Paul and Beth Kostner Newsletter (Winter 2026)

Dear Friends, Family, and Former Team Members,

Buckle your seatbelts and join us for an adventure as we share a glimpse of our “ride” over the past few months!

After our team concluded, we spent some time traveling for deputation/vacation, visiting Georgia and Tennessee. We had such a wonderful time reconnecting with family and supporters, meeting new friends, and making sweet memories along the way. Chattanooga, in particular, will always hold a special place in my heart since I grew up there. Of course, we had to do the annual “drive-by” of the “old homestead” I grew up in!

While there, we also met with a missionary couple serving in Italy. He and I went to school together for many years and even graduated high school together. His father was my pastor for a long time, so reconnecting with him and his wife was a tremendous blessing. Teen Missions has recently begun hosting annual Boot Camps in Italy, and we are praying that Steve will be able to meet with the coordinators in Italy and possibly get his people involved.

A week or so later, we flew to Nebraska, rented a car, and headed east to Iowa to visit Paul’s sister and brother-in-law. Their daughter, her husband, and their two children live on a nearby farm, and we had such a fun few days together. The weather was gorgeous, and I loved the endless cornfields, wind turbines, and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets.

After returning home, we attended our Staff Field Conference and then jumped straight into planning and implementing what Summer 2026 will look like. As of this writing, we have 16 teams with 175 team members registered, and many more currently in the process. We also have 78 team leaders registered. Lord willing, Paul and I will be leading the Madagascar team. Our team is already full, and we have a complete leadership team in place. We are beyond excited!

Around this time, we also made plans to attend a former team member’s wedding. Both he and his fiancée (now wife) attended the Teen Missions Sojourner School of Ministry. She is a missionary kid from Mexico, and several staff members planned to attend as well. We bought our tickets, secured lodging, and eagerly looked forward to the celebration.

Then we received disheartening news from SE Asia.

Our director, Phany, developed a severe toothache and went to a local hospital, where he was immediately transferred to a larger hospital and admitted to the ICU in critical condition. He had developed a serious infection with a very high mortality rate, and doctors were unsure if he would survive. (Two patients with the same condition passed away during his first week.) We were asked to come to Cambodia to help in any way we could, so we quickly canceled our wedding plans.

On very short notice, we traveled from Orlando to Los Angeles, then to South East Asia were able to visit Phany at least twice a day. Thankfully, he was eventually moved to a regular room. His wife, Sreymon, slept every night on a straw mat beside him. She purchased his food from across the street, prepared it into porridge, fed him through a tube, bathed him, and changed his bedding. The nurses primarily handled dressing changes and IV medications.

I encouraged her to speak with the doctors about getting Phany up and slowly increasing his movement. Soon after, they began discussing sending him home. At that point, Paul and I felt it was time to travel the three hours to our base.

When we arrived, my very first thought was, “This feels like home”. Everywhere I looked, I could see memories of our summer team, and those thoughts brought constant smiles. One staff couple and another family were there helping, but due to Phany’s illness, the Bible school was on break. We stayed in our familiar room and cooked for ourselves. Occasionally, I even baked banana bread with chocolate chips (made from smashed candy bars!) for the staff and interns. We found the Teen Missions oven, a pot, a baking pan and even baking powder left over from our summer team. However, no measuring cups, just lots of guessing.

While we were there, a coordinator from another country, Elwin, visited for a few days and shared updates about their base and ministries. We look forward to visiting that base in the future when things settle down.

When Phany was released from the hospital, he stayed near medical care with his parents for a time. Before we left, he was able to return to the base. Though still weak, he was overjoyed to be home. He returned just as the rice fields were being harvested, and it was such a blessing to see him reunited with Sreymon and their two children. Leaving the base once again was very difficult.

Although medical care is relatively inexpensive by American standards, there is no health insurance system in place. Phany’s medical bills totaled approximately $10,000 — a heavy burden for his family. A fund has been set up to help with these unexpected expenses. If you feel led to give, donations can be made at teenmissions.org/staff-needs. Please designate your gift for Phany under either the Core Mission Fund or Recurring Staff Needs. All gifts are tax-deductible.

After visiting that base, we traveled to another SE Asia Base via Vietnam and spent a couple of weeks with the staff there. Once again, we felt like we were “home.” It was such a joy to spend time with the staff and students, and Paul even helped with the rice harvest. Witnessing their biblical training, servants’ hearts, strong leadership, diverse ministries, and incredible work ethic was deeply encouraging to our hearts. And it was so difficult to leave...

Back home, Paul has been busy securing travel plans for the summer teams, corresponding with missionaries, working on the Boot Camp schedule, and passing along his wealth of knowledge in recruiting leaders to Timothy and his travel expertise to Ethan. I have been juggling registrations, correspondence, paperwork, and countless questions. Audrey, a Sojourner student who works in the afternoons, has been a tremendous help with phone calls, parent communication, mailing packets, and organizing literature.

We also have some exciting news! Lord willing, we will be traveling to SE Asia for two weeks in April/May to help with their Boot Camp. They are expecting over 100 team members and 20 leaders. We will need to raise the full finances for this trip and would greatly appreciate your prayerful support. If you feel led to give, please follow the link provided. Checks may also be sent using the enclosed coupon and made payable to Teen Missions. Please indicate it is for the Kostners SE Asia Trip. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. 

https://teenmissions.org/team-member/paul-kostner-3

Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for us and supporting our ministry. Even after 35 years, we are still excited to come to work each day and be part of what God is doing through Teen Missions. Thank you for making it all possible!

Paul and Beth Kostner