Lourens and Marie Laureti have been back in PNG for about three months now. They have had the opportunity to catch up with their co-workers, Simon and Annika Flanagan. An amazing time of starting again with their teammates after a six-year absence. Continue to pray for Simon and Annika as they live and work in the village and want to complete the work that was started.
The church is doing well. Their re-entry into the work and faithful discipleship has brought the church together again. Simon continues with leadership development. For a few years now the missionaries have not taken the lead amongst the Mengen, yet they do still see the need for their continued presence in order to assist the leaders in the village. Over and above the leadership development, the church is also engaging with literacy and currently working through Corinthians.
The church in another village is doing well with at least four families being trained into leadership roles and are reaching out to surrounding families. Now there are multiple families hearing the Gospel and many more requesting help as well. Please continue to pray for a co-worker for one of the teams.
The first edition of the Mengen New Testament has been printed and it will be arriving soon, they plan to have a launching next year in June. Thank the Lord with them for Rebecca Preheim and Kerri Pachecko who carried out the bulk of the work.
For many years, the mission has been receiving requests from the people of the South Coast Mengen dialect to start a work amongst them. Recently a survey was completed amongst them and the mission is excited about the potential of seeing two new missionary families partnering with the Mengen church to move into this dialect.
In the past, the missionary team has only been working directly with the Mengen church but now they are starting to engage with other local mature churches as well. This is the next step in the church planting process towards independence, where local churches in New Britain are being equipped to function together as one body.
Lourens is now able to focus on partnering with specific mature church leaders in New Britain. Pray for him as he regularly travels with the Mengen church leaders to different locations. Also pray for the church leaders and their families.