Moving Forward: A different path toward the same goal

ONE WEEK to graduation!! It's seems unreal to be so close to finishing my training here at Emanate. We are staying busy right up to the end, and spent this past week focusing on learning to teach literacy, so that one day we can teach people to read and write in their heart language.

We got to use software to make a primer and materials for teaching literacy, and then practice teaching a literacy lesson for an "altered" version of English.

We are so excited to be able to help people learn to know their Creator by reading the Word of God for themselves! What an incredible privilege it has been to be equipped and prepared for the work ahead through so many classes like this one!

LOOKING FORWARD

As I headed up here to Canada 17 months ago, I had a very specific goal in mind and plans in place to reach that goal. While there have been some very unexpected changes in my plans, there are also many things that haven't changed.

THINGS THAT HAVE NOT CHANGED

1. I'm still heading toward missions, specifically going to an unreached people group.
The end goal has not changed: to take the gospel and the Word of God to people who haven't had access to the truth before, and see God establish a church there. I believe as firmly as ever that God desires all people to hear the good news of the grace of God in providing salvation through Christ. He has called me and given me a burden to be the hands and feet that take that good news to the remotest parts of the world.

2. I'm still headed toward Papua New Guinea.
My area of focus has not changed. Since the beginning, I've shared that I'm most likely headed to Papua New Guinea. While I'm open to God redirecting me if He chooses, at this point in time, PNG still appears to be the direction that He is leading.

SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?

1.  I won't be going to the field single.
As you all know from my last post, I'm engaged to marry Josh Miller, and we will be heading to the mission field together. From this post on, I'll be talking more about "we" and "us" since it isn't just my plans now, but our plans. While our marriage will change my projected timelines for heading to the field, that timeline had already been adjusted due to the previous point. I'll talk further in future posts about our projected timeline. For now, if you have questions, please feel free to ask me and I can share with you what we are praying about and discussing with our church.

2. My sending church will be changing.
Due to my upcoming marriage to Josh, I will be joining him at his home/sending church, the Orrville Grace Brethren Church (OGBC) in Orrville, Ohio. My current church, the Grace Brethren Chapel will always be "my" church, and I'm so incredibly thankful for the amazing family I will always have there. God used them to prepare me and confirm my calling into missions, and they have encouraged and strengthened me! Since we are establishing our own family, Josh and I believe God is leading us to make OGBC our home church.

3. I won't be going to the field as a member of NTM PNG.
I have been so blessed to train here at Emanate, one of the two training centers for Ethnos360 and Ethnos Canada (formerly New Tribes Mission). When I headed toward missions, it was my goal with the blessing of my sending church to join as a member and be assisted in going to the field by this organization that has such a noble goal and wonderful resources. During the past 8 months, there arose a conflict of expectations between the leadership of NTM PNG and my home church. This also affected the families I have been working toward partnering with in PNG and they have been working through this with their home church. Through many months of trying to work through the differences that had arisen, I remained hopeful that I could ultimately continue on with the plan to serve with NTM PNG. However, in the situation of choosing to work with my sending church or with NTM PNG, I believe strongly that unless my church is asking me to act against the Bible, then I'm responsible to work with them before I'm responsible to a para-church organization like Ethnos/NTM.

You can be praying with us as we and our church are examining the possibility of partnering with another organization to assist us in getting to PNG and working there. They have the same focus and heart for reaching unreached people groups, and we are excited to share more information with you in the future regarding them. Feel free to check them out at finisterrevision.org.

For my Financial Partners:

Within the next two months, there will most likely need to be a change regarding where you send your financial support. I will personally be in contact with you to explain those options and answer any questions you have. Thank you so much for your burden for the lost and for your obedience in giving to see them reached with the gospel! You are a blessing, encouragement, and challenge to me every month as I receive your support and pray for you!

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A Quick Look Back While Moving Forward: Part One

In the middle of the busyness of life, time just sneaks on by! I can't believe that it has been over three months since I posted an update. It has been an incredibly busy, intense, and exciting time. So, here is a overview of what God's been doing.

PART ONE: A QUICK LOOK BACK

August

Curriculum Development

In August, I returned from my four week break in Ohio, and started my final semester here at the training center. My classmates and I dove into a class on curriculum development. Imagine a 6 year old in rural USA, a 30 year old woman in cultured Europe, and a 60 year old man in the jungles of Papua New Guinea? How do you take the truth of the Bible and present it to these different people, in different cultures, with different worldviews? The truth is the same, but the understanding and worldview of each of these individuals is very different, and it is essential for the teacher to know and understand that in order to teach in a way so that the hearer can understand.

One day when we are teaching to people who have never heard the gospel, our goal will be to emphasize foundational Bible truths (such as God's holiness, God's judgement on sin, Man's position as sinner, the One and only way to God through Jesus Christ) in each Biblical account, laying the foundation for understanding and accepting the gospel. 

Engagement

Something that was pretty life-changing happened on August 25. Josh Miller asked me to be his wife, and of course, I said YES!! (I won't clutter this update with mushy pictures or stories, but for those who are curious, here is the link for the pictures with the story of our engagement...let's just say he outdid himself!!)

I'm so incredibly blessed by his love for God, his heart for the unreached, his passion for discipleship, his love for the Word of God, and his kind, caring, love for me! What an incredible blessing to get to prepare to serve together on a team to take the gospel and the Word of God to those who have never heard it before! Thank you for praying for us as we follow God's leading in our relationship and future mission plans.

September

Learning Culture and Language

How do you learn a language that has never been written down before? Well, that is what our CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition) Practicum is all about! That's a long name but basically it means this - we get to practice how to best learn a language and a culture that we can't study up on ahead of time. There are no language primers or cultural guides for the people group we'll be living with. So this practicum is our "practice run" on how learn without those helps. We are using many of the things we've been learning during the past year in our culture and linguistic classes.

Josh and I are teamed up with a dear couple who have served for many years in South America and Southeast Asia. We are studying the Tok Pisin language from Papua New Guinea, which is pretty neat since Josh and I are interested in Lord-willing serving in PNG. Mike and Beth set up culture events for us to learn the culture by experiencing it, and then worked with us to begin learning words and phrases using a particular method that we will need to use someday when we have to learn a language that has never been written down.

Josh is purchasing produce at the "PNG market" that Mike and Beth set up for us to help us learn

I'm using this tool to scrape coconut meat to make gris rice, a very common food in PNG. 

October/November

Bible Translation
In addition to continuing to work on our practicum, we took a class on bible translation. Since our goal is to bring the gospel and the written Word of God to people in their native language, we are going to have to be able to not only learn an unwritten language and develop an alphabet for it, but also to translate the Bible into that language. 

Community Outreach

This month, I got to reconnect with "my" dear Syrian family. Since they have moved, I'm no longer living close to them or able to visit and volunteer as an English helper for them. However, it was a blessing to get to see them. Thank you for your continued prayers for this dear family and for my testimony and outreach to them!

Coming soon...

PART TWO: LOOKING AHEAD

I don't know how many of you remember this post, where I explained how much I like having a plan and then laid out the plan that I believed God had before me as I head toward the mission field. Well, there have been some changes to that plan over the past 16 months. Some are very exciting to experience, and others are quite difficult to accept. Next week, in part two of this post, I'll explain some of the changes, and hopefully give you a picture what I anticipate the next year might hold.

Throughout all of the changes, one thing remains constant: Our God! 

Lamentations 3:22-23 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

An Unexpected Blessing (Back from the Jungle - Part Two)

Proverbs 16:9 says "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

This second part of my update will be a little bit more personal than most of my posts, because I have something pretty important to share with all of you as my friends, prayer supporters, and financial partners. I've known at each point in this journey toward missions that God is the only one who could bring together the details or provide the resources and strength for a simple girl from Ohio to be part of His work of reaching people groups in remote locations with His gospel!

He has opened one door after another, all along the way, giving direction and clear leading. I remain as passionate as I have ever been about going to an unreached people group, and I am continuing to head in that direction.

However, God has surprised and blessed me in an incredible way by changing one aspect of my plans. 

Specifically, He brought Joshua Evan Miller into my life. 

Josh and I are both in the same missionary training class and developed a close friendship over the past year. Earlier this year, he asked me if I'd be willing to pray and seek God will together about beginning a relationship with the intent of heading toward marriage. 

I can say without reserve that I did not expect God to lead me in this direction when I started into this training last August! As most of you know, I was content heading to the mission field as a single women, trusting God to provide in the areas where my singleness would bring about greater challenges. 

However, I'm in awe of God's goodness in bringing into my life a man who is surrendered to God and passionate about serving Him. We share a burden for the people who have never had access to the gospel and desire to be used by God to take the gospel and plant a church among one of these people groups. 

You might think that it is unusual for someone to send out a newsletter about a relationship, and you are right! :-) However, since many of you are supporting me through prayers and with financial support, I wanted to be intentional in answering your questions, rather than allowing you to simply wonder after seeing Josh's and my facebook pictures together.

I'd love to hear from you with any questions you have about how this affects my future plans. I am going back to school in August to start my final semester at Emanate, the missionary training center. After graduating in December, Josh and I will be seeking God's leading for what is next, as we hope to continue heading toward the mission field.

Thank you for praying for us as we seek God's leading in our lives. We desire to follow His timing in each step of our relationship!

Since this is not just a relationship announcement, here are some additional jungle camp pictures (many of which include Josh, since I couldn't put those in the last update). Since we are in the same class at the training center, we had the chance to go through jungle camp together, which was a special time for us as a couple.

We had the opportunity to lead worship together while in jungle camp.

Since I had never used an axe before, Josh was willing to give me a lesson on how to chop wood without chopping my leg as well. :-)

I got to use a machete for the first time during my first building week, and it ended up being a regular part of living and working in jungle camp!

Our door was a success mostly because of my talented boyfriend's guidance and help in constructing it. This was one of the only parts of the construction process where we were allowed to have help, so I was very thankful for his assistance!

Our entire class had hair cutting lessons, and Josh got to trim my hair. 

We enjoyed visiting together with friends in Josh's sitting nook.

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Back from the Jungle! - Part One

After 4 weeks of living off the grid, I'm back in "civilization" and excited to update you on what God has been doing.

(This is part one of my jungle camp updates, so keep an eye out for part two, where I'll be sharing some pretty big news about how God has been directing and re-directing me during the past several months!)

So, how was jungle camp?

Great. Challenging. Difficult. Enjoyable. Relaxing. Stressful. Hot. Rainy. Encouraging.

The adjectives could just keep coming. Overall though, it was a wonderful learning experience, and I can honestly say I enjoyed doing so many news things that I had never done before. What kind of things? Well, let me take you on a tour of Jungle Camp as I answer some of the FAQ I've heard since getting back!

WHAT WAS THE BEST PART OF JUNGLE CAMP?

I loved living together in community with all of my classmates and two staff families who were with us in camp. There was a closeness that is totally unique and different from our normal North American life together.

Our Jungle Camp Family!

In the evenings, I could sit in my house and hear one family singing the doxology together before supper, another family reading through "The Hobbit," someone playing guitar down the hill, and laughter filtering through the trees from the ladies across camp. There in the isolation, we were together!

WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART OF JUNGLE CAMP?

Building my house was the most difficult part of jungle camp for me. Putting in two weeks of 15+ hours work days, and facing things every single hour that I had never done before was exhausting and overwhelming at times. However, it was also a really good time of growing and trusting God for guidance and strength as I desired to persevere and finish well.

Endless digging of holes!

Putting up the sides of our house

Rafters are done and we are ready for the roof plastic!

Putting on the roof plastic! We definitely had a love-hate relationship with this piece of plastic. Loved when it worked and hated when it leaked!!

Corner support posts - Gotta love duct tape!!

Working on our stove was a daily project as layers and layers of clay had to be added to the inside and outside so they could dry and harden. 

Planning and leveling out counter top frame

Installing our counter top supports

Staples, staples, and more staples!!

Yes, I am sitting in a hole in the mud!

Measure, mark, and measure again!

HOW WAS LIVING IN YOUR HOUSE?

Two weeks of building produced this house!   

It isn't fancy and definitely wasn't perfectly executed, but it represents so much work, a lot of learning, and quite a bit of fun as well.

While building our house was definitely challenging for me, I loved living in it. Sure, there were inconveniences, bugs, leaks, and frustrations that came along with living in a plastic and duct tape house in the woods, but I learned so much from building and living in it, including: how to wire a simple DC circuit for our lights, how to bake and cook in a clay oven/stove that we built, how to disassemble a sink to fix leaks (I was marginally successful), how to kill spiders as big as my hand (seriously, I'm not kidding!!), how to chop wood, how to build a fire and get it hot enough to actually bake, and so many other things.

Move-in day was both exciting and very tiring! 

Lots of unpacking, organizing, and sorting to do before our house started to feel like a home.

My bedroom: the bed is covered with a mosquito net that protected me from both mosquitoes and spiders! 

My mattress was layers of cardboard and styrofoam glued together and then foam on top. It was far more comfortable than I expected. 

The back half of our house was our bedrooms and living space, which could be divided up by curtains we pulled down the center and across from the sides. 

Our kitchen was very functional, and for once, I got to work at a counter top designed from a 5'7'' person! :-) 

Chopping fire wood was a new adventure for me! And believe me, you use plenty of fire wood when boiling water takes 45+ minutes. 

WERE THE ISOLATION AND LACK OF ELECTRONICS DIFFICULT?

Time passed so quickly because everything took longer in Jungle camp. Every day is filled with just living life, and because we lived in a community there, I'm really thankful that I didn't struggle too much with the isolation.

Hammock time with friends took the place of facebook time.

That being said, I was certainly excited to get to check facebook and catch up with friends when I got out. I definitely missed my laptop though when I had to write a paper by hand...haven't done that since middle school!

WHAT DID YOU EAT?

We hiked in all of our supplies, including our food, so we had a lot of canned meat and vegetables with basic starches like rice or potatoes. I successfully made bread in our jungle camp oven, which was exciting! Overall, we ate similarly to normal, but had fewer fresh fruits, veggies, and dairy.

The food we canned: pears, peaches, applesauce, chicken, beef stew, and chicken soup.

We also brought store-bought canned food, and didn't even get close to using up all of our food. 

DESCRIBE A TYPICAL DAY IN JUNGLE CAMP? 

Living in Jungle Camp involved many of the same tasks as regular life...they just took a lot longer. Our typical days involved building a fire, cooking breakfast, working around the camp on clean-up or building projects we were assigned, cooking lunch, washing laundry, studying/writing letters/journaling, taking a nap in the hammock, helping watch some of the kids in camp, cooking supper, and visiting together in the evenings.

Our laundry station: tubs of water, a plunger, and a ringer produced (mostly) clean clothing.

Laundry was always more fun if there were cute little helpers available to pitch in! 

WHAT WERE NON-TYPICAL THINGS THAT YOU DID?

We had a lot of first-time experiences and had a lot of fun together in between just living life and working hard!

During our first week, we butchered chickens.

Then we enjoyed a big community chicken potluck!

We celebrated Canada Day, with festivities that included a flag-making contest,

face painting,

and a slip-n-slide made from left over plastic from our roofs.

We enjoyed lots of time singing together,

playing games,

celebrating birthdays,

worshiping together,

working on building projects,

and just living life together in camp!!

WHY DID YOU DO THIS?

If you are curious about the purpose behind jungle camp, check out my last blog post where I answer that question in depth.

WHAT IS NEXT?

Stay tuned for part two of my jungle camp update, where I'll share with you some new ways that God is directing me, blessing me, and growing me as I prepare for what is coming up in the future!

Hope you enjoyed your tour of jungle camp! I'd love to answer any other questions you have about my time in jungle camp, or my training up to this point. Visit my blog and leave a comment on this post with your questions!


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Click HERE to download a pdf bulletin insert of this update.