Paving the Way to PNG

We've written a lot over the years about broken bridges.  This photo, taken several years ago, shows Andrew helping to repair a bridge on the only road between our home in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and the coast.

The photo reminds me of our current situation.  Just as we can't drive over a broken bridge until it's been repaired, we won't be able to continue our work in Papua New Guinea until our team of financial and prayer partners has been strengthened.

We are so grateful to those who have partnered financially with our Wycliffe ministry over the last 15 years.   Some of these individuals and churches are no longer able to do so due to their own financial challenges.   Wycliffe uses and approves a ministry budget for its members; this budget reflects the amount needed to fund each ministry.  We need to reach 100% of the ministry budget that has been established for our work with Wycliffe, so that we can continue to work in Papua New Guinea.  The regular gifts we are currently receiving only account for 60% of the funds we need to raise.

 

Would you consider joining our team of regular financial partners?  Our current partners each give between $15 - $200 per month.  We'd love to hear from you if you are able to support our overseas work in this way, or if you have questions.

Would you like to be a part of our prayer team?  We sometimes send specific requests to a small number of people and we'd love to add more people to this group. 

 
 This month's prayer points:
*We praise God for the wonderful opportunities we've had in the UK to catch up with friends and family and share about our work in PNG.  (Let us know if you'd like to see us when we're in the USA!)
*We praise God that Clare now has a visa that will allow her to make temporary visits to the USA over the next ten years.
*We pray that God would continue to provide for all our needs.
*We pray for a smooth transition as we move to the USA for five months on 10 August.  Emotions are already running high!

Avocado Trees and Changed Lives

In our garden in Papua New Guinea are two avocado trees:

They don't bear fruit too often, but we enjoy huge amounts of avocado when they do.  Even more exciting is when the work of Bible translation bears fruit.  It's been thrilling recently to read about lives that have been changed following encounters with the Jesus Video Bike that Andrew has worked on frequently.

We are not directly involved in the translating itself; but just as a tree's trunk supports its branches, we are supporting translation and literacy work by using our practical skills.

The part of the tree that can't be seen is the roots.  We know though that the tree couldn't survive without the roots.  I'm reminded of those who are faithfully partnering with us through prayer and finances from their home countries.  The gifts of prayer and finances go largely unseen, but are vital; without the financial and prayer support of people around the world, there would be no Bible translation work in Papua New Guinea.  

We're so glad to be able to catch up in person this year with many individuals and churches who are supporting our work in Papua New Guinea.  We're excited that we have several new opportunities to share about this work and let others know how they can be involved. 

This month's prayer points:
*We praise God for opportunities to speak to others about our work in Papua New Guinea.  
*We praise God for a successful medical check-up for Eowyn in March this year.  The consultant saw very little change since our last visit, which is a good thing.  We can wait two years before returning for a follow-up visit.

*We pray that God would be strengthening our 'roots' by enlarging our team of financial and prayer partners.

Many thanks,

Andrew, Clare, Levi, Heidi and Eowyn Koens

In England

We're (almost) Ready to Go!

Greetings from Papua New Guinea!

With a day to go until we leave, life is busy.  We've been organising and cleaning our house, sorting and packing clothes, printing out tickets and travel directions, organising transport, arranging to visit people, working on furlough presentations, designing photo books, obtaining permission to visit Australia, finishing up at work, and having our photo taken:

As you can see, Levi is looking more and more like his Dad ;-).

Andrew has been building a workshop behind our house out of a shipping container so that he'll be able to work on projects from home in future.  I expect our children will gain mechanical experience of their own out there too.

Thank you for your prayers regarding our house and dog while we're away; we've seen some wonderful answers.

This is what our travel plans look like for the next few weeks:

6 March: Fly to the capital city, Port Moresby.
7 March: Fly to Brisbane, Australia.
11 March: Fly to Melbourne, Australia.  (We'll be visiting the friends we lived with at the time Levi was born.)
14-15 March: Fly to London and drive to Haslemere, Surrey.
19 - 31 March: Visit friends and family in Warrington, Cumbria, Sunderland, York and Leicestershire.
1 April: Move into our flat in Haslemere.

We have much to look forward to, but realise that the next month will also be very intense.  We would appreciate your continued prayer, especially that we will recover quickly from jetlag and for good emotional adjustments with the changes that are to come.