Prayer Letter Archive

May 2005

You haven't heard from me in a while cause our phones have not worked but we've been on the job. We had a real frustrating time with the boat and it breaking valve springs. We ended up pulling the head off twice. Got the boat in the water and tested it but had a fuel blockage. We think we got everything straightened out and ready to go but cause we're leaving, we won't know for sure until we get back to give it a good run.

I made a hike into a village that I first went to 19 years ago. After a 2 hour drive, we hiked for another hour and a half to get there crossing over streams and through swamps. Funny, much looked the same as it did back then. The gardens, the houses, the remoteness and subsequent primitiveness. A lot has happened there though. Over the years we supplied three missionary families making countless supply runs. The missionaries are now gone. In their wake there is now a Church with it's own leadership which had about 300 people attend their Easter Service and a New Testament is in their tribal language. They are standing firm in their beliefs of the Lord and looking for areas to bring the Good News to. It was an encouraging visit.

We had a very rare experience when an 85 foot sailboat pulled into our little bay. You can imagine the stir. All the villagers wanted to go out and see this thing...so did we. The sailors were a bit overwhelmed at all the attention and wanted to just stay down below with all the hatches fastened tight. Come to find out they were a retired couple from the US who were circumventing the globe. They had already been on the boat for 3 years and still had a year and a half to go. We had them over for dinner which gave us an opportunity to share with them the plan of salvation. They reciprocated by having us for "dinner on the deck" complete with full moon, lobster and Hawaiian music playing in the background. A lovely evening but the conversation went more to them asking "if the heathen weren't happy the way they are?" We left them a good Book to read. Pray for Jim and Vickie and their first Mate, Dillon.

The barge that brings our supplies had a hydraulic problem and couldn't bring up their anchor so left it in 140 feet of water. They tied a rope and buoy onto it but miscalculated and the weight of the chain pulled the buoy down. They needed a scuba diver to help them find the buoy so Jared and I (and the first mate from the sailboat) did a grid search at about 50 feet underwater and couldn't see anything but blue and occasionally a large jelly fish which was easily mistaken for the missing buoy. Praise the Lord we found the buoy at 65 feet which was like finding a needle in a hay stack. The barge Captain was happy and as long as we were in the area, we made another dive on a WWII Japanese cargo ship with 75mm cannon shells still in the cargo hold and some pretty big fish! It was Jared's first time to see the ship and he was pretty happy about it when we surfaced. In March we found a WWII Japanese airplane crash site in the jungle.

One of the teams we supplied were hoping to get enough supplies to last them part of the 8 months we'll be gone so we delivered 5000lbs. of fuel and food to them. The new flatbed did great in the jungle but I was afraid of scratching the 4X4 Toyota that we had just finished giving a new coat of paint.

These last couple of weeks have been pretty lean as our pantry is bare but the Lord has been good and our banana tree ripened just in time so we've been eating a lot of bananas and we were able to catch a couple, tasty fish. Today is our last day here at our house so Jared and I went out one last time and the Lord in His graciousness, brought a 25 pound Wahoo our way which gave us a lot of fun as we played with him taking the line out and us reeling him back in. Finally, Jared grabbed him by the tail to pull him in the boat but he squirmed away 6 times soaking Jared as he fought his last fight.

The house is all boarded up and our security guard has been briefed of his duties. His name is Pasio and he happens to be from the village we lived in for 10 years and was like an older brother to our Micah. Joan has been in her glory, cleaning, packing, grooming, getting ready to go. The place looks so nice we should stick around for a while but I won't suggest that at this point. For her Birthday in April, I got her our airplane tickets back to the States. She was real happy. I wasn't as we could have bought a new boat for what they costs. We leave the country on Mother's day. What a great gift, yah! Beats flowers.

Although PNG has many frustrations and inconveniences, there is something I will miss. Because of no electric, there are no lights to drown out the brilliance of God's creation in the stars. They appear so close. When I stand in our yard and look to the south, I see the southern cross. Looking back north just above the horizon, I see the big dipper but it's upside down as we are in the southern hemisphere and the north star is not visible.

We're all looking forward to seeing Micah and attending his graduation May 15th. He's had a good time at Hume Lake Christian Camp attending their 9 month "Joshua Wilderness" course. They've done a lot of things, worked in Mexico, pushed wheel chairs at a Billy Graham revival, built with Homes for Humanity, street witnessed in Hollywood and prison ministry in Fresno. Not sure what all he's learning but it looks like he's having a lot of fun.

You can pray for us as we begin our journey "back to the future" so it seems after living in a 3rd world country then going to America. This little town of Kandrian has become home so it's not as easy to leave as it used to be. Pray for safety in the air and on the road. Pray we can be a blessing to those we come in contact with. Praise that we have a car waiting for us in Illinois but still need a place to stay.

If you'd like to help out with our travel expenses, you can use your credit card on the New Tribes Website so you don't have to leave your computer. Click HERE

Looking forward to seeing you!

Love ya,

Mark and Joan Reichman