Prayer Points:

• Papua New Guinea (PNG): Praise for recent peace treaties signed between villages in the Aiyura valley.

• Bible translation: Praise for the positive responses among the Arop-Lokep people to the Culture Meets Scripture workshop held on Long Island.

• Our roles in PNG: Pray for the teachers and students at UIS who are already half way through Term 1. Pray for the security team in Ukarumpa.

• PNG missionaries: Pray for wisdom and strength for the 6 new families starting their PNG Orientation Course.

• God’s provision: We are so very thankful for your faithful partnership, and for the blessing of getting to see so many of you already while we’ve been in the northeast. We will begin to travel south starting in October; please contact us if you would like a visit!

Home assignment travels...

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.”

1 Thessalonians 1:2 NIV

Now that we are back in the USA for our 6 month home assignment, it has been such a blessing to meet with family, friends and partners in the New England area this month. We will be visiting with people in the northeast until the end of September and then plan to travel south to see as many of you as we can before our planned return to Papua New Guinea on December 28th. We would love to connect with you and would encourage you to reach out to us via our emails (see bottom) so that we can schedule a visit, if you are available. Your faithful prayers and partnership have sustained us through this last three year term and we have seen God working in amazing ways, as more language communities have received the Bible in their heart languages and been transformed through the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. You are an integral part of our ministries in Ukarumpa because you enable us to continue to serve obediently and we appreciate you so much.  Thank you for blessing us so we can bless others!

Want to learn more? Join us at:

• Dover Baptist Church, Dover NH - Sunday, August 13 at 9:30am

• The Church at Spruce Creek in Kittery, Maine - Sunday, August 20 at 9:30am

Contact emails:

kathy_watson@wycliffe.org

scott_watson@wycliffe.org

Camp missionaries ...

We were grateful for the opportunity to teach over 100 middle school kids about missions at Camp Good News in Maine.  It was a rewarding experience, with the highlight being us meeting two Papua New Guinean sisters, who will be traveling to PNG for the first time with their family this summer. They soaked in our videos showing the beauty of PNG, and asked lots of questions around the campfire. God is the great orchestrator, and His timing is always perfect; we were just thankful for the chance to be there at just the right time to share about our love of PNG with those girls.

Prayer Points

 • Papua New Guinea (PNG): Pray for peaceful resolution to conflicts in the Enga language group. 

 • Bible translation: Pray for the planning for the Enga New Testament dedication.

 • Our roles in PNG: Pray for the new school year and all the teachers who have recently returned to PNG.

 • PNG missionaries: Pray for wisdom and discernment for missionaries working in areas with ongoing conflicts. 

 • God’s provision: We are so thankful for God’s grace and mercy in bringing us safely back to the USA. Thank you for your faithful partnership with our Wycliffe ministry and we hope to see you while we are on home assignment! 

Wrapping up a field term...

                                                       Photo credit: Amy Evers

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” - Jude 1:24-25 (NIV)

On September 16th, 2020, we were among the first group of people to return to our mission in Papua New Guinea during the pandemic. Travel had been difficult, but after 6 failed attempts, and with lots of prayer, we finally made it back to Ukarumpa. Each of our field terms has been filled with unique challenges and this one was no exception. The pandemic, staffing shortages, medevacs, criminal activity, warfare among local villages, an election cycle, civil unrest in various parts of the country and a 7.6M earthquake made this term even more interesting than most. We’ll be honest: we are tired. Yet, throughout all of this, God has blessed, strengthened and encouraged us in a variety of ways, including being able to host our first visitors from the USA last July. We are now winding down this term and preparing to return to NH for a Home Assignment from late June through December. Our goal is to spend the first three months in New England before heading south to Florida to see family and friends down the East Coast. We are so thankful for all of your prayers and partnership and we look forward to seeing you while we are back in the States. Thank God with us for all He has done!

Banquet...

Our students are currently preparing for semester exams, but a couple of weeks ago, they got to enjoy Banquet. This is a prom-style event hosted by the community to honor the juniors and seniors. The theme was “Deep into the Woods”, which included an indoor zip line and live animal encounters, plus a formal dinner and other fun activities that ran throughout the evening. Kathy was all into helping with the animals, which included a koi pond, snapping turtle, two green tree pythons, a cuscus (a PNG marsupial, similar to a possum), and a bunch of baby bunnies. It was a lovely night to bless our students, and enjoy God’s creation in a unique way. The helpers dressed up as Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers and it was difficult to tell who was having a better time, the community helpers or the students!

                                                        Photo credit: Amy Evers

Prayer Points:

• Papua New Guinea (PNG): Pray for God to continue to move and bring peace, unity and revival in the Aiyura valley and PNG.

• Bible translation: Praise for the upcoming dedications of the Vitu and Kaluli New Testaments; pray the events go smoothly and God’s Word changes hearts and lives in those language communities.

• Our roles in PNG: Pray for Scott as he wraps up his role as Security Consultant. Pray for Kathy and all of the students at Ukarumpa International School to finish the school year well.

• PNG missionaries: Pray for the families who will be leaving PNG, those who are coming back, and those who are staying; each will experience challenging transitions and lots of goodbyes.

• God’s provision: Thank you for your prayers, and for your faithful partnership with our Wycliffe ministry in PNG. We are so very grateful and we look forward to reconnecting with you while we are in the USA!