The Gospel is Coming... to the Mandara!

Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. - Psalm 25:4-6 (NLT)

 

Dear Friends and Family,

The Gospel is Coming... to the Mandara!
We want to thank God for the Mandara New Testament dedication on Thursday, May 20th 2010… 19 years after the project began. About 1000 Mandara New Testaments were sold including the 400 that were presold before the dedication day! The two main churches, United and Catholic, were working together in preparing for the dedication, calling it “The Big Peace Ceremony.” Saber MP3 players containing recordings of Scripture were also distributed. Many people came from other islands of the Tabar Islands group and people traveled 2-3 hours on the sea from some language communities of the main island of New Ireland Province.

The Mandara people live on three islands just north of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.

The Mandara NT Dedication.

Please also pray for God to work during 3 New Testament dedications in Papua New Guinea (PNG) coming up in the next few months: July 27, 2010 – Molima NT dedication; August 07, 2010 – Yopno NT/Psalms dedication; August 15, 2010 – Sursurunga NT dedication.

 

We need your help!
We also want to thank God for continuing to provide for us while we are here on home assignment. We have been blessed with nearly 25% of the $8,000 we need for our return travel to Papua New Guinea (PNG). If you are considering a special gift toward our return travel, please include a note specifically designating it “for Metzger’s return travel to PNG.” We hope to return to PNG at the beginning of November after the PNG visa for our new baby has been processed. We are also still lacking partners that are led by God to join our team and commit to support us on a monthly basis. Since being in PNG for the last 3 years, the cost of living has gone up significantly and so also the amount Wycliffe requires us to raise before we can return. Currently we are looking for 10 to 20 new team members. Would you prayerfully consider your part in our ministry? 

  

From left to right: Amount needed for return travel to PNG; Need of 10 to 20 new partners!

 

Matching gifts
We have an exciting opportunity for some of you that work for a company that has a matching gift program. Did you know that there are over 1600 companies in the US that will match your gift when given to SIL or Wycliffe through their gift program? Here is a short list of some of the companies: Boeing, Chevron, Dell, GE Foundation, Google, Home Depot Foundation, SAP, and Starbucks. If you are interested in knowing more about how you can partner with us in our ministry through the company you work for, please let us know!

 

Our plans
This next Saturday, June 26th we are moving to a duplex across the road from the SIL center here in Dallas. Could you please pray for us while we are moving? It is one more change for Kassia and Luke and it is starting to be a little stressful for them and for us as we pack. I (Kurt) will also begin to work at the SIL IT department shortly after we move as they are currently very short staffed.

In mid July we have a trip planned to Maryland to visit my dad’s side of the family, partners and a supporting church there. Then we are back here in Dallas for the birth of our 3rd child on or around August 24th.  

Lukas is ready to go back to PNG!

 

Praise:

• For the Mandara New Testament Dedication.
• For what YOU our supporters have already given towards buying the tickets for our return trip to PNG.
• For your faithful prayers and financial support of our ministry.
• For a house that we can move into for the rest of our furlough.

Prayer:

• For the 3 New Testament dedications coming up in PNG.
• For God to provide the rest of what we need per month for our quota in order to return to PNG.
• For our move to another house this weekend.

  
From left to right: Kassia in her red shirt; Kassia, her cousin Valeria, and Lukas; Kassia in her uniform.

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

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Bible translators hope to have every language covered in 15 years (article by the Denver Post)

 
The open Bible is a translation in the Bughotu language of about 4,000 people in the Solomon Islands. The Last Languages Campaign that was set to be finished in about 140 years might be done in 2025 due, in part, to better technology. (Judy DeHaas, The Denver Post)

Bible translators hope to have every language covered in 15 years

Contemporary missionaries, armed with technology and making greater use of apprentice native translators, might now be able to oversee transcriptions of several languages in their lifetimes... (read more of this article by the Denver Post)

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Bible translation moving forward, but needs help to make 2025 goal

Bible translation moving forward, but needs help to make 2025 goal.

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The Need is Great (Wycliffe Video)

The Need is Great (Wycliffe Video)

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-- April 2010 Update --

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” - Romans 10:14-15 (NLT)

Dear Loved Ones,
Thank you for your prayers and support during the time that we have been here in the US and Colombia on our home assignment.  Also we want to thank those of you who have spent time with us and whom we have been able to catch up with after serving in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for the last three years.

First of all we would like to update you on the two mission conferences we had during the month of March. The first weekend of March we were able to share our calling to missions during a coffee night at Faith Bible Church (our home church in DeSoto, TX).  It was also a great time for us to hear about other missionaries that our church supports. We had the privilege of being guest speakers at one of the children’s Sunday School classes and were able to tell the children about our life and ministry in PNG.

 

(Left to Right:  Kassia with her cousins Juan Pablo and Valeria; Luke is enjoying eating some chocolate)

On March 10^th we traveled to the Chicago area and participated in a missions conference at Western Springs Baptist Church, the church where Kurt’s mom grew up. We had the opportunity to informally share about our ministry there first on Friday night.  We were also asked to speak on Saturday morning at the conference’s breakfast. Then on Sunday morning we shared at one of the adult Sunday School classes. Many people asked specific questions about our life in PNG and about our current ministry needs. What a joy it was to spend a week in Western Springs and to feel loved by our brothers and sisters in Christ there.

Kurt has been able to work from home remotely helping other Wycliffe members that are on their home assignment with their computer needs. He has also been working on figuring out what our one time needs are to be able to return to PNG as well as looking into getting all of our documents up to date.

(Kassia and Luke pose for the camera)
As a family, we have enjoyed reconnecting with friends and family here in the Dallas area and we look forward to reconnecting with many more that we have not been able to see yet.

I (Johanna) am 23 weeks pregnant now and am feeling great. We had a sonogram at 20 weeks and it looks like everything is fine with our baby. We didn’t find out the gender of the baby as we would like to wait and be surprised at the time of his/her birth. Kassia hopes to have a baby sister, but we already told her we can’t promise her that!

(Metzger Baby #3 at 20 weeks)

In our February newsletter, we informed you that due to the fact that we are having another child and the increase in the cost of life in general, the quota that Wycliffe requires for us to return to PNG has changed. We want to praise God as in the last couple of months a few of our partners have decided to increase their monthly support and a new partner has joined our team. Therefore now we only need to raise approximately $325 dollars per month.

Currently we are estimating that we will be able to return to PNG in early November. It will take about 2 months after our baby is born to obtain his/her passport and PNG visa. We would like to share with you our one time financial needs to be able to return to PNG. We need to ship clothes for our children for the next 3 years while we are on the field. We will also ship other necessary items for our life there that are difficult to get or are very expensive. For shipping from the US to PNG we will need to raise approximately $1,000 dollars. We will also need to buy our return tickets to PNG which will cost around $8,000 dollars for our family of 5. Would your church, family, or small group be able to help meet one of these vital needs through a one-time gift? Please see the Ways to Give info on the side bar on how you can help (Please designate the special gift – “for the Ministry of Kurt and Johanna Metzger, Return Travel to PNG”).

What a great God we serve. To Him be the Honor and Glory forever! Thank you for allowing us to serve Him. We are thrilled to play some small part in getting God’s Word into the hands of some of the “tribes and tongues” we read about in Revelation. Thank you for the important part you play in our team!

Praise the Lord with us:

• For providing a house for us to live in during our time in the United States.
• For providing a car from a missionary agency that we can use the whole time during our home assignment.
• For being able to reconnect with friends and family.
• For partners that have increased their monthly support and new partners in our team.
• For a great trip to Western Springs, IL.
• For a healthy pregnancy.

Please Pray:

• For our relationship with the Lord to become deeper and stronger and that we can be an example to those around us.
• For a continued healthy pregnancy and safe delivery.
• For God to provide the $325 dollars per month that we need for our monthly quota in order to return to PNG.
• For God’s provision of our one time financial needs to return to the mission field.

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

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-- February 2010 Update --

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. - Isaiah 55:11 (NLT)
Dear friends and family,
We have been in Dallas, TX for almost a month now. We had a blessed time during our two months in Colombia visiting family and also our supporting church there. It was sad to say goodbye to family but my (Johanna’s) parents came to the US with us. They are living about 30 minutes from us and we still see them often.
During our time of home assignment here in Dallas we plan to do several things. Mainly we will be visiting and reporting back to our partnering churches and to those individuals who have been involved in our ministry. In March we have two missions’ conferences that we will be attending. The first one will take place at Faith Bible Church (our home church) in Desoto, TX. The second mission’s conference will be at Western Springs Baptist Church. We look forward to visiting friends from these churches and sharing about what God has been doing in our lives during the last three years while we have been on the field.

While we are in the US, Kurt will do some IT training and I will take some continuing education courses to keep my teaching certification up to date
Thank you for praying for Kurt’s knee. He was able to have about 15 sessions of physical therapy while we were in Colombia and now he is doing his exercises here at home. Please pray that he will be diligent in doing his exercises daily so that his knee will continue to heal.

Kassia and Lucas are doing great. They were able to learn quite a bit of Spanish during our time in Colombia. Kassia is enrolled in bilingual pre-K here in Desoto and attends 3 hours each morning. She enjoys having a teacher and friends that speak in Spanish. Lucas just turned two at the end of January and he is now speaking full sentences in Spanish. He keeps us busy and we admire his ability to speak so clearly! I guess he has a good teacher around (his sister).

There are many reasons to celebrate this year in Papua New Guinea. Just this January the Lote New Testament was dedicated and there are 10 other New Testament dedications planned. A shipping container has arrived in Ukarumpa and it contains boxes of 6 New Testament translations for the Kalam, Miniafia (dedication in February), Ama (dedication in April), Mandara (dedication in May), Wantoat and Haruai (dedication later this year) people groups!

Lote New Testament Dedication
Another reason we have to celebrate is that we are expecting baby #3. I have had my first ultrasound and I am 14 weeks along! I was able to see the baby’s heart beat and his/her head, body, legs, and arms. It was pretty awesome. We praise God for this pregnancy.
We are planning on returning to PNG in November of this year after the baby has been born and we have his/her US passport and PNG visa. We estimate it will take at least two months after the baby is born to get all the paperwork done. Due to the fact that we are having another child and the increase in the cost of life in general, our quota for PNG has changed. In order to return to PNG, we will also need to raise our support by approximately $450 per month. Wycliffe will not release us to return to the field until we have met our support quota.
Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us and caring for our family. We look forward to seeing many of you during our time here in the US.
Blessings,
Johanna (for Kurt, Kassia, Lucas, and the baby)

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