May 2006 Update

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for praying for us as we were traveling during the month of April. Also, we want to thank those of you who have partnered with us financially. We had a wonderful trip and the Lord opened many doors for our ministry. Let me tell you a little about our itinerary!

We first visited Western Springs Baptist Church near Chicago, Illinois on Sunday April 9th. Monday the 10th we met with the church’s missions committee and had a successful meeting. Tuesday the 11th we traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana. On Wednesday night we spoke to the Franklin Road Baptist Church Senior High youth group and had a great time sharing with them about missions. Friday April 14th we traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan and spent Easter weekend with Kurt’s older brother Eric and family who live there. Tuesday April 18th we went to Northern Michigan to a little town called Hale. Through some friends from our home church here in Dallas, God provided for us a beautiful log cottage to spend the week. Sunday April 23rd we spoke to the congregation at Hale Baptist Church about our ministry. Then finally on Monday April 24th we began our trip back to Dallas and arrived here in Desoto, TX in the afternoon of Wednesday April 26th.

Kassia with friends (Dave and Judy Wagner) in Western Springs, Illinois

Kassia with her cousin Stein in Kalamazoo, Michigan

We are also grateful for those of you who remembered to pray for Kassia during our trip. She did great most of the time and really enjoyed getting to meet new people and make new friends. In Chicago we were able to go to the Brookfield Zoo and she absolutely loved that! Of course on our way back to Dallas, after being in the car for 3 days, 8 hours each day, she was ready to get back home!

Kassia sleeping in the car with her bunny!

As you know, we were prayerfully hoping and preparing to go to the Pacific Orientation Course (POC) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) this August. Well, we had a little surprise come along our way. We recently found out that we are expecting our second child! We were very surprised because we were not planning on having a baby right now, but God has a perfect plan for us and we rest assured in knowing that to Him this was not a surprise! We know this little one is a gift and a blessing from our Father and we are greatly thankful for that.

We wrote to the Director’s Assistant for Personnel in PNG and after she spoke with the Assistant Director they have given us some advice knowing our current situation. First, they suggest that we stay here in Dallas until we have our child so that we can be at home near friends and family. They think that we will be able to travel to PNG when the baby is two months old (our pediatrician has said this is a good time also) and will have had his/her first round of immunizations. That means we would possibly be arriving in PNG sometime in March of 2007. We will first go to Ukarumpa, Wycliffe’s center of operations, where we will be living. There, Kurt will begin working in the Communication and Technical Services department until August of 2007, Lord willing, when we will attend the Pacific Orientation Course in Madang, PNG.

We know that the Lord’s plan for us is better then anything we ourselves could plan and we are grateful that being able to stay here for a little longer will allow us to be close to Kurt’s mom as she learns to live with lung cancer. We are also still lacking about 50% of our monthly financial support, but we know that God will provide the remainder in His perfect timing.

Finally, we would like to let you know that because of our change in plans we are looking for a house to rent from August of 2006 until March of 2007. If you know of anyone that is renting a house here in Dallas (South Dallas, Cedar Hill, Duncanville and South Grand Prairie area), please let us know. We would greatly appreciate any information regarding this matter.

Kassia on Easter Sunday!

Thank you again for praying for us and please let us know specifically how we can pray for you!

In His precious hands,
Johanna (for Kurt, Kassia, and baby Metzger!)

Posted in: ministry update