YOUR MISSIONARIES IN PNG

PLEASE PRAY!!

Today is Sunday and we had a very good church service here on the base. Various gifted missionaries take turns speaking and others lead the worship time. We keep hearing Christmas mentioned but our northern minds have a hard time comprehending that it can be Christmas with temp in the '80's. We are into December and realize that we have only 26 days until we leave. We would ask that you would please be praying for us as we make our way home. In this country of PNG it is a well known fact that they will cancel any flight at a moments notice so we would appreciate prayers on our behalf so that we can make our connections without to many problems. One of our co-workers that left a few weeks ago missed all her flights and had a tough time getting it together. Our flight out of here is scheduled to be on Dec. 28 in the morning and we are to leave out of Sydney Aus. on Dec.30 arriving in LA on the 30 because we gain a day. Please continue to pray for Margaret, she is going to see the mission Dr. tomorrow to see if he has any ideas on how to help for her sitting pain.
We would also ask that you would pray for our son Franz andKristie, they have purchased tickets to go to A SEND INTL. orientation in Michigan in Jan. to prepare them to head out to the Chek Republik as missionaries. We would also ask you to pray for Ryan and Rachel Cote as they are at a bible camp this weekend in Northern Ontario Canada. We are praising the Lord for all of you that are praying for all of our requests.

Exciting news!!!

A few days ago I was on Skype with my daughter Josie in Indonesia and she told me she had a birthday present for me for next July 11! They are expecting a baby #4 !!!! Yeah and Praise the Lord. Please be praying for them as she has been having all day morning sickness. Her ministry is running the guest house plus looking after 3 children. Please pray for Josh as he has extra responsibilities helping with the kids and also has been running a fever.

EARTHQUAKE

Here we are again. 3 weeks have passed by and we have had some more interesting experiences. On Nov22 we were invited to a family from Belgium for thanksgiving supper. There were 2 other guests besides the host family and us. We had just completed the main course when the house started to shake. We were having an earthquake!!! We got up from the table and went to stand outside in a somewhat safer place. We could see the light standard swaying back and forth and also they had a one story water tank for catching rainwater, and it was sloshing over the sides. It was a pretty wild ride.... After a few minutes we went back inside and enjoyed our dessert. The next morning we heard it had been a 6.1 on the Richter scale. We have not heard of any damage but apparently this was the strongest earthquake the missionaries here remember having.

Week one in PNG

Our first week here has gone by very quickly. We only have 6 weeks left and so much we would like to get done. The first couple of days were spent setting up our household, getting an account set up,going into the nearest town and going to the veggie market(not exactly the Piggly Wiggly) although there usually are some live pigs present, running around!!!! We also got reoriented to life in a third world country,Roosters crowing at 4:am, the smell of all the cooking fires in the air,( and many other smells to numerous to mention). We have been invited to various missionaries homes for meals and visits. We have also been interacting with the national people and refreshing our language abilities (or lack thereof). Yesterday Margaret had the privilege of giving one of the national people employment by having her help around the house. Her name is Lita and she is a single mother. She has to support a 4 year old daughter by herself. She also has a garden and sells produce at the local market. She grows guava, pineapple, sweet potatoes,and Tapioc. Her home is a 25 min walk from here. She drops her daughter off at a local" school", then she comes here to work and after work she picks up her daughter and walks home and works in her garden. Having this lady come into my home gives Margaret tremendous opportunity to learn more about her culture and beliefs. It also gives Margaret the opportunity to show her Christ's Love. Please pray for us as we interact with these people that we would be a good testimony of God's Love for them.

continuing timeline

When we got to Australia we only had 3 more flights to go. We had to spend 1 night in Sydney before we could continue on.
November 5 2007
6:10 am we left for the Sydney Airport when we got there they told us the International flight we were to take with Air New Guinea had been canceled and we had to go on a domestic flight with Qantas to Brisbane. Then at Brisbane, we had to take a train to the International Terminal, where
we boarded an Air New Guinea flight to Port Moresby. At Port Moresby we had to clear customs after some confusion as to the procedure. When we cleared customs, we were hurried off to the Domestic departures terminal again. We sat and waited for a time, making that connection in plenty of time, but at the same time we didn't know whether our flight was for sure going to depart for Goroka. Our host, Aaron Jex, showed up in a couple of minutes to take us to Lapilo, and to the
home that we were to enjoy for the next 2 months.

Timeline

October 31,2007
3:30 AM We got up to leave for O'Hare airport.
8:05 AM We departed from ORD to LAX (LA).
10:33 AM We arrived in LAX good flight.
11:30 PM (LA time) we find out we can't get on that flight. (1:30 central time).
We go to a hotel for the night and are wondering what God has in mind for us. The hotel is a Travelodge minus any frills and any space (when we put our luggage on the floor we could not walk in the room.SMILE. (99.00)usd
November 1, 2007
We called a friend in Canada who informs us that there is more money coming then we were aware of and we should do whatever we needed to. So we went online and found some reasonable tickets with Qantas Airline for November 2 11:10 pm LA. time.
We take the shuttle back to the airport and find where we need to be the next day and return to another hotel for the same price and this time the hotel is amazing and the service is even better so we enjoyed a nite and half a day and then back to the airport.
November 2 2007
11.10 PM LA time we board our 14 hr flight to Sydney Australia.
8:30 AM Nov.4 we arrive in Australia. (We have crossed the international date line and so we have lost a day. The flight was great we got a row of 4 seats to ourselves so Margaret could lie down and sleep. PTL Wow how awesome.
Back to a hotel to wait for our flight to PNG.
Only three more flights to go. YEAH I will continue this report tomorrow!!

We have arrived

We arrived here in PNG safe and sound Praise God. Our trip took a few twists and turns but over all everything went very well. We are pretty jet lagged today so the brain is a little slow. We will be posting pictures real soon. Thank-you to everyone for all your prayers and gifts. Please keep praying that we would be a blessing and that we would glorify God in all we say and do.

Here we are again just a few hrs later and God has provided for us to purchase a ticket to fly to Australia with Quantas airline. We will be flying out tomorrow nite at 11:33 pm. Praise God for his provision. Last nite we slept in a rather dumpy hotel for a ridiculous price, tonite we found a really nice hotel for a very reasonable price, and it has a great Mexican restaurant down the street so we had a delicious lunch/supper. We are praising God for his faithfulness and thanking all of you for praying and also giving.

Dear praying friends, We are in LA waiting on our flight to PNG. We are flying standby for this flight and could not get on last night so we are waiting on the Lord. Please pray for us to get on tonight. WE NEED A MIRACLE!!! My prayer before we left was that whatever would give God the most glory. So I think I set us up for this SMILE.

It has been awhile since we have posted. We have had computer issues and then I forgot all my ID for this blog.... what can I say? It is 5 days to D day. We are hoping we will have a good email hookup in PNG so we can keep you all up to date on our work trip. We are so thankful for all of you for praying and also for giving we could not do this without you. Some prayer requests that we would ask you to remember are;
~Safety in all of our travels(6 flights one way)
~Health (it is easy to get sick with added stress and new germs)
~For all our connecting flights (that we will make them)
~That we would glorify God in all we do and say
~That we would be open to God's leading in the ministries He would have us be a part of (there are many needs and we can't fill all of them)

Winter PNG trip!

2007 WORK ASSIST TRIP
Please Pray!!

Papua New Guinea, November 1st- December 31st

We Still Need Partners

Prayer:

Safety and health as we travel

Vibrant ministry in country

Our daily walk with the Lord

Support:

Total Cost: $7,500.00

To Donate: www.ntm.org/give/464

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

(John 20:21)

Home Address:

Frank & Margaret Martens

New Tribes Bible Institute

915 North Hartwell Ave

Waukesha, WI 53186

USA

262.970.8697

Field Address:

Frank & Margaret Martens

New Tribes Mission

P.O. Box 1079

Goroka, G.H.O. 441

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

866.547.246o

Newsletter July 2007

(Graduating class Spring 2007)

Dear praying family and friends,

Greetings to all of you with the words of Paul in Colossians 1:1-6, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…”

(Tamara singing with the choir at NTBI Waukesha)

We would like to tell you about some of the events and our hope for future plans in our life.

The past 7 years seem to have flown by. During this time we have seen God working on our behalf, for the sake of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ many times.

We have also witnessed many lives being changed by the study of God’s Word and many people being challenged to go to bring this message to people who have no opportunity to hear.

Papua New Guinea

Work Trip

During these 7 years we have often asked the Lord if possibly we also could go and be a part of this ministry overseas.

This coming November and December we are, Lord willing, hoping to go to the highlands of Papua New Guinea to be a physical help to the missionaries working there and also to see if there is a ministry that we could be a part of for long term.

As you probably have heard, Margaret had back surgery this past spring and is still recovering. So far the results have been somewhat less than we had hoped for.

All of these events are beyond our ability to accomplish, but we know that God is able. 2 Corinthians 1:11 “Here you can cooperate by praying for us, so that the help that is given to us in answer to many prayers will mean that many will thank God for our preservation.” (J.B.Phillips trans)

Some of our prayer requests are:

· Margaret’s back would be healed sufficiently to travel

· Wisdom in travel plans

· That our finances would come together

· Our walk with the Lord

We would like to thank everyone for all their prayers and financial support they have given on our behalf, we could not be doing any of this without all of you.

In Christ,

Frank and Margaret Martens

Florida Trip

I (Margaret) got back from Fla. on thursday nite. I had a very relaxing time hanging out with our grandkids, swimming,( floating on an air mattress). I went to the beach twice and even had the pleasure of hearing Franz speak at his church. I praise God for a great 2 weeks. I am glad to be back home and am recovering from my vacation. Smile.

thank-you for all your prayers

Margaret is healing well. She still has the Dr.'s orders to keep her activity level to a mild roar(do nothing). So frank suggested she fly to Fla. and spend some of her recovery time lying bythe pool ,watching her grandkids. so she plans to fly out on thursday the 31 and come back june 14.

It has been a while since we have posted a new blog. I will try to catch up with our latest happenings. May2,07 Margaret had back surgery and it all went well. It seems she will need a lot of patience for recovery. NTBI just had their graduation on may 18. there were70 graduates. What an awesome praise to God for the unhindred ability to study God's word. Frank has compleated all his dental work,PTL. Tamara has moved back home now that school is out till aug. Please keep praying for Margaret's recovery .

We are writing this to tell you about our journey, with the Lord before us, and you all praying behind us.

We are so thankful for your caring and faithfulness in praying and also providing financially for us. We could not have done this without you. God has answered yours and our prayers abundantly and overflowing.

On March 21, 2005, we (Frank, Margaret and Tamara) left our home in Waukesha, Wisconsin for Durham, Ontario for what we thought would be a three or possibly four week stay to complete our Visa paperwork. Three weeks before we left we did not know where we would stay or what we would use for transportation. Just before we left the US, we spoke with a friend in Durham and he offered us a place to stay for three weeks. Also, another friend from Toronto called and told us he had a car for us.


When we had spent approximately two weeks in Ontario, we got a letter saying we would need a police report from PNG and Canada. We realized this would further delay our paperwork progress and felt quite discouraged. We knew from past experience that PNG paperwork would take months. The Lord showed us our lack of faith when it came through within two weeks.
After three weeks at our friend’s house, a guestroom opened up for us at the Mission Headquarters. During our first week at N.T.M.C., we were praying about where to stay after our guest rooms were no longer available.

One week before our time was up, a lady we had casually met called us. (We knew her son and daughter). She offered that we could come and stay in their guest room for as long as we needed a place to stay.

To sit in another person’s home and wait for an unknown length of time is an amazingly difficult thing to do. Yet through all of it, God faithfully showed us His great love and faithfulness through His Word and also through His people. Many times people came and assured us of the fact that God’s timing is perfect and that He never wastes anyone’s time.
We took a number of day trips around Southern Ontario, a very beautiful part of the country. This also gave us quality time together as a couple and as a family. We did a lot of reading, walking, visiting and praying. Oh, and did I mention “praying” some more!

Our third Sunday in Ontario, we believed that God was prompting us to attend a church in Hanover. This church body was an awesome blessing to us for the remainder of our time in exile. Our second Sunday attending this church was Easter Sunday. They were serving an early breakfast with an open invitation so we decided to go. At this breakfast we became acquainted with a family that has become great friends to us. Later, another lady came to speak to Margaret. She then invited us to join her family for Easter dinner at their home. When Margaret asked her what led her to approach us, she said the Lord prompted her. This lady also invited Margaret to attend a ladies prayer meeting every Monday morning. Margaret was blessed by the fellowship!

Around the middle of June we decided to go to Manitoba and visit Frank’s sister who was ill. The trip was 24 hours of driving one way. On this trip God connected us with some awesome people who provided us with accommodations for the night and refreshing fellowship. It was a great encouragement to see God’s love through almost strangers again and again. While we were in Manitoba we received the e-mail telling us of our upcoming appointment at the US consulate in Montreal, Quebec for July 14th. Needless to say we were very excited that, at long last, we knew the date.

During this time of waiting, Josh and Josie Dyck (our daughter) and family were
preparing to go to Indonesia as missionaries with N.T.M. We had hoped to spend this time with them. Thinking they may leave before we got back, they came to spend one week with us in Ontario. Even though we are thrilled that they are willing to follow the Lord’s leading, this was still a bittersweet time of knowing they would be leaving for four years.
At the time we left Wisconsin, Tamara still had one quarter of a semester of grade 12 to finish. We had no idea how to go about completing it. Tamara also missed out on a variety of things like her senior trip with her youth group to a bible camp in Florida, a state singing competition, not to mention her high school graduation. Through all of this, God’s grace was very evident in her life. She did end up graduating through some unlikely means. Tamara applied for and was granted employment as a teller at a local bank. She has been working part time as the attends N.T.B.I. She moved into the dorms on August 19th, 2006. This has been yet another change in our lives. Even though she just moved across the street, it feels empty without her.

On July 11th, Margaret’s birthday, we set out toward
Quebec. We went to Toronto the first day and had supper and spent the night at a friend’s place. The next morning we left for Quebec. When we arrived our hostess told us she had left a message for us not to come until the following day. We never got the message. But God went before us and prepared this 70 year old Christian widow’s heart. She said she had prayed about her conflicting appointment and God had assured her that we were His servants and she should take care of us. this dear lady let us in, then five minutes later she left to go to a previous engagement. Later that night as we were all asleep, the phone rang. It was her daughter-in-law saying, “Please wake up your missionary friends to pray because your granddaughter is threatening to commit suicide.” So we prayed together. The Lord prevailed and redeemed her.
We also learned to depend on God for many other things such as finding places, riding the subway in a strange city (where very little English is spoken), for safety, the right timing, words to say for our interview, etc. The interview went well. We were granted our visas. The border crossing went smoothly as did the traveling.

This is a very condensed version of our four month exile from our home and ministry.
Reaching the tribes with the gospel by training people at N.T.B. I.
Frank and Margaret Martens
NTBI Waukesha

The past 4 months have been a time of spiritual growth for us. There have been a lot of trying times. It seems God is again stretching us beyond our limits, but His grace is sufficient. Physically, we have been going through some difficulties. Frank had some major oral surgery. It was somewhat more complicated than was expected, but it has all turned out very well. His dental work should be completed in about 2 weeks time. God blessed us with a dentist that is doing all the dental work for free, although we did have to pay for the surgery. Frank, Margaret and Tamara have all been receiving chiropractic care; Frank for some shoulder, wrist and back issues; Margaret for her back, neck and wrist, and Tamara for ongoing wrist and knee problems. It has been a wonderful blessing to find a chiropractor who is a believer and willing to help out our family without pay. Praise God.

Margaret’s back was not improving, so she went to a medical doctor and had an MRI done. The revealed some degenerated discs and also some bone spurs. She is presently getting cortisone shots in an attempt to relieve the pain. So far it has not been effective, but she is thankful for all of your prayers. Please keep praying.

Due to her back situation, Margaret has not been able to attend church on a regular basis and misses the fellowship. Her ministry at the Bible Institute has also changed. She is helping to grade papers. She enjoys doing this as it continues to teach her spiritual truth.

As most of you know we are also grieving the loss of Frank’s sister Anne. We were so thankful that we could spend a little time with her before her passing.

This past August our daughter Josie and Josh Dyck moved to Indonesia to be involved with NTM in a support ministry. The have one more week of language study left, then they will be moving to Pontianak where their ministry will involve accounting and guest house, etc.

Franz and Kristie are living in Florida and seeking direction from the Lord to possibly get involved in overseas ministry.

Rachel and Ryan are in the process of preparing to go to Dryden, Ontario, to serve at Camp of the Woods in full-time ministry.

Kara and Nate live in the Milwaukee Area and doing well.

Tamara is doing great at her studies here at N.T.B.I. She is also working part time as a teller at a local bank.

Financially things have been going a little more difficult. It seems we have gotten behind a little since last summer and have had ongoing extra expenses.

We are so thankful for all of your financial support. We have no doubt that God will continue to provide for our needs. He has never failed us.

In all of these situations we recognize the sovereignty of God in our lives and realize that all things are for our good and His glory.

Our prayer is that we will continue to glorify God in all we do.

Last weekend we were privileged to be part of a missions conference in our local church here. The theme was church planting. The main speaker was a missionary from PNG involved in a church plant. It was very encouraging

Our reason for being here at N.T.B.I. is to train people to reach unreached people groups with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To this end we are at peace that this is where God has us to minister at this time. We would covet your prayers about the possibility of us returning to the field of PNG in approximately 2 years. In His service, Frank and Margaret Martens

(NTBI Waukesha)