April 2024
Dear Praying Friends,
As always, I must start this letter thanking Father for such a blessing it is to represent Christ out here in the jungles of PNG. To preach Christ and Him crucified for the remission of sins is a great privilege. It is a joy for our whole family to be able to have some part in pointing souls to the Saviour. Although we don't often see immediate results of our “work”, we are at peace to plant, water and allow God to give the increase. For His good pleasure is what we seek to attain, and that He will say “well done” at the end of our “work day”.
Our time with Joshua S. from Alaska went by so fast. It is hard to believe that he returned back to the USA over a month ago. He was such a HUGE help in all the physical work that is a constant in maintaining the property around our house. The second month Joshua was here (March), we did a mission outreach with our friend Yonias. (Yonias is from another indigenous Baptist church in the mountains north of Kaintiba.). We carried some bilingual New Testaments, produced by Bearing Precious Seed in the USA, out to another village about 9 hours walking. This village area is called Iemepango on Google Earth, if you want an idea of the jungle terrain that we traversed from Kaintiba. We spent the night in a bush hut, and walked back to Kaintiba the next day. Please pray for my friend Albert Alphonse, who was our host. He and his family were raised in the Roman Catholic area called Hawabango, and is now a Elementary teacher in his village. We pray he will read more of the Bible, and understand more of what true Christianity is all about. Pray that the Holy Spirit will do a work in his family that no man can do…….repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Joshua and I flew to Port Moresby on the 28th of March in prep for his scheduled flight back to Alaska. After 3 days of traveling around the big city getting supplies with me, I’m sure he was ready to get back to his regular life in the USA. Overall, he had a great time and our family made many great memories together. Any like-minded visitor is a delight, and most welcome…..anytime.
April flew by so fast. On 3 April I was back with the family in Kaintiba, with 3 months worth of supplies. I was able to buy 30 chairs for the church building, so now we have a more “civilized” way to sit, although we still have reserved seating for those who prefer to sit “Indian style” on the floor. Also with the supplies we were able to get flown into Kaintiba came a few more building materials to put a toilet room in the new guest house. As I reminisce how everything that came together to get all these things accomplished, it just amazes me. A man really untrained in carpentry, simple prayers and wisdom given by God has seen so much spring up on this swampy corner of this forsaken outstation called Kaintiba.
We cannot forget all the thousands of dollars that churches have given to sustain our family in this great work. We are unworthy of any good thing from the Father, and we enjoy this great opportunity to proclaim the Word in both word and in deed. Thanks also for the $1,000 special offering from Bible Believer’s Baptist Church in Panama City, Florida. It was designated to the maintenance of the Kaintiba Airstrip. The upkeep of this airstrip has often cut into the budget of our own personal grocery purchases, so this HUGE gift will be a great help for the remainder of the year 2024. The special person who does the menu planning (my wife Christi) will also have more peace of mind that I can assure her that there will be enough $ to stock her shelves.
Christi’s Corner: As I type this, I am blessed that Hadassah was able to unexpectedly come for a visit. Though she was planning a short trip in June, it suddenly became longer as the Reese Parfitt Family asked her to accompany them while flying over here to PNG mid-April. They had planned to leave the first week of May, but realized a stipulation on their visa that they must get here within 6 months of issue or they would have to start over again on their visa application process . All that to say, we are elated to have Hadassah with us for close to 2 months!
Grace is getting closer to being done with her schoolwork. I continue to encourage her every day! Keep up the good work! We plan to celebrate her here on the 9th of June. We will do it PNG style with a mumu. She will have a graduation party in the states in August, Lord willing!
God is so good to us! I am thankful for being here. The Lord has allowed so many of my dreams to come to pass! Thank you, Lord!
For His Glory,
Mark and Christi Helzerman
Grace, Hope, Serenity, and Glory
E-mail: mhelzerman@gmail.com