Update on our training!

CELEBRITIES!!! Our teacher stood up at the end of our first class and announced, "Rich and Karen Brown, who are serving in the Moi tribe of Papua, Indonesia, and Mike and Libby Wild, who are serving in the Wano tribe of Papua, Indonesia, are here with us today! They would love to visit with any of you and are available for talking to you any time while they are here. This is a great time to get some of your questions answered." BJ and I both looked at each other...MOI TRIBE?! This is the tribe that we hear about in the Awayo video! He is like...a celebrity! It's funny, to us, they are legends who have gone overseas and have experienced the Lord working among people and becoming Christians! I wanted to take a picture of him, but BJ wouldn't let me! They will be doing a Q&A for Indonesia tomorrow night. We have been looking forward to this, because we know New Tribes works in Indonesia, but have not heard a lot about it.
Click here to watch the Awayo video! You won't regret it!!

We also wanted to update you on what classes we are currently taking. We just started a new one today called Child Protection. We have heard that this is a very difficult class because of how it opens your eyes to problems in the world, dealing with child abuse and neglect. We just started reading a book called "Too Small to Ignore" by Dr Wess Stafford. I have only read the 1st chapter, but it is talking about giving our children our desrving time, attention, and serious commitment--not someday, but now. Please pray for us during this class. Just from reading the manual last night, we are going to be talking about physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse...and these are things that just get under your skin, making you so mad.

The second class that we are in is called Foundational Bible Teaching. As many of you know, New Tribes has adopted a teaching method called the chronological teaching method. This is where you teach, starting in Genesis with creation and teach all the way to Christ's death and resurrection. They feel it is important to start at the beginning and then build foundationally...this way, you know why there had to be a redeemer and why it had to be Jesus! It's actually quite cool! So in our class, we are learning how to actually teach the lessons. Our group will be teaching the story of Noah and the Tower of Babel to our class on Friday...please pray!

Our last class of the day is Love and Respect. Many of you might have heard of the book. We are watching the video series taught by Emerson. It's really funny and useful. He teaches that women need to be loved, and men need to be respected. When the woman is not feeling loved, she reacts and doesn't respect the man, then he reacts and does love the woman...it starts this crazy cycle. It's fun to listen to all of his stories and examples!

We are loving it here and feel honored to be here learning all of this! Thank you so much for all of you who pray for us and give financially. Without all of you, we would not be able to be training here! Sorry there are no pictures this time...but don't forget to watch the Awayo video!!

Blog Worthy!

We gave in...We had a family date night and went to McDonald's! We were so excited to get up to the line and order her her very first happy meal! I'm sure it was funny for the workers because we had no idea what to order for ourselves! We haven't been to McDonald's in forever and it was like we were experiencing it for the first time! haha! We even had to ask what was on a BigMac!

Anyways, Olivia ate so well. She sat in her high chair and really didn't make a peep! She ate all minus 1 chicken nugget (Sophie ate the other!), then the french fries (not all of them), and then was sooooo excited when she got to open the box and find a pink dachshund toy! She was so excited to take home her new toy and WOULD NOT part with the box! Such a fun time!

You never know...

Wow! As part of our training here, we are put into groups for mentoring, encouragement, and fellowship. The groups consist of 5 staff members, several married students, and several single students. We have been meeting twice a week and sharing our stories. It has been incredible to hear all of the different stories. We have heard of students who sons committed suicide, dads doing the same, dads having strokes, family being addicted to drugs, growing up as a missionary kid, have dealt with depression, etc. My eyes have been opened these several weeks in that we all have one thing in common...everyone has dealt with pain at some point in their life. In a group that seems so different, I have been able to connect with pretty much everyone in some sort of aspect. I am saying all of this to say that you never know what someone has been through (or going through) in the past (or present). If you really get to know someone, you might find that you have a lot more in common than you think you do.

With that, I have heard so much this past week of prayer requests:
-my Aunt Susan's husband has been been having extreme high blood pressure and TIA's
-BJ's Aunt is having health problems
-my dad's hand has a bad infection and is receiving care for that
-Several staff, or their family, here have illnesses, diseases that are very difficult and painful
-My friend, Lael, lost her grandpa this week
-I have my gestational diabetes test tomorrow
I know that there are so many more that I am forgetting. But please pray for these!

Let's also thank God for some good things:
-Lulu, my cousin, got a job that is going to allow her to work normal hours now!
-Jennifer, my sister, got a job!
-My brother, Jason, and Eilene are having a baby boy in January!
-Tony, my dad, passed a really big test for work
-Drew, BJ's friend, passed the Bar!!
There are so many other praises too that I'm forgetting!

Please pray for these prayers, and thank God for these praises! Feel free to comment on here if there are prayers/praises that I didn't write and you'd like us to pray for them!!

Outreach

BJ and I have decided to get involved in reaching out to teens in Camdenton, MO. Small towns can be very difficult for teenagers growing up. There just isn't much to do except experiment. A lot of the teens here go to an alternative school because of learning, addictions, pregnancy, abuse. But the teens are crying out to be loved.

We recently found out about an outreach program called TEEN/REV and the LIVING ROOM. Teen/Rev is for pregnant teens to come and get educated, loved, and supported. The clinic is open from 12-4 everyday. Because I have had a couple of experiences with being pregnant :), I am going to be helping out here a couple times a week. Please pray for me, as I am very nervous to do this. I am not nervous at all to educate these girls, because I can totally relate to being pregnant and all of the fun things that come with it, but ministering to them and eventually teaching them about the Bible makes me a little nervous. These girls are crying out for love, and I pray that I can give them a taste of God's perfect love!

The Living Room is a new addition to the Teen/Rev. This is a hangout where teens can come and hang out after school and on the weekends. It's open from 3-6 in the week and til' 10 on Friday and Saturday. BJ and I both will be volunteering here a couple of days a week. We will hang out with kids, help with homework, try to get them doing things that are fun and safe. We hope to be able to share Christ with them as well. Again, please pray for us!

Saturday was our first event. We had a big concert for the teens to come and hang out. I have to say, it was definitely different being back in this atmosphere! Girlfriends and boyfriends all over each other were just one thing that was strange to me. I was thinking...I hope I am cut our for this!! It really was a great night. I was preparing food most of the time, but got to talk to a few girls that told me that they come every Friday night. BJ and our other friends got to talk to some of the boys and they really sensed that they longed for a father figure. So, we are very excited to be apart of this outreach program. Please, please be praying for us and the teens in Camdenton!!

Bragging on Olivia

"Ya-ya-ya, ya-ya-ya-yaaa" This is the new sound/song that we hear multiple times a day from Olivia!

Does anybody recognize that tune?! Let me sing the real version: "la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, Elmo's song"! That's right, Olivia loves MELMO! Olivia goes to the childcare every day, and they watch about 15 minutes of a video every day...and I am assuming they watch Elmo. We bought her Elmo's favorite songs a few months ago and she was not interested in it. Now, she goes up to the tv, gets the dvd box, and hands it to me. The cutest part is when I put it on, she dances and sings her tune! So cute.

I also want to brag about what her teachers tell me. They tell me that she is such a helper! She is one of the only ones that helps clean up. We hope that she will continue to be sweet and a helper when her sister arrives! We are so blessed to have her. Here are some pictures of her from childcare!

Our First Visitor!

Wow! I can't believe we have already finished our first month of training! It is already September and we already had our first visitor. Last weekend Kyle "Hambone" Hansen (my old roommate, aka "domestic partner"... just kidding) came to stay! It was a great time. Oh, sorry parents, you don't count as visitors anymore, since you always come to visit.

Well, we are continually being blown away by the training here, especially all of our instructors, who have been missionaries on every continent. All together they have hundreds of years experience. It is awesome. We wish everyone could get this great of training before they go into ministry, it is so invaluable!
We miss all of you, and we can't wait to see some of you this weekend!