SOUTHCHINA

*PuertaPrincesa

PACIFICOCEAN

No. 1

MISSIONARIES:

Mike and Joann Noel

FORWARDING AGENTS:

Corry and Vicki Sheffler512 Mace StreetGreensburg, PA 15601(412) 832-3177

Summer 1985

NEW FORMAT

We're happy to announce that fromnow on Mission Services Association

in Knoxville, TN will begin printing andmailing our newsletters out quarterlyfor us. We're grateful for the manyservices they provide for missionariesat home and abroad. Also a specialthanks goes to our Forwarding Agent,Vicki, who has done this for us in thepast. It's quite an undertaking! (Andan extra special thanks goes toGeorgea Hugus for doing the fineartwork!)

INTRODUCING

. . . the newest member of the Shefflerfamily! Corry Joseph (CJ) was born to our FA's.Corryand Vicki on May 14,1985. CONGRATULATIONS! Vicki's an elementary school teacher andCorry's an accountant with Koppers in Pittsburgh, PA. Both are members of the GreensburgChurch of Christ.

FORWARDING AGENTS

Many of you have asked, "Just exactly what's a forwarding agent (FA) anyway?" Well, theirresponsibilities are numerous and we missionaries don't know what we'd do without them.They serve as our connection and resource persons in the States -- especially while we'reoverseas. All of our monies are sent to them and they in turn getacheck(s) to us on a monthly/bi-monthly basis. They do our banking here at home, pay any bills we might have and do ourincome taxes. Thanks, Corry! He does such a good job! They receive our mail and forward itto us (along with various other things). Last, but not least, they send out our thank you's andreceipts and are available to help in any way they can.

FACTS & FIGURES ON THE PHILIPPINES

Did you know?

— There are 7,000 Islands total in the Philippines?

— It's the only predominately Catholic (80%) Asian country?

— Thirty-four of the 70 minor languages there STILL need translators?

— In 1984, the minimum wage was under $2.00 a day and the averagefamily size is eight?

— The Philippines are now one of the most open and receptive countriesin Asia to the gospel?

And we want to be there! Our plans are to go in November of this year and devotethe first full year to learning the language. And then the second and third years tofurther developing home Biblestudies and discipleship programs. (Meaning a full three-year term before we'd come back home on furlough.) We'llbe going to the island of Palawan in Southwestregion of the Visayas Province.

MEET

Eldon and Sue Potts. He's the

founder and director of Christ To The

Nations (CTN) Ministries. She's secretary. It began in 1979. Eldon's a '77graduate of Ozark Bible College andboth are members of the Park Plaza

Christian Church in Joplin, MO. Atthistime, CTN sponsors 10 native Filipinoevangelists — among many otherministries. We'll be their first Ameri

can missionary couple working fulltime in the Philippines. Although we'llbe CTN's representatives in the Philippines, we'll be on our own in establishing a new work.

OUR IMMEDIATE PLANS

JULY 5 — take a 2-week intensified "how to" language learning course with ProfessorBrewster at Fuller Theological Seminary(FTS) in Pasadena, CA.

JULY 20 — begin a 3-month discipling internshipat Christian Encounter Ministries (OEM) inGrass Valley, CA to gain practical "hands on"experience in how to disciple.*

•Disciple literally means learner. We want to beable to teach and show others (by example) how tofollow Christ.

We can be reached at the following address July20 - October 20: Mike and Joann Noel

17183 Retrac WayGrass Valley, CA 95945

All checks can continue to be made out to us and

sent in care of our FA's, the Shefflers. Thosewishing tax deduction should make checkspayable to Greensburg Church of Christ and designated for us.

PRAY AND PRAISE

I Thessalonlans 5:16-18

1. Thank God for your continuedfinancial and emotional support!

2. Ask God that we might learnquickly and adjust well to all thenew things we'll be exposed toin California. Andthatwe'll trust

God more and more to meet our

needs.

Belote you move, please send ine mailing label below, along wild a copy ol your new aodress 10MISSION SERVICES ASSOCIATION. P O Box 2427. Knoxville. TN 37901-2427

Mission Services

PO Box 2427

Knoxville, TN 37901-2427

ADDRESS CORRECTtOM REQUESTED

Non Pfolil Org.

U.S Postage

PAID

Knoxville. TN

37901-2427

Permit «374

FROM MIKE & JOANN NOEL

^uire zoK

S^seville, ^o. B56t8

3^^

Horizons

^ Research Dept.Box 2^27Knoxville, TN 37901

m-mfdm.u s POSTAGE

PAIOCSTRUS HEIGHTS. CA

PERMIT HO 35

Dear friends.

Seasons Greetings to all of you from the Noelsl Our 2 ;vk. intensiveat Fuller tnis summer went extremely well. The LAMP method has been proye/v^eifective to us. And Mike and I've retained alot of the texts we learned—me in Cantonese and he in Spanish. As a matter of fact, I now have a verydear cninese friend, named Xiu Bing, who was my language helper while wewere in tne LA area. .7e came away very excited about the LAMP method.

Mike and I left from triere and headed up to Grass Valley Jy. 20 tobegin our 3 mo. internship with Christian Encounter Ministries, //hentheir brochure states that 'an internsnip is a life changing experience'they aren't kidding! Prov. 19:21 says 'many are the plans in a man'sheart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails'. This has surely beenthe case with us. Most of you already heard by now that Mike_an^'T have changed our plans and are following God's direction to stayIn Calif.

Soon after our arrival at CEI'4, we began meeting with Don Moore, Dir;of Internships, once a wk. for our discipling. Almost immediately itoecame apparent through our conversations and test results (ail interns arerequired to take, such as personality, temperment type, marriage enrichment, etc. ) that Mike and I didn't know each other as well as we shouldafter al.most p yrs. of marriage. And also that we aidn't know how tocommunicate very well. To the staff, it was obvious that we weren't readyto go to the Philippines for those very reasons and tnat we needed to beable to devote more time d^rictly to our marriage. They pointed out tnateven before Mike and I got married we directed most of our energies andattention to getting out on the missions field. In so doing, we've neglecXc^

our responsibilities to each other as husband and wife* Also through

personal counselling that I sought, I*ve disco.vered that I need to

how to love and accept myself more in order to overcome past hurts and

disappointments.

I guess we were already aware of these tnings but didn't knov/ exactly

how to go about changing them until we came out here* ;Ve*re so grateful

for Christian brothers and sisters who were willing to confront and ad

monish us—disciple us in the purest sense of the word.

At first v/e refused to believe it wasn't God's will for us to go to

tne Philippines until—slowly we began to see for ourselves they were right.

In all honesty we could say we'd probably do more harm than good trying to

pret~end. nothing was -the matter. -Being faoed with the added pressures and

stresses of living in a foreign country could've been devastating. Now

we feel that God's spared us from possibly even more painful experiences.

It was a very difficult decision to make—one we struggled with and

cried over for mos. But finanly we decided our marriage and our happiness

was important enough that we had to stay here and work on them.

Ve found an apt. in Poseville which is ifO mi.,from Grass Valley and

only 20 min. out of Sacramento. .Ve're close enough to GEM that we can go

back once a wk. for cont'd, discipling. The da. after our internship was

over,Mike got a job as a laborer to a mason, who by the way is a Christian.And CEK had a vehicle available to sell to us. We've joined the San Juan

Church of Christ. Mike Cook's the minister. He's a grad. of Ozark Bible

College and knov;s Eldon Potts. A real nice fellow. God IS taking care of

us'.

We don't fully understand all that's happened to us or why but,we'reconfident-that-Goii wants us-kere. We've no further plans to go to the

Philippines but,will always be open to that possibility.

We want to again remind our mo. supporters that they should discon

tinue supporting us financially.Please, please if you've any questions let us know about it I All

correspondence should be mailed directly to us instead of the Shefflers

now. Our address is: 316 Berkeley Ave. Apt. A Roseville, CA 95678. And

our phone no. is: (916) 786-0131*

.Ve love you all I God bless you'. .Ve appreciate youl

Sincerely,