A Busy Start to 2025

How are we at the end of the school year?!  What happened to February, March, and April?  Life has us pretty busy and we wanted to take a few minutes to share how things are going here in Papua New Guinea.  We so appreciate your prayers and support that enable us to be a part of the team here in PNG!

Paul— Maintenance at the hangar has been non stop. We move from one aircraft inspection right into the next. Our aircraft, 3 Kodiaks and 2 Robinson R66 helicopters (hopefully 3 sometime near the end of this year) are inspected every 100 hours of flight. Then you add in the unscheduled maintenance when a pilot gets back from a flight and says, “The xyz is not working correctly.” Well, if they have the aircraft on the schedule for the next day, it becomes the priority. With only two licensed mechanics in the hangar and one of those is holding the manager position, things are tight. Good news, the Elter family from Germany has settled in and Rafi is a mechanic specialist. He is a licensed mechanic in Germany but will soon be starting the process to get his PNG license.

But God… He has us here and we are sure of that. Therefore, what does HE have for us in this situation?  How can I grow more dependent on HIM for all my needs? Well, pretty clear. We NEED HIM.

Andrea—I have been enjoying teaching 7th/8th grade life science.  Our mission has a school here on our support center called Numonohi Christian Academy.  This year we had close to 100 students, 1st-12th grade.  Besides teaching in class, I was also teaching Phoebe in math as there weren’t enough teachers this year.  (And next year we are projecting even more “holes.”)

The “Kids” – Phoebe is done with 7th grade while Josh just finished 5th.  It has been a challenging year for them, going from being homeschooled the 2 years before.  They have done great and we are so proud of them.

In Papua New Guinea—So much has happened over these last months.  In April we celebrated Ethnos360 (called New Tribes Mission—PNG here) being in PNG for 75 years!!

Also in PNG— From the Uriay people—Back in 2004, two families and two single ladies moved into the Uriay people group. After learning the language and culture they taught through creation to Christ in 2010. By 2013, though, only Lisa Kappeler remained with the work. She has continued working on translation and materials in the Uriay language, but several factors have made it complicated for her to stay in the village. So, without further teaching or consistent discipleship, the gospel was abandoned and the people drifted back to their old beliefs.

Jason and Laken Cizdziel joined the Uriay work in 2016. After years of preparation, language and culture study, and enduring trials of various kinds, in December of 2024, Jason shared, “I can now with confidence announce that there is new life in W (village). People are understanding and believing Yawe’s stories. They understand who Jesus is, what He did for us, and why it was necessary.” And now, after six months of teaching multiple days a week, he has been able to walk the people of W through the biblical story from creation to Christ.

Many professed faith and asked to be baptized just as Jesus commanded. Jason interviewed each one, asking 62 questions to ensure that they understood what they’d been taught. Fifty-three people heard and believed Yahweh’s story and were ready. Rejoice with us that as each of them were baptized on March 12, 2025, Jason was able to announce with confidence that they were leaving Satan’s clan and entering Jesus’s clan.  (See a picture of this happening at the top of this newsletter).

Praise & Prayer Requests

• Praise: We made it through a full school year.  Phoebe will be in 8th, Josh in 6th and Andrea will get promoted from Jr high Life Science to Sr high Biology next year.
• Praise:  We have a short break planned in Cairns, AU where the kids will get LOTS of swimming in and mommy lots of shopping.
• Praise: That God’s Word and Gospel message continues to go out into new people groups and languages.  Maturing churches are being established for God’s glory.
• Prayer:  As Paul continues to work short staffed on the maintenance team.
• Prayer: That we have wisdom as to whether or not to have Paul’s left knee worked on while in Cairns.  (Australia is the closest orthopedic surgeon).
• Prayer: A new tribal team is preparing to move into an existing work with the Gende people here in the highlands.  They are facing serious complications as they work with the Gende to iron out where they will live and on whose land.
• Prayer: Major needs in our school, medical clinic and aviation maintenance here in PNG.