Steve and Gerdine Stanley are counting down to their departure from Kovol for a visit to their home countries of the Netherlands and the UK.
Steve is close to finishing a post-literacy book project with just 20 more pages to check, Gerdine and Oscar are rounding off home school year two, and Alice and Millie are continuing to be busy playing as princesses. Next year Oscar goes into year three while Alice and Millie start reception. Gerdine will continue to homeschool next year as they won’t be in the UK for a full school year. Adding Alice and Millie to the school schedule is sure to be a challenge! Currently Gerdine is trying to figure out what books and materials she needs to take from Kovol to the UK for school and what should stay. It can be quite stressful keeping track of everything and planning so far ahead! They are really pleased with how well Oscar has been getting on with school. Praise God for that and pray that Gerdine continues to have the wisdom and energy to keep going! She can feel like she is on a treadmill that she is barely keeping up with!
Following Steve’s first translation check last month on the life of Joseph he has been working on making the suggested changes from the consultant. With that done the first section of the Kovol Scriptures is officially translated! Lord willing, lots more to come! Genesis 1:1 is next.
A project Steve has been pushing along this month is a Kovol post literacy program designed to take recently literate graduates of the literacy programme to proficiency in reading and writing. It means lots of work now but is an essential part of not allowing literacy skills to atrophy for students after all their work to get through a literacy programme!
They are at an exciting stage of ministry. Scripture is being translated for the first time and the literacy programme that was ready to roll but they recently discovered some changes they need to make to how sounds are written. Shortly on the horizon is lesson preparation and then the chronological Bible teaching that will, Lord willing, cause the Kovol church to be born. One last task remains before leaving: an orthography revision.
There is no date for first class literacy class yet. Either the Hansen family will finish language study and start in a number of months, or when Steve and Gerdine return (possibly spring 2026) Steve will start the first class.
Pray for Philip and Natalie to finish language study in the next few months so they can start the first class! It would be great to get people started in preparation for the first evangelistic lessons!
With less than two weeks left before they leave Kovol for home assignment and having recently lost a team member the Kovol people are quite worried that they likewise will not return. Steve and Gerdine would love to promise that they will return, but we don’t know what the future holds. They want and intend to return of course!
It has been more than three years for them in Papua New Guinea this time. Alice and Millie have no memories or experience of their home countries! A change of scenery and a chance to trust God in new circumstances is coming up.