Current Prayer Letter

April 2008

Our phones are on! These first four months of the year have been terribly frustrating with our phones being off for all but 3 weeks. They just came back on so I’m going to hopefully get this out to you before they quit again. We are all well but over the months we’ve had different ailments in the family. Jared had malaria a few times, Mieko has a sore on her knee that won’t go away. Mariko cut the tip of her pinkie off with a machete and I think I broke a couple ribs which everybody seems to get a big laugh at as I walk around like an old man. Joan continues to be our healthy one and take care of us all.

We also have celebrated 4 Birthdays these past months. Our Mieko is now 12 enjoying life. Mariko turned Sweet 16 and hopefully will stop licking her dinner plates. Jared is legal now as he turned 18. He got up and said, “I’m going to have to start making money.” Funny how one day made him wake up to the fact that the “free ride” is almost over.

Joan too had a Birthday and it doesn’t matter how old she is, she still looks young and beautiful. Mariko made supper and a cake and Mieko went shopping in town and found a nice bottle of perfume.

Joan has been in her element cleaning out and selling off things we don’t need…so she says. Keeping on me about cleaning the shop too. She’s getting ready for our furlough in almost 2 years. Even the pantry is cleared out so you know where her mind is!

We’ve had a mixture of sun and rain although this is supposed to be our dry season time. Had a bunch of guests pass through during school break last month and a 46 foot boat all the way up from Australia stopped by for fuel.

As you know, we’re into finding WWII crash sites. We visited an Australian Hudson A16-101 that the crew of 4 have never been found. It was the perfect time of the morning to get a picture of its rear tail in 5 feet of water.

Jared hiked almost to the center of our island and found our 8th Japanese dive bomber. This one had not been scrapped by the villagers so much of the plane pieces were still there.

We’ve been corresponding with the Japanese Embassy about coming and searching for remains from these sites. They said they’d come if some were found so we went and found 6 bone fragments.

I hear some have been watching a reality show about some “white skins” living in a village. We have fellow missionaries living in remote villages here and the reality of it is it’s lonely with no camera men around you all day. It’s also trying dealing with day to day situations that come up. I recently took a man back to his village who was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. There’s nothing that can be done for him here so he will soon pass away. Praise the Lord though that Tukupyo is a believer today because some young folks spent years of their lives teaching him and his clan the gospel of Jesus Christ. Today there are 5 Churches in their tribe. This is reality of what happens when people pray, give and go.

Trust this finds you doing well and getting ready for the spring. We’d love to hear from you but please don’t just hit the reply button as it sends all these pictures back to us and it takes forever to download with our slow phone lines. HOWEVER, don’t let that stop you from writing, just make sure you delete these pictures.

OK, thank YOU for standing with us here in Papua New Guinea. Wish you could come and see, touch and smell things for yourself.

Because HE said, “Go,”

Mark and Joan Reichman

You can be a part of Mark and Joan's work. They can be helped by your prayers and interest and financial support if you are led to help in that way. It is a trying and stressful ministry at times and they would deeply appreciate your involvement in their lives.

Their e-mail address is mark_reichman@ntm.org