Pictures of Glory

(written by Jamie Parfitt)

Christi asked me to put a few pictures of Glory on her blog, as it is difficult to keep a connection out in the bush, long enough to upload pictures.

I know that these needed to be cropped, but since it took me so long to find time to upload them, I thought I had better just get the job finished so you could all see sweet Glory.

PLEASE BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN AND READ MARK'S POST ABOUT HIS RECENT BUSH HIKE. :-)

~ Jamie

Mark's trip to Tengama (written by Mark)

Subject: Helzerman Update

Dear Friends,

(This is about my walk to Tengama, Morobe Province, this past week end.)

Thank you all for praying for me as I finished this "missionary journey." The phrase "hazarded their lives" from the Bible (Acts 15:26) kept on coming to my mind while walking this mountain trail. It was really nothing to compare to what the Apostle Paul and others faced, but it was a taste for sure. If it wasn't for the sustaining Hand of Father I would have slipped to great injury or death. I did injure my rib cage when I slipped once, so it was hurting pretty badly by the time we arrived back home. It may need to be X-rayed when I go into POM the first week of June. Hopefully it is only a bruised rib. 

It took 12 hours of hard climbing up steep places, through crags and crevices. Most of the walk was on a ledge with a steep place to the left or right. It was all jungle, so if I had slipped down, a tree or other brush would have slowed me down (with injury, no doubt). Some large rocks with holes in the trail were the worst of the danger. If I would have stepped in the wrong place, my whole body would have gone down inside (who knows how far) into a crevice. The last 5 hours of this first part was with the addition of rain, making the path almost unbearable. I was almost in constant prayer for Father to sustain me to the end as I forced one foot in front of the other. We (Yonias and I) had to walk the last hour to Tengama in the dark, but made it safe by the Grace of God. 

Because of lack of good cell phone service in Tengama, we were not able to contact Brother (Pastor) David about when we would be coming. We had mentioned it to him about 2 months ago, but of recent, could not call him. Our arrival was a pleasant surprise to him and his wife. They gave us a warm fire and cooked some "bush" food and rice that we had brought. I was not able to eat much, and by 8:30 p.m. I went to sleep in dry clothes, a soft "bed," and a warm blanket!  

Saturday we were sore, to say the least, but we were put to the work right away. Pastor David asked me to preach at the market place, which we did around 11:00 a.m. I was not the first "white man" to come to Tengama, but it had been a few years since the last one had come. The young children were really afraid of me, but the older children and youths were not. I was a gazing stock to most everybody, though. Most of these bashful, backward jungle people don't get out to any large town, and I was the "entertainment" for their weekend. 

The afternoon of Saturday was a time of rest, and they fed us well. I only eat small portions at a time, and they would serve 3 times the amount I could eat. Saturday evening Pastor David invited some of his extended family for a "devotional" from me. It was a sweet time of fellowship, and they were like hungry children for the Bread of Life. Pastor David is "feeding" first generation Christians, so everything from the Bible is new and refreshing. 

Sunday I preached 2 times and there were many in attendance. I estimate over 200, possibly 300. The reward of this trip was that 4 woman were saved. The woman here are much more receptive, but the men are much more skeptical. Many times the testimonies of the saved women win the hearts of their lost men. The church had recently had gone through some spiritual/physical challenges, causing many to be discouraged. Pastor David said this unexpected visit was a great encouragement to him, his family, and the church as a whole. For this, the trip was worth the many hours of difficult walking, climbing, and sometimes crawling on all fours. Even if this pain in my rib never goes away, it will be "a mark in my body" to remind me Father cares for His own and that the people of Tengama were strengthened.

Sunday evening, Pastor David invited his extended family again for some Bible time. They asked questions and many stories were given to encourage them in their Christian walk. This again was a sweet time of fellowship that went until 9:00 p.m. It was hard to break free from their longing eyes to hear more. They, too, were beginning to be weary in body but wanting to soak up every minute of our visit. 

Monday, Father gave us such good weather.  There were 6 others that joined us for the walk back and showed us a "short-cut" that helped avoid an hour of some of the dangers at hand. It was still difficult with this already-tired body. We actually were able to rest a few times along the road home. So in totality, it was a 23-hour walk in rocks and rills (without the frills). But I know I will see some faces of these bashful mountain people giving glory to God in the Heavenlies!  Some of Revelation 7:9,10 will be fulfilled from this 4 day trip. Praise the Lord! 

For His Glory,

Mark Helzermans

Glory Ruth Helzerman's Saga

Every person has a story.  I'd like to share Glory's with you.

To start off,  her conception was not planned on our part.  We believe God had her planned, though, from the foundations of the world.  Though we thought we were finished with our family, we are glad that we have her added to us.

We had just arrived back to America for furlough when she was conceived.  It was a pleasant surprise to find out that after 5 years we would again be having another baby.  I must insert that our other children were praying for a sibling. :)  

We were very busy on furlough, traveling from place to place.  I was able to have a few prenatal check ups and 2 ultrasounds.  The 2nd ultrasound revealed that we would be having a girl.  Most of  the family was voting for boy but a few were holding out for a girl.  We were all satisfied though that the girl is what God wanted for us.

After we left the ultrasound place, we began discussing girl names.  The kids made an observation that we had two "T" names (Tabitha, Titus), two "S" names (Samuel, Serenity) and two "H" names (Hadassah, Hope), but we only had one "G" name (Grace).  So we started throwing out girl names that began with "G".  Daddy brought up Glory and everyone liked that name.  Jokingly he originally said, "Glory Hallelujah".   Then later we discussed using his Grandmother on his father's side's name, Ruth, as the middle name.  Everyone in the family liked that. Though other names were tossed around this is what we decided on.

Where would we have the baby?  That was the next question to be answered.  We were already in the states on furlough.  We had round trip tickets back to Australia in January.  We were looking at a due date around March 30.  (According to my second ultrasound.  My original date that I gave myself was March 25 which just so happened to be the day she was born.)  We prayed about it and decided to have her in PNG.

This would entail coming into the city and having her.  We made arrangements with MAPANG, the mission house we stay in, for the rooms needed for that time.  We made these early on as MAPANG is a great place to stay and is often booked out in advance.

We did all our checkups and prepared to leave the states with a paper from my midwife saying I was fit to travel.  All went well with the flights.  We left a very cold, snowy New York to land in a hot tropical Cairns, Australia.  We were able to enjoy three days there to get back on the same time zone.  It was restful after the long flight.  After a quick 5 days in Port Moresby for supplies we were finally home.

I was able to have the clinic worker, Lillian, in Kaintiba check the baby and her position.  All was well.  Head was down.

Jamie Parfitt and her 4 youngest children came to help out with the birth and events surrounding it.  They arrived into Kaintiba on Feb. 27.  The story of excitement on that day will have to be written in a future blog post!

As time drew closer for our departure to the city for her birth, the weather turned very rainy due to some cyclones in the ocean between PNG and Australia.  Matt Allen was supposed to fly us in some supplies on March 2, and then pick up Jamie, her two youngest girls, Naomi and Karen, and me on March 9 to fly to Port Moresby (POM).  Because of the rainy weather he was not able to make either of those flights so he suggested we find another route.  We contacted SIL to pick us up.  They also were delayed in getting us as we were scheduled to leave March 9.   We finally were able to leave Wednesday, March 11.

On Sunday, March 15, we were supposed to pick up my midwife, Amy Reynolds, and our "nanny," Angel Rowe.  They missed their flight in LA which brought them in on Monday, March 16.  From there, Angel flew to Kaintiba on Wednesday, March 18, and Mark flew into POM on that return flight.

We had only to wait till Saturday night to start having contractions.  I was 1 1/2 cm dilated to start.  We had some good contractions Saturday night and into Sunday.  It made me dilate to 3 cm.  The contractions were sporadic then until Tuesday.  I noticed that in the afternoon on Tuesday the contractions seem to be coming back but I had decided I would ignore them until I could ignore them no more.  So in the evening the contractions intensified.  Amy checked me and I was 4cm dilated with  contractions coming about 2 min. apart.  We decided we would go to the hospital (clinic as it is called but it is a hospital).  We got there at 10:45 and got checked in. The PNG midwife checked me and decided I could stay.  I think they thought I didn't look like I was in that much pain.  :) We walked around the hallway a little bit then we just walked in the room we were in.  My friend Jamie, who was there to help, suggested I try walking through the contractions.  I found it helped more than I thought it would.  My legs started to feel shaky as I was walking through contractions and I had hit transition.  Mark had to go get the midwife to come as they were checking me only every hour.  She came and broke my water.  Then I felt I needed to have a bowel movement but as Jamie was helping me to the toilet, I realized it was the baby coming.  We quickly got to the bed and I started pushing and had her shortly after that at 1:04 a.m.  She weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19" long.

So this completes the story of her birth.  I shall try to keep up on blogging better as I haven't posted anything in over a year.

P.S. From Jamie: For anyone wondering, the young girls went to stay with a local family Tuesday evening, once we thought it was likely we would be going to the hospital that night. :-)