Two women raised in different countries but united in faith in their LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. Meet Helen Marten and Velma Foreman.
Helen Marten
Helen was raised in Chicagoland and educated in the area. Once graduated from high school, she attended and graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in education (1957). She taught P. E. for three years but during this time the Holy Spirit was calling her for a special ministry in missions. She joined Wycliffe Bible Translators (“WBT”), a leader in missionary work for over sixty years. Her introduction to WBT was at a 1957 missionary conference that she attended. Even though a trained educator, her background was not sufficient for her eventual work in the mission field. As such, she first attended a Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) course in Norman, Oklahoma followed by a year’s training at the University of Oklahoma in linguistics.
Her original thought was to be a missionary in Tibet, but God had other plans for her. Tibet closed its borders to Christians and so Helen changed her focus to Australia and the Aboriginal population. She officially joined WBT in 1959 and was excited about becoming a full time Christian worker. She enrolled in a second course in linguistics at Oklahoma. She met some others there who introduced her to Papua New Guinea and thus her mission focus shifted to the island nation off Australia.
She then met her partner-to-be that spanned 43 years. Enter Velma Foreman. The two met at a SIL conference and the two then planned their eventual ministry in PNG.
Helen’s training was far from over. She attended Trinity Bible College by day and Moody’s Bible Institute in Chicago at night. Velma departed for PNG in February 1961 while Helen left for jungle training for several months in Mexico. Helen was officially accepted in WBT in August 1961 and then departed for PNG in November arriving in December 1961, eventually meeting up with her partner, Velma Foreman.
Travel from North America to PNG was no easy feat in 1961. Helen’s itinerary is not available however, Velma’s trip is worthy of repeating to demonstrate their commitment. Velma left San Francisco on 2/7/1961 aboard the Oriana (first voyage). They made stops in Hawaii, Fiji Islands, and New Zealand; and arrived in Sydney Australia on 2/25/1961 after 19 days aboard ship. After a 30-day stay in Sydney, she flew on to Lae, New Guinea. At Lae, supplies were purchased for jungle living such as a kerosene stove, lanterns, etc. She departed from Lae on a DC-3 cargo plane and landed at Kainantu. From there, she left for her first tribal living experience with the Bena-Bena tribe.
Helen arrived in New Guinea on 3/8/1962 (Ambunti) after a 2-hour flight on a small Cessna. From Ambunti, she departed by canoe to the Yessen villages and arrived the first week of April 1962. The Yessen people (approximately 1,000 in total) lived in ten villages along the Sepik River – a muddy 700-mile-long river in central PNG.
Velma Foreman
Ms. Foreman was born in 1936 in Ontario Canada and raised in the Baptist Church. Velma’s background is sparse, but her background includes language learning, anthropological studies, medical work, literacy classes, and translation of Scripture. Velma’s medical issues during her missionary time were significant, often requiring treatment away from the mission field.
Two women, each Spirit-driven for the love of God’s Word, were enthusiastic for taking the Good News of Jesus to those who have not heard of the LORD. It was during the Summer Institute at the University of Oklahoma, that the two women decided to make a team in preparation for their service to the people of Papua New Guinea.
Let me close with this poem that was shared by Velma Foreman in December 1960 as she prepared to embark on her mission to PNG.
Suppose that Christ had not been born, That far-away Judean morn!
Suppose that God, whose mighty hand Created worlds, had never planned,
A way for man to be redeemed. Suppose the Wise Men only dreamed,
That guiding star, whose light still glows down through the centuries.
Suppose Christ never walked here in men’s sight, Our blessed Way, and Truth and Light.
Suppose He counted all the cost, and never cared that we were lost.
And never died for you and me, nor shed His blood on Calvary, upon a shameful cross.
Suppose that having died He never rose, and there was none with power to save
Our souls from darkness and the grave.
As far as countless heathens know, these things that I’ve supposed—are so!
(Source: Velma Foreman letter, December 1960)
I met these two spectacular women at a Mission Sunday at my local congregation in Indianapolis, Indiana. The time was in the late 1980s or early 1990s when Helen and Velma were traveling across the U. S. A. and Canada on furlough. These two women provided a touching message followed by a luncheon and slide presentation of their efforts in PNG. Yes, and I never forgot these two Christian women and their life’s work in teaching the Yessen Mayo people to read and providing God’s Word in their heart language.
The next chapters will relive their decades of service to the people of PNG. Memories Relived is a cut-and-paste document that was prepared from the plethora of newsletters, personal letters, and other documents from Helen Marten. The subsequent chapter(s) will address the work yet to be done in the mission field. The concluding chapter, while devoid of particulars, will pay tribute to my beloved aunt and uncle who served their LORD for twenty years in India.