A huge THANK YOU to Jeff, Jonathan S. and Loya (seated upper center from right to left) for spending a week in Hewa cutting huge cedar logs into lumber. It has been amazing to see how the Lord has been providing finances to buy roofing, siding, plywood, lumber, and then the provision of a team of men to cut the rest of the needed beams from local logs. Now we are looking forward to another team of three men who are preparing to fly into the village next month to construct the second of three double-classroom buildings. Susan and I are humbled and deeply grateful for the Lord’s provision and many volunteers to make the dream of a Christian school in the jungle become a reality.
Eyaka graduated from High School!!! We are very proud of how our friend Eyaka has persevered in his dream to pursue an education.
1997
2004
You may remember how we have spoken of Eyaka since our first days in Hewa. When we first met him in he was an energetic boy who quickly won our hearts with his enthusiastic zeal for life. He offered to help us learn the Hewa language and culture and quickly became our most faithful teacher, arriving at my office every morning at 7 a.m. Then after that Eyaka became my most faithful translation assistant. Soon after learning the language, Susan and our co-worker, Keith, taught the first literacy class and Eyaka was the first student to learn to read and write. He then became the lead teacher for subsequent classes to teach his peers how to read and write in their own language. Later when we taught the Creation through Christ lessons, Eyaka was one of the very first to publically proclaim his trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.
In 2006, when we were forced to leave the village because of murders and violence, Eyaka bravely took the message of the cross into the heart of the witch doctor’s village. Unfortunately, his dreams were dashed when the witch doctor tried to kill him by shooting an arrow toward his chest. We were thankful the arrow only pierced through his shirt and he was able to escape. Then in 2009, Eyaka left the tribe to pursue his dream to get an education near the town of Porgera, persevering through threats and even a tribal war that resulted in his classroom being burned to the ground.
We are excited to say that now after graduating from high school Eyaka has been accepted to enter a two-year medical school so that he can become a qualified village medical worker to care for his own village. But first, right now while he is on this break between high school and medical training, he has returned to his remote village as part of a team attempting to teach the Creation through Christ evangelistic lessons with hopes that many of his family members will turn to the Lord for forgiveness of Sin. Please pray for Eyaka. Pray his family will turn to the Lord, and pray the Lord strengthens him for this next level of education, and that the Lord will use his life in powerful ways to dramatically impact his tribal culture.
Thank you for your love and prayers,
Jonathan, Susan & Mikenna
If you would like to donate toward the Christian school you may send your gift to the regular Ethnos360 address in Florida (312 W 1st St Sanford, FL 32771), and include a note to have it forwarded to the Jonathan Kopf Hewa Ministry account in PNG # 416228.
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