What are we doing here? (Part 9)

I've been doing a series of posts over the past three years about our training with New Tribes Mission. Our third year of amazing training has just come to a close.

Our first two years were spent at New Tribes Bible Institute. (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

Last August, we moved to Missouri to attend the Missionary Training Center. (Part 7 & 8)

We have one more year to go.

This past semester has been exciting for so many reasons. We took some very practical, hands-on courses about life in the tribe. We tried out techniques for language learning for the first time. We heard about many of NTM's fields (countries) at the Field Fair. And we chose a field...Papua New Guinea!

Here's a little recap of the classes we took this past semester since my last update in February:

• Animism

Animism is a belief system that is very prevalent among unreached people groups around the world. It is a belief system in which the people believe that spiritual beings and forces dictate everyday affairs...and because of that, the people need to figure out ways to appease, manipulate, and please these beings in order to survive and do well in life. Animists often live in great fear of spiritual beings. Obviously, this belief system is much different than the Biblical truth. So in this class, we learned more about what animists believe, why they believe what they do, and how to minister to people with these beliefs. This was an amazing class, and also a sobering one in thinking about actually going to an animistic people group in order to bring them the Good News of Jesus.

• Biblical Peacemaking

The number one reason missionaries leave the field is NOT danger, health conditions, or homesickness. It is difficulties in relationships with other missionaries. Crazy, huh? This class that we took really addressed that issue. We examined how missionaries can maintain healthy relationships with their teammates. We explored Biblical principles of peacemaking, such as building unity, preventing conflict, and dealing with conflict in a Christ-honoring manner.

• CLA Methodology

Wow...this class has been challenging... and fun... and exhausting... and encouraging. CLA stands for Culture/Language Acquisition--basically how to learn a new culture and language. We first discussed the nature of culture and the impact it has on living and communicating in a new country. Then we began to learn about the method New Tribes uses for language learning. (If you are unfamiliar with what we are training for, we will be going into a tribe to learn an unwritten language). We were actually given the opportunity to learn some of a language (we learned Russian) using a method called Total Physical Response (TPR). It is totally unlike any language learning I have done before... it's not like a high school foreign language class. But...it is so effective! It involves learning language in a "natural setting"...not from a textbook. After only a few sessions with our Russian language helper, Aaron and I were both able to recognize dozens of words, phrases, and steps in a process in Russian. This class was so encouraging, because there is actually a strategy involved in learning a tribal language... and it works! We're excited to put this to practice even more next semester, when we do a CLA practicum.

Aaron doing TPR with our language helper (a staff member here at the MTC)

• Folk Religion

This class was a follow-up to Animism. Folk Catholicism is basically animism mixed with some Catholic beliefs. Many unreached people groups have had some very vague teaching about Catholicism or some other religion, and they have mixed those teachings with what they already believed (about spirits, etc.). So in this class, we learned more about groups with these beliefs in order to consider what it would be like to minister to them.

• Grammar

This class gave us a whole new appreciation for languages. God did an amazing job when He confused all of the languages at the Tower of Babel. Every language is complex and unique and intricate. In this class, we learned how to break down samples of languages into morphemes, words, and clauses. Other languages have sentences and word structures that are totally different from English ones. For example, in English, we may say "My hands are small." But in another language, that exact concept could be written like this: "Hands smalls" (as translated into English). That is obviously not a correct or complete sentence in English...but it is in another language. We learned how to take samples of writing from a language, break them down into their smallest parts, and then make charts that organize the parts into understandable data for us to use in order to analyze and learn the language. Sound difficult? It was. But it's also pretty fun.

• New Testament Church Principles

Our overall goal when we get to our tribe is to plant a mature church. However...we have never planted a church before. How do you do it?? In this class, we discussed what the Bible says about a church...what it entails, how it is run, and what it is characterized by. We learned about principles for a church that are true for any and every culture.

• Romans 12-14

The purpose of this class was to become further grounded in the foundation of and motivation for Christian living. We went through these three chapters of Romans as a class, hearing from our teacher some, but also teaching portions of it to one another. A strong daily walk with the Lord is essential for carrying out an effective ministry, so this class was really amazing.


Now we are looking forward to a great summer in our hometown before we begin at the MTC again in August! :)