Camp Fuego

Youth camp was great. I was a little nervous about going as a counselor for the first time, especially with students who were in the youth group with me only four years ago. But God provided and was sufficient for me. The sixteen of us (four counselors and 12 kids) had a great week. The pastor took us through the Bible in four sessions, establishing God as Creator, teaching the kids the Old Testament in the summation of people running away from God and a broken-hearted God chasing after them, an evangelistic message, and the last night shared from Revelation 20 and 21 about the Great White Throne Judgment and the new heaven and new earth. He did a wonderful job, and all of our youth were challenged. Five decided to stop running from God, and they have made committments to hold each other accountable. Thank you so much for praying with me for the youth of Shreve City Baptist Church. Now the true challenge begins as they come back to their normal lifestyles and school begins in only two and a half weeks! Pray that they will continue to walk with the Lord after this awesome week of dwelling with Him.

Love, Carrie

Mid-summer in Louisiana

It's been a while since I've updated this, so here goes!...

June was a great month. I've been spending my weekdays at the church working. I've been able to fit into many different areas, such as speaking in meetings, deep cleaning areas of the church, and even a little gardening! I have begun working on a template for a booklet for the church that my pastor asked me to do.

This next week (July 17-21) I will be at Camp Bethany with our youth group. It's going to be a great time to get to know our youth, and hopefully to share with them my heart for missions.

The week after camp (July 24-28) is VBS. I'm so excited about VBS, and I am just about ready to teach about the Flood.

After VBS I'll be around Shreveport for another week and a half before heading to Missouri on August 11. Thankfully it's only a one day drive this time, so I'll be "home" only 8 hours after leaving Shreveport.

Thanks for your prayers this summer!

Love,
Carrie

Back in the South

Hi everyone!

I made it back to Louisiana uneventfully. Mom was able to travel with me from North Carolina over to Louisiana, so the trip went quicker with two drivers. She flew back Thursday morning. I have begun my summer partnership with the church. I'm looking forward to the summer here. Tonight (Friday) I will be sharing a few minutes during the Missions Jamboree about my year at NTMI. Next Tuesday I have a 30 minute meeting with the PrimeTimers (the retired people from our church) during their monthly luncheon. I am planning on sharing about the process of tribal church planting. I am looking forward to this opportunity to educate the members from my home church about what my future looks like within New Tribes Mission. I would appreciate your prayers as I prepare and share with the church. This is my first meeting to share this information, and I could have more opportunities this summer to share with other churches about my future ministry.

Love,
Carrie

Graduation

Tonight was our graduation from New Tribes Missions Institute. Our class graduated with 32 future missionaries. We are now spreading out across the nation to serve with our home churches this summer. How exciting to get to go back to where many of us were raised and shaped into the people we are today! Here is a picture of our entire class:

"Home" from Jungle Camp

Jungle camp was a great two weeks. It was very rainy and cold for us for the first week, and the second dried up and got warm. Here are a few pictures from Jungle Camp.

This is my bedroom at jungle camp. I spent most of my nights in the hammock rather than the bed. :-)

We made "skillet pizza" in a cast iron over the campfire. We burnt the outside 1/4" of crust...and the inside was like soup! But we loved it, and the experience was worth it. :-)

We had three days of 8 hour study days...as you can see, it drove me to the rafters of the house!

I got to kill a chicken and skin it one day. I made her into sweet and sour chicken! Cooking can even be fun at jungle camp.

After two weeks of many campfires, "mallows" were still a treat!

Thanks so much for your prayers during my two weeks there! Now on to packing to drive to Louisiana!

Love,
Carrie

So what will we do at Jungle Camp?

Okay, so we won't really be picking lice out of each other's hair for two weeks. (Maybe only one!) We actually do have a "rain or shine" schedule that we will keep--and right now the 10 day forecast calls for rain nearly everyday. I won't have access to the internet or email after Monday afternoon, so I wanted to give you a heads up as to what we will be doing each day.

Monday afternoon: Move up to Jungle Camp
Tuesday: Settling in
1/2 the camp goes on a canoe trip
Wednesday: Hair Cutting Class
1/2 the camp goes on a canoe trip (my day to go!)
Thursday: Maps/Compass Class
Mens' over night hike
Friday: All camp hike
Saturday: free
Sunday: Individual Base "Church"
Monday: Study Day
Tuesday: Study Day
Wednesday: Study Day
Thursday: Gun safety/Maintenance
Shooting contest
Friday: Pig Roast/Game day
Saturday: Open House
Sunday: Open House
Monday: Move down

As you can see, we will be kept busy! This is going to be an exciting time, but stretching also. I don't enjoy water very much, so I'm not too sure about the canoe trip. The hike will be fun--as long as I don't get lost again! During the three study days we are required to log 24 hours of study time and preparation for future meetings. The pig roast...well, this little piggy didn't go to market. We're getting it straight from the farm. Open House is two days that anyone can come visit Jungle Camp to see us or our houses. This is also the first time we'll have "outside food" such as pizza or ice cream.

Thanks so much for being in prayer with me for jungle camp. I truly am looking forward to it, and knowing you will be praying me through it is encouraging!

Love,
Carrie

CEF Bible Club

Today was our last day to teach at Robb Elementary School. It was sad to say good-bye to all our kids we've grown so close to this semester, but it has been great to see them grow in their knowledge of the Lord! We were able to teach through Child Evangelism Fellowship's curriculum in coordination with NTM's Building on Firm Foundation lessons. This was a great time for my classmate Elisabeth and I to get to know each other. Please pray for the fourteen kids that went through our lives during the past ten weeks and that God would place Bible teachers in their lives. Many of them do not go to church regularly, if it all, and had very little knowledge about God before club started in February. Thank you for praying with me
for these kids!

Yesterday we worked on putting a roof back on the Jungle Camp house I'll be living in. We only got one half done in about 2 1/2 hours. It took us quite a while to figure out how we wanted to do it. Here's a picture of what our house looks like today.

Jungle Camp Preparations

Well, I am in full swing getting ready for Jungle Camp. It's hard to believe I am at this time of the year already! Seems like I just drove onto the campus...
Each Jungle Camp team was given five trees to slab and rip down to the size we needed to construct one jungle camp house. We are now at the point of "shipping" all our items up to Jungle Camp on the Farmall tractor. Each team (of roughly 7 people) is allowed six flights, each weighing 728 lbs--as a Cessna holds that weight. This includes wood, contruction materials and tools, electrical, plumbing, food, clothing, and toiletries for the two weeks. As you can see, we are being forced to plan ahead as will be necessary when flying into a tribe. This is such a fun time for me, though I am realizing the need for planning ahead! We will soon be finishing our houses, retarping the roofs of the ones already built, and putting on the walls and roof of the new house. Please pray for safety and patience as I learn how to do this! This is a picture of me ripping the old hole-y roof off!

Spring Break

Over the past year while in training at New Tribes Missions Institute, I have learned so much about what I will be doing in the future. As I continue in my third of four years of training, I learn more each day about what the rest of my life will look like.

After graduating from New Tribes Language Institute in June 2007, I am anticipating being overseas in six to twelve months. Once arriving there, I will begin learning the national language. When I have reached a fluent level of that, I will be able to enter a tribal location with a church planting team.

Once in a tribe, I will begin language/culture acquisition in an animistic culture. I will be learning the language of a people group that has no form of written language. This may take as few as two years, but often lasts much longer. When fluent in this language and culture, our team will be able to begin teaching Bible lessons. These lessons will begin in Genesis and work through key Old Testament passages to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

This only scratches the surface of tribal church planting as our team teaches our new brothers and sisters in Christ about their new relationship with God and each other.

Thank you for your prayers as I venture on this path!