Hi Friends

This is the first writing from us this year and my prayer is that we
will walk with Him this year. Hard to believe that another year is
behind us as its speed by so quickly. As i shared earlier this has
been a hard year for us, but we see Gods hand in that as we look
back. A thank you in this informal way hardly seems adequate for
the way that you have continued to stand with us; encouraging us,
praying for us and supporting us each step of the way.
New Believers!
As we shared in the past, our north coast church
plant missionaries will share the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ for the first time to two
groups of faithful listeners on January 4-5 -Mengen
and Pidgin English. This is after months of faithful
teaching and discipleship some 80 Bible lessons and
in a language they are unfamiliar teaching in. But
praise the Lord, God has undertaken for them,
protected them (the main teacher was
miraculously saved from death at one point), given
them wisdom and impacted the worldviews
of these dear folks.
Opposition
As usually the church is experiencing persecution and
opposition due to the Gospel penetrating darkness. But
they are pushing ahead with the presentation of the
gospel. This is a huge milestone in the life of the Mengen
Church as they extend the reach of the gospel to the first
outside village. Please pray for God's blessing, enabling
and enlightening the hearts of the many that have
attended.
The broader Mengen church is also involved
As I shared in the past the broader Mengen church are also seeing their responsibility in Gods
Work even though they are at home. And so many of our first believers will be on hand for the
full two day program of teaching the last two lessons in both languages; interspersed by formal
and informal discussion times and culminating in the invitation to simply rest in the finished
work of Christ alone by repentance and faith. Please pray for our believers to revel again in

their salvation and wisdom to know how to come along

side to disciple and clear the thinking of those still
confused. Please also pray for them to step in to cook
and help enable the unbelievers to get the full force
of this powerful presentation.
Some older unbelievers will also attend
And believe it or not, there will be a few unbelievers from
our home village attending this presentation of the gospel
-folk that have rejected the gospel thus far. These guys are people we have been praying for,
for many years. Please pray that God would impact them for eternity folks such as Masta,
Mande and Rakanga to name a few.
Going back bush
At last we can start saying we are going back to our home soon! The next two weeks we will still
move slow but after that we will visit our supporters for the last time and greet them. We are
aiming at visiting the Cape province in March and then going back to PNG on 6 April. Please pray
with us for all our funds we need to buy our tickets, save up for our initial setup expenses
in PNG etc.
R U interested in getting involved?
This year we had the opportunity to share with many
friends. Many have been praying about getting involved in
helping the Mengen church grow into maturity. If you are
wanting more information on how you can make a difference
please let us know and we can give you some suggestions how
you can help reaching the unreached.
Blessings
Lourens for the Mengen church

Quick update: As I said this mail has been delayed due to a few security bugs. I just heard
back from my co worker that the Mengen missionaries has completed their first phase of
teaching and many new believers have been added to the Mengen church! Here is quick feedback
from Dave my co worker.

The time in Bologo was very special as we arrived just before the last point of the second last
lesson. Vincient (one of our teachers, also called Bobo) broke down into tears twice for his point

on the death of Christ and the believers were moved again by all that Christ accomplished. The
schedule was very full with no real down time in the two days with all that was planned with
them teaching each lesson twice -Mengen & Pidgin. Eddie (our main teacher) taught the last
lesson in Pidgin and at a small break between the second and third point a number of guys
followed him outside to express their faith in the finished work of Christ. Pius (old man from
Bologo village) stated when asked what he'd say to Christ when he stands before him shared,
that because of his faith in the finished work of Christ alone that he'd shoot right into heaven.
Kopi (also a man from Bologo village) with a great big grin on his face said that he'd put his faith
in the Redeemer from the 9th lesson on and immediately began to see changes in his life. There
will probably be about 10-15 believers between the two groups but we'll not really know until
Bruce and Kamilus (our arrive here on Sunday after conducting interviews with everyone.
The task before them (our Mengen missionaries) is more daunting than ever as they need to do
phase 2 & discipleship for the new believers in both languages, conduct another phase
1 in at least Mengen and a literacy course too.
What our guys have accomplished is absolutely huge and against insurmountable obstacles as
well. Praise the Lord for undertaking for them.
Thanks for your part in this incredible story -God is good; all the time.