But while we are not studying any specific language right now, we are learning how to learn an unwritten language - how to analyze the structure and patterns of any given language (For example, have you ever considered why an English speaker would say "The big red ball," instead of "The red big ball?"). We will need to fully understand the grammatical patterns of the language we work among so that we can put the language into writing, translate Scripture into the language, and teach the people to read their language.  This is the purpose of our current language training.

One of the classes we just finished was a Grammar class in which we analyzed the general grammatical patterns of dozens of different languages. Some of the languages are pretty complex, but below is a simple example to give you a taste of what we've been doing.  These words are nouns from the Michoacan Aztec language in Mexico.

See if you can break apart the words to figure out which part of the word is the noun root, which part of the word shows plurality, and which part shows ownership. The answers are in a comment, which you can access at the bottom right of this post.

Our Spring Newsletter is out!  If you're on the list, it should be hitting your inbox any second now.  If you're not on our email list yet, and you want to be, simply click on the Newsletter link at the top of the page and enter your email address in the box to be added automatically.  Meanwhile, click here to read our latest update.

We had lazy morning to make some muffins.

Like any responsible cook, Hudson makes sure to test the product. 

Watch out, Bobby Flay!

In short, we:

• Watched Hudson learn to walk, run, and mumble a handful of words,
• Completed our second and final year of Bible training at the New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, Michigan,
• Moved into our new apartment near Camdenton, MO to start the second phase of training at New Tribe's Missionary Training Center,
• Learned to hear, produce, and interact with the phonetic sounds found in languages worldwide.  We now know the difference between an unaspirated voiceless alveolar stop and a voiced velar fricative,
• Received an introduction to contextualizing foundational Bible teachings for cross-cultural situations,
• And began the process of contacting potential fields for future ministry.

In this new year, we are honored and blessed to have the opportunity to continue moving toward this goal: to preach God's message of redemption to one of the 2000+ people groups that are still waiting to hear it.  This is not a sprint; it is a marathon.  So much preparation must still be done.  But we keep moving ahead with the joyful assurance that the Lord goes before us.

Thanks for your support, and happy new year!

One thing we’ve had to learn to do is to make “unaspirated stops.” The letter “p” is one that English speakers aspirate when it is at the beginning of a word, but not when it is in the middle or end of a word. We are so used to this that it is often very difficult to not aspirate a “p” that is at the beginning of a word. To make an unaspirated “p,” put your hand an inch or two in front of your mouth, and try to say the word “pill” in a normal voice without letting a puff of air out with the “p.” … Can you do it? It will sound similar to the word “bill,” but there is a slight difference between the unaspirated “p” sound and the “b” sound. It is important to be able to distinguish between the two, because in many languages it will be the difference in two completely different words. In Thai, for example, the only difference in the word for “older sister or father or mother” and the word for “crazy” is that the former begins with an unaspirated “p,” and the latter begins with a “b.”

Vowels. Can you tell the difference between the vowel sounds in the words “caught” and “cot?” Perhaps you say these words the same, but there should be a slight difference in your mouth’s position - and this slight difference, in a tribal language, could be the difference in you speaking correctly and in you embarrassing yourself horribly or insulting your listeners. When we are learning our language in the tribe, our tribal language-learning helpers will not think to point out these seemingly slight differences to us - just as to us English speakers, we would not think that the words “pete” and “pit” sound similar, but most Indonesians cannot hear the difference in the two words. So, in order to learn the language, we must be able to recognize the slightest differences in vowel sounds.

Glottal Stops. Say “cotton” out loud. I’m willing to bet that you did not pronounce the t’s in the middle of the word, but instead made a glottal stop by closing your glottis (in your throat) to stop the air. Some British dialects use glottal stops for words such as “bottle,” or “cattle.” Most native English speakers unconsciously use glottal stops before words beginning with a vowel. Say the letter “a” out loud. Did you close your throat before making the sound? Now say “hay.” Now say “hay” again, but this time with only thinking the “h,” and say the “ay” out loud.  In English, the presence or absence of glottal stops does not change the meaning of words, so we don’t even recognize that we use them. But the presence or absence of glottal stops in many other languages can determine the meaning of words. For example, in one language in the Solomon Islands, the difference between the word for “you” and the word for “adultery” is nothing more than the glottal stop. – yikes!

This Thanksgiving season, I am grateful for NTM’s training!

In October of 2008 I caught a common virus. One of the symptoms of my sickness was a continual headache, but when the sickness left, the headache stayed. Days went by, weeks went by, and months went by with no relief from my constant, debilitating headache, and with no idea when or even if it would

ever.

go.

away.

I went from working 8 hours/day to working about 2 or 3 hours/day (yes, my employer was very gracious). Many hours every day were spent lying in a dark room with ice packs surrounding my head.

As you can imagine, going from a healthy, active 23 year old to this state kinda shakes up one’s world. Countless tears were cried as I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to have mercy on me. More than anything, this condition (which I eventually learned was called NDPH) drew me to my Father, desperate for Him - desperate for His comfort, and desperate to know Him more. My pain drew out so many questions that were suddenly of utmost importance: questions like, “Did my loving Father allow evil forces to bring this headache, or Did God himself give me this headache?” And “Is this because of something I have done?” And “Is it because of some lesson I need to learn?” And “Who is this God who I know is so very loving because of what He did for me on the Cross, but who would allow something so horrible to happen to His child (and not to mention the unspeakably worse things that happen to countless others)?”

Oh, how I wanted more than anything to understand God and His ways. I had an insatiable hunger to understand God’s love and how He works through pain and through healing. I’ve come to realize that when we have a yearning as deep as I had then (and if it is consistent with God’s will/character as revealed in Scripture), it is a God-given yearning. It is meant to draw us to Himself and for us to ask Him for what it is we want, so that He can give it to us. I have not yet come to understand anywhere close to all that I want to learn about the way God works through pain and healing, nor will I this side of heaven. But God has graciously held me through very difficult times and spoken tenderly of His love to me. He has allowed me to witness the healing of others - sometimes immediate, and sometimes gradual. I don’t know why God repeatedly told me “not yet” for my own healing, but I persisted in asking for it, nonetheless. I have learned so much more about who God is through my pain…

and, through my healing.

Yes, I said my healing.

The absolute worst of my headache pain lasted about one year. Then, it gradually got a little better, (by God’s grace!), and at certain times during and after my pregnancy, it was very mild. It then gradually got worse as my hormones normalized, and so I went back to praying for and asking others to pray for my healing.

Let me pause in the story a moment and encourage you, if you have a physical ailment or any other problem in life (yes, that's everyone), revisit the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). Do not ever stop praying for healing or God’s deliverance, saying “Well, I was persistent for a while, but it didn’t work.” That is not persistence! The judge in the parable granted the widow’s request because he knew that would be the only way to shut her up! She was never going to give up asking. That is persistence. I have read/heard of many people who have been healed through prayer after many many years of continually praying for healing, and then finally, just one more prayer offered in faith leads to their healing or deliverance. So continue to pray about the issue and continue to ask other believers to join you in praying for you.

Okay, so back to my story. After pregnancy and post-pregnancy hormones began to normalize, my headache pain was getting worse again - not as bad as it was the first year, but still bad enough to almost daily hinder my ability to take care of my responsibilities as a mother, wife, and student. So, I returned to regularly asking God for healing and asking others to pray for my healing. As I did so, I quickly saw improvement! This was late Spring  of this year (2011). For a few weeks this past Summer, I had virtually no headache!! (To clarify, I still have “a constant headache,” but it is usually so low grade now that I have to intentionally think about it before I even notice it, so it really is nothing. But I still get headaches on top of that constant one when I’m tired, for example, or with loud noises, etc., so those are the “headaches” I will be referring to (I never got those or any other type of headache before this all started)). After those glorious weeks with zero headaches, I began getting headaches here and there, but only one every few days, and the headaches were now very controllable (ie. If I get plenty of rest, avoid loud noises, and keep excedrin on hand, I'm good to go). So, compared to my condition the first year, I am a whole new person! I praise God for the healing that He has brought, and I pray that He will continue to heal me until my headaches are completely gone, for His glory.

I know that countless of you have joined me in praying for my healing, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wanted to post this to let you know that God has answered your prayers. I get emotional thinking about my state when this began compared to now, and I never want to forget how merciful and gracious God has been to me. He is so wonderful, and I know He wants to bless you and me both in ways that we haven’t even thought of. I believe He’s just waiting for us to ask.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:7-9

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Also, I have finally added a newsletter signup form (which you can now see at the bottom of the right side bar).  Currently our Newsletter is sent out just about quarterly.

We are excited to start our classes at the Missionary Training Center this week.  We look forward to a challenging, yet incredibly beneficial time.

Here is the (long over due) new prayer card, finally including Hudson.  We have printed plenty of these to pass out this summer during our 2nd annual summer tour of Texas, but feel free to print one yourself if you like.  As I hope we have faithfully communicated, we cherish your prayers as we continue down this path.

Here is what we know of our schedule so far:

First half of June - Denton/Frisco

Second half of June - Clyde

July - College Station

August 7th - Depart for MTC

There are many things that are important to take into consideration that I would love to spend more time on, but I’ll try to keep it succinct.

First off, I don’t think Good Friday and Easter can be properly understood without understanding some things about Jewish history as they are presented in the Old Testament. God told the Israelites/Jews to observe certain festivals, or “feasts,” every year in order to commemorate things that God had done for them and/or would do for them in the future. One thing that is incredible to me is how Jesus was the exact fulfillment of the festivals that the Jews observed. - So much of the Old Testament points to Jesus Christ; in everything that God had the Jews do, He was pointing ahead to what Jesus would do for them.  (Jesus fulfilled the Spring festivals with his death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the others – the ones held in Autumn – are widely expected to be fulfilled at Jesus’ second coming.)

Now to look at some of these festivals that pointed to Jesus:

From the time of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt, the Israelites killed a lamb each year at the Passover festival. This annual Passover was to remind them of that first Passover in Egypt when the Lord killed all the first-born sons except those in the households that had killed a pure, spotless, innocent lamb and had applied the lamb’s blood to their doorposts (Ex 12).  For every first born son in Egypt that night, there would be a death - either the son himself, or a lamb in his place.  They smeared this blood on their doorposts because they believed (showed faith in) God when He said He would have mercy on those who placed themselves behind the lamb’s blood, and so the annual Passover festival commemorated this event.

Centuries later, Jesus came, and for a few years he proclaimed to the Jews that the Kingdom of God was near. They had been looking forward to their Messiah coming and establishing the Kingdom of God that the prophets had talked about. And so, the time had come that many Jews (but not the religious leaders) were ready to crown Jesus as the Messiah-King that they had been looking forward to for generations.

When the time came, Jesus, as he did every year, made His way toward Jerusalem for the Passover festival. The Jewish Law required that the Israelites observe the annual Passover feast in Jerusalem, so it is very likely that the majority of the Jews in all of Israel were in Jerusalem at the time that Jesus went to celebrate His final Passover festival. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowd worshiped him, proclaiming Him to be the Messiah. (He knew however, that the same Jews would soon turn against Him – see his lamentation over Jerusalem in the midst of the Triumphal entry [Luke 19:41-44]). This happened on the 10^th day of the month of Nisan – the very same day that the people of Israel were to select their Passover lamb that would be slain for the Passover festival. Thus, figuratively, Jesus was presenting Himself as Israel’s Passover lamb. Now, the religious leaders despised Jesus (primarily because he constantly showed them their hypocrisy), and the last thing they were going to let happen was that Jesus be crowned the Messiah-King. They had already been plotting to have Jesus killed, but seeing the Triumphal entry was the last straw for them, and they moved all the more quickly to plot his death. (They knew that they had to arrest him and try Him when there was not a large crowd around, since He was so popular, so they had to get creative with how they would arrest and try Him without the people knowing about it)

For the rest of the Passion Week, Jesus was in and out of Jerusalem. On Thursday evening, Jesus and his disciples had the Passover meal together, then went to the Garden of Gethsemane, just outside of Jerusalem, to pray. After a few hours of them being in the Garden, Judas led the religious leaders to Jesus. It was late at night, and they arrested him and immediately began to try him under the cover of the night. He underwent three religious trials throughout that night, and then early in the morning (about 6am), the religious leaders took Him to Pilate. (Under Rome’s authority, the Jews were not allowed to carry out capital punishment, so the Jews took him to Pilate so that Pilate would have him killed). Pilate tried him, Herod tried him, and Pilate tried him again, and they could not find anything worth killing him for. But the Jewish leaders insisted that Jesus be killed, and they stirred up the Jewish people who were gathered to insist that Jesus be crucified. So, fearing a riot, Pilate agreed to have him crucified. Barabbas, the guilty, was released while Jesus, the innocent, would be crucified.

Jesus, having just gone through an incredibly emotional week, a long night of trials, and brutal beatings, was led away to be crucified on a cross – the most disgraceful, and one of the cruelest instruments of death ever invented. He was nailed on the cross at about 9am that (Friday) morning. He was on the cross for six hours before He gave up his life. If you’ve seen the Star of Bethlehem video, you’ve seen that there was much that occurred in the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars) at that very moment that Jesus died. But one of the most significant pieces of symbolism is that Jesus died at the very time of day that the Passover lambs were being killed. Jesus, the pure, spotless Lamb of God, died to take away the sins of the world. His blood was spilt so that whoever would, by faith, put himself/herself behind the Lamb’s blood, would pass from death to life. We, the guilty, are released, while Jesus, the innocent, was crucified.

But, as you know, it doesn’t end there.

Another of the Jewish festivals was the “Feast of Unleavened Bread.” Jesus was in the grave on the first days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leavening is used to represent sin in the Bible, and Jesus was the sinless “Bread of Life,” the perfect substitute sacrifice for our sins.

Two days after each Passover is the Feast of Firstfruits. The Feast of Firstfruits was the Jewish celebration of the first-fruits of the barley harvest (the first harvest celebration of the year). During Jesus’ ministry, he had been telling everyone that He was the way to everlasting life, and that if people believed in Him, they would have everlasting life. – Quite a bold claim! Then these people who believed in Him, saw Him – the supposed source of life – killed! What must they have been thinking? They were devastated, to say the least. But then, on the very day of the Feast of Firstfruits, Jesus rose from the dead! “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20). So, Jesus’ resurrection means we can have confidence that Jesus is indeed the way to everlasting life! He was the “firstfruits of the harvest” of everlasting life – we (those who have placed themselves under the cover of the Lamb of God’s blood) are a part of the rest of the harvest of everlasting life in heaven!

Wow! I don’t know about you, but after understanding the Jewish history involved, the events of the Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter mean so much more to me. Of course, there is so much more to be said, but I’ll save that for another post

The take-home message is this: Those who believe (put faith in the fact) that Jesus’ death was the substitutional payment for their sins, can have a fulfilled life here on earth, and will be resurrected to have everlasting life in heaven after they die! Praise God!