Continuing to pray for more teachers and administrators…

 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  -Proverbs 3: 5-6  NKJV

Thank you for continuing to pray for the needs of UIS. This school is a blessing to the families of translators and support workers from 20 different countries and serves local families from the Aiyura valley as well. It is an amazing place to teach, alongside gifted colleagues who love God, their subject areas, their students and each other. We are so thankful for returning teachers, filling the needs for high school English, Computer and Social Studies for next year. We are grateful for the incredible administrators who have supported and encouraged us this year, but some are leaving permanently and some are going on home assignment for 6-12 months. So, there are still many needs at our school for next year. Please continue to faithfully pray, and even consider if the LORD could be leading you to come and serve with us!

Highland life…

Living in the highlands of Papua New Guinea is beautiful, but isolated. Our location is remote and relies on aviation heavily to get people and cargo to the capital city, or to other villages where translation teams serve. This is why critical infrastructure is necessary to support our translators and aviation team, including the school we teach at and Scott’s crisis management and security roles. One perk is that part of our land lease is agricultural, requiring fruit and vegetable gardens and pastures for cattle. This provides our store with fresh milk, yogurt and meat, and we enjoy the lovely pastoral views (and moos!) as we walk around Ukarumpa.

Prayer Points:

• Papua New Guinea (PNG): Pray for wisdom and discernment for local village leaders and peace and justice in the Aiyura valley.

• Bible translation: Pray for the Healing the Wounds of Trauma workshop underway in Enga, for people to engage with God’s Word and find healing and peace.

• Our roles in PNG: Pray for a good start to Term 4 at UIS and for more teachers for next year. Pray for Scott, the Security team, and the Crisis Management Team, for wisdom, discernment and safety.

• PNG missionaries: Pray for the new families coming to serve with our Aviation team, and praise for the family that has recently arrived. We appreciate and rely on our pilots and mechanics very much and need more very soon!

• God’s provision: You are a part of what God is doing here in PNG and we could not be here without you thank you for your prayer support & encouragement!

Continuing to love the community and our students…

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  -1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

There are so many ways to show love and appreciation to those around us, and by doing so, to show love to our heavenly Father. We strive to serve in our roles faithfully, to be dependable, to teach and love our students well and to be good friends and neighbors to those in our community. We help friends in the valley with school fees or other material needs. Most of all, we seek to be transformed more into the likeness of Christ, and share His Good News with those around us. It sounds simple, and it is, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. We often fail, seek forgiveness, and try again. This is the heart of living in community: being willing to forgive, to seek forgiveness when needed and to keep loving those around us. February is a month when we think more about love, even though Valentine’s Day isn’t really a thing here. Here in Papua New Guinea it is almost autumn, not spring, and we are in the midst of our tropical rainy season, not winter. That didn’t stop our community from blessing our grade 11 and 12 students with an Arctic-themed banquet, though, complete with snowman, sledding hill, snowball fights and a rustic lodge! The students look forward to this event for years (for some, literally since they were in kindergarten) and the theme is always a closely guarded secret until the night of the event. It brings us such joy to see how much they enjoy this special evening, and they genuinely appreciate the fact that their whole community is involved in helping to make it happen. Loving God and loving others - this sums up our goal in life, no matter where the LORD calls us to serve. His Holy Spirit is ready to empower us to love those around us, regardless of how we feel. Loving God and loving others is the best decision you can make today!

Ukarumpa life...

We are always thankful for the people the LORD has brought to Ukarumpa. They are colleagues, friends, walking buddies, and support for our ministries here and we could not do life effectively without them. Living in a very small community means relying on each other. Especially as people come and go often, need help and support to pack or get food, watch their dog, or prep their house for a return. We have gratefully been the recipients of this love and support and have been able to offer it to others. Who has the LORD placed in your life that you can love and support, and who can you receive these blessings from? Both are a gift!

Prayer Points:

• Papua New Guinea (PNG): Pray for wisdom and discernment for local village leaders and peaceand justice in the Aiyura valley.

• Bible translation: Pray for the audio Bible recordings currently in progress, that God’s Word wouldbe accessible to everyone, regardless of their literacy ability.

• Our roles in PNG: Pray for a good finish to Term 3 at UIS; pray for more teachers for next year. Pray for Scott, the Security team, and the Crisis Management Team, for wisdom and safety.

• PNG missionaries: Pray for the translator families currently in their villages, or preparing to go inthe next few weeks, for good health and good relationships with their national translation teams.

• God’s provision: You are a part of what God is doing here in PNG and we could not be here without you - thank you for your prayer support & encouragement!

Continuing to grow in faith and knowledge…

 "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV

Scott has often said that he is an unlikely missionary; he didn’t grow up in the church, became a Christian at 18, and didn’t become serious about his faith until he was in his mid-twenties. He did not attend Bible college or seminary and is not a pastor or linguist. Yet despite this, God called him and Kathy to serve as missionaries in Papua New Guinea (PNG). That was eleven years ago and we are, by God’s grace, still faithfully serving here. We believe that, as followers of Jesus, it is important to grow in our relationship with Christ and our knowledge of God’s Word. Over the years, our growth has been facilitated by daily prayer, Bible reading, Bible studies, Sunday school classes, and serving in various ministries in our home church and here in PNG. Recently, Scott has had the opportunity to study the Bible in a more systematic manner through Nations University (NU). NU is an online, accredited school offering a Masters in Theological Studies (MTS) program.The program is asynchronous, self-paced and free to people living in many areas of the developing world, including PNG. So far, Scott has completed three courses and the first of three comprehensive examinations. He has nine courses and a capstone writing project to go before hopefully finishing the program in late 2026. Scott turns 57 in March, so it is never too late to grow in your relationship with Christ and to expand your knowledge of Scripture! You may not have the opportunity to attend formal classes, but daily prayer and Bible reading can make a lasting difference in your life. There are apps and reading plans to help you read through the Bible in a year. Our prayer for you, and for those in PNG who have received God’s Word in their heart language, is for His Word to transform your lives and bring the peace and joy that comes from knowing Jesus more.