Dear Friends and Family,Praise God, He has answered our prayers! We had asked you to pray for the safe delivery of our baby. And Kassia Adriana was born January 4th, 2005 at 9:00 a.m. after approximately seven hours of labor! Kassia weighed 6 lb. 9oz. and was 19 ¾ inches long. Both Johanna and Kassia are doing really well. Johanna has been blessed by being able to stay at home with our daughter and she loves it. She is learning how to be a mommy!
Another prayer request from our last newsletter was for our assignment with Wycliffe. Recently, Johanna and I were officially asked by the Papua New Guinea Wycliffe Branch to fill support roles at the Ukarumpa Center in the eastern highlands. I will be serving in the Communications and Technical Services Department (CTS) and Johanna will serve at the mission school; focusing on Elementary education. God has given us a peace about His leading in this direction. We look forward to these wonderful new ministries!
Please continue to pray with us especially for Johanna’s application for US citizenship. We had an appointment for the final interview and test for her citizenship, April 11th, only to learn that she was not eligible at that time. We will have to re-file her application; however, we were told by INS officials that it should not take long for it to be processed. Pray that she will be able to receive her citizenship soon so that we can pursue our ministry overseas!
So What’s Next for Us?Lord willing, from April to July:
We will be in Dallas where I will continue to work at Ace Engineering, but be available to visit churches and individuals interested in our future ministry.
We will pack up our house and get it ready to sell (we would like to see it sell before we leave for Colombia and Waxhaw this summer).
I will do preliminary software training specific to my Wycliffe assignment.
Johanna will sort though things to sell, store here in the US, or pack to go with us to PNG, correspond with our constituency, and continue to be a mom.
In July:
We will travel to Colombia to visit Johanna’s family, who have not met Kassia yet, and we hope to speak at Johanna’s home church in Bogotá.
From August through November:
Johanna and I will attend the Inter-cultural Communication and Spiritual Discipleship Training at Wycliffe’s JAARS Center in Waxhaw, NC.
I will receive computer hardware and software technical training at JAARS.
After Training in Waxhaw:
We will travel back to Dallas and apply for work permits and visas for Papua New Guinea.
We will also work to raise our financial and prayer support to 100% —a Wycliffe requirement— so that we can leave for the field.
Then, Lord willing, sometime in the summer of 2006…
Leave for Papua New Guinea!
What will we be doing in Papua New Guinea?
I have been assigned to work at the CTS (Communications and Technical Service) department, which has many functions; some of them include: maintenance of the HF (high frequency) radio network, which allows translators and their families in remote locations to communicate with the outside world; maintenance of the Ukarumpa center telephone network, which enables both on-center communication as well as e-mail, Internet and voice access with the outside world; maintenance of the center-wide LAN and business programs; computer helpdesk support and hardware repair—my primary function—which keeps the translation process rolling along smoothly. Parenthetically, prior to the advent of personal computers, the translation process would usually take more than 30 years but now that time has been cut in half. CTS also contributes to the maintenance of photocopiers, fax machines, solar equipment (for translation teams), printers and other electronic equipment.
Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea is Wycliffe’s center of operations for a country with more than 800 language groups and about half of those have yet to have a Bible translation completed in their language. You can imagine what would happen if there was a shortage of personnel in the CTS department! Well, there is a shortage and the situation has been described as “desperate.” Would you be willing to partner with us so that together we can see this need be met; so that “all the ends of the earth will fear Him”?
In His hands, Kurt (for Johanna and Kassia)
Praise God...
· for our official invitation to serve in Papua New Guinea.
· for wisdom and patience in raising Kassia so that she will serve God her whole life.
· for receiving a number of pledges for the financial support we will need to serve in Papua New Guinea. Each one counts!
Please pray with us...
· for the sale of our home in the coming months.
· for safety and provision for our trips to Colombia and training in Waxhaw, NC this summer.
· for God’s continued blessing in raising our prayer and financial support teams. We still have a long way to go to meet our field’s support quota.
- Please let us know how we can pray for you and your family. Also, let us know if you would like to receive regular email updates—write us a quick note or email us! We would love to hear from each and everyone of you!
