God is doing great things!

We are gearing up to welcome all of our missionary families in the Sepik bush locations to our annual Sepik Conference! It is a fun time to gather together and encourage each other in the Lord, learn and be encouraged through our guest speaker, relax and have fun together! Jonathan is especially looking forward to seeing all his friends, children of the missionaries. There will also be people coming to hold a special conference just for the kids! The children look forward to it every year as well! Please pray for us all as we get ready for a very full center… there is a lot to do as the guys fix up the homes, organization that needs to happen with everything, plus food logistics. We are thankful for those who are providing food for us this year!

With that in mind we’d like to highlight our six bush locations that currently have missionaries plugging away with language and culture learning, literacy, Bible teaching and/or Bible translation with the end goal of establishing an indigenous Church.
Amdu – The Allen family and the Hatton family have just finished Language and Culture study and are now teaching the people how to read! And starting to write lessons for the future teaching of God’s Word in the people’s own language!
Hewa – The George family and the Kopf family are currently undergoing a lot of medical issues. Jessi George has a lot of issues with her pancreas and her family is home for one year medical leave to find some answers and return to PNG. The Kopf family is just about to come back to PNG but they were delayed due to Jonathan Kopf’s medical issues with his shoulder.
Kaje – The Myers family and the Goheen family are also busy with literacy and starting to write lessons for the future teaching of God’s Word in the people’s own language! And the Myers will welcome another baby boy into their family soon!
Maliyali – The Rimestad family and the Mueller family have only been in their tribe for just under a year and they are plugging away at Language and Culture study. The Earl family is finishing up pidgin English study and will join the Maliyali team this summer after they build their house!
Pei – The Rees family and Candace Swift are also teaching the people how to read! And writing lessons for the future teaching of God’s Word in the people’s own language! The Jones family are also a part of the Pei team but they are currently at home in the US due to a very bad cut and infection in Chris Jones’ foot, he is schedule for Achilles tendon surgery soon.
Wabuk – Lisa Kappeler is busy translation the Bible and discipling believers while the Teele family and the Cizdziel family plug away at Language and Culture study. Although the Teele family is now in Australia after having a baby boy and are awaiting his paperwork to return to PNG!
Awaiting allocation – The Meyer family is joining the Sepik region in just a couple days! They are praying about joining an existing Church Planting team!
The Island – Buser, Depner and Chen families just finished the work on the Island with the church there. Brandon Buser and Thomas Depner are currently finishing up the translation of the New Testament (in the midst of other work) while here at the supply center for the Sepik region. While the Chen family is back in Taiwan helping Gail Chen fight cancer.

Here at the supply center for the Sepik region we have 7 families (Busers, Depners, Ischys, Huttemans, Morlangs, Stuarts and us) and 2 single ladies (Stephanie Smith and Hope Sharp) serving in many different capacities… Maintenance, Security, Supply Buyer, Business Office, Guesthouse, Medical, Tribal Resource Center (printing literacy and translation portions), National Church Liaisons, Administration, Translation Consultants, Teachers and Language Consultants. There are also many bush locations that we support that have established churches functioning on their own without missionaries. And now we are all also getting ready for everyone to come to join us for the Sepik Conference! Another interesting tidbit of information… we have missionaries in the Sepik region from 6 countries: Canada, USA, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan and Ireland.

Praises!
-Christopher and Lilli Meyer and their children Linda and Silas arrive this week to join a Church Planting team!
-Naomi, is now 16 months, she is healthy and walking everywhere! No side effects from her NCM condition!
-We celebrated Jonathan’s 5th birthday!
-Jonathan read his first sentence and is so excited to learn to read!
-Provision of Beth and Naomi’s tickets to Brisbane (by our insurance company) for Naomi’s annual MRI and checkup in May!
-Beth and the kids trip to the dentist went well… no cavities for the kids and no root canal needed for Beth yet!
-Opportunity to be involved in all that God is doing in the Sepik region of PNG!
-A God who sent His Son to die for our sins and rose him up so that we could have daily life abundantly and REST in Him!
-God’s continued provision for our needs moment by moment!

Prayer requests:
-Chen family, as Gail Chen’s cancer has returned and it is worse this time.
-For all the Sepik missionaries involved in language and culture learning, literacy, Bible lesson preparation and Bible Translation.
-Jacob at work… ability to balance work with rest, and prioritizing all that needs to be done.
-That we would remember that God holds everything together including us! And He is working all around us!
-Rest in God as we enjoy being parents of two children!
-Financial provision for Jacob and Jonathan’s tickets to Brisbane for Naomi’s annual MRI and checkup.
-God would continue to raise up more missionaries to come to the Sepik and bring the Gospel to those who have never heard it their own heart language.
-More laborers to minister to the Bena people.
-David Lee and Heti (Bena believer) are teaching chronologically through the Bible in Upper Bena, where David and Wendy Lee used to live, pray for more Bena brothers and sisters in Christ!