Abide in Jesus

Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
John 15:4

Hi <<First Name>>!
Greetings from the Ozarks of Missouri...

We arrived at the Ethnos360 Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Missouri January 11th, 2019.
We will finish the MTC the end of May 2019.
While we are in class M-F 8am-12pm the kids do homeschool next to us.

After we're done in Missouri we'll return to Ventura for partnership development (fundraising and prayer).
As soon as we're done with training and support raising we plan to go to Mexico for church planting among an unreached indigenous people group.

We are in the Zone: Missionary Training Center

We worked hard on our Bible training (which was online) so that we could make it to the MTC this semester. The courses offered in the current semester are a much better complement to the training we had at Radius than had we waited another six months until the following semester. We have been very warmly received by the staff and students.

There are currently two sets of students here on campus for what is normally two years of training. One set is in their second semester and the other is in their fourth. We have a unique opportunity to take classes from both semesters at once. This also gives us an opportunity to develop relationships with all the students (around 70 in total). We are taking almost everything being offered besides language classes since we already took those at Radius, where we got to apply our lessons in language and culture acquisition while in Tijuana.

Driving to Missouri

After six months of intense biblical training we set off for Missouri to complete a semester at the Ethnos360 Missionary Training Center (MTC). We took three days to drive through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and finally Missouri where we landed in the Ozarks. The trip went well and we witnessed many beautiful sights along the way. It was a welcome reminder that God is an awesome Creator who deserves to be glorified among the nations!

Photo Above: We arrived in Arizona when it was dark and woke up to this beautiful scene outside our bathroom window. We were in awe of the contrast between the red rock and the white snow, which we didn't expect to find in the middle of the dessert (the photo doesn't do it justice).

MTC Life Details

We live on campus in a cozy two bedroom apartment, just a quick walk to class. During class time the kids are with us doing homeschool. On Thursdays they head off to a local homeschool co-op. We are part of a small community group and have personal mentors we meet with on a regular basis. There are about 75 students living on campus and quite a few staff families.

After class Gamaiel has work detail on campus eight hours per week. He’s on the Grounds Crew which is normally responsible for keeping the grass and foliage trimmed, but its currently the off season so they’re serving as a general labor team working on various construction and clean up projects around campus. He’s sure to bundle up in multiple layers on the cold days (which are most of them).

The weather is quite strange here in the Ozarks. Yesterday it was in the mid-50s and today it dropped into the twenties. Last week we saw the weather shift 50 degrees in a matter of days. Ice is much more common than snow and folks often stay home when the roads are icy.

This is our cute casita duplex. It's super cozy and we enjoy having a tiny house. It's easier to clean, that's for sure! We walked home in a sudden snow flurry after school and have been enjoying it for a few days.

We walk to class in the morning just across the field. It's a beautiful brisk walk and we never cease to be amazed by the uniqueness of each morning; whether it be glittery frost on the grass, steam on the lake, thick fog, rain drops, the geese honking, or the sun shining through the trees, we are enjoying our season here and are very thankful for it.

What we're learning at the MTC

So far we have completed two courses here. The first is Field Health which teaches us the basics of staying healthy, identifying common tropical illnesses, and the medications required to treat them. The other is Missionary Tech which focused primarily on setting up an off-grid solar power electrical system and the basics of getting clean water. These are practical classes that teach skills which we’ll certainly need in the field.

Our current classes are The Developing Church and Folk Catholicism. They give us a rough idea of what to expect when we'll be living among an unreached people group in Mexico. It will take many, many years to learn their language and culture, build relationships and trust, bring God's Word to them in a way which causes them to question their own worldview (the lens in which a person sees all of life), and eventually leave a self-sustaining healthy church. This is impossible on our own effort. We'll have to be completely dependent on God and the leading of His Spirit through all of it. We're also going to need your support and prayer the whole way!

Los Niños

We have been pleasantly surprised to find that there are several kids on campus for Isei and Ayin to play with. We really didn’t know what to expect, so that's been a blessing. They've taken well to the campus and the people. The day after arrival it snowed and they played in the snow well into the evening for almost two days straight. Today, about a month later, we got more snow and they’re out there at this very moment.

Ayin making cookies with two of her friends (who she lovingly calls her "Sister Friends").

Isei has a friend his age that also does homeschool along side him. They like to have fun wrestling, building forts, and being loco together.

Wisdom from Those who Have Gone Before Us

We’ve also been learning a lot more about the organization (Ethnos360) and the field in Mexico. We recently had the opportunity to host a current missionary who’s serving in Mexico. It was good to hear from him on the work among the Nahuatl people. We look forward to our future work in Mexico among an unreached indigenous people group.

Church in the Country

We were encouraged to try something different for church so we started attending Prosperine, a small church of around 30-40 people seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It’s been fun to sing out of a hymnal and have the preacher interact directly with the congregation throughout the service.

We also have a small Bible study prior to the service, complete with a spread of homemade baked goods and breakfast dishes. Isei and Ayin are the only kids in Sunday School and the teacher says it’s been a while since they’ve had any kids attending church.

They are a mission minded church and have a wall full of photos and letters from around the world. It's encouraging to see that even a small church is being used by God to do His work among the nations. Praise the Lord!

Praises

Safe arrival to a beautiful campus and settling well in a warm apartment
Homeschooling Isei and Ayin while doing our classes is going well
The Lord has provided Isei and Ayin friends here at the MTC

Prayer Requests

That we would learn well and use our time wisely at the MTC
That our time in Missouri would glorify God
For current Radius and Ethnos360 students
For our future teammates
For health and safety
For fruitful support raising
For our future people group in Mexico (possibilities include the Tarahumara, Tepehuán, Cora, and Purépecha)
That we would love and desire our Lord Jesus Christ above all else

<<First Name>> - thank you so much for praying for us. We are so thankful for you. We would love to pray for you too. Please email us your prayer requests by replying to this email.

CONTACT UPDATES:

Please take note of our new shared email address:
gamznbecz@gmail.com

We also have a new website where you can view old newsletters and more:
www.gamznbecz.com

Do you want to GO?

Radius International is where we trained for a year. We highly recommend going to visit, check out the campus, meet the staff and current students, ask questions, listen to stories, and get a really good idea of what the program is all about. Check it out and pray about visiting!

Tell your friends, family, church leaders, and anyone who's interested in making Jesus known among the nations.

To find out more about our training at Radius International check out their website or watch this video. Or ask us in person and we'd love to tell you all about it.

So what is an Unreached People Group? Watch this.

Pastor Chris Lazo of Reality Santa Barbara explains the opportunity that the Church has for engaging unreached people groups.

Would you like to keep up with Missions in today's world?
We recommend reading the Radius Report.