June 2018
Dear Praying Friends,
This is a quick update and timeline of our return to PNG and also an urgent PRAYER plea! Many of you already know we have been waiting to have visas placed in 5 of our children's new Passports:
- February: Sent documentation to PNG to have them submitted at Immigration.
- Followed up in March and May. We found one needed document was to be submitted. That was completed.
- June 5: Tickets to Port Moresby purchased at a good price: $1,200 per person. Two churches gave toward that.
- June 6: Immigration approved the visas, and 5 Passports sent to the PNG Embassy in Washington, DC. on June 7.
- June 8: the Embassy received the Passports and all the applications found in order.
THE CRITICAL PRAYER POINT: The Embassy has not yet received the electronic transfer of information that is needed from PNG to complete the visa to be placed in these 5 Passports. PLEASE PRAY that the person that has the responsibility of typing a few key stokes on a computer and hitting SEND would do that by the end of the 25th of June!! There are only 4 business days for the Embassy to sent these Passports back to us, and they are standing by and ready to expedite it. Beth Ann has been so gracious with me as I have been quite regularly ringing the PNG Embassy office to see if all is in order.
As Father hears our cries concerning this, He has already done so much in giving me wisdom in all the other logistics. Just this past Wednesday (June 13), the man who schedules flights with SIL to fly to the jungle airstrips sent me an email. He said they were able to secure a date for the pilot to fly our family to Kaintiba. We had been waiting almost 3 weeks in anticipation for this 11 July flight, since SIL has been short a few pilots to accommodate all their flight request. Now we PRAY for good flying weather on that date. The room is booked in Port Moresby for us to prepare for this last hour flight.
Since this SIL aircraft will not be able to take both our family and all our luggage and supplies, we have to secure another aircraft to bring the remaining “cargos” the following week. A third flight will need to be scheduled for August/September to bring in the household items we shipped in a sea container last month. PLEASE PRAY for all these logistics and the enormous cost that have depleted our savings account.
If this news report comes to you snail-mail, Lord willing we will be in PNG by that time. Needless to say, we covet your prayer. This Christian life is a joy in the midst of the sorrow and anxiety. The day we purchased the tickets, a wave of emotion swept over all of us. I knelt down with Christi at that moment and committed all this to our Father in Heaven. He is pleased with those who will answer His call and make adjustments in their own personal lives in order to carry His Name, give Him the fame, and bear His shame.
Christi’s Corner: Packing, sorting, thinking!! That’s what’s going on in my world and will be till we leave. It’s a lot of mental stress. I think I have learned a little from the past to apply this time. One of which is not saving everything till the last moment. So as we look at our last week I have a good start. Just need to refine it. Thanks for your PRAYERS!
For His Glory,
Mark and Christi Helzerman
Titus, Samuel, Hadassah,
Grace, Hope, Serenity and Glory
E-mail: mhelzerman@gmail.com