Well, that sounds exciting doesn’t it? Nicole and I truly hate missing any service at our home church in PA and we love having meals with our family. In order to accommodate both of these, the result is leave after midnight and drive through the night in order to avoid “rush hour” in every major cities between PA and MO. It was the last night to enjoy my (Seth’s) family, and so we ate with them, talked with them, and waited till my nephews were put to bed. After that we took a brief nap so that we could be rested and miss the traffic. God blessed us in that; we had no car problems, no accidents, we don’t think we forgot anything, no traffic, and the worst thing that happened was we had a nut wear out on the back of our toilet (in MO) filling the bathroom floor with water. It was an easy, yet uncomfortable (it is a toilet after all) fix. Thank You God! If that was the worst thing to happen on our trip, then we are blessed. Nicole was extra blessed! She slept most of the ride and did not have to hug the toilet.

After unpacking, grocery shopping for the week, and a quick bite to eat, it was time for bed. We started right back into the swing of things and began classes at 8am the next day. The first block of classes includes ‘Missionary Technology’. In this class we are taught the “basics” for living in a remote indigenous area, how to build your house, minor electrical work, plumbing, how to use solar power (photovoltaic-PV) systems, the difference between AC and DC electricity, among many other things. As many of you know, most of this unique work requires specific knowledge. We are also going through Romans as a class. This is very practical as well, for in this class, we go through certain “positional truth’s” (i.e. justified, reconciled to God, seated in the heavenlies, etc.) and explain them to the rest of the class in a sixth grade terminology who have never been to church, while the class is allowed to interject questions that are at the seminary level in regards to theological comprehension. So we are having fun! Explaining deep truths in a simplistic way that applies to you directly is an awesome challenge each believer should go through. This directly applies to foreign missions in that, when we translate the Word of God into a tribal language, they will not have a one-to-one ratio for words in their vocabulary for such words as “justification”, and so forth.

The month of June was very busy. We missed a few nights of sleep here and there, but when we did sleep we slept in many different beds: our own bed, a friends bed, the car, a few random beds here and there, a cot in a cabin, in a tent on rocks with nothing but 1” of tarp and sheets separating us from the ground, and even a roach hotel… literally, Seth killed a large roach one night while staying there.

After wrapping up our first semester (of three) we headed to Tennessee to visit Seth’s sister (Jennie) and brother in law (Scott) as Jennie’s due date for their second child was soon approaching. The baby was not born while we were there (the first time) so we headed home to Pennsylvania. We got word two days later that the baby was on his way, so we went back to Tennessee. Once in PA after baby Job was born, we stayed for less than two weeks, during which, we went to Michigan as camp counselors with our church youth group and Nicole went to Maryland for a friends’ wedding. We are currently in New Jersey with Nicole’s family.

Here are some of the highlights of our summer so far…

– We went to Tennessee to see Seth’s sister, Jennie Phillips, have her baby (well not literally); we wanted to see the baby. Praise God Job Luther Phillips was born healthy through an all-natural birth.

– We went to camp CoBeAc in Michigan with our church’s youth group and heard some amazing preaching and witnessed God move in the youth’s lives and see them make big commitments to our GREAT God.

– We had an opportunity to house sit for a family in PA, what a blessing!

– We celebrated our one-year anniversary on July 2! Thank you God for an awesome first year of marriage…Song of Solomon 3:4 “but I found him whom my soul loveth.”

– We had great time with family and friends in both PA and now in NJ.

Coming soon…

– We plan on helping out and being apart of church activities while in New Jersey

– We look forward to enjoying family time and connecting with friends here in New Jersey (contact us if you would like to get together with us)

– Nicole is making a lot of jewelry for her upcoming jewelry party in PA, August 11. Ladies get ready and save the date!

Family:

-Jay and Bri (Seth’s brother and sister in law); they are in Papua Indonesia transitioning into their next phase of ministry. Our niece and nephew, Eden and Jericho are doing great, they are with their Nana (Seth’s mom), who is there visiting!

– Scott and Jennie (Seth’s sister and brother in law); Jennie is doing wonderfully after giving birth to their second son and is looking great. They are acclimating to life with a new bundle of joy; baby Job, here in the states.

– Seth’s parents; my dad is lonely these days, my mom is in Indonesia visiting Jericho and Eden… and I guess Jay and Bri as well 🙂

– Nicole’s parents; they just got back from a short term mission trip in Panama to see if this is where God is leading them to serve full time. They had a great time and especially enjoyed their time with Dave!

-Dave; he is still down in Panama and seeing God work in the skate park ministry that God gave him to serve in while taking college courses.

The summer is here! We finished our first of three semesters of training down in Missouri. Two more to go! That’s so exciting, for those of you who have been with us throughout the years, it is almost surreal that the time for heading over seas is getting closer and closer, and will soon be here. We had classes to finish up at the end and lots of “getting the proper perspective” and focus (es).  If you have been following our blogs, you may know that we have been taking phonetics (the art and science of understanding the sounds we produce through our mouths in order to make “speech”); which we have now completed. Phonetics wrapped up with a research project where we studied a language of our choosing (we chose Indonesian of course J). We learned so much in that project, not just about the language of Indonesia but also the culture and history that makes up Indonesia. Indonesia is made up of thousand of islands, and has had many influences from all the trading companies and many wars that occurred right on their “front yard”. Indonesian became the official language of Indonesia in 1945 after declaring its independence. After gaining their independence, the Indonesians wanted their language to give them a sense of identity. Since their country had so many influences from outsiders, they struggled to know who they were and desired, in their diversity and great natural barriers, to have a uniting bond that would be the bridge to connect the many islands. So in 1945, “Indonesian” became the national language taught in all the schools for everyone to know and be united through. This bond gave the country a national pride that they never had before and they were now able to call someone their countryman that they once could not even communicate with. I don’t want to go too in-depth with this brief overview, but we just wanted to inform you of who we soon will be serving amongst. Many influences, cultures, and religions make up this language group of Indonesia, remember; it is not the language that makes up a people, it is the people and their culture that makes up that language. Our God is one Who loves people (2 Pet. 3:9), and we are called to imitate Christ (Phil.).

Before we head back to our home in PA, we are stopping in Tennessee to see Scott and Jennie (Seth’s sister) and to see how her pregnancy is doing. We are very excited to see friends and family and would love to get involved with each one of you as much as possible! Whether it is through a meal, church, or work, we would love to connect with you and see what God is doing in your life and share what God is doing in our lives. You have our contact information, so feel free to contact us!

The first half of July we plan on being in New Jersey and connecting with our Church out there and seeing our family and friends. We miss them all so much; we can’t wait to see them (you) all! Please contact us, we want to see you like we said and catch up with you while we are in the area 🙂

To give just a brief update with what’s going on in our jail ministries, and no we are not residents, J just ministers. I (Seth) have been going on Monday evenings to talk one-on-one with many guys where I can question them on the previous lesson we taught to see what they are getting from it. Also with one guy, I am doing a book study. All of these things are going very well. On Thursday afternoons, I go to the local county jail where two other guys from the school and I hold a Bible study. In this setting, we have over one and a half hour with the men (usually we have 10-30, mostly high 20’s). We start off with prayer. This is a great time for the men to open up and just leave their request at our Father’s heavenly home. God is gracious at times, and shows us His greatness by answering a request in less than a day! Some of these men see that evidence, and are blown away with God and His care for His people. Most people down in Missouri believe in God and have gone to church for a time in their life, but they all see God as distant, not wanting a close personal relationship with each and everyone of His children. Over the past month, some men have “experienced” God and their eyes have changed, and they are exited to know God in a deeper way.

There was a mini-revival a couple weeks ago with many men just crying out to God asking God for forgiveness. Men, crying before other men? Truly that is God working in them. These men are in jail, and they “have to” put on a tough persona, but everything they “have to do” seems to disappear when they experience God. Needless to say, Prayer has become one of, if not the main avenue of encouragement and challenge for these men.

Last week, I had the daunting task of teaching on Ephesians 5, and to teach marriage between man and wife. I am the youngest of the 3 men that go to the jail with me, and the one man has been married longer than I have even been alive. I lack in experience on this topic, but God reminded me, its not necessarily experience that makes a Godly marriage, it’s how closely both spouses cling to God’s Word as Truth for their lives, and that is something I can focus on. This is a very touchy topic with most men in the jail, who most/if not all are living in sin. They have a baby with a woman that is not their wife; they are on their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wives. That is my audience. And to start it all off, one of the prayer requests that began that service was for a man’s girlfriend. He was in there because his girlfriend filed something against him because she was mad at him. The week before four men asked for prayer for their wives, and three men for their girlfriends (which they sometimes call their wife and have kids with them, but they are not married to them). That is the setting and my audience.

I used several illustrations from my wedding. The wedding charge focused on the mans perspective and kept going back and forth with the perspective of Christ’s union with the church and how Christ is our Groom, how are we doing submitting to Him as His bride? That really connected with the men, and gave many examples of how we are to love, encourage, build up, and serve our wives. I really emphasized the “God ordained” model for the family of husband and wife, two becoming one, and forsaking all others. I did not tip toe around that topic, I did not want a single person to leave there without knowing God’s Word says MARRY THE WOMAN YOU LOVE! Identify with her, be right before God, take that step and don’t be ashamed to show her you love her through that ceremony! Once you marry her, forsake all others and serve her selflessly. God showed up and they all just had their eyes on me the whole time nodding. To top it all off, the guy who had that prayer request, the one who was kicked out of his house and his girlfriend lied and put him in jail… was the one who was most verbally appreciative, and said “man that makes so much sense, I never looked at it like that”. That is what Satan has done; he has attacked the sacred union between man and woman, now many people have a distorted and even disgusted view of marriage. We as the church, must fight and emulate God’s desire for this union to show through our lives, so that all can see what God has for His people, first in our relationship with Christ as His Bride, and secondly with our spouse!

Over the past couple weeks at Laclede County Jail, I (Nicole) have also seen God show up in really cool ways. There have been several ladies who have really been grasping the gravity of the Gospel message. We focused on baptism two weeks ago and the beginning of Christ’s ministry. There has been some great feedback from the ladies that told us they are really gleaning from this format of studying (using the Stranger on the Road to Emmaus book) through the scriptures. One lady named Kristie in particular, has really been blessing me. One night she teared up and just thanked us for coming weekly and teaching. She said that she can feel the Lord in our teachings and can almost feel the pain that Christ bore on the cross for us. Kristie and another girl Danielle (her cellmate) have been asking us deep questions. Last week Kristie asked about original texts and translations of the Bible. She has been reading the book we are going through from the beginning on her own and praying with Danielle. Kristie has been telling her husband about this book and is encouraging him to pursue the Lord.

Nicole had another first, watching the killing of 2 chickens and 1 large turkey. I enjoyed killing a chicken and helped kill the turkey. As you can see in the pictures, I wasn’t shy about killing them. Pastor Stine thought he would teach us something practical for tribal life, he said that Pastor Skelly wasn’t able to do that J. Those two men are best friends and are always making jokes at one another. So Pastor Stine showed Nicole and I the way to kill, de-feather, and remove the insides and other bodily extremities of these fowl(s). This was fun, Nicole did not get grossed out at all, but she also was not too eager to participate. It was fun to experience this with my wife and the Pastor’s family. He taught me all the techniques of “scraping the lungs off from the ribs”, and what “not” to “break open”, and how to pluck the feathers off. He even gave some science to the gizzard and even (yet again), poked fun at Pastor Skelly, impersonating him with a decapitated turkey head. There are many crazy and fun things happening here. We have been married for over 10 months now as of the 2nd of May, and we will be back in Pittsburgh PA in just a few weeks. Seems like things are always moving so quickly in this phase of our lives.

We started the infamous Phonetics class and love it! Nicole is doing really well in her pronunciations (her Spanish upbringing is coming into play now), and my (Seth) hearing/comprehension is pretty good.  So let me break down “cot ei ghoti” for you (incase you were wondering).

Cot- Most English speakers do not distinguish a difference in “cot” (something you sleep on), and “caught” (as in to catch something). English pronunciation, as you very well may know, is very inconsistent in its pronunciations.

Next, “ei”, is the middle vowels of “weigh”, which makes it sound like an English “a”.

Finally:

Gh- at the end of  “ laugh”; makes the “f” sound

o- in “women”, the “o” sounds like an “i” sound

ti- in the word “nation”, makes an “sh” sound

Put them all together and that makes f-i-sh… so last week Nicole “caught a fish”, or thanks to English inconsistencies, Nicole “cot ei ghoti”. Fun isn’t it? 🙂

Phonetics is a class that enables one to understand the sounds that come out of the human mouth, from a vowel, to a consonant. The only difference in making them is whether or not you constrict the air… even then, if you partially restrict the air, it might be a semi-vowel. Phonetics has its own alphabet, ascribing a letter/symbol to each sound that comes through the mouth (or doesn’t), through the nose, and vibrating through the vocal cords. What?! That’s crazy you say! But it’s not. One of our teachers likens it to being under water, and each day he gives us new Ping-Pong balls that he wants us to hold under water. Each day is a new ball, a new facet, and new sound. We have to have big hands, focus, and hold our breath!

God is great and powerful, wise beyond our comprehension. When God “confounded” the languages… (as my teacher says), He did a GREAT JOB! But also, our God created the mouth and everything to do with it. He is merciful, a God of order, and has said that He is working before our path in which we will take. I believe that one of those ways He is working is in the human mouth, He has made it possible for ANYONE to learn ANY language because all tribes will be before the throne of God, as it says in Revelation 5. We can rest in this promise and that He will perform this good work in and through us! His Bride!

There have been “lots of firsts” for us in the past couple of weeks as we both have had several opportunities to teach many new topics at our jail ministries. While preparing for our teachings, God has taught us the most. God has been challenging us to be affective teachers, and also to know what it means to be a teacher like our Lord Jesus Christ. In one of our classes, we learned about how Jesus was the greatest of all teachers and we took time to look at His life and how to implement some of His methods into our different ministries in which we teach.

Nicole and I had a blessing in one of our classes to teach together. It was the first time that we ever had an opportunity to team-teach. As a class we went through a condensed chronological teaching of 27 thematic lessons in the Bible, from creation to the Resurrection of Christ. We as a class, divided up the lessons and broke into groups, having your other teammates help with readings, skits, and most importantly, consulting the presenting group. We learned the value of walking through a lesson with people who have many different perspectives and to focus on main themes of the passage such as; Jesus Christ is Lord and Sovereign. We are learning how to use that thematic focus to target our audiences and try to understand any barriers they may have in trying to understand our teaching due to their age, culture, and/or their individual personal history. A theme to focus on is only as good as the target you are aiming to hit within a person.

On a lighter note, Nicole and I had another first. We got to ride a quad together (Nicole has never been on a quad). One of the families at our church in Kansas has a few motorized vehicles and lots of room to use them. We had a great time with a family from our church in Kansas and learned how God has burdened them to get involved in missions in various ways. We are so thankful to have many hospitable and great families at our church in Kansas-it lessens the sadness of missing the families at our home church in PA.

Nicole and I have had many “ups” and “downs” in our jail ministries. We have seen people make solid professions of faith and even thank God for them being in jail, because some of them got saved in jail (and to admit their guilt in jail is a rare and BIG thing), and we have seen others be disinterested and seem that they only want to be there to disrupt others from learning.

We recently had a field fair at the training center where missionaries from the field shared the needs of the countries they are working in. This was a great opportunity to make us candidates more aware of how we best could fit in with that particular field. For the first time in our marriage, God brought an answer to us individually without ever talking to one another. God placed on both of our hearts to serve Him in Indonesia. We will continue to keep this decision in prayer. Please PRAY with us about this.

We just started Phonetics, this class teaches you how to listen and break down another person’s speech. It is very useful for when we get overseas. We just took an aptitude test to see if we are naturally gifted in the areas of linguistics, such as grammar, etc. It was like a puzzle game and kind of fun (well I-Seth-thought so), except for the strict time constraint, so that gave me a slight heart attack.

Finally, we are excited to participate in the sunrise worship service at our home church in PA for the first time as a married couple! We are at my parent’s house, and Nicole’s parents are driving to be with us here in PA so we can celebrate this monumental time as a family. Our prayer is that we understand the gravity of what Sunday means to the Christian. The resurrection is the necessity of Life for the Christian. Without Christ’s resurrection, we would all still be in the grave living under the penalty of sin. (Romans 6:4)

Please Pray; Jennie’s (Seth’s sister) baby is due in June, and the baby has an enlarged kidney. Jay (Seth’s brother) and Briana are officially in Papua, Indonesia and now are one step closer in serving in a tribe that God has prepared them to serve in. Dave (Nicole’s brother) is still getting adjusted in Panama with college and full-time missions. Praise and Prayer; we recently had a field fair, in and which God has used to solidify our future service in Indonesia. PRAY for the Lord’s leading in this decision. We are going to start Rosetta Stone (once we get it) probably in May and start learning culture through various missionaries who have served in Indonesia.

Seth went to pick up some kids for the weekly basketball camp on Sundays and for a brief moment got lost. Everything worked out and the kids had a great time at the camp. One of the church members (Silas) helped Seth during the camp and he appreciated it a lot. Those kids make him run around the whole time ☺

PRAISE: last week during Seth’s outreach ministry at the jail, the guys (5 of them) opened up and requested one-on-one visits. PRAY: for Seth, he only gets 15 minutes at a time with each of them, ask God to give him wisdom on how to talk with them and encourage them in that brief amount time. Seth is unsure of how to use that time whether to pray with them, have a particular Biblical focus on a passage, to challenge their thoughts, or just try to encourage them because they are being so heavily attacked in jail from the guards, inmates, and the media, and might not see another fellow believer until next Thursday. Also, if you are looking to get involved, the man who leads this ministry purchases Bibles for all those who ask for them from his own money (no questions asked), and when Seth found out he did this, he (we) started getting involved as well, and just got 2 study Bibles for the guys that specifically asked for them because they want to go deeper in their relationship with God. So if they have a need, we want to be apart of the solution in helping them. Getting the Word of God into people’s hands is very dear to our hearts. This is one of the main reasons we want to go into foreign missions, to give the Word of God into the hands of people who cannot get the Word for themselves. Contact us if you are interested in buying a Bible for the guys in the jail.

PRAY for me (Nicole), I am looking at where I can best get involved as well in addition to the jail ministry. I too might start doing one on one visits with the ladies at the jail I minister, another place is a local youth group that is in need of women youth group leaders. I have been spending time with the moms/wives on our campus who also need to be ministered to as well with the busyness going on around here. PRAY God gives me wisdom in where I can best fit and minister.

Thank you for being apart of our lives!

Hello all,

Just wanted to quickly let you all know the tornado that hit Missouri was CLOSE to us but we did not get hit by it here in Roach. The main touchdown of the storm was in Branson, which is about 30-40 minutes from where we are. Thank you all for the concerns you showed. No worries, we are fine! 🙂

Everyone has multiple fires (or passions) within themselves (for many things; i.e. sports, cooking, entertainment, God, etc.). We want our passion for God to grow, and for a fire to grow you must “stoke” it (to stir up, feed, and tend to a fire). We want our fire fed and tended so that, we can be set ablaze for God. We (Nicole and I) want to “stoke” the fires within people for God. We desire that God would use us and tend to people’s fires and grow them, so all of God’s saints can be on fire for Him, both foreign and domestic.

As the English Hymn and good ole camp song goes:

Lord the light of your love is shining

In the midst of the darkness shining

Jesus light of the world shine upon us

Set us free by the truth you now bring us

Shine on me, shine on me

Shine, Jesus shine

Fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit blaze

Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth your word

Lord and let there be light

Lord I come to your awesome presence

From the shadows into your radiance

By the blood I may enter your brightness

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness

Shine on me, shine on me

*Coming soon: “Stoking the Fire” is the title for our newsletters