Our Training

For most Americans the idea of moving into a village in the middle of the jungle on the other side of the world where people speak a language that can’t be learned without living there is a bit intimidating–dare I say, overwhelming. Well, we’re Americans, so guess how we feel. Thankfully, unlike most Americans we have spent two and half years training for such a future. And for those of you who didn’t participate in the training, here is an idea of what we covered.

Language Learning

A large portion of our time in training was dedicated not to learning languages, but learning how to learn languages. In most places where New Tribes Mission sends missionaries, only the tribal people speak their language so there is no one outside the tribe who can teach us the language; and there are certainly no textbooks. We learned principles and techniques that will enable us to move into a village and learn a language from the people. Here are some of the things we learned:

• Phonetics Because English does not use every sound that every other language uses, we first had to learn about all the potential sounds languages can use. We had to learn how to hear and differentiate the sounds, how to reproduce the sounds, and how to record the sounds using a new alphabet.
• Linguistics In addition to learning new sounds, we studied all sorts of different language structures in order to learn how languages can potentially communicate meaning. Being exposed to various languages opened our minds so that we can resist the urge to expect other languages to operate like English.
• Language Aquisition We also learned a strategy for learning language. If you try to imagine moving into a place where you don’t speak the language and no one speaks your language, you might be able to appreciate the importance of a strategy. We have a plan of what to do first, second and so on so that we aren’t just guessing and floundering.

Part of all this training included two separate stints of six weeks in Oklahoma living among Cherokee Indians trying to put what we had learned into practice. Here is one of our Cherokee Indian teachers who we called Junior.

And here is cool picture from a festival that happened while we were there.

Practical Skills

We also spent a fair amount of time learning how to survive in the environment will be living in. Living in an isolated tribe without power, running water or a Walmart is a little different than living in America. To prepare for this, we learned about plumbing, water filtration, electricity (and producing it with solar panels,) construction, food storage and preparation, carpentry, engine maintenance, first aid, and a host of other skills. Here are a few pictures of that.

That goat was harmed during the making of these missionaries.

 

Church Planting

And because we aren’t just trying to be really good Survivor contestants, we also learned about the task of planting a church. We studied tribal religions from around the globe to understand the perspective of those we will be communicating to. We discussed the best ways to communicate the gospel in tribal cultures. And we heard from dozens of missionaries who have already accomplished this goal in different places around the world.