Missionaries to the Ends of the Earth

A retired couple from the IAD shares a first-person account of their engagement in PNG for Christ.

May 16, 2024 | Miami, Florida, United States  | Wally Amundson for Inter-American Division

As I looked at the yellow envelope with the words “Greetings from Malgtamb Church” there was no hint of what was inside.  I quickly opened the envelope in front of a colorful group of men, women and children, some standing, some sitting on the grass.

A Typewritten Letter

The typewritten page began:

“Dear Sir/Madam,

REF: APPRECIATE YOUR COMING TO OUR CHURCH AND A SIMPLY [sic] REQUEST.

Hallow [sic], I Elder Kelly Wandip from Papua New Guinea I’m one of Elder in Tega church, Western Highlands Mission. We have many company churches around, but I use to taking care of Malgtamb Church, which you did visit.”

A Long-Awaited Dream Comes True

Move forward to early May 2024. My wife Christine and I are 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometers) from home. We were scheduled to be in Goroka, Western Highlands, in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Papua New Guinea closed all airports, and while we attempted to refund our tickets, we watched our entry visas expire along with our hopes to visit this remote corner of the world.

With four years of planning and anticipation, the church members in PNG forged ahead with ambitious plans to conduct a series of nationwide evangelistic campaigns in the months and years to come, never losing hope that the visitors would arrive later.

In April 2024, Christine and I arrived in PNG for the first time, along with an interesting team of speakers from various countries for PNG for Christ 2024. We volunteered as short-term evangelists joining a team of 2,000 national and international speakers, conducting evangelistic efforts through out the country simultaneously.

Focus on Worldwide Evangelism

At the 60th General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas, United States, in 2015, the world church delegates agreed to focus on evangelism in various geographical regions from year to year prior to the next General Conference Session. Rwanda was the first country to benefit from this innovative program with Adventist World Radio (AWR) leading the coordination and implementation. After 16 days of intensive meetings in May 2016, over 100,000 new members were added to the local churches in Rwanda as a result of the Total Member Involvement initiative.

The church members in PNG had seen and read the reports of the combined efforts of AWR and Total Member Involvement (TMI) and they were ready to add their country to the long list of successful events in other parts of the world.

Before our arrival, Christine was assigned to the Teka Church, and I was assigned to the UK Nathan Church, both located near the Mount Hagen airport in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. The members, elders, and pastors in PNG had worked tirelessly to make this intense two weeks and three weekends the most successful evangelistic effort in the history of their beautiful country.

Meeting a Highly Motivated Group

As we began working with the members and church leaders, we discovered our two churches have over time started several company churches in the rural areas nearby.  Malgtamb (pronounced mock tom) is one of these companies, and as we began asking about member involvement, we spontaneously received an invitation to meet with this highly motivated group in Malgtamb.

Our appointment was set for midday, and we arrived to a neighborhood only five minutes from the Teka Church by a bumpy dirt road.  The pathway next to a canal was lined with gardens and balloons announcing a special event.  As we crossed the canal on a small bridge through a gated entry, we saw the little church on a knoll with 40-50 welcoming and smiling faces.

Some of the men and women recognized Christine from attending the evening meetings. At the same time, Elder Kelly was sounding several long blasts on an extended trumpet in all directions. This was Elder Kelly’s method of calling his friends and neighbors to a daily worship and bible study at 5 am. We were immediately presented with two hand-woven bilums, which are a useful shoulder bag used daily locally. A bilum requires weeks of hand weaving with wool threads producing interesting designs reflecting the PNG culture. They are a sign of acceptance as part of the family and close friends.

As we entered the church we were seated behind a small table in the front of the church. Our hosts quickly made themselves comfortable on wooden planks arranged on the dirt floor. The women and children filled most of the church, and the men sat together on one side.

Major Challenges and Hurdles

We were accompanied by Elder Wapsy and his wife Elder Jennifer. Elder Wapsy is the head elder of the Teka Church. Wapsy and Jennifer have labored 10 years to bring the Malgtamb company into regular standing as a recognized church. We soon learned the entire congregation was illiterate, and Jennifer was their literacy teacher. Knowledge of Bible truth for the members is one of the basic requirements of any company wanting to become a recognized church congregation, but literacy was the first hurdle for Elders Kelly, Wapsy, and Jennifer.

After the introductions, Christine was invited to speak a few words of encouragement inviting everyone to the nightly meeting with PowerPoint presentations covering subjects such as the Sabbath, Signs of Christ’s Coming, Health, and The True Church. When it was my turn to speak, I thanked Elder Kelly for his leadership, and invested him as a local AWR leader with the AWR lapel pin and hat. Next, I presented Elder Kelly with the AWR GodPod. The AWR GodPod is a solar-powered device with the Bible recorded in various languages. This particular Godpod had the Bible recorded in Tok Pisin, the local language used to bridge more than 800 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. As I turned on the Godpod and the audience heard the opening words of the Bible from the book of Genesis, there was an attentive silence.

Later, when the Godpod was paused, cheer and applause filled the room. They instantly captured the importance of meeting together daily to study the Word of God and progress in their literacy studies. Their desire is to one day have their own copy of the Bible, and Elder Wapsy and I committed to the group that each person would have a Bible once they became literate.

As we said goodbye and posed for a group photo outside the church, we were presented with more gifts; fruits of many varieties that grow in abundance in the rich fertile soil of PNG. It was then that I reached into my bilum and opened the letter and read it publicly.

Asking for Help

The second paragraph of the letter referenced above stated, “We know that you two’s [sic] are Missionaries sent by God to our country, most of the church members were surprised when you two’s here in Malgamb church. Because of the church family of this they want to thank you, but they don’t know how to speak English so they just give you a gift as a word of thanks for your coming to our branch church and see by yourselves present us a projector as your memory we will keep it.”

This letter was their formal acceptance of our gift to the Malgtamb Company. Earlier we mentioned to Elder Wapsy the projector Christine was using for the meetings at the Teka Church could be used for future outreach programs in the community. The Malgtamb Company was appropriately selected, where Elder Jennifer will be able to use the donated projector to continue the literacy classes with additional teaching aids and techniques.

Elder Kelly’s letter concluded with this prayerful reflection.

“May [sic] years have passed and there were no change in the Maglamb church; therefore, as for your coming to our church we would like to Kinding request that if you go back, please inform your sons and daughters or relatives as well as church member to pray for our incomplete church – Maglamb. And if anyone would like to help us financial, please tell him or her don’t hesitate call or What Sapp… for more information.

“Thank you may our Lord Richly [sic] bless you two’s when traveling back to your own country.

Yours in Christ,

ELDER KELLY WAMP”

Christine and I see the evidence of the Holy Spirit working miracles in the hearts of men, women, and children in Papua New Guinea. Pray for the great harvest even though the workers are few. Soon we will see the results of these dedicated efforts.

 Wally and Christine Amundson, retired missionaries from the Inter-American Division, were volunteers for AWR 360 PNG for Christ in May 2024.