WHAT DOES THE BEGINNING OF MISSIONARY TRAINING LOOK LIKE? A PANDEMIC?...What is the Big Picture? After days and weeks and long hard hours of anticipation… MY FRIEND RENEE CAME TO VISIT!! YAY!! Why am I telling you this? What does that have to do with a “Big Picture”? Let me explain to you in more detail how the mission we’re training with works. Finisterre Vision starts its training program with twelve hours in person. This is called the “Big Picture”. During this time, one gets an EXCITING overview of what the entire ten year process in the tribe would look like. Back in November, I took the Big Picture when Joey (the executive director) flew to my church in Michigan from Phoenix after I told him I was interested. Then he connected Daniel and I, and then Daniel came to America from Australia to take the Big Picture in Phoenix after meeting me in Michigan at my Bible college in March. Now here we are! 95% done with training. BUT – here’s the exciting part of the story. I was not interested in Finisterre Vision at all a few months prior. Then I met my very close friend Renee, and I thought SHE would be interested in it, so I told her about it. Even though she kept telling me how great Joey was, I didn’t really care. I wanted to go to Israel. I was happy for her, but I had no interest in Papua New Guinea whatsoever. To make a long story short, and to skip to the important parts, basically, on other sides of the world, Daniel and I both found Finisterre Vision, and we were both convicted at the same time that this mission was CRUCIAL. It hit me that it didn’t matter if I liked or disliked certain cultural aspects of places, or if I wanted to be in the city versus feeling isolated in the jungle – here’s the bottom line. 50 people groups in the Finisterre Mountains have no way to hear the Gospel, no church, and no Bible translated in their language. They are dying and going to Hell because of their sins against a holy God, and they never get the chance to repent and trust in Christ, because there’s no one to tell them to truth about the Gospel. Yes, they are deserving of Hell, we all are, but they are not given the the resources to learn about the Messiah. We know that God is sovereign, and we trust Him to work out His perfect will, that’s why we’re not “worried”, but deeply concerned, like Jesus was over the lost. We are COMMANDED to go share the Gospel to the ends of the earth. No, I’m not saying everyone should go overseas, but I think more people should seriously consider it. Imagine you repeatedly broke traffic laws, running red lights, speeding, running from your authorities, constantly. Think about your sin, your lies, evil thoughts towards each other, failing to think about God. This is your guilty state. Now, picture yourself sentenced to jail forever, and dying in that state because no one told you about the good news. The good news is that Someone came to pay your fine, to legally dismiss your case! But you were never told. This is WAY worse of a situation. People are dying and going to Hell, completely separated from the grace and mercy of God who gave them life for all of eternity…and no one is going to tell them that Jesus Christ shed His blood to die for His people. The truth of the Law is written on our hearts! We know we are guilty! But imagine not knowing the cure! Imagine if a bunch of people had the cure for the corona virus (a legitimate cure, not a hoax), and they kept it to themselves!! That’s why Finisterre Vision is such a cool organization. Because they understand the seriousness of the Gospel, and they are striving to do something about the huge problem of unreached people groups. So…after much anticipated time…my friend Renee came to Phoenix to start the training process for unreached people groups in Papua New Guinea!! Then…we found out that another girl locally in Phoenix has also starting training, and…a guy from Ohio named Jared flew out to start training also! Daniel, Jared, Renee and I had such a great time together, as you will see from the pictures below. They both loved the training, and they seem serious about continuing on with the mission, after they both finish college, which is SO exciting!! Parting with them was so sad, but I was so thankful to have precious time with such a dear friend (Renee), and we were very blessed to meet a very solid, kind new friend (Jared). In other news, Greek is going well! We are over halfway done with Mounce’s course! Three more big exams to go in the next month or so! And, besides the exams, we have a full schedule with our job too! Taking care of foster and adopted children can be difficult at times, but it’s definitely worth the eternal consequences in the end. So thankful for our job! Our connection with Greg, our potential future ministry partner, is growing as well! Check out his blog if you didn't already, he’s really doing some cool stuff with it! Also, in other exciting news, our church is doing very well! They have started to get involved in more and more evangelism! We had a meeting a couple weeks ago to get things started, and we have been planning events and going out to share the Gospel as a church! It’s such a blessing to be a part of such an encouraging body of Christ! SPEAKING OF EXCITING…we are getting closer to the mission conference this October! YAY! Look forward to that! Check out these pics! Exciting new spot to evangelize, a relief from the heat. :)Joey! Our mission's executive director, showing off his "Pandemic" game skills. His sticker on his phone means that there are 50 tribes yet to be reached in the Finisterre Mountains.Jared and Renee fighting off the virus...Solving the world's crisis...Daniel studying hard for the field!Renee and I excited for missionary adventures to come! :DFINALLY… YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!! If you didn’t already see it, here’s the link for those Cultish episodes: https://thecultishshow.com/podcast Also, if you’re interested in partnering with us, please visit: https://www.finisterrevision.org/donate/ We appreciate your comments and input!
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AuthorsDaniel and Sarah Bruce are missionaries in training to Papua New Guinea. Daniel is from Australia and Sarah is from Detroit, MI. They reside in Phoenix, AZ, where they are members at Grace Bible Church in Tempe, AZ. Archives
February 2024
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