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In Training with New
Tribes Mission for Tribal Church Planting and Bible Translation |
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George & Ginny Olson Links: Download
Printable version of this month's newsletter The printable version is in zip format, but the file extension needs to be changed from .piz to .zip in order to extract it. I have done this by request so that your system's virus program will not automatically delete it when you download the file.
Our summer address: 501 E. 14th Ave Belton, TX 76513 Our address beginning
August 9th: George & Ginny Olson 134 Main Drive Box 67831 Roach, MO 65787-9724
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The hard mountain rain
beating on the plastic roof was deafening. Then suddenly the scream came piercing
through the blackness of the night, overcoming all other noise:
"Aaaaagh!!! Aaaaaagh!!! Help! Help! Help!" I scrambled to find my flashlight in the
pitch dark, knocking things over along the way. Fear gripped me. Surely
some wild beast has come in and is attacking my daughter! I shined the light over,
and there sat Abby straight up in bed, screaming, and thankfully, no wild
beast. In fact, it was nothing more than fear! Well, imagine how you would
feel at 4 years old waking up under these conditions – first night in a new
place, totally pitch black, noise like you are inside a gravel crusher, 35
degrees inside the house, and covered with 6 layers of heavy blankets to keep
you warm! Jungle CampSo began our wild
adventures in Jungle Camp! This was the final chapter of our time in Eastern
Oregon – living in the mountains for 2 weeks in totally isolated
conditions! (Follow the link over to
the left to see the pictures!) The narrative version is
pretty simple – we framed our house out of trees that had been cut down in
the forest. The sides were made of large plastic sheets, which we stapled to
the wood frame to provide a covering. We built all our own furniture,
installed hot and cold running water, and cooked on a wood stove made out of
recycled oil drums! It took us a whole week to get the house fully put
together, and then we enjoyed it for a week before taking everything back
down! Rugged ConditionsWe learned that it takes a
lot of effort to live in rugged conditions. Isaac and I spent at least 2
hours every day chopping wood, just to keep the house warm! Ginny had to
begin preparing every meal about 2 hours in advance! One day we hiked for about
3 hours over the mountains to a little lake for a picnic. It was up and down
hills, through forest trails, and across some rugged terrain where there were
no trails. The kids did well, although they all opted to take the truck back
the alternate route! I was glad the mission had that available for them,
because it would have been a much longer day without it! Trailer AdventuresOn the last day, we were
allowed to have our cars back in order to start packing up. I drove down the
mountain with a friend to pick up the trailer, so we could pack it up. But on
the way back up, bouncing along the rocky road, there was a loud crash from
the back! The trailer axle spring had broken loose where it was welded to the
frame! We had to take the trailer back – we had no choice. So we devised a
"missionary trailer repair kit."
Six feet of bailing wire, 2 coat hangers, a stick, and 12 inches of
laundry cord, and we had the trailer fully functional again. Once back in
town, we had to weld it back together. All in all, it was a great
adventure. We had 48 hours to pack everything we owned back in the trailer in
order to haul it back across the country to Texas! On the 3rd day of our
drive, going through Albuquerque, we started hearing "thunkity thunkity
thunkity thunkity…" It sounded like something was wrong with a wheel, so
we pulled off to look. Sure enough, 4 out of the 5 lugs on the left rear
trailer wheel were completely loose. Thank you, Lord, for letting us find
this before the 5th one came loose! Then on the way out, we missed the left
turn to get back on the highway, and ended up delaying our drive for 45
minutes through the heart of Albuquerque. I knew we should have taken that
left turn at Albuquerque! The Next StepWe would like to thank all
of you for keeping us in your prayers during this adventure! Now that we have
finished Missions Institute, we will be heading to Missouri in August for
Linguistics Institute! This is where we learn all about the principles of
language learning – how to make the 400 plus sounds the human mouth can make,
codify it into an alphabet, and teach people to read and write in their own
previously unwritten language! I am sure the Lord will teach us some amazing
and wondrous things along the way! Where are we going?This is the most common
question we are hearing these days. Since we still have 1 year to 1 ˝ years
left of training, the mission does not require us to make a commitment to a
particular field until we get closer to finishing training. We have been in
discussions with the field leadership in Thailand, Indonesia, and Brazil, but
have as yet made no commitments. Thailand is looking for personnel to open up
2 new tribal works and to assist 3 existing works in the next few years. Both
Indonesia and Brazil are looking for dozens of new families to open new works
or help existing ones in the next few years. If you would like to know more
about any of these countries, please email us and let us know! The Linguistics course we
are going to in Missouri is best summarized by, "principles of language
learning." It is not a course in a particular language, but in how to
learn an unwritten language and turn it into a written one. When we go to
another country, we will spend the first year in that country in full time
language study to become fluent in the trade language. This is a requirement
by New Tribes Mission for all missionaries before they go into a tribe. The FoundationBefore I end this month's
newsletter, I want to remind everyone why we are doing this! We are not going through all this training
just to go somewhere and make the world "a better place to live."
This is not a matter of some idealistic view of the world! We go for one
reason – to glorify God by the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission – to
take the message of salvation in Jesus Christ alone to all the nations of the
world who have not yet heard. Believe me, there are many people groups – over
4000 language groups in fact – that have never heard the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Is there any way of salvation apart from Christ? Not according to St.
Peter, who said in Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other:
for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved." When I quit my career as an
engineer and we left New Mexico, we were encouraged on many sides, but we
also heard all the objections. "You are throwing away your life."
"How will you survive?" "How can you deprive your kids of the
opportunities you have had?" "What will you do for
retirement?" "How can you live without all the stuff you've
bought?" Our answer to all these things
is simple. About 2000 years ago, our Lord said, "All authority
is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…" Matthew 28:17-18. Okay, if all authority is really
given to the Lord Jesus Christ, how can any Christian person reasonably
object when another Christian person chooses to walk in faith, trust God, and
take his or her family out to actually teach one of the "nations"
(Greek – ethnic groups) by being missionaries? I know these things are
true from the scriptures! We are thankful to be a part of God's great plan
for the world, and we pray for more laborers. Jesus will one day come for His
own. Are you one of them? Will you be ready? O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! …
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be
glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33, 36 |
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