Dear praying friends,
We recently got back from our trip into Mengen. When we were home with you all, you will remember we presented the work in Mengen to you as a possible option for us.
A Few facts about the Mengen work – Population 10,000 to 15,000 people in the language group spread over a large area that spans from coast to coast in central New Britain Island PNG. The church plant is located in the mountains of New Britain; it has a population of about 200 people. The gospel was presented to the people in May of 2009 and we have a nucleus of about 45 new believers. Currently teaching of the gospel presentation which covers the story of creation to Christ’s ascension is being presented to the church from a believers perspective. In doing this they are getting to focus more on the character of God and His attributes, Godly principles from the bible stories are being shared, and grace is being emphasized along with the believers security in Christ all resting on the work of our Savior on the cross.
We got back on the 13th of Jan from a visit with the team and church where we had a great time discussing what the Lord has done and how the existing team believe the church planting work should progress. We had many question for them concerning our roles, housing options, their expectations of us and we discussed how the next 5 years would look if we joined. We then had time to settle at home, to think, talk and pray; we met with leadership yesterday and it was agreed that we will be joining the church planting work amongst the Mengen people.
As you can imagine we are excited and also apprehensive, but aim to trust the Lord in the busy period ahead. Our goal now is to move in as soon as possible. We want to do this because the work of the gospel is urgent and there is a great need for us to learn the language and be ready to teach bible mid 2012 as other men of the team will be on furlough. Please be praying with us as we think about how minimally we can build to enable us to move in quickly and in accordance with our resources. This may mean only building a small section of our house for now but this will still require lots of planning and work in the next few months. We are looking at a goal of starting construction of our house sometime in March this year as this is the next date our NTM helicopter will be in our area and we require the helicopter to fly in materials.
Thank-you for your prayers, we will be writing you more in coming days concerning our thoughts and plans for the upcoming weeks.
Much love in Christ,
Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah