Are we there yet???

What a year this has been! First and foremost, we want to thank you all for your continued support through this year of unusual events. God has continues to bless us and meet our needs.

I think one of the top rules for a missionary is “be flexible”. Well, this year of logistical limbo has put our flexibility to the test in a number of ways but we’ve seen God’s hand in it all! As we have not made it back to Papua New Guinea in June or August, as we’d hoped, we projected our next attempt for the end of this month. That too has changed. For multiple reasons, it has become evident that we need to wait to try and get back to PNG until the end of the current school year. The kid’s school needs and travel logistics are certainly a part of the equation; however, more importantly, God has provided the opportunity and means for us to tend to some personal needs in our family in order to make sure we are all in a healthy place to return to PNG whenever that door does open up for us. In a sense, we need to pause to secure our own oxygen mask before assisting others.

Our hearts’ desire is to be PNG continuing on in the North Wahgi church-planting ministry and our commitment has not changed in that area. I, Levi, will continue to work on projects that directly benefit our church plant—but for the short-term I’ll be doing this from here in the US. This is not a change in ministry, but a short-term change in ministry location. We are thankful for your continued support which enables me to continue being in full-time ministry without having to seek out and balance outside employment with this ministry role.

 

Bloom where you’re planted…

This fall Robyn started substitute teaching at the Christian school where our kids attend. This has been a blessing and a confidence booster for her to be able to teach various age levels of students. Through this time, God has provided some awesome opportunities for Robyn to share the Gospel with some of her young students and to be an encouragement to the other staff at the school.

Back in Wahgi land…

Some of you may recall us asking for continued prayer for one of our Bible teachers, Stephen, and an ongoing land court issue. This case has been dragged out for the last few years. The latest word on this is that the verdict of the case has been made, but it has not yet been revealed. Stephen has been told to come pick up the official ruling papers, but each time he goes to do this, the necessary people aren’t there. Please continue to pray for peace and patience for him and his family.
This week there will be a 3-day youth conference held in our village in which youth from 7 other NTM-planted churches in the neighboring province will attend. This will be our church’s first time hosting this event. Please pray for safety for all who travel for the event. Pray that our believers will work in unity with one another as they host the conference. And finally, pray that God will be glorified in all that goes on during the conference.

Thank you again for your love, encouragement, and support.

Levi, Robyn, Michael, Daniel, Matthew, and Krystiana Lenz

Oh Rats…

About a month ago while we started the process of sorting and packing for our return to Papua New Guinea, our co-workers discovered and notified us that our house in the village had been overtaken by rats in our absence. At the last count, I believe they have killed over 30 rats in our house (and that number was slowly rising). We are very grateful for their efforts to eradicate the rat population. We’ve been told that the trespassers have done substantial damage, but the full amount of damage is still to be determined. From photos, it almost looked as if an earthquake had shaken items off the shelves, but nope, that was the rats knocking things over and of course chewing on all of it in the process. Our co-workers have organized a team from our support base to come in to the village next week in order to do a thorough cleaning and also put metal siding on our house to replace the woven pitpit siding. We hope this step will keep them from invading like this again in the future. We hope to have a better assessment of what all was damaged after this next week.

 

  

 

News from the Village…

In early June another 13 Wahgi believers were baptized. What is more exciting is that these people were led to the Lord and baptized by other members of the Wahgi church. This was done while our co-workers were out of the village. We are thankful for Stephen and Wirol who have kept Bible studies and Sunday Bible teaching going. Now that our co-workers have returned to the village, they will be working to further train and encourage these men to continue Bible teaching rather than taking that role again themselves. We have been longing for the day when the church would stand strong on their own feet and the Word of God. It looks as if God is using COVID to help bring that about. Please be praying with us for continued unity in the church and more faithful men and women of God take on responsibilities in the church.

Four young Wahgi believers (Dipa, Kayeye, James, & Lus)

Now What…

We just had a great time visiting my (Levi) family in Missouri. Now that we’re back in Michigan, we will resume packing things to send over to PNG. We still do not have our kids’ passports back. The passport processing centers are still slowly reopening. We were recently advised that once we receive our the new passports, we need to send them off to the PNG Embassy in Washington, DC to have the entry permits transferred over to the new passports. In the past we’ve been able to travel with both old/new passports in hand, but we’re being encouraged not to do that this time around. Please be praying with us for patience as we wait on God’s timing and travel documents.

 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support,

 

Levi & Robyn Lenz

Serving the North Wahgi people

of Papua New Guinea

Ethnos360.org/levi-robyn-lenz

Facebook: Lenz’s View

 

 

 

Psalm 130:5

I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.

You’re Grounded…

Many people are asking us how the current state of affairs (aka COVID19) are effecting us and our return to Papua New Guinea this summer. We are thankful for your questions and prayers on our behalf.

First,  we are homeschooling our kids now and their school is doing a great job of sending assignments weekly and checking in with them throughout the week. They’ve only got two weeks of school left.

As it relates to our return to Papua New Guinea, we’re taking things one day at a time. As of April  22, 2020, PNG has had 8 confirmed COVID-19 cases in country. Some of these cases are in provinces where NTM has personnel. Centers in these locations are now at an elevated security level. Field & area leadership have put measures in place in these locations to ensure the safety & security of our members. To our knowledge, there have not been any more confirmed cases of COVID in PNG. It is an answer to prayer that the virus has not stricken PNG very hard. Please continue to pray for PNG and other developing countries with very limited medical resources.

Our flights have been canceled; we’ve been grounded. We are thankful that the airline has refunded our non-refundable tickets. Praise God for his provision in this way! We are currently in communication with our field leadership and are waiting for them to give us the go-ahead to return. Please pray for us to get our passports back. We sent the kids’ passports in for renewal before everything turned upside down and we are still waiting for them to come back. We don’t know if they’re currently processing passports at the moment or not.

Pray for closure for our kids. When stay-at-home orders started rolling out, our kids were taken away from their friends without the possibility of closure. We understand that this has happened to all the school kids across the nation; however, most of them will see each other once school starts again. It has been difficult for our children to think of not seeing their friends again at all. With our flights being canceled, we are hopeful that we can have time to orchestrate some kind of gathering for the kids to get together and have closure before we do leave for PNG.

From the Wahgi Church…

We’ve received some great, encouraging news from our co-workers who are currently in PNG. Though they’re not able to be in the village at this time, they are staying in contact with the church on a regular basis. There are two men who have been staying faithful in teaching the church and two ladies who are continuing to work with the youth. If I recall correctly, there are about 8 new believers who are currently going through the discipleship class.

As spring here emerges from the winter here in the US we start hearing talk about “hardening” your garden plants by gradually giving them exposure to the outdoors. This current time in the life of the Wahgi church is a bit of a hardening time where the church is exposed to life without the missionaries and must be reliant on the Lord and each other in order to stand strong. Please be praying for unity in the church and that they would stand strong against the schemes of the devil.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us and for the Wahgi church.
Levi, Robyn, Michael, Daniel, Matthew, and Krystiana Lenz

Answers to Prayer

I realize that our last update was sent in November. We want to thank you for your continued prayers for our family while we’re on our home assignment. Many have asked about Daniel and his vision therapy. Daniel’s vision therapy has been going very well and he is making notable progress. I believe he only has about 9 sessions left to complete. I know he’ll be glad to have that behind him. Thank you for praying for Daniel in this way.
Another prayer request we have shared is in regards to the housing situation for Michael as he will be attending our mission’s boarding school at our field headquarters in Papua New Guinea. God has answered that prayer through the provision of dorm parents for this coming school year. Michael will be staying at the dorm for 8-week terms and then, at the completion of each term, he will have a time with us before starting the next term. We are thankful that the school year is broken up in this way so that we can have time together throughout the year.
A current prayer request is that we are starting to look for plane tickets for our return to PNG this coming June. Please be praying with us that God will provide reasonable fares for our family to get back and for the provision of the finances for those tickets.

A Time to Rest

Last week we were blessed beyond measure by Quiet Place Ministries, who provided our family with a 5-day retreat over the kids’ mid-winter school break. This was a great time of spiritual and emotional refreshment and it provided a great time to rest and re-connect as a family. This has been the first time on our home assignment that we have not had to share our room with our 4-year old. It was wonderful to have time just for our family and to be able to spend some one-on-one time with each one of the kids throughout the 5 days.
Quiet Place Ministries purpose is to “provide retreats for individuals, married couples, and families serving in Christian ministry.  At no charge, pastors, missionaries, and others can enjoy a time of renewal, relaxation, and refreshment.” They are a very small organization which provide for those in full-time ministry in a BIG way! We would encourage you to reach out to QPM to see how you might be able to help provide refreshment for those who are serving in full-time ministry.

Long Journey Ahead

We will be leaving tomorrow, Friday, Feb 14, to head to New York, via Canada, to speak at one of our supporting churches. From there we’ll drop down to Pennsylvania for 5 days connecting with some of our supporting pastors at a Church Leader’s Retreat at Ethnos360’s Wayumi campus. This will be an awesome time for these pastors to gain a deeper understanding of what their church is a part of through their partnership with us (and other Ethnos360 missionaries).
This is going to one of our longer journeys in a time of the year when the weather can be quite unpredictable. Please pray for safety in travel over the next week.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We appreciate each one of you!

Your co-workers in Christ,
Levi & Robyn Lenz
Michael, Daniel, Matthew, & Krystiana

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