Aliens and Strangers in This World

There is a box of icicle lights and a pretty tapestry sitting on the shelves beside our bed. They haven’t been put up yet how I’d like them and at this point, I’m kind of thinking: Why bother? We’re leaving this apartment in 4-6 months if our plans don’t go awry. At one point, there were plans for us to move from this apartment to one caddy-corner from it. That was supposed to happen around Christmas time and thank the Lord the leadership where we are living decided to postpone the remodeling that would have required the move in the first place.

The “move that didn’t happen” prompted a lot of discussion and disagreement between my husband and I. I can’t remember how it got started, but the main line of contention was that I didn’t want to put up any decorations and wanted to put most of our stuff in storage. Why would we move into that apartment with any degree of permanency when we are just going to move within a matter of months? He felt that my plan would leave us feeling like we’re living out of suitcases and boxes and not truly be home. Um…exactly! In my mind, yeah, we weren’t going to have a “home” for a few months.

“If we never unpack anywhere that we’re only going to live for a short amount of time, if we never put up any pictures, decorations, or reminders of our lives, then for most of our life, given our chosen career… we’re never going to feel like we’re at home anywhere!”

These are the very wise words my husband spoke that went straight to the heart of the matter for me. I was reminded of the very different ways we have been brought up and the subtle distinctions that have come up in our short 5 months and six days of marriage.

You see…he’s lived in the same state in almost the same house most of his life. I lived between countries and in several different states and houses growing up. My whole life I’ve watched friends come and go when either they’ve moved or I have. He has had the same friends for decades in some cases! I have learned to hold things loosely and not grow attached in an effort to save myself from heartbreak when they get taken away. That has NOT worked out well for me. I’m sentimental whether I want to be or not. I hold even tighter to things that remind me of friends, family, good times, etc. I’m sad and lonely when I try not to make friends so I don’t have to say good-bye when one of us leaves.

During that discussion we came to realize that neither of us was right or wrong. I reminded him that one day he would have to leave his familiar home/family to move a world away and he would then experience a bit of how I’ve lived. I told him too that I was reminded of the passage in the Bible where we are told that we are aliens. We are strangers on this planet. This world is not our home. This will continue to be a struggle for us as we keep moving and going forward. We’ll need to strike a balance between learning to make a “home” wherever we are and remembering that this world is not meant to be our true home forever. With God’s grace (and He’s promised He’ll give it), we’ll be Home, Sweet Home together and in God’s hands.

Now presenting... Mr. and Mrs. Thannum!

We got married July 27th, 2013 in a small backyard wedding at my parents' house. I wanted to keep it super simple and we did. We had hay bales with quilts for seating, fresh flowers from our garden and our friends' gardens for decorations, and a BBQ for the reception. The whole wedding, from seating Dan's grandma to walking back down the aisle as husband and wife, took a whopping 8 minutes! We worried that the sun would be scorching, but it was a perfect morning and I was even cool in the shade. The younger guests entertained us during the reception by shooting a stomp rocket at all the adults seated at the picnic tables enjoying their hamburgers and bratwurst. It was a small family-only wedding and we were so grateful that many out-of-town relatives could come. A bummer was that my only sister couldn't come as her and her family live in the Philippines as missionaries. Other than that...I'd say it was a pretty, wonderful day.

Families together...

I had some blue streaks in my hair as pay-back for something Dan did to me while we were dating.

 

One of my favorites from getting our 'couple' pictures taken.

And we DO have loads of fun together...here's to laughing for years and years to come.

Ch-ch-changes!

You have probably noticed a huge gap in the time from the last post until now. Let's fill you in on some changes. 

• The writing style of these posts may change and seem like they're in a different tone because...I'm married. Holly and I got married July 27th after dating for just over six months. Holly will also be posting on this blog.
• I graduated from the New Tribes Mission Missionary Training Center on December 20th, 2013. Effective February 1st, 2014 we are members of New Tribes Mission.
• We have chosen a field to minister in! Lord willing, we will have our recommended monthly support raised and be headed to the Philippines in the summer of 2015.

There are more details to come about these various changes so be keeping an eye on the blog for more news.  

I'm Going To...

Where are you going? That is a question that I have not had a specific answer for yet but, God willing, that will be changing very soon.  Next week, March 14-15th,  there are going to be representatives from the different countries that New Tribes works in visiting campus. They will be presenting the vision for reaching the lost tribes of that country. There will be times throughout the day where we will be able to talk with the representatives and even have them over for a meal to ask plenty of questions about the missions work going on in their country.

New Tribes works in over 20 countries so there are plenty of choices. In every country the need for tribal church planters is great, so the decision will not be easy.  There are a few countries that I have been able to cross of the list. The remaining countries that I will be considering are; Brazil, Bolivia, Asia Pacific, Mexico, Paraguay, and Philippines. It is extremely likely that I will end up serving in one of these countries in the future, and I want your help to figure out which one it should be.

There are many questions on my mind for the representatives. Some of these are: Are you planning on going into new tribal works or existing works? What options are there for educating children? What safety policies are in place? What does your language learning program look like? I would really appreciate your prayers during field fair. Pray that I would ask the right questions and not just listen for the answers that I want to hear. Pray that I would be sensitive to God’s leading to a country of service. Pray that I will listen to all the ways that God is speaking to me.  I really appreciate your prayers and any input that you may have into this decision. We are all a part of the Church that is trying to reach the lost tribes for the glory of Christ and you are very much a part of this task. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Seeking God’s direction,

Dan Thannum

Using the Sun to Spread the Son

Over the last few weeks in my Missionary Technology course, I have been learning a lot about electricity; specifically, solar electricity. Once I move into a tribe there will be no electricity available; therefore, I will need to be my own power company. The electricity will come from a solar power system. The sunlight will be turned into electricity by my solar panels and then be sent to 12 volt deep cycle batteries until I need the power. Because the electricity is going to be 12 volt Direct Current, most appliances that we commonly use in America will not be able to run since America has 120 volt Alternating Current. Probably the biggest difference you would notice if you walked through my tribal house is the outlets won’t be the traditional 3 prong style, but rather they will look like the cigarette lighter in your car. While I could go into more detail about inverters, power loss, wire sizes, and more, I will just assume that if you have questions or want to know more you will ask me, and then we can save everyone else from all the technical stuff.

The other day I had an interesting thought hit me: someday as a missionary I will be very dependent on the power of the sun to be able to do my job. Then I realized that every Christian is also 100% dependent on the power of the Son to be able to do anything. While the sun may not provide the needed power if there are a few cloudy days, the Son will never lack power. The sun will only give so many hours of sunlight each day that will be able to charge my batteries but there is no end to the power or accessibility of the Son. I find it amazing that during the creation of the world God was thinking of how we would be able to most effectively reach remote people groups with the Gospel. With solar power, we will be able to power the equipment for literacy programs, Bible lessons, and Bible translation and more; enabling us to communicate the gospel more quickly and effectively.

Using the power of the sun to spread the Glory of the Son to an unreached people group,

Dan

Dependent on Who?

This past semester was a great time of learning the skills that I will need to be an effective church planter in a remote village. Through all the classes and interactions with staff and new friends I would have to say the two biggest lessons that I learned are dependence on God and dependence on the body of Christ. I remember one of my instructors telling us that even with this training, we will be equipped just enough to fall flat on our face once we get to the field if we are not relying on God. There were four or five different things that we were told “this will be the hardest thing you will do in your life” which as intimidating as that can be, it is comforting to know that I don’t need to depend on myself, but rather I find my dependence in God.

This next semester will continue to test my dependence on God and the body of Christ. Classes are already underway and we will be covering many different classes such as; Animism, Field Health, Missionary Technology, Romans, Folk Islam, Field Safety and New Testament Church Principles to name just a few. This semester is really going to stretch me in ways that I never imagined.

I am hoping that by the end of this semester I will have all the possibilities of where I may be serving narrowed down to my top three county choices. Join me in prayer this semester as I continue to learn the skills necessary to be an effective church planter among the unreached.

In Christ

Dan Thannum

A New Kind of Resolution

7,114 That’s the number of unreached people groups currently in our world, that equals 2.86 billion people. That is 2.86 billion people that break Gods heart daily and 7,114 people groups that one day will be worshiping around the throne of our Victorious lamb Jesus Christ that currently have nobody walking in the light. These people show a great darkness in our world but there is a greater hope that is about to encounter many of these people for the first time this very year.

This is a time of year where everybody is making resolutions about what they are going to try to do to make their life better over this next year. Why don’t we, as members of the world wide Church, resolve to do something to bring one unreached person into contact with the amazing news of our Lord Jesus Christ this year. While it is admirable to try to lose some weight, or read more or whatever it may be, just imagine how rewarding it will be to one day meet someone in heaven and have them say “I don’t know if I would be here if it wasn’t for you, thank you!”

This year let’s resolve to not do even the good things if they get in the way of the best things. Let’s resolve to make the focal points of our lives the one who gave us life. Let’s resolve to see people how God sees them, and have the things that break Gods heart break our heart. Let’s resolve to make a difference in the life of one person, not just the kind of difference that will make a bad person into a good person, but the kind of difference that will make a person who is dead in sin, alive in Christ!