Thank you so much for your love, prayers and gifts! We are deeply grateful for your part in helping to share the love of Jesus with the Hewa tribal people of Papua New Guinea.

Praise the Lord with us for our safe return to Papua New Guinea! Because of snow delays in Chicago and then the unplanned need to refuel in transit we were stuck in one airplane for more than 21 hours- our longest flight ever! We were very happy to eventually land in the town of Wewak (all our luggage arrived with us) where we were able to reunite with our coworkers the Georges and Dunns (pictured above) and attend an annual conference for missionaries. We are very thankful for the unity our coworkers have been enjoying and felt privileged to have time to connect with them before returning to the tribe. Unfortunately the Dunn’s son, Kasen, (green & white shirt) broke his leg when a motorcycle fell on top of him so the family will be headed to the States next week for an early home assignment.

We are now in Hewa and are very happy to be rekindling relationships with our tribal friends. We were concerned for the faith of the believers because while we were in the States two young tribal men had committed suicide and a young believer had also drowned in the Lagaip River. Though one family has left our village in possible fear of evil spirits it appears most of the believers have held strong to their faith in Jesus. The tragic deaths did not stop the Bible teachers from continuing; in fact just before our arrival they finished teaching through the book of Ephesians. We are aware there is much teaching and discipleship that still needs done but we are encouraged to see a continued hunger for God’s Word, PTL!

Praise the Lord with us for how He is working in Hewa hearts. We were very surprised last Sunday to hear the man we previously referred to as Mr. Despicable read Romans 8:1-5 aloud during the service. I had a chance to meet with him later to talk about his spiritual condition and was overjoyed when he bowed his head to ask for forgiveness! If you would like to know more about that conversation please feel free to read the story below.

Thank you for our outpouring of Love for Mikayla as she is planning a trip to PNG this summer! Because of your sweet generosity she has been able to purchase her international airplane tickets and has nearly all the support she needs. If you would like to speak with her about her summer medical mission’s trip you may email her at mikayla_kopf@msn.com.

Praise and Prayer

  • Praise for our safe return to Hewa
  • Praise for the Georges and Dunns who are learning the Hewa language so they can minister with us
  • Please pray for Susan’s dad Charles King who had a recent stress test that showed significant heart blockage. He had a heart attack recently and is extremely weak and unable to do a lot. Pray the doctors will have wisdom to know how to help him.
  • Please pray for quick healing for Kasen Dunn’s broken leg.
  • Please pray for genuine faith in Jesus to spread all over these Hewa mountains like a wildfire.

Thank you!

Jonathan, Susan & Mikenna