Josh and Rebecca Florence with Abigail, Ruth, Titus, and Josiah
Papua New Guinea is the world’s second largest island and the home of over 850 languages and people groups. In many ways it is a very beautiful country, but with its superstitions, witchcraft, vengeance, violence, and religious confusion, it is also a very spiritually dark place. Fortunately, it is considered a Christian nation with complete religious freedom, and […]
Cherith began literacy work among the Kamea in 2009 as a single woman. Today, she continues that ministry along with her husband, Jason Ottosen. She wrote the following report of their ministry during the early days.
The four Kamea primers were finished, and I, Cherith, was introducing and testing them in local villages where they had never seen their language written. Two men, Nicodemus and Lazarus, immediately became immersed in the excitement of reading the primers. […]
On May 10, 1968, the pastor’s wife and another lady from Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, were visiting new arrivals in their area. The house they planned to visit had whiskey bottles in the front window. The intended message was “Bad people live here; don’t mess with them.” The residents, Robert and Linda Huddleston, had bought the house and recently moved in. They had met […]
Nathan Fritz Family
Nathan Fritz was born into a Christian family. At age six, his father, Rocky, became pastor of First Baptist Church in Amboy, IL. Even though he heard the Gospel over and over, it was not until age twelve that Nathan truly believed on Christ as his Saviour. Tina knew nothing about Jesus until age eight when her mother first took her to […]
Nat Williams Family
Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Williams was born into a Christian family in 1978 and grew up near Rochester, New York. At age five, he prayed a prayer, asking God to take him to Heaven when he died. That was his hope for the next eight years. Finally, he realized that salvation was not in a prayer or in living right, but in the sacrifice of Christ […]
The Jason Ottosen Family—serving faithfully in the mountains of Papua New Guinea since 2012
Ten years ago, we featured the Ottosens in the Winter 2009 issue of Lift Up Your Eyes. Cherith Stevens spent ten months in Papua New Guinea, and then, rather unexpectedly, God gave her a husband worth waiting for. She became Mrs. Jason Ottosen, and the two were on their way to PNG to […]
Katie always serves with a smile.
It is common for a young missionary to leave his parents and take his children to the foreign mission field. In doing so, he is taking the grandchildren away from their grandparents. Occasionally, a middle-aged missionary will leave his grown children at home and go to the mission field. It is rare, however, for a grandparent to leave both children and […]
The Hernandez family can be described as cheerful people. How appropriate for them to serve God in the Land of Smiles! Ahmet received Christ as his Savior at the age of seven. Unfortunately, as many young people do, he drifted away from the Lord, wasting precious years in the world. Rachael always believed in God. As a child, she would look at the clouds and imagine seeing Jesus coming—on a surfboard! (She lived in Pensacola, […]
Deputation took the Huckabees to churches in Hawaii, Alaska, Michigan, Florida, and points between. While on a ferry in Alaska, they encountered a storm with 105 MPH winds and 25 foot waves. In remote northwest Canada, as they left the Rocky Mountains with its dangerous curves and precipices, a tire popped off their truck. Someone mistakenly put a […]
Sandy’s parents, Missionaries Dale and Nelda West, served in
Guadalajara, Saltillo, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico, from 1958 to 1998.
For thirteen years they had an orphanage. The orphans were part of the family and serving the Lord was a family affair. Definitely a people
person, Sandy thrived in this atmosphere of work and fun. She still
plays her […]