It’s count-down time, folks! 4 WEEKS LEFT of classes here at the MTC! (We will graduate, become members of NTM, and Lisa will take Linguistics next semester.)
WHAT OUR TRAINING HAS NOT DONE FOR US:
- It has not given us all the answers.
- It has not given us full Biblical knowledge.
- It has not eliminated our fears and doubts in this life.
- It has not prepared us for every ‘what-if’.
- It has not made us ‘super-spiritual.’
- It has not qualified us in His sight for ministry.
WHAT OUR TRAINING HAS DONE FOR US:
- It has given us some answers, and increased our reliance on the Lord when we have no answers.
- It has given us better understanding of His Word, and more importantly, His heart & character.
- It has drawn us to the One who conquers our fears and doubts- He has overcome the world!
- It has given us tools to think and reason through ‘what-if’s’, and practical tools for our well-being.
- It has shown us to be inadequate and insufficient, but shown Him to be more than sufficient for us!
- It has better prepared us for ministry, and allows us to be more effective in many ways.
We are SO incredibly thankful for the 3.5 years of training we have been so blessed to receive! We would’ve hopped on a plane several years ago, but we feel SO much more prepared having had this training- for remote living, for learning language and culture, for teaching the Bible with accuracy and understanding, and for planting/discipling a church!
We had a lovely Thanksgiving break, with some special family who flew out to Missouri from Seattle! This included a scrumptious turkey dinner, seeing the production of “Joseph” in Branson, and processing a deer (congrats, Jason!).
They got to sit in on our current classes as well:
- Evangelism thru Developing Church– this class is an in-depth consideration of presenting the Gospel for the first time and beginning to disciple new believers. We’ve discussed questions such as:
- In the culture of the tribe you are in, what will a meeting look like? (Men and women together? One teacher in the front?)
- What is the importance/what are the reasons for having separate meetings for the new believers (the church) and those who are still unbelievers?
- Semantics and Translation – this class walks us through every aspect of translating Scripture into another language. It is not enough to know the language- the culture and implications must also be understood. But also the parts of speech, and how the receptor language and culture order and perceive words grammatically and semantically! Often the FORM will be changed, but the MEANING must always be maintained! Our Bible Translation handbook asks:
- What is (the definition of) a “faithful translation of Scripture”? Essentially, it comes down to:
- Accurate/correct exegesis of Scripture, which conveys the original meaning
- Clarity and Naturalness– the receptors/hearers MUST understand it. The original meaning should come across in a way that an ordinary person in their culture can comprehend. (It shouldn’t sound like a foreign way of talking!)
Thank you for your continued prayers and support! We hope to greet many of you over our Christmas break in Seattle.
With love,
~The Martinez Family
