Teaching missionaries' children in Brazil

Dear Friends at Northwest,

Mid-winter in the USA. As a kid, I remember continually hoping for enough snow to get out of school and to do something with—sledding, ice skating, or making hard snow balls. By the sounds of things, I was born too early—the best snows are happening now—without me. But on the upside of things, we do live in the land of perpetual summer—swimming, fishing, and not owning a coat. I suppose that it's just a case of “there’s always more and better snow where you're not.”

The past semester has been pretty normal. Besides learning about English and History, most of the students were even allowed to learn about mathematics. But they've also experienced cleaning out a septic tank, 
4 cases of malaria, a fishing derby for the little kids, putting on a play, a soggy overnight camping trip, 
and 2 days of races, games, and field events. One high school boy was even able to catch 3 beautiful two foot long peacock bass.

But more important than their studies and extracurricular activities is our goal to encourage them in their love for the Lord and to live their lives to glorify Him. But as we watch from afar as Max and Kip are making their decisions, we're realizing more and more that we can only do so much. After that, we can only pray and wait on the Lord.

Please praise the Lord with us for…

• A good semester
• Kip and Max’s full-time jobs
• Safe Christmas trips for inexperienced drivers (Max & Kip)
• His continuing mercy and grace

Please pray with us for…

• Wisdom in dealing with 25 adolescents individually
• Guarding our personal walk with the Lord
• Peace as we watch our own kids and our dorm kids leave 
Brazil and start making some big decisions on their own
• Max will have a strong testimony at his job among unbelievers 
and that he would continue to mature and grow in Christ
• Kip would be learning much and growing in his spiritual walk while at Bible School. 
And for a job next summer
• Roz would continue to grow in her walk with Christ

Pray for the tribal works in Brazil.
The news from our tribal works is mixed.

• The B and K tribes have mixed the Gospel with their animistic beliefs. But during the last couple of months, they’ve had some extensive re-teaching. Just pray that they’ll accept the Biblical Gospel and not fall-back on the one they created.
• In the work with the C tribe, the missionaries are having trouble getting along together. This is the biggest cause for missionaries leaving the field.
• In the Y tribe, the young church seems to be growing. Pray for courage for the new believers as they confront the parts of their culture that are not Biblical.
• In the PN tribe, the church is well established and the missionaries are only there as advisors. Pray that they’ll not fall into the trap of spiritual pride.
• And lastly, you can always be praying for the many translations that are being worked on. Each language group needs it's own translation. It’s a long process that needs a lot of wisdom and stamina.

To give the kids more time to return home and to spend with their parents, we have a six-week Christmas break which ends on January 27th. Until then, to get ready for our annual conference, we have 3 days of whirlwind cleaning—a week of conference—then 3 more days to get ready for the beginning of school. So that’ll be our continuing request for the next two weeks.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and gifts.

Grace and peace,
John for Angie, Roz, (Max & Kip)

Dear Friends at Northwest Bible Church,

After 6 weeks, most of the kinks have been worked out, and school is up and running for another semester. The main problem with writing a letter about our school is that it tends towards the mundane. School is still school. (I might be a little biased, but the joy of Trigonometry and Algebra is always there.) Everyone has someone going to school or knows someone going to school. So what's the big deal? Maybe it's because we've been doing this for so long and it seems so normal; but I almost forget that our situation is very different because 24 high-schoolers live with us. I guess that does put a different spin on things.

So how does this year stack-up? Besides the normal classes including Algebra II, Trig, and Calculus; I picked up two sciences: 7th / 8th and Chemistry. Since I only did enough in high school Chemistry to get by, I'm experimenting with a video course. So far, it's been working out pretty well-I've been learning a lot. Maybe a couple more times through this course will make me into a real Chemistry teacher.

Angie continues to improve her reputation as the dorm's Queen of Snacks. But more importantly, she's the girls' spiritual mentor and mother hen as well as dorm nurse. In her "spare" time, she's also the school librarian and the camp hostess.

A week ago, on the border with Bolivia, the Manchineri Tribe had a long-awaited celebration. Their missionaries have finished translating and have just delivered the first New Testaments in the Manchineri language. In the U.S., that's no big deal—how many different Bible versions can you buy? But for the Manchineris and for us, this is huge. The main reason we' re here is so that tribal groups can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But secondly, we're also here so that tribal groups can have the Word of God in their own language. So rejoice with the Manchineris and with us as they learn to use their very own New Testaments.

In several northern tribes, the missionaries are going through an intense couple of months of re-teaching. Over 60 years ago, on Brazil's border with Colombia, at least three tribes were "evangelized" by translating the Gospel from either English or Spanish. The resultant lack of understanding tended to create a Christianity mixed with their original spirit worship. Even now, many villages are labeled as Christian; but it's a very distorted Christianity. So far, the missionaries have had a rough time getting the Indians to see that salvation is by faith alone and only because of God's mercy and grace.

Max, Kip, & Roz in short
Max is working in central Ohio in a warehouse for windows and siding. In a year or two, he plans on continuing his training to be a missionary to tribal groups in Brazil.

Kip is driving a school bus in Wisconsin while he is a student at the New Tribes Mission Bible School.

Roz is with us and a junior.

Please praise the Lord with us for…

• The completion of the Manchineri New Testament.
• The relatively smooth beginning of another school year.
• His continuing mercy and grace.
• Max and Kips' jobs.

Please pray with us…

• For faithfulness and wisdom as the Manchineri Christians study their new Bibles.
• For faithfulness and wisdom in our personal walk with the Lord.
• For faithfulness and wisdom in dealing with each child that's been put in our care.
• That Max and Kip will make friends who'll spur them on spiritually.
• That the Lord would give understanding to the Indians that have such a mixed-up view of Christianity.

Global warming? But we've been having some bizarre weather around here. During dry season, we had four Naval Academy graduates working on the roof and it rained every day. A couple of weeks after that, the mighty Amazon went higher than at anytime in recorded history. But since then, we've gone 3 months without rain. The soccer field, where it really counts, is crunchy brown.

And finally, the high point of last weekend was the cleaning-out of the girls' septic tank. It was a learning experience for most of the kids. We can't just call "the truck," so we used buckets, muscle power, and some 55-gallon barrels in the back of a little trailer to harvest the honey. Most of the highschoolers now understand and appreciate the value of a well operating sewage system. They also know what they don't want to be when they "grow up."

That's about it from here. Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts.

Grace and peace,

John for Angie, (Max & Kip) and Roz
CALLAHAN

Dear Friends at Northwest Bible Church,

The summer is finally starting. The first two weeks after school was out, we hosted four graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy who wanted to do some work projects at our school. We started several, but didn't finish any very satisfactorily. They worked on the roof of the dorm, but it rained almost every day. When it rained, they started replacing loose tile in the dorm. The problem was that when they'd take out several tiles, the next ones would pop up. After lunch one day, it was so bad that the last 10 feet of the hallway popped-up a good 2 inches. But by the time they left, all of the holes had been filled.

By the end, I'd figured out that I wasn't cut-out to being a general contractor. Angie did point out that I'd become a general contractor a day after school was out which had something to do with my lack of preparation. But the four Navy boys seemed to have enjoyed helping. And we also enjoyed getting to know them and just talking, singing, and discussing life in general.

Please praise the Lord with us…

• For safety and the progress they were able to make.
• That we had a safe time playing tourist in town.
• That they had a safe trip back to the U.S.
• But pray they'll stay focused in their walk with the Lord as they transition to new Navy jobs.

And now we have a little bit of time to catch our breath.

Backing-up; graduation and the end-of-the-year activities went well. We graduated 7 and most of them have a real desire to walk with the Lord.

Please pray for three things…

• Wisdom as they transition to lives that are very different from what they're accustomed.
• That they will keep the Lord as the primary focus of their lives.
• Wisdom as they make new friends.

Kip was one of the graduates, and is working at a Christian camp in Montana. In the fall, he will be going to the New Tribes Mission Bible School from which Max just graduated. Max just moved to Hilliard, Ohio to get established a year or two before he continues training to become a tribal missionary. But you can pray for him as he searches for a job. It would really make Angie feel better if you guys would mother him a little for her.

This summer, we'll be able to keep-up on our correspondence—so write us while we can!!!

Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts.

John for Angie, (Max & Kip), and Roz
CALLAHAN