April 2021
Dear Praying Friends,
Christi and Hope went to Port Moresby safely at the beginning of February. They returned with 3 months supply to hold us over until our departure for our furlough. 10 weeks have Elown by so fast, and the time of our proposed departure is now nearing. It is hard to believe that we have been in PNG nearly 3 years already. So much has happened. To me, it seemed this time being in Kaintiba was to weed out many of the people who had joined us with ulterior motives. Truth Baptist Church attendees are a small core group of people that are starting to show signs of true hunger for righteousness. These few will be blessed, as the Saviour promised. We pray that we are apart from them, they will continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
The most recent news that is noteworthy is Father has sent a man to help. “Preacher” Tiwias and his wife Alu have come from another remote village of Tengama. Their daughter Ronna is also here in Kaintiba, as she was originally boarding with her second cousin to attend her 8th grade school. She is settled with her parents now in our “guest house”. They plan to oversee our house, dogs, and the Church ministries in our absence. Tiwias had been an assistant pastor for about 8 years in his “home town” under his Pastor, David. We pray that this new challenge will grow him in Christ more, and potentially, Tiwias will become the pastor in time. He is a good minister, but has not had much experience in preaching. Pray he will learn more how to develop preaching skills and learn to preach the lessons Father teaches him.
The last 4 weeks we have not been able to do our Religious Instruction class in the government school. This was due to more restrictions because more Covid-19 cases have been identiEied in various places throughout PNG. The “RI” class is to resume on Monday, April 19, as the school here in Kaintiba is to resume classes. Even though we have had no conEirmed cases in Kaintiba, nor any deaths related to any viruses, Kaintiba Primary School has to follow the directives given to them by Kerema, Local Level Government of our Gulf Province.
In relation to our plans for furlough, it has become a great challenge. Please pray concerning these things. First, we paid for tickets going through Australia and New Zealand continuing on to Los Angeles, CA. That Elight was soon terminated by New Zealand Airlines. Now we are negotiating tickets/Elight through Australia only, via United Airlines. This Elight is to originate in Port Moresby on the 10th of May. Another complication is currently, all people Elying domestic Elights in PNG have to either have a negative Covid test 24 hours prior to the day they Ely, or an exemption from the Controller, David Manning. We need his permission to leave Kaintiba to get to Port Moresby! If that permission is granted, SIL Mission aircraft will Ely us out of Kaintiba on the 6th of May. So much to pray about, and then to get negative Covid test results for all 7 of us Helzermans to board our Elight on the 10th of May. What a crazy world we live in these days, but that is the fact of the matter for foreign missionaries world wide.
We covet your prayer more than anything. Father will provide all in His time. There is still work here in Kaintiba these next few weeks. Pray we will continue strong until the return of Christ. He is worthy of all adoration of His saints.
Christi’s Corner: To my great joy, Jevila, the student I thought was going to the other school, actually ended up not going there and Einished my class. Graduation was April 1, 2021. (no joke!) While 8 people took the test and only three ofEicially passed, I still recognized the others as having Einished the class. It is hard for adults who have never been around literacy to grasp it well the Eirst or even the second time. Some of my students were not even speaking well the language in which I was teaching. (While they learned letters they also learned more “Tok Pisin”.) I told them they are welcome to come back to my next class and try again. I am thankful for Pepetua, Molele, and Jevila who did pass. (Pepetua was already a reader and wanted a refresher course.) I know that the others learned some things and maybe next time it will “click”! All in all I was blessed to be able to teach them and have an inEluence in their lives.
For His Glory,
Mark and Christi Helzerman
Hadassah,
Grace, Hope, Serenity, and Glory
E-mail: mhelzerman@gmail.com