new web address

Hello. We don't use this blogger blog anymore; our website now is www.ntm.org/wp/jevon_rich. In fact we are soon going to delete this whole blogger blogsite if that is possible...we're still figuring that out. If you want to continue following our updates, there's a place on our new NTM website where you can sign up. So...bye for now...we hope to see you soon at the new site! :)

Love,
Jevon and Danica

fish (and other provisions)

"FISH!"  Cali shrieked for joy.  "Mama I saw some FISH!!!!"  She leaped off the couch and came tumbling over to the stove where I was trying to get dinner cooking, and she began to pull on my leg.  "Fishies, fishies, I saw fishies!"

"Fish?" I asked absent-mindedly.  "What are you talking about Cali?"  I was sure there were no fish in our livingroom.  But I glanced toward the door and saw four crappies and one white bass dangling just outside the window on a stringer.  Next I saw Jevon's face, also peering in the window.  He laughed when I spied him, and he flung open the door with an air of triumph.  I quickly changed the menu for the evening to fresh crappie fillets.

Fish from the lake is just one avenue of God's provision for our table these days.  When we left Wisconsin, we promised you stories of how God would provide for us while we were here in school.  The hard part is deciding which stories to tell you...since we see His provision for us in so many different ways.  Occasionally God has provided through a surprise check from a friend or in our mailbox.  Once our apartment was "broken into" by someone (we don't know who), someone who left groceries piled on our kitchen table, and in the fridge. 
During the peak of harvest season, local people donated lots of produce to the school here and we had even more abundance of fresh vegetables than we would have had if we had stayed in Wisconsin tending our own garden and yard. 
A fellow student even found wild watercress growing down on the creek this summer, and showed me how to harvest and cook it.

Oh, and did I mention that the bait with which Jevon caught those crappies and white bass last night was a surprise gift from a local "hill-Billy" Christian who has befriended us?

God's complete provision for our first semester school fees through savings, and through you who have given financially for our training, is amazing to us, too.

SOOO...God's bountiful provision is one thing we are always thankful for.  We are so glad that He has made it possible for us to be here at the missionary training center, pressing forward toward the goal of reaching tribal people groups with the Truth of God. 
If you have a spare moment this week...send us an e-mail and tell us something you are thanking God for right now.  We'd love to hear it.  We are praying for you...

Love,
Danica for the Rich family

For fun: Pictures

 

Check out Cali and Karina’s bathtub!  They love it.  Every Sunday morning we fill up the rubbermaid with warm water.  Beats trying to fit Cali in the kitchen sink.  :)

 

Check out their little machine, too!  What could be more fun than a yellow plastic four-wheeler?

Karina’s 1st Birthday

  

Yay!  Cupcakes!

 

Karina tried but couldn’t quite get the candle blown out.  So we let Cali do it for her.  But we lit another candle the next day…and the next…and on the third day (and last leftover cupcake) Karina blew out the candle all by herself.

Who do you suppose got messier…Cali or Karina?

 

We gave Karina a little birthday dress and a rubber ducky.  Our neighbors “Aunt” Julie and Lisa, gave her a little toy guinea pig.  Which, by the way, looks strangely real at a glance when its half hidden under the kitchen table.

By the way, if you are a detail person wondering why Karina’s clothes keep changing in all the pictures, its partly because of frosting getting all over her dress, and partly because this all did not happen on the same day.  :)

Here is the last birthday picture: Karina inspecting the present she got in the mail from Grandma Studtmann.  (thanks for picking a quiet toy!  She plays with it while she’s in class with me.)

Field Fair 2009

On Thursday and Friday, twelve NTM workers appeared at MTC from far corners of the earth. Their purpose was to share with us the vision of their respective fields and the types of jobs they need people to fill. This exciting event, known as "Field Fair", is held once every semester to inform students and help students decide what field to serve on.

We enjoyed listening to and interacting with representatives from each field. Jevon had several opportunities to speak with the representatives from Brazil. Because Brazil is such a large country (the size of the continental United States plus Texas two more times), NTM considers it two fields: east and west. (Jevon grew up in the west, in the Amazon region.) We were sobered to hear that if 30 "units" (husband/wife teams or teams of 2 singles) went immediately to the field of West Brazil, that would only fill the needs of existing NTM works in order to finish the job well. Many more are needed to reach the 90 indigenous people groups in Brazil that have yet to hear God's Message in their own language.

As we consider these statistics, we are all the more determined to stay on course toward Brazil, unless God redirects us. While many students here hope to pioneer new works, it seems right to Jevon and I to make ourselves available to join an existing work in order to see that the that indigenous churches are brought to maturity. Our vision is to see these mature, indigenous churches teaching and leading their own people, as well as reaching out to neighboring, unreached people groups. We still would like to join Jevon's parents in West Brazil, but are totally open if NTM leadership feels it would be more strategic to place us elsewhere.

We are glad that you have sent us here to be trained, and we look forward to partnering together with you to reach the corners of the earth.

Love,

Jevon and Danica

Happy Birthday Uncle Amos

in honor of your birthday, Amos, here's a few pictures of your adoring Truffles and Karina. Since I couldn't bring them over to be with you on your birthday. At least you can see them...

here's Cali; beautiful as ever. posing by the creek here on campus.

"cold cold water"

hey, hey, look who's walkin'.

she is so pleased with her new balancing skills.

Happy Birthday from us. We love you.

a weekly "tidbit" from our life

Hello. We just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that we are thinking of you. Classes are good, and we are all well. God is teaching us so much about working together as a couple, and its great.

We spent this Saturday doing homework, running to town for groceries, and getting some stuff done around the house. In the evening we walked across the "road" (gravel) to have a barbecue with Neil and Tone Hess in their backyard. They are our staff advisers. After dark, Neil hung a bedsheet on the side of their house and projected a PowerPoint presentation up there for three of us students couples. He and Tone (pronounced "Tona") showed us pictures and talked about the work they did in Greenland before they came here to help train us. What a blessing we have, to learn from their experience and godly wisdom!

We hope you've enjoyed hearing this weekly tidbit; we've enjoyed hearing tidbits of your life too.
Thank you for your prayers and e-mails.

Love,
Jevon and Danica (and the little girls)