1. Some of the crowd that greeted us
Last Friday I had the privilege of going out to a remote village with the MAF ministry team and spend the night there. It is called Pontus and is the home of one of our store men and has an AOG church there. For me there was a lot of build up during the week, there was the planning and getting ready. But also physically and spiritually. I had volunteered to share my testimony (how I came to Christ and my calling to MAF). During the week I had a really bad mouth infection, something that I had never experienced before. It was quite painful even to speak. But I started to improve come Friday.
There would be nine of us going, most of whom are from the Engineering department. We finished work early and headed out from the airport just after 1530. We took two 4WD’s, one Hilux owned by MAF and my Landcruiser. It is about an hour’s trip from Mt Hagen to Pontus. We spent some time in town before leaving around 1645. The trip out there was quite interesting and adventurous. The roads were quite bad and came to parts that we would not be able to pass through without 4WD’s. It was also an opportunity to test the reliability of the Landcruiser but also use it for ministry. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. It is always amazing how people react as we drive through small remote villages, they rarely see white people.
2. Some of the crowd in the church building
We arrived at Pontus around 1800, just before it started to get dark. We were greeted by a large number of people on the way in, mainly kids who would run beside or behind the car. It was such an encouragement to see how happy they were to see us. We were also greeted by a man riding on a white horse, was very random at the time. We were greeted by many people on our arrival and then started to set up in the church building.
The program we had planned for the night was quite a lot of stuff and we were hoping to start around 1830. After setting up there was only a fraction of the community gathered. So we retreated to the Pastor’s hut to have some space from the people and to prepare before starting the night. A time of worship started and more people started to gather, I would estimate we started the program after worship around 1930. After the worship followed a presentation of MAF for the people, like I said before many people know of MAF. But they do not know what exactly we do. That was followed by the MAF employee from the village giving a short talk about MAF. During all this time the presenting was done in Tok Pisin, but was translated in Tok Ples (village’s native language).
3. Doing my testimony & having John translate into Tok Ples
Following the presentation, were two testimonies. The second one being my own, this was in English and translated into Tok Ples. I have never talked in front of such a large group as that before. There would have been easily two hundred people or more there (some have said 400). It was hard as I have never spoke to a group before and have myself translated. So it was hard to keep my train of thought going, but was good to give me time to think of what to say next. I had a lot on my heart I wanted to say. I shared how I came to Christ and how I came to be with MAF in PNG in a way they could understand and be transalted. I incorporated the gospel with this and at the end with a challenge and encouragement. I even had a little sermon on my heart about forgiveness that I really wanted to share, but I did not believe I needed to. Everything that I said took a lot more time to share as it was being translated, but it went really well.
Followed by this we all performed a song. I did not know the song, as I had been unable to sing I had not learnt it before hand. So I got up in front of all these people and learnt the song as we sung it. Then there was another team member to introduce the movie we would watch. He said what I wanted to say, which was really good. Again we watched End of the Spear, which again is so revealant to these people. There has been tribal fighting between the two neighboring villages for the last four years, with twenty people being killed. So there is a lot of pain and still enemies at present, it is only in the last few months that they have stopped fighting. We drove past the battle field where they would meet to fight on our drive in. It is such a good movie on forgiveness. Following the movie we prayed for them and that finished the night at 0015 (15 mins past midnight).
4. People who could not fit inside, would watch from outside
We packed up all the sound gear and there was still a ground gathered. So after some time the generator was turned off and there were no lights. We returned to the Pastor’s hut to find chicken and vegetables cooked for us. I had been so hungry before, but my body was wanting sleep so much that I had lost my appetite. In the end we stayed up till about 0230 singing and talking and then went to bed. We rose again at 0540 to leave around 0600. As for some of us have a lot to do on Saturday’s and wanted to return not too late.
We left that morning leaving behind us a large community greatly blessed. Spending time out in a remote village is always a unique experience. It always amazes me that people live in such a place and in such a way. I was hoping and praying that we would have no dramas with the Landcruiser on the way back. But as soon as we left the village the car stalled while at idle, even though it had warmed up for at least 10 mins. This continued for through out the trip back to Mt Hagen, as the engine was being flooded with too much petrol. At one point we could not get it started for some time, we prayed as a group and it started. Which allowed us to continue but with me driving the car a certain way to keep it from stalling. We adjusted the carberotter and made it back to Mt Hagen safely after some strive with the car. Now knowing that the carby is not just an adjustment issue but needs overhauling.
5. Dinner @ 0100 AM
The time out in the village was a great experience. To be able to minister to these people and to bless them physically and spiritually, I was so blessed by that. It was also good just to serve with the guys outside of the work we do back in Mt Hagen and the time of bonding we had too. God was with us and blessed our travel and time ministering. Coming to PNG this was the sort of ministry that was on my heart to be part of besides what I already do. I am really grateful for this opportunity God has given me and the door that He has opened.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Looks like an awesome place Matt, God bless!
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October 15th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Awesome stuff man!
For your talk did you use a ‘you module’ to start with…did you have a ‘powerline’?
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October 16th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
MATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hey man i might be doing some work with ‘caleb’ next year!!! haha
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October 16th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I love it!!!
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