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What God Can Do The Story The Three Three Aunties’ Aunties Story
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By Charles Micheals
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What God Can Do The Three Aunties’ Story
Winter Park, Florida
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© 2012 Charles J. Micheals
Published by the Aiyura Valley Historical Society
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: Pending
First Printing 2012 (Not for Sale)
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.
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Dedication To the men and women who served the Protestant church in Papua New Guinea.
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What God Can Do The Three Aunties’ Story It is not unusual that a person would come to the mission field and do one job for a while and then see other work to do and leave the first job as replacements come and take on new work. What is very unusual is three sisters doing mission work together in the same country, at the same time doing the same thing, and then all three deciding to do the same new work. However, that is exactly what Doris, Olive and Elsie McClure did.
These three sisters came to aid the missionary children of the parents who were working on Bible translation projects with the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea). Their job was to be parents to missionary children living at the Children’s Home located at the SIL center called Ukarumpa. They quickly discovered not only the spiritual needs of the missionary children, but also the spiritual needs of the young national boys and girls living in villages near the SIL center.
The story that follows of the “Three Aunties” is only something God could do. Not only did God open a door to the spread of the Gospel, but the love of God which the “Three Aunties” showed helped win the hearts of the local people to the work of SIL.
While the memories of the “Three Aunties” have begun to fade from the memory of the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in Aiyura Valley where Ukarumpa is located, the impact of their lives and ministry has not. A church has been established that continues to grow and spread the Gospel not only to the people who speak the Gadsup language in the valley, but also to neighboring communities that speak the Tairora language who in the past had been traditional enemies. 6|Page
My thanks go to the following people who helped make this book possible:
❖ Charles Greenlund who worked in the Auto Shop during the time the Three Aunties were in PNG. ❖ Timothy Dean: Timothy’s father Dr. Jim Dean was the first Director of SIL in PNG ❖ Janet McClure: Niece of the Three Aunties. ❖ Dale Brabham: (Great nephew of the Three Aunties. Dale’s mother Margaret was a niece to the Three Aunties and Dale’s father Eric Brabham, was the Chairman of the Board of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Australia for 20 years and on the International Boards for Wycliffe and the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service [now JAARS]). ❖ Adrian & Margaret Rickard: Former teachers at the Christian Leaders Training College. ❖ Gail May who grew up at Ukarumpa. Her father Jim Baptista was a pilot with JAARS. ❖ David Carne: His father Ron Carne was the Director of the Highlands Agricultural Experiment Station located in Aiyura Valley where the Ukarumpa center is located. ❖ Bob Thomas, Editor: 'New Life', Australia's Christian Newspaper (www.nlife.com.au).
A special word of thanks goes to my wife Barb for her patience with me during the time it took to collect material and to write this book. She encouraged me to keep working on this project and gave advice on many practical things. She also helped with editing and proofreading. Without her help, this work would not have been completed.
Many others, too numerous to fully name also helped with various
remembrances for which I am grateful.
All Bible texts quoted are from the New International Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.
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Chapter 1 The Path to New Guinea The three sisters who became known as the Three Aunties, Doris, Olive and Elsie McClure, lived in three houses in Malvern, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia (Dixon Street, Finlayson Street and finally Normanby Avenue).
Their parents were John Andrew and Rosina (Rose) McClure.
John Andrew and Rose McClure had six children. Ethel Rose was born in 1888, Leslie John in 1897, John Leslie in 1898, Doris Eileen in 1901, Olive in 1903 and Elsie Jean in 1905. John Andrew died in 1933. Rose McClure died on May 29, 1940.
The Three Aunties’ parents and older children – (L-R) John Leslie, Grandma Rose, Ethel Rose and Grandpa Andrew McClure (Photo courtesy of Dale Brabham)
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Of the children, Ethel Rose married Arthur Edward Luxford and they had four children; Olive, Wallace, Dorothy and Margaret. John Leslie married Hazel Wilson and they had four children, Rhona, Malcolm, Janet and Philip.
Photo likely taken in 1906 – McClure younger children (L-R) Doris, Elsie, John, Olive (Photo courtesy of Dale Brabham)
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The Three Aunties never married. When they became adults, they owned a retail shop in Malvern, Australia which sold embroideries, tablecloths, doilies, sewing cottons and also baby clothing. They did extensive needlework work. Auntie Olive made baby gowns, jackets and flannel petticoats and pants, and Auntie Doris embroidered the gowns and jackets and crocheted around the garments with silk thread. Auntie Elsie had a knitting machine and made tea cozies and egg covers.
The shop was located within walking distance of their home. Olive and Elsie rode bikes to get back and forth from their home to the shop.
The brick shop with six rooms was situated in the middle of a row of shops, located on 62 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, Victoria, Australia. Glenferrie Road was one of the main shopping districts in the city of Malvern.
McClure Sisters Drapery Shop (Photos courtesy of the Stonnington History Centre and Dale Brabham)
They owned their retail store from approximately 1930 -1947 and it was during this time they learned the skills that would enable their ministry in the second half of life. Today, organizations like Mission Next1
1
https://missionnext.org/
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help people who have finished work in the first half of their lives find places for service in Christian mission work in the second half. However, in the 1950s, the Three Aunties paved the way and showed others not to waste their lives by working for things that perish.
Their whole lives were lives of service. Their service was first to Christ and His Church and then it was to others by giving to others what they had been so blessed with, God’s Word. At first their ministry was in Australia, but in the later years nearing what others would consider early retirement, they headed to New Guinea to take up new work and ministry. However, first God was doing His work through the Three Aunties in Australia.
1909 - Glenferrie Road, Malvern Town (Photo courtesy of the Malvern Historical Society)
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1920 - Malvern Town Post Card (Photo courtesy of the Malvern Historical Society)
1954 - Glenferrie Road, Malvern, Victoria, Australia (Photo courtesy of the State Library of Victoria, Australia)
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Early in life the Three Aunties were impacted by the Gospel and as they grew up in their Christian faith the love for mission work took hold. From the time of their youth, their family attended meetings at the Southern Evangelical Mission (SEM) in Melbourne, Australia. SEM had sister churches in Adelaide, New South Wales and Maffra, Victoria.
In 1910, Robert Horne, a Methodist minister from Melbourne, heard of the baptism in the Spirit and sought the Lord on matters related to the Holy Spirit. In 1911, he purchased a building in Caulfield, Victoria, Australia and started the Southern Evangelical Mission. The mission did not plant church assemblies, but mainly concentrated in spreading the Pentecostal message using radio and printed material2.
The Three Aunties (L-R) Doris, Elsie and Olive McClure (Photo courtesy of Gail May)
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http://www.cai.org/about-us/australian-pentecostal-history
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The Three Aunties attended SEM meetings at their headquarters in Melbourne on Sunday and Wednesday. However, on Sunday afternoons, they ran a Sunday School program in the local park. They did this for 27 years until they left for New Guinea in 1958.
The Dean family in 1965 - Back row (L-R) Sharon, Gladys, Jim. Front row (L-R) David, Roseann, Jonathan, Timothy Dean (Photo courtesy of the James Dean family)
In 1956 the Three Aunties were introduced to Dr. Jim and Glady Dean by Eric Daly, the editor of the New Life Christian magazine. Eric had recently been introduced to the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics by the Three Aunties. Dr. Jim Dean was heading up the SIL3 linguistic and Bible translation school in Belgrave Heights, Victoria, Australia (which is 23 miles southeast of Melbourne, Australia) and he was also the director of the SIL advance into New Guinea. By 1956 the Three Aunties had already been involved in caring for the children of SIL missionary families who were going through their SIL linguistic and Bible translation training at the school. They had visited a session of the SIL school in 1952 and saw the need for someone to care for the missionary children while
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SIL – The Summer Institute of Linguistics (today known as SIL International) is a major partner of Wycliffe Bible Translators (www.sil.org).
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the parents attended classes and so they returned the following four summers to help care for the children.
In the early part of 1956, Dr. Jim Dean took a trip to New Guinea to scout out land in Aiyura Valley for a center of operations4. Glady and their children stayed in Belgrave Heights. It was a particular encouragement for Glady and the children to have regular visits by the Three Aunties who came from Melbourne to be sure that all was well with their family while Jim was in New Guinea.
Aiyura Valley had been the location of the Peacock Plantation, a failed commercial coffee venture. Before that, the plot of land was disputed ground and was fought over by surrounding language communities (and traditional enemies), the Gadsups and the Tairoras. Because the Australian government wanted to separate the two warring sides they saw it as an ideal place for SIL's work. A 99-year lease for the 500 acres at Ukarumpa was signed by Dr. Richard Pittman from SIL and witnessed by the first SIL Papua and New Guinea Branch Director, Dr. Jim Dean on October 4, 1956. During the time the Deans’ fourth child David was born at the end of the SIL school session (which had necessitated the Deans travelling Melbourne), the Three Aunties took Jim and the three children into their home in Malvern, Victoria, Australia (8 miles south of Melbourne, Australia) while Glady was in the hospital for the birth. It was a special privilege for Jim to be able to get to know the three sisters individually.
The Three Aunties all taught religious instruction in the schools close to Malvern, and they used to take the children who had suffered the after-effects of polio on walks in their long ‘prams’. They had all the neighborhood children in their house. They also witnessed to all their neighbours, in fact anyone with whom they came in contact. When they finally came back from New Guinea the last time, Auntie Elsie, being totally blind then and having a weak heart, would sit on a seat at the shopping center with the other sisters along with Janet McClure, their niece, who helped them then, would find her speaking to someone about the Lord.
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To read more about the Ukarumpa mission center, read God’s Grocers by Charles Micheals – (Pages 38ff) http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/godsgrocers_chapters1-4
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1956 - Dr. Jim Dean and local New Guinea guide scouting out property in Aiyura Valley, New Guinea. Later this land was developed into a center of operation later named Ukarumpa. (Photo courtesy of SIL PNG Branch Archives)
1956 – Dr. Jim Dean at Ukarumpa (Photo courtesy of SIL PNG Branch Archives)
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When Glady and the new born baby David came home, they were treated as part of the new extended McClure family. The Three Aunties were so full of genuine love and affection that the Dean children accepted the sisters wholeheartedly as their Aunties! In fact, the Three Aunties were the only people with whom the Dean children were happy to stay with if their parents were occupied in some activity related to the work.
The Three Aunties extended their friendship to many other students at the SIL linguistic school in the Melbourne, Australia area. This included Ray and Ruth Nicholson and their children, Kathy Barker Glasgow and Dr. Darlene Bee who later on became the Principal of the SIL linguistic school in New Zealand5. When Bruce and Joyce Hooley were married in 1958, the wedding reception was held at the home of the Three Aunties and they even catered the whole affair!
It was during those days in the mid-1950s when plans were being laid for the opening of the New Guinea Bible translation work that the Lord laid it on the Three Aunties' hearts to give a gift for a new Children's Home at the mission center in Aiyura Valley called Ukarumpa. Following the giving of this gift which made the first Children's Home at Ukarumpa a possibility, the Lord continued to burden the Three Aunties for the care of the Bible translators' children at Ukarumpa while the parents were in the village. They soon began to consider going to Ukarumpa to help out with the work there.
Although the Aunties were all in their fifties and they had many questions about giving up their business, their Sunday School work in the park in Australia and their lovely home there, they responded in a positive way to God’s call to foreign mission work in New Guinea. The Lord sealed this by the decision of the Australian Council of Wycliffe Bible Translators, which allowed them to go to such a pioneering endeavor. This was something of a miracle as it was unprecedented at this time that a Mission Council would agree to the assignment of individuals over the age of 50 to do work in such a pioneering endeavor. This was something only God could do.
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You can read more about Dr. Darlene Bee in the book The Hand of God by Charles Micheals http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/the_hand_of_god
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The McClure sisters in New Guinea – Three Aunties (L-R) Elsie, Doris and Olive (Photo courtesy of Gail May)
During those days of preparation before leaving for Ukarumpa, the Three Aunties went through some serious and heart-searching experiences. One of them was Auntie Elsie's struggles with Glaucoma, which seemed to prevent Elsie from going. The Three Aunties made that a matter of prayer and the Lord heard and in a very wonderful way touched Elsie’s eyes. Although she never regained 20-20 vision, she was given the ability to read again which opened the door to Elsie being able to serve in New Guinea with her sisters. While going to New Guinea at first seemed impossible because of the eye problem, as they prayed it soon became a possibility and then a reality and was one of the assurances the Lord gave them that it was time to go to New Guinea. Many years later, when Elsie’s eyesight again began to fail, they also then knew that God was calling them back to Australia.
This idea of ‘walking by faith’ was not new to the Three Aunties or the missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators who were working in New Guinea and around the world. In fact, the idea of ‘walking by faith’
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has always been such an integral part of the Wycliffe Bible Translator organization that for many years their theme song was “Faith Mighty Faith”: “We walk by faith, not by sight.” II Corinthians 5:7 (English Standard Version)
“Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and looks to God alone. Laughs at impossibilities and shouts, “It shall be done.” And shouts it shall, it shall be done, And shouts it shall, it SHALL be done. Laughs at impossibilities and SHOUTS, “It shall be done!”
In 1958, the Three Aunties took that step of faith and headed to New Guinea. Their first adventure was when they sailed on what was supposed to be a 16-day ocean voyage from Melbourne, Australia to Port Moresby. However, that trip was extended to forty days as the ship repeatedly broke down! The Three Aunties enjoyed an unexpected two full weeks in Sydney while the ship was being repaired and when it broke down enroute to Brisbane it had to be towed most of the rest of the way to New Guinea.
Ukarumpa
Lonely Planet Creative Maps (http://creativeroots.org)
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Chapter 2 Initial Work The Three Aunties started their work at Ukarumpa in 1958 when Doris, the first born was 56 years old, Olive, the second born was 54 and Elsie the third born was 53. Their prayer was that as the Lord had kept them contented as single women in Australia that He would allow them to all stay single in New Guinea. The three sisters had a special bond and love for each other and because of that they wanted to do ministry together until they died.
The Lord heard that prayer and brought them many other blessings as well as allowing them to be a blessing to others. The Lord also worked in and through the Three Aunties and as a result many New Guinea men and women in Aiyura Valley became Christians. The Three Aunties came to Ukarumpa to be house parents to the children who were living at a boarding home at Ukarumpa, the mission headquarters for the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) in New Guinea. However, when they arrived, there was no separate home built yet for the children to live in, so the Three Aunties first lived with Walt and Vonnie Steinkraus6 (The Steinkrauses home actually was the first boarding home at Ukarumpa). However, plans were soon laid for a permanent Children’s Home structure to be built.
Before the Children’s Home was built, the Three Aunties moved from house-to-house at Ukarumpa. Beside the Steinkrauses’ house the Three Aunties also lived in Robert and Rosemary Young's house, the Philippine House (donated by the SIL Philippine Branch) and then back to the Steinkrauses’ house.
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To read more about the Steinkrauses, read the book, Called By My Name by Charles Micheals http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/calledbymyname
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The first permanent Children’s Home opened in May, 1959, after a dramatic event. Dr. Jim Dean tried to coax both Gadsup and Tairora men to work at the center at Ukarumpa. However, the men were somewhat reluctant to help at first since contact with the outside world had only happened a few years earlier.
SIL Mission Center - Ukarumpa Center in Aiyura Valley (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators, USA Archives)
When building the Children’s Home, which later became known as "DORELO" for the Three Aunties, DOR (Doris), EL (Elsie) and O (Olive), a group of local men were putting on the corrugated metal roof. Sadly, two Tairora men were killed when the roof was struck by lightning and the lightning traveled to the ground where the young men were standing. That event kept a number of Tairora people from further participation as they believed that the event was caused by supernatural forces of which they needed to be wary. Eventually, the Tairora villagers overcame this fear and many over the years have worked at Ukarumpa. The Three Aunties moved into DORELO on May 12, 1959 and it was dedicated on May 24, 1959. The Rev. John Searle, Principal of Melbourne Bible Institute, Victoria, Australia presided over the dedication ceremony. 21 | P a g e
There were 14 children in DORELO when it first opened. They were the four children of Chet and Marge Frantz, the four children of Orneal and Martha Kooyers, the four children of Ernest and Marjorie Richert and the two children of Don and Launa Davies.
1959 - New DORELO Children’s Home (Photo courtesy of Gail May)
DORELO Children’s Home – The Three Aunties (Photo courtesy of Gail May)
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As busy as the Three Aunties were, they also found time (because of their love for Sunday School work) to begin holding Sunday School classes for the missionary children and soon the national children who lived in the nearby village (which also had the name Ukarumpa) began to come as well.
The Three Aunties teach Sunday School classes at the Ukarumpa center (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
Around 1962, the Three Aunties felt led of the Lord to start a village work at the nearby Gadsup Ukarumpa village. They continued work in the Children's Home, but started negotiations for a lease on a piece of land in Ukarumpa village on which to build a home. However, the Australian Public Health Department (Australia had oversight of the Territory of New Guinea at the time) would not allow that, on the grounds of their age and health hazards.
Eventually God changed the minds of the authorities and by 1963 the Three Aunties had a grass-roofed house built at Ukarumpa Village and had a well-established sewing class with the girls and young women
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of Ukarumpa village. On August 15, 1963, four years after they first went into the DORELO Children’s Home, they concluded their official work there.
While waiting for their lease at Ukarumpa village to go through, the Three Aunties moved back to the Steinkrauses’ house for a time, then to Wal and Win Blackwell’s house and then to Don and Launa Davis’s house. During this time, they worked in the Ukarumpa Printshop and took care of many children when the need arose. While in the Davis home, they boarded three Gadsup young men who attended Ukarumpa High School. One of them, Afarima, later on in life became the Secretary to Mr. Paul Lapun, the Papua New Guinea Minister of Mines.
The Ukarumpa Village lease took three years to come through. Eventually the Three Aunties were given approval to build a lovely timber house in Ukarumpa village.
1963 – Olive with Ukarumpa village girls at Ukarumpa village sewing class (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
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In August 1966 they moved from the Ukarumpa Center and across the Bae River to live for the next eight and a half years among the Gadsup people. Before they left the work of SIL they were given honorary New Guinea Branch membership in recognition of their fruitful eight years of service with SIL.
Dedication of the “Three Aunties” house in Ukarumpa village – Ukarumpa village church in the background Musical Group: (L-R) Al Pence/trombone; Chuck Greenlund/ trombone; Ray Brown/oboe; Ron Gluck/ flute; Ed Bentley/violin (Photo courtesy of Charles Greenlund)
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1965 - Dedication of the “Three Aunties” house in Ukarumpa village (Photo courtesy of Charles Greenlund)
1990s – The Ukarumpa church that the “Three Aunties” planted (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
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Chapter 3 A Church Established At the time the Three Aunties’ timber house was built at Ukarumpa village, the Sunday School work at Ukarumpa village had progressed to the point that on August 15, 1966 the first meeting of the new ‘Aiyura Evangelical Lokol’ (local) Church was held7. The church was a member of the larger ‘Church of the Evangelical Alliance’ which was an umbrella organization created in the country to support the work of many local congregations in New Guinea. Eventually as the Ukarumpa church planted other churches, the church in Ukarumpa village was called the Ukarumpa Lokol Church.
Betty Baptista and Olive McClure at the Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
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To read more about this church, read Aiyura Valley Pastors by Charles Micheals http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs
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Three Aunties at the Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators, USA Archives)
Doris at the Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Gail May)
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Nampaifa was one of the Ukarumpa village leaders who worked with the Three Aunties in the early years. Bafi Wamaneso, the Three Aunties’ adopted son in the faith from the village, began pastoring the wellestablished Gadsup church with his new wife Karome. Another young man, Manuko Yantaki, assisted in the work of the church. Pastor Bafi attended the Christian Leaders Training College to receive his theological education. He went on after that schooling to equip and train other pastors in the valley.
1960s - Pastor Bafi – Baptism by Rev. Ed Long 1985 - Pastor Bafi (Photos courtesy of Wendy Talené, SIL PNG Archives and Michael Johnson)
2000s - Pastor Bafi
(L-R) Philip, Yoya, Simamu, Pastor Bafi and Simamu’s and Manuko’s wedding (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
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1966 - Betty Baptista and son Steve at Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Gail May)
1985 - Mare Seseko (church worhip leader), Pastor Manuko and SIL member Ken Najar (Photo courtesy of Ken Najor)
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Chapter 4 God Gives The Increase By 1975 people could see Ukarumpa and other Gadsup villages were touched by the Three Aunties’ love as they shared the Gospel and offered care for the people. When the Three Aunties decided to leave New Guinea that year there were signs of a revival in the village.
The Three Aunties served in New Guinea for sixteen and a half years (1959 – 1975) with only one short furlough. As they said, "Our home is here and we don't want to go back to Australia, but the Lord has shown us that our work here is finished and we would just be in the way."
2010 - New Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Brian Chapaitis)
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After they left Papua New Guinea (just before Papua New Guinea’s independence), they never returned. However, by that time the church was in the hands of the capable local pastors they had trained. As the Ukarumpa village church grew over the years this Gadsup church began to plant sister churches. One was in the nearby Asaranka Village and one remarkably was in the language area of the Tairoras.
1990s - Asaranka Lokol Church – Pastors Josiah Dauyi (center) and Joel Iyano (right) (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
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The church planted in Nori Kori was remarkable because the Tairora language community had been traditional enemies of the Gadsup people and they had used the land where the Ukarumpa Center was built on as fighting ground. However, the Gospel was not only changing lives as people came to understand their sin and the salvation found only in Jesus Christ, but it was also breaking the spears of resentment as people from both language communities (the Gadsup and Tairora) met together for fellowship and worship.
1980 – Nori Kori village (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
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On August 15, 1986, the Ukarumpa Valley Church celebrated its 20-year anniversary. An anniversary program highlighted the Papua New Guinea men who worked with the church: Manuko Yauntaki (Assistant Pastor), Josiah Dauyi, Kenny, Ron Avanka, Ampi, Daioso Banave, Sura Yauntake, Kwari, Philip Sinoi, Mickey Senkai, Riki Beyava and Bafi Womaneso (Senior Pastor).
The program was hosted by Mickey Senkai and the following people participated: Bafi Womaneso, Manuko Yauntakie, Mickey Senkai, Gware and Arina Nanong, Kumalau Tawali, Noah Yol and Ampi along with SIL Papua New Guinea Branch members (Ben Clary, Karl, Franklin, William Edoni) and SIL employees participating, (Gabriel Porolak, Tulia). The Scripture passages preached on were from I Corinthians 1:2728 and Romans 10:14-15.
Aiyura Evangelical Church’s 20th Anniversary Celebration – August 15, 1986 (Document courtesy of Chuck Greenlund)
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1985 - Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
On November 5, 1994, the then expanded Ukarumpa village church now known as the Aiyura Evangelical Church (EBC), turned over the supervision of the church to the Evangelical Brotherhood Church (EBC) which had been doing other church planting in the Eastern Highlands province. A large gathering of the Aiyura Valley people met in Ukarumpa village on the yard of the house of the Three Aunties.
Many leaders and villagers spoke and shared their testimony and gave thanks to the Lord for the work of the church. Leaders from the EBC church also spoke and shared plans for their supervision of the churches in the Aiyura Valley that had been planted as a result of the Three Aunties.
Tribute was given to the efforts of the Three Aunties and a drama was given by the village people of the Three Aunties’ arrival in the village.
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On the following few pages, the various parts of the program that were held is outlined using the Melanesian Tok Pisin language. An English subtitle is included to help the reader understand the various parts of the program.
Programme Bilong Bikpela Bung Long Sarare 5th Novemba 1994 (The Church Program - Saturday, November 5, 1994)
Photo left - Singim Song (A time for praise and worship) – Leader: Gware Nanong Photo right - Lukautim Ol Programmes Master of Ceremonies shares with the congregation the order of events) - Leader: Josiah Dauyi
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Photo left - Opim Bung Bilong Yumi Wantaim Nehemia 12: 43 – Prea: (The meeting opens with Bible reading from Nehemiah 12:43 and with prayer) Leaders: Ricki Beyaba and Foxie Photo right - Autim Testamonies (Several members of the congregation share their testimonies) – Leaders from: Asaranka E.B.C. Sios and Ukarumpa E.B.C. Sios
Ol Grup Song i Kam Long Ol Bratasusa (Songs from various church groups) Leaders: Church choirs from Asaranka and Ukarumpa Villages.
Autim Tok (Scripture messages) - Leaders: EBC Pastors
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Aiyura Evangelical Sios History (History of the Aiyura Valley Church) Leaders: Pastors Bafi Womaneso and Manuko Yauntaki
Presentation (Drama of “The Three Aunties Arrival In Ukarumpa Village”) Leaders: Aiyura Valley Women
Larim Key Igo Long Hand Bilong E.B.C. President (Passing the leadership from Aiyura Evangelical Church to the Evangelical Brotherhood Church) Leader: Elder: Mickey Senkai
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Leaders: Likis Tuse and Lero Maka
Ol Tok Save (Announcements) Leader: Ricki Beyaba
Community Lida Na Kaunsol (Community leader) Leader: Andrew Morobe
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The ceremony concluded with a time of food and fellowship. A video of the church program ceremony can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/aiyuravalleychurch.
April 2005 - Baptism in the Bae River, Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea (Photo courtesy of Brian Chapatis)
In 2005, a number of Ukarumpa village young people became Christians and were baptized in the nearby Bae River. There was a time of great rejoicing as the church continued to grow! In 2006, EBC built a new church building in Ukarumpa village and a dedication for the new facility was held on April 28, 2006. The Aiyura Valley EBC church today continues to experience growth as several new churches have been planted in the valley and the nearby Tairora area in recent years.
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New Ukarumpa village church - Dedication ceremony (Photo courtesy of Brian Chapatis)
New Ukarumpa village church dedication – Brian Chapatis speaking (Photo courtesy of Brian Chapatis)
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Chapter 5 The Three Aunties Return to Australia When the Aunties decided to stay in Papua New Guinea and build their own home there, they asked Eric Brabham to sell their home in Normanby Road. He refurbished it and undertook all the work involved in selling it. This meant they had no home when they returned to in 1975, but their sister-in-law Hazel McClure, who was now living with her sister, offered them hers, a large house divided into two flats, located in Montrose, in the Dandenong Hills, about 30 miles from Melbourne, Australia. The Three Aunties lived in one of the flats and a number of missionary families lived in the other flat.
The policy of nearby Bible College of Victoria (previously Melbourne Bible Institute and currently known as the Melbourne School of Theology) was that newly married couples had to live off the college grounds for the first year. Hazel McClure rented this flat to them very cheaply so, over the years there were at least twenty families that lived in the other flat as the studied at BCV and during this time the Three Aunties encouraged and ministered to them. Eric and Margaret Brabham (Photo Courtesy of ACMA)
At that location two of the sisters died (Olive and Elsie). Olive died at the age of 75 on June 20, 1979 and Elsie died at the age of 80 on August 21, 1985. Doris eventually went to live with Eric and Margaret Brabham for her last few years until she died at age 86 on February 8, 1988. Eric was Chairman of Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia for twenty years and also served on the international boards of the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service (now JAARS) and Wycliffe International (now Wycliffe Global Alliance)
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things— and the things that are not —to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” I Corinthians 1:27-29
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“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” Romans 10:14 – 15
Memorial Service for the “Three Aunties” Eulogy by Joan Carne - Kangaroo Ground, Sunday, February 14, 1988
Like David Cummings, I too
first met the three McClure sisters the day they arrived in New Guinea
Highlands in September 1958. They had quite an eventful and interesting sea trip up from Sydney to Lae in a Chinese Line cargo ship.
As David mentioned at the service for Auntie Doris last Wednesday, he met them with the SIL tractor and trailer at Kainantu airstrip - the nearest government patrol post to the SIL center.
As passenger vehicles were scarce in those days, SIL had asked us on the agricultural station nearby if we, too, could help out with transport. So, Ron [Joan’s husband] sent me in to meet the party in our Land Rover. Not that they would have been unequal to the challenge of a ride behind a tractor if they had to they were game enough for anything - as time proved. But that seven miles of rough dirt road was pretty bumpy in any vehicle! Their luggage and other cargo from Lae came in the trailer.
Their trip in from Lae in an old DC3 cargo plane was their first flight, and they were so excited about it all, and exclaimed about all they saw as we travelled over to the Ukarumpa center. They waved and called greetings to the numerous children by the roadside, and that was the beginning of a love relationship with all the children of the surrounding villages. Whenever they moved about, either on foot or in vehicles, children would come running from all directions calling "ullo Aunties.” Children seemed to be drawn to the Aunties as if to a magnet.
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My friendship with them, too, developed from that first day. We found we had a lot of common interests. After all, we were all from the same home town of Melbourne!
It was not long before they started a Sunday School for SIL and local village children on the center. They also took Scripture classes at the government primary school for expatriate children. This school was on the agricultural station, and two of the Aunties would travel over with the school vehicle. After the weekly classes were over they would set off to walk the three miles home. I would look out for them as they passed our place one mile down the hill. We would have a cup of tea, and walk round the garden and share plants; and then I would drive them the rest of the way home.
Old school bus (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Bible Translators, USA Archives)
And so the Aunties gradually settled into the work they had come up to do - to look after the children of the linguists while their parents were working in the villages.
In 1959 the first Children’s Home on the Ukarumpa center was opened with the Three Aunties caring for about 12 children. They were firm, but loving house parents. It was quite a big task for them to take on in 46 | P a g e
their late 50s. Just getting breakfast for 12 children and seeing them off to school each morning complete with lunches, took organization. For six years they tended to every need of each child, even helping them with their homework. And the children loved them. The home was later called DOR-EL-O, after Doris, Elsie and Olive’s names. Many of the children who were in their care have kept in contact with them over the years.
The Three Aunties in the DORELO Children’s Home (Photo of unknown source)
Around 1962, the Aunties felt led of the Lord to start a village work at the nearby Gadsup village from which the SIL Center took its name - UKARUMPA. They continued in the Children’s Home, but started negotiations for a lease of land near the village. This took three years. In 1965, they built their home on the land there and were given honorary branch membership in SIL in recognition of their seven years of service there. Their love of flowers and trees and shrubs showed in the beautiful garden they established round their home.
In the early days they had started sewing classes for the village women and girls, and now they had a special building put up in the village, with thatch roof and plaited bamboo walls. Auntie Olive continued
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2013 – The Three Aunties’ house in Ukarumpa village (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
her classes there right up until they left. She would work with five or six selected girls at a time, and taught them to work to her own very high standards. The girls she trained began sewing for the village people.
The Aunties believed that if a thing is worth doing it is worth doing well. They were perfectionists with sewing, and their handiwork was beautiful. When our youngest daughter Heather was born at Kainantu in 1959, the Aunties brought us such lovely gifts they had made for her, from materials they brought up with them - little Viyella baby nighties embroidered with rose buds, a lovely wool blanket, satin edged with hand-made motif, and a tiny organdy and lace sun bonnet. Heather’s own children have worn some of these, and I still have the 29-year-old baby blanket and use it for our visiting grandchildren. Such was the quality of their workmanship.
As the Aunties lived and worked amongst the Gadsup people, they shared in their lives, and the people came to them with their problems, joys and sorrows, and their love touched many hearts. They taught 48 | P a g e
the people from the Word of God. Some of the younger boys came to their home each day and were taught to read and write, and to know the Lord. They sponsored them through secondary school and even through CLTC. They did have their disappointments and heartbreaks along the way, but also great joy as they saw some of them grow in their Christian faith.
One such young boy was Bafi Womaneso. He responded so readily and quickly to their teaching, it was apparent that the hand of the Lord was upon him. I think David Price will be telling you more about Bafi and how he is fulfilling all their hopes for him.
1960s Bafi Wamaneso being baptized by Rev. Ed Long (Photo courtesy of Wendy Talené)
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The Aunties also became involved with the Government Primary School for Nationals, helping and encouraging the students and teachers, and sponsoring some of the village children, keeping them in school clothes and lunches. I remember how the Aunties once made about 20 sports uniforms for one class!
The people came to them with their medical problems and would line up each morning for the good, oldfashioned proven remedies of the Aunties. Anything too difficult they would send in to the Government Hospital in Kainantu, where they became well known for their work, and were given supplies of medicines for their home clinic. One of their specialties was to buy large bags of peanuts from the Markham Valley and with the help of a corn grinder make peanut butter, roll it into balls, and hand them around to the village children who they considered needed extra nourishment.
They were often seen in Kainantu on a Sunday afternoon, visiting sick friends at the hospital and visiting prisoners at the Gaol. It was about this time it became important to them to be able to move around more to these places, and to other villages in the area. So little Auntie Olive decided she would learn to drive, and at the age of 60, she obtained her license, and a little Volkswagen car became available to them. I think a few ditches were jumped, and there were some pretty close shaves as they sallied forth! But the Lord protected them - and everyone else - and Auntie Olive and her little car became a wellknown feature of the countryside. She actually became a good little driver, even though there were those who pretended to give her a wide berth!
Auntie Elsie was the shopper, and despite her restricted sight, she was better than anyone I know at finding the best buys and a good bargain! She also was in charge of the little village Sunday School held in their open garage. Auntie Doris was the home lover. She was also the writer, a very good cook and master-minded their programs.
The Aunties helped establish a little village mission church nearby, known as Aiyura Evangelical Mission, where their influence and guidance was strong. They saw many lives transformed by the power of God. In later years a friend of ours who visited a more distant village found there were many radiant Christians there. When she asked how all this started she was told, "Well - the Aunties lit the match and the fire has spread!"
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1965 – Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Chuck Greenlund)
They were great encouragers to young people - there seemed to be no generation-gap problem. The village youth group would meet at their home once a week and Auntie Doris would spend most of the day baking such delicacies as jam tarts and pikelets for their tea or supper.
We all know the Aunties were great prayer warriors. We have known and felt their prayers covering us as a family over many years - as have other families. So many have been touched and blessed in this way. I have learned much from them over our 30 years of friendship.
There are many stories to illustrate the miracles that took place because of their prayers. The big iron roof on their home collected water for their tank. They shared this tank with the village people, as they had to carry water from the river some distance away. One very dry season everyone’s tanks were low or empty, but the Aunties did not want to stop the people using their water. So, they committed the matter to the Lord, and in a miraculous way, whenever they checked it that tank was always topped up and never ran dry, even though the people were still using it freely.
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We retired from the Department of Agriculture in PNG in 1974 and returned to Melbourne, just a year before the Aunties left. That was the year Auntie Elsie lost her eyesight again. They felt God was telling them that their time in New Guinea was now finished and that they were to leave the work to those who they had nurtured in the faith. So, they returned to Melbourne early in 1975.
Since then family and friends have had a chance to minister to them in their twilight years, while they have lived in their sister-in-law Hazel's flat in Montrose. They made lots of new friends there. Then after Auntie Doris was left on her own, Marjorie and Eric8 have ministered to her as she spent the last year and a half of her life in their home.
The Three Aunties (Photo courtesy of Dale Brabhams)
But even in these later years, the Aunties were still ministering to others. In the years of her blindness, Auntie Elsie rolled hundreds of bandages for the leprosy mission - I think it could have been thousands. 8
Eric and Margaret (Marjorie or Marge) Brabhams
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Auntie Doris collected old sheets from friends or Op. shops, and prepared the good sections of the material for Auntie Elsie to roll tightly and evenly. They knitted dozens of their famous little jumpers for babies and gave them to friends and Missions. They knitted scarves for prisoners. They sent many boxes of used clothing to their Gadsup friends - as Olive Howe and Janet well know, having helped them with the parceling up! Until very recently Auntie Doris has regularly spent an afternoon visiting an elderly people’s home in Templestowe, just talking to and encouraging those folk.
Yet greater than any of these things they have done, is the radiance of their own personal lives, which showed so clearly their great love for their Lord and Master.
Bronwyn Checkley, daughter of Marie and Harland Kerr, translators for the Wiru people of PNG, rang me from America last week to express her feelings after hearing that Auntie Doris had been called Home. She said Auntie Doris had been a mother, grandmother, friend and counsellor to her over the years. Even though Auntie Doris would be rejoicing now with her Lord, and with her sisters, she felt that a great light had gone out of this world. But then we hope that that light will still shine on in the lives of those who have been touched by the Aunties.
It is a mystery to this day just how the Aunties communicated so well with the New Guinea people, as they used so little of the local or trade languages!! But then - the three McClure sisters were indeed remarkable ladies!!!
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Chapter 6 God’s Loving Hand The stories in these next chapters come from a large collection of stories written by Doris McClure. The ones Doris recorded here are stories of the Three Aunties and their lives among their beloved New Guinea people and are written in a very personal way. The family has given permission to share these stories with the reader. [Editor’s Note – The stories have been slightly edited for clarity to the modern reader.]
Joan and daughter Janet Carne with the Three Aunties (L-R) Doris, Joan, Olive, Elsie. Ron and Joan Carne worked with the Ag. Station located in Aiyura Valley (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
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MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY – 1960 The things we see, touch, know and feel Prove God is present and is real. And oh! How blest to understand We're kept by God's own loving hand.
JON GILBERT
Our God - the source of joy and peace and blessing. The simple, lovely verse of Jon Gilbert explained the source of all the joy and peace and blessing during our years in the SIL Children's Home. God's presence was very real to us and the children. In countless ways He kept us. We learned to trust Him and it became a constant joy to note His daily providence. Nothing was too small to bring to him! It meant so much to Larry that God answered his prayer.
Larry was such a little boy and he prayed for the seemingly impossible - a pair of white tennis shoes for "Sports Day" at the Primary School. They arrived with five minutes to spare - exactly the right size and white! And there was nothing too hard for Him!
The big rains of 1960 caused severe flooding of the boundary river, sweeping away bridges and cutting us off from our supplies. The Base gardens which catered for all our vegetable needs were completely devastated, nothing was salvaged - and vegetables were a basic need for our family of ten school children. Time would solve the problem, but our needs were immediate.
What will we eat was the question posed by little Judy and echoed in all our hearts. And so, an earnest petition for the supply of these needs was included in the usual prayers around our table that morning. It was quiet in the "Home" after the children had gone off to school and we began the routine duties of the day with the problem of the evening meal paramount in our minds. Then a movement in the Kunai grass captured our attention and to our surprise a little group of Tairoras from a neighboring tribe emerged and proceeded in single file along the path that led directly to our back door.
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And what was so surprising about that? It was amazing, very wonderful for these reasons:
1) While the Children's Home was under construction, two young Tairora lads who were working there, were struck by lightning during a severe tropical storm and were both killed instantly. Since that day no Tairora had come to the Base, much less to the Children's Home.
2) Every one of the visiting groups was carrying something in the way of garden produce; beans, corn, cabbage, onions and potatoes and surely the biggest pumpkin ever seen. Spread out on a kitchen bench and it looks like a Harvest Festival display.
3) By no means least, the evidence of God’s loving care. He had heard our prayer and had answered in His own wonderful way. The story would not be complete without the children's comments at the sight of all the good things. "Where did it all come from?" was the first excited question. "You guess" we replied. "From God" was Judy's quick reply. “Yes!” It was from God, in the most unexpected way. God works through human channels wherever possible and our children were fed from the Tairoras’ bountiful garden.
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BEGINNINGS - 1965 It was a lovely clear moonlight night and someone said "Let's go to Asaranka." We all approved the idea, so we went and we sat in a real "cottage meeting" - the first of its kind in any of our villages.
Asaranka is one of the prettiest villages in the Aiyura valley and it looked really beautiful by moonlight. The grass houses are much the same as any others. Size and design don't vary much, but the whole village is surrounded by wonderful bamboo. They send their great spears up to 40-50 ft., perhaps more, before they break into the glorious sweeping plumes which we so enjoy.
These bamboo shoots represent a person's wealth. The people can tell to whom every one belongs. Our visit was quite unexpected and what we saw and heard was not staged for our benefit. he little village houses were all closed up when we passed through, but lamplight shone faintly through the cracks in the woven pit-pit walls and we could hear the soft murmur of voices. The village was still awake.
Someone directed us to the "old man's house", a round house in the center of a group of houses. The sound of young voices singing "Trust and Obey" reached our ears as we drew near, so we knew that there was a meeting in progress. Ukarumpa Village House (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
My powers of description fail when I try to picture the scene "inside" the houses, but I wish everyone could have seen it as we did by the light of one small hurricane lantern.
It was a fairly large room, but not nearly large enough for the crowd that was packed in so close it seemed impossible to squeeze another one in. When we arrived, there was a great deal of juggling to make squatting room for us.
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In the center of the room was the inevitable small fire, just a few red coals and a wisp of smoke. Hanging from a crossbeam was the little lamp barely giving enough light to distinguish forms and faces. A blackboard - a 1/2 sheet of three ply painted with blackboard paint was fastened to the wall. Three small Bible pictures were pinned down one side and the verse John 14:6 neatly printed took up the rest of the board.
A wooden chair held a small Bible, and of all things – two fish tins filled with bright red and yellow flowers added an unexpected splash of vivid color in that little village house. But the central figure was a young lad of about 12 years old. There was hardly space for him to plant his feet and it was he who, some weeks previously, had begun these meetings with the object of teaching the young people of his village some of the precious things that God was teaching him. There were over 50 in that room, mostly young people, but quite a number of men and women too and there was perfect order and complete control. Their singing absolutely lifted the roof. They just love to sing!
When we arrived, they were just about to being reciting verses. They are given in English and explained in Gadsup, the tribal language of the people.
It was really thrilling to hear the children, at least 25, give verses with the reference and very few verses were given twice.
After verses came question time! The questions asked centered around the previous night’s story and the answers proved that they were very attentive listeners. A little girl - 13 or 14 years old - was asked to close the meeting with prayer after which we said "Goodbye - God bless you all" and returned home.
It had all been so simple; so far removed from "our way" of doing things - but the Lord Himself was there and the fellowship had been a rich experience and a great blessing.
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1950s Patrol Officer map of Aiyura Valley area (Map courtesy of Alex and Lois Vincent)
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THE WATER TANK - 1966 We live in a very materialistic age and it is just possible that some of those who listen to these stories may feel that the age of miracles is past. Yes! I know that every day is crowded with wonders, but if we only pause to think we would see God's hand in things great and small. But we have been accustomed to those things and do not call them miracles and wonders - we call them nature. What we mean by miracles are those supernatural happenings that occur outside the realm of natural causes.
Our God is the God of the impossible. There is nothing too hard for the Lord and He still works His miracles to satisfy the needs of those who trust in Him in ways beyond explanation.
Water tanks at the home of Charles Micheals at the Ukarumpa center (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
Our house was built - small but amazingly compact and sufficient for all our needs, but before we could move across from the Wycliffe Center we had to wait for the rain to fill our water tanks. 60 | P a g e
Papua New Guinea is in the monsoon belt, which means that it doesn't depend on seasons as we had been accustomed. There are only two seasons, wet and dry. So, in building our house, careful consideration had to be given to our needs in providing the necessary water tanks. We decided on one thousand gallon and one six hundred gallon tank. We had already been in New Guinea for 8 1/2 years and even in the dry season we always had one good rain each month to fill up our tanks. We hadn't long to wait for a good downpour which filled out tanks to overflowing and we were able to move over to the village site.
It was a lovely day and we were glad to take up residence, and the village people upon whose invitation we had come, welcomed us warmly.
Late in the afternoon of our first day, a group of little school girls came over from the village swinging billy-cans and cook pots, obviously going down to the nearby river to fetch water. They stopped at our back door and we went out to have a little chat with them. We soon exhausted our small talk and expected them to move on, but they seemed reluctant to go so as we couldn't stand on our back step indefinitely I asked, "Yu wantim samting?" (i.e. Do you want something?). Oh, that opened the door. With one accord they responded, "We want water."
Having been accustomed to river water all their lives, it was fair enough to want a billy-can full of our lovely clear cold water and we were glad to share our abundance. So, the cans were filled and the girls went off so happily.
We forgot about the incident until next morning. The same little girls were back again and a couple more with them. "We want water" they said and we quite happily complied. We had two tanks full to overflowing. No sacrifice on our part to share a can or cook pot full, but when the same routine happened again day after day, always with a few more added to the happy little group we began to feel a niggle of anxiety as to how long our water supply would hold out and we didn't know how to cope with the problem.
The New Guineans in our area are wonderful sharers. Nobody ever goes hungry while others have food. If someone's sweet potato runs out before the next crop is ready to dig, others will share and we were
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often included in the sharing of sweet potato, beans, tomatoes, corn etc. So, it would be unthinkable for us not to share what we had and to have refused would have caused an insurmountable barrier.
We discussed the problem. Without the periodical rain our tanks could very quickly be emptied as the little group at the back door each evening had grown to a crowd. However, we had a wonderful solution to the problem. We brought it all to our wonderful Heavenly Father, the one who is able to meet all our needs (2 Corinthians 9:8). Remembering His faithfulness to us we covenanted with Him that as long as there was water in our tanks we would share it with the village people. That was 1966 and for six years our faith was never put to the test. The rains came in their appointed times and we shared liberally of the precious water.
During the dry period of 1971 - 72 as month followed month and no rain, our tank water held out. Every tank on the Wycliffe Center was dry and everybody had 44- gallon drums at their gate which were filled twice a week from the river. Every drop had to be boiled and carefully rationed.
By now many were drawing on our supply - school children on their way home always stopped at our door with the plea, "Mi laik dring wara." (i.e. I would like to drink water.) Their school tanks were dry long ago. We didn't fill the billy-cans and water pots to overflowing so as not to waste any, but never once did we refuse all the drinking water they needed.
One day I had a feeling that the water was running a little bit slower than usual and we thought perhaps we should get our work helper to climb up and see how much water was left in the tank. Up went the ladder. Up climbed the boy. He removed the heavy strainer and peered into the tank. Then picking up the lid to replace it he looked down at us all waiting for the report and he very matter-of-factly said just three words, "Em i pulap!" (i.e. – It is full).
We laughed at that and Elsie said, "Oh you know there has been no rain for many moons. You know plenty come to take water - you go back up and look again - I think you no look straight".
So back he went. Off came the lid and he once more peered in. On went the lid and once more looking down at us he said "Em i pulap tru" (It is full, really).
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Elsie replied, “Well you come down and let me look.” So up she went, removed the lid and peered into the 1000-gallon tank. She looked again. Surely it was an illusion. So, she put her hand in and looking down at us she said, "He's right, it's full" and to prove it she held her hand out dripping wet.
Psalm 36: 5-10
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GOD’s “WHITE SOX” - JEZREEL - DECEMBER 1966 It was a lovely day at New Guinea ‘Christian Leaders Training College’ (C.L.T.C.), Banz on the last day of the College year - '66, and to have been there was one of our unforgettable experiences and a great privilege. Jezreel Filoa is senior student at C.L.T.C. and is a mature Christian with a lovely personality. He is a Solomon Islander and a missionary with South Seas Evangelical Mission, who has been working in New Guinea for several years.
Christian Leaders Training College – Banz Campus (Photos courtesy of CLTC)
Because of the rapid advance of education in New Guinea and the current use of English Jezreel is at C.L.T.C. for additional training to become more proficient in the comprehension and scope of English. His ministry will be so much the more acceptable to young people.
The following is his testimony to the blessing of God's word in Romans 10:15. I would like to share with you a blessing which the Lord has given me from Romans 10:15, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace".
You know, my fellow students, that there has been a feeling among us, myself included, that really beautiful feet are dressed in white sox and black shoes.
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Some of us have spent our money to buy sox and shoes because we have thought that when we have learned to read and speak English, to wear white sox and black shoes is a sign that now we are educated; we have come a "long way."
But a short time ago God brought this verse to my attention and He taught me a new lesson. He showed me from these words the kind of feet that are really beautiful in His sight. It was a blessing to me and I want to share it with you.
Feet that are dressed in sox and shoes may look beautiful in our eyes, but God sees differently and He says that feet that are beautiful in His sight are feet that are dirty, perhaps bruised and cut and bleeding. They are feet that have trodden the rough stony tracks over the mountains to carry the "Gospel of peace" to those who do not know that we can have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, my fellow students, when you are out on your "Commando Missions" and you look at your feet, dirty, maybe cut and bleeding from the roughness of the way, remember that you are looking at beautiful feet. You are wearing Gods "white sox".
Soon after giving this lovely testimony, Jezreel received his "Commando" appointment. He and several other students were to go trekking over some of the most rugged country in New Guinea, from Telefomin to the border of West Irian - visiting the mountain villages with the Gospel of peace.
Telefomin to West Irian – “This is where I am going to get my beautiful feet." was Jezreel's comment.
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THE OPEN DOOR - MAROBE - UKARUMPA JANUARY 1967 Marobe is one of the older men of Ukarumpa village. Not many years ago this small New Guinea man was the village sorcerer - a man to be feared.
God has shown, in this elderly man, His power to save and to deliver from the powers of evil, all who come to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Marobe comes to our Saturday evening fellowship and it is one of our greatest joys as well as an encouragement to hear him give a little message to us.
"It is our custom when we go to a village, to look for an open door. If the door is locked we do not stop. There is no-one there to open the door. If the lock is rusty we pass by, but when we find an open door we go in. We sit with our friend and we talk and eat food together.
I am thinking that the Lord Jesus is just the same. He is looking for an "open door" and open heart and when He will come in and bring His blessing to us." Marobe has most likely never even heard Revelation 3:20.
"And I am thinking too," he continued, "that we should always share our fire and our food with other people. It may be somebody we do not know. It might be an enemy, but maybe we do not know that the Lord Jesus Himself has come to our house.”
Hebrews 13:2
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THE NEW SPEAR – TIMPAKA - JANUARY 1967 Timpaka is one of our older men. He has greying hair and wrinkled brown skin and a smile like bright sunshine. Timpaka is a happy child of God, but he was not always so. He belongs to the race of fighting men and carries the scars of old spear wounds, evidence of many tribal spear fights.
One day, several years ago, he came to us at the close of a morning service and he told us that he was hungry for food. He opened his heart to the Gospel message and Timpaka is "satisfied."
1985 - Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
He sits in the front row of the old men each Sunday morning and his presence is a blessing and an encouragement to us all. Occasionally he has a message for us and it is always a great joy to hear what he has to say.
"We have a custom which is not often practiced now. We are learning a little bit of God's way and this custom belongs to the old way.” 67 | P a g e
“When newborn baby boys were brought into the house for the first-time certain flowers were gathered and tied in bunches on the mother's bilum (her string carrying bag) and there was a kind of dedication to the evil spirits who were called upon to give protection to the child and to impart skill with a spear. This was the old way. Always the spear, fear, fighting and death. This was all we had for our sons.”
Then taking Bonime's little red-covered Bible from the table, he held it high for all to see - "God has given us a new spear! This book is the new spear! Let us open our ears and put God's Word in our hearts - and if His words cut us and hurt us like the spear, do not let us be afraid or ashamed."
These people - our old men and women - will never be able to read for themselves that ‘the sword of the Spirit (spear to them) is the Word of God’ but God is revealing His truths to them "by His Spirit."
1985 - Pastor Bafi - Ukarumpa village church (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
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PANDANUS UNBRELLAS - TIMPAKA - January 28, 1971 The rains are very heavy during the New Guinea "wet season" and nobody likes to be out in the rain without his Pandanus umbrella. Pandanus is a type of palm which grows very prolifically in the New Guinea Highlands - in our area of the Eastern Highlands. It is valued for its many uses. The New Guineans are master hands at improvisation and their use of the Pandanus is an example of their skills in using the available material for essential purposes.
The young leaves of the Pandanus are long and straight – 4 ft. to 5 ft. long and 6" to 8" wide - just long strips. These leaves are gathered in great quantities and from them are made "sleeping mats" and umbrellas.
After trimming the leaves to an even length and width, they are made supple by being fastened to a split stick and slowly twisted over a low fire. The long leaves are folded lengthwise 3" to 4" in width with the smooth waterproof side out and then painstakingly and beautifully stitched together with the tough fibers of cactus threaded through a finely made bamboo or cassowary bone needle.
The sleeping mats are large and serve very effectively as waterproof ground sheets. They are also used as "welcome mats" and a person who fails to spread his Pandanus mat for his visitors is lacking in hospitality.
The Pandanus umbrella is a small edition of the sleeping mat. Folded to form a small tent shelter, it covers head and shoulders completely, which is all that really matters to the New Guinean.
With an unlimited supply of materials only the most indolent person fails to provide the family's needs of mats and umbrellas. From such a simple homely illustration, Timpaka drew his parable.
"I am thinking of my Pandanus umbrella," he told us one night. “When the rain storm comes it covers my head and I walk under its shelter and I am not wet."
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If someone says, "Let me share your umbrella," we say, "Where is your own? There is not enough for you and me. We will both get wet."
"And I am thinking, when Satan comes to us to pull us away from Jesus' side, that He is all the same, like the strong rainstorm. And I am thinking that Jesus, He is like our umbrella. He covers us and we are safe.”
But we cannot share Him. Everyone must be covered for himself. He is enough for us all - he is "Our Pandanus umbrella."
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MADE NIGH - MARCH 1967 The first time we saw her, Ka-arita was standing outside the open door of the meeting House, gazing wistfully in. She was a village woman, clad only in the traditional grass skirt or the one article of clothing she possessed.
Ka-arita had never been to church before, but she had a purpose in coming that Sunday morning. A few days before God had done a wonderful thing. He had miraculously raised her little daughter, Dita, from what was certain to have been her death.
Soakuna, her father, had returned from a morning "up bush" bowed under the weight of the heavy logs he had brought home for firewood. Little Dita had run happily to meet him. He, unaware of her presence, let the load roll from his back pinning the little girl to the ground.
Ka-arita had seen it all and her startled screams soon drew others to the scene. Carefully they lifted the logs and carried Dita's apparently lifeless little body into the house and laid it on a bench bed. Already her colour was changing to the peculiar yellowish pallor of death and the people crowding in were beginning to cry and wail.
One of the village men, a Christian with a real faith in God, hearing the cries came to see what had happened. He silenced the wailing and called for prayer.
It was only a short time later that little Dita sat up and asked for kaukau, (the native sweet potato), then slipping off the bench bed she ran out of doors to play as though nothing in the least unusual had happened.
For days they watched her, expecting to see her collapse and die. But the days passed uneventfully and the people knew that God had really answered prayer in a wonderful way.
Little Dita wasn't going to die! She was perfectly well and happy!!!
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Now, on this lovely Sunday morning, the people had come to thank God for what He had done bringing Dita along with them. But Ka-arita, her mother, unsure of her right to be there stood outside the door. A welcoming smile and beckoning had reassured her and she came making her way down the aisle to the very front where she joined in the thanksgiving to God who had so wonderfully given back her little one.
That happened in 1965 - almost two years ago and since then a great change has come to Ka-arita. It would be almost impossible to recognize the sweet-faced neatly dressed woman as the same person, shy and diffident who stood "on the outside."
She has come to Church regularly since then and the message of God's love in "Christ Jesus, who came into the world to save sinners", has reached her.
Last Sunday (Easter Sunday 1967) she opened her heart and accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior and Kaarita, who "was one time afar off", has been made nigh by the "blood of Christ."
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MA-AFURA'S DREAM - SEPTEMBER 1967 Ma-afura is a Gadsup girl and she lives in the small village of Ukarumpa, one of a number of villages around the Aiyura Valley. The background of Ma-afura's life is not a very happy one. Her father has two wives. The first wife Ma-afura has two daughters. Her younger sister, Beome, is his second wife and they have five sons, so you can easily guess which the favored one is. But God has come into this little girl's life and she is His child and in spite of the dark shadows, Ma-afura is a bright, happy Christian.
Thursday is Sewing Day for the school girls and it may be that she was a little later than usual arriving home - her mother was cross and spoke angry words to her and her sister. Ma-afura was very sad for her mother's words and she went outside to help her sister dig the sweet potato. Afterwards she came in and lay down on her bed. She slept and dreamed.
In her dream she was walking down the road toward the river where a very big crowd of people were standing around a tall man who was speaking good words. Ma-afura did not join the crowds of people. She walked straight to the man, who was speaking the good words. Looking up to him she said, "Please, will you forgive my sins?"
Taking her small hand in his he replied, "Ma-afura, I have forgiven all your sins and I have taken them all away." Then he took a white laplap and put it right around her, covering her all over in white.
It was beautiful to see her demonstrating just the way "the man" draped the lap-lap around her and how she held it to herself. Dear little Ma-afura, clothed in white!!
I was able to tell her about the little church where many of the people had turned away from the Lord and walked no more with him. But even in Sardis (Ukarumpa) there were a few who loved the Lord Jesus and were faithful to Him and of them He said, "They shall walk with me in white."
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BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS - 1967 Norepa and his wife Turaku were our first New Guinea friends and after ten years they are still very dear to us. Norepa was our Children's Home gardener and under his hand the garden prospered and supplied us with an abundance of wonderful vegetables - enough and to share.
Turaku was a typical village woman, the traditional grass skirt her only garment, unless one could include the bilum that hung from her head. They have four children - Netori, their only daughter and three younger sons.
About four years ago a great change came to the Norepa family. Their lives were completely transformed when he and Turaku publicly accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior. One of the loveliest memories we have is of Norepa with his arms around his four children as he presented them to the Lord for His blessing.
It would be quite impossible to recognize them for the same people, particularly Turaku. She is a lovely woman, cleaned and nicely dressed, a good mother to her four growing up children and an example of what the Lord can do in lives committed to Him.
They are truly and manifestly the Lord's, but I do not mean to imply by this that the wheels always run smoothly. In every New Guinea home there is a very uneven distribution of labor; the women always have the heaviest part!
One day Turaku rose in revolt and she told Norepa in no uncertain way just what she thought of the system in general and his part in it particularly. A quarrel ensured, of course. No New Guinea man would allow his wife to have the "say."
Norepa came to work next morning looking very dejected and when questioned, he told of the quarrel. An hour later Turaku appeared to tell her side of the story.
Without in any way taking sides, we simply pointed out that Christians who quarrel are a very poor witness, to others. They are unhappy themselves and they grieve the Lord Jesus.
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They told us then what Netori had said about Christians quarrelling, "You two people, my father and my mother should never talk this way. You are Christians and you must show other people God's good way. You two people should eat from one plate."
I have never heard it expressed in that way but this was her way of showing complete harmony between husband and wife. Norepa and Turaku agreed that this was the right and good way and they wanted to make things straight with each other and with God.
They prayed together and shook hands. Then Norepa took a banana and breaking it in halves, shared it with Turaku.
And so, peace was restored!!
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UKARUMPA VILLAGE - SEPTEMBER 1968 Yesterday we saw God perform a most wonderful miracle!!
It was an unusually warm day, dry and windy and a foolish person decided to burn off his Kunai - the grass used throughout the Highlands to thatch their very picturesque houses. In less time than it takes me to write it, the fire was out of control, sweeping with a roar up the face of the mountain right opposite our own house with only the road and a few yards of kunai between.
It was a terrifying spectacle, more especially as there were several grass-roofed houses right in its trail. We could only stand on our side with crowds of village people milling around us and watch and pray that God would spare the little homes that would go up in flames in a matter of minutes.
We saw the flames come within a few feet of a house. We turned away, not daring to see it go up in flames. But amazingly a strong gust of wind turned the flames back and that house was saved. The wind that saved that house whipped up the flames and they swept down straight for the village - our village!
It was terrible to see. We could only cry aloud to God to spare our little village!!!
It looked as though nothing could save it. The fire was already licking around the fence surrounding the compound when with sirens screaming, the entire fire squad, arrived from Summer Institute of Linguistics. They had all their equipment and personnel - over one hundred men!!!
They closed in on two sides of the raging inferno, with fire extinguishers, knapsack sprays, wet bags, green branches and the fire was held! But the greatest wonder was yet to come. While the fire raged nobody noticed what was happening overhead.
Great black clouds rolled up and with a deafening crash of thunder they literally emptied their torrents, dead square on the fire. It was unbelievable!!! There hadn't been a drop of rain for more than a month.
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Within half an hour the sun was shining again in a blue sky and the fire was out!! But there, right opposite is a whole black, burnt-out mountain side. That was yesterday, September 8th 1968 at 1:30pm. Tonight, there is a lovely gentle rain falling and in less than a week our mountain will be green!
In the late afternoon, we walked over to see the house which so nearly went up in flames. The boys wanted to show us something. A small bush less than three feet from the tinder dry bamboo wall was burnt right down one side!
Is anything too hard for the Lord! Jeremiah 32
“Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.” Psalm 107:1 (King James Version)
“Oh, that men would praise the Lord, for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” Psalm 107:8 (King James Version)
I wouldn't exchange my God nor my trust in Him for anything the world has to offer. Godliness with Contentment is great gain .......... therefore, having food and raiment let us therewith be content.
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BROKEN BREAD - SUNDAY JUNE 1968 Timpaka, one-time spear fighter and an expert with the bow and arrow, is no longer a killer but a true child of God. He is a new man "in Christ" since the day five years ago when he came to the Lord with his hungry heart and was satisfied.
The message this morning was, "The Christ Life" and "The Christian’s Life". Marima led the service and Moihame was the messenger. We read from II Corinthians 5:17. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.” (King James Version)
As Marima read and explained the passage in the local Gadsup talk it spoke to Timpaka's heart and at testimony time he came forward to speak.
He said, "In the long past time when we made a big feast people came from many places and they carried food to share with us. Some of their food was different from ours. Their way of preparing and wrapping it in leaves was new to us. We enjoyed their food. It was very good.”
When we have eaten then we talk and we say, "Tell us your way. It is different from our way. What kind is the kaukau? And the green vegetable? Tell us the way you ready the food and the kind of leaves you use!”
Some of the men make their talk long and their words we do not always understand (there are tribal dialects - even though the villages are only ten miles apart). In general, they understand the spoken dialect, but it is not always easy and when the talk is finished we forget and so we keep our own old way.
But when the talk is easy they show us the way they do. Then we are happy and we work the new way. This is how we learn the new way. God's way is good. It is better than our way.
It is not good if we talk. Talk is easy and we forget. You must see God's way. We must know God's way and you too can learn. This is the way of Jesus. He came from His place and brought good to us. He did not only talk. He showed us the way and we can walk behind Him. This is how we learn God's way.”
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How wonderful to hear such words from men who, only a few years ago were in darkness and under the shadow of death. Here is old Timpaka by this simple parable exhorting us as Christians to interpret the Gospel by "living Christ" ourselves, by example rather than precept.
Timpaka is intrigued by our electric light. It is provided for us by a small "Honda Generator" and is one of the blessings we have in our home. Pointing to it one night he said, "God is like that. He shines in my heart. His light shows the sin hidden there. Sin that I cannot see, nobody can see. Only God.”
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NO FRUIT - MUCH FRUIT - JANUARY 1970 The Avocado on the center lawn is a most beautiful tree, tall and wide-spreading. We had planted the small tree hopefully and looking ahead to the day when it would bear fruit. There is nothing in its appearance to suggest that three years ago it was ready to die. But the tree was stricken with die-back and nothing we tried was of any avail. It died by inches.
Then one morning Ken, one of the indigenous school boys who lived with us, and myself decided to try one more thing to save the tree. We had an idea. We'd see what drastic treatment would do. We would burn it back an inch or so below the menacing disease.
Ken took the fire and together we carried out our experiment. Poor little tree, it looked very pathetic - a few short stems denuded of leaves. It didn't look very promising.
One week, then two weeks passed and it seemed as though the die-back had been arrested. A couple more weeks passed and tiny shoots appeared. A few more weeks and our "ready-to-die" Avocado began to flourish.
Three years have passed and it is all of 12 ft. high, a beautifully shaped tree. The farthest out red tips are as lovely as flowers. Our tree is a real joy to us!
Some months ago, to our surprise - delight, we discovered small fruit appearing. Tiny green bullets they were, but not many. We've found a dozen or so by very careful scrutiny, but they are holding on and really growing. They are the first fruits with the promise of more in the days to come.
Two years ago Ken left us to attend a school 50 miles away. Later on, he went to the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby. We have seen him only once in the year, but reports from Port Moresby have saddened our hearts. He has found it so much easier to go along with the crowd and the little spiritual life he had is ready to die.
But Ken has not forgotten the Avocado and in one of his letters home, he asked about the tree. I was able then to tell him my parable of the Avocado - so typical of many a life. 80 | P a g e
"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."
This year there is so little fruit that there is none to share, but next year!! Oh yes! We look forward to more fruit and then much fruit, fruit in abundance to share with others.
Will Ken's young life follow the pattern? I do not know, but at present there seems little promise and our hearts are sad as we see him walking in slippery places. But the story is not all told. In the skillful hands of the great Husbandman this young life, so unpromising at present, may yet flourish and bring forth much fruit for His Glory.
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CLEANSED HANDS - JANUARY 1971 "Tom" the name by which our old friend is commonly known, is aging now. His working days are over and his step is slow. His wife died very recently and Tom is a sad old man. We saw him walking bareheaded behind the coffin that held the body of his wife, as strong young men carried it for burial.
When his old friend Narobe died in 1969, Tom left the village opposite us - Ukarumpa – and went to live at Anamanapa; we rarely saw him after that and we never knew why he went away so suddenly.
It was a surprise to see Tom at our Young People’s Fellowship. He seemed almost out of place among the bright young people and so quiet in the midst of their lively chatter. But Tom had something to say and silence fell on the group as he began to speak.
“You have not seen me at church for a long time," he said. "When Narobe died I went away from this place, but I didn't go away from God. In my mind I am thinking that someone worked poison and Narobe died. My mind told me that they will poison me, so I went away.”
“When I was a young man that is what I did. Many times I worked poison for the pay-back. I know what they do, so I went away."
He held out his old work-worn hands. “Do you see these hands?" he said. "Before I came to the Christian way these hands were full of blood, the blood of my people. But when I came to the Christian way the old way finished and these hands have worked no evil for any man. My hands are cleansed from blood. I have not come here tonight because I am sad. I am here because I am a Christian."
Many changes have come to the young people of New Guinea. They adopt new ways of living very readily, but many of the old customs persist.
Every one of the young people who heard Tom speak would feel the import of his simple testimony. To them all, the poison man is a terrifying person.
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THE PARABLE OF THE PINK GRASS - JUNE 1971 The Aiyura Valley in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea where we live is a very beautiful place. It is completely surrounded by ranges of mountains and tucked away in their folds are numerous small villages of thatched houses. Usually the mountains are smooth green slopes or so they appear from a distance though here and there native gardens cut out quite large areas.
1963 – Aiyura Valley with Ukarumpa village in the background. In the foreground is the Highlands Agricultural Experiment Station with the Aiyura airstrip in the middle. Ukarumpa center is off to the left. (Photo courtesy of David Carne)
One day about four years ago a little girl brought me a handful of the prettiest grass; slender green stems with a feathery crest of deep rose pink.
"Oh Alice," I exclaimed. "How pretty it is. Where did you find it? Is there anymore?"
"No more," she replied. “Just a tiny girl's handful - no more!”
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That was four years ago (1967).
If you were to visit this area of the Eastern Highlands during May and early June you would be entranced with their breath-taking beauty. The pretty pink grass is everywhere. Miles of the country-side is covered with it, rippling in the lightest breeze.
So lovely to see, the pink grass has become a pest.
The gardens on the hillsides, what about those? Is the grass a problem?
"Oh yes," the women told us. "We must watch our gardens. If the grass gets into them, it will kill the corn and the cabbages and our kaukau will not grow. We must never let the grass grow in our gardens."
I was able to tell them that our lives are like that. So often small things seem very attractive and quite harmless, but we who call ourselves Christians must watch "our garden" very carefully.
God has planted the precious seed of His Word and He is looking forward to the harvest. There are many small attractive things, which if allowed to remain will someday like the pretty pink grass, completely take possession and our lives will become fruitless for God.
What about our New Guinea people or other people as we? Most of them have not yet allowed the great "Gardener" to root out the old sins, which like weeds fill their lives. Today there is no fruit for God in those gardens.
Would you join us in praying for our people that very soon many will allow God to begin His work of making them into a fruitful garden for His glory and joy?
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TOM AND DOSI AISA - SEPTEMBER 1971 The only reason this story is written is that God may be glorified. It is good to record what He is doing and is able to do to fulfill His own gracious purposes.
We ask prayer for our New Guinea people. When one thinks a little of the background of the New Guineans or any heathen peoples for that matter, centuries of deepest darkness, heathendom in its most evil forms, strange animistic beliefs and spirit worship all controlling the minds and dominating every phase of their lives, we often ask, “How can they ever be reached?”
We have been amazed to see God work, how and when He will. Human agency is not always necessary although prayer is necessary. God chooses to work as we pray.
Tom Aisa has lived in Ukarumpa Village for several years, although he and his wife Dosi belong to Tapoh Village about 12 miles away. They are related to Ukarumpa people.
Tom is an intelligent fellow and a clever business man. He made his way up to the position of "foreman" of S.I.L. store9; no small achievement! Some years ago, he was very concerned about his spiritual condition and came up to talk with us a couple of times. The Lord dealt with him quite definitely at that time, but Tom drew back from committing himself and drifted a long way from the Lord.
Last year he resigned from his position in the store and went into business on his own. He bought a utility truck and did itinerant trading around the villages far and wide. He did a big business in coffee buying and Tom seemed to be "getting rich quick".
9
To read more about this store, please read, God’s Grocers by Charles Micheals http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/godsgrocers_chapters1-4
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The troubles began to pile up. He bought very heavily when coffee prices were high and then the market began to fall. Down went the prices and Tom was stuck with his store room packed to the limits. To put it plainly, Tom was "broke", not only losing all he had, but was deeply in debt to others.
1960s - SIL Members Store – Ukarumpa (Photo courtesy of Cedric Grace)
It was a blow to his pride to go back and ask for a job in the store again - a good deal lower than his former one. But it was all in God's plan for Tom and there was more to come before he was ready to yield.
Dosi, Tom's wife was sick - very sick! Since the birth of her fifth baby she has been in and out of hospital. Now she was very ill again. She had been at church on Sunday, but this was Tuesday and she felt very ill. During the afternoon she decided to take the children to a neighbor’s home and then when Tom came home she would go to hospital.
She got up and dressed, but when she tried to walk she collapsed and fell by the door. She was feeling very cold. She called for her eldest little boy and asked him to bring a blanket for her, then to light a fire and after that to go and bring his Daddy home. 86 | P a g e
So, the little chap did just what his Mother had said. When Tom came he found Dosi just where she had fallen. To quote him, "She was dead finish true." He lifted her and placed her on the bed and then covered her over with the blanket.
Then he called to Samoke, a very fine Christian man - the best we have. He verified what Tom said, "Dosi was dead finish true." he said. “But before we sing out for the brothers to come we will pray."
There was apparently no sign of life whatever - no pulse, no heart-beat, just a terrible stillness. Samoke called his two sisters, both Christians and they laid their hands on Dosi and prayed, but there was no response - her eyes were fastened.
Then Samoke began to speak to her, "Dosi, you have many pikininis (children). You must not leave them. You must come back and look out for your children." There was an immediate response. Her whole body began to heave and deep breaths came, but her eyes were fast closed so they took her to the hospital.
Now here is Dosi's story
Samoke went to the hospital on Friday. Dosi was perfectly well and ready to come home as soon as the Doctor had checked her and gave the o.k. It was from Samoke that we heard this story first. Later when Dosi came home it was told in the Church, in the village and in many other places.
"Truly God has helped me. Now I want to talk to you. I have seen Jesus!!! I died finish true and I walked about in a place "no good." Everywhere the big bush and kunai came up and there was no road. I was lost. There was no road and I was very frightened.
Then you (Samoke) prayed and a "good road" came up. I walked out on the good road and I was very happy. I was not afraid any more. Then after I walked a long way on the good road I saw four watchmen on the road. They stood aside for me to pass. I was very happy to walk about more on the good road.
A long way I walked and I saw a good house. Oh! It was a good place to move. It was a long house, up and up and a long house out and out. It was very light, bright inside and round-about. Outside I saw eight watchmen and one big man made nine." 87 | P a g e
Here Dosi described their clothing. "Their dress was altogether white, but the "big man’s" dress was different. It was white too, but very bright and light was shining through it. It was very wonderful! His dress was down to His feet. It was a very beautiful dress.”
The eight watchmen stood aside and I went close to the "big man." He spoke to me. He said, "Why are you here? There is no place ready for you. The table is not spread for you. Your name is not here. Why have you come? I will come to your place, but you cannot come here. You are not ready. Go back to your people and talk to them all. Talk in the church. Talk in the village. You must not hide any of the words. Talk out to all the people."
Then Jesus gave her the message she was to bring. In the simplest and most beautiful way He explained quite briefly the Gospel message - who He was, why He came to our sinful world; why He allowed wicked men to kill him. “See where they nailed my hands and my feet to the cross? See where my blood ran down? Because I had no sin, I was able to take the sin of all the world and I took the punishment of sin. Nobody needs to carry his own sin any more. All can put their sin on me. Now you must go and take the words to your people.”
When Dosi regained consciousness, she was in the hospital and Tom was there beside her. He was the first one to whom she told her wonderful story.
Since then it has been twice told in the church. I really believe the people would sit silently through a dozen tellings. It was told in the hospital, in the villages, to ones and twos and to groups.
The following Thursday night, Tom, Dosi and all their children came to our house. Along with them came men and women from the village and as it was our regular "young peoples" night. There were over thirty to witness Tom and Dosi's acceptance of the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
Already Dosi had met the Lord and had taken His words to her heart. She was ready and eager to commit her life to Him.
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Tom was more hesitant. Not because he didn't want to come, but because he was conscious of the wasted opportunity and of closing his heart when God had called. Much sin had come into his life since then. Would God forgive?
"Tom," I said. "You see that empty space on the wall? Suppose I take the chalk and I write “Tom Aisa - His Sins” and we begin at the top and put them all there on the wall."
"Oh!" he said. "There are more sins than can be counted."
"Yes, that is true," I replied. "But suppose when I put them all there I take a piece of laplap and I wipe the wall clean. What has become of that long list? Where is it?”
It was a thrill to see light dawn on his face and to hear the excited tone in his voice as he said, "Gone - all gone, finish."
"Yes Tom - gone finish!!! And that is what Jesus has promised to do for you, right now to take all your past sins - every one, and wipe them all off. Nobody, not even God, not even Jesus, not even Satan will ever find them again. Every sin, right up to this moment He will wipe off with the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son.” Tom Asia at the S.I.L. Store (Photo courtesy of Darrell Lancaster)
That settled it for Tom. He was on his knees putting his life straight with the Lord, pleading forgiveness of all his countless sins. He asked that his name be written in the Book of Life.
Both he and Dosi gathered the children and Tom voiced his first real prayer for his little ones. It was a delight to hear him ask God to bless them, to teach them His way while they are young.
“What about tomorrow and the next day and so on? Will sin trouble us no more? Sin in some of its many forms will continue to trouble us until God calls us to Himself, but God has made it very clear that we can
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come to Him every day with every sin, every sadness, every trouble and the blood of Jesus, which ran down for us will make us clean and free again.”
Let us never forget that and try to carry our own sin again. (And during all that time thirty or more young and old were following every word with great interest). Oh! Pray with us that many more of our New Guinea people will have just as real and definite dealings with God.
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THE WET SEASON AND SOME LESSONS WE LEARNED The wet season in New Guinea brings many dangers to those who travel the Highlands Highway. There are landslides, damaged bridges and sections of roadway "closed for repairs".
During the Easter weekend of 1971 phenomenal rains resulted in serious flooding in the Lae area and seventeen native houses were swept into the sea, fortunately without loss of life.
Under "wet season" conditions, driving a small car on New Guinea roads is hazardous and we are very thankful to the Lord that we have had no real mishap. We very rarely go out at night, especially in the "wet season", but we have been enriched through the Saturday Night Prayer Fellowship at SIL Base.
1971 - Bridge from the Ukarumpa center to Ukarumpa village (Photo courtesy of SIL PNG Branch Archives)
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It was a real disappointment to us when it began to rain just as we were preparing to leave home. The rain which had begun in a sharp shower eased off and we decided to go, trusting that it was over for the evening. We were not more than a few hundred yards from home on the return journey when, skirting a difficult spot on the road our little car sank up to the wheel caps in a sticky bog! All our efforts to get out of trouble were in vain, only resulting in the spinning wheels sinking even deeper. It was obvious that we needed help.
The village was in darkness and very quiet. Everyone was asleep. We couldn't think of rousing the folk at that hour to push us out of the bog.
There were lights still at the SIL Base, so our only hope of getting out of that bog was to call on the phone to one of our very kind friends, a willing helper in many of our problems. But to do this it was necessary for one of us to make our way along the road to our house. Though home was only a few hundred yards ahead, it was a pitch black night. The road was not First bridge from Ukarumpa center to Ukarumpa village (Photo courtesy of Robert Young)
particularly wide and cut deeply into ruts by rain and traffic and to make matters worse we discovered that we had no torch (flashlight).
It took a long time for Auntie Olive to reach our house. Every step had to be taken most carefully and it was a great relief to us, straining our eyes through the darkness, to see the "home light" pop on and to know that she had made it safely.
Before long Auntie Olive returned, stepping along briskly by the bright light of a good torch and just a few moments later our friend arrived in his powerful Land Rover. It was quick work for him to fasten the tow rope to the small car and secure it to the big car. Then with a strong pull of the powerful motor the little car was out of the bog with its four wheels on the firm center of the road and heading for home. 92 | P a g e
We learned some valuable lessons from this incident. First of all, we need to know that even when we are on the right road, it’s not always an easy way. There can be lots of trials and hard places even on the right road, and we need to travel carefully. Then it is good to know that we have a very wonderful friend. The one who has said like our kind friend, "Just ask. Call upon Me." Psalm 50:15
We were very thankful that in our village situation we are linked by phone to the SIL Base. It gives us a sense of nearness and security to have this vital link.
Just in a moment, day or night, contact can be made and help obtained. How much more wonderful it is for us to be in touch with God, our heavenly Father. The way to him is always open, day and night and we can obtain help in every time of need. Hebrews 4:16 Our little car had no power of its own to pull itself out of the bog, but joined to power much greater than its own we were very soon out of all our troubles. God has given to the Lord Jesus "all power in heaven and in earth" and He makes all that power available to us when we join our weakness to His strength. II Corinthians 12:9.
There was something else we learned that night. We discovered how necessary it is to carry a torch. We should never travel by night without a good one in the pocket of the car. You never know what may happen when the road is rough and the night is very dark.
God knew that there would be many danger spots on the road of life and so He provided us with a light. "Thy Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105. (King James Version)
Finally, we did not fail to thank the one who so willingly gave his help to us in our need. Do we always remember to thank God for what He has done for us? We should never forget to "Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good."
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PLANES, PILOTS AND GOD - NOVEMBER 1971
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Wonderful things happen when God is in control. We saw one of His miracles recently and it has highlighted the need that always exists whenever pilots fly their planes in this country. Prayer for them is a vital need.
These planes carry precious cargo. The lives of men and women and their children, depend on their safe passage. Some of the best pilots in the world fly the small mission planes over the treacherous mountains in New Guinea, mountains whose rugged peaks are hidden by fluffy white clouds.
I said the "best" pilots, though not necessarily the most skillful, but the "best" because they have learned that it takes much more than human skill to bring their planes over those dangerous peaks. Many things can happen. Sometimes things go wrong. What then?
Our telephone gave its shrill call one morning recently. The voice at the other end was urgent. "Aunties, will you please pray right now? One of our planes is in trouble. Besides the pilot, there is a family of five on the plane. Please pray." At the same time the message was being relayed throughout the SIL Base, to every home, office, workshop, print shop, store and school.
Rapid preparations were made over at the hangar. Doctor, nurses, ambulance and firefighting equipment were all assembled in readiness.
As we prayed, we were all aware of our absolute dependence on God to undertake, to work a miracle. How our ears were strained for the first sound of the approaching plane. How our eyes scanned the sky for the first sight of its white wings.
Faint and far we heard it! Then we saw it flying overhead, circling the Base, then losing altitude as it approached the runway only to rise again. Once more it circled the Base, then down again as though to land. But no, up and away it went with our hopes rising and falling with each approach.
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To read more about this, read The Hand of God by Charles Micheals - http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs/the_hand_of_god
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A third time it flew the wide circle, then once more it descended, lower this time, lower still and then - Oh so wonderful, it made a perfect landing, hardly raising the dust on the runway. Slowly it taxied up to the hangar and disappeared there to discharge its precious cargo. Praise to God, with whom nothing is impossible.
What had happened? What was the story? The plane had gone out that morning, taking a family to their tribal allocation in the East Sepik, touching down at Wewak to refuel. When a plane takes off, if all landing wheels retract, two green lights on the panel will indicate that all is in order.
In this case, however, only one green light glowed on the panel plainly indicating that one wheel was out of order. Radio contact with the Wewak control tower confirmed this. The "nose" wheel was hanging loose and swinging back and forth.
The pilot immediately contacted the Department of Civil Aviation and reported his condition. He was advised to fly to Goroka. The pilot indicated that his preference was to proceed to Aiyura, his home base. The Department of Civil Aviation did not favor this on the ground because the larger airports were better equipped for emergencies.
After cruising for some considerable time to burn fuel, the pilot again suggested attempting to land January 1972 - Doug Hunt Reviewing Aircraft ‘Broken’ Wheel Sharing Newsletter (Document courtesy of SIL PNG Branch)
at Aiyura. This time consent was given to make the attempt, but he was strongly advised not to land unless the two green lights glowed on the panel.
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Twice the attempt was made, but one green light only warned of danger. Then a third attempt was made. We scarcely dared breathe as we saw the plane descend, except to pray silently that the Lord God would bring them home safely.
We saw the plane land, so smoothly it hardly raised the dust on the runway. On that final descent, the second green light suddenly flashed on the panel and the little plane swept in to a perfect landing.
To God be the glory!
The mechanics jacked up the plane and went to work to discover the cause of the trouble, but all the testing of the light controls failed to produce the two green lights again. The mechanics then dismantled the landing equipment and there was the trouble. The thing which locks the gear controlling the front nose landing wheel was completely broken.
No earthly power could have produced the two green lights on the panel. No earthly skill could have brought the plane in so perfectly. And only the God of peace Himself could have given such peace to the pilot and passengers concerning the possible results of an emergency landing.
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MORE ABOUT PINK GRASS - 1972 It is a year since I wrote about the "pink grass". Now it is with us again and the mountains and hills are clothed in rose pink. Even in the valleys where the kunai grass grows tall, there are pockets of the treacherous pink grass. But it has lost its charm for us. We have learned that its short-lived beauty is deceitful. It covers vast areas of the Eastern Highlands and fear is growing in the hearts of the people.
"The pink grass is chasing away the kunai," they say. It is true. The grass has a stronghold and the loss of the kunai is a tragedy.
In the New Guinea Highlands kunai grass is used to thatch the picturesque bamboo houses in countless small villages. It is very tough – 4 ft. to 6 ft. tall. It has always grown in unlimited quantities on the hills and in the valleys.
It is very durable and makes a splendid waterproof roof which costs nothing, but the energy to cut and carry it. A well thatched roof lasts many years and when at length the rain drips through it's the easiest thing in the world and lots of fun - to tear it all off and replace it with fresh, new, waterproof kunai grass - and the old dry roofing makes a glorious bonfire.
Now the pink grass is "chasing away the kunai.” There is scarcely any on the mountains where it usually grows in abundance. The pink grass has robbed the people of one of their great blessings and it all began so small; a few seeds blown by the wind probably; received into fruitful ground; allowed to grow unhindered until it gained full possession.
It is a parable. We can learn something for our own lives if "we have ears to hear." How carefully we should guard our eyes and our ears. They are the doors to our heart and mind. Whatever finds entrance there will most surely bear fruit, good or evil!
What do your eyes love to look upon? “Things that are beautiful” - or -?
What do your ears love to hear? – “Things that are true and of good report" or -?
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We must answer these questions for ourselves. King David discovered long, long ago that the greatest safeguard he could possibly have was to allow God's Holy Word to fill his heart.
"Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee."
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BAMBOO - MARCH 1972 Bamboo is one of the beautiful features of the New Guinea Highlands. Wherever there are rivers or creeks, there you will be sure to see the giant bamboo flourishing. They send their tightly wrapped spears up to a height of 50-60 feet - perhaps more, before they begin to break into the glorious feathery plumes that are such a joy to behold.
These great clumps of bamboo represent wealth to their owners and the people can tell you to whom each one belongs.
New Guineans are master-hands at improvisation and they put the bamboo to many uses. Long before buckets and cook pots were on sale in the village "trade stores", a long length of bamboo made a very effective substitute. A 6 ft. length of bamboo would hold a gallon or so of fresh water and the people still prefer to cook their green vegetables the "old" way, firmly packed into a 2 ft. length of bamboo. But primarily the bamboo was - and still is - used for the woven walls of the thousands of picturesque thatched houses that you can see in every fold of the New Guinea Highlands.
The long spears are carefully chosen. They need to be three or four years old before they are mature enough for the walls of a new house. They are cut and trimmed and then the long length must be opened flat. To do this, every joint is sharply hit by a heavy piece of wood or the back of an axe head, enabling it to be opened into a long strip. When enough strips are prepared in this way, they begin the fascinating task of weaving. In some parts of New Guinea, the people take great pride in working beautiful designs into the woven walls of their houses.
Mara-ina is a young New Guinean (19-20) the most delightful young fellow we have ever had to work for us. Besides being an unusually good consistent worker, he's a very cheerful, fun-loving lad. It was at the end of 1971 that Mara came to the Lord in his typically whole-hearted way.
Bafi and Mara formed a prayer group of two (three months ago). They meet at 6 a.m. each morning and the Lord is teaching Mara to pray. His horizons are widening as he prays for fellow Christians in Communist countries - for Brother Andrew and the smuggled Bibles. He prays for his own people and for the village church and he prays for the Three Aunties - and Mara is growing! 99 | P a g e
We heard Bafi pray for Mara one morning in his own beautifully conversational manner. "Lord I pray for Mara. He has come up like a young bamboo shoot and he is growing. I thank you Lord and pray that he will continue to grow. You know Lord that the small shoot grows quickly, reaching up to the sky, straight and strong and I pray that Mara will grow up like the bamboo."
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THE ROAD HOME - APRIL 1972 We were still at breakfast on Sunday morning April 23, 1972 when our old friend Timpaka came in. He wasn't a very pre-possessing figure; dirty shirt, old trousers, much the worse for wear, face and hands in need of a real good scrub, but his radiant smile shone through.
He's the "smilingest" person around Ukarumpa - old or young. He's an ageing man, but in spite of the old spear wounds that trouble him at times and the "skru" (knee) that are particularly painful in the "wet season", he is remarkably energetic - working his garden, repairing his fences and digging the barets (ditches) that effectively drain his ground, keep him busy every day.
He is a true Gadsup. I don't suppose he has ever been farther afield than twenty miles in any direction.
We have very few ways of communicating with him. We get along with a little Pidgin and a few stumbling words in the local language, but that is a very poor medium to impart spiritual concepts. Our old friend knows the Lord. He opened his heart to Him, and the Holy Spirit became his teacher. Timpaka learns well.
We sat him down with us to coffee and toast and as he sat he told us the reason for his early call. He had a little message from the Lord and he wanted to speak it in the morning service. We assured him that we all wanted to hear what God had to say to us. Having settled that, he went on chatting to us with Bafi interpreting.
"I am past caring about earthly things," he said. "Parties and sing-sings I do not like any more. I am glad to see my friends and shake their hand, but then I go home. God is there.”
I talk to Him and He talks to me. In my garden when I am there alone, God says "Talk to Me", so I talk to Him there. We have many good things, plenty of corn and kaukau – we have our pigs. God gave us them all. He is more than all of them. He is the great God and I want to hold Him fast.”
He took the small piece of soap which he always collects for his Sunday bath and with his clean white shirt over his arm, he went off to prepare for the service. He came by a couple of hours later, scrubbed so clean, his greying hair shining, white shirt and his sunny smile. 101 | P a g e
Before he gave his message, he had a little to say about himself. "You see me?" he said. "I have washed and I wear clean clothes, but when you look at my clothes you do not see me. The clothes cover me. I am the man inside, the man God sees.” He went on then to give the message the Lord had given him - an old native man's version of the two roads- simple and beautiful.
"Outside there you see the 'big road'. It goes where? I do not know. It goes a very long way over the mountains, but down by the village the 'little' road turns off. It goes through the kunai. That is the road to my home and there is the fire, food and rest.
God has 'picture talk' about these roads. God says the 'big road' is the road of sin. It goes where? God says it goes to the place 'no good' - Satan's place. We all walk along the 'big road', but the 'little road' turns off. It is the road where Jesus walks and it goes all the way to God's place where He is.
We must turn off the 'big road' that goes to the place 'no-good' and walk the 'little road' with Jesus. That is the road that takes us 'home".
His words, beautifully interpreted by Bafi, were good to hear. Timpaka, our old friend walks the 'little road' with Jesus and it is the road home.
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MEDITATIONS ON THE CROSS - BAFI 1972 For several weeks the Holy Spirit has been teaching Bafi11, the young Gadsup pastor, some deep lessons on the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has shared some of these things with us and we have been blessed. He has also been given the simplicity to share God's great truth with his village people. On Sunday he read from Philippians 3:7-14 with the main emphasis of his message on vs. 13 & 14. "Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching for the things that are before - I press on.” (King James Version)
“What do we do with things we want to get rid of? Well there is the rubbish hole for one thing. You can throw the no-good things into the hole and forget them, or there is the fire. You can burn them and they are gone. 1960s - Pastor Bafi – Baptism by Rev. Ed Long (Photo courtesy of Wendy Anderson)
But sin? What can we do about the sin in our life? We cannot take that and throw it into the rubbish hole and forget about it. I mean the great sin of refusing Jesus. What can you do with that? You cannot put it on the fire and bum it. What can we do with the many sins that are heavy upon us? Do we have to carry them all our days?
We have offended a holy God and have hurt the Son of His love! Our sin is heavy on us.
We can say like David, "Day and night my sin is there. What can I do? I cannot look up." Oh! But the Holy God who cannot look on sin is the God of love! He has made a way for us to be loosed from our sin and be free, but the cost was so great.
11
To read more about Bafi, read the book, Aiyura Valley Pastors by Charles Micheals (soon to be published).
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Come to the Cross and see! "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who-soever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 (King James Version) See there what it cost.
We can bring every sin there to the Cross and the blood which fell down there meant death for Him. Our Savior the Lord Jesus had no sin of His own. He took our sin upon Himself and the punishment of sin. It meant death for Him, but forgiveness for everyone who will come in sorrow and repentance to Him. We cannot buy forgiveness. We cannot work for it. It’s free!!!
At the Cross is deliverance. At the Cross is victory, because it was there that Jesus won for us by His death, victory over Satan and sin and we can be cleansed from all sin. We can share the victory of the Cross.
All that we need is there. It is not the wooden cross. No that has gone long ago. It is the "MAN OF THE CROSS!" when we accept Him by faith and give Him the central place in our hearts. All that the Cross stands for is there with Him. The deliverance of the Cross, the victory of the Cross gives peace with God through the Cross. All that Jesus is, is there. The Cross becomes central in my life when the MAN OF THE CROSS lives in me.
When Satan sees the Cross in my life he flees from me, because he sees the victory over him, gained for me, on the Cross by Jesus.
Do not any more ask: Lord Jesus give me your love in my heart, or Lord Jesus give me your peace in my heart, or Lord Jesus give me your joy in my heart, or Lord Jesus give me your strength in my heart or Lord Jesus give me your power in my heart.
Ask for Jesus Himself. The MAN OF THE CROSS. He is all of these things and He is all we need.”
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MORNING MEDITATION - JUNE 1972 "Islands and mountains, sunshine and breeze. Flowers and moonlight, swaying palm trees. Jungles and rivers, white coral sand. This is my country, this is my land." G. Baskett.
1963 - Aiyura Valley – Ukarumpa village in the background nestled in the nearby Bismarck Mountain Range (Photo courtesy of Ivan Schindler)
New Guinea is a beautiful country; very easily one falls in love with its glorious scenery.
It was such a lovely morning and as I busied myself preparing clothes for the family wash I took time to stand for a few moments in the early morning sunshine just to drink in the sheer beauty all around me. Blue skies and white clouds made a striking backdrop for the mountains beyond the valley. Wisps of white smoke spiraled lazily upwards from the village fires.
It was so still. Not even the slightest breeze stirred the plumes of the giant bamboos along the river front and only a distant birdcall broke the silence. It was so lovely, so peaceful!
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But was it really as peaceful as it looked? Even as I watched a cloud covered the sun, casting a deep shadow over the lovely scene. A sudden breeze swayed the bamboo plumes and rippled the pink grass on the hillside. Two big black hawks swept silently across the sky.
Shadows! Pink Grass! Hawks!
The big black hawks are birds of prey. They watch for the slightest movement in the kunai grass and many tiny field mice and unaware chickens fall prey to them. And the pink grass, whose entrancing beauty is very short lived, is proving a menace by strangling the kunai grass by its silent invasion.
Hidden in the folds of the mountains there are countless small picturesque villages. The thatched bamboo houses look very attractive and the casual visitor says, "How cute they are. The people should be left alone to live their lives their own way."
Should they? How little we know!
It is late afternoon now and the shadows are lengthening. A group of children are playing on the lawn, full of fun and laughter as children should be, but soon their playtime will be over and they will run away home.
As darkness falls the house door will be shut and bolted and few people will venture outside the safety and warmth of the houses. Old fears that have slept for years are waking and challenging the spiritual life of New Guinea. Fear of the sorcerer, the poison man and the dreadful bondage of evil spirits.
Are they the foolish superstitions of unenlightened people as some suppose? Oh no! Fears that grip the heart and dominate the life are terribly real. The poison man is a real person skilled in the fearful art of sorcery. Evil spirits are real. They walk in the darkness and fear of them drives people to do unspeakable things to propitiate them.
These are dark shadows on a lovely land.
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OCTOBER 1972 Another shadow dark and menacing has appeared and spread far and wide across the Highlands. During the New Guinea "dry season" there is usually sufficient rain once in the month to keep the tanks filled and the gardens producing. But this year no rain has fallen for six months. Month after month of glorious weather, but no rain. The gardens have begun to wilt and die and deep concern filled many hearts.
Reports have begun to come from many areas of the Highlands and it’s become clear that every part of this glorious scenic wonderland is suffering from the prolonged drought. Wide rivers have become a mere trickle and the once flourishing food gardens have dried up and become dust heaps. All the plantings of sweet potato - basic food of the Highlands - have shriveled and died out long ago. Everywhere the ground is crisscrossed with deep cracks.
This is the condition right here in the villages all around us in the Eastern Highlands. But bad as this is, it is as nothing compared with the absolute desolation in the Western Highlands. In sharp contrast to the warm - to - hot days, the nights have been bitterly cold with severe frosts. In those higher altitudes the whole country side is burnt black. Food gardens have been completely wiped out, trees are dead and the long lines of the ranges is a blackened wilderness.
Government officials, agriculturalists and others who have visited the stricken areas tell us that the devastation is beyond description. New Guinea is pleading for help and it is a cry from the heart of a stricken country.
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TRANSFORMED - JANUARY 1973 The "dry season" of 1972 was a very sad time in the New Guinea Highlands. There was no rain for six months. It was tragic!
In the Highlands, that long mountain range which stretches like a back-bone from west to east of the New Guinea mainland, there are no big reservoirs or water catchments to conserve some of the millions of gallons of water that runs away in flooded rivers and streams during the "wet season."
When the "dry season" began in May '72, everyone rejoiced in the lovely days. The sky was so blue and the sunshine so warm. Everyone greeted each other by saying, "Isn't it a glorious day?”
But as the weeks went by - a month - two months - and no rain at all, we weren't so happy to see the sun shining in a cloudless blue sky. Nobody had thought of being careful of the water, because it always rained at least once a month even in the dry season. As the months passed and no rain fell to fill up our tanks (and water our gardens), everybody looked anxiously at the sky hoping to see rain clouds gather. But no! Only mirage clouds on the distant horizon and they held no promise of rain.
Fires broke out in many places, burning thousands of acres of grassland and bush. Many of the picturesque village houses were destroyed too and a heavy smoke haze hung over all the country-side.
The Highlands people "live off the land" so to speak. It's a lovely sight to see the flourishing food gardens on the hillsides and to know that there is an abundance of the food the people enjoy most - sweet potato, corn, beans, cabbage, pumpkin and peanuts.
But now - there had never been a time like this. Little by little the last of the sweet potato was dug and because the ground was so terribly dry and cracked it was no use planting more. The corn and pumpkins were finished and hungry field mice ate the peanuts. The New Guinea Highlanders usually so well fed, knew what it was like to feel hungry.
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Early in December the longed-for-rain began to fall - wonderful rain that filled our tanks and soaked the dry, cracked earth! Then the miracle happened. New life came with the rain and new hope filled the people's hearts with enthusiasm. They worked early and late, digging and planting, rejoicing as night after night the good rain fell.
The food gardens are making a marvelous recovery. Sweet potato takes a long time to mature, six to seven months from planting to digging - so there won't be any for several months. But quick crops are beginning to fill the gap. Corn, pumpkin and beans are making their appearance in the markets.
But I want to tell you about our garden. We can usually buy all the good vegetables we need from our village people, so that our own garden is mainly for pleasure. It's full of beautiful trees and flowering shrubs which we planted ourselves and have watched grow. We have smooth green lawns and bright flower beds. It's a lovely garden. Many people who come to Ukarumpa love to visit our garden and it is a great joy to us to share our pleasure with them.
But when no rain came to water it, like the people's food gardens it dried up. It was no pleasure any more to walk in it in the morning. There was nothing new to enjoy, only grief over the dying plants and trees.
Then the rain came!!! Surely, I thought it's too late now to bring the dead and dying things to life, but I was wrong! Even in two or three days we saw the beginning of the miracle which unfolded before our eyes. Tiny green shoots appeared. The dry lawns revived and flowers which had barely clung to life, suddenly sprang forth and our whole garden was transformed.
It's more beautiful now than it has ever been. The lawns are so green, trees and shrubs are in full leaf and bloom and there are flowers everywhere.
I wish I could share the glory of our garden with you. I can't do that, but I can share some of the lovely thoughts that have come to me as I have watched the transformation take place.
First of all, I have been reminded "that there is nothing too hard for the Lord". Genesis 18: 14. God, who is able to restore a drought-stricken garden to beauty and fruitfulness by sending His rain upon it, can do even more for us. "He restoreth my soul." 109 | P a g e
There are some lovely things in the Bible about gardens. When God wanted to tell of His joy in restoring the dry thirsty soul through His wonderful love and grace, He chose the picture of a beautiful garden to describe it. "Thou shalt be like a watered garden." Isaiah 58:11 (King James Version)
In another place - Jeremiah 13:12, He speaks of His people Israel. For long years they had grieved Him by their backsliding, and had become like the drought-stricken land – dry and fruitless. But the prophet Jeremiah tells about a wonderful time to come when they shall return to God in deep sorrow and repentance for their backsliding and everything will be gloriously restored. “And their soul shall be like a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more".
God has no more beautiful words to describe the transformation from desolation and barrenness to fruitfulness, whether it be one soul or a mighty nation than these, "A watered garden."
From my place here at the window where I always sit to write, I can watch the world go by. It's wonderful to see the women carrying home their bilums (string bags) full of sweet potato instead of the heavy loads of firewood they carried last year when there was no sweet potato left in the dry parched gardens. This year, due to the lovely rains, even during the dry season the gardens are flourishing and there is an abundance of good food.
There are several enormous black pigs disputing the "right of way" with a motor vehicle by their ability to stick to the middle of the road. A couple of black and white wagtails are parading on the lawn, just showing off. And oh! Such a fascinating sight! Hundreds and hundreds of tiny birds, so small they sway on the tips of the blades of tall grass. They must be almost as light as butterflies! They seem to rise in a cloud at a given signal, fly in a wide circle back to the takeoff with a few moments of twittering conference and off they go again.
There's so much to see from my window! But New Guinea is not all beautiful scenery and fascinating little birds. In these days of change and uncertainty for many New Guineans, the old people particularly feel insecure as they see the old ways passing.
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Kainantu town (Photo courtesy of Craig Campbell)
And yet here in the Highlands there is an odd mixture of new and old, cars and heavy transports travel the highways. Smart young people in modern dress throng the town streets and stores. Picture theaters with the usual lurid advertisements all as close as Kainantu! And right on the outskirts of the village, life goes along very much the same as it always has.
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FRIENDS & BURDENS - FEBRUARY 1973 When the school year for '73 began, it was an exciting day for many seven and eight-year-olds who have eagerly awaited its coming. They are going off to school for the first time. The older children, who had successfully passed through their initiation last year, or the year before, were very casual, though happy to be back at school after the long vacation.
We have had two high school boys staying with us for the eight weeks and now they too were returning to the big school at Goroka, which is 56 miles from Ukarumpa. They were not so happy to be leaving home and friends for several months.
We were kept busy hunting for odds and ends that had been mislaid during the long holiday. At last the cases and bags were packed and the boys ready to say "Goodbye".
I was surprised to see Inato setting off on foot to walk the six miles to Kainantu to board the bus along with the crowd of other students also returning to school. There was his luggage - a heavy case, a bag and a pillow - (a valued possession).
"Inato," I said, "Aren't you going to wait for Bafi? He will drive both of you boys and your luggage."
"No," he replied. "I'm going to walk. I have a friend who wants to walk with me."
"Well, you could leave your heavy case for Bafi to bring in the car," I suggested.
"My friend who is walking with me says he wants to carry my case for me."
"Alright Inato," I said. "If you'd rather do that, that's fine."
"Yes, that's what I want to do. I will walk with my friend."
"Oh Inato," I said. "You have said something that speaks to my heart - it's picture talk! I will tell you, you can put it in your heart and I hope you will never forget it. You are leaving on a journey today. You could 112 | P a g e
Road from Ukarumpa village to Kainantu (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
go the easy way by car, but you have a friend who not only wants to walk with you but he wants to carry the heavy case for you. You will walk together and talk together and share the burden. You'd rather do that with your friend than go the easy way without him.
Life is like that Inato. When we come to the Lord Jesus and accept Him as Savior and Friend, we begin the journey that will bring us in the end, to our Father's House. Some of us will choose to go the easy way. We will be on the right road and reach the journey's end safely, but we are going to miss so much.
You began the journey years ago when you asked the Lord Jesus to cleanse you from sin and make you His child. Perhaps in the years between then and now, you didn't know that you had such a wonderful Friend who wants to be with you all the way.
Walking with Him won't be the easy way. You know how up and down the road to Kainantu is and how carefully you must watch for speeding cars on the bends of the road. Well your life's journey will be very
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much like that. No, it's not easy going, but with Jesus it's the way of wonderful fellowship and because He has travelled the road before He knows every step of the way. He's a marvelous guide, Inato.
You will have your share of the burdens, that's for certain, but the Friend who walks the road with you has said, "Put your heavy load on me. I am so glad to carry it."
How much we miss when we choose the easy way, the wonderful talks, the secrets we share, the joy of just being together and sharing the burden. It's worth everything to be with such a Friend.
The boys waved a cheery goodbye as they left us and walked up the road - "friend" carrying the heavy case on his shoulder and the small in his hand - while Inato carried the pillow - a bit bulky perhaps, but light enough to toss in the air and catch like a ball.
"Truly, truly," I thought, “with Jesus the burden is light.”
There are not many of our "old men" left now. They are not a long-living people in general and are old men by the time they reach their 60's and it has been one of our greatest joys to know that some of them came to know the Lord and trusting even their "worn out" lives to Him, found peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The next generation is growing up under very different circumstances from their fathers and forefathers. Materially there are many advantages and many are still of an age to share these things.
Good roads and motor cars have replaced the rough mountain tracks and cracked feet; radio is part of their daily life; fast planes, big stores with so many enticing things displayed, work and money. This is the new culture.
But there are problems, common to all developing countries and so many are caught between two opposing cultures. We have seen the confusion in the struggle in many lives with heavy hearts, longing for them to know that the answer to all their questions is the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have come to know Him and have learned to walk a straight road with him.
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One such is a young New Guinean from the nearby Trobriand Island, an intellectual man who graduated with honors from University of Papua New Guinea and left a powerful witness to the power of God to save and keep. His position today? He is an "advisor" to the Chief Minister of Papua New Guinea, Mr. Somare! He told us that he never begins his day without "handing over" to God with the prayer, "Lord what do you want me to do?” Praise God that He has His men in "High Places". New Guinea needs such men.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Smore visits Ukarumpa (Photo source unknown)
So different, but just as precious is our old friend Timpaka - one of the few "old -timers". He works hard for an old man. His wife is old and frail, so Timpaka does the garden work. His big food garden is more than two miles from his home and there is always a lot of work to do when he gets there, fences to repair, ditches to dig and always planting to do.
"When my work is finished, I am tired but I have a long walk to my home. When I come to the big tree by the side of the road, I sit in the shade and rest. My wind comes back and I am ready to walk again. God is
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like the big shade tree to me. I sit with him. He gives me rest. I talk to him and He talks to me. I love His words, they are sweet food to me."
How beautifully God meets the simple in heart and makes Himself real to them. What joy to Him, what rest to Him in these old people who find all they need in Him - rest in weariness, renewed strength for the way, fellowship and sweet food from His Word to satisfy their heart's hunger.
"Except ye, become as little children." I know what Jesus meant when I look at my old friend Timpaka.
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A SONG IN THE NIGHT - BETHLEHEM I wonder if it was dark that night at Bethlehem when the Shepherds were keeping watch over their sheep! I think it was and cold too out in the fields.
A shepherd's life was hard, often very dangerous and no doubt the men were tired. Perhaps they talked together for a while about the incidents of the day, but as the lights of Bethlehem went out one by one the weary men would take a last look at their flocks to be sure they were the ones chosen by God to see the Angel of the Lord and to hear the glad news he had brought. The Savior so long awaited had been born that night in Bethlehem.
There are many lovely Christmas songs. We sing them year by year in remembrance of the Savior, but never in the long history of the world was there one like that which the Shepherds heard that night. They saw with their own eyes the skies filled with a multitude of the heavenly host and they heard them sing the first Christmas Carol.
And then, the glorious song was ended. The singing Angels were gone and all around them was dark and silent as before.
Had they really seen the Angels of the Lord? And heard the wonderful news? Or had it been a dream? Had they really heard the heavenly host singing their praises to God? "Let us go to Bethlehem and see," they said. And they came with haste and found it just as the Angel had said. I hope you will read the lovely story for yourselves. It's in the Gospel of Luke 2: 1-20.
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A SONG IN THE NIGHT – UKARUMPA OCTOBER 1973 New Guinea boys and girls love to sing, but they haven't many songs of their own - I mean traditional songs of the villages and their people and their ways. We never hear them - the little children sing songs like that and I wonder if they've been forgotten over the years.
But they do sing many, many songs about Jesus and it's lovely to hear them. The little children in the villages, the school children on their way home, groups of young people too and others like Mara, our young gardener who sings all day.
We often say, "Here comes Mara," just because we hear his lovely singing voice in a song of praise to God.
The night was particularly cold, heavy clouds obscured the moon and it was very dark out-of-doors. I was trying to write, but it was hard to concentrate. My heart was very heavy with many things. World news was bad, home news was sad, the village people are very apathetic and heedless of their deepest need. Oh! There were so many things to sadden my heart.
Then my ears caught a sound! A little child's voice! Somewhere over in the village a little girl was singing and I could hear every word. "Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Oh! Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful it is to me. So high you can't get over it. So wide you can't get around it, wonderful love! The love of Jesus "Wonderful it is to me" sang the little girl and to me too, little one.
The song died away and everything was silent as before.
I sat for a little time in mediation before I took up my pen and allowed the lovely words to sink into my heart. Nothing had changed materially, but my heaviness was gone!
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conditions foretold. And let us never forget, God loves the world. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.
Home news was sad, but God's love completely surrounds our loved ones. And our people! Apathetic heedless it is true, but God is working here and there and we see green leaves appearing. There is life. Someday there will be a harvest.
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful! And there is nothing more comforting to us than a song of His love "in the night."
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MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS “Islands and mountains, sunshine and breeze. Flowers and moonlight, swaying palm trees. Jungles and rivers, white coral sand. This is my country, this is my land.” So, sing the New Guineans!
A wonderful country, the grandeur of its remarkable Highlands could hardly be surpassed anywhere. To see them from the air is truly an unforgettable experience.
1963 - Aiyura valley – Ukarumpa village nestled in the nearby Bismarck Mountain Range (Photo courtesy of Ivan Schindler)
Recently I had the privilege of flying across the Highlands, east to west and to marvel once again at the spectacular scenery. From the air they look like smooth green jade, carved into amazing designs of mountain peaks and deep cut valleys - miles and miles as far as eyes can scan and hundreds of miles beyond.
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In reality it is a vast wilderness of dark impenetrable jungle, far removed from any form of life - or so I thought until I caught sight of a wisp of white smoke and way below in a small clearing in the jungle was a group of thatched houses. Not far off is the Wahgi River and a food garden close to its banks!
No roads go by in that vast jungle, but the rivers are their life-line. Families can live for generations in the heart of the jungle, as long as there is a river near enough to supply their basic need - water!
Flying there in that wide-open space, the blue sky above, the green jungle below, the little plane was a mere speck - no more and the only sound was the beat of the engine.
I thought of the long centuries of time that had passed and the storms that had raged around the mountains below, beating out the intricate designs - and I thought of the "everlasting hills."
Are they really everlasting? In man's thinking they appear so, but there is something far more enduring than they. "For the mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee. Neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee!”
Could there ever be more wonderful words? Everlasting kindness and peace and mercy never to be removed from us!
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VINES Vines play a large part in the culture and superstitions of the New Guinean. In common with most heathen peoples, they are believers in spirit life and the belief is so strong that to them everything has a "spirit" significance that affects, or more correctly, governs every aspect of life.
In the jungles and among the trees along the river fronts, there are many vines. Some of them are matting the trees together into an impenetrable green wall. Some are very strong and fibrous and make a tough rope, very useful for many purposes. In fact, before the white-man-carpenter came along to show the New Guinea man his ways with hammer and nails, "bush rope" improvised very effectively in building a house, joining uprights and cross beams quite securely. Even now "bush rope" is used extensively to bind the beautifully thatched roofs in places.
But there are other vines and one in particular holds the people in an almost unbelievable bondage of fear. No-one would willfully cut "the vines". To do so would mean certain death, or even to accidentally cut one while felling a tree will bring any of a long list of evils: madness, illness, death of a child, loss of pigs, failure of crops. In fact, any calamity at all is attributed to some injury to "the vines".
"In their blind superstition, the people believe that "the vine" is a living thing with a soul."
Little Apassai was sick!
"Big sick, close to die finish," (very sick, almost dead) they told us and indeed it was only too true as we could see at a glance.
What had happened to the lovely, fat, laughing baby? Now his skin was hot and dry and his dark eyes had lost their sparkle and looked far too big in his sweet little face.
Apassai was a very sick New Guinea baby. The first thing was to get the little fellow to hospital. It was not the time to ask questions. We must get the baby to hospital quickly and make enquires later.
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Father, mother and baby, cook pots, blankets, lamp and kaukau were piled into the car along with a couple of the younger members of the family who were too small to fend for themselves. After praying earnestly that the little life would be spared for God's glory, we set off for the hospital.
Anxious days followed, when it seemed as though the little boy would not pull through. These were days when he lay very still in his mother's arms, while Senkai his father sat beside him in hopeless misery.
We learned then, the cause attributed to the baby's illness. Senkai had accidentally cut a vine while felling a tree for firewood and the spirit of the vine was taking vengeance.
Natnofa, Apasai's mother loves the Lord and trusted her little son to Him. She found peace and comfort in prayer.
Senkai, on the other hand, although he had professed conversion, has never really committed his life to the Lord and there is no fruit. Now in his trouble he knew only fear and despair. He knew nothing of freedom from old tormenting things - old fears, old beliefs and taboos. Senkai has never entered into "the glorious liberty of the Son of God."
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away. Behold! All things are become new.” II Corinthians 5-17. (King James Version)
In New Guinea and probably in all heathen lands, Satan takes the very symbols of the life-giving Lord and twists them into instruments of death.
Jesus said "I am the true vine, He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” John 15 (King James Version)
How sharp the contrast is - the "true vine", life-giving, fruit-producing - and the fearful, death-dealing vine.
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"Thou true life-giving vine, Let me Thy sweetness prove; Renew my life with Thine, Refresh me with Thy love".
J.S.B. MONSELL.
The Lord has wonderfully restored little Apasai and he is once again the lovely, happy baby boy - the pride and joy of the Senkai family.
For some time, it was feared that meningitis was going to leave its mark on his small body - the weak neck that would not support his head and the partly paralyzed left arm, but every trace has gone and he is a lovely baby.
Natnofa brought him to Church on the first possible Sunday that she might give thanks to God for his recovery, but Senkai has quickly forgotten the loving kindness of the Lord and sad to say, he is typical of so many.
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GRANDMOTHER - REDEEMED She is getting old now, our little Gadsup grandmother. Her back is bent from the long, hard years spent in her kaukau garden. Kaukau is the commonly used name for the native sweet potato, the staple food of the Highlands people.
Not only has grandmother prepared the ground, mounding up the top-soil for each individual planting, but she has kept the garden weeded for the seven or eight months it has taken for the sweet potato to grow and mature. Then there is the digging. Every day a large bilum (string bag) full, 30 - 40 lbs., is dug and carried home on her head - the customary way to carry anything.
Some of the kaukau she will sell @ 5c per lb. A very meager price for all the work, but most of it she will carry home to feed her many grandchildren.
She also grows beans, corn and pumpkins - so her garden is a full-time job for one as old as our little grandmother.
All this and far more, she had done since she was a small girl, big enough to hang a bilum on her frizzy head.
On week days she doesn't present a very attractive picture to the casual observer. Her garden work is hard and dirty. But on Sunday she is a lovely picture of a sweet, serene old lady scrubbed as clean as she can come; her silvery hair combed soft and fluffy and wearing her one and only pretty dress.
It is rarely - very rarely, that our little grandmother is not sitting in her usual place in the front row of our village church on Sunday morning. From her bilum she takes her "offering" – three or four pieces of sweet potato which she places on the table and then sits back to enjoy the service.
We have had very little rain for two months and the ground is dry and cracked and the sweet potato is pitifully small, but even in the leanest times grandmother gives the best that she has. This tiny old lady loves the Lord Jesus - all that she knows of Him. She knows that to take away her sin and give her a clean
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heart He gave all that He had and in-the-end, He died on the Cross. She knows that the "Blood of His Cross" not only covers her sin, but cleanses it right away! This she knows and believes.
Someday, not too far distant the Lord Jesus will take her from the poor little grass hut which she calls "home" to His glorious "home". We will miss her very much when that day comes, but even now as we think about it it gives us great joy to know that our dear little Gadsup grandmother will be there - for she has been "Redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ."
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WITH MUSIC It is just a small group of nine intelligent school boys who meet for Bible Study on Friday afternoons. They had followed the Creation story with great interest; through the account of Adam's sin and the fall of man. Now our study had moved onto the story of Noah.
Genesis Chapter six vividly portrays the conditions prevailing in the earth.
All the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. "My! There are some hard words boys," one remarked. “I wonder if anyone knows the meaning of that big word violence?"
There was a pause for reflection and then up shot nine hands!
"Well, Davian, you can tell me?"
"Violence is the music thing Mr. Bentley plays."
To which they all agreed!
(Mr. Ed Bentley plays a violin)
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LET US PRAY! About mid-afternoon three small girls arrived and stood expectantly, if somewhat shyly at the foot of the back steps.
Now, according to long established New Guinea custom it is not considered good manners to tell the nature of your errand inside the first 15 or 20 minutes and all one's questions produce only a stony silence, unless perhaps "mi kam nating" (I have come for no reason). Although they know that you know there is some vitally important request coming up - it only requires time and patience!
And so is the case of the three little girls. No amount of questioning or persuasion brought the least response, so I withdrew for the required 15 minutes and then had another try.
After some persuasion, one little lass took the initiative. "We want to pray," she said.
"You want to pray? Alright little girls you come and sit beside me and tell me what you want to pray about,” but the only response was a wide-eyed silence.
“You must tell me what you want to pray about because I do not know." Silence. "Do you want to ask Jesus to make you good girls?" Silence.
"Is somebody sick?" Still there was no response. Oh well! If you will not tell me, then I cannot pray because I don't know what to pray about so I must go inside now."
At that, one small girl screwed up all her courage and out came the long-awaited request. "We want to play volley ball!!!”
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DREAMS God has His own way of making Himself known to the New Guinea people. He meets them on the level of their comprehension, so that all are without excuse.
The people have no knowledge of God as He is revealed in the written Word. Only small portions have as yet been translated in their own tongue and the majority of tribal peoples are illiterate in any case.
God uses dreams very often, as a medium of revelation and we have heard some remarkable dreams with a real scriptural application.
We have a very dear friend who lives in the villages in this valley and this dear lady is "a light shining in a dark place."
God gave her a dream - a really wonderful dream which is so clearly related to the Lord's coming that there is no question that it is God-given.
In her dream Ankano was busy in her garden, just as she is most days in the week digging the ground and planting the sweet potato (kaukau).
Suddenly she heard what she called "God's whistle.” The moment the "whistle" blew, God's people who had been dead a long time and those who had been dead only a little time all came up from the ground and went up through the air to one place. Then all God's people still alive on the ground went up through the air to that place too and everyone had shining happy faces.
Then she looked and saw what was happening on the earth after God's people had gone away.
The earth began to shake and turn and rock about and people who were left on the ground ran up and down trying to find a place to hide away from God, but there was no place anywhere to hide.
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We were able to tell how God has given us His Words in a Book and we read what He has said to us. (I Thessalonians 4:15-18 and Isaiah 2:17, 19-21), but because they have not His Words in a Book, God shows them a picture that is just the same.
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KA-ARITA'S DREAM Ka-arita is another dear friend who also lives in the village of Anamanapa. She accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior on Easter Sunday 1967 and it is her joy to know that He has accepted her; Ka-arita is His!
Ka-arita had a dream!
In her dream she was standing outside a large and very beautiful place, far more wonderful than anything she had seen or imagined. She had no words in her language to describe it.
At the door a tall man was standing with his arms outstretched calling all Christians to come. Ka-arita saw them coming from all places. There were old people, like the Three Aunties and many were young like Moikame, Kenot and Afarima (our teenager school boys) but there was very few in between. This is quite significant - this "in between" group is almost non-existent in the church today.
As they came to the door of the beautiful place the tall man welcomed them with good words.
"Look!" he said. "This is your place now. You will not have to go out any more. This is your place forever." And he put his own mark on the hand of each one.
When Ka-arita came to the door she said to the man, "My husband is not with me. I must bring him." So she hurried away and brought him back. As they came to the door, Soakuna, her husband disappeared and could not be found.
So, Ka-arita went in alone!
The tall man welcomed her with the good words, "See?" he said. "This is your place now. You will not have to go out any more. This is your place forever." And he put his mark on her hand and took her in.
As she told her lovely dream, Ka-arita was trembling with excitement. Her dear face was glowing and her usually quiet voice was clear and strong.
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As I pondered a moment what I could say? It came to me almost as though a voice had spoken, “Read Revelation 3:12.”
"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God ............ I will write upon him my new name.” Revelations 3:12. (King James Version)
We rejoice that there are some like Ka-arita, who will have an abundant entrance into the "place prepared" for them, but it is sad to know that there are many like Soakuna who though they have been brought right to the door cannot enter in "because of unbelief.”
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ELSIE'S DREAM I have never taken a great deal of notice of dreams, but this one was so real that I believe it was meaningful.
“I dreamed that I was very tired and that I was lying on a soft downy bed. It was almost like a cloud. It was so fluffy and I was so comfortable that I felt I could lie there forever.
Then I began to realize that something strange was happening. The soft downy thing was closing in on me. I felt as though I was suffocating. It was very difficult to breathe and I tried to throw the "thing" off, but the more I tried the faster it held me.
It was no longer a soft, fluffy cover, but something terribly tough and strong. I struggled and fought to free myself from its stranglehold. I was panic stricken. I fought the "thing" with all my strength. Then when I seemed to be utterly defeated and the awful "thing" about to overwhelm me I received strength to make a superhuman effort and the evil thing that had threatened fell to the ground and I was free.
It was such a real and terrifying experience that it left me physically exhausted.”
This dream could, I believe have meaning for us all. How careful we should be and how alive to the alluring "things" that appeal to the natural man. It is possible for us to so "give ourselves" to the enjoyment of things that in the end they possess us.
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SATISFIED "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness - for they shall be filled."
Our friend Auko is a Gadsup man. "Gadsup" is the name given to the tribe of New Guineans in this area of the Eastern Highlands where S.I.L. has set up its "Base of Operations." There are many Gadsup villages in and around the Aiyura Valley and Auko and his family live in the lovely little village of Asaranka.
His wife, Arclira, is an attractive young woman, a good wife to Auko and a good mother to their three little children, but best of all, she is a Christian! She came to the Lord three and a half years ago and has been very steadfast.
But although Auko was very regular in Church attendance, rarely missing a service, listening to every word with his heart hunger in his eyes, he did not take the step that would completely satisfy his longing soul. He was so near the kingdom - and yet so far.
You see, Auko has very high ideals, preconceived ideas of what a Christian should be and the standard was high.
Mind you, he was only seeking to find in others what he expected to be in himself if he became a Christian. And so Auko watched others - only to be disappointed at the weaknesses and inconsistencies of many professing Christians.
Oh! How careful we should be in our Christian walk. Sometimes even our speech "betrayeth us." How few of us would have the confidence to say with Paul, "Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example.”
And yet we cannot escape; whether we like it or not. Others with keen eyes and hungry hearts are reading us like a book. Every phase of our life is open to criticism.
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He had yet to learn that only by turning his eyes upon Jesus would he find the perfect example.
He was neither censorious nor judging: He was desperately hungry for God, but fearful that having begun he would fail and fall. But God had His hand on Auko and there came a day when he knew that God was speaking to him and he had to face the fact that salvation was a personal matter involving himself and God, his sin and God's mercy.
He came to visit us one late Friday afternoon.
"All this week I have felt as though I have a heavy haversack on my back. It is pushing me down and I am so tired," He said. So, I replied, "I will go to other 'Aunties.”
For the first time, Auko saw how impossible it was to strive after righteousness in his own strength; no matter how high his own standard might be it would always be short of God's standard.
For Auko, it really was "only a step to Jesus" and he took it.
Firstly, he handed over the "heavy haversack" - the burden of his sin - and knew there and then the joy of forgiveness and release from his burden.
Then he asked the Lord to take full possession of his cleansed heart. This, it seems to me is the clue to a satisfying experience of salvation.
So many say they are Christians; that they have given their lives to the Lord when in reality all they have given is the burden of sin.
We have seen it again and again; the sin is forgiven; the heart is cleansed, but if the life remains uncommitted the result at best is an up and down experience and little or no fruit.
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GIFTS! Irukisu is a little New Guinea girl, one of the sweetest we know. Her dark eyes shine when you speak to her and her face beams with sunny smiles that reflect her happy nature.
She is small for the 13 years that make up her age. She has never been to school and consequently she cannot read or write, but that doesn't trouble Irukisu very much as there are lots of other interesting things to learn.
During our early days in New Guinea we often saw the wee girl trotting along behind her mother on their way to the kaukau garden. She was such a tiny girl in those days, dressed very simply in a few inches of grass skirt and nothing!
The road to their garden ran along the top level of our terraced garden and as they passed our house little Irukisu would wave her hand in greeting to us in the fascinating New Guinea fashion, from side to side.
We always kept watch for them on their way home; mama, with a tremendous load of kaukau 30 or perhaps 40lbs - balanced on her head and the little girl trotting along the stony road behind her, tired little legs dragging somewhat, but the dimpled smiles were still there making sunshine of her sweet little face.
Invariably, on the return journey that follows the path to the back door, Irukisu always had some small gift clutched in her chubby fist; a few droopy flowers; occasionally a fern from the creek bed or a half dead wild violet plant - always some small gift offered with a sunny smile.
That was years ago - Irukisu is 13 or 14 years old now and she doesn't bring her offerings of droopy flowers and half dead plants to us anymore.
But I saw her this morning - Irukisu with the same bright smile, shepherding five little girls along to the back door. She had supervised the washing of faces and hands and then brought them for the customary clean Sunday dress, all ready for Sunday School and the morning service.
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The memory picture of the little girl presenting her offering to us came clearly to mind and with it also the realization that she has not yet given the best offering of all to the Savior, who loved her and gave Himself for her.
We pray for Irukisu and other New Guinea girls and boys like her. Until they offer to the Lord Jesus their best gifts, they will never know how much He has to give them. "The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
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AND MORE GIFTS It is the "dry season" in the Highlands of New Guinea. For many weeks we have had no rain and the small mountain springs are dry, and fresh water is short. Since we came to live on the village side five years ago we have shared our tank water with the village people, sparing them the long walk to the river. We have seen God wonderfully providing for us all and we have always had water to share.
Last evening two little girls came along with cans and water pots, each nibbling away at a piece of sweet corn. They took their cans full of fresh water, lingering a moment at the door to hold a whispered conversation - then - one little girl ran back and thrust her piece of corn into my hand. It was nibbled all the way up one side and the rest was a trifle dirty from grubby little hands. The other little girl following the example of her sister brought her piece and gave it to Auntie Olive.
But there was a problem - there were Three Aunties and only two pieces of corn - they hadn't any to offer Auntie Elsie!!! Still whispering, they picked up their water pots and trudged off home.
It was only a matter of moments and they came running back with a lovely sweet potato, freshly baked for their evening meal in the hot embers of their fire.
So happily, they handed it to the third Auntie and with smiles so wide and waving hands they scampered off to enjoy their own good supper.
Darling little girls, their sweetness warmed our hearts. It's not very often that a gift is given like that, freely, lovingly and with no expectation of something in return.
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LOVEST THOU ME When I survey the Wondrous Cross, On which the Prince of Glory dies, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.
We sing the words of this well-loved hymn very fervently - in church. It isn't very hard to sing it in the company of fellow believers - unless of course, we are really facing the challenge of the words we sing?
Does the "love so amazing, so divine" make such demands upon us and our possessions, that we honestly mean the words we sing?
Are we sleepily aware of our debt to the "divine love" poured out on the Cross? It is a challenge to our sincerity.
Arafaki is the name of one of our village boys, but he prefers to be called Ron. His parents have lived all their lives in the small village on the opposite side of the road to our home, so we have known Ron practically all of his young life.
He came into focus when he began coming over to work now and then in our garden. I never had the heart to tell him that we already had three boys working in the garden and we didn't really need him. But there was something that drew our hearts to that gentle boy and I knew that he had come to stay. No boy ever gave us less trouble.
There was no formal engagement, but by tacit agreement Ron became my house help.
I was glad to have his help in the kitchen, and I kept him busy. There was a score of ways he saved my steps - helping with the dish-washing, preparing the sweet potato and corn, sweeping and polishing our lovely board floors till they shone like glass. I have no doubt that he would have loved to work out of doors with the garden boys, but he never complained of monotony and I never had to drive him.
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When Ron was quite a small boy, he had a serious leg infection and was in the hospital for several months. This resulted in one leg that wasn't a very good match for its fellow.
Because of this, Ron never went to school with the other village children or joined in the rough and tumble games they delight in. But Ron would take his fish-line and hooks down to the river and fish for hours in perfect contentment.
As a young "teenager" Ron had accepted the Lord Jesus as His Savior, but fishing had remained his "first love."
The LOVE of I Corinthians 13, which reveals the very nature of our Lord Jesus Christ is totally unknown until He is given the first place in our life.
Ron knew the fact of sins forgiven from personal experience. He dimly understood that God loved the world He had created, but to be loved personally, individually and freely was altogether beyond his comprehension until one lovely day.
It was a perfect fishing day and Ron as usual, when his work was done, went off to his favorite fishing spot beside the river and there in the quiet, peaceful surroundings, Jesus Himself drew near.
Our Lord Jesus has His own way of removing all barriers of communication, language, culture, custom, etc.- to make Himself known. He opened the door of Spiritual understanding and Ron knew that he was loved and his whole heart responded.
Later that day he came home and this quiet, gentle boy, in simple unforgettable words, opened his heart to us and told what had happened at the river-side that lovely afternoon.
In his hand he carried his fish-line and hooks, all rolled up together, and placed them on the table. "Today," he said, "I gave my fishing to Jesus. I had nothing to give for His love to me - I gave Him my fishing."
I saw in a flash of insight, the completeness of his offering to the Lord Jesus. It wasn't just a fish-line and a few hooks - there was no mention of those. "I gave him my fishing," he had said. In other words, the 140 | P a g e
place that this had occupied in his heart, Ron had given that day to be filled with love for the Lord Jesus and He had become in that one act of surrender, Ron's first love.
LOVE, in the person of the Lord Jesus had come in to fill the place left empty for Him.
There is much more I could tell of Ron since that day, another day perhaps. Enough for now to say that Ron still goes fishing - with Jesus he has become a patient "fisher of men".
Ron's story has a message for all of us. So often we feel we must "give up all things" for Jesus, but find that it leaves a vacuum within us which eventually becomes unbearable and we "take back the things" we had given. Haven't we all seen it happen? Haven't we seen it in our lives?
It results in the all too familiar up and down experience, if not to back-sliding. The Lord Jesus doesn't want "things." He wants people.
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THE LOST KEY - SEPTEMBER 1974 Most of us are encouraged by a good response to what we offer and it is no less so to those who carry the Gospel of Salvation to needy souls.
Our young Pastor and his two assistants are now working in four Gadsup villages and it’s very good to see the Meeting Houses well filled and they are encouraged to know that so many will hear the "Good News" that day.
But the fact that the seats overflow doesn't always signify a deep response to the work of the Holy Spirit among them, which is what we really long to see.
Asaranka is a little church and few in it, but there is an eagerness to know more of God's way and a warmth of love among them that is encouraging to the Pastor. Bafi, our Gadsup Pastor is always refreshed by his ministry there.
He told us a lovely story this morning. Actually, it was the testimony of one of the older women and its worth telling.
"You know that there has been no rain for a long time. The garden is very dry and there is no sweet potato. On Friday morning, my husband and myself decided to go to the garden to see if we left any "pipia" sweet potato in the garden (Pipia sweet potato is the waste usually fed to the pigs or thrown away).
We shut and locked the door and the key I put in my pocket. My husband and myself walked about all over the big garden, but only very few sweet potato were found. It was a hot day and the sweat ran off our faces, so we said, "Kaukau is very short, we will go home."
I put my hand in my pocket to take my key, but my key was gone. "Oh, my husband," I said. "The key is gone. It is lost."
My husband said, "It is your fault. You have lost it and you can find it. I am hot and I am tired, so I can sleep. You can find the key.” 142 | P a g e
So then, I go, I go, I walk about all over the garden and I look, look more. I am hot, I am tired, the sweat ran off my face, but no key can I find. My heart is very heavy. Then I remembered!
God can help me! Every time the boys come they tell us about God - God who loves us – God who has power I will ask Him to help me. So, I kneeled on the ground and I prayed.
"O God! You are the great God. Your love I know, your power I have heard about. Now I pray to you. Please show me your power. I have lost my key. All about the garden I go, I go, but I find no key. I pray to you now. Please open my eyes to look at my key."
"Then I put my hand on the ground to help me stand up and under my hand I feel my key."
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FELLOWSHIP - SEPTEMBER 1975 We are returning to our Home-land very soon and God has given us some wonderful memories to carry back with us.
Today, Sunday, September 2, 1975, we had one of our most precious experiences, one we will never forget.
After Ukarumpa, Asaranka was the first of the Aiyura villages to welcome us. It was twelve years ago that one young lad, a twelve-year-old schoolboy began gathering the village children together three nights a week for Bible Stories, singing and learning Bible verses.
That was the beginning of the work of God in Asaranka. There have been many changes over the years between then and now. Many of the young people have grown up and gone. We never see them now. The coastal towns have swallowed them up, but wherever they are those nights will surely remain among the happiest of their childhood memories.
There has always been a faithful little flock at Asaranka. They built the first little "Meeting House" and met together every Sunday for a simple service.
For several years we kept up this weekly fellowship with them at Asaranka until for a number of reasons, it became impossible for us to continue regular services there. So, the Christians came to Ukarumpa and shared the "fellowship" with us here.
Then Bafi graduated from Bible College and became the first Gadsup national pastor in this area of the New Guinea Highlands. The Meeting House was rebuilt and regular services began again.
It was to this small Church that we came this afternoon and we have never had a more blessed experience.
When eight of the Christians from Asaranka were baptized on December 22nd they shared for the first time in the Lord's Supper with us. Today was the second time - and in their own village church.
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Words always fail to adequately express the spiritual. Some things always elude us. I suppose it is because spiritual things cannot be described. They must be experienced! And it was so in this.
It was 3 p.m. when we arrived at Asaranka, one of the most beautiful villages in the valley. The compound is entirely enclosed in giant bamboo and the church is prominent in the center.
There had been a service there this morning. The communion service this afternoon was especially for the Christians.
On our arrival, Josiah Saroka rang the church bell and one by one the people emerged from their little grass-roofed houses and together we went into the Meeting House.
How can I describe the village church to you? You would not be impressed by the building itself. That left very much to be desired; gaps here and there in the woven bamboo walls and in several places around the bottom. Village pigs had rooted, breaking the bamboo which had been effectively, if not very expertly, patched up with scraps of timber.
The house would not impress anyone, except for what it lacked. It was the atmosphere of the place and that too could not be described. The "House" was spotless, beautifully swept and the seating neatly arranged. In front the Lord's Table was spread with a white cloth and the elements covered with a white napkin. Behind was a low bamboo platform and a roughly made little bench supporting a reading stand and two jars of fresh flowers – all terribly amateurish to critical eyes, but the Lord's presence there made it His House and He loved it.
The service was all Gadsup - and it was beautiful. I have never shared in a communion service so simple and so beautiful.
Oh! How much we miss by our distracting "trimmings." We have fine linen, lovely settings and soft music, all so far removed from that long ago "last supper" partaken under the very shadow of the cross.
"The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread."
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Today the bread was broken first by the young pastor and then passed from hand to hand, rough workworn hands, in complete silence and I believe we were more closely linked with the gathering in the "upper room", than in the most solemn services in a modern setting.
"In like manner He took the cup."
One of the ladies prayed our thanksgiving and together the little group sang in their own Gadsup language.
"The happiness and peace of Jesus is in my heart always."
And with a prayer for God's blessing, the service closed and together we passed out into the late afternoon sunshine, refreshed and renewed in Spirit by the lovely, simple service of true fellowship with each other and our Lord Jesus Christ!
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Pastor Bafi’s grave – In the shadow of the original Ukarumpa church (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
2009 - Pastor Manuko at the Ukarumpa center with Charles and Barbara Micheals (Photo courtesy of Charles Micheals)
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Documents
Sharing – April 1975 (Document courtesy of the SIL PNG Branch Archives)
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Sharing – April 1975 (Document courtesy of the SIL PNG Branch Archives)
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(Article courtesy of New Life Christian Magazine)
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(Article courtesy of New Life Christian Magazine)
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(Article courtesy of New Life Christian Magazine)
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Sharing – October 1967 (Document courtesy of the SIL PNG Branch Archives)
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Bibliography Glenferrie Road, Malvern, Victoria, Australia, State Library of Victoria, Australia, Online, Photo H32492/9592 <http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/59120> Sharing – October 1967 (Document Courtesy of the SIL PNG Branch Archives) Sharing – April 1975 (Document Courtesy of the SIL PNG Branch Archives) New Life Magazine, March 17, 1966, Volume 28. No. 38, 8.
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About The Author
Charles Micheals is a native of Michigan and lived the first thirty years of his life there, eventually working in the grocery industry. In 1985, Charles and his wife Barbara and their four small children joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and moved to the country of Papua New Guinea (PNG) where they worked with the internationally known non-profit linguistic organization, SIL International (formerly the Summer Institute of Linguistics). Charles served in a variety of administrative roles in PNG, including several years as the Chairman of the SIL PNG Job Evaluation and Wage Review Committee and on the SIL PNG Executive Committee.
During their 15 years of service in PNG, Bible translation work was completed in 67 languages and over 100 additional Bible translation projects were started. Today, almost 180 language communities, representing 1.8 million people in PNG have access to the Scriptures in their own languages.
In 2000, Charles and Barbara moved back to the USA and Charles served for several years as the Regional Director for Recruitment for Wycliffe, living in the Chicago, Illinois area. In 2004 they moved to Orlando, Florida where Charles served for six and a half years as the Vice President for Recruitment Ministries for Wycliffe. He currently heads up Wycliffe’s Management and Professional Recruitment Department and speaks at various mission conferences and colleges each year. Barbara helps coordinates Wycliffe’s Volunteer and Internship program.
Charles holds a BS degree in Food Distribution from Western Michigan University and a MA degree in Organization Management from Dallas Baptist University. He served on the Board of Directors for The Finishers Project (now Mission Next), a non-profit mission dedicated to helping people in the second half of life find places to serve in missions. He has also been involved in helping create and develop Mission 157 | P a g e
Teach (now Teach Next), a ministry dedicated to helping place teachers in MK (Missionary Kid) mission schools around the world and Military Believer, a growing ministry dedicated to helping military personnel who are leaving the military, find opportunities for service in global missions.
Charles has also authored a number of articles about the work of SIL in PNG and other historical articles about life in the Aiyura Valley in PNG. (http://issuu.com/cbmicheals/docs)
Both Charles and Barbara are members of Saint Andrew’s church in Sanford, FL and are involved in a variety of church activities there. Charles serves as an elder at the church. However, they are still members of Second Christian Reformed Church, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is the church that commissioned them for their work with Wycliffe. All four of their children are actively supporting missions and church ministry work. Two of their four children are serving with Wycliffe around the world.
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(Back cover, The Three Aunties at the church in Ukarumpa Village)
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