Thank you so much for your love and prayers and gifts! We are deeply grateful for your part in reaching the Hewa people with the love of Jesus. Thank you!
Thank you for praying with us as we are temporarily living in central Texas. We are making steady progress helping Mikayla get established in the town of Waco where she can be near doctors that provide the best medical care for her connective tissue disease as well as allow her to live close to Baylor University for potential continued education. Thank you for praying for us as we seek the Lord on how best to make this transition. She is currently meeting with a bone doctor in Fort Worth, and although he is not able to provide a cure, he is helping to slow the degenerative effects of her illness. Please pray for her healing, and for deep peace and acceptance for whatever the Lord has for her future.
We are happy to receive emails from our co-workers, John and Jessi George, who are keeping us posted on how things are going in Hewa. John is now preparing to teach first and second Thessalonians, as well as a leadership training course that will help us guide the Hewa believers toward appointing their first elders and deacons. This is an exciting step toward the time when the believers will be able to thrive on their own after the departure of us missionaries.
We are also happy to be making progress with Hewa translation. A translation consultant in PNG has offered to review the New Testament books I have been working on, and we have set August 9-14 as a time when we can meet. That means we are now working on arranging international flights for me to fly from Texas to Hewa, pick up two or three young men who can help me with this translation project, and then take them to the coastal town of Wewak where the consultant can meet with us. Please continue to pray for wisdom in how to make the truths of Scripture clear in the tribal way of thinking as well as to maintain complete accuracy.
It was wonderful to have Micah get a short break from the Army to come visit us in Waco. He is growing and thriving as an Airborn Medic Specialist at his base in North Carolina. We also hope we will have opportunity to visit with our parents before we return to PNG, maybe as early as January of next year.
Please feel free to check out a few new Hewa stories I posted to our blog at blogs.ntm.org/jonathan-kopf. It is exciting to have the new believers taking visible steps toward deeper trust in Jesus.
Thank you for your love and prayers and gifts! We deeply appreciate you!
Jonathan, Susan & Mikenna