A warm Monday morning brought 160 students, some of their children, and 137 staff members together singing in praise to the Lord. "All creatures of our God and king, lift up your voice and with us sing, Oh praise Him..." Looking around the room we saw brothers and sisters in Christ and we were all worshipping together. My mind brought alive Revelation 7:9-10:
"After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count, from every tribe, nation, people, and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Wow, what a joy it is to be preparing for tribal ministry, but what an urgency was felt to take the gospel to those who have never had a chance to hear of the glorious grace of Christ, and who have not had the chance to praise Him sheerly because of His glory and who He is.
As the singing ended we were challenged as an entire group to "Focus Our Vision." There are 2,500 language groups in the world still without the gospel; there is much work to be done.
For Pete and I it was more of a re-focusing of our vision, a refresher that yes, this is what we are here for, God has brought us this far through the New Tribes Mission training, and He will be faithful to take us the rest of the way, with our prayer warriors and support partners to reach those without hope in the tribal regions of Mexico.
We are thrilled to be embarking on our last year of training here in Missouri, and have open hearts and minds to all we know the Lord wants to teach us during our time here. He has taught us about relationships, the importance of being in a culture and experiencing it to enhance our language learning, and how to be before Him in prayer about all of our needs. He has shown us what we can do to be an encouragement to our brothers and sisters here in the training with us, and has shown us the power of His Spirit as He works in our marriage...and we are only finishing up our first week!!
I have made it a goal to update our blog each week this year to keep you in the loop of what God is teaching us and this incredible journey He continues to lead us on. We hope you enjoy it, and as always feel free to contact us anytime!
Adios!
