Wow –
Time flies when you are having fun. In January we set off for Hewa. We were able to write lessons and teach the young church through Corinthians. What a perfect time of seeing a young church learn about how God intends for them to function. The key theme that we kept going back to was found in Chapter 1:10 “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters,t by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”
This has always been the goal of humanity – even in the jungle, but they could never seem to figure out how to accomplish goal. Due to sin, selfishness, and the vices common to all humanity, they have never been able to realize this desire. However, now the Hewa church sees that as they abide in HIM – HE gives unity to the church. (Cor. 15:57).
From Hewa we were off to our mission support center in town for our annual missionary conference. A great time of relaxation and refreshment as about 160 missionaries gathered for 4 days. An excellent conference speaker encouraged us from the Word and we had a lot of downtime for informal catching up with old friends and co-laborers.
From the Sepik support center- Keith flew back into the bush for yet another house move. A crazy time time of tearing down a house and shipping it via helicopter for reassembly further down the river. The trip was a success as we got a lot accomplished and there were no major injuries.
Once we flew out of Hewa we moved for 12 weeks to Goroka. This is our mission hub and home to the MK school for PNG. All the girls were enrolled in school and finished their respective grades in a formal school setting. There were many adjustments but overall they loved it. Lindsey will be attending the Boarding School this coming year for 8th grade. She is so excited and has been asking to do this for several years. She is excited to prove herself on this new adventure.
From Goroka we were off to our support center on the island of East New Britain. This is the support for all of the church development endeavors on East New Britain and New Ireland. It was a great time of getting to know the missionaries from this area and understanding the tremendous difficulties they face as they work in this very isolated part of the world.
Finally, after 6 months on the road – we flew back to our Sepik support center to settle down. The family needs to settle for a while so we are planning to operate out of the Sepik support center for the next year.
How you can pray:
- Pray we have a great summer break with Lindsey – she will head off to school July 25th.
- Pray for the Hewa church as they continue to grow in the harsh jungle of PNG
- Pray for Jonathan and Susan Kopf as they live in Hewa and continue to teach disciple and translate the NT. He is currently working through Revelation and finds it challenging.
- Praise – we are all healthy.
- Praise – we get to keep doing this wonderful ministry.
We love you all and thank you for your generosity that makes our ministry possible.
The Copleys
Deuteronomy 32:3,4