October 2023
Dear Praying Friends,
We pray this newsletter finds you all in good health. In spite of living out in the malaria infested jungles, Father has kept us from this sickness and multiple other diseases. Besides prayer and care of Christ, we have found natural remedies that grow naturally here that inhibit many sickness. Lord willing in a few weeks we all will fly to Kerema where malaria is much more prevalent, along with many other illnesses. Please pray with us that our bodies will be strong to thwart the many sickness running wild in swamps of the Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.
Just yesterday the financial support came in, and it was more than expected. Some people had already sent some funds for the Christmas holidays. All the love gifts that you all have given are such a help and blessing….we don't deserve any good thing that comes from the Father through you all. We had prayed extensively for enough to cover our upcoming flights down to Kerema ($1,700), and back from Port Moresby ($2,200) on December 1st. Father provided enough for the flight + money to purchase some supplies to bring back to the jungle. Thank you all who have given for so many years and are continuing to give in spite of all the inflation and other financial crises the USA is facing. Your care and prayer is such a comfort and cheer.
Speaking of “giving”, it seems that this year more and more tools that we have been using are really starting to fall apart. For instance, the Kawasaki weed-eater/slasher I bought back in 2012 is starting to need more and more “duck-tape” and “super glue”. Our diesel generator has been repaired with “bailing wire” recently, also. They run still, but I have to handle them with TLC! If anyone wants to send an extra dollar or two towards replacing these two big dollar items, we won’t turn it away.
One of the reasons we are going out as a family…first to Kerema….is to be reunited with Hadassah who has been assisting at the Charity Baptist Academy for the last 4 months. It is the last week of the school year (November 20-24). Caleb and Tabitha with our 2 granddaughters also plan to meet up with us in Kerema to see us one last time before they fly back to the USA for furlough. It will be good to see them all again since March. Both they and us will also be traveling the road between Kerema and Port Moresby. Please pray for our safety, if you would.
An interesting thing happened today, but not to be entirely unexpected. It had been quite awhile…several years…since I had personally gone to visit the house of one of our church members. To get to his house takes nearly 2 hours for me, down a steep valley, across raging currants of water, up the other side. The “other side” going up is like climbing a slippery ladder for an hour. Anyways, as I and my friend (Samuel) were over half way up the other side of the valley, a man chased us back down with his bush knife. I asked him what his name was, but he said it wasn’t my business to know his name. I asked him why he was refusing passage for me to go see my friend Gabriel. He said that was not my business, either. He just insisted that he never see my face on this footpath ever again or (insisting) he would do harm to me. So, in order to escape the danger this angry man posed to me, I reluctantly retreated back down the “slippery ladder”. Maybe some day I will understand why the jungle “road” was blocked for me to go spend some time with Gabriel and his family. Why this man was angry at me, I may never know. People out here in PNG harbor bitterness in there hearts for decades sometimes, and I don't even know this man or his affiliations.
Thats PNG for you. Pray that Father will keep using us to shine a bright Light for them to see, and open eyes for them to behold the wonderful love of Christ. He is our all and all. Without Christ, we can do nothing.
Christi’s Corner: My ladies and I from the literacy class have decided it was time for a break. So we will be finishing the class before we go to Kerema. Because of Christmas and our Holiday Bible School we will not be meeting again until mid January. A couple of students are not interested in continuing. I am praying about changing it up to be a Bible reading practice or so something like that. I am praying for wisdom as to how to proceed. I had asked if they wanted to continue further and two definitely wanted to finish. My one student could not be there that day. She was really disappointed that we were going to stop. She said something along the lines of, “I can’t read the Bible yet by myself. Who will help me?” I am thankful for her interest and desire to read God’s Word for herself!
We continue to wait on word about the girl’s visas. Hadassah desires to be with us through the first few months of the coming year. We are going to attempt to get her a visitor visa. It is much more complicated than it was when Tabitha chose that route for a few months back in 2016/17. Please pray for finances to go that route as well!
For His Glory,
Mark and Christi Helzerman
Hadassah,
Grace, Hope, Serenity, and Glory
E-mail: mhelzerman@gmail.com