December 2019
Dear Praying Friends,
As you may know, this letter is being sent out three months from our last report. In preparation for our vacation to Cairns, we had to stay in Kaintiba an extra month. To be able to take the whole family out of Kaintiba, it cost much more. So, we usually need that extra month of funds to pay for the chartered flight out of the Kaintiba airstrip. And, as always, our cell phone service provider does not have enough data coverage in Kaintiba to send out bulk email with attachments. Thank you for your patience to hear from us via our "bi-monthly" report.
We do thank those who have given specifically toward the building of a permanent church building in Kaintiba. My responsibility was to purchase all the non-wood items for the construction and the Papua New Guineans had the responsibility to cut the timber out of the jungle. They were able to pay for a chainsaw operator to come for 2 weeks and mill out timber for the entire building with our chainsaw. As it looks right now, we have all the material ready to start construction of the main structure upon our return next week. The last 3 weeks leading up to our vacation, me and several men, and boys, were able to set all the 24 post into the ground. The posts were set in cement: within and without. Also, the main beams were attached the last few days before we left.
With anticipation we look forward to the task ahead. Since the budget in the building fund is not enough to fly a trained carpenter into Kaintiba, the men have agreed that we should be able to do it ourselves. With their understanding of building the PNG way, and my experience of construction and hand tools, we will set out to do this work with wisdom from Father. Pray God will grant us understanding and safety as we seek to please Him in this new phase of Truth Baptist Church. This should be a great experience for the church family.
One of the traits I have been working to teach these people is to take responsibility for their own church; to take part as much as possible to build their own church building. We must participate together in order to prepare for the next generation. Teaching the next generation by the parents and leaders in our area of PNG is a foreign concept to them. They have grown to think of only "today", not considering the consequences of poor decisions in years to come. Although I am carrying a large part of the “work” still, several of them are starting to catch on. Atrus and his family have done the most, and for this we are thankful.
There are many things in this life to be thankful for. I often think of my parents and so many Godly Christians who have instilled in me Godly character. The pastor of my boyhood days showed me to be sensitive to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit. These good qualities have been invaluable to our family throughout our many years of ministry, both in the USA, and in Papua New Guinea. If I could encourage anyone who may be reading this letter, don’t forget to always seek first the kingdom God and His righteousness, and so many blessing will follow. Being led of the Holy Spirit will make it possible to avoid many snares and pitfalls the enemy prepares for God’s children.
Our time in Cairns, Australia has been very refreshing. So many miracles Father prepared for us to make our trip possible. Our Passports were ready when we arrived into Port Moresby — only two days from the day we were scheduled to fly to Cairns. Wow! We pray that we will be able to arrive back into Kaintiba this next week. Keep us in prayer.
Christi’s Corner: My 4 students are nearing the completion of their reading course. I plan to do a follow up course afterwards to help cement their reading. A great blessing to me was meeting a missionary in Port Moresby who has developed an app (Bloom Reader) that would help students with their reading both in English and Tok Pisin levels. I look forward to trying it out with my students.
We are currently in Australia on a week long holiday with our daughter Tabitha and her family. Though they live in the same country (PNG), we hardly get to see them. We are having a blast with our grand baby!
For His Glory,
Mark and Christi Helzerman
Hadassah,
Grace, Hope, Serenity, and Glory
E-mail: mhelzerman@gmail.com