Our church, Christ's Covenant Church, had a gathering for all of those interested in missions about 2.5 years ago. It was there that we first met Jared and Megan Hood. At that meeting, Jared and Megan shared about their heart for Africa, but they were unsure at that point where that would take them. It amazes me that now, just 2 years later, they are preparing to leave. In less than a month, they will be hopping on a plane and heading to Tanzania, Africa with Africa Inland Mission where they have committed to serving for two years as church planters but hope to serve for longer.
We also met Jordan and Tirza Cone around that same time. They, along with their two young children, leave in just a few days to head to Cameroon, Africa where they are going to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators as school teachers. They grew up as missionary kids in Africa and attended the school they are going to be working at, so they will be a great encouragement to the students there. They have also committed to two years but hope to be there for longer.
A week ago we had the privilege to spend a night hanging out with these two awesome couples. We had a picnic and talked with them about their journey thus far and their plans for the future. We're so excited about what God is going to do through them and will certainly be praying for them. They have many changes ahead, and we trust that God will faithfully guide them.
Summer is in full swing, and it's consisted of work and play. Mostly work for Ben and mostly play for me and Sophie.
Ben has been busy at his new job, working full time. When he's not working at his official job, he's been helping to renovate two rooms in his parents' house, doing other odd and end jobs around his parents' house, and working on both his car and his friend Caleb's car. Once he's done working, he's pretty tired... so his "play" usually consists of watching TV and sleeping. Needless to say, we haven't seen too much of him.
Sophie and I have been doing lots of fun things since being home. We've gone to the park at least once a week to play, use the stroller, or go to the splash pad. (Sophie's) Aunt Brianna has come along several times :). We've gone to the mall a couple of times, and (Sophie's) Grandma took her on the carousel once. We've visited lots of friends, just to hang out and catch up. We went to a 31 bag party. We went garage sale-ing. Sophie got in the kiddie pool once. But mostly we just go outside LOTS. And Sophie's favorite thing to do outside is to play with all of the animals and particularly to visit the goats and kitties. We play lots.
As a family, we've gone to church (so glad to be back at CCC!), visited some college friends for dinner on the grille (yum!), hung out with our new mentor couple from church, checked out our new apartment that we'll be moving into in a couple of weeks, and hung out around the house and in the pool.
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!!
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!
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!
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).
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.
