Student Missionary Murdered

[Stan]

This is about the saddest news ever for me, my daughter was a Missionary in that area and had spent a few days on Yap. Yap is the country that had those huge stones for currency that we used to read about in Riley's Believe it or not. Special thanks to my friend Ansel Oliver for writing this up.

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Adventist student missionary found murdered in Yap, Micronesia

Teacher went missing after morning jog off campus, officials say

19 Nov 2009, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

Ansel Oliver/ANN

Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott was serving as a volunteer teacher at the Seventh-day Adventist school in Yap, Micronesia. She was found dead off campus Wednesday November 18. [photo courtesy Adventist Volunteer Service]

A Seventh-day Adventist student missionary who was teaching at the Adventist school on the Pacific island of Yap was found dead Wednesday, the victim of an apparent homicide off the school's campus, church officials said.

Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott, originally from Virginia in the United States, had reportedly gone jogging by herself before morning classes and did not return, church leaders said.

Leaders from the church's regional administrative headquarters, the Guam-Micronesia Mission, took the one-hour commercial flight from Guam to Yap Wednesday evening to assess the tragedy affecting the school and provide grief support for other teachers.

Police have been notified and an investigation has begun, church leaders reported.

"This is devastating news, not only for the family but for the school and the Adventist Church," said Homer Trecartin, associate secretary for the Adventist world church and director of Adventist Volunteer Service.

"Throughout the history of the church many have made the sacrifice to go serve and some have paid with their lives," Trecartin said. "Our prayer is that God will raise other people to finish the work that Kirsten and others started."

Wolcott, 20, had taken a year off of school at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee, where she was a junior education major. A memorial service will be held at the university the week after Thanksgiving break, a spokesperson said.

Yap SDA School opened in 1987 as an elementary school and subsequently expanded to a kindergarten through 12th-grade school. The school is highly rated on the island and is run mostly by Adventist college students volunteering as teachers. About 10 student missionaries are serving this year in Yap, Trecartin said. Teachers live in apartments on campus.

Yap, about 16 miles long and four miles wide, is one of four island states of the nation of Micronesia, a U.S. protectorate.

The Adventist Church currently has more than 780 student missionaries serving around the globe, Trecartin said.

Additional details will be provided as information becomes available.

news.adventist.org

Established in 1994, Adventist News Network is the official news agency of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and is a function of the Communication department at the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters. Our news includes dispatches from the church's international offices and the world headquarters.

[Gail]

Very sad :(

[Stan]

Someone needs to step up to the plate and finish the work she has started, if possible.

[Guest]

This is terrible.

[Guest]

Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott

[phkrause]

Oh that's sad Stan, really sad.

pk

[lazarus]

Very sad news.

Just sharing from an email I received.........

Dear Pastors, Teacher and Workers

We have received the tragic news that Kirsten Wolcott, a student missionary from Southern Adventist University, and the daughter of Karen and Hollis Wolcott, died tragically on Yap, an island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean (a state of the Federated States of Micronesia). She left for a morning jog at approximately 6:30 am on Wednesday, November 18th. Her fellow student missionaries became concerned after a few hours when she did not arrive to teach her class. Her body was discovered several hours later.

Karen is one of our teachers at the Tappahannock Jr. Academy, and in speaking with the family, words can not describe the loss they feel. Their faith, however, is firmly grounded in the belief that God is faithful and He is still in control. Together, we all long for the resurrection and the second coming of His Son . Our prayers go out to the family and friends of Kirsten, and we ask that your prayers lift them up, as well.

VP for Education

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

This is tragic..

[Tom Wetmore]

Kirsten was a friend of my son at Southern...

[Gail]

:(

[Tom Wetmore]

...and her mother and my wife were in band together during college... Kirsten was her parent's only daughter. Kirsten had two brothers.

May God have mercy...

[Dr. Rich]

I am so sorry and sad to hear of this. My own son was a student missionary near there some years back. And I have friends there who say that it is a very safe place. May God be with the family and friends.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Is this Wolcott family related to Sylvia (Nelson) Wolcott? Her father baptized me when I first joined the church.

[Guest]

Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott

[LifeHiscost]

Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott

In reflection: mindful that there is no safe place on this earth for any who would serve Jesus. God alone knows the full reason why some are allowed to sleep in Jesus earlier but I have no doubt the ones who are privileged to receive the reward for having given their life for Him, will not be disappointed.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 KJV

"The righteous perishes,

And no man takes it to heart;

Merciful men are taken away,

While no one considers

That the righteous is taken away from evil.

He shall enter into peace;

They shall rest in their beds"Isa 57:1,2 NKJV

Blessings!

[Nan]

Amen LHC. We cannot begin to make any sense of this tragedy...

how much worse it must be for her family.

[Stan]

my daughter was on the island next to that, the Pastor and family were killed, on my daughters birthday.

I don't think I could have handled my princess being hurt.

I just hurt for the family, the excitement of being a missionary teacher, the hopes, the struggles, the dreams shattered. I hurts so much just to think about that.

Now what we need is someone to say, "I will continue the work she has started" and finish up the school year.

[LifeHiscost]

Amen LHC. We cannot begin to make any sense of this tragedy...

how much worse it must be for her family.

How true. I have three daughters, and to look on Kirsten's face brings a special sense of loss as I consider how I would feel were it my daughter. And it's right to remember, Kirsten is our sister. Makes me look forward to the kingdom with even greater anticipation, that I might have the privilege to meet her in person.

Blessings!

[Nan]

I have a friend who has been recruiting for teaching staff...I guess SM's - for Guam. She has just left the US and returned to Guam ...I wonder if this tragedy will affect those whom she contacted.

[pindoc]

Wow, how awful. In a state this small, whoever attacked her must have known who she was. It will be interesting to see what details are uncovered in the criminal investigation.

God be with her family and fellow missionaries.

[Gregory Matthews]

My son, Christopher, is in Guam working for Adventist World Radio as he takes a year off from Walloa Walla. We will probably telephone him tomorrow (Guam time) and ask about it.

[Stan]

I understand there are only something like 6,000 people http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap, but other sites claim almost double that.