Toña
Hello dear friends!
May came with the scent of change that springs bring on, and has left us with the suspense of a full summer.
The highlight of our month was a trip to Florida. We connected with friends and family, celebrated Malachi’s birthday twice, and enjoyed a quick weekend getaway to celebrate our anniversary. We were also able to go to our sending church. Thank you for praying for this trip. Our biggest concern was for Malachi, who did beautifully. He slept well, warmed up to people quickly, and maintained his happy disposition through most of the chaos. Thank you, Jesus! It was lifegiving to see so many friends, and we are grateful to be able to cover 2000 miles with relative ease and comfort.
Our summer is full, and we are excited! We will be attending an Intercultural Communications Course (ICC) in July. The purpose of the course is to train and prepare mission workers to serve the Lord in multicultural, multigenerational teams, overseas or stateside. In this course we are going to learn about furthering our interpersonal skills, understanding differing worldviews, and deepening our relationship with God. The course runs the whole month of July and will keep us rather busy. In addition Anna will be taking a course called GECO (Global Education and Care Orientation) which will better prepare her to serve missionary kids and families.
Another big change, we are selling our fifth wheel and moving into an apartment here on JAARS campus. Malachi is running out of space here in our little trailer home, but soon he will have a whole apartment to exercise his ever growing energy
After seeing a number of our partners, we are reminded just how blessed we are to have so many people pouring into the work that we get to do. The beauty of the whole church working together to accomplish the great commission is not lost on us. Thank you so much for your investment in the kingdom and in us!
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
This month Philip had the opportunity to work on the engine of one of JAARS Helio Courier airplanes. This plane in particular has a pretty special story attached to it.
In 1956 five missionaries were martyred in Ecuador while trying to establish a relationship with a remote people group called the Waorani. We have a personal connection to this event since Philip received three years of training with the family of Nate Saint, one of the missionaries.
Soon after the group was killed, their story spread like wildfire, and many were inspired to both give their lives to spreading the gospel and to reach the Waorani people specifically. One young Waorani boy named Toña found his way to the Saint family. Rachel Saint, sister of the late Nate Saint, moved into the Waorani community after her brother's death and spent her whole life living with and teaching them the gospel. Toña had escaped a raid from another tribe and found his way to Rachel, who began to disciple him. As an adult, Toña was so moved by Jesus’ teachings to love your enemies that he set his intention on bringing the gospel to the tribe he had fled. Toña caught a ride in a Helio Courier flown by JAARS pilots out to the village. They circled first using a loud speaker so they could make an announcement that he was coming to them. They dropped him off and for the next several weeks Toña ministered to the village. They would make regular radio contact with Toña to see how things were going. A few weeks after he entered the village there was no contact. Toña was also martyred for his faith whilst bringing the gospel to those who had previously sought to kill him. In 1972 the plane was given the name Toña in honor of the national missionary and dedicated by Rachel Saint. The evidence of God’s redemption is saturated throughout this story. Testimonies like this serve as a reminder that the life we have on earth is worth laying down for the sake of the gospel, and the life we have in Christ cannot be taken away.