Jonathan and Susan Kopf have been living with the Hewa tribal people in the rugged mountains of central Papua New Guinea since January of 2000. After learning the language and culture, they have devoted themselves to translating and teaching the Bible, and assisting the Hewa in their struggle for survival in a changing world.
Jonathan and Susan were married in 1989, and made their first home in Prescott, AZ. Jonathan started a service company while Susan studied to become a nurse at a local college. Soon they welcomed a son and daughter into their family.
During that time, Jonathan and Susan knew the Lord was giving them a vision for more than simply pursuing the American dream. They prayed about joining the effort to take the message of the Cross to a people group who had not yet heard. They sold their company and entered training with New Tribes Mission to prepare for ministry oversees. During that time they became burdened for the many tribal groups of Papua New Guinea who were sending repeated requests for missionaries to come live with them.
Jonathan and Susan moved to PNG in 1999, and while learning the Melanesian Pidgin language (in order to communicate with people who lived in towns) they started hearing about the very remote Hewa tribal people who had been asking for missionaries. They soon joined with the Keith and Angie Copley and moved into the tribe to begin studying the language and culture of their new Hewa friends. By 2005 they had translated enough verses to start teaching an overview of the Bible and later that year the Hewa church was born.
Since then, Jonathan has continued to translate and teach the New Testament while Susan has focused her efforts on developing an education program and operating a village medical clinic. They would appreciate your prayers as they work to disciple the Hewa believers toward a vibrant love and devotion to the Lord.
If you would like to read more about their adventure of taking the message of the cross to the Hewa, please feel free to purchase Canopy of Darkness from entrustsourcepublishers.com (be sure to enter “hewa” as the coupon code), or the Kindle version from amazon.com.
If you would like to see pictures and read stories from Hewa’s history, please feel free to visit mmol.org/kopf.