MK forum

That is certainly GOOD news Sherpa Dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY for family!
Praying for all to go well.
We took the bus to the hospital to have our 1st. We didn't have a car. Snowstorm starting. By the next day there was no bus service. My husband walked to the hospital to be with us that day. My father, who didn't mind driving in snow alto this was excessive, drove 50 miles to come and see us and his 1st grandchild.

hello! what happened to my post?

you live where?

yes, you get a prize for answering.... and here is your....

FREE PASS FOR ONE DAY ON ANY THREAD ON THIS FORUM. BONUS: NO APOLOGIES NECESSARY

just kidding!

Really, it is a free country. However, there are things that work, and things that don't. The toll-free hotline isn't working for me. Talking to people on the other side of the world isn't working for me. I haven't figured out that the authorities are willing to do anything about the abuses that happened so long ago.

So, I'm left with my little corner of the world. And I figure that honesty and integrity still change people, particularly in places where there isn't much of that going on. I'm banking on the fact that in my little corner it matters when I cry with victims and become their advocate. It matters when I care about kids and champion their personhood. It matters how we're raising our kids. It matters how we relate to leadership and how we give it. If each person within NTM lives with integrity, NTM will be a mission of integrity.... so, while I can't change other people, I can change me. And changing I am. We all are, I hope. We're growing and learning. And the process takes time.

And, maybe I'll have to go back and answer all those other questions...

This is bothering me. OT-- do you really get no reply to letters sent directly to Larry and the gang? Or you just get no reply from letters you post here? How many times have you written them personally or as a leadership group?

Keep writing, keep making us think. I am an ntmer, grew up in NTM and am passionate about my family. I love my kids. I used to worry that I loved them too much and wasn't passionate enough about tribal people. I have come to realize that as I walk with God and love my husband and children, God will use us to reach tribal people. I must never neglect my husband or my children and God will faithfully give me opportunities to minister to tribal people, but my priorities must be in order. I am who God created, an ordinary person who can bring great glory to God by being content in who He created me to be. My kids need to know that they are loved, that they matter. I care about every mk that was abused in NTM. I wish I could express that better to all of you. I have friends that don't read from here, but anything I learn that I think they need to learn I pass on to them. They hear from me whether they want to or not. Recently we had personal contact with someone in leadership from NTM who is also extremely passionate about showing respect and love to mks, he cares deeply for each victim and is working hard. Sometimes we don't see what is happening and it is painful as we wonder if enough is being done, but I do believe God is at work and there are some key people in NTM who are hard at work on behalf of the many victims.
I am also passionate about running, keeping in touch with all my family and am a proud mother of a young man who has chosen to serve God by serving our country in the Air Force. He is a cadet at the AFA and I know that I must pray lots for him as he sacrifices greatly for our country. Just thinking about that brings tears of joy to my eyes. My husband and I run regularly and we can't help but think of our son as we run. It makes him feel closer to us even though there are many miles between us.

OT, I am only now reading this long stream of posts from last night, including the responses from a couple of brave tribers (who deserve medals for speaking up, BTW ).
I really love your post where you describe how NTM is OUR FAMILY. I so relate to that, and agree that that is why we are so very passionate about this issue. If we didn't care so much, it wouldn't hurt so much. Just because I am no longer a member of NTM does not mean the mission is not still a part of me. NTM is practically imprinted on my DNA. I still find myself slipping into "we" and "us" when I get wound up in speaking about matters that are important to me. Matters like child abuse. Prevention, yes. Vigilance, yes. Exposure, yes. Justice, yes. Restoration and healing, yes, yes.
It shouldn't have to be either/or. It should be all of the above.
I am sure most of NTM wishes we would shut up and disappear. So they can go on with business as usual. It must be hard to comprehend that we are driven by love, not by malice.
Reading through those excerpts from the Child Protection Manual made me nauseous. You are right, some of the wording is truly appalling. Yeah, I just want to say, "Who wrote this stuff??"
But then I have to turn it back around and ask, "Who read this stuff?" The answer is ME. I read that stuff, and other stuff like it. It hasn't been so long ago that I can't remember how it felt to open up a fresh issue of Family News after the supply plane flew away from our remote tribal village, and read every word of it. Who was joining NTM. Who was leaving NTM. Who had been dismissed. Who had been dismissed and out of fellowship.
And those new policies and long sermons from the Executive Committee and other super-spiritual souls. I remember that sense of awe I had, reading the words generated by anyone on the EC. To question any of that would have been like questioning the Holy Scriptures. The respect/fear I had of leadership shocks me now. I swallowed their words and their policies with blind devotion that is very unsettling to my present self. The fear of bringing down their wrath on my head, of ever being one of those listed under the category "Dismissed and out of fellowship" controlled me.
I have been out of NTM for almost a decade now. People tell me it's not the OLD NTM anymore. I honestly don't know if that's true or not. But to any present NTMer reading this, I would ask you to please read our passionate posts with open hearts and searching souls. Do not be blinded by Group Think. Leadership is not the Holy Spirit. People in the mission are not automatically in the will of God. And people OUT of the mission are not automatically OUT of the will of God. Any one of us fallible human beings is capable of basing opinions and decisions on self-preservation and maintaining our status quo.
My prayer is that God will keep our hearts pure and our spirits in tune with His. All of us.

OT - I still am in awe of your smarts and wit. I share your fury too. Righteous it is...

Raz, I so wish you would post this or most of this on the front of the blog. I am personally involved with someone who has close family in NTM right now. The NTM members have indicated that people who have left NTM are not to be trusted. Arrgghh!