DAVID

Dave was born in Albury N.S.W. Australia. His parents moved to Queensland soon after he was born so he grew up in Central Queensland amongst wheat, cattle and sapphire mining. His parents were Christians but he resisted committing his life to the Lord until he was 17 years of age. Soon after that, he went to Sydney to attend Emmaus Bible College.

WENDY

Wendy grew up on a farm near Nambour, north of Brisbane Queensland. When she was nine years old, her father led her to the Lord. At the age of 13 she moved with her parents to Brisbane and completed her education there.

MINISTRY

After Dave and Wendy were married, they moved to the Gem Fields to begin a ministry among the sapphire miners. It was while they were there that the Lord challenged them about the estimated 2000 language groups still without the gospel. They began to pray about what the Lord would have them do about it, and they soon came into contact with a representative for New Tribes Mission. They applied for training with this mission and were accepted. So at the beginning of 1986, they began their training and in 1987, they found themselves in Papua New Guinea. They spent 2½ years managing the guesthouse at the Mission Headquarters near Goroka. It was while they were there that the Lord challenged them about the Benabena people who were living around them there at the headquarters. No one was reaching them with the gospel.

They moved into the Benabena tribe and began language study in 1992. That is where they are currently still serving the Lord. At the beginning of 2002, Dave eventually completed the language study phase of their ministry and was given the go ahead to begin lesson preparation and translation of scripture passages needed for the lessons. He has now completed 16 lessons and translated 6 chapters of Genesis. They plan to begin teaching the people near the end of next year. They have started a literacy program here at Koropa with eight regular students and they are doing well.