September 2005 Update

Dear friends and family,

The last time Kurt wrote you in July, Kassia and I were in Colombia and he was getting ready to meet us there. We had an amazing time with family and friends while in Colombia. My parents and my sisters with their respective families met Kassia for the first time! As you can imagine, they were thrilled to see her and very sad when we had to say good bye. God is so good to us. He is good all the time!

While in Bogotá, we were able to visit the church where I grew up. We had the opportunity to give a presentation and share what God has been doing in our lives and how He is shaping us and molding us for what He has in store for us. We had a wonderful time and the church staff was able to pray for us and to commend us to the ministry.

(Speaking at Johanna’s home church in Bogotá)

We took a couple of trips during the time we were in Colombia. We were able to travel to Cartagena (which is on the North coast of the country) and spent 5 days there with one of my sisters and her family. It was really fun for Kassia to go to the beach and play with the sand! At first she was a little scared of the waves, but later on her daddy showed her how it was possible to play with the sand and in the waves and from then on she loved our trips to the beach. Our last weekend in Colombia, we were able to travel three hours away from Bogotá and spent those days with my entire family. There were 17 of us total, because one of my brothers-in-law could not be present because he was preaching at church that Sunday!

(Johanna with her parents, three sisters and all the grand children in Bogotá)

(Kassia with her Penaloza grandparents in Bogotá)

We flew back from Bogotá to DFW and were in Dallas for two days. Then we began our journey to Waxhaw North Carolina! We have been here almost four weeks now and are truly enjoying this time. Our first week here we took a Spiritual Discipleship (SD) course and are now attending an Intercultural Communications Course (ICC). In the SD course we covered who we are in Christ, breaking strongholds, and most importantly worship and intimacy with God. During ICC we have covered quite a few topics ranging from relating to nationals and those in authority over us to language leaning and adapting to other cultures. We have learned many things, but above all we can recognize that God is stretching us and molding us to become more like Him! We praise Him for this time of training and for the facilitators that He has placed in our classes and their wisdom and care for us. What a mighty God we serve!

(Our ICC class at the JAARS center in Waxhaw, NC)

After ICC is over, Kurt will be going through some technical training specific to his work in computer services in Papua New Guinea. When that is done, we will head back to Dallas and we are looking forward to seeing many of you at this time! We miss our church, family and friends, but we thank God for this time of learning and growth.

Praise God:

• For travel safety and financial provision for our trips to Colombia and North Carolina (NC).
• For the time we were able to spend in Colombia with family and friends.
• For the opportunity we had to share about our ministry at Johanna’s home church in Bogotá.
• For the training we are receiving in NC that will prepare us to be better equipped when we go to Papua New Guinea.
• For the increase of our financial support to 25% of the quota Wycliffe requires us to obtain prior to leaving for Papua New Guinea.

Please pray with us:

• For travel mercies as we return to Dallas sometime in October.
• For wisdom as we speak in churches and share about our ministry.
• For God’s continued blessing in raising our prayer and financial support team.
• For God to give us wisdom and patience in raising Kassia.

Always in His precious hands,
Johanna for Kurt and Kassia Metzger

Posted in: ministry update