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Dear Family and Friends,
It is hard to believe that it is already August. This summer has flown by for our family. We have only been at home 10 of the past 50 days. The past couple of days have been a good respite, as we relaxed after two busy months.
We began our summer in Colorado Springs at a month-long missionary training program called Compass. We joined families from all over the country who are heading all over the world. The first half of our training focused on phonetics and learning a new language. Because the focus was on methods, everyone was placed in language-learning groups in order to practice. 
They wanted us to focus on the way you learn a language, so the groups we were placed in were not our target languages. Brandon was placed in the French group, Marci was in the Bulgarian group, and Daniel was in the Russian group. During our exercises we were taught to learn language like a small child.
When acquiring a language, a child first listens, then mimics, and then speaks. We were surprised how much of our trial languages our brains retained after just a few hours of class!
The second half of training focused on transition and acculturation. We received tools to make us aware of the pitfalls that cause missionaries to leave the field early. We also developed different plans to help us when we reach the field, including a language-learning plan and a stress-management plan.
Each weekend we took advantage of being in the Rocky Mountains and visited several area attractions. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park, where we played in snow in June! We also went to Garden of the Gods and drove to the summit of Pike’s Peak. We visited a money museum, where we laid eyes on a coin worth 10 million dollars. We also went to the Focus on the Family Visitor’s Center, where the kids got to record their own personalized souvenir episode of Adventures in Odyssey.
This summer we also had the privilege of visiting two NAB churches before heading off to the Triennial Conference in Edmonton. There, we reconnected with many supporting churches and several missionary friends. We are thankful that we also got to meet more of our missionary colleagues, as most NAB missionaries were at the event. A highlight for our family was being prayed over and commissioned to the mission field at the closing of the conference. We feel privileged that God has allowed us to represent the NAB in Brazil.
| Upcoming Events | |
| August | 11th-12th – Immanuel Baptist Church – Kyle, TX
13th – Fly to Kenya |
| September | 14th – Fly back from Kenya |
| October | 7th – First Baptist Church – George, IA |
| November | Brandon teaching Old Testament Theology class for the seminary. (Praying this will be in-person, not over the computer). |
On August 13th our family will fly from Dallas to Nairobi, Kenya. Our dream to visit Marci’s parents in Kenya has been a longtime prayer for our family. We are excited and thankful that God has made this a reality. The whole family will get the chance to see where Marci grew up and meet some of the people who helped mold and shape her faith. We will worship with the church that baptized Marci, and the kids will get to see the mission work that their grandparents have been involved in for the past 40 years.
We are happy to report that we have reached 70% of our annual support. We are so thankful that so many of you are partnering with us as we go to Brazil. Please pray with us that we would be able to get to the field this October! We need 8 more supporting churches at $200/month in order to make this goal. Please pray with us that God will provide these last remaining funds. If you haven’t already, you can find out more about us, our ministry, as well as more frequent updates about our famdily at our website: www.teachingbeyondborders.org. We pray God’s blessings on each one of you. We are so thankful to be serving the Lord together.
God Bless,
Brandon and Marci Jones