Schrock Update December, 2017

December Survey Trip 

Notwithstanding the jiggers and mosquitos, we are still wondering why we left the delightfulness of the Amazon jungle for the chilly aridness of Colorado. After a week in the jungle, it felt like home.

To elaborate further, we’ve just returned from a second trip to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Since we met, our goal has been to work with unevangelized tribes. In pursuit of this goal, we visited two South American countries earlier this year getting a feel of the tribal conditions and needs. During a week-long stay in a frontier Brazilian town, we got to know members of a tribe living in the jungles of Brazil’s State of Amazonas, and were invited to visit them in their village. Hence, on December 9^th of this the year of our Lord, we embarked on a second journey to see what else would present itself in this affair of events that seem to have miraculously fallen into place. 

Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest.

7,500 air miles and two overnight layovers later, we arrived in Porto Velho, the closest city to the jungle with a significant commercial airport. The next morning, we boarded a six-passenger single prop plane for the one-hour flight into the interior. I’ve seen a few sights in my time, but few match the thrill of seeing the Amazon rainforest from the sky. Out in that vast, unconquered wilderness stretching out as far as your eyeballs can reach, you can’t help feeling just a little small.

The grass airstrip for our village came into view, and minutes later we were surrounded by laughing, grinning natives, dressed for the most part in all manner of modern garb. Some of them we had met before, and we quickly made friends with many others. One of the first things we noticed was the amount of children and youth. The tribe (we won’t share their name for security purposes) is not shrinking like many are, but is thriving. Government medicine and education have made their way into the village, along with monthly pensions for seniors.

Much mission work has already been done among the tribe. Their language has been written, and the New Testament has been translated (although it has faults). About half the tribe’s population of around 450 has been evangelized, though they still have much to learn of God’s eternal program contained in the whole narrative of the Bible.

Indian games.

During our week-long stay in the village, we interacted a lot with the people. The missionaries (who have been working with the tribe for years, and are our connection to them) were holding a kind of VBS for the people. Much of the tribe lives in different villages (some as far as six hours away by foot), but many of them came to spend the week, allowing us to meet them. It was a fun week of games and Bible teaching, aimed at the youth, but included everybody.

Language learning.

Courtney's new namesake on the left. 

By the end of our stay, we had become quite popular with the tribe. They got great pleasure showing us around their village and teaching us their language and culture. Courtney and Ashley (a friend who travelled with us) were adopted into families, which is no small 
gesture. One couple whom we had met before renamed their young girl after Courtney. We accumulated quite a collection of little gifts from different members of the tribe. Before we left, the general attitude of the tribe toward us was a request that we return to live and work with them, including one of the chiefs.

Adima and his family, especially good friends. 

In Brazil, the only way past government restrictions into the interior is to receive a formal, written invitation from a village chief. Otherwise, no outsider is allowed contact with any of the tribes living inside the restricted areas. We understood this from the beginning, and knew gaining access into the jungle would be the first big hurdle. It seems that this hurdle has been overcome. While we are still waiting to hear from the head chief for a for a formal invitation, we were told that the tribe’s general acceptance of us is practically a guarantee of that.

In summary, we now have an almost certain open door into the interior. The question remains, are we willing to commit ourselves to working in a tribe that is not technically unreached. While this does not match our original goal, we cannot deny that God has moved in miraculous ways to bring about this opportunity. We have prayed often for God to open the next door before us. If we don’t walk through this one, we are back to square one.

Weaving lessons.

The climate of foreign tribal missions has changed greatly over the past decades. The traditional template of white missionaries contacting isolated tribes is part of a closing era. These tribes now live in demarcated areas tightly restricted by governments. If they will be reached, they must be done so by the tribes on the outskirts, who have already been reached, as they have freedom to travel inside the interior. The white man’s main contribution needs to be to equip and motivate them by giving them the training and tools they need.

If we work with this tribe, it will be to do just that: to equip and train. We would start with Chronological Bible teaching: teaching them the foundations of the faith starting at the Bible’s beginning and teaching it as a connected narrative displaying God’s eternal program. In this way we would teach them of God’s plan to reach all the world with the message of salvation by means of the Church, of which they are a part. After that, we would help them become competent with tools and resources to evangelize others, beginning with the rest of their own tribe who is still untaught.

We invite you to join us in seeking God’s continued guidance as we decide whether we will indeed take this step. Should we go ahead, our next step will be to get medical training (likely in May), then make the final preparations and arrangements for the move to Brazil to begin learning the national language of Portuguese, after which we would move in with the tribe in their village.

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In the meantime, it's back to Lobelville, TN, where we will get back to work to save money for the next step. Emanuel will finish his Chronological Bible video series at The Door (God's Story). At the end of January, we are going to a conference (Florida Shindig) where Emanuel will be speaking. 

To those who pray for us, thank you. We know God hears, because we can see his hand in our lives. Sometimes we think we are the most blessed folks on earth. God is good!

Schrock Update - April, 2017

If you have been wondering what happened to us since our last update, this is for you. Read on for a rundown of our recent life events.

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We got married.

September 3, 2016

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I think everyone should do this once in their lifetime. It is good for the soul, makes the world a grander place, multiplies all that is good and sweet, and teaches you things you didn’t know about God.

  

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BBTI

We are on the homestretch of our stay on staff at Baptist Bible Translators, where over the last nine months we served as back-ups and assistants in various classes and projects, and got to meet and contribute to the lives of missionaries to several continents.

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Refugee ministry.

Ladera Palms Apartments in Ft. Worth is home to several thousand refugees from several continents, mainly Asia and Africa. We tried some outreach with the Good and Evil illustrated bible story books, but our main ministry was with the deaf. Once a week we helped a lady (who has been teaching international deaf for years) teach the gospel to deaf refugees. 

The story of Ti-Fam, a Haitian girl who faced persecution
for her faith in Christ from her father, a witch doctor. 

Our part was to show skits, which mostly involved miming and acting, since they don’t speak American Sign Language. With the help of the single students from the school, we acted several stories of people who embraced Christianity in a hostile environment, and chose Christ and the Bible in the face of persecution. We chose these stories because most of the deaf are from Hindu or Buddhist backgrounds, and face strong persecution by family members, even in the states. Our goal was not only to present the gospel as well as possible under the circumstances, but to communicate that people the world over have deemed Christ worth suffering and even dying for. The message seemed to hit home, and the grand finale was well received.

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The story of Sergei, the Russian Communist police officer
who became a believer because of one young woman's bold
faith in Christ in spite of terrible beatings.

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Nepali girl reading Good and Evil

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Abortion Ministry

Six abortionists practice here.

Over 50,000 babies are killed each year in Texas through abortion. There are three surgical abortion centers open in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. For the past several months, we have stood on the sidewalks once a week to offer help to pregnant mothers, plead with them to choose life, and preach the gospel.

We were also involved in rallying support for a House Bill (HB 948) that would abolish abortion under all circumstances in Texas, by enacting laws that grant constitutional rights to the unborn, causing all laws against murder to include the murder of the unborn. Our involvement included attending a rally in Austin, gathering petitions, raising awareness, and visiting churches to gain their support.

For more information on the Abolition of Abortion in Texas, visit abolishabortiontx.com.

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Bible First

While in Ukraine in 2015, I gained first-hand experience with the Bible First correspondence course written by a missionary team in that country. I was impressed with the unique and chronological approach of getting people into the bible from their own homes, so after settling in at Faith Baptist Church in Bowie, with the help of my pastor, we began using it in Montague County. With the help of an energetic group of young people from Mississippi, we distributed over 1,200 invitations to the course in our town, covering the entire residential area. Later, we introduced Bible First to the inmates in the county jail. We have a current enrollment of about ten students, some more active than others. We are most excited about the jail ministry. Bible First is excellent for inmates, as it immerses them in a comprehensive bible study designed to teach them the gospel through combining the Genesis account with scriptures from the New Testament.

To learn more about Bible First, visit getbiblefirst.com.

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Faith Baptist Church

Finally, we have been heavily involved in our local church. I taught a lengthy course on evangelism on Sunday nights during last winter, and Courtney and I have been teaching the teenagers from the church’s bus ministry on Wednesday evenings. It is exciting to take a bunch of high-school kids with little bible knowledge, and teach them the foundations of the Christian faith. We started with the origin of the Bible, went through Creation, and by the time we leave town in a month or so, hope to have given them a clear understanding of the gospel as it relates to the entire Bible.

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Moving ahead

Tennessee

As mentioned, our stay at the school here is almost over. We plan to leave Bowie on May 18^th, and drive to Tennessee where we will spend several weeks working for a friend to save up some money to pay taxes and help fund a trip to South America. To all my TN friends, I’m looking forward to seeing you.

Indiana

On May 31^st, we’re planning on driving to Nashville, IN for Worldview Ministries’ annual 3-day Team Meeting, a unique conference discussing importance issues relating to Bible Translation in foreign languages and cultures. 

Ohio, Colorado, Arizona

After that the water gets a little muddy and unpredictable, but it looks like June will be divided between spending time with family in Ohio, Colorado, and Arizona, respectively.

South America

Either in June or July, we are planning to travel to Brazil and Peru to scope out several places and options of long-term ministry. We have good contacts in both countries who we plan to visit. We are counting on this trip to answer some important questions about our future in foreign missions. If you would like more details on the nature of our ministry, feel free to contact us by phone, email, or social media.

Our more distant plan is to hopefully live in South America by the end of the year. But that is too far in the future to accurately decide. In the meantime, we plan to live in God’s fulness, glory in his love and grace, and share the glorious gospel with those who need it. 

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How to pray for us: 

• Protection on the roads and in the air. 
• For divine encounters and guidance on our trip to South America.  

BBTI Graduation

Saturday, May 14, I graduated with my class from Baptist Bible Translators Institute. I was given a paper that says I successfully completed the Missionary Training Course in Descriptive Linguistics, Cultural Anthropology, Language Acquisition, and Bible translation Principles, with all honors, rights, and privileges appertaining thereto.

I have emerged from the nine-month BBTI crucible with a changed worldview, a clearer understanding of the task of foreign missions, and a valuable hand-bag of tools to put into practice the principles and theories taught in class relating to on-the-ground evangelism and discipleship in other cultures.

Review

To help you understand the nature of the classes taught at BBTI, here is a brief description of them:

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Phonemics

In phonetics, we focused on all the sounds that can be produced by the human speech apparatus. Phonemics does not focus on all sounds, but rather on the sounds of a particular language. Its three goals are: 1) Discover and describe how a language’s sound system works, 2) Produce a well-suited alphabet for that language (if there is none), 3) Use the phonemic description of a language to help others have minimal trouble learning it. While phonetics focuses on recognition and reproduction of sounds, phonemics focuses on analyzing those sounds, using certain rules and procedures.

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Morphology / Syntax

Morphology is the study of how words are formed. While phonemics analyzes the meaning of a language on the sound level, morphology goes a step farther, analyzing on the word level. It focuses on the affixes of a language, where they occur in relation to the root of a word, and how they modify or change the meaning of the root.

Syntax focuses on the grammatical structure of a language. It concerns itself with how clauses, phrases, and sentences are formed.

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Bible Translation Principles

Bible translation class was an interesting and informative course dealing with the different methods used in Bible translation today. It compared the traditional method of formal/verbal translation of the original text to the modern method of dynamic equivalence, or meaning-based, translation. Essentially, translation involves moving words from one language to another. We were taught that the highest standard in bible translation is to represent each word from the original, maintaining a balance of faithfulness to the original text, and comprehension of the target audience. A word-for-word translation (as viewed by some) is very rarely possible. Rather, the goal of the translator is to produce a translation in which all the words of the original are represented.

We also learned about the many different literary devices used throughout the scriptures, and the potential problems they might cause in translating into languages that do not use the same features. For example, some languages don't use rhetorical questions, while the bible has many of them. Should you change the literary form of the bible, or introduce a new and unfamiliar form of reading into the target language? This is only one of a host of other questions like it that bible translators face.

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Chronological Bible Teaching

This course walked us through the advantage and necessity of teaching the bible chronologically, beginning at Genesis and laying a foundation for the the Gospel through the Old Testament narrative of God's revelation of himself in history. The goal is to prepare the audience for the gospel by using the Old Testament to give them a biblical view of God, man, the world, and sin. The reason for this method is to avoid syncretism of Christianity and paganism, which is a prevalent problem faced by missionaries. This method of teaching enables the missionary to be unmistakeably clear on issues such as God's holiness and intolerance for sin, man's sinfulness and his inability to save himself, and God's provision of salvation. Our textbook was the series Building on Firm Foundations, by Trevor Mcilwain. I cannot recommend it too strongly.

Other minor courses included Church Planting Principles, Deputation Principles, and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).

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What's Next?

Below is a basic outline of our (Courtney and I) short-term plans. A lot of things in the future are uncertain, but we don't have time, nor do we feel the need, to worry much about it.

Our vision is to work with unreached tribes in the Amazon jungle, which is home to about 50% of the world's remaining uncontacted tribes. Our general goal is to put into practice the training we have received in an area untouched by the Gospel. All we have at this point to build our plans on is a dream and a vision. We plan to be busy preparing and equipping ourselves while we wait for the command from God to go.

The Summer

I just moved back to Ohio with my family, where I will be working for my brother-in-law until our wedding in early September. Courtney will spend the summer in Texas, also working at her job, and making plans and preparations for the wedding. (After being together everyday at the school from the beginning of our relationship, being so far apart seems like a difficult trial to bear).

After the Wedding

Sometime after the happy chimes of the wedding bells have settled, we plan to teach the Introductory NT Greek we learned at BBTI to a team of bible translators in Ohio, which should take less then a month. After that, we plan to return to BBTI, where we will serve in whatever capacity we are able to. BBTI will be our home base as we take different courses in things like medical training and jungle survival. We will also focus on improving our knowledge (through personal study) of Greek, bible translation, and other things to better equip ourselves for a primitive life in the jungle.

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How you can pray:

• For wisdom to discern God's guidance. As mentioned above, we only have a vision and a dream. Our first plan is to follow God, and we know that we are not infallible in discerning his will. Our plans could change at any moment.

• For wedding plans to go smoothly. (we've never done this before)

• For creative ways to lessen the pain of separation.