As Poul and Carol Joensen with their son Isaac, plan for another visit to Sorimi, Papua New Guinea, they are grateful for all the Lord has done through their regular trips to PNG over the last ten years and they know He will continue to lead as they move ahead after the wonderful ceremony as the Sorimi New Testaments were handed to the Sorimi believers last August.
They have their visas, and international and internal flights are booked.
They plan to leave next week and return in May. Resuming their teaching responsibilities that begin at the college as soon as they return. Pray that we would know the Lord’s guidance and timing through many details, trust His provision for travel and building, and good health and strength as they do feel signs of aging with these full-scheduled trips! But to be with the Sorimi believers from three churches, discipling them, AND also being encouraged by these fellow believers, is all such a blessing for which they are extremely thankful.
Their desire for the visit is threefold:
– To see the believers functioning with their new Bibles. They want to help them along in make the best use of God’s Word in their language.
– The start of yearly trips to visit and encourage the church, for as long as the Lord enables and directs them physically and financially.
– To build a new house in light of this ongoing plan. Their house was literally breaking down last August with rot and termites. A fellow missionary is kindly organising a building plan and supplies. He plans to join them in Sorimi to help for one week to build a very small house for them. Building with better materials will cost more initially, but be more beneficial in the long run, which means that they will not have to repair it each year things and can focus on their time with the people.
Pray for safety during building, good weather for it, and completion of the project in the week that their colleague is with them. A few days before he arrives and during his week there, they will all stay in the literacy building in rough camping style while they tear down their old small house. This will be a challenge, but they did that five to six years ago (though they were younger then). Once torn down, they can rebuild on the same site.
They deeply appreciate your standing with them in prayer as they continue this next step of journeys to PNG!
At North Cotes College Poul and Carol continue to enjoy the interaction with the students and see God leading their lives. They both sat in on some classes on the topic of literacy, as they plan to be part of teaching that subject in the future. It brought back many memories of their early days, and thankfulness for the Sorimi men who have been faithful and keen to continue teaching literacy to their people.
Poul finished his third year of teaching the translation module and the students now have two months to work on a project. The teaching regarding language and culture learning will be applied during a period of mission simulation.