KORTEN, Adrian and Beatrice
Americas
Adrian grew up on a small farm in southwest Ontario. He first worked as a computer programmer with businesses in Ontario. He worked as a guest helper with Wycliffe New Zealand in 1991. After this experience, he realized that he could use his programming skills in missions. Adrian began working in the Wycliffe Calgary office in 1993.
Beatrice comes from Switzerland. Bea worked in a bank for a few years. She sensed a call to missions and connected with Wycliffe through a missionary in her home church. She went to Calgary for a short term assignment in finance, in part to improve her English skills. During this time, she connected with Adrian and they were engaged to be married.
Adrian and Beatrice both went to Switzerland and worked in the Wycliffe office for a year. During this time, they were married and took a two-month summer training course in linguistics. After another year of travel and training, they were seconded to a Wycliffe partner organization and began work in Bangkok, Thailand. They worked for more than 10 years in roles of office manager, IT support and administration. They have three children who were born in Bangkok: Elisha (Jonny), Micah and Larissa.
In 2012, Adrian began work as the finance manager in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Bea worked part-time in administration, helped at the local international school that their children attended and cared for their children at home. They continued in these roles until June 2020.
Now in Calgary, Bea resumed a role in finance, specifically receipts. Adrian also works in finance as an analyst. He is assigned to general finance as well as project funding finances, where he is still partially involved with projects in Thailand and the surrounding area. He also has a small role as an adviser to the current finance manager in Thailand. Adrian enjoys the connections with their former colleagues as he sees continued development of national staff and programs.
The Kortens pray that their skills and talents, as well as their overseas experience and relationships, will be a blessing and asset during their time of service in Canada.