Dear Loved Ones,
Thank you so much for being faithful in praying for our family. Your partnership in prayer and financial support allows us to serve in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and richly blesses our family.
We especially want to thank you for your prayers for Kurt’s knee. Last time we wrote you we said that Kurt was going to be seeing the doctor weekly to get his knee checked. At the end of June, the doctor saw Kurt and said he did not have to return to the clinic for a month. Kurt went in to see the doctor last Monday and his report was great. The doctor says that Kurt’s knee is doing good and that he doesn’t need to return to the clinic unless his knee feels loose or bothers him. He said when we go back to the USA or to Australia, he should have his knee checked by an Orthopedic Surgeon and get an MRI. We praise God for healing Kurt’s knee to the point where he can even jog now! Kurt has been doing the exercises that the Physical Therapist recommended and those have helped him very much. He tries to do those every day if possible.
(Kassia and Luke; Luke on the 4th of July)
Since we wrote our last update we moved houses. Thanks for praying for us as we moved. The move went very smoothly and we had many friends helping us. We have been in this house for over a month now and we love it. It has a fire place which helps keep us warm during the “winter” time here in PNG. Kassia also enjoys having a play room where she can read books with mommy and play with her friends.
Kurt is very busy working at the help desk at the Communication and Technical Services Department. He works alongside a Papua New Guinean, a Korean, and a Costa Rican. His coworkers from Korea and Costa Rica have left for several months, so now it is just the man from Papua New Guinea and Kurt at the help desk. They have had much work lately (fixing and configuring computers) and thankfully Kurt loves what he is doing!
This school year Kurt will be coaching the High School boys volleyball team. This will keep him busy Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays after work.
Kassia is now in pre-school two days a week and loves it. Also, two mornings a week she and I are working on pre-school in Spanish! She says I am her teacher and enjoys her time with me.
(Kassia’s first day of pre-school; Kassia posing for the camera with her new pen)
Luke is six months now! He has been sleeping through the night for a month or so now, and we are very happy about that. He has also started eating rice cereal and doesn’t quite know what to think about that. It is fun to see him staring at Kassia and looking at her as if he really would like to play with her. He gets around pushing himself backwards like a crab.
At the end of July we began our work with the 9th grade youth group again. We are glad to be in a bigger house now, where we can actually host some of the youth activities.
Again, thank you for allowing us to be a part of the process of translating the Word of God into the heart languages of the Bibleless people of Papua New Guinea.
In Him,
Johanna (for Kurt, Kassia, and Luke)
PS - Below we’ve included a note of encouragement from a Wycliffe member that we support here in Papua New Guinea:
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Dear supporters of Kurt and Johanna,
My husband and I are part of a multilanguage project in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea. Our goal is to train Papua New Guineans to do Bible Translation and Literacy in the eleven languages represented in our project. Our computers are essential for the work that we do in Bible translation and literacy.
I wanted to let you know how much we appreciate Kurt's computer support role. He has spent countless hours locating problems on our computers, backing up data, and helping us get set up for e-mail once we reach the center in Ukarumpa. Kurt is incredibly proficient with computers and gives us very sound advice when we need to purchase new equipment, for example. Thank you for partnering with Kurt and Johanna as they serve the Bible translation movement in Papua New Guinea! We would be very hard pressed if we had to make all of our own repairs, decisions and maintenance to our computers on our own.
Kurt and Johanna have also been a big support to our family emotionally and spiritually as well. If we didn't have people like them caring for us here in Ukarumpa, we would not be able to work in our project.
Again, many thanks for partnering with Kurt and Johanna!
Mandy Pehrson
Literacy Specialist
Aitape West Translation Project
Papua New Guinea
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