September Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We pray this letter finds you all doing well and growing in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Saviour.  Thanks be unto the Lord, we have all been in good health since our last prayer letter.

I am writing today to let everyone know about some major changes that are going to be taking place, if the Lord wills.  Please bear with my attempt to explain what has been happening. 

As many of you know, I have been requesting a lot of prayer for direction.  Over the past two months, I have been struggling to get any leading on where the Lord would have us to work on the island of Hispaniola.  For reasons that I do not understand, all the doors have been closed here in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.   No doubt, there is much work that could be done here on the island; I just do not have peace from the Lord that He wants me to stay. 

Recently, I thought the Lord had answered my prayers and was going to send me to work with Brother Maurice LaPierre in Les Cayes, Haiti, but after much prayer and another trip to visit I did not have a peace that that  was where the Lord would have me to go.

I finally broke down one day in my bathroom, begging the Lord to bring across my path what my next step should be.  The next morning, the phone rang several times, but I was not able to answer it.   We had not been having any electric during the day for awhile, but that day it came on in the afternoon and I was able to check my email.  There was an email from Brother Niels Gade, missionary to Papua New Guinea, requesting I be ready to receive a call from him that evening.  I drove into the nearest town that night to talk with him.   He expressed a great need of like-minded help and asked me to pray and consider coming to PNG to work with his family.   The Gade Family is also out of our home church in South Carolina and we have known and also worked alongside them in various church ministries for over 10 years.

After more prayer and receiving the blessing of my Pastor on this decision, I have surrendered to leave this field and go to PNG.   I do not make this decision lightly.  I know there has been much money, time, and labor to get us where we are currently.  However, it has not been in vain.  I am persuaded and have peace that the time spent here was needed, not only for myself, but also, God-willing, for those we were able to work with.  As to the specific reasons why the Lord let us come here for a short time, I cannot give an answer.  Only the Lord knows and in the words of the hymn, “We’ll understand it better by and by.”   I have devised my way, but the Lord has directed my steps.  Proverbs 16:9 “ A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”  To say more would be an attempt to justify myself.  To say less would not be a responsible answer to the churches and individuals that are giving their monies for us to stay on the mission field. 

The next step is to fly home and begin preparations to get over to PNG.  We will be flying back to the States September 20^th and spending a couple weeks with brethren and family.  Brother Niels has requested that I come over to PNG for a month or more to begin the paperwork process for entering the country as a missionary, see the work first-hand, and possibly start building a house for our family to live in.   I have agreed, and Lord willing,  am planning to go over sometime in late December or after the first of the year. 

Once I return we will continue the paperwork process and continue preparations to enter Papua New Guinea.  The entry process can take anywhere between 8-10 months.   During our wait, I would like to obtain some training in some or all of the following areas:  medical, dental, construction, diesel mechanics, and plumbing.   After living in the third-world country, I can see how helpful it is to have some knowledge in some of these areas.  It will be even more needful in PNG, where we will be living in primitive bush areas without a doctor, dentist or mechanic nearby. 

There is a dental class offered to missionaries located in Texas, as well as an intensive medical missionary school in North Carolina.  I have also had offers from brethren to try to pick up some training for construction and mechanics. These are things we are praying about to see what the Lord would have us to do.  While we think they’d all be helpful, we want the Lord’s direction on what specific training, if any, to obtain.

Brethren, again I thank you for your prayers, your emails, your financial support, and your labors.  I again ask for your continued prayer for direction as we make this transition.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email myself or my Pastor.  

While we are sad to leave the friends and brethren we’ve met here, we are at the same time excited to come back to our home country and visit with our friends and family we’ve been separated from this past year. 

May the Lord Bless and keep you in His grace.

A Soldier in the Army of the King of Kings,

Brother Chris Weltin

Prayer Requests…”As the Lord Wills”…

v   Our trip home to the States, Tuesday, September 20^th

v   Chris traveling to PNG & good health while there

v   Paperwork process to PNG to go smoothly & quickly

v   Direction as to medical and/or trade classes to take

v   Traveling mercies while we visit our supporting churches and the brethren

v   For the Lord’s will to be done in our lives and prepare us for this next step in service for Him

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”  Jim Elliot

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:18