All our adventures as missionaries, past and present.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-08-2007

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Greetings, again! This is the last week of Phonetics, so pray for us as we study for the final on Friday. After that, we launch into Phonemics. Basically, where phonetics deals with the actual recognition and reproduction of individual sounds in a given language, phonemics deals with the patterns of sound that are peculiar to a given language. For example, in English, the sound for /p/ can be aspirated (puff of air when you say it), or unaspirated (no puff of air), and it doesn't change the meaning of the sound. Hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth, and then say 'paper'. Notice how on the first syllable, the /p/ is aspirated, but on the second it is not? In English, that doesn't matter. It's still just a /p/. In other languages, like Korean for example, an aspirated /p/ and an unaspirated /p/ would be two different sounds, represented by two different characters, and would change the spelling or the meaning of a word where it was used. Sound complicated? It is. Yet, you need to know these things when you learn a foreign language in order to avoid the pitfalls of pronunciation that English speakers fall into when trying to place their phonemes on a foreign tongue. Again, it all comes back to learning how to speak foreign languages like a native.

We had a meeting this weekend in Friendship Baptist Church in Pineville, LA (near Alexandria), with Pastor Kenneth Wilkinson. It went great. I gave our testimonies and showed our slides in the Sunday School hour, and then I preached in the morning service. The song-leader's nephew, Jeremy, 'happened' to be there that morning. I was preaching a missions message like I typically do, but in the invitation, I gave the opportunity for folks to raise their hand because they weren't sure where they were going when they died, but they'd like to be. Jeremy raised his hand, and during the invitation, he came to the altar. So, I went over to deal with him, and about fifteen minutes later, he prayed believing, and the LORD saved him! In addition to him, a young lady across the room named Paige had come forward, and was praying to the LORD to be saved. So, we had two saved in our morning service! What a blessing! Pray for Jeremy. Pastor Wilkinson is going to be visiting him this week to talk to him about baptism. His wife is still lost, and has struggled with understanding the Gospel in the past. Pray that she will hear the Gospel, and believe on the LORD Jesus, and be saved. Pray that the Gospel will come to this home and change it forever.

I have a Bible Conference next week at Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, a meeting in Shreveport, LA on Wednesday, and then I fly to Salt Lake City, UT for a conference up there on Thursday. Pray for me as I zip hither and yon. October is a busy month, even when we're not in language school. Pray that our support will continue to increase, that all the churches we visit from here on out will support us, and that other churches we've visited in the past will be able to support us. Pray that I'll have wisdom about where to go for meetings next October. I'm contemplating a trip out to California or perhaps a second trip to Alaska. Pray that the proper course of action will become clear to me soon, so I know what direction to pursue.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-03-2007

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Hello again! Things are progressing well here at school. We're learning how to make a variety of sounds that are quite, QUITE, foreign to the English speaking mouth. Take double stops for example. This is where you make two "stops" (where the flow of air is halted, like t, p, and k, or d, b, and g) at the same time, so they're one sound. Sound complicated? It is. Yet, there are languages where they make these sounds, and if you don't know how to identify and replicate them, you'll sound funny to the native listener.

We visited one of our supporting churches last week, Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, TX with Pastor Bob Smith. They had our prayer letter up on the wall with all their other missionaries. The people recognized us immediately from our pictures, which is always an encouragement. This means that the church actually reads the prayer letters they receive, and prays for the missionary.

Our home church in St. Louis, MO, Grace Baptist Church, just finished up their missions conference. It sounds like they had a tremendous conference. Our faith promise giving saw a dramatic increase again this year, which is a huge blessing. Even more important, one of our young men, Harrison Beckman, surrendered to the LORD for full-time Christian service. This is one of the "boys" I used to teach in Sunday School way back when. He's turned into such a fine young man, and it fills me with such incredible pride to see how God is working in his life. Pray for Harrison as he continues to follow the LORD. Pray for our church as they form next year's budget and decide how to allocate the money that was promised.

We have a meeting Sunday morning at Fellowship Baptist Church in Pineville, LA with Pastor Kenneth Wilkinson. I will be presenting our burden for Uganda in Sunday School, and preaching in the morning service. Pray for us as we minister in this church, and for our travelling.

Just in the past few days, another church from one of the churches we visited in Montana has added us as one of their missionaries! Pray that God will continue to enable churches where we've been to support us, and that all the churches we visit in the months ahead will do likewise so we can be ready to go to the field after next year. Pray that I will continue to get meetings lined out for 2008 so we will be able to have a full schedule and finish our deputation quickly.

Thanks so much for all your prayers!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 09-17-2007

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Hello, folks! No more tarantulas to report this time around (yeah, I know. You’re full of disappointment. :D) Our language studies are progressing well. We’ve moved from consonants to vowels. How you pronounce your vowels determines what accent of English you speak, and the same for all languages.  I have always had this secret habit of mimicking accents, due to my ongoing fascination with the many varieties of English spoken in America and around the world. Now I know WHY these accents are different. We’ll be doing drills, practicing the various vowel glides, and one moment, we’re from Brooklyn, the next from Piccadilly, and the next we’re all Aussies. It’s very cool. This means, when we learn French, or Luganda, or Tooro, or Swahili, or whatever our ministry requires, we will be able to say it like the natives. Some cultures actually look down on you if you speak their language with an accent. This training will eliminate that problem entirely.

We were in a missions conference this past week at Friendly Lane Baptist Church in Haltom City, TX with Pastor Bill Howe.  Pastor Tim Booth (Haughton Baptist Temple, Haughton, LA) was the main speaker. He did a tremendous job preaching. He was representing the Midwest Christian Boys’ Football Camp, run by the First Baptist Church of Dwight in Dwight, IL. It uses football to teach discipline and character to boys aged 12-19. They get solid scriptural preaching in a camp meeting format twice a day, in a “girl-free” environment where the preachers can be very direct to the young men. It’s a great ministry, and one we’ll probably take advantage of when we come home on furlough in a little while. On Friday night, the church voted to make us one of their missionaries, so we have gained some support from this meeting, which was a blessing.
Pray that every church we’re in from here on out supports us. Pray that churches where we’ve been who haven’t already done so will support us. Pray that we will learn our phonetics training well so we can be well prepared for speaking Ugandan dialects when we get to the field. Pray that the rest of our deputation will continue to go smoothly.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 09-05-2007

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Greetings! Things are going well here in Texas. Pictures are faster than words, however, so let me show you:

The trampoline, which is right by our house, is a huge hit.

Trampoline

 

One of the members of Eastside Bapitst Church, where we’re attending when we’re not away at meetings, brings horses by regularly for us to ride. All my little cowboys (and cowgirl) are loving it!

Anna was good enough to ‘find’ this for me, and I posed for the picture. So did the tarantula. I know they look deadly, but they’re very docile creatures, unless you’re a cricket or a beetle.

Tarantula

It’s been good so far. The classes are progressing very well. We’re studying phonetics at the moment, which is the acutal formation of sounds in speech. You use a variety of articulators in speech (tongue, lips, teeth) which touch various points of articulation in the upper mouth. You use different manners of producing the sounds (nasal, stops, fricatives), and all of this with various rising and falling tones, which in some languages can radically alter the meaning of the word. The basic gist of it is this: we are gaining the immensely valuable and practical training to be able to not only learn the Ugandan dialects quickly, but with a native accent when we do. Just because we look foreign doesn’t mean we have to sound foreign. I am firmly convinced that this, or similar phonetic training ought to be a required course of study for all prospective missionaries. Our time here is being well invested in making us more effective communicators on the field where God has called us.

I have been able to schedule several meetings in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and even Utah while here, so, even though we are doing language study, we are still on deputation, an advantage we would lose were we attending school somewhere out of the country. Thank you for praying about meetings. Please continue to pray. I am trying to get next Fall filled up. I have made good progress, but there are still some slots, particularly in October, that need to be filled. Currently, we’re planning on remaining in the States through the holidays, and then heading over to Africa in January or February of 2009, provided the support we need comes in by then. Thanks for praying for us!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-19-2007

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Well, folks, this is it, the eve before the big trip to Texas. We've spent the past few weeks getting ready, and are pretty much packed up and ready to go. The U-Haul truck is loaded up and sitting out in the driveway, and all that remains is a few odds and ends to wrap up in the morning and then we'll be on our way! In case you've recently joined the MISSION: Uganda Email Update family, we are fixin' to head down to Texas for ten months of language school at Baptist Bible Translators Institute. Anna and I will both be trained in advanced linguistics, Bible translation, missions, and so forth, so when we head to the field in early 2009, we'll be able to learn the various Bantu dialects we need to know quickly and effectively. It's going to be a good and a profitable time. I have already scheduled several meetings in Texas and Louisiana, so we will be able to stay busy with deputation to get the remainder of our support raised while going to school during the week.

Tonight, my church ordained me. It was a really special weekend. My Dad, a Baptist preacher in Bellflower, MO, was on the ordination council we held on Friday, along with several other Pastors from the St. Louis area, our deacons, and our BIMI Director, Dr. Ron Bragg (there were a few we failed to invite, or that couldn't come, so if you are one of those, you were not intentionally excluded. The past few weeks at the church have just been super busy). It was very humbling to be in that room, being questioned and wisely counselled by these men of God, who were engaging in the same practice of ordaining elders in the church as it has been practiced since the time of Christ. It was just a very encouraging and instructive and deeply honoring time, and I am personally grateful to each who were able to be on my council. These men, and the other Pastors from the area I've gotten to know over the years, have my highest regard and respect, and to get what amounts to their seal of approval for the Gospel ministry is the highest honor I have ever been given. Then, our church voted to ordain me tonight, and the men of the church laid hands on me and presented me to the LORD for the Gospel ministry, exactly as the Bible prescribes, as young men have been inducted into the ministry for generations. It was at once so grave, and awe inspiring, and proper. As I gave my testimony, and looked out over these people who I've come to love so much, I gazed upon our young men and thought "Some of these will be doing this themselves one day," and it just humbled me even further, considering the magnitude of this holy office to which I have been granted entrance, the cloud of witnesses, great men of God who have gone before, of whose fellowship I am now a part. "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry" 1Timothy 1:12 Pray for me. I want to be a profitable servant to my LORD, and glorify His name in my ministry, and represent my church well. I need all the grace and prayer I can get, and I count on you all to render it. I know you were praying, because God was with me and helped me in the council, and the services tonight. Thank you, and please keep praying.

Pray for us while we're in Texas, that we will learn everything well, and get full benefit from the training. Pray that I will continue getting meetings, getting in touch with the right Pastors, and getting into the churches that God has prepared to support us. I had our church family pray that we would be able to get a meeting in First Baptist Church of Hammond (Jack Hyle's former church) last Wednesday, and they called to give me a meeting the very next day. I would also like to get into Lancaster Baptist Church's missions conference coming up in October, 2008. Pray that God will convict the right people in that church also to help me get into that conference, be able to minister there, and ultimately get some support, both prayer andfinancial, from this stellar church, doing the LORD's work in Lancaster, CA. Pray that some of the Pastor's I've been trying to reach lately will call me back, and that God will help me to secure meetings in those churches as well. I can tell folks have been praying. Our schedule for next year has been coming together swiftly and easily, because God is putting things together for us.

Pray for us as we travel over the next two days, and get settled in to our new home (for the next ten months) during the next couple weeks.

Well, I reckon that's it.