Acceptance Letter

Hi Jon & Adrienne,
I trust that you are doing well and continuing to look forward to the next step in the process of becoming a missionary.  It is a privilege to communicate with each candidate and learn how the Lord has directed in their lives to bring them to a place of serving Him full time as a missionary.
Personally, I appreciate your willingness to step forward and commit your life to full time Christian service. It is amazing that He has directed you at this time to step out on a new journey that will bring many changes. We were serving here in Sanford 13 years ago and my wife and I took a big step of faith and moved our family of 3 kids (10^th, 6^th and 4^th grade) to Papua New Guinea. They are now all grown and we have returned to work here at the USA home office. The Lord has met our every need along the way.
It is a joy to inform you that your application for our NTM Missionary Training, has been completed and approved. We thank the Lord for your desire to seek training which will enable you to become a part of a team that is seeking to take the Gospel to the unreached peoples of the earth. 
As a Mission, we are committed to working with your home church on your behalf, and trusting God to enable us to help you to have a fruitful ministry. 
Your application has been sent to the "Missionary Training Center" in Camdenton, Mo.  Should you have any questions about the Institute, don't hesitate to contact Sandi Hagen, the Registrar, who will be happy to help you.  I have cc her on our acceptance to MTC. I look forward to helping you in whatever way I can. 
Should, for whatever reason, you have any change in your plans that might affect your being able to enroll in the NTM training as scheduled, please get back in touch with me.  We do want to keep as close and accurate a list of students as possible, in order to provide space for anyone desiring to enroll in the training.  Thank you for your consideration in this.
Please note my contact number below, and may God continue to prepare your heart for serving Him.  I trust that someday our paths will cross, and I will have the joy of knowing you face to face.
Phil Sutton

We are so thrilled that this next step in the process has been completed! We now need to get through school and from there they decide if we are ready for going overseas or if we need more time to get ourselves together. Praising God that He has opened the door for us this far, and we trust He has great plans for us whenever, and wherever He chooses to place us.
So Lord-willing, come January 17th we will be attending school near Camdenton, MO.  Pray for us as we transition into this new phase of life--especially for the kids...ahhh, who am I kidding, pray for me and Jon, too!! God is faithful and knows what we can handle. We just need to call upon Him daily (hourly, every minute, and every second sometimes!) for His guidance, His help and His peace.
Isaiah 25:1
"LORD, you are my God;
   I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
   you have done wonderful things,
   things planned long ago."
Please continue to pray for us on this exciting journey!

Update on life

Well, we finished painting the house on Saturday evening. One of the best feelings.EVER!! I hope to get some pictures of the finished project soon.

We finished our paint job and headed up to Jon's parent's place so Jon could get in some hunting. Our first stop was spent sharing a meal with our lovely friends Joel and Annie. Annie is expecting their first baby and it was fun to share baby stories with her and look through baby clothes together.Praying for a safe delivery for her!

Jon and his brother were able to hunt and got 3 deer between them, 2 small bucks and a doe. Venison sausage sticks and deer chop here we come! What fun for Jon to get out after all of his hard work on the house and have some good ol' fun! I don't know if Jon will be able to make it back to his parent's place again next year for hunting, so this might be his last year for hunting for a while. (A long while!) Unless he can go hunting overseas? Maybe with a bow and arrow? ;)

We got home late Monday night, had appointments Tuesday and errands to run and a Mom's Night Out Tuesday. And now here I sit, Wednesday afternoon finally catching up on email, blogs and Facebook. I enjoy having this down time at home to recuperate. But then it feels strange to be home any longer than Jon's six day work week, I start to get antsy like I need to go and do some traveling.  I think the Lord had Jon and I get married for a very good reason--we like to be on the road and see the country and visit friends and family!

In New Tribes Mission news, here are a few pictures of the new-construction housing we might be living in come January:

We have just about all of our NTM documents sent into the admissions office. Last thing is our medical exams and then we are set to go--Lord willing! Packing will come next, but who needs to think about that? Ha...I need to stop thinking about that. Sleep seems to evade me when I start to mentally pack up our house.  I know it will all come together. But I also know that I will have the biggest sense of relief when we are finally moved into our student housing.

I guess I'm not meant to blog for very long, Jacer gave me a "little" mess in his crib for me to clean. Bath time!