Acceptance Letter: MTC

Today we received our acceptance letter to New Tribes Mission's MTC (Missionary Training Center). We've been working on the application for the MTC for several months- it's a fairly lengthy application, plus we had to have 4 references each as well as a pastor reference and employee reference. We also had to have a background check and a physical. They are thorough. But we've completed it all, and we've received our acceptance.

So our plan? To head to the MTC this August! We are excited. When we graduated from the Bible school last May, we decided, along with our pastor's guidance, to take a year off from the training. It wasn't an easy decision. Many of our friends were continuing right on with the training, and now that we have seen and heard of the need, we really wanted to finish our training and GO! But this year off has been so good for us in many ways. We are thankful for this time here at home in Indiana.

The training center is on a beautiful campus in Missouri.

Here is an overhead picture of the campus:

Here is a picture of one of the classrooms where we'll spend quite a bit of time:

This view will be so refreshing :)  :

We'll be in Missouri until December 2014. From there, we'll raise the support we need and then hopefully, Lord willing, head to Papua New Guinea!

Papua New Guinea Photo Book

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A Weekend in Jackson

We took a weekend visit to Jackson, Michigan - where New Tribes Bible Institute is located - to visit friends of ours. It was such a great weekend to visit both student and staff friends who are still at the Bible school! These friends are all so special to us. Not only did we live in a unique environment with them (most of us all lived in the same building), but we also studied the Bible with them and share an interest in reaching the world with the gospel.

We spent a good amount of time with our friends Nathan and Rachel and Aaron and Jill. They are seniors at the Bible school and will be going to the Training Center the same time we do. They have kids close in age to ours, so it's a little crazy when we all hang out. There are 9 kids between us. Here's a picture to show our craziness at dinner one night :)

Here is Sophie hanging out with Abel who is Aaron's and Jill's youngest.

 Sophie and Daisy (Nathan's and Rachel's youngest) are just a month apart and they spent a lot of time together in child care when we were at the Bible school. They were babies then, and now they're chubby, talking, potty-training, silly toddlers!

I really miss having a gym in the same building that I live in. It would be SO nice to have a place to take my toddler to run around in during these cold, wintery months! It was fun to hang out with our friends there again.

I got to attend a baby shower too! Ali, Katie, Sarah, and Nicole are all pregnant with their first baby... and they are all having boys!!

We caught up with Kyle and his wife Lindsi - Kyle is Chris Jones' brother (Chris and Evie are the missionary couple we helped in Papua New Guinea).

I was able to meet up with Jessica for a little while. She was one of my favorite single ladies at the Bible school- but now she's married. :)

And we loved being able to see the Duecks! They are a great staff family that we miss so much. Sue watched Sophie in child care, and Dalton was a marrieds' dean.

We also got to see our small group that we spent Sunday nights with while attending the Bible school. I didn't get a group picture, but the Mama of this handsome fellow was able to capture a picture together of the two youngest small group members- Isaac and Brielle :) Maybe some day they'll attend Bible school together!

I wasn't able to get a picture with everyone, so there were some others we were able to see too. Overall, it was a great weekend, and we were so glad we got to spend the weekend catching up with these friends!

Thankful for: Friends and Family

One more post for my mini series of thankfulness to add to this one and this one.

You're probably completely shocked that we're thankful for our friends and family, right? Ok... so you're probably actually thinking that this one is a no-brainer. Of course we're thankful for our friends and family. But nonetheless, I feel it's necessary to put it in writing on our blog :)

So many of you have been so good to us in these past few months- really, in the past few years since we started this journey toward missions.

*Countless of you have gave financially to us- for Bible school, for our trip to Papua New Guinea, and to help with other costs. We are truly humbled. Sometimes we stress about money, and it's so, so good for us to look back and remember the many ways God has already used people to provide for us. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

*A number of you made meals for us when our daughter, Brielle, was born recently- what a yummy blessing! Those first few weeks would have been stressful without you.

*So many of you have shown interest in what we are doing.

*Some of you have been forgiving when we had to miss special moments with you because of being in training or traveling overseas.

*We know many of you pray for us. Your prayers are felt.

*Many of you have welcomed us back with open arms even when we were out of your life for 2 years while at Bible school, and it's so nice to know that we will always have friends back in Indiana.

*Some of you (particularly family) have opened your home to us when we need a place to stay and have given your time for us when we need a Sophie-sitter :)

THANK YOU! We don't want any of you to ever think we take you for granted.

Thankful for: Samaritan Ministries

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm doing a little min-series of posts on things we are thankful for as we head toward missions.

Today, I want to talk about Samaritan Ministries. This ministry is a Christian share network. It works as an insurance, but it is not insurance. Basically, when we're asked at the doctor's office if we have insurance, we say no (because we don't) and are considered self-pay. But then we are able to send all of our bills to Samaritan Ministries, and they cover the need.

Here is how they cover the need: We send them our bills, then they send out our needs to other people who use Samaritan. Then those people send us checks along with a card or letter. Depending on if you're single, married, or a few other situations, the amount you pay each month is different. So the checks we receive are different amounts, but they equal to the total of our need. Likewise, we send out a check each month to a person or family that Samaritan requests us to.

We really enjoy using Samaritan. It works in the way that we imagine the body of Christ should work. We also pay much less than what we were having to pay for insurance before. We could not afford regular insurance! Also, Samaritan covered our entire birth with Brielle. We still had a fairly high deductible with our insurance we had when we gave birth to Sophie, along with paying more monthly. So for these reasons, you can see why we are thankful for Samaritan. We switched to Samaritan while at the Bible school. We simply could not afford regular insurance anymore while being students. We qualified for medicaid but just didn't feel comfortable using it, so Samaritan was a perfect alternative. Samaritan has helped us to cover our medical needs without going into debt while in this training phase with New Tribes, so we are grateful!

[a card and check we received]

Thankful for: Our Church

I wanted to do a little mini series of posts on some things that we are thankful for as we head toward a future in missions work.

The first one I want to talk about is our church, Christ's Covenant Church. When we got married and moved close to Warsaw, Ben and I began looking for a church close-by to attend and be a part of. We visited a couple but felt right at home when we attended Christ's Covenant Church. Since beginning to attend there in August 2008, we have served in several different areas. But CCC and its people have served us in far more ways than we could ever count! We are so thankful for this church and its incredible body of believers.

We are thankful for:
-Our pastors who spend much time in the Word so that they can most effectively teach, guide, and serve the people
-The music which often ministers to our hearts
-Their children's program and nursery- Sophie is well-cared for
-Their passion for missions- not only did they encourage us to really become serious about our interest in missions, but they continuously encourage us on this journey by praying for us, financially supporting us, providing us with wonderful mentors, reminding people of our future plans, and reminding the church of God's passion for missions
-MOMs group that Alisha attends
-Small men's group that Ben attends
-Our Life Group- we joined this group shortly after joining CCC, and while the people in the group have changed quite a bit, we never fail to be encouraged by them. Over the years they have continued to pray with and for us, financially encourage us, discuss the Word with us, celebrate new life (babies!) with us, have fun with us, serve with us, and much more!
-They have challenged our hearts to love better, to serve more, to give more, to openly look at the Word of God, to spend more time with the Lord in the Word and in prayer, to be involved in community (Life Group, etc), and to be open to whatever way God might want to use us.

We certainly couldn't be on this journey without our church.

[The sanctuary]

[The back of our church bulletin]

[Part of our Life Group]

[Another picture of our LG that include people not in the above one]

[The sweet ladies of our LG threw me a baby shower]

While we're talking about how thankful we are for our church, I think it's necessary to also mention Merriam Christian Chapel. This is the church Ben grew up in, and I went to from 8th grade until we got married. His parents and my brother and his wife still attend here. This church supported us on our first missions trips and taught us the Word of God when we were young. The church continues to encourage us on this journey by giving us the opportunity to share about what we plan to do, and the people continue to support us financially and through prayer. We have great friendships with many people from this church. Thank you Merriam Christian Chapel!

[MCC Sanctuary]

Family of Four

Most of you already know, but our new addition has arrived! Brielle Riann was born on January 25, and we are all doing very well! We are so thankful for God's goodness to us for giving us two healthy daughters.

More info about Brielle on my mommy blog:

Birth Story

Her Name