Month: July 2018

 

Earlier this month, our Lae Centre hosted a group from CWCI (Christian Women Communicating International) which involved the Melanesia Director, Jacqui Guy from Australia, meeting with local women from the PNG Executive body, and the leaders of KYB study groups operating in Lae.

Over ten days our guest lounge area became a worship centre full of lovely hymns and praise songs; a meeting room; training classroom; and a break room for meals and fellowship.

It was an honour to host these dear sisters, and their presence brightened up a grey and rainy week, and cheered our hearts as we walked back and forth past the lounge (especially the singing!).

There is a real place for bible study material directed to women in PNG, as the effects often reach into the family and the community. As Jacqui shared in a 2017 newsletter;

Overwhelmingly their favourite book is Ruth, and as many live with mothers-in-law as is the custom, the topic of relationships is so important. I’ve even had strong feedback from family members of the impact this study has had on the family.

There are study materials available in Tok Pisin and Accessible English, which allows for a certain level of literacy. It is just one more way of placing God’s word in peoples’ hearts and minds on a daily basis.

Please pray …

• for more KYB leaders and study groups to be formed in PNG churches and communities
• that the material would significantly impact the lives of the women and their families
• for the PNG Executive, that they may continue to serve the LORD with gladness (Psalm 100:2)
• for Jacqui, that she may know the Spirit’s leading in this often challenging role

We are taking the opportunity of a rest from blogging by handing the responsibility to a guest. Keith’s father, Ross, is visiting PNG with a long-term family friend, John Greensill, and has a story to tell of just one aspect of their ten-day visit.

On a Thursday morning we (Keith, Ross and John) headed south from Lae on a 150km trip to Wau (pronounced ‘wow’), travelling through Mumeng, where there are large washouts across the road with rocks and boulders left by heavy flood rains; Zenag, the centre of the region’s egg and chicken production; and Bulolo, the largest population in the area with crowds out on the streets amongst colourful market displays.

Wau is situated 3,500 feet atop the Bulolo Range and boasts amazing views. We were told it had been recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the most liveable climate on earth. We can attest to that!

We stayed the night with Luther and Martha Smith, Independent Baptist missionaries from the United States who came to PNG in 1980, and met Kenny and Kalie Keck and their two lovely children over dinner.

The next morning we were privileged to join in devotions at the Baptist school and meet the students and staff. Luther then took us to the Bible college where Kenny was leading a Romans study group of seven second-year students, including a couple with a very small child. It was moving to see the smiling, happy students eager to learn God’s word in Tok Pisin.

We then visited an amazing lady, Donna Harvey-Hall, who operates an orphanage for unwanted children. Over coffee we learnt that this Aussie provides accommodation and preparatory classes for over twenty boys and girls, then met some of the children and saw their rooms. Donna’s historic home was the only one left standing after a Japanese offensive was repelled in 1943, with a memorial marking the event just a few hundred metres down the road.

Both John and I have been amazed by the dedication of all the people from various countries, many labouring for twenty, thirty, or forty years at translation, teaching and preaching, serving both young and old. It is humbling to see the joy on the faces of PNG nationals who have been brought to faith essentially through these ministries, and now serve alongside their new found brothers and sisters in Christ. It is difficult for most of us to imagine what it means to have the opportunity to read the Bible in their language for the first time in generations.

 I will never forget these first experiences of PNG. I read this morning a phrase from Andrew Murray – “Unknown is unloved”. Now I know, in some sense, PNG and its people.