A missionary family in Papua New Guinea is asking for prayer in the midst of "an impossible situation."

The missionaries made the public plea on social media after one of their children suffered a serious injury and needs surgery not available on their island location, and with no flights available for days.

The Peden family are missionaries in PNG with Ethnos New Zealand missions. On Tuesday one of their four children, Abigail, suffered what they believed to be at the time either a broken arm or dislocated elbow. With no suitable medical help in their location, their mission agency sent a plane to get her an x-ray and treatment.

"We are in an impossible situation and need as much help as we can get. God is in control and can make a way for us."

"Abigail's injury ended up being very serious," the family writes in an update on Thursday. "She has shattered bones around her elbow in multiple places and needs surgery ASAP by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon."

Unfortunately, there are no qualified surgeons to perform the surgery in PNG.

Abigail's parents say in the post, "We are in an impossible situation and need as much help as we can get. God is in control and can make a way for us."

They are desperately talking with their insurance company to get her to New Zealand, but that country's fight against COVID is also causing delays. "With all of the red tape/MIQ (Managed Isolation and Quarantine) situation, it is so difficult," the family says.

The family calls the situation heartbreaking, saying the young girl is in severe pain, even with medication.

"The soonest flight we can get is not until Sunday and every day that passes gets more critical. Please pray that we can get her to help ASAP. Ideally, we would love to keep the family together also but she is the priority right now. The past 48+ hours have been the hardest of our lives so far."