Moving to the other side of the world to make disciples of remote people groups requires a significant amount of training and planning. We have been privileged these past two years to receive excellent theological and missiological training at the Center for Pioneer Church Planting in Texas, and now we’ve had the opportunity the receive even more family oriented training at Mission Training International (MTI) in Colorado. We cannot say enough good things about our experience at MTI. From the day we arrived, we felt that the entire staff was focused on helping missionaries and their families not only survive on the mission field, but thrive in their cross-cultural ministries.
The first two weeks of training were focused on language learning. There were missionaries headed to twenty-two different countries (some planning to learn three languages), so we weren’t actually learning a specific language; we were learning a method for learning language. Let me explain.
The English language consists of 44 different sounds, but believe it or not these are not the only sounds the human mouth is capable of making. Many languages have sounds that we’ve never even thought of, much less tried to make, so we spent a significant portion of time simply learning most of the sounds that can be present in various languages. This sounds simple but was actually quite difficult at times (imagine a room full of people twisting their lips and tongues into strange positions and trying to make the correct sounds come out…AWKWARD!).
The other portion of the language training focused on how to take charge of our language learning, how to engage the nationals to help us learn the language, and some fairly simple methods to speed comprehension. We were all fairly apprehensive about language learning before we had this training, but now we have some practical tools to make it more conceivable and maybe even fun.
This language piece of the program is very important for us, as we will begin learning Papua New Guinea’s trade language (Tok Pisin) as soon as we enter the country in December, and it’s possible that we will begin learning one of the tribal languages as early as our first term.
The remainder of the program focused on teaching us how to cope with the vast challenges and enjoy the numerous blessings that come with living life overseas. We learned about our expectations and how they can be both beneficial and harmful. We were shown good and bad examples of how to exit our world and enter our host culture. One entire day was spent learning how to handle conflict in families and on teams, another day on lifestyle choices (decisions about living conditions on the field), and another on embracing rest (which is crucial for maintaining vitality in ministry). We spent a fair amount of time learning about the stages of transition when moving cross-culturally. We learned how grief is a good, normal part of life and how to better cope when dealing with loss. Finally, we learned about healthy ways of saying goodbye, which is the issue looming most closely now.
In the midst of all this learning that occurred, our instructors were consistent in pointing out that God is ultimately the one who knows us and has called us to this nomadic missionary life. He alone truly knows our hearts, desires, fears, and failures. He will be with us, even when it feels like no one else is, when we don’t even know which way is up, and when all we can do is call out to him, “Father, help!” We are so thankful that we were able to attend this training, and we know that it will prove to be beneficial for our family and ministry team for many years to come.
After leaving Colorado, we traveled back down to south Texas to spend a week with our Papua New Guinea teammates, the Sissons and Matt Taylor. We had a very productive week of team meetings and team building and we’re excited that we’ll see each other again in a few months on the other side of the world. Our crates have already made it safely through the Panama Canal and are continuing their journey west even as we make final preparations for our move in December. They should be waiting for us when we arrive.
We will be heading to Oaxaca on Monday to visit some fellow missionaries working among unreached tribes of southern Mexico. We are very much looking forward to this visit and pray that God blesses our time there.
In less than four months our family will be boarding a plane bound for the Southern Hemisphere for the purpose of training pastors and planting churches among unreached remote tribes of Papua New Guinea. God has shown us clearly that this is his will for us right now and has provided for us in some remarkable ways over the past two years. We are aware of many of the sacrifices that have been made by our friends and family in order to get us to this point, and we’re very thankful that you have allowed God to use you in this way.
However, we still have to raise the remaining finances before we can step onto that plane.
Our current monthly commitments equal $4623, and our goal for the field in Papua New Guinea is $6100 per month. We only need commitments for another $1477 per month to reach 100% support. Our “one time” amount that we’ve received so far, which covers airfare, shipping costs, a vehicle in Papua New Guinea, basic house set up, a generator, etc. is $65,468. We still need to raise $23,532 to reach our goal of $89,000 before we move.
If you’d like to financially partner with us, please click this link for instructions or contact us directly.
We are learning just how important prayer is in our Christian lives and in our ministry, but find that we often fail in this area. We treasure those prayer warriors who continue to lift us up to God as we sometimes don’t even have the words to pray.
Current prayer requests:
- Our trip to southern Mexico- We will be traveling one thousand miles through Mexico by bus and airplane and we speak very little Spanish. Pray for clear communication and flexibility.
- Saying goodbye to our Texas and Mexico friends- We may not see many of these dear friends for a very long time. Pray that we can say goodbye well and grieve in a healthy way, remembering that God is always there, even when it’s hard.
- Peace in the midst of transition- Our lives have been characterized by transition these past two years. Pray that we will continue to seek Him even when we are in chaos.
- Family harmony- Pray that even as we transition and say goodbye, we draw close to each other as we’re each drawing close to God. This is the only way to have true family harmony.
- Continued reliance on God- Pray that we won’t get so busy getting everything done that we forget to rely on God. Our only hope is to stay humbly devoted to our relationship with Him.
- Our prayer lives- We often fail in this area of our lives and covet your prayers. We want to be people characterized by prayer and devotion to God.
- Finances- God has truly been faithful to us in this area and we know that he will continue to bring supporters to us before we move to Papua New Guinea. Pray that we won’t fret over finances and will wholly trust him with this.
Whom have I have in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73: 25-26
Sanders Party of Five 
Great update! The ending verse is one of my favorites! -KB
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