Missouri Musings — The LeBlanc Family

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Morgan and I have officially left our previous occupations and moved to Missouri to embark on two years of missionary training with our sending organization, Ethnos 360 (formerly known as New Tribes Mission). We share a dream to plant a church amongst an unreached people group (a process that could be anywhere from 10-20 years), so there is a long list of skills and techniques that are necessary to acquire before moving overseas.

WHERE ARE YOU?

We are currently at Ethnos 360's Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Roach, Missouri (I know, Roach sounds super depressing, but look at how pretty the lake is!). The campus is near the Lake of the Ozarks, which is a huge tourist attraction (over 1,100 miles of shoreline property), about 1.5 hours from Springfield (see map below). Although the Midwest is a big sub-culture shock in itself, we are adjusting well and loving our new home.

WHAT IS YOUR ADDRESS?

Michael & Morgan LeBlanc

134 Main Drive

Roach, MO 65787

HOW'S THE WEATHER IN MISSOURI?

So far, the weather has been different every day. Mostly warm (in the 80-high 90's) and humid. Some rain, and it looks like we are supposed to get more in the days to come! We are excited to actually experience all 4 seasons, which we have heard may all occur in the same week!

WHAT'S THE CAMPUS LIKE?

The Missionary Training Center campus is comprised of small apartments, teaching classrooms, and administration buildings. There are about 200 people living on campus, with some additional teachers or mentor families living off campus nearby. The campus is beautiful, with lakefront property on the Lake of the Ozarks.

WHAT ARE YOUR LIVING ARRANGEMENTS LIKE?

We live in a building that houses other students in training, but we have our own little apartment. It's super cozy (thanks to my sweet wife), 480 square feet, 2 bedrooms, and has lots of quirks! It has been nice getting settled in after feeling like nomads all summer! Here are some pics!

HOW ARE THE PEOPLE?

The people are so great. Everyone we have met in Missouri so far has been very friendly (both on campus and off). There is a whole host of different opportunities for community here: we will be joining a discipleship group of missionary families, meeting with mentor couples, joining an off-campus ministry, and serving at a local church. Deep, meaningful community has been one of our biggest prayer requests the past 6 months, and we have been so encouraged in our short time here.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING DAY-TO-DAY?

We will be in classes Monday-Friday from 8am-12pm, with classwork and other responsibilities outside of that both on and off campus. We don't exactly know what day-to-day life will look like yet, but classes start this Monday, August 14th, so we will have a better idea soon! Here is a grid of our semester schedule; if you would like to receive updates (additional to our normal updates) and notes from our courses, you can email us and let us know!

HOW CAN WE BE PRAYING FOR YOU?

The past month has been a whirlwind, but we are so grateful to finally be settling down a bit. Please be praying over the transition, as we are in place of newness - new state, new home, new people, new responsibilities, and new courses beginning soon. We are so excited for all that we will be learning, and the amazing people we have the opportunity to learn from, and we would love prayer that we would have teachable hearts and a willingness to absorb as much as we can.

HOW CAN WE GET INVOLVED?

We would love to have you on our team! We cannot do this without our team supporting us prayerfully, emotionally, physically, and financially. We truly believe that you are just as much a part of our ministry as we are, and we would love to meet up and share our mission to see the local church reach the lost. If you'd like to connect in any way, you can get involved here or shoot us a quick email saying hello 👋🏼. For those that are already a part of our team, we would LOVE a letter, package, or best of all...YOU!