Paul and Kelly Stewart joined Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT) in August of 2005. They chose WBT because Bible translation and the bibleless people of the world are very close to their hearts. After months of training in Orlando and North Carolina, Paul and Kelly received their assignment to Papua New Guinea (PNG), one half of the New Guinea Island located north of Australia (the other half of the island is called Papua and belongs to Indonesia). They moved to Papua New Guinea in August of 2007 and are currently living on the SIL center called Ukarumpa in the highlands of PNG.

    In PNG, Paul is working as an aviation Maintenance Specialist. SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) is Wycliffe’s overseas partner organization. He is one of about ten mechanics that work to maintain six airplanes and two helicopters. Kelly is busy at home with their daughter Piper (born Jan. 2007) and will soon be working on center a few hours a week wherever she is most needed. She is also hoping to get involved with the high school, possibly in the theatre arts department.

    Paul and Kelly both felt led to missions early on in life. They had accepted the call from the Lord and were pursuing missions separately when the Lord brought them together. Kelly grew up in Colombia, South America as the daughter of missionaries (currently serving in PNG!) and has had a love for missions her whole life. Paul grew up in Colorado as the son of an Evangelical Free pastor and knew he was called to missions in early high school. When he found out he could serve the Lord AND work on airplanes he knew he had found his life’s passion!
 
    They married in November of 2003 and lived in Minnesota for two and a half years while they paid off school debt and Paul received some real-world experience in aviation. They then moved to Waxhaw, North Carolina, where the JAARS center, Wycliffe’s technical branch, is located. They spent the first six months in training there then a year raising supprt and waiting for their daughter to be old enough to travel overseas. In August 2007 the three of them traveled to PNG to begin their three and a half month field training. In November they moved to the SIL center where they hope to be for the next three years.