We have moved!

We wanted to let you know that Modern Nineveh has moved locations to a new website, including our own domain!  Please visit www.modernnineveh.com to continue viewing updates and information on our family and ministry!

You’re a City Kid When…

City kids are definitely different!  We got a good laugh in family devotions today from Elaine.  We were discussing Creation, and reviewing some of the days we had already talked about.

Ben: “What did God call the dry land?”

Elaine: “Sidewalk!”

Hope you enjoyed your laugh for the day!

Things You See in NYC

One of the hallmarks of New York City is its cultural diversity.  It has been estimated that there are 800 languages spoken here.  Every culture in the world is represented.  Some neighborhoods bear an ethnic mark of their residents; others are a melting pot.  But one thing is sure – if you want it, you can probably find it in New York City!

I snapped this photo as we were driving through Jackson Heights, Queens.  Who would think to buy Indian headdresses at a street vendor?!?!

Coming Home

This is what it looks like when missionaries come home for a couple of months…

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We are very excited to be home for most of December and January!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!  We are enjoying spending the day with Ben's family in western Massachusetts, with 14 inches of fresh snow!  We went sledding and enjoyed a fabulous meal.  It has been a nice day to count the many blessings which God has bestowed upon us.

 

"Praise ye the LORD.  O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.  Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD?  who can shew forth all His praise?"

Psalm 106:1-2

 

Truly we serve a great and good God!

A New York City Church

It was a blessing to be at Bible Baptist Church in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC this week.  This was a special meeting for us because the congregation has been supporting us for several months “sight unseen.”  We had a great time getting to know the church members and participating in their first annual mission’s conference!

This was also a great meeting for us because it gave us the chance to interact with a new, self-supporting, New York City church plant.  We got some ideas for our church plant in the Bronx, and we were encouraged to see what God can do in a great city and a short amount of time!

One of our goals for the Bronx church plant is to be self supporting in five years.  Many have told us that this will be hard to do, and that it is a “lofty” but unrealistic goal.  Bible Baptist Church is only four years old, and they are already into their own building and completely self supporting.  They are also invested in world-wide missions through monthly supporting 27 missionaries around the world. 

I want to take you for an “inside view” of this newer church so you can get a glimpse of church planting in New York City!

Pastor Taala came to New York City from the Philippines for better educational help for a special needs child.  He did not do deputation or raise monthly support for church planting, but he stepped out on faith and trusted God to provide.

The church began meeting in a Jewish center, and while the rent was low, they could only use the space for a few hours each week.  In June they were able to move into a better space.  They are still renting, but they have the basement and first floor of this “house” in Jackson Heights, Queens.  They can use the building 24/7 and pastor has an office downstairs. 

Like most things in New York City, everything and every space serves a multipurpose in order to be useful.  The nursery quickly converts to a classroom and the children sit on top of the low toy shelves instead of having small chairs.  The basement is a classroom and kitchen.  The auditorium was transformed into a dining hall for the missions banquet.  The building doesn’t have heat, so they use multiple space heaters to keep the auditorium warm.  It was a little chilly, but I didn’t hear any complaining!

There were several other things we loved about this church.  In Children’s Church the kids were taught hymns instead of just children’s songs.  The song leading and piano playing for the Children’s Church was done by teens.  For a small church, they pulled together their talent and formed a choir.  I also enjoyed that the Sunday School hour closed with all of the children’s classes coming to the platform to quote their memory verses to the adults.  Even Nolan got enthusiastic and grabbed the microphone to quote his verse!  Bible Baptist has sidewalk signs at each main intersection to direct people to the church location.  And I loved their large, blank map of the world with pictures of their missionary families on it!

Elaine declined to go to the front, but the other three kids were enthusiastic!

Russel, Nolan, and Casy

Last week for outreach the people of Bible Baptist got together and swept the sidewalks of their block to be a good testimony to their neighbors all around.  What a fabulous idea!  Sometimes you just need to get creative, and practical, in order to build relationships for evangelism.

Thank you Bible Baptist Church for making us part of your missionary family, and for you prayers and support as we head to “Da Bronx!”

I love this simple missionary board!

First time we’ve visited a church and already had our picture up on the map!  We’re in good company with our friends the Klaus family!

Valleyview Baptist Church, PA

We were blessed to be at Valleyview Baptist Church in Northampton, PA for a mission’s conference last week.  Pastor Volker Stoeckmann is on the Board of Directors for Baptist World Mission.  Two of the other missionary families at the conference are our friends and coworkers with BWM also, and the keynote speaker was the Executive Director of BWM – Bud Steadman.

We enjoyed staying with the Trauch family.  My kids especially enjoyed their pets – Sassy the Shih Tzu, Gretchen the red Doberman, and Shack the cat.  The Trauch’s became like grandparents and my kids loved the time we spent in their home.

  

The missionary activity sponsored by the church was an outing to the Crayola Experience factory in Easton, PA.  This was right up my kids’ alley.  We had a good time!    Lunch at Chick-fil-A on the way home was just the icing on the cake!

The kids got to design and color images on these touch screen “tablets”…

…then watch it float across the wall mural!

   
I enjoyed all of the unique crayon names at the giant coloring center, and the twins loved the giant Lite Brite

 
We watched a video and demo of how Crayola makes crayons..

  
Then we explored the system of Locks and dams on the Delaware River and how it fit into PA history.

We enjoyed the setup of the mission’s conference.  The church approached it like a plane departing for the field.  Each missionary had a designated room and we were given 30 minutes to show our DVD presentation, answer questions, and get to the know the people each night.  Every night the “captain” would come over the intercom and tell people to get to their gate for departure.  People got to choose which field to “visit” each night.  It gave us a smaller group to get to know and talk to each evening, and I think people felt more comfortable interacting and asking questions in the small group setting.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Pennsylvania!