Why Are We Here?

Why are we here? Why spend our time and resources here at the Missionary Training Center? Why invest our lives into such a task?

We are here because there are people who are living in remote tribal locations who have never heard the truth that God sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, to come and rescue mankind from out of darkness and bring us into the kingdom of light of His beloved Son.

We are here because God has called the Church to fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions - to take this message of salvation to every people group, every tongue, and every nation. We are here because God has given His Church a Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

But how are we here? We are here because He is the One who is directing our steps. We are here because of the men and women who have invested so much of their time and energy into our lives that we would be more like Christ and that our desire would be to know Him and make Him known. We are here because of the impact you all have had in our lives.

For that we say thank you! Thank you to our family and friends. Thank you to our churches who have sent us in prayer and support. Thank you to all of those who generously support us every month. Thank you to all of who pray for us on a continual basis. We have been so blessed by each one of you!

So far this semester we have completed two classes: Communication Skills and Intro to Culture. We have been learning so many things concerning how to become better communicators and how to teach to the heart. In our Intro to Culture class we have been wrestling through determining what is actual biblical truth and what is simply our Christian culture. This is much more challenging than we first thought because, what a mature church will look like in one cultural context, may be in total contrast to another and coming to realize that God is okay with that.

What can you be praying for? Pray that we would remember all that God has for us this year. Pray that He would grant us the ability to soak up everything we experience this semester. We will be starting Animism and Phonetics this week. Pray that God would bless our minds to better understand the intricate animistic belief system and our tongues by granting us the ability make all of the different sounds that a mouth can make - which is many!

Most of all, pray that we would have constant dependence upon the Lord and trust Him with all things. Pray that He continues to raise up more people who desire to partner with us both prayerfully and financially.


In Christ,

Cameron and Caitlin

Hats and Headbands and Cards - Oh My!

"Oh my," indeed! Cameron and I have such exciting news to share. We have gone into business together and have opened up our very own Etsy store! We launched Created Concoctions Saturday evening and sold our first item that very same day! So far we are selling knitted baby hats, earmuff headbands and downloadable cards but we're planning on adding even more to our store as time goes on. We were greatly encouraged to open our store and we're so happy we did. After all, if we're making these creations anyways, why not try and sell them?

Our goal in selling our handmade items is to both make a little money and also provide an option for people to support us. For example, if someone is going to a baby shower, our hope is that they would consider purchasing one of our knitted baby hats. This way they are purchasing something they need while also supporting us.

We will have a link to Created Concoctions on the right of the page so that you will always be able to find our store. We also created an Instagram account  @CreatedConcoctions where you can see our latest items. It would mean so much to us if you would share both of these with your friends!

Christmas Tidings and Travels

It's Saturday night and our first day back in our house in exactly four weeks. We realize it has been more than a month since last we wrote so this update will serve as a brief synopsis of our Christmas break and the last couple days of our first semester here at the Missionary Training Center. I apologize in advance for its inordinate length!

We finished up classes on December 19th and have covered so much material in such a short amount of time! Our classes included: Worldview, Intro to Culture and Language Acquisition, Learning Styles, Love and Respect, Biblical Parenting, Stewardship, Teamwork, Form and Meaning, Biblical Framework, Sustainable Integrity, and Foundational Bible Teaching. All of these were packed into one semester and we can already see the benefit it will be to have these tools overseas.

Our Christmas break was characterized by car rides, fun times spent with family and friends, and much laughter. Before the sun rose on December 20th, Cameron and I were already in the car and on our way south for the winter. Our first day we stopped in Mississippi where we stayed the night with friends from Bible school. It was great to visit and catch up even though Ben remained undefeated in Chess....

The following morning we hit the road again for the long stretch down to my parent's house in central Florida. We arrived safe and sound and stayed up late regaling our family with tales from school and our road trip.

We were blessed by my job offering my position back to me to work over the break. It was great to see my friends again and, of course, to wear scrubs! While I spent my day at work, Cameron kept himself busy with writing, reading, studying and helping my mom with her garden all with the supervision given by Sitka, the cat.

But it wasn't all just work while we were in Florida. We went to Blue Springs on New Year's Day where we saw dozens of manatees! Then that following Saturday we drove out to Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge where we saw alligators, migratory birds, and turtles. Because we couldn't stop there, we even swung by the ocean although the 65 degree water was a tad bit too cold to swim.


I cannot forget to mention Christmas day! This day was spent playing the board games we had just unwrapped, eating tasty food cooked by my mom and modeling our winter apparel. While we may not need them with our short sleeves in this picture, Cameron and I will certainly be using them in Missouri and my brother will certainly never take his off while he's in the tundra that is Waukesha, Wisconsin.

On January 11th, after a wonderful time in warm Florida, it was time to make the trek back home. This time we stopped in Alabama to spend the night with Cameron's aunt and uncle. I was so happy to get to meet them and was very much entertained by the young kitten trying to play with the tails of the two border collies.


The next day we drove across to Mississippi to see our friends from Bible school again and spent the night with them. Again, and to this very hour, Ben remains undefeated in Chess....

On Tuesday we then drove up to Jackson, Missouri and spent the afternoon and evening with Cameron's grandfather, aunt and sister. It was a joy to see them again!

From Wednesday until this morning we stayed with Cameron's parents in Union, Missouri. We enjoyed seeing them and it was a very laid back and relaxing time. We even had a chance to see Cameron's nephew before we left.

Which brings us to this evening. We pulled up to our home in Roach, Missouri a little before noon, checked our mailbox, unloaded the car, unpacked the suitcases, put away Christmas decorations, cleaned the house, made dinner, and reflected together on what a wonderful break we had!

Classes start on Monday and we are so excited to see what God has in store for us over the coming months as He prepares us to serve Him overseas.

While it is belated, we hope you all had a very merry Christmas with family and friends and have a wonderful New Year!

Caitlin and Cameron