Partnering Update

Matt and I are praying in preparation for the time we begin seeking those interested in joining our partnership team as we train in Los Fresnos and do trips into Mexico next year. If you find us on your heart please pray with us as we embark on this journey. Pray also for our perseverance, that the Lord would bless us with strength as we continue on with our daily jobs and ministry roles.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for who You are. Thank You for being sovereign, upright, holy, without sin! Thank You that by the blood of Your precious Son, we could be brought near to You. Lord, You are worthy of all praise! I confess Lord I do not always give you the praise you deserve. Change my heart Lord! I pray Lord that Your name be made much of in every nation! I pray that you might use us broken vessels to shine you light onto others. I pray for our future partnership team that you be working strongly in their lives now. Bless them with the provision to send those with a desire to go into the nations Lord. Bless them with a strong faith and desire to glorify You! I pray for close relationships to be formed over the common bond of Christ! You are so good Lord, You are worthy of our lives! Thank you that you know everything that we need Lord, and you will not fail to provide. I pray Lord that you keep our will inline with Yours. 

In Your precious Son's Name I pray. Amen.

One of those milestone nights!

On April 19th Matt and I as well as a few other couples and Matt Taylor were able to share a meal with some of the visiting To Every Tribe Staff at the Best household. Bridging the gap between DeKalb, IL, Los Fresnos, TX and the Blackwater region in Papua New Guinea was happening all in one room. It was the first opportunity the projected group of DeKalb missionaries and To Every Tribe staff were able to meet as a collective group.
It was one of those milestone nights. We were able to bounce questions off the staff members and get an idea of what Texas & PNG living might realistically look like. We laughed for a large portion of the night and joked with each other, but we had a lot of serious questions answered as well. We learned more about TET's philosophy on missions. Some of those burning questions we had about contextualization, or bringing the gospel in a way that is culturally relevant to a region, were answered. We were able to also learn about the trade language of pidgin and how TET utilizes the Malaysian Pidgin Bible in it's ministry. We talked about diet and exercise in preparation for PNG, and about Texans and their appreciation for Dr. Pepper.


We also learned about some of TET's prayer requests: They are hoping to purchase a new set of dorms and single family homes that would be such an incredible step in housing the continually growing number of students. Also, Steve and Terri Best are working towards moving to Los Fresnos in the Fall, pray for their house to sell and for their family during this transition!


We would love your partnership in prayer as well as Matt and I continue to live life in DeKalb and our hearts are growing continually more drawn to Texas and PNG. Please pray that the Lord would grow us in perseverance as we work our 9-5 jobs to pay off student loans. Praise the Lord for His provision towards us! Pray that our desire to go, would be to glorify GOD and not "insert idol here". Pray that our faith in God to provide for us would grow as well! Thank you so much!

Pray!

This week David Sitton the president of the missions agency we want to go with is going to be at our church. Pray that during our time with him we get to ask good questions. Pray also for the other couples that are thinking about going that God would give them greater direction.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Since our visit to To Every Tribe in October time seems to be flying by. Our Pastor has accepted a position at the Missionary Training School as director. Our friend Matt Taylor has been accepted into the school as well. It has been encouraging seeing our Pastor, Steve Best, and his wife Terri, as well as our church body begin to start the transition phase. It has been equally encouraging to see our friend Matt Taylor begin support raising for his tuition at TET!


The Best's as well as Matt Taylor plan on being at TET this Fall! We look forward to what the future brings for us as well. Matt (my husband) has applied and we have been accepted into the training school also. After a lot of prayer, a lot of Bible reading and thoughtful conversation, Matt and I have decided to make the move in Fall of 2012. We are so excited for our next stage of life to arrive!

Nash Taylor CASH farewell concert

Saturday night Matt and I attended the Nash Taylor CASH annual "farewell"/partnership concert at Harvest Bible Chapel DeKalb. It was held in Lifestone Cafe and was an awesome night of fellowship and music. Ruth Ross opened the night off with some fun original tunes. Kevin and Brittany Singer then played some of their awesome original songs as well. Through out the night I kept praising God for gifting our friends with such amazing voices and musical talents.



Matt Taylor gave a brief talk about partnering with God for the purpose of Global Missions. Hearing him speak of partnership with God as opposed to just partnership with him for the purpose of sending missionaries was what stood out most to me. Missions isn't about self glorification, it is about God's glorification. It was wonderful to reflect on God's glory through the lyrics of Nash Taylor CASH's set. Most of the band being NIU Alumni made the reunion much like a college flash back for us all. These were the guys that played for NIU Cru back when I was saved in Feb. 2008. The band playing on Saturday consisted of Aaron Kapper, Joel Nash, Janae Nash (Joel's sister), Kevin Singer and Matt Taylor. It was encouraging looking a the large turn out, some whom even traveled over 70 miles to attend the event.


We are blessed to know Matt Taylor and we are so encouraged by his faith and desire to take this next step to become a missionary to the unreached tribal people groups of the world. If you are interested in learning more about partnering with Matt Taylor please visit www.toeverytribe.org or Harvest Bible Chapel's missions page run by Matt Taylor.

Dinner with Missionaries

Tonight we were able to eat dinner with some Papua New Guinea missionaries from the Blackwater region. They have been ministering to a tribe in the Blackwater region since 2001. They spend 6 years learning about the tribe and learning the language and then in 2007 they started teaching the bible. 

Since then they have been using chronological bible teaching to go through the entire bible. It has been amazing to hear their stories of God using them to spread the gospel to a tribe of around 1000 people. We were very encouraged by them and their faithfulness in Christ work. We loved talking to them and feel like we just made some great friends. We were also able to share this experience with some of our friends who are going or are really considering going with us on a team.