Three-Week Challenge: Weeks 1 and 2

Week 1
Wow, what a week! I don't think I've ever worked out this consistently in my life! From Friday to Friday I traveled 8 and a half miles on foot, sweated through 160 sit-ups, 40 push-ups, 15 pull-ups, 10 lunges; and 30 minutes of yoga. That doesn't sound like a lot to you buff bodybuilders and marathon runners out there, but for wimpy me, trust me, it's a lot. I'm on track for my goal with 5 workout days last week, 2 pounds lost, and consistent calorie tracking on My Fitness Pal!

Week 2
This week it was a lot harder to stay motivated. My muscles were sore from a sudden increase in use, and running on the treadmill just seemed tedious. I gained about 3 pounds one day, and then lost about 4 the next. I didn't go to the grocery store, so I was running out of healthy food options. Even with all those challenges, from Saturday to Friday, I still ran/walked about 2 and a half miles, did 1 hour of yoga, 8 push-ups, 80 sit-ups, and 6 pull-ups. Not nearly as impressive as last week, but I am still on track with 5 days of working out, consistent time with my Pal, and 1.5 pounds lost. I'll have to work a little harder this next week to lose 2.5 pounds, but I think I can do it!

Shooting for the Moon: a Three-Week Challenge

So, I realize I haven't posted on this much, but maybe it's because I have been demotivated by lack of interesting things to say. Who wants to hear about working at Starbucks or cooking and cleaning my house or my latest adventure trying to get my car running and registered in the state of Wisconsin? Not me.... and I'm sure, not you.

As things settled down from our Christmas trip to Texas, and the New Year rolled around, I decided to make a few New Year's resolutions. "But," you say, "New Year's resolutions never last and are a waste of time! Besides, isn't that a sign of relying on yourself instead of God?"

Someone once said, "Shoot for the moon, and if you miss, at least you will be far out!" I decided that having a goal is something necessary for my life. I need to be challenged to get off my couch and live life.

My coworker inspired me to make some three-week long goals. Apparently, a habit can be formed or broken in three weeks. So, my New Year's resolution? To accomplish a series of three-week long goals this year. I have a lot of things I could stand to improve in my life, but the first goal I decided to set is three-fold. I want to be more fit and healthy.

Each goal that I make is going to be "S.M.A.R.T.":
S-Simple
M-Measurable
A-Attainable
R-Rewarded
T-on a Timetable

So here is my goal for the first three weeks, ending February 2, 2014.
I want to:
1) Lose 6 pounds by
2) Working out five days a week, and
3)Keeping track of my nutrition on My Fitness Pal. (If you haven't heard of it, it is an awesome app for losing weight and tracking nutrition, calories, and exercise.)

My reward:
If I reach all three goals, Sean and I will go snowboarding--a first for me!
If I reach only 2 out of 3, we will go out for sushi and a movie.
If I only reach one, I will buy a yoga mat or an iPod armband.

"Why is your first goal so self-oriented?" You ask. "Why not do something more spiritual like read through the Bible or give more or be kind to others?" Sean and I spent the first weekend of the New Year with about 40 Junior High and High School kids at an EFCA conference called "Districts." The surprising thing was that the main challenge I got from that was that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and I should treat it like it is. I want to form healthy habits that will increase my energy for the other things in life, and will help form a healthy family in the future. I realize I can't meet these goals by my own effort, but "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Shooting for the moon, one step at a time.

By blogging about this venture, I not only have you to keep me accountable, but maybe you will be inspired to set your own goals, too. Please comment if you have a goal you would like to share, or anything you want to say. I'm not sure if the comment button is working, so try it out so I know that it works. Thanks for joining me on my journey to the moon!

Winter is Not Forever

As a Texan, I was not prepared for a true Northern Winter. When the first Wisconsin snow fell, I was excited and inspired by the delicate beauty and the clean-slate look of the world. I took pictures and sent them to friends and family in the South: "Look! It's me in SNOW!!!" As the winter wore on, I experienced driving in real snow for the first time--at 5:30am before the snow plows had cleared the roads. I experienced digging my car from the snow, dodged snow plows, fixed the frozen lock on my car door, caught snowflakes on my tongue, learned how to wear scarf, and even threw a few snowballs.

Soon, January had come and gone, and February followed. March arrived, and I remembered hearing that saying as a child: "March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." So March roared in, and I had hopes that it would tiptoe out with gentle, fluffy bleats, but not so. April came, and still the snow continued. Just when I had convinced myself that I'd been transported to Narnia's perpetual winter and began planning a second Christmas, the snow flurries stopped, and signs of Spring cautiously began to creep in. Baby buds on the trees popped up their little heads. Patches of bald ground sleepily stretched in the expanses of snow. Soon, the birds began to sing again, as if it were full-blown Spring. The geese glided in as garrulous as ever, and the still, solid river began to move again. Then it was May, and the tulips were blooming in their Sunday best. The sun finally deigned to show its face every now and then, and the solid precipitation turned liquid (except for one freak snow flurry in mid-May). The baby leaf buds were a soft, adolescent green, and lush green grass ground blanketed the ground!

Proof that Spring does come eventually!

We all go through seasons in our lives, and sometimes, in the Winter, it seems like Spring will never come. The bad news keeps snowing in, and the sunny days seem far away. Maybe it's just a constant shoveling as debt is cleared away, or relationships are dug out of snow and need to thaw out and be repaired. We get tired of dodging snow plows and occasionally getting plowed right over. In whatever situation you may be dealing with, just remember that Spring will come. God has not forgotten us in our Winter, and He's still in charge of the weather. Psalm 147:16-18 says, "He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes and the waters flow."
What wintery situations are you dealing with right now? Let me know so I can pray for you!

God's Power and Solar Power

It's another steamy evening in the jungle. The last rays of sun have just disappeared behind the coconut palms and the cicadas are going at it like the Trans-Siberian orchestra. Sweat pours off you face as you stare at your laptop screen, trying to memorize a list of vocabulary words in a language that has never been learned before. The moths and flying termites flock to the fluorescent light overhead, in spite of the fact that your windows are now closed. They land on your computer screen and your hand sticks to them as you brush them away.

You adjust your desktop fan so that it blows directly into your face and double-click to open another MP3 file--you just have to hear that phrase you recorded with your language helper one more time. Suddenly all the lights go out in the house, and a window pops up on your computer to say you only have one hour left of power on your laptop. Your house just ran out of battery power!

Young Buglere couple

New Tribes Mission specializes in reaching isolated people groups--many of whom live far from the nearest power plant. Their goal is to plant growing, self-governed churches that will reach out to others in their area with the Good News that Jesus Christ has paid for their sin by His death on the cross.

This is a huge job that involves learning and analyzing a language that often has never been written down, building relationships with the indigenous people, learning to understand their culture and worldview, teaching them to read and write, translating the Bible into their language, teaching them about God, the Bible, and mankind, and, last but not least, living with them!



 

Embera woman cooking over an open fire



Missionary Technology class has enlightened me as to how complicated this can actually be. It is not always necessary to string your hammock up in the same hut as them, but it is essential to live near enough to them to have daily interaction in their own language and on their own turf. This becomes more complicated as our list of bare necessities grows longer. Usually, the nearest grocery store is at least an hour's flight by cessna or a day's hike away.

How do you store enough food to last you until your next supply flight comes in? In a cooler? In an AC, DC, or kerosine refrigerator? How do you prepare it once it comes? Over an open fire? A gas or electric stove? A hotplate? Where do you get your water from? A river? A well? From the rain on your roof? How do you collect it? How do you get it to come out your faucet? Do you even have a faucet? How should you light your house? What about air conditioners or fans? Where on earth are you going to get electricity for all of this? A generator? Your car battery? Solar Panels? The nearest city? All these questions, and more than you and I would ever think to ask, are answered in Missionary Technology class.



NorthWahgi believer and one of the missionaries



This class has deepened my appreciation for people like the Lenz, Wilson, and Hulley families who were able to share a clear gospel presentation with the North Wahgi  people in Papua New Guinea in their own language this year!

Read more about their experience on the NTM website!

Rock the Worldview!

“I believe that man is a parasite on the earth and is here destroying it.”   

How do you think the earth came about? “There are gods and goddesses that made the earth. It was just a lump of rock without anything on it, then the gods and goddesses made plants and animals. The animals were like, experiments before they made man.”

Why did the gods make man? “They were lonely and wanted companionship.” 

So what is man’s purpose in life? “I guess to be companions to the gods. But they are just ruining the earth instead.” 

So what happens after you die? “Well, you go to paradise for a short time, then you are reborn as something else, depending on whether you made right or wrong choices in your life.”

Can I be the ocean when I die? “Well, the ocean is another god, so not really. The gods are in all sorts of things. And we can kind of become gods too.”

How do you know what is right and wrong? “When you do what the gods want, that’s what is right.”

How do you know what the gods want? “They communicate what they want through dreams and feelings. Not all dreams are the gods communicating, but if you have a very real, vivid dream, then that’s when they are trying to tell you something. You can just sort of tell by what you feel. They don’t really communicate through bad dreams. That’s just what I believe. If you don’t believe it, then that’s OK. Actually, all the religions of the world are basically the same. They are just different forms of worshiping the same gods. Except Satanism.” 

How do you communicate to these gods and how do you please them? “You can just pray. Just like every other religion in the world. You can please them by praying, or doing good things, or by making some sort of sacrifice to them. Not really by sacrificing something alive, although that is done sometimes, but more like giving up something in your life...I don’t really know why I believe it, but it’s OK if I am wrong, that’s just what I believe.”

This conversation sounds like something you might have with a tribal person in Papua New Guinea, but it might surprise you that a friend and I asked a 15-year-old girl right here in the Bible Belt what her beliefs were. How do you even begin to share the Gospel with someone when they have no concept of Who God is, and what our relationship to Him is? 

So many times, we think a simple 15 minute Gospel presentation will somehow completely shake a person's core beliefs and they will "see the light" and get saved. I have been learning that evangelism involves so much more than just a door-to-door or drive-through approach. In order to share the truth with someone in a way they will understand it, you must know what the person's worldview is. Do they believe in Creation or Evolution? Do they believe in God? If so, who do they believe God is? What do they believe about their relationship to this God? Is He a personal God, or does He even give a rip about what goes on in our lives? What is our purpose in life? 

Not only should we know what the person believes, but we must give them a reason to listen to us. Why should they care what we have to say? "People won't care what we know unless they know that we care." Trust and credibility must be earned before people will listen to us. Do you know what your hearers believe? Have you given them a reason to listen to you?

Tour of Roach

 When I tell people I go to school in Roach, Missouri, a lot of unpleasant images come to mind. But let me assure you that they are mostly false. Roach is a tiny town outside of Camdenton near Ha Ha Tonka state park. Although you may immediately equate the name with large, ugly beetles that crunch disgustingly under your shoe, Roach is actually a picturesque little town. There is a small post office with a friendly postmaster

and a church. There are many rumors regarding the nature of this church, the most interesting of which, is that they do snake handling in an imitation of the Apostle Paul.

There are several interesting houses in Roach that range from rustic to picturesque,

and one gas station.

Apparently, Roach did not receive its name because of its abundance of cockroaches. In fact, I haven't seen a single roach since being here, but, if I were to name it for an unpleasant bug, I would name it "Spider" or "Recluse." Roach was actually named after a prominent family that settled by a river in the 1800's. Apparently, Jack Roach was orphaned at age 3 shortly after the family moved to the area. Jack rose in prominence, becoming a steam boat pilot, joining the Union in the Civil War, becoming a probate judge, sheriff, and then prosecuting attorney of Camden County. His son also became the prosecuting attorney in his rise to prominence, and was eventually elected to the US House of Representatives for Missouri. So, you see, now that I know the distinguished history of Roach, I can unashamedly say that I live in a town which shares its name with one of God's ugliest creatures.



Cute, frisky goats at a small farm in Roach



I'm not sure what the significance of this sign post is.



Rooted in Faith

                My family has been with New Tribes Mission for 20 years, and I had never heard the story of how NTM began until my NTM history class here at the training center. Paul Wyma told us incredible stories of how God worked in the lives of men and women during the early days of New Tribes Mission! Their faith was tremendous! He told us the story about his dad, Mel Wyma, sending his pregnant wife, Connie, and Paul, who was just a baby, to Bolivia by themselves in the middle of World War II.

               When they arrived in southern California where they were to board, they had booked their passage but didn’t have enough money to pay for the ticket. They had 3 or 4 days before the ship left, but they were still missing $125 for the ticket. Mel went to the post office so many times in those few days that the post office workers recognized him, and on the morning they were to leave, the post office called to tell him something had finally come for him. Mel and Connie ran down to post office where they received a check someone had sent them for $125! They were able to buy the tickets and board the boat in time, but all Mel had in his pocket was 75 cents. He gave that to Connie, hoping it would be enough to get them to Bolivia where the other missionaries were to meet them.



Mel and Connie Wyma with Paul before leaving for Bolivia



               After seeing them off, Mel got back into the car to go back to the training center in Chico and realized the gas tank was almost empty. He prayed, “Lord, we have always trusted you to take us only as far as you want us to go.” He got in the car and headed north. On the way, he saw two hitch-hikers and stopped to give them a ride. They were headed to Oregon, but Mel said he could take them as far as he was going. During the trip, one accepted Christ. When Mel’s tank was on empty, he pulled over to a gas station and told the guys this was as far as he was going. They asked him if he wanted to join them for lunch, and he refused, but they insisted that they wanted to buy him lunch. 

               At the end of the meal, one of the guys asked for the key to the car. Mel gave him the key, thinking that he had left something in the car. Before he knew it, he heard the motor start and looked up to see the car leaving! He thought, "Oh, no! He’s stealing the car and it’s not even mine!” But the man just pulled up to the gas pump and began filling it up. Mel ran out to explain that he couldn’t pay for the gas, but the guy insisted that he didn’t have to worry about it! They had realized his predicament and wanted to help him out.

Later, when he had used up that gas, he stopped on the side of the road. Lo and behold, another missionary that was heading back to Chico after a conference saw him and stopped. He gave him enough money to get home!

              I have asked myself several times in the last few weeks why we don’t see faith like that today. These men and women had such an urgency and passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ that they were willing to lay aside everything and follow Jesus. They did not let lack of money, or health problems, or age, or over-protectiveness for their children stand in the way.  They trusted God completely to meet their needs at the right time, and were willing to sacrifice everything for the cause of Christ. 

              Could it be that we lack urgent, effective prayer in our daily lives? Is it because we don't dig deeply into God's Word in our own time each day? I mentioned to an experienced missionary that maybe it is because we don't have to trust God as much as they did back in the early days, but she assured me that there is plenty of things that a missionary must trust God about. How I desire that fervent, complete trust in God in my own life!

              If you want to read more stories about the history of NTM, you should read the book, The Story of New Tribes Mission, by Ken Johnston. While this particular story is not in the book, there are many more that show God’s provision and faithfulness! If anyone wants to read the book, they can get it from the NTM book website.