Teaching missionaries’ children in Brazil

Dear friends at Northwest,

Our main purpose in being in Brazil is to reach indigenous peoples with the Gospel. And it is so encouraging when we see tribal churches formed and maturing. I’d like to tell you about one group that is doing just that. Peter and Terry Rich have been working with the Manchineres since 1978 and are now in Idaho taking care of her parents. They continue to work on translating the Bible and other materials into the Manchinere language. Periodically, they return to the tribe to cross-check their translations. Below, you’ll see two encouraging paragraphs from Peter’s letter about his last visit.

As I was wrapping up my visit I was settling up my accounts with the people. I always pay my language helpers because I want to show that translating the Scriptures into their language is important. Also my language helpers work hard and usually end up as exhausted as I do and we want to show them that we value their time and effort. But as I was preparing to pay Genesio for his time he stopped me. He told me that he would not accept any payment whatsoever. He told me that before my arrival he had told the Lord that he was not going to accept payment for his work on the translation because he considered this work as ministry for the Lord. I tried to talk him out of this position but he insisted that he definitely would not take payment. He had told the Lord that he was going to depend on Him to provide for his needs. I had a hard time not crying as I recognized this as a real work of the Lord.

The next day as we were leaving the house to head for the river, Goindim’s wife called me back into the house. She took me out of sight of the other people. She had a R$50.00 bill in Brazilian currency. She gave it to me. She said, “This is just for you. You buy candy with it.” I did not want to take it as this has not ever happened before. In the past they had no concept of what a gift was. Gifts always had strings attached. But I recognized when she said that it was to buy candy that she was relinquishing all control of that bill to me. Not that I wanted a gift but rather I am seeing what God is doing in hearts.

Both of these actions are completely contrary to their culture. It is so encouraging to hear about the spiritual growth of our indigenous brothers in Christ that supersedes even their culture.

As school years go, with one exception, this year is tending to be a pretty normal one. That exception is the high school choir. After 5 years out of the saddle, I’m back in. It’s a challenging group, but we’re making progress.

The saga of our boat registration continues unabated. The authorities continue to require more and more changes to the boat to make it “sea worthy.” But it seems that they’re just fishing for a little present. The classification of our boat is also forcing our drivers to take classes to upgrade their licenses and to pay more money.

Max and Roz are still studying in Ohio and Wisconsin respectively. Kip, in South Carolina, should be starting his new bus-driving job anytime now. He’s planning on doing that until he can establish in-state residency so that he can study at a reasonable cost.

My Mother, who’s 84, is recovering from having 8 inches of her intestine removed because of a large imbedded polyp. She’s in good spirits and should be pretty-well recovered by the time she has cataract surgery in mid-November.

Please Praise the Lord with us:

• For His continuing mercy and grace
• All of our kids have jobs
• My mother’s surgery went well and the polyp was benign
• The Manchinere’s spiritual growth
• For a good 4-day spiritual emphasis retreat

Please Pray with us:

• That we will regain the use of our boat
• The many school activities that need planned from now until Christmas break
• For persistence for the people involved in our many translation projects
• My Mother’s cataract surgery
• Peter Rich had a hip replaced right after his trip to Brazil. Pray for his recovery.
• For continued spiritual growth from the retreat

That’s about it from here.

Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts. Both are a big encouragement to us.

Love you guys,

John for Angie (Max, Kip, and Roz)

Dear friends at Northwest,

And so another school year begins. That sounds like the beginning of one of those “classics” that we were compelled to read in college. It’s not until we become “classics” that we appreciate them. Philosophizing like that tends to be a characteristic of classic people.

The unique aspect of this school year is the size of the dorm. We still have 32 in the school, but only 11 in our dorm of high schoolers. It does make for a cozier dorm. Angie’s main job will continue to be mothering the dorm kids including bandaging their owies and supplying their snacks. Teaching math, chemistry, and choir along with keeping an eye on the dorm will keep me out of trouble.

Our story stays the same, so most people ask about our kids. Max is in Ohio attending a community college in preparation for transferring to Ohio State in January and is financing it all by delivering pizzas. Kip is planning on attending Greenville Tech but will be spending the year establishing his South Carolina residency. Roz is in Wisconsin to attend New Tribes Mission’s Bible school; but is still searching for a job.

Last summer’s whirlwind visit to the U.S. was an experience. Our mistake was in traveling too much. It was good to see as many friends as we did, but it was bad in that everything was hurried, the many gallons of gas were expensive, and we had way too much great food.

Praise the Lord with us:

• A good two months in the U.S. including a good car
• A great group of kids in the dorm this year
• The good progress on the translation of the Bible into the language of the Kuripakos
• The growth of the church in the Nadub Tribe
• And for the Nadub translation of the Bible as the finishing touches are put on this year

Pray the Lord of the Harvest with us:

• Roz needs a job
• Adjustments at the beginning of a new school year
• Our launch documents still need straightened out
• We’ll probably need at least one full-time staff next year
• As the 2011 graduates adjust to life after high school

Thank you guys so much for your continuing prayers and gifts. It was great to see everyone when we came through. And thank you also for the special gift to help us on our travels.

Grace and peace from our Lord and Savior,

John for Angie, Max, Kip and Roz
Callahan

Dear Friends at Northwest,

Our big praise is that both Max and Kip made it down for Christmas. It was great to see them again. As they tried to relive their memories, I think they realized that things never stay the same. One unforeseen problem was caused by their being Brazilians and therefore possible conscripts into the military. We spent 6 of our precious days getting them registered and exempted from military service. We would like to thank all of the people that had a part in making this Christmas so very special by helping send them home. Thank you Lord. The time went by so quickly—too quickly and before we knew
it they were gone again.

It’s mid-February and love is in the air—well, the seniors sure hope it is. To raise money for their senior trip, they’re trying to get the rest of the school to “share the love” by buying their friends some flowers or a little bag of American candy. It’s surprising how you can crave American candy here; but you could care less about it when you’re in the U.S.

As dorm parents for 20 teenagers, we’re just glad that romance isn’t too common in the dorm. We do have some brotherly love going on; but that’s good. Life in a dorm tends to put a new spin on life as middle-aged adults. Maybe it keeps us younger. One thing’s for sure—we’re out of our depth which forces us to depend on the Lord.

For us, 2011 started-off with our week-long mid-January field conference. It was good to see so many (almost 80) of our fellow missionaries. The big issue this year that affects us directly is the possible combining of our Brazilian and English schools and dorms. Our Brazilian missionaries, composing 75% of our field, have not come up with a workable way of educating their children. As a result, when their children enter jr. high / high school, just as the missionaries are mastering their tribal language, they’re having to leave the tribe. The option being considered is to send their children to our English school. There are quite a few legal, cultural, and language problems involved. So pray for wisdom and grace as we search for the best solution.

Three days after their grand exodus, our 40 students returned for the second semester of school. Our schedules are about the same with Angie being the queen of snacks and bandaider of owies while I teach my usual math and science classes and try to keep a lid on the dorm. Roz, being a senior, has moved into the dorm with her friends to make the most of her last semester.

After Roz graduates, she plans to go the New Tribes Mission Bible School in WI. But she needs a way to pay her bills. Both of her brothers drove school buses which paid for their schooling but Roz doesn’t even have a drivers’ license. So our tentative plan is to take her up to Wisconsin in June to take a CNA course so that she will have a marketable skill. The course takes 3 weeks and then the exam is offered 3 weeks later. I think that we have a place to stay, but we need a vehicle to ferry Roz back and forth to school for 3 weeks and then to visit friends for 3 weeks until her exam in mid-July. After she passes her exam—we’ll be praying—we’ll be returning to Brazil. We need to get hoppin’ about the car, because it determines when and where we get tickets to and from. We need to make reservations as soon as possible. And so, if you have any ideas, let us know.

Praises

1. A great Christmas time with the whole family.
2. A good start for the semester.
3. Good attitudes in the dorm.
4. The translation of Bible lessons into the Guanano language was checked and passed with flying colors.

Please pray

1. About our summer plans and car.
2. About the documents for the mission’s boat. The bureaucracy has been impossible to penetrate.Without documents,the boat is not able to be used for supply trips or for school functions. Everything has to be transported in canoes.
3. Staff for next school year: high school history teacher for one year and a permanent science teacher.
4. For the Guanano Christians as they try to overcome the tribal custom of continually belittling everyone.

That’s about it from here.

Thank you so much for being a part of our work. Your prayers and gifts are an integral part of our work.

Grace and peace,

John for Angie, Roz, Max and Kip
Callahan

Dear Pastor Harrell, Pastor Trotter, and Friends at Northwest,

We have a really big praise and prayer request. Angie and I had talked about Max and Kip coming down for Christmas, but decided that it was too expensive with all three of them thinking “college” next fall. But then a friend of Max’s in Ohio decided to take it on as a personal project. But being a closet pessimist, I don’t know what to say. We haven’t seen Max in two and a half years and Kip for a year and a half—so we would love to see it happen. But a lot of details have to fall into place. So we’re waiting on the Lord because He knows what’s best.

School as well as the dorm have been going well. I can even say that I’m enjoying Physics and Calculus this year. But three weeks ago, we had a couple of unplanned adventures.

On Sundays, we have four groups of kids and adults that run Bible studies/Bible clubs in a variety of places up and down the river. Two of the groups, about eight people in all, go down river together. The first group gets dropped-off about ten minutes downriver while the other group, including Roz, continues another half hour. Oh yes, the mode of transportation is a 15 foot aluminum canoe with a 25 horse outboard on the mighty Amazon. A retired Brazilian lady was along who didn't know how to swim. Nothing has ever happened that we can remember, so I guess complacency was an issue since they had only one life jacket. Providentially, the Brazilian lady who can’t swim a lick was wearing it. On the return trip, after picking up the first group, a rogue wave from the side, combined with the normal waves to suddenly flip the whole group into the water. Several helped the Brazilian lady stay afloat while everyone else tried to retrieve Bibles, teaching materials, and guitar cases that were floating down river. The boat that had created the rogue wave, came back and helped everyone and the canoe get to shore. And so it turned into an adventure since the only thing lost was a flip-flop. They’ve also decided to take along life jackets for all.

That happened three weeks ago—but we had another one last Sunday. The high school kids get to have a “float-down” once a month. That means that they take the mission’s big boat (can hold about 100 passengers) about 40 minutes up river hugging the shore because there’s less current. Then it’s out into the middle, turn off the motor, climb up on the roof to sing, have a devotional, and give testimonies as they float back to the school. It’s like a campfire service without the fire. But to complicate the issue this time, the river was at an all-time record low. So low that the driver of the boat wasn’t sure where the rocks were since they haven’t been visible or a problem for over 50 years. Since they were 300 yards out in the river, they thought that they were out of harm’s way. But the grinding noises, jerks, and sudden stop told them otherwise. After ten minutes of checking for holes and wondering what to do, the current twirled the boat around and finally pushed them off. The prop was quite the worse for wear, but it was good enough to get them back to the dock. So they had their “campfire” service tied-up to the dock. Praise the Lord, everyone came back in fine shape with the exception of the prop.

Praise the Lord with us…

1. That the boys might be able to spend Christmas with us.
2. That the school and dorm have been running pretty smoothly this semester.
3. For his continuing mercies and grace.
4. For safety on THE RIVER.
5. For jobs for Max and Kip.

Please pray with us…

1. For open communications with the dorm kids. And for wisdom and discernment on how to deal with heart issues.
2. For wisdom in counseling Max, Kip, & Roz about their plans for college.
3. For a permanent science teacher.
4. That we will continually guard our walk with the Lord.

That’s about it from here.

Thank you guys for your love and prayers.

Grace and peace,

John for Angie and Roz
(Max and Kip)
Callahan

School starts in two weeks so I guess summer is officially almost over so that I can give you an almost complete report on our activities. Work teams are a mixed blessing. After the fact, we can usually say that we really enjoyed having them and that they usually accomplished a lot. But it is really a whole lot of work—especially if all of our maintenance staff returned to the U.S. for weddings. So that left math teachers and dorm parents and history teachers to masquerade as building supervisors and supply buyers. I guess we can look at it as a “change of pace.” But it usually ends up being way “outside of our comfort zones.”

This summer we had teams coming from both northern California and central Indiana. The first group of five men finished a construction project and put up a ceiling and we didn't even run out of supplies which is always a possibility and a definite show stopper. It’s not life-threatening, but since our “Home Depot” isn’t just around the corner, it does take all day and $200 to rectify—and that's just for the transportation.

The second group was 16 teenagers—a combination of rising seniors and graduated seniors. They were only here for a couple of days, but they accomplished a lot of painting. But it did remind me that painting does not come naturally and that most American teenagers haven't had the opportunity to learn it. Angie created a unique color for each dorm room which they applied with great vigor—mostly to the walls. They also painted the outside of the school and one of the large classrooms.

Now that it's over, we can say that the Lord sometimes puts us in situations in which we aren't comfortable to stretch us and to make us rely more on Him. But now we’re moving along to the next situation in which we need to trust the Lord. In two weeks, school starts and we have a dorm of almost 20 high schoolers. Instead of limping from crisis to crisis, why don't we learn to ALWAYS trust the Lord?

Most of our teaching assignments are known, but there are still some electives and some 7/8 grade classes that need a teacher.

Praise the Lord with us for…

1. The teams that came to help this summer; The work they were able to accomplish; Safety.
2. A couple that has consented to care for the dorm of seven mostly middle-school aged younger kids.
3. Jobs for Max and Kip.
4. The Lord’s continuing mercy and grace.

Please pray…

1. Max is in the midst of five weeks serving in an orphanage in Malawi, Africa. Pray that his ministry will glorify the Lord and that he'll have wisdom in what to do next.
2. That we'll all have patience with a couple of new students; a set of 6th grade Korean twins who don't speak English very well.
3. Kip is working at a Christian camp in WI and hurt his elbow. Pray that he'll get the proper care.
4. Since we are so isolated—besides going on to college—the eight kids that we graduated in June have a lot of adjustments to make. They also have to learn to drive, take the drivers’ test, use a credit card (or not to use), use a cell phone, and not be overwhelmed with the myriad of choices at the grocery store. I guess it can be called culture shock.

That’s about it from here. Thank you for your continuing prayers and gifts.

Grace and peace,
John, Angie, Max, Kip, & Roz

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