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joined the Wycliffe organization and took linguistic courses for
Bible translators and jungle training conducted by Wycliffe. In
February 1961, petitioners began performing missionary work in
the Sepik River Basin area of Papua, New Guinea. Petitioners
settled with their children in the primitive village of Madiwai,
where they built a house and studied the village culture and the
language of Washkuk. After 2 years, they built a school where
Mrs. Kooyers taught.
Petitioners traveled to the United States in 1966, so that
Mr. Kooyers could recuperate from hepatitis and they could raise
funds for their work in New Guinea. They returned to New Guinea
in the fall of 1967 and settled in the town of Ambunti. Mrs.
Kooyers began teaching classes there, and eventually the classes
evolved into the Ambunti Akademi.
Petitioners completed their translation of the New Testament
in 1975. The Wycliffe organization required its missionaries
upon completion of a translation to relocate to a new area, study
the language, and begin another translation. Petitioners
believed that they had been called to serve in the Sepik area of
New Guinea. Consequently, they separated from the Wycliffe
organization and established P.I. Ministries, through which they
continued to conduct their missionary work in New Guinea.
Petitioners were employed by P.I. Ministries; Mr. Kooyers served
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