March Update

March was a busy but fun month for our family.  David was gone to Oaxaca, Mexico the first part of March.    Then we had our official "Spring Break" from classes/training March 18-22.  We didn't do anything special for Spring Break but enjoyed a full week of just being home together as a family and resting.  

My family (Gretta's) came from Alabama to visit us the following week.  They actually arrived on my birthday, March 24th and were here on campus with us for 6 days.  My parents had previously visited back in September but this time my sister, brother-in-law and our 17 month old nephew were able to come too.  My parents stayed at our apartment with us and my sister, brother-in-law and nephew stayed at the speaker's apartment here on campus.  It was great having them all right here experiencing campus life with us, introducing them to our campus and church family here in Texas and getting to show them around down here in south Texas too.  

Lord willing, I will be joining David and our team as we travel to "Village M" later this month.  One of the instructor's wives has graciously offered to keep all 3 of our children here at our apartment during the trip so that I can go into Mexico with David and our team. I am really looking forward to this trip and excited to experience "Village M" personally. We have some specific prayer requests regarding "Village M" that we would appreciate you lifting up in your prayer time as well.

1. Pray for Urbano.  The team had the opportunity to share the gospel with him and he has begun asking more questions about what he is reading.  He seems to be understanding more clearly. Pray for salvation for Urbano.
2. The cartel is becoming more active and making their presence known in "Village M" more heavily now.  Please pray for strength and protection for the believers in this village. 
3. Due to the increased cartel activity, the house our team has been staying at is no longer available.  The man who owns the home is not a believer but he has been allowing our team to stay there each month.  He has asked that we no longer use the house when we come each month because he is afraid of the cartel.  Please pray for Mr. V that the Lord will continue to work on his heart and that he will desire a personal relationship with Jesus Christ too.  
4. Pray for the people of "Village M" that their hearts will be softened to the gospel message we are bringing to them each month, that their ears will be open and their hearts will be receptive.  
5. Pray for our team as we go into "Village M" this month.  Pray that God would grant us protection from the schemes of the enemy during our trip.  Pray for our children and the sweet lady caring for them as David & I will be both going to "Village M" this month.  

Thank you to each of you for your prayers, emails, notes of encouragement and financial investment in our mission work.  We praise the Lord that He is using you and us in this way to accomplish His purposes.  It is a privilege and a joy to be involved in the Lord's work with you.  

Want to support us financially?
https://toeverytribe.com/donations/donate.aspx

Select "Johns, David and Gretta" on the drop-down menu next to Gift Designation

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God."  - Romans 8:18-19

Oaxaca, Mexico Trip Report

Each year, To Every Tribe sends missionaries on trips throughout the world.  This year, we had a team in Papau New Guinea, another in India, one couple from To Every Tribe went to scout out Malaysia/Indonesia and we had a team in Oaxaca, Mexico.  After much prayer, David chose to be part of the Oaxaca, Mexico team.  We have been serving in northern Mexico each month and God has really been putting Mexico on our hearts for long-term mission work.  The need is huge in Mexico and there is so much work to be done there.  The kids and I remained on campus while David went to Oaxaca, Mexico for just over 2 weeks.  Oaxaca is pronounced "wa-ha-ca" by the way.  This was the longest David and I had been apart and God gave us amazing strength, grace and comfort during our time apart.  

Pictures from the motels they stayed at in Mexico

The trip to Oaxaca, Mexico was a 3 day drive for team.  They stopped in 2 different cities along the way and spent the night to get some rest. This was the furthest into Mexico that David had been and he loved watching the scenery and landscape change throughout the trip. 

That's a volcano on the far left!

Did you know part of Mexico is in the "Ring of Fire"?  So one night David sends me an email telling me he is loving all the volcanoes in Mexico.  I was like "Volcanoes?  What volcanoes?"  So I shared his email on Facebook and my Dad commented "honey, Mexico is in the ring of fire". I honestly didn't believe him so I looked it up and sure enough, it's true! Should have known my Dad (a big History/Geography buff) was right and where I was in Geography class in 9th grade when they taught that?!  (Don't answer that Dad!)  Anyway, after 3 days of traveling the team finally arrived in Oaxaca City, Mexico.  To Every Tribe has a few missionary families already in that area completing language school and some actually in villages in Oaxaca working to reach tribal groups with the gospel.  

David rode in the truck bed around Oaxaca City

A Catholic church in Oaxaca City, Mexico

While in Oaxaca City, they spent a day resting and looked around the town.  They visited some of the missionaries from To Every Tribe who live in Oaxaca City and got to stay at their houses overnight too.  

Randy & Sue - Bible translators for Wycliffe

The team also went to Mitla, Mexico to the Wycliffe Bible Translation facility there.  Randy & Sue wanted to live in "Village Q".  Their hearts desire was to learn the native language, create an alphabet and create a grammar system and translate the gospel into their native tongue. However, their request was denied but their heart burned so strongly to bring the gospel to this village that they began working from outside the village to accomplish their goal.  They were able to make friends with a couple of people from Village Q who were willing to help them but it took 27 years for them to be able to complete the translation of the New Testament into the language of Village Q.  In February 2011, the New Testament was finished and ready for distribution to these people.  Praise God for steadfast warriors who do not allow opposition to stand in the way of doing the Lord's will. 

The mountain pass to "Village Q"

The next day the team packed up and drove up into the mountains from Oaxaca City to reach the people in Village Q. Village Q sits at about 7,100 feet up in the mountains and it took about 8 hours to go just a few miles on this road.   A cold front had moved into the area and it was in the 30's at night with a strong wind while the team was there.  You may not believe it but southern Mexico can be really cold!  Yet, the daytime temperatures were really warm.  

A picture of Village Q - it sits on the side of the mountain

The purpose of this trip was to host a dental/medical clinic for the people in this village.  David was again able to do dentistry for 3 days on people in the village.  This service gave him and the team the opportunity to personally serve the people of Village Q.  David also led praise and worship time for the team and he even played guitar for some of the villagers there just for fun.  One day in the village, he got to talking to a man named Mr. M. This man invited him to come into his home for coffee (grown right there in the village) and he took a few other guys from the team with him. Mr. M knew a little bit of Spanish so David was able to communicate with him in Spanish (although David only knows a little Spanish so far) and they worked on learning words in both Spanish, Zapotec (the language of Village Q) and English for Mr. M to learn.  At the end of their time in Village Q, the village president came to one of our missionaries that lives in Oaxaca City and indicated he would be willing to write a letter of invitation for some of our missionaries to come live in their village!  Because of new Mexican immigration procedures and tribal village government, a formal invitation is required to live among these unreached tribal groups in Mexico.  Please pray for Village Q and that To Every Tribe will receive an invitation to come live and work among that village. 

The need for missionaries in Oaxaca is great as there are still dozens of unreached villages all throughout the mountains just like Village Q.  Our family is prayerfully looking to move to Oaxaca to serve after we complete our training in May 2014 to serve as long-term missionaries there.  We would love for you to cover us in prayer as we continue to serve in northern Mexico each month, complete our training here in south Texas, continue to raise support and prepare for that move to Mexico! 

A Skype call from Mexico

One final note, can I just say how thankful I am for technology these days!  While David & I did not get to talk to each other personally every day he was able to email me each night and sometimes in the mornings the first few days thanks to internet cafes and wi-fi in towns where they stopped along the way.  Once they arrived in Oaxaca City, he actually called me on Skype (see picture above) and I cried I was so happy to see and hear him.  When they went up into the village we had no communication at all as these are primitive, tribal villages.   In fact, you couldn't even take pictures in the village as these people still believe you can still their soul by taking a picture with a camera!  It is such a blessing to know that when we move to Mexico we can still keep in touch with family and friends via Skype, emails, Facebook, etc.....at least until God opens a door for us to move into a village!  

Thank you to each and everyone of you who prayed for David, the team and our family while he was gone.  Thank you to those who used our Oaxaca Trip Prayer Guide to pray specifically for the team and the needs we listed.  We love knowing are surrounded by faithful prayer warriors as prayer is one of our most powerful weapons!  

In case you haven't seen it yet, we have a new missions video and you can learn how to partner with our family and join in our mission work too.  

Serving Locally & Mexico Trip

Last week Gretta had the opportunity to serve dinner at "Loaves & Fishes", a shelter in Harlingen, TX.  Our church here in TX sent a team of ladies up there to work one evening last week. Loaves & Fishes is a homeless shelter for men, women and families and they also serve breakfast and dinner 7 days a week.  They feed anyone...no questions asked.  They served meals to over 100 people the night they went.  It was a blessing to be able to serve people right here in the Rio Grande Valley and participate in mission work on a local level too.  And Gretta said...."we rocked those hair nets!"  :)  

David will be leaving for Oaxaca, Mexico Feb. 25-March 11.  It will take them 3 days to drive down to Oaxaca.  He is part of a team that will be working with "People Q", an unreached tribal group of Zapotec Indians in the mountains of Oaxaca.  They will be doing a dental/medical clinic in the village there. They will also have the opportunity to visit the SIL school at Mitla, Mexico (sil.org/Mexico) during this trip.  We have created a Prayer Guide that we would love to send you so you can join us in prayer while David is in Mexico on this trip.  If you would like to receive the Prayer Guide, drop us an email at Bamagv@aol.com  and we will send it right out to you.  We would love a huge prayer team for this trip!  Ultimately, we pray for God to be glorified through their efforts on this trip and that hearts will be softened to the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  

Dental Training & Dental Clinic

One thing David has been really looking forward to in our training this year was the week of "Dental Training".  A dentist came and taught how to clean teeth, identify, drill and fill cavities, teach dental hygiene in a tribal setting, check for oral cancer, how to sharpen, care for and maintain dental tools and more....

 all without electricity, no medications or numbing medicines of any kinds
and all pain free...yes, pain free!  

There were about 15 people who took the Dental Training and they were partnered together.  David was paired with our friend Dawn who is from Canada.  They first went through classroom instruction and teaching taught by the dentist.  

Then they practiced their dental work on mannequins and then they worked on each other!  After practice and hands-on experience, they headed into Mexico.....

They went to "Village S" which is a village To Every Tribe sends a team to each month but this was a new village for David and a new area for him to get to see and experience.  Of course, anytime you are in Mexico you never know what you will see or what you will encounter.....

Seeing police vehicles like this is not uncommon but they can be a little alarming the first time you run into them.  Then there was a tractor broke down in the middle of the road blocking the roadway and the dental team had to all get out of their vehicles and literally push this tractor off the road so they could continue on to their destination.  Let's just say, moving a tractor takes a lot more work than moving a broken down car!  

They set up the dental clinic inside a building that is similar to what we would call a community center in "Village S".  The town had also spread the word about the dental clinic to 2 other neighboring towns as well. By hosting a dental clinic, we are able to show the love of Christ to people in a real and tangible way by meeting their health needs as well as their spiritual needs. They had the opportunity to share the Gospel with each and every patient who came to the clinic as well.  It also opened doors of opportunity for them to meet new people and make new contacts in that area of Mexico as well.  

Here is what David had to say about the Dental Training and the Dental Clinic: "This knowledge of dental training will open up doors of opportunity for evangelism and we are able to show the love of Christ by meeting "felt needs" (physical needs) of those we come in contact with.  I am thankful that we had the opportunity to learn a skill that will allow me to benefit others while we are on the field."  

The dental clinic was a huge success and over 100 patients were treated in just 3 days by the team while they were in Mexico.  And if you are still skeptical that dentistry can be pain-free without any medication or gases, well I can personally testify that it can.  David & the dentist who did the training fixed some of my teeth that had cavities and all the drilling and work did not hurt at all.  It was incredible and the best dentist experience I've ever had...not to mention my husband was the one doing most of it!  

David will be returning to Mexico to serve in our "Village M" on Feb. 11-14th. Thank you for continuing to pray for us and partner with us as we continue our mission training and work in Mexico.  

Merry Christmas

 MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

It is hard to believe we have completed the first (of 4) semester of missionary training with To Every Tribe.  We look back on the past 5 months and stand of awe of what God has done and continues to do in our lives.  Being in South Texas has grown us in so many ways and we pray that our time here continually molds and shapes us into the people God desires us to be.  The training we have received so far has been wonderful and challenges us to dive deeper into the Word as we prepare and plan for taking the gospel to people that have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.  We've lived on campus and made new friends from all over the US and Canada who have become our "Texas family" and we hope will be lifelong friends.  We leave on Dec. 21st to go home for 2 weeks for Christmas break to spend time with our family and friends.  We look forward to being back in Alabama and seeing family and friends we haven't seen in almost 6 months.  We will return to campus to begin our next semester of training on January 6th. 

We all know Christmas isn't about the gifts, latest gadgets or toys. It is about remembering the birth of the greatest gift (and really the only gift we will ever need), Jesus Christ.  He came to earth to save us from an eternity set apart by God.  For Jesus, giving meant giving everything!  Sadly, there are people all over the world who have never even heard of Jesus Christ and live a life in danger of being eternally set apart from God.  We are self-supporting missionaries with a desire to take the gospel to these people and our goal for January 2013 is to be 100% supported.  

By partnering with us financially, you are giving to help fund our mission work and most importantly, you are providing us the opportunity to stay here at To Every Tribe and continue our 2 year missionary training.  You are investing in mission trips to "Village M" in Mexico and later this Spring in Oaxaca, Mexico where we go into these villages and take the gospel of Jesus Christ to places that have never heard it.  We are already seeing lives change from our monthly trips into "Village M" and we know there is still lots of work to be done in Mexico. You are allowing us the opportunity to take Dental Training in January so we can learn how to set up dental clinics and actually do dental work in places that will allow us to minister to people in those regions and share the gospel with them as well.  By financially investing, you are taking an active role in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) even though you may not personally be able to be on the field with us, you are still on the front-lines with us through financial sacrifice and prayer on our behalf.  

HOW CAN YOU HELP?  

 Sponsor $100 a month

 Sponsor $50 a month

Sponsor $75 a month

Sponsor $25 a month

Sponsor $10 a month

To donate, simply CLICK HERE and then choose our name under Gift Designation, Johns, David and Gretta. Then give as the Lord leads you to.  Some of you may be able to do $10 a month and some of you may want to do more than $100 a month. If you aren't able to sponsor us monthly, you can also do a one-time gift donation. Some of you may be looking for an end of the year gift for tax purposes. No matter what, we thank God for each and everyone of you who are willing to pray for us and those who are willing to financially invest in our ministry and help us complete our training and take the gospel to unreached people groups in Mexico.  Jesus Is Worth It!  

~ ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE ~

November 2012 Update

Greetings from the Tex-Mex border!  “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”  (Psalm 34:3)  We find it hard to believe that we have been in Texas almost 5 months now.  In this season of thankfulness, we look back on these past few months and have so much to praise God for and so much to be thankful for.  We are so thankful to each of you who are faithful prayer partners on our behalf and for those of you who are financially investing as well. November was a blessed month for our family!

This was our first Thanksgiving away from our families and we did miss being together with them.  However, our church here in TX invited us to a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch & we enjoyed a great meal there. Then we had a delicious afternoon Thanksgiving meal here on campus with our To Every Tribe family too. We were doubly blessed for our first Texas Thanksgiving!

Don Richardson went to Papau New Guinea in 1962 to take the gospel to the Sawi tribe, a group of warring headhunters.  He and his family lived with them for 40 years and he wrote the famous missions book, “Peace Child” about their experiences.  It was such a privilege to have him as our instructor for a week.  He had a wealth of knowledge to share, amazing stories of God at work and we learned so much not only about the need for missions in Papau New Guinea but were encouraged about taking the gospel to hostile people groups as well.   He came to our home for dinner one evening and the kids loved listening to him share about his life too.

David and I were blessed to attend a full week of classes taught by Vern & Carla Sterk.  They were missionaries for over 40 years in Chiapas, Mexico (considered a restricted nation by the Voice of the Martyrs) and worked with tribal people there.  They taught us contextulization, how to handle persecution, about families on the mission field, daily living in a tribal village and much more.  Abbey also attended their EthnoMusicology class with us as she enjoys playing guitar. This class taught how to take the music of the people and help them write Christian songs/hymns for themselves. We enjoyed having the Sterks in our home one evening for dinner as well and getting to spend more time with them learning more about the unreached in Mexico.

Our team was blessed with safe travels and another good trip into Mexico this month to work in "Village M".  They spent time in discipleship and prayer with the 3 Christians there, had a Bible study with the people, were able to start a few new Bible studies with villagers there and had the opportunity to witness to a man in the village who is a homosexual.  They were also invited into several homes for studies this time too.  God is moving here so please keep praying for “Village M” & our team as we travel there monthly.  

We have added a brief missions video to our here under “Our Missions Video” tab and we would love to for you to watch it and share it with family, friends or churches who might be willing to pray for and partner with us.  Lord willing, we will be headed back to Alabama for Christmas.  We plan to arrive in Alabama on Dec. 21 and will be there through Jan. 4th.  We hope to see lots of you while we are home over Christmas holidays! 

Thank you for praying for our family, our ministry and for all your support.

We enjoy hearing from you & are praying for each of you. 

WWW.JESUSISWORTHIT.COM

October 2012

Life on the border is treating us well here in south Texas.  As you probably noticed, we made some changes to our missions blog and there are now tabs at the top that you can click to learn more about our family, see our school calendar, how to partner with us, prayer request and about the missions agency we are serving with.

David and I got to enjoy some wonderful training classes in October.  We both spent a full week with Dr. David Edgington learning about Biblical Counseling and how to work alongside other missionaries on a team.   Then David spent the next week in Mexico working in "Village M".  David Depew taught a week on Ethno-Theology and then David Morris spent a week teaching about "Christ in the Old Testament".  That's a lot of David's right? The training classes this past month were so rich and wonderful and it is such a privilege to be here learning and growing.

As a family, we are learning about Biblical Storytelling.  David is receiving instruction in their classes and the kids and I are learning it together during some of the Friday afternoon classes.  It has been truly amazing to see how quickly the kids have caught on to this way of orally sharing the gospel and I have no doubt they will be great at sharing it on the mission field soon.

Speaking of kids, we started an entirely new homeschool curriculum this week.  We needed something that worked with our busy schedule here yet gave the kids everything we felt like they needed each day.  We are all excited about this new material. We are continuing to build relationships and friendships with the other families here on campus and enjoy having friends and even some of the instructors over for dinner too.

After visiting around for quite a while, we have found a church family to worship with during our time here in south Texas. We are attending First Baptist Church of Los Fresnos and really enjoy it.  The preacher is a former missionary in Venezuela and our Sunday school teacher is originally from Tennessee (he still has his southern accent!).  It is a bilingual congregation, as most churches down here are, and we are enjoying getting to know the people there and building relationships right here in our community.  David and I also have plugged into their music ministry so David is playing guitar and I am playing piano on Sunday mornings. We feel very blessed to be part of this congregation during our time here.

We've been having a little bit of fun despite our busy schedules too.  We've been enjoying watching  Alabama Crimson Tide football games each Saturday night here on campus with 2 other families that are also from Alabama.  We took the kids to the Los Fresnos' OctoberFest at the local park on Halloween night and they had a great time playing carnival games and getting candy.  Then we had a birthday party/costume party for one of the girls on campus so we got to all dress up that weekend too.  We also visited the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville for the first time and it was awesome!  We were given a 1 year family membership so we will be going to the zoo as often as we can over the next year because we loved it as much as the kids did.

Thank you for continuing to pray for us and our ministry.  

"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." - 1 Pet 1:13