February 2020
Dear Praying Friends,
We do praise our Lord for allowing us to return safely to Kaintiba from our much needed rest in Australia. As we asked you all to pray for the strength to build a new church building, Father has strengthened us, and it is complete enough to meet in since the first week of the year. With the help of several youth and a few men, the frame went up in about 2 weeks. Three men had given a total of 7 trees, and money was given to pay a chainsaw operator to cut every piece of wood free-hand with our chainsaw! In the end there was little waste of materials and now we are just doing several last finishing touches. The joint effort of the members and several others has brought joy to my heart. Now, to teach them the purpose of the church building.
The 14th day of January was the official opening ceremony, but the building already had much use by that time. Our 4th annual “Holiday” (Vacation) Bible School was held in it! Christi will mention some highlights about it, but it was a blessing to be already using the much hard work and sacrifice for the glory of God. At the opening ceremony, we had a pig mumu (feast), and a time of rejoicing of what had been accomplished. Several people were honoured according to their place in the work! At the end of our “meeting”, I gave a charge concerning the purpose and proper use of our church building. Over the course of this year, I intend to continue building on that premise, so as to remove the twisted understanding the people in Kaintiba have concerning “church”. Even some trained pastors have turned their churches into their own private business, and using the church building as a place to generate fraudulent wages…..greedy of “filthy lucre”. This type of behaviour was prophesied by Jesus, the Apostle Paul, and several others in the Bible.
These are the main points I gave them to ponder: 1. The church building is a place for sinners to come—out of the weather, rain, sun,—to hear the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. The church building is a place for Christians to come and be encouraged as they bear up under their hardships of life. 3. The church building should NOT be worshipped, but a place to worship the God of grace and mercy. 4. The church building is NOT a business as men do business, but it is a place for men and God to do business with each other. God is willing to purchase our souls, but he expects all men to give their bodies as a living sacrifice. These are the sorts of transactions that I am more familiar with in the church setting Father grew me in. The transactions that I have made personally with God, and He has made with me, have given great dividends and many blessings hard to count or make a list of! 5. The church building is a place where men and women are trained, as in a class room, to be sent forth by our Lord out into the Harvest Field…to reach the many souls around the world.
Having said these things, the Scripture that is the theme for us this year is found in the Book of Acts 26:18. “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” This is a statement from the Apostle Paul quoting God, and it is ultimately (as we see in the context) the desire of the Father to redeem all men back unto Himself. Religion and false precepts have blinded the majority of our population, as in most places around the world. Our desire is that God would somehow use our family to turn these people from the power of Satan. This wicked power has had a stronghold for far too long, and we have set our heart to see it broken. We seek for prayer as we continue in the good fight of faith and ask for Divine prevention from the dangers and snares that are so often set to destroy our labour of love. We seek to allow the love of Christ shine forth as a great Light to those who sit in darkness! A blind man sitting in darkness seems hopeless, but with God, all things are possible.
Christi’s Corner: This past month (January) was our 4th VBS. We had a record attendance and enrollment of 127 children and youth. “What Side Are You On?” was the theme for the VBS. Many heard the Gospel and were reminded they need to make a choice. We pray they will chose Life and Light!
On the last day—Friday—our daughter Hope fell on here arm during the game time. We felt it best to get it checked out due to her intense pain level. I flew with her to an American Clinic in Ukarumpa to have her arm X-rayed. Thankfully, it was not broken, but only badly bruised and enflamed. She is back to using it and almost back to full strength.
For His Glory,
Mark and Christi Helzerman
Hadassah,
Grace, Hope, Serenity, and Glory
E-mail: mhelzerman@gmail.com