MK forum

The first name I would write on the wall would be Jim Harris. He was a teacher who had the human touch and a wonderful gift of humour.
When I was sick with Hepatitis he came to see me, just to see if I was o.k. and needed anything. He was the last person who should have come near someone infectious with Hepatitis, because he was very ill himself.
Alas Jim died far to young and I never had a chance as an adult to shake him by the hand and thank him for his kindness. Perhaps this goes some way to doing that, all these years latter.

Ironically the person I will add to this collection is male. Lenny Tuccelli....thank you for letting me hang on for dear life as a 7/8 year old on the back of your dirt bike while you practiced and did jumps on the track up behind the guest house at Numonohi. You were racing in Goroka as I remember and put in a lot of hours practicing. You also allowed me to ride on the back when you were practicing at home in Oliguti.

It was the most pleasure I ever had at Numonohi. I must have trusted you completely....jumps and no helmet and no fear.

You gave me the time of day....thankyou.


Also... to the Canadians who were a part of my life if only in passing...people with beautiful souls...

At Vianopolis, roughly in chronological order, starting on July 29, 1978

Geddie and Ruth Ann Strickland......kind dormparents
Gill Baxter.........one of the best teachers at Vianopolis...4th and 5th grades for me
Miles and Coleen Templeton.....good dormparents; Miles taught me how to work...Coleen...always a godly example
Jeanette Callahan...5th grade math. She and Arden were the engines that made Vianopolis a school, a place of learning, and a place of excellence
Dave and Grace Fread......good dormparents; he helped our Tiger Club; they were a very good choice for the little dorm
Carol Taylor.....6th grade English; a wonderful combination with my classmate Rusty Smith
Steve Parker....taught 6th grade Social Studies from the hallway after Rusty had beans for lunch.
Ted Wright.......rolled up a 10 cruzeiro note between his fingers before class on faith in 6th grade Bible class; he said whoever believed he had 10 cruzeiros in his hand could come up to his desk and claim it.....nobody went forward, except Rusty. (His dad Larry helped drive the trucks from Wisconsin down to Sanford when they moved the headquarters)
Bob and Fay Barker....good dormparents; they loved us unconditionally
Arden Callahan....7th grade math......he could take a 7th grade Beka book and spark your interest in space exploration, or Anwar Sadat.
Jerry Wnuk..7th grade science class.....he played soccer with us; he talked a lot about the U.S. which helped me visualize American culture; he sparked my interest in sports with Sports Illustrated.
Jean Hann......English....she's the main reason we did well on the ACT
Marcy.....faithful cook
Jack and Babs Pierce.....he never gave up trying to extract art from inside me; he played Sergio Reis while we crafted fine works of pottery
Dona Conceicao.....she washed 2,527,673 dishes
Frank Parker.....he drove us to Anapolis to get our teeth fixed
Mel Royer.....he let me do odd jobs and cut grass....and he paid me for it, so I could pay for the trips to Anapolis
Bob and Delores Schuring.....steady, faithful; kept us from being devoured by limiting Russell's wildlife collection
Bruce Taylor......excellent math teacher; I appreciated his guidance on student council
Bucky Nageli......even Joanne would smile when he got kicked in the balls at the quadra
Stan and Dyann Donmoyer.....took us on senior sneak, planned our graduation;
Paulo and Neli Jancitsky.....she would always find us a room during conference; he was an excellent choir teacher
Ted and Jean Wright.......the gospel went forth in Vianpolis because of them; he taught me how to weld and wire a house; she taught me Portuguese grammar and verb conjugations
Velda Whitehouse........I can type because of her
Gerson Celeti....he demonstrated a very genuine walk with the Lord
Cabral....I remember one night he sang 6 special numbers during the Sunday service, but forgot the words to the 5th one; he always carried Irmgard on his garupa
Antonio Carlos.....a bit wild, but very committed to the Lord....he could lay brick faster than Rodney and Ben
Ben Royer....impossible to beat on the quadra
Rodney Schurring..........we thought it was funny how Rute always came over to inspect Rodney's brick-laying at the bike shop.......1980
Robson.....his father-in-law, Sr. Isaias....how I wish that could have ended better....but anyways, when Robson picked Ketcham before me one night at soccer, I vowed to never be picked....well, Erick always got picked first...but it motivated me to do better.
Jim Ketcham....he liked to read my Sports Illustrated and I liked to read his Allistair MacLean novels. But I always loaned SI to Jerry Wnuk first, because he signed my report card. The February edition.....my father-in-law delivered it to the boys dorm mailbox, while all my Beavis and Butthead classmates snickered. I would then Pharisaically throw it away.
Randy Krussow.......Algebra II was just me and him, but I would still struggle to stay awake. He was an excellent person, and gave me great advice as I finished my senior year.
Darrell Canright....he understood us better than everybody, because he was an MK....and he liked the Cowboys.

Students:
Tim Parker; he was a senior but taught me 4th grade social studies.
Bill Moore; he was a senior, but taught me 4th grade science.
Tim and Bill took the five 4th graders on a hike while the other 14 little dormers sat around and ate mangas.....boy, did we feel tough
Jonathan Parker.....he was the mature leader in the high school; taught us Sunday school
Tom Caylor...he knew how many baby steps there were from the boys dorm to the refei....and he had the long jump record for five years
Kristina/Judy/Jenny Whitaker........Kristina was going to marry Jonathan and Reuben Schuring liked Judy.......the Whitaker family is a wonderful family.....you would never guess Earl attended Bob Jones
David Rice.........he had novel ideas, like sneaking down to the bus station after supper to buy pizza....he would send me to buy it while he played soccer...he would then wolf it down in between games
Tom Wright.......pretty sure he scored the highest on the ACT of any Via grad; put up with racism
Roger Donmoyer/Duane Donmoyer.....they invited me into the secret order of the Darkroom where we developed pictures for the yearbook.
Chris Moore......always a blessing, always a challenge, always fun
Steve Hann......belonged on a dude ranch from the time he was six
Kristin Key....she was cool
Janet Strickland....she was sophisticated and always polite
Kevin Wnuk.....best musical talent; highly intelligent
Sandi Pavkov....very committed Christian
Ben Pavkov......a cool dude, who rode his motorcycle
David King....my best friend
Erick Wnuk......great friend; taught me soccer and taught me Stratego; he liked to come over and watch Chris Moore and David King in the MMA fights; never beat Erick in a race.
Gene Ketcham......he let me win two races when I was in the 9th grade. I think his dad told him to go slow so I would continue to loan him Sports Illustrated.
Celinda, Lenita, Karen, Tammy............the four girls in the 5-person high school dorm in 1984-85....I was very lucky
Tracy Miller/Duane Miller....I think the folks from Cuiaba helped us to start thinking for ourselves.... little bit. They weren't tribers. It might have helped if they had come a few years earlier.
Debbie Donmoyer....she and Brenda Bittle knew how to keep rowdy fifth grade boys in line.
Gene Ketcham/Marc Key/Roger Bailey/Joel Parker/Dan Bailey.........this was an illustrious group, rivaled only by the 1984 class (Chris Moore/Steve Hann/Russell Schurring) for their ability to keep things hopping, and yet their classmates, my older sister and Minan Donmoyer were tasked by fate to keep things within the bounds of decency (or perhaps to egg them on further).

I have forgotten many, and I may not have explained my thankfulness for each one, but each one of these people was kind in some way to me...they demonstrated God's love to me. They encouraged me. They corrected me. They laughed with me.

I have fond memories of Via.

I've been asked why I included Frank Parker's name on the list.
Frank Parker was a sinner. I'm a sinner.
I'm no better than Frank. In fact, I would say I'm worse.
In elaborating the list, I tried to include everyone I could remember that I had regular contact with at Via and whose kindness I will never forget. I didn't try to rank who was more kind.
(Did I forget my good dormparents Roger and Linda Bailey?)
I stopped naming names once I got to groups of students closer to the age of my middle sister.

But this isn't about who is better or who is worse.

Crimes were committed. A cover-up ensued.
Some of the crimes were committed against my sister after the mission learned of Frank's abuse.
I can't ignore that.
Sexual child abuse is not some random crime of no consequence. It's worse than murder.
If my sister had been murdered, and New Tribes had covered up the murder, should I be restricted to "calling them out in love"?

By listing Frank's name, I'm trying to show I'm not on a personal mission of vengeance for vengeance sake, and that I can keep things separate. I want a group of 3,000 people to deal with crimes committed by their colleagues and I want them to deal with the cover-ups.

The more time that goes by, and with the continued silence, I realize that the people that I appreciated probably appreciate their current income stream more than they appreciate me or my sister.

You make some very good points, Demos.

Several of them.

Eddie never got to the mission field. He stayed at home and quietly changed the world. We all thought Eddie was an orderly at the hospital, turns out he was a pioneering nuclear physacist. But that was Eddie, just a humble man who helped others. Lived in the worst street in town and gave to others.
Eddie died or some weird cancer, probably because of his job. At his funeral person after person told of his generosity, his quiet manner and how he was a genuine Christian. And even when he died, he donated his body to medical science. That was just what Eddie did.

Strange, it's hard to name names on here of those whom I personally have good memories of because I know that some whom I have good memories of were abusive to my friends (I found out later). So that makes me wonder if others whom I have good memories of also hurt my friends. I like the way you were able to add Frank Parker's name, Demos.

My very best friend at Via died as a result of trying to save me and Frank Parker. It turns out I was just as guilty as Frank Parker. My best friend didn't distinguish between the two of us. In fact, my best friend doesn't need to wait for the results of any investigation or court case to find out everything that happened at Via and elsewhere. Plus, He knew how I would sin against Him, even after understanding His great love for me. And He knew everything....yet He still died for me.

on the other hand......

I mention I Corinthians 5, not to think I have any standing to make determinations such as Paul did, but my friend also died for Paul who described himself as the chief of sinners. That didn't stop Paul from calling a spade a spade. That didn't stop Paul from confronting Peter.

This world needs more people who will confront: confront our Congress about more than $118 trillion in unfunded liabilities; confront our President about why he is dismantling our military; confront mission leadership about abuse.

The best people to confront New Tribes leadership are men within New Tribes. Where are the men? Where are the backbones? The women and children have had to shoulder the burdens...the burdens of ministry and the torture of abuse.
It's time the men stood up. We don't need more e-mails, posts, meetings and recommendations. We need action.

16 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes