Bree and I were given the opportunity to take a tribal church-planting course called Wayumi in Pennsylvania this spring break. It is a program that New Tribes Mission (NTM) has created that allows college-aged students to get an inside look into what it takes to take the gospel into the unreached world. The fact is that out of the 6900+ languages in the world, there is still 2100+ that do not even have a single word of the bible translated into their own language. All while we in America have 200+ different English translations to choose from.
During our week-long training, we took classes on the different steps that NTM missionaries take when they reach a unreached people group such as: pre-field training (this is where Bree and I are now), moving to the country, National language and culture acquisition, moving into a tribe, tribal language and culture acquisition, literacy, translation, teaching/evangelism, church leadership, and finally establishing a self-sustaining church. This can take 10-25 years to take place. Along with the classes, we also had a blast sleeping in hammocks in jungle camp, preparing a traditional Papua New Guinea meal called a MuMu, and practicing phonetics in mock Venezuelan tribes. (Yanomamo and Joti)
All in all, this was a fantastic week in which we walked away completely refocused. I wish many others could take this course because you cannot take it and walk away the same.
If you are at all interested – check out their website or Facebook page.
See the rest of our trip pictures HERE!
