NEW TRIBES MISSION  |  planting tribal churches

July 3rd

Papua New Guinea: Tobo tribe: Jason and Nisae Williamson and two Tobo believers had a productive time at a translation workshop. Pray that they will be able to make good progress together in Bible translation.
Also pray for team members Chad and Janeene Mankins and family as Chad is currently back in the USA for medical reasons. Find out more -- read the story >>

Cambodia: Missionaries Jon and Kristen Smedley and Ron and Sally Carraway recently travelled from Cambodia to Thailand for a four-day leadership conference.
The conference focused on finding ways to better meet the needs of missionaries serving in Southeast Asia.
"It was refreshing and encouraging," wrote Ron, "as we were able to work together as a team in reaching those with limited or no access to the Gospel."
Ron and Sally are currently compiling information on ethnic groups in Cambodia in order to complete a people group assessment for the region. Statistics show that less than two percent of Cambodians are Christians and there is a real need for church-planting teams in remote areas.
There are fewer than a dozen NTM missionaries in Cambodia now but several plan to arrive within the next year. Please pray that many Cambodians will have an opportunity to hear the Gospel message and trust in Jesus Christ. Pray for those missionaries preparing to begin church-planting teams.

Papua New Guinea: North Wahgi tribe: Andrew and Nelli Wilson have been back in PNG for nearly six months now. Their co-workers left for their furlough shortly after the Wilsons arrived and so they have been by themselves.
Village life continues on as usual. During the months of May -- July it is the Coffee season. At this time there is a more abundant flow of money around the village. A lot of bride price payments and compensation payments occur. Unfortunately there are also more fights, disorder, drunkenness and wife beatings. Despite all of this Andrew and Nelli are thankful for God\'s protection. They thank the Lord that they enjoy a good peaceful relationship with the people.
Andrew continues to be busy with his CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition). He recently got a new language computer programme and spent several weeks re-entering all the data he had so far, plus organising all the previous language, writing a dictionary etc. He is very pleased with the results, especially since all his work will be for the benefit of the whole team. Andrew is happy to have a faithful and very helpful language helper who may be a potential Bible and lesson translation helper. Please pray for a continued good relationship with him and that he will stay interested because in the PNG culture people often just, out of the blue, lose interest and drop their work.
Nelli now feels comfortable and confident teaching in an English schooling system and really enjoys home schooling their daughter Debi. After the summer break Nelli would like to start with CLA, just a bit every day. Please pray that she will find a good schedule and a good balance between home schooling, house work, being a wife and mother AND doing CLA on top of all that. Pray also that she will find some good and faithful language helpers.
Deborah and Joshua enjoy playing with the local village children, sometimes there are around 10 of them!
Please pray for Deborah and Joshua, for wisdom whenever they interact with the village children. The values and morals they face every day are so different. This is often a big challenge for them. Please pray for Debi. She seems to become more and more shy when she meets new people. Please pray that she might learn to cope with the challenge of meeting new people all the time.
Please continue to pray for the people in North Wahgi. Pray that Andrew and Nelli might have wisdom in building close and good relationships with these people. Pray that the Lord will prepare their hearts so that soon they would desire to hear the truth about the Lord Jesus. Pray that they would realise their own sin condition and see their need for salvation.
Also pray for Levi and Robyn Lenz, their new co-workers. They hope to be able to start their house building in July/August.
Recently, on a section of the road that is used to get in and out of the village, the bridge over the river was completely demolished.
Please pray that the bridge will be fixed soon, as they will need it for transporting in the house building material for the Lenz family!

Papua New Guinea: Missionaries Paul and Lesley McKnight with Callum and Amy recently enjoyed a visit from Paul's Mum and Dad. During their visit to Papua New Guinea they were all able to take a break in the coastal town of Madang and also had the opportunity to visit one of NTM's tribal church planting locations.
As the school doesn't start back until the 29th July the leadership have asked Paul and Lesley to go to the city of Lae to manage the NTM guest house for three weeks! The guest house is used by many tribal and support missionaries who come down to Lae on breaks or to pick up needed supplies in the stores.
Prayer for their time at the guest house in Lae that they would be able to get to grips with this ministry quickly and be a blessing to those they serve.

Indonesia: Lauje tribe: Barrie and Cherri Williamson recently took a trip by helicopter to visit the Lauje people of Indonesia. On arrival it took a while to get set up in their ex-co-worker\'s house but as soon as they were ready they started work with the Lauje translation approval team, reading all day, but stopping at noon to share the meal that Cherri had prepared. It was great working together and in five days they critiqued the whole of John's Gospel and the book of Revelation. In the book of John's revelation there are some occasions when he witnesses scenes where countless thousands break out in worship of the most awesome God. After a couple of those were read, one of the guys stopped reading and said, "Let's just stop and give thanks to God. He is truly Almighty!"
At another point, an older believer gave some fatherly advice in a very tender way to the younger men. He said, "Brothers, you must look after your eyes. Try not to read just by a single wick lamp. If your eyes go bad you won't be able to read God's Word very well. And," he added, "look after your teeth. Brush them morning and night. If you lose your teeth, people won't be able to understand you when you teach!" Barrie thought it to be very practical advice.
Barrie was very disappointed to see the state of their house after all his work of just a few months ago. The rats had taken over again and wasted the place. It was a shock to Cherri, but she gamely rolled up her sleeves and set to work. Once again they burned, cleaned and stored what was salvageable in barrels, and left the place in a fairly respectable state. If they are to use it again, they will need to replace all of the interior walls, a few uprights and one of the rafters.
Leaving was painful again as they choked back the tears. Barrie and Cherri were encouraged by the many wonderful Christian family members and much good and faithful work being carried out.

Philippines: Manobo tribe: A Manobo believer in the Philippines recently moved with his family to the lowlands to train other Manobo believers and to begin an outreach ministry.
But moving wasn't as simple as he had hoped as there hasn't been any work for him in the lowlands and no land he can plant on. But the believers in the village are making sure that he and his family are well taken care of, with food to eat every day.
Although they have faith that God will take care of them, they are also trying to figure out if they should move again or not.
The ministry is in two different villages. The one he is currently living in is where he will train Manobo believers. The other village is where he will begin teaching the Gospel.
This situation wouldn't be so difficult if he had a reliable motorcycle and fuel.
Please pray for them as they lean on God to figure out what their next step in ministry should be.