Ron Koteskey and his wife, Bonnie, are often asked who they are and what they do. They have prepared the following information to answer those questions.
We taught for 35 years in Christian colleges as well as in public and Christian elementary schools . Bonnie taught elementary school as well as teacher education at the college level, and Ron taught psychology at the undergraduate level in college. Our three children are all married and have families of their own. As member care consultants with New Hope International Ministries of Wilmore, KY, we are now retired and, as volunteers, we provide member care for cross-cultural workers. We are not licensed health care professionals, but we emphasize care, encouragement, growth, and prevention of problems rather than treatment of severe problems. We provide such care to anyone, anytime, and anywhere at no charge for our time, usually providing our own transportation to the nearest airport and asking that those we are helping provide ground transportation, lodging, and food. Rather than working as professionals for pay, we provide member care as amateurs in the original sense of the word—out of love rather than for money. We have a mailing list of about 165 prayer supporters as well as about 55 financial supporters.
We do whatever we can to help cross-cultural workers. We do not belong to any sending organization but help others as someone with no official connection to their organization. Listed below are things we are currently doing, but we are always open to new ways to help. Let us begin with the most general forms of help, continue with helping cross-cultural workers through their years of service, and end with specific ministries.
Books. Six E-books are available on the website and can be downloaded free of charge by anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Twenty-five of the brochures have been translated into German and published in a book, Was Missionare wissen sollten…,” translated by Friedhilde Stricker and published by Verlag fur Kultur und Wissenschaft, Bonn, Germany (2003). It is available online at www.haenssler.de.
Brochures. The brochures on the website are also available in printed form for cross-cultural workers who do not have email or who have to pay the kilobyte for downloading their email. We mail one copy of any brochure (or all of them) to anyone anywhere in the world who requests it. We give permission on each brochure for it to be copied and distributed as long as it is given to others free of charge.
Cross-Cultural Worker Care by Radio. Trans World Radio broadcasts in 180 languages to reach people through radio… TWR it has begun a daily 15-minute program in English aimed at Christians working in situations where communication through any other means may expose the workers and jeopardize their lives and ministry. The program is broadcast so that it reaches from Central Asia through North Africa, and you can find out more by visiting www.twr.org and www.memcarebyradio.com. TWR is adapting the brochures to a format suitable for broadcast to let Christians working in this area of the world know that they are neither alone nor forgotten.
Orientation. In an effort to decrease attrition, we participate in the training of new cross-cultural workers. We have made presentations on expectations, generational differences, moral purity, and conflict resolution. Of course, during our time at orientation we are available to talk privately with any cross-cultural worker candidates who want to see us. Currently we help in three orientations per year.
Seminars. We present information on various topics to a variety of cross-cultural worker groups. We have done seminars on third culture kids, leadership, generational differences, conflict, anger, adolescence, maintaining mental and physical health, and psychology from a Christian perspective. We have made these presentations to groups as varied as the entire cross-cultural worker force of one organization, cross-cultural workers on a field, seminary students, university students, field directors, national pastors, retirees, and appointees.
Cross-Cultural Workers in Our Home. Cross-cultural workers have stopped by our home to discuss issues that concern them. We have talked with individuals and couples about a variety of topics ranging from grief to interpersonal relationships to debriefing when they return to the states. These are people who have met us in larger group settings such as conferences, retreats, orientations, seminars, or even discovered us on our web page.
Cross-Cultural Workers on the Field (from Our Home). Cross-cultural workers serving on their fields are unable to stop by our home, so we have communicated with them in a variety of ways. Of course, telephone conversations are always helpful but may be quite expensive between some countries. E-mail is free, but the time between sending a message and receiving a reply may be rather long. Instant messaging by typing messages from computer to computer as well as via voice communication from computer to phone is free, and we do that on a regular basis.
On-Site Visits. At the invitation of cross-cultural workers, we visit them on the field to help them cope with various issues. We do this only if everyone involved wants us to come, and we have the blessing of the organization. At these times we have talked with individuals, couples, and groups of cross-cultural workers. We are not sent by the organization, but go only when invited by the cross-cultural workers themselves.
Care of Cross-Cultural Workers in a Geographical Area. We are just beginning to see the realization of a dream we have had for several years, a dream of providing care for cross-cultural workers from many different agencies in a given place. We want to go on a regular basis to the same cross-cultural workers so that they will get to know us and feel free to talk with us, rather than just going to help in a crisis situation. We have begun by spending a couple weeks in Bolivia talking with about 30 cross-cultural workers from five different agencies in the spring of 2003 and again in the spring of 2004. We also presented seminars on various topics to different groups of cross-cultural workers, and we plan to return to Bolivia on a regular basis as further opportunities arise.
Reentry. We facilitate reentry retreats for cross-cultural workers in transition as they return to the USA. This includes a group debriefing as we talk for two or two and a half days about where they have been, where they are now and where they are going. As a part of this we have written a 50-page booklet, Coming “Home”: The Reentry Transition, which is available on our website for anyone to download and use even if they are unable to come to a retreat. Currently we do four reentry retreats (50-60 cross-cultural workers total) each year.
Organization Conferences. We have participated in organization conferences when invited to give churches suggestions on how to care for the cross-cultural workers they support financially. In these seminars we give suggestions above and beyond prayer support and financial support.