Dear Friends,

How do I summarize 26+ years of ministry? I remember being in Bible School and trying to think of a catchy “title” for my prayer letters. Finally, I decided to go with ‘Guided by His Hand’ and that is truly how this journey has been for me. Every step of the way I have felt the Lord’s guidance and I am so thankful for His tender care in steering the direction of my life.

My time with missions actually goes farther back. In 1988, my parents joined New Tribes Mission. I was 13 at the time and excited to become a missionary along with my family. We moved to Papua New Guinea in 1991 where I finished my last 2 years of high school. I always thank the Lord for the gift of being a MK (missionary kid) and have many amazing memories from my time growing up in PNG.

My own training with New Tribes Mission was from 1994-1999, first at Bible School in Wisconsin, then the mission training in Ontario and finally in Camdenton, Missouri for my linguistics training. Each part of my training was essential to my future and I am so thankful for the friends and lifelong supporters that the Lord brought across my path. In fact, my home church in Wetaskiwin and also my church in Missouri have faithfully supported me with prayer and finances for 25+ years! Such incredible faithfulness and I thank the Lord for them!

In December 1999, I arrived in Papua New Guinea. It was a great reunion with my parents who were already serving there in a mountainous tribal area. We all survived Y2K together! Then on January 2, 2000, I finally arrived in the Islands Region as I began my ministry at Hoskins. What a joy to be where the Lord had me!! Lots of memories and precious friends from those early days and an amazing way to begin my 20 years in the Islands. I was only 24 years old at the time!! Crazy.

A year later, Keri Pacheco came to New Guinea. In August 2001, we joined the Mengen work and started the task of learning the Mengen language and culture. I am so thankful for Keri and the teamwork that we shared the 13+ years that we worked together.

Keri and I had various teammates over the years and have had many adventures together. We saw the Mengen church planted and established and growing and saw generations of kids grow up and are now church leaders and Godly men and women!!

In 2016, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I found out that I have had MS since 2004, which is another indicator of the Lord’s sustaining grace!! He enabled me to continue on Bible translation throughout those years.

Finally, in 2019 Keri and I were able to finish translating the New Testament into the Mengen language. So incredible that the Lord allowed us to bring this major project to completion!! We are excited that the Mengen church will finally have God’s Word in their own language which will increase their spiritual growth and maturity.

Since my MS diagnosis, I have been praying and seeking the Lord for direction for my life and ministry. I have come to the decision that I will be resigning from New Tribes Mission (now called Ethnos Canada). The US side of the mission will no longer be accepting support for me as of May 30. For my Canadian supporters, they will be accepting support until June 30.

With the situation around the world with the cornonavirus, the Mengen Bible dedication service has been postponed indefinitely. International flights are basically cancelled as well as flights within Papua New Guinea. Keri and I hope to visit PNG at a later date, but for now, we just have to wait and see when things in PNG get up and going again and when they decide to do the dedication.

So… how can I possibly thank you enough for your prayers and financial support for me over the years?? You have been such an incredible part of reaching the Mengen work with the Gospel of Christ. When we first moved into the tribe, the Mengen language was not written, and they had no knowledge of the message of salvation or the meaning of the cross.

Please keep the Mengen church in your prayers as they continue to learn and grow. I will keep you updated as I hear more from my coworkers in PNG!!

My resignation from the mission is effective as of May 31, 2020 and funds will still be processed through my account in Canada until June 30. However, the USA account will be closed at the end of May.

Thanks for working with me to reach the Mengen with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To God be the Glory!

Becky Preheim