Hela Province, Papua New

Bible Exhibition

The Lord has given us the privilege of visiting the Hela province twice this year, in July and then again in November. Each visit is organized with much prayer before the Lord, seeking His will for Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The assembly in Erebo, Papua New Guinea In July, I joined Alf Grant, Vince Zaccardi (both from Conference Hall, Brisbane) and Michael Chapman (Cooroy) for 18 days in PNG and most of that time was devoted to the construction of the hall in Erebo. The believers from that area used to have their meetings just sitting out in the open, without anything to protect them from the rain or the sun. Since we began visiting Erebo regularly in 2013 the number of believers and unsaved visitors attending the meetings has grown, so we started praying for a hall for this dear group of saints. The Lord answered our prayers through the support of some assemblies, and also the local believers worked hard to provide most of the timber from local forests.

When we arrived in Papua New Guinea (PNG), we had to spend the first night in the capital city, Port Moresby. There, we met an Australian man working in the mines, who asked us about our reason for being in PNG. We explained that we were there to help local Christians in a village to build a shelter for their meetings and he asked more questions, and when he heard that we had only about two weeks to complete the project and that we did not have the materials ready and neither had idea of how many people were willing to work, he said, "Forget it, it is not going to happen!". And later when we arrived at Tari, close to Erebo, a local businessman had a similar reaction: "it is just impossible!". However, at the end of our trip, after several difficulties and challenges, we walked away leaving behind not only a material building but also a local assembly functioning with 17 believers gathering there unto the Name of the Lord.

"The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" Luke 18.27

Upon our returned home to Australia we reported back to the brethren about what the Lord had done, and although there was much joy for the news, we knew that the new assembly needed a lot of help with Bible teaching. The three brethren bearing responsibility among them also knew that they needed spiritual support to carry on, especially considering that none of them had been in an assembly fellowship before. Therefore, we started praying for a new visit before the end of the year, and the Lord heard our cry.

Almost the same group (but instead of Vince this time we had Jack Stewart, a young brother from South Australia) went to PNG for eleven days at the end of November. This time we did not work on the material construction but went every morning with the local believers preaching the gospel in different places around Erebo. Every afternoon we went back to the hall for ministry meetings. As in that area, there is no electricity; there are no meetings at night time! But besides the public meetings, we also spent many hours talking with the believers individually, especially with the elders. We observed a few things that needed correction, and they also had questions, which is not surprising when we consider that they had never seen an assembly functioning before. We are glad that the word of God has an answer for each question about the way in which a local church should function.

For us it was very humbling to see firsthand the commencement of a new assembly with believers in a different culture, without any previous exposure to the principles of gathering only unto His Name and surrounded by so many different religious groups, yet who are so willing to submit themselves to the authority of the Word of God.

On the last Saturday of our visit, nine believers were baptised and eight of them, as well as three other believers, were received into assembly fellowship the next day. Now, almost half of the believers in assembly fellowship live in another village called Hiribi, approximately three hours walking from Erebo. These believers are exercised about building their hall soon, and they already have most of the materials they need. They have to walk with their families through the mountains to come to the meetings, so they are also praying for a local assembly in their village. We try to go whenever the Lord opens the way for us, but as the work grows these believers face different problems and need more help. There is no internet communication and not even a post office where literature could be sent to them, so we see how important this small word in the Lord's Great Commission is: Go. Please, join us in praying to the Lord of the Harvest, because there is a "piece of ground" in Papua New Guinea needing labourers.

Spring 2017 Written by Willians and Kylie Alcala - Papua New Guinea willians.alcala1972@gmail.com