The Next Year and Latest Updates

We thought it would be good to give a quick update on where we are at.

We have graduated from New Tribes Bible Institute and our now in Indiana. We are currently at Ben's parents' house but will be moving into our own apartment in Warsaw in the next month. We will be there until August of 2013 when we go to finish our training with NTM.

During this year, we want to get together with you! First, we have missed being in this area and all of our friends from here. We'd love to catch up and hear what's going on in your life, but we'd also love to have the opportunity to tell you in person what we plan to do. We are already getting together with some of you, and it's been so nice to catch up. Please don't hesitate to invite us over or let us know that you'd like us to invite you over! The more, the merrier.

On June 10, we will be at Christ's Covenant Church family meeting where Andy Royer will introduce us to those who don't know us. We'd also love to meet with small groups.

On July 8, we will be speaking at Merriam Christian Chapel's night service about what we have been doing and what we plan to do. Be there!

Also, we are working on putting together another newsletter as well as a new prayer card. If you're interested in being on our list of those who get updates, please send an email to ben.alisha.miller@hotmail.com with your email and home address (or feel free to respond here). Even if you feel like you barely know us- or maybe don't know us and just stumbled upon our blog- we'd love to keep you in the loop.

And one more quick update- Ben just hired! We are so thankful that this job will provide good, consistent hours as well as good pay.

Thank you for all of those who are praying for us! That is the most important thing we need right now!!

Weekend of Camping

We have been back in Indiana for almost two weeks now- Ben has already been busy working, and I have been busy entertaining Sophie as well as organizing and getting a lot of our stuff ready for a garage sale we're having this weekend. The one thing that's good about going into mission work is that it keeps you honest about all your "stuff" - you really can't afford to have a bunch of extra stuff when you move so often!

Last weekend we went camping with my family, as we do every Memorial Day weekend. It was nice time- although it's not quite the same when you're keeping after a busy toddler! I got very little reading done, and I could only play games after Sophie went to bed. She did really well though!

NTBI Graduates

This weekend Ben and I graduated from New Tribes Bible Institute. It was a wonderful (and fast!) 2 years of studying the Word, making new friends, learning about what the life of a missionary looks like, learning about the need in the world (spiritually and physically), and enjoying being new parents. We are happy to be graduated but will miss those who we have spent our past 2 years with! 

Professional Graduater...

Sometimes I think maybe I'll just keep graduating forever... pictured below are pictures from my high school graduation (2006), college graduation (Grace-2010), and Bible school graduation (2012).

Wayumi - Class Trip

Last week we took our senior class trip to Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania where we went to a camp owned by New Tribe's Mission called Wayumi. Wayumi is a word from the Yanomamo language (from Venezuela) that means "to leave your village and go somewhere else for a while." The program is run by missionaries who have all lived overseas, in Venezuela or Papua New Guinea, doing either church planting or support work. It was incredible to hear their stories and to go through the program.

We spent our mornings in classes that consisted of the following: animism, pre-field training, language, culture, bible translation, evangelism, indigenous church, and teamwork. In the afternoons, we did different things. Two afternoons, we visited mock villages of the Joti, Yanomamo, and Malaumanda tribes. Three missionaries who had lived in these villages with these tribal groups dress up and set up in a village setting so that we students can experience what it's like to enter a new tribal work. It was really neat! [Sophie didn't love it.]

At Wayumi, they have a jungle camp area where students can stay in hammocks in a cabin. We didn't stay in these, but some of our classmates did. We went to visit it though.

There's a building called "The Tab" where we hung out often and played games. One of the games they have is human foosball. It was a lot of fun, but a little dangerous.

On thursday, we experienced a traditional Papua New Guinea meal called MuMu.

We had a really great time at Wayumi. It was encouraging to hear of all that has already been done in the world. God has done great things through New Tribe missionaries. It was challenging though to hear of all that is still left to do. Out of the 6900 languages on earth, there are still 2100 without the Bible. 

Wayumi does week-long and weekend camps for people of all ages. It's a great way to learn about New Tribe's work as well as to experience tribal missions without going overseas. Below is a video about Wayumi, and you can visit their website at www.wayumi.com. 

Praises and Prayer Requests

Just wanted to give you an idea of some things we could use prayer for:

-We found an apartment we'd really like- but there's a wait list, so we're just waiting :). Please pray that we would be able to get this apartment!

-We went to the dentist today, and I (Alisha) have way too many cavities. Pray that we would be able to get them all filled soon and that we won't have to pay too much!

-Pray that we would finish school strong and that we'd have a safe trip to our senior class trip in Pennsylvania at the beginning of May.

-Pray for us as we teach and parent Sophie :)

And some praises:

-We're almost done with our time at NTBI, and we have done well in our studies!

-Ben has perfect teeth and doesn't need anymore work!

-Ben has work lined up for this summer

-We are so excited about being back home in the Warsaw area!

And a few pictures of this cute kid...

Sport Tournament Fundraiser

We were sad to not be at Christ's Covenant Church tonight at the annual Art Gala. The Art Gala is so much fun- people make art to give and others buy the art- it's so neat to see the talent those in our church community have! The most exciting part is that the money goes toward missions. This year the money is going to two families who are preparing to head to Africa this year- we're so excited for the Hoods and the Cones and wish we could have been there tonight!

However, we did get to be a part of raising funds this weekends for Chris and Evie Jones, our dear friends who are preparing to move into a tribe soon. The senior class put together 3 different sport tournaments to raise money for Chris and Evie... ping pong, dodgeball, and hockey. Tonight was the hockey tournament, and both Ben and I played!

I played on the only girl team that there was... we had a lot of fun and played well! I haven't played since high school P.E. so I was a little nervous, but I didn't embarrass myself too much, so that was good!

Ben hasn't played much either, but he's had a little more practice than me. He mostly played the goalie position...

We girls lost our first game (against Ben's team!), then we won our second game (against boys who were 15-20 years younger than most of us, haha!), and then we lost the third game (by 1) which kicked us out of the loser's bracket. We had fun though!
Ben's team won their first game, won their second game, and won their third game... which meant they were the CHAMPIONS! It was fun that they won! One of the ladies made them reeses ice cream flurries as their reward! (in case you're wondering, Ben's team's name was Jason and the Xerxes, and my girl's team name was Girl Power)

We also did another fun thing this weekend to raise money for Chris and Evie... we used our artistic skills on the memorial wall! One of the girls in our class had this idea- it's a large white brick wall on the top floor of our gym- and we can buy a brick for $5 and paint it however we'd like. It's a fun way to "leave our mark" on the school, to be artistic, and to raise money for Chris and Evie!

Here is our family brick up close. And yes, that's really Sophie's foot print!