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.

My First Cooking Experience at MTC

I arrived home late after going to church on Saturday night and making a run to Wal-Mart to pick up those essential food items and some cleaning supplies. Since my dinner consisted of chips and yogurt, I thought I would pop in a frozen pot pie. Once I remembered we didn’t have a microwave, I fished out a cookie sheet from the box of dishes from the mission barrel. After preheating the oven Martha-Stewart style, I deftly inserted my pie. I set my timer and estimated it would be done around 12 midnight—just in time for a midnight snack. Five minutes later, the smoke alarm issued an ear-splitting shriek! After wandering through the house and ensuring that the active smoke alarm was not the one that sounds throughout the entire building, I calmly pulled the pie out of the oven. Nothing was on fire, so I quickly opened the windows. The neighbor came over to make sure I was all right, and I mumbled something about the greasy residue on the pan making a lot of smoke. It was about fifteen minutes before I had the courage to put the pie back in the oven after scrubbing off the cookie sheet and closing the doors to the bedrooms where the smoke alarms are located. Finally, at 12:45, I ate my pie and went to bed. It may be awhile before I get up the courage to pull off a Martha Stewart, but I will be sure to keep a fire extinguisher on hand!

Safe Trip and Internet!

If anyone needs help with their internet, I am now a pro! I just learned that a "modem" is the thing that plugs into your phone jack to give you internet, and without it, a "router," which gives you cordless internet, is no good. Also, there is this box thing, called a "splitter," that plugs into somewhere to keep your phone line from being static-y. Once I acquire these items, I can stop puzzling over my neighbor’s password for their encrypted wireless network, which pops up every time I try to get online. I also learned how to get locked out of my school network, which shows my schedule, homework assignments, and all school-related email. Thanks to the IT guys, I was able to get my home internet set up and now know what an "ethernet cable" is.

Praise the Lord for safe travels! I had a great time with my friend in Fort Worth, and arrived at the Missionary Training Center in Roach without any problems, in spite of the huge rainstorm on the way. It was wonderful to see such a lot of rain after so long in sunny San Antonio! In Fort Worth I was able to see Michelangelo’s first painting, the Torment of St. Anthony, at the Kimbel Art Museum. He was 12 or 13 when he painted it, and I can see why he chose that particular subject. I can just imagine a twelve-year-old boy enjoying thinking up all those ugly demons. I also saw how artistic my Assyrian ancestors were in a wall engraving and got to appreciate the fact that my head and limbs are still attached.

 Christine and I raced through the maze at the Stockyards, and we saw a genuine cattle drive down the main street.

The Japanese Gardens were gorgeous, even in the 107-degree weather and we couldn’t resist doing kung-fu poses on the yin-yang stage.

The water gardens were a slight disappointment as there was no water running due to the drought, but we made the most of it by cooling off at Jamba Juice.

Thank you Naganos for your hospitality!

Since being at MTC, I have successfully raided the mission barrel, the free food pantry, the kitchen-ware closet, and the furniture barn. I love free stuff! Wal-mart is the next stop, so I can pick up some cleaning supplies and something that I can eat as an actual meal. Living on my own is more complicated than I thought! Thankfully, my wonderful hostess, Ronda, fed me a few times, so I wouldn’t starve before I got to Wal-Mart.

My aunt and uncle and cousin, Sarah, came to see me and we had our first meal in my house! I had a great time with them and am so glad I got to see my cousin before she heads to Peru!

A New Adventure

"These all died in faith...and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth....But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath perpared for them a city." Hebrews 11:13,16

Growing up I always thought of myself as a pilgrim, a wandering nomad with no permanent home. As a missionary kid in Panama, on average, we moved more than once a year during my lifetime. I have come to like moving. Not only is it a great way to get rid of excess junk and do spring cleaning, but it has loosened my grip on the material and sharpened my focus on what really matters in life. I really identify with Abraham, who was ready to get up and move at God's call. After all, we are all pilgrims and nomads on this earth.

This land is not my home,

I'm just a'passin' through.

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue.

I am starting this blog for a few different reasons. First, I have always wanted to start a blog, but didn't have anything to write about, and second, now I have something to write about and would like to stay in touch with my friends and family. After getting a Bachelors degree and working at home for a year, I am going to do something I have always wanted to do, and that is going to missionary training with New Tribes Mission! The program is a year and a half to two years long and is located on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Check out their website for more information about NTM: http://www.ntm.org/

I hope you all will read this periodically--I am hoping to post at least twice a month. Please comment and give me your feedback!