Supporting Church Planting in the Unreached
If you grew up in multiple cultures yourself or are interested in supporting MKs… then you’ll have to check out the new MK Pete’n’bree Twitter and Facebook Page!
What will we be posting?
- Resources for MKs and TCKs (Third Culture Kids).
- Resources for those interested in getting involved in supporting MKs.
- Updates from Pete’n’Bree currently in missionary training school in WI.
Follow us here:
We officially cap off the busy part of our summer. It has been such a blessing to have the opportunity to see so many of you this summer. We truly loved our time in California and back East. Thanks for all the encouraging times of fellowship and fun! We sure missed Cornerstone Fellowship this year and it was such a blessing to be with you all.
It is nice to be back in our “home” (well… our current place of residence)… after being out of suitcase for 65 days, setting foot in 12 states, and having slept in 11 different beds… it will be nice to relax for a short time here before classes start back up. 🙂
Here is a quick recap on our East Coast trip:
This year we finally made it out to the East Coast where Pete has an entire side of family and childhood that Bree hadn’t yet experience. What a fun time it was! We started out by heading to upstate New York with Pete’s mother and younger brother to visit his Uncle, Grandfather, and cousins. Then it was off to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts where Pete has cousins who live on a fully functional family farm where they are known in the region for their pure maple syrup and bagpipes! While at the farm we were able to catch Meghan’s beautiful wedding. Then we drove to wonderful Cape Cod, Massachusetts! Pete has a very rich and deep heritage on the Cape as his family line can be traced back to the one of the original five families who settled Cape Cod. While on the Cape we were able to be a part of Pete’s grandmother’s burial who had passed away recently. Later we drove to Waterford, Connecticut to be a part of our good friend’s beachfront wedding. Congrats to Sam and Juls Bradley. Lastly, we spent a few more days on the Cape before heading for Boston and on to Milwaukee for one last school year here in Wisconsin.
Check out some pictures of the trip:
Here’s to another great year!
Cheers,
-Pete’n’Bree
Well our time in California has come to an end. We have cherished all the great times and conversations that we had with so many… but we are sad that we did miss fellowshipping and catching up with some of you…
If we didn’t have a chance to see you and catch up, here is our new Summer Update for you! We would also LOVE to hear from you! We would love to hear what God has been doing in your life!
I thought I would give a little update as to how things are going over here in WI.
School:
Things been going great and we just finished a little over half of our sophomore semester here at NTBI. I would be lying if I didn’t mention that it has been a bit crazy (dare I say overwhelming) with our current homework/study load. I mean it has been busy but it has been an extremely fruitful and rewarding time. This is a notoriously heavy semester of reading as it is but then we had the opportunity to take an additional course called “Perspectives”. Perspectives is a missions focused course that is available all over the country and even internationally now. If you ever have the chance to take Perspectives in your local area, I HIGHLY recommend it. (check out if it’s in your area!) It is a decent commitment both financially and time wise… but well worth it. It’s one of those classes I think everyone in the body of Christ should take.
Classes we just finished or are currently in the middle of this semester: Hermeneutics 2, Theology Proper, Prophets, Life of Christ, Anthropology/Harmartiology, Christology, Islam, Mormonism, and Perspectives.
So when you add all that homework, plus a few electives classes and modules, you end up with 5-7 hours of homework most every single night! Yikes! Thought we are definitely looking forward to a nice summer break… we really are truly enjoying and growing tremendously in these awesome studies. You just can’t ask for more!
Ministry to Missionary Kids:
This semester has been quite a different one compared to last semester due to homework and studying, but it still has been great. I love taking guys out to coffee and hearing about their childhoods and how life has been going lately in the states and Bree has been having girls’ nights in which they bake goodies or watch movies! (or both!!!) One thing we are particularly excited about right now is the launch of a campaign through Barnabas International call “Buck and a Stamp!” This is an awesome and EASY opportunity to get involved in ministry to Missionary Kids and families by sending in $1 to help fund this summers MK re-entry retreats across the country. This is a simple campaign and easy to pass around! So, let’s make these retreats available to as many MKs as possible! (Check out the Facebook Event Page)
Though we are looking forward to next semester as our schedules should (God willing) be much more relaxed, God has been creating opportunities for us to get involved even in this busy semester.
Wisconsin Weather:
I am so happy to announce that the snow is finally melting away and we can see the ground! The temperature as of late has been in the 30’s-40’s range but this week we had temps soar to high 50’s! Let me tell you… it is HEAVENLY! In California I would still be in a heavy jacket when it was in the 50s… but now with this thick blood… we’re in t-shirts! I know we still have a little bit of weather funks left where we will see temps fall back down to the 30’s and possible snow… but we are making progress and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Praise God!
Fun stuff:
The NTBI Tribal Cup is but a week away! The Tribal Cup is a tournament held once a semester where the two NTBI campuses square off on the sports field. Last semester we traveled to the Jackson, MI campus and this semester they are coming here. The sports being played this time around is indoor soccer, volleyball, football, and Basketball. I have the awesome opportunity to play for our indoor soccer team and Bree is on the Volleyball team! We have a great teams this semester and I really think we’re going to bring it to Jackson! Go Waukesha!
Lastly, it is confirmed that we WILL be able to make it home to California this summer for a month. We can’t WAIT to see everyone and enjoy the beautiful California weather!
Well, that’s the update for now! Life currently = classes, homework/studying, sports practice, and sleep! However, it’s been great and we know we are here for a reason and we are praising God for the opportunity!
Love you all.
Whirlwind, hurricane, tornado… No, not words describing the weather here (yet…) but rather words to describe life here! It has only been a few days but things are moving so fast. Right away we had a dozen people helping us move in, half a dozen knocking on our door introducing themselves – making us feel welcome. Half a dozen young married couples inviting us to game nights and meals, and even hosting game nights ourselves! We’ve gotten to know many MKs from mostly South America like Brazil and Columbia and a tons from PNG!
After a few days of school orientation, we have officially started our classes. Our school splits semesters into five, three week blocks. Our first “block” consist of Biblical Foundations, Bibliology, Evangelism in the Postmodern world, and the book of Job. Some classes are one block while some can span up to three blocks (9 weeks). I will go into detail in a later post about our schedule and specific classes.
Honestly, we are walking into each day saying “how is this going to work…” and then we always seem to end the day saying “wow!… how did that work out so well!?” God is really driving this ministry and we continually realize more everyday how little Bree and I do and how much God does! We just have to be faithful to be open and SHOW UP! If you are like me and you want to hear about some of the details – here is a little snapshot of the current lay-of-the-land. There are 63 MKs from about 15 different countries living all around us on campus. MKs actually make up about about 1/3 of the student body. Not to mention most of the staff themselves are MKs! Our ministry so far has just been focused on getting to know them as we have the opportunities to do so.
To do that, we are asking God to open the door and we are seeing that happen in the classroom, hallways, and on the sports field. We are then opening our door to them to help however we can. They ask for help for everything from how to buy a pillow to just needing someone to chat with. As we rely on the Lords leading we hope to begin a regular meeting or hangout of MKs with the purpose of fellowship. We have found that once they establish friendships with others around campus – things seem to quickly get smoother for them. One other amazing praise report is that New Tribes heard about us and the official “MK Shepherding” ministry is coming to our campus to meet with our MK classmates and to meet up with Bree and I! We are REALLY excited about the opportunity to meet with them and to join their efforts to reach out and shepherd MKs. As always… more to come later!
-Pete’n’Bree
Here is our 2009 Holiday Newsletter!
pete'n'bree 