy Spirit empowered believers that literally changes the world.<\/p>\n Now, I am<\/strong> not<\/strong> trying to convince you that I am changing the world, one Excel spreadsheet at a time, but I am telling you that I truly believe the Lord wants to use each one of His children; Tamara and I, and each one of you, too, to reflect a little bit more of God\u2019s glory wherever we are, in whatever we do, however much we feel like we know.\u00a0 He has given each of us a unique personality and mentality and set of gifts that enable us to serve Him just as uniquely, if we choose to let Him work through our lives.<\/p>\n I am<\/strong> trying to convince you that we are a part of seeing people who know nothing of the Word of God (or the God of the Word, for that matter.) hear it, see it, read it and live it for the first time.\u00a0 We get to jump into the process at the VERY beginning. We get to take some of the raw-est ingredients and be part of the preparation process to see them become partners in the task of taking the gospel of Christ where no one else goes.<\/p>\n Not that you doubted, but I find that a brief reminder is usually a good thing.<\/p>\n We are continually challenged with the need for overseas work with in New Tribes Mission.\u00a0 Our classmates and friends from OUR training days are now in tribes and building houses and learning culture and language, and teaching literacy.\u00a0 Some of them are already in the teaching process.\u00a0 Some of them have already gotten to share the gospel story with people groups who have NEVER EVER heard before.\u00a0 These are the stories that drive us, crazy sometimes, to continue serving where we are in Jackson, Michigan, USA.<\/p>\n Occasionally, I catch myself echoing the question we all too often hear, \u201cSo, when are you going to the mission field?\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes it seems that we aren\u2019t really missionaries.\u00a0 We eat the same foods \u201cnormal\u201d people eat.\u00a0 We try to wear \u201cnormal\u201d clothes.\u00a0 We even get to speak English all the time.<\/p>\n And then the emails come in, or the prayer letters, or the guest speaker (who sat next to me in class) and we hear the reminder\u2026\u00a0 \u201cYou know, we\u2019d never make it out here without a solid foundation in the Word.\u00a0 We live in the bush; we don\u2019t get pastors. \u00a0\u00a0We are starting<\/em> a church!\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Without the time that they were able to spend being grounded in the Word of God, they would be stranded spiritually, even more than they are physically.<\/p>\n It is at those times that I am most keenly aware of why we are doing what we do.\u00a0 We GET to stay here and PREPARE those that head to the front lines to meet the darkness head on.\u00a0 I do\u2026 WE do, consider it a privilege to be on this team of trainers here in Jackson, MI.\u00a0 We have seen, literally hundreds of, students graduate from here with a SOLID Biblical understanding in the 3.5 years we\u2019ve been here! \u00a0In about two years we will be seeing co-workers that started their training with us.\u00a0 Some of them IN A TRIBE!<\/p>\n YOU<\/strong> have been a part of this with your<\/strong> finances and your <\/strong>prayers.\u00a0 Without you<\/strong>, we would NOT be able to continue this.\u00a0 \u00a0We count on your<\/strong> support.\u00a0 We depend on your<\/strong> support.\u00a0 Thank you<\/strong>! For the part you<\/strong> have played, THANK YOU<\/strong>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m not trying to convince you that I am changing the world on Excel spreadsheet at a time, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":330,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-family","7":"category-ministry","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/330"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joshua-mathew\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}