Participants: John Kent (Host)
Series Code: AFM
Program Code: AFM000010
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00:27 Hi, everyone. I'm John Kent, director of training for
00:29 Adventist Frontier Missions. For the past 25 years, 00:32 God has been using AFM to plant the church in places like India 00:36 Albania, Africa, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. 00:40 We currently have 85 missionaries serving in 16 00:43 different countries. Now if you were to ask any of 00:45 our missionaries what it's actually like to be one, 00:48 I'm certain they would tell you it's one of the most rewarding 00:51 as well as challenging things they have ever done. 01:53 Papua New Guinea is located in the South Pacific Ocean 01:57 about 93 miles north of Australia. 02:00 The capital city of Port Moresby is an exciting place to be. 02:03 There's a lot to see and do there. 02:05 The first thing you'll notice are the high-rise buildings. 02:08 Just ask the right person, and you might get a bird's-eye view 02:11 from the top of one of those skyscrapers. 02:13 Most of the goods and supplies that come to Port Moresby 02:16 arrive by cargo ship. The ocean is beautiful. 02:19 You'll even see whole villages built right over the water. 02:22 Then go to the marketplace, and there you'll see how talented 02:26 the people are. 02:27 These baskets and crafts you see are handmade by the locals. 02:40 I hope you enjoyed that quick tour of Papua New Guinea's 02:43 capital city. In this program, we want to give you three 02:45 exciting glimpes into the work that AFM is doing 02:48 in that country. 02:50 Here's and overview of what you are going to see. 02:52 David and Cindy White have been working for several years 02:56 as career missionaries among the Gogodala people in 02:59 Balimo, Papua New Guinea. 03:01 They specialize in friendship evangelism. 03:03 It's clear to see that David and Cindy genuinely 03:07 care about the local people. 03:09 Their deepest desire is for their Balimo friends to know 03:13 Jesus as their personal Savior. 03:16 From Balimo, we will take a short boat ride up the Aramia 03:19 River to the village of Kotale, where we will find the 03:23 Erickson family also working as career missionaries. 03:26 The second video report is from the village of Kukea, where 03:29 Dale Goodson and his wife Lety worked as missionaries among 03:32 the Dowa people for more than 11 years. 03:35 Their goal was to establish an Adventist church where people 03:38 didn't just know biblical truth, but applied it to every aspect 03:42 of their culture. Finally, after a 20-hour canoe ride, we will 03:46 reach our last destination, the May River Project. 03:50 This is the most remote place on earth that AFM is working in. 03:56 But first, let's go to Balimo, where we begin our 03:59 three-part series. 04:03 David and Cindy White are 04:05 stationed in Balimo, New Guinea, 04:06 which is a very remote location. 04:09 The only way to access Balimo is by bush plane. 04:12 It's an exciting experience to fly in one of these planes. 04:16 The pilot said he had flown over 4,000 missions and never 04:21 has had any problems. 04:33 As you can see, transportation can be very challenging, 04:37 and getting needed supplies can be an even greater challenge. 04:40 There's no local hardware or grocery store, so most of the 04:44 supplies have to be loaded onto a ship in Port Moresby. 04:47 After a couple of days of ocean travel, the cargo ship comes 04:51 inland up the Aramia River where it arrives near the town 04:54 of Balimo. 04:56 It's dry season, and water levels are low, so David 04:59 and Steve have to drive their small boat through 05:02 several miles of shallow waterways in order to meet 05:05 the big ship and get their supplies. 05:12 It's exciting when the ship finally does arrive. 05:14 Soxie helps guide the boat alongside of the ship. 05:17 David and Steve are eager to see if everything they 05:20 ordered has come because this ship contains precious cargo. 05:24 They are unloading construction materials like cement and 05:27 foundation poles for a new church that's being built in 05:31 Balimo. And because of many generous donors, supplies have 05:34 been purchased, and the church will soon be finished where 05:37 new believers can come every Sabbath and worship Jesus, 05:41 the source of the true River of Life. 05:47 Balimo is situated on the western banks of the 05:49 Aramia River and is home to the Gogodala cultural group 05:53 known for their artistic skills in carving huge wooden canoes. 05:57 The larger of these canoes can carry over 40 grown men 06:00 at any one time, and they use them to travel the massive 06:03 waterways of the Papuan delta. 06:06 One of the highlights of Gogodalan culture is the annual 06:10 canoe race. Up to 40 grown men stand upright in one canoe 06:14 as they paddle in unison to win the race. 06:17 It's an incredible sight to see. 06:21 After the canoe is carved, they paint them with colorful designs 06:24 to appease the spirits that they believe inhabit the canoe. 06:27 Even the paddles are skillfully etched and painted with symbols 06:31 of spirits who are asked to inhabit them. 06:43 Animism is the predominant religion of the Gogodala. 06:46 They believe spirits inhabit everything. 06:48 The whole purpose of life is to try and manipulate the 06:51 spirits to either give them good fortune or to leave them alone. 07:06 The day of the race has arrived. It's 4 a. m. and the people are 07:10 excited. They call on spirits to give them speed for the race. 07:14 While some perform rituals to keep away bad spirits, 07:17 others familiar with Christianity call upon God to 07:21 bless them as well. 07:22 The winning team will receive several thousand dollars. 07:27 Months of preparation are and practice are on the line. 07:32 It's amazing how they can paddle these huge canoes and 07:35 stand at the same time without falling out. 07:49 The end of the race determines a winner; however, there's a 07:52 dispute. The team that came in second accuses the winning 07:55 team of casting magic on their canoe, preventing them 07:59 from winning the race. 08:00 A huge fight quickly erupts, involving not only the racing 08:04 teams, but hundreds of villagers on the shore. 08:08 They grab sticks and rocks and anything they can get their 08:11 hands on and throw them at each other, or beat up 08:13 anyone not quick enough to get away. 08:15 No one was seriously injured when the fight was over. 08:18 What a miracle that was. 08:25 These people depend on the river. 08:27 It's the essence of their lives. 08:28 They fish in the water; they bathe in its shores; 08:31 they play in the mud banks and swim in its eddies. 08:34 They hunt wild game near its banks, such as crocodiles 08:37 eels, fish and birds. 08:40 Yet will all their sustenance coming from this life-giving 08:44 source, they are left wanting more. They seek a better way 08:47 for meaning in life. 08:48 They are in search of the River of Life. 08:52 Working out here has really been a blessing. 08:54 It's actually very exciting 08:56 because we are now having 08:58 groups of people that are 09:00 wanting to become Seventh-day Adventists. 09:02 Around the area, they've heard about our work here, 09:05 and now they're asking for us to send missionaries into 09:09 their villages to teach them. They want to raise up a church 09:12 in their villages. 09:19 The greatest joy I have is 09:23 when I can share with some 09:26 of the local men and ladies here about Jesus. 09:35 We've got three men that are all ordained elders in the 09:40 Balimo church. These three men are a direct result of the 09:45 efforts Adventist Frontiers made in the past. 09:50 One was given literature by Jeff Bishop, and the other two 09:55 were brought in by Jean Cader and his effort in the Upper Room 10:02 Jean did a lot of good work. And then followed not too long 10:08 after Jean was Joe Beasley, who had the Upper Room school. 10:12 And the Upper Room was a real popular school in this area. 10:17 The three men are Peter, Paul and Wamasy. 10:22 And out of the three, Wamasy is probably the rising star. 10:28 He is gifted relationally. 10:30 He is the pulse of the church here, and because of his 10:34 efforts, this church is coming up in a strong way. 11:01 The work of the Upper Room resuted in many people giving 11:05 their hearts to Jesus. After many years of spirit worship, 11:08 they gladly gave their hearts over to the One who fills their 11:12 life with joy and peace. 11:14 Now they belong to a family of believers, and together 11:17 they look forward to Jesus' soon return. 11:42 We've spent many years now studying the culture, 11:47 trying to determine where the holes are in the culture. 11:51 It's like we want to spread a gospel net and catch them 11:55 in the net and win souls. One of my favorite verses is 12:00 that Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." 12:05 Well, we have to make sure that the net that we throw 12:09 doesn't have any holes in it. And so, as we look at the 12:13 the gospel and the way we present the gospel, 12:18 in a western fashion, we see there are very big holes 12:21 and that people will go right through those holes. 12:24 And so, we've been sitting here trying to plug up all the holes 12:27 and see how we can present the gospel that when we finally 12:32 throw that net, we are going to catch them. 13:18 Kingsley tells us how the sound 13:20 of an early morning church bell 13:21 led him and his whole family 13:23 to a new life with Jesus. 13:25 The bell was the witness. 13:27 It was ringing so uniquely every time. That tuned our 13:30 ears to that church, the Seventh day church which I am now in. 13:34 The sound of the bell guided Kingsley and his family to 13:38 church that Sabbath morning. Since that day, the entire 13:41 family has given their lives to Jesus. No longer does gambling 13:45 or alcohol have a hold on Kingsley's life. 13:47 Let's listen now as Kingsley explains how he feels about 13:51 the work that Adventist Frontier Missions is doing in that area. 13:56 I tell you, they really changed the lives of the people here. 14:00 I always encourage my church members: once they are here, 14:04 use them to the fullest. And I always tell them, 14:07 Look up to them and ask them as many questions as you can. 14:10 So that we can learn from them and what they introduce 14:13 to us, we will carry on from there and we will go 14:16 extending the gospel of Jesus Christ. 14:19 It's encouraging to hear the passion Kingsley has in sharing 14:23 the gospel with others. Planting Adventist churches 14:26 totatlly operated by local people is the ultimate goal 14:29 of AFM. Now, don't go away. There's much more to come. 14:33 We will be back in a few moments with the rest of our story. 14:40 You know, most people don't think about darkness unless 14:43 we are in it. 14:45 Darkness is a place of shadows and fears, 14:49 of things unknown. 14:51 It's a place where we go to hide. 14:56 A place where we wonder who's out there. 14:59 A place of uncertainty. 15:00 In John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus declares, 15:09 So God steps into the picture, light dispells darkness. 15:13 Life destroys death. 15:16 Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness. 15:21 Have you ever wondered why the Bible spends so 15:26 much time talking about light and darkness? 15:30 Could it be that behind the veil of darkness are faces? 15:35 Faces of people with hearts and families? 15:40 Faces of people that God loves? 15:45 Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. " 15:50 Will you go and bring the light 15:53 to the people God loves? 16:12 Welcome back to the second half of our video report 16:15 from Papua New Guinea. We go now to the village 16:17 of Kotale, where Steve and Laurie Erickson and their 16:20 daughters are serving as career church-planting missionaries 16:23 among the Gogodala. 16:53 I just felt the need to 16:56 do something more for God. 16:58 I was the head elder of our 17:00 church, and I wanted to work 17:02 full-time for God. So when this opportunity came up, 17:05 I believe God opened the doors for this. 17:09 So I had prayed for a break, and God opened the doors. 17:15 So here we are today. 17:18 We weren't going to be happy if we didn't go where 17:20 God wanted us to be. If we had stayed at our home 17:23 where we were, I know we wouldn't have been happy. 17:26 And life is challenging out here. 17:29 There's no doubt about it. 17:30 But I feel very content. I'm very happy to be here. 17:36 Living in the village here is much different than living 17:41 in America in that we live here, we are part of the village, 17:45 and people come and, I'll never forget standing 17:51 at the kitchen window washing dishes and 17:54 there would be group of people sitting in our front yard just 17:58 outside the window, facing our house and watching 18:02 the window as if they were watching a soap opera on TV. 18:07 And it just drove me nuts. 18:10 And I kind of have gotten used to that, and the people have 18:15 kind of gotten used to us, so they don't do that 18:17 quite as much. 18:18 One of the happiest things for me that makes me very proud 18:21 as a mother is to watch my girls interact with other 18:25 young girls and wanting to lead them to Jesus. 18:29 They've had the opportunity already to lead one girl 18:32 to baptism, and they are studying the Bible with 18:35 another friend. And they have their own Sabbath School class. 18:39 They've grown so much spiritually and as leaders 18:43 I can just see them growing tremendously, and it's been 18:47 a great experience for them to take these responsibilities on. 18:53 Johanna and Karin begin each morning with worship 18:55 reading the Bible and praying for their Heavenly 18:58 Father to guide the day. They both have school work 19:01 to do every morning, and their favorite subject is science. 19:06 Johanna has learned how to bake bread. She especially 19:09 likes to do this for the family. Homemade bread 19:12 tastes extra good in the mission field. 19:16 It's dry season, so Karin helps her dad get water from the 19:19 local village well. It's good exercise 19:22 and it's a nice time to talk with friends. 19:26 Getting water is hard work, so they are sure to use 19:28 water only on things that are needed. 19:33 Karin and Johanna love to play games with the local children. 19:36 They treat them with the same love and compassion as they 19:39 would their own family members. They consider it 19:42 a privilege to be accepted and trusted by the local people. 19:45 These friendships have opened the door for them to share 19:48 Jesus with many of the villagers. They use their 19:52 talents to praise God, and their Christian example has led 19:55 many young people to the same wonderful Jesus 19:58 that they know and love. 20:00 While being out here, 20:01 we decided to start a choir, 20:04 a girls choir to sing for the 20:06 camp meeting. And one girl named Lucy, she decided 20:11 to join. And because of that, she has been coming to 20:15 church every Sabbath faithfully, and we've 20:19 been giving her Bible studies. 20:25 Holy, holy, holy, holy. 20:32 Lord God almighty, 20:39 which was, and is, and is to come. 20:43 When I go back to the States, 20:44 We are going to be going next 20:47 year for a break, and what we 20:49 really miss there is Taco Bell. 20:52 That's one of our favorite places to eat. 20:55 The things that are different about living here 20:58 are people in the States - we 21:01 tend to be rushing, trying to 21:04 get to a meeting on time. But people here, they don't 21:08 care how long it takes them to get somewhere. 21:11 Time doesn't really mean anything to them. 21:14 When I was back home in the States, I was mostly 21:18 trying to impress people, but then when I came here, 21:22 life is simple, and the people are humble. 21:26 And because we are right in the middle of nature, 21:29 somehow it just drew me closer to God. 21:33 And I really changed when I came out here. 21:37 And I just think that if anybody goes to the 21:42 mission field, it's going to change their lives. 22:03 Elsie really loves Jesus, and she wanted to be baptized 22:06 with her friend Johanna. But she kept getting sick. 22:09 So Elsie's dad had Laurie Erickson come and check 22:12 on Elsie. Laurie thought she had malaria, but looking 22:15 further, Laurie discovered that Elsie had appendicitis. 22:18 So they took Elsie to Port Moresby where she could get 22:21 the surgery that she needed. 22:55 For a long time, Nasa was considered to be the meanest 22:58 person in the village of Kotale. He was known 23:01 for being a thief. One day he broke into 23:03 a house and stole a radio. He thought he had gotten 23:06 away with it until some people came knocking at 23:08 his door asking if he knew anything about the stolen 23:11 radio. Of course, Nasa denied it. That is, until the men came 23:15 in to do some investigation of their own. 23:18 Sure enough, they found the missing radio, and they 23:20 threatened to beat him up if he didn't stop stealing 23:23 things. A few days later, Nasa couldn't help himself. 23:26 He had stolen chickens before, and he thought it would be 23:29 easy pickings. This time, some angry people were waiting 23:32 for him. They decided to chase the chicken thief down 23:35 and end his life. 23:51 The angry mob looked for Nasa everywhere. They were going 23:54 to chop him to pieces. But God had a different 23:56 plan for Nasa. 24:28 I know many of you are praying for us. 24:30 And we would just ask that you continue your prayers 24:34 for us because there is a spirtual battle going 24:37 on out here, and prayers make a difference. 24:40 And I would like to say a prayer just now for you. 24:45 If you would just bow your head with me, let's pray. 24:51 Father in heaven, thank You for being with us today. 24:56 Lord, we have answered Your call to go to the far corners 25:00 of the earth. I want to pray for each one of the viewers 25:05 that You will touch their hearts. I know there are 25:08 some out there that You have been working on their 25:12 hearts, preparing them to work as missionaries. 25:15 Lord, we just pray that You will work out their situation 25:18 so that they can fulfill Your purpose, so this gospel 25:21 can reach the whole world, and then we will see 25:25 Jesus come. And so, Lord, we commit our lives to You 25:30 and ask for Your will to be done. In Jesus' name, amen. 25:35 I want to thank you in advance for your prayers and 25:38 financial support. They are greatly needed as well as 25:41 greatly appreciated. We end our program today with this 25:44 special music from the Balimo Seventh-day Adventist church 25:47 in Papua New Guinea. 26:33 It's a moment that I will never forget in my life. 26:36 How they talked to us, how they loved us. 26:38 I came into an atmosphere, and I felt that I was 26:42 already coming home. 26:43 And I'm just very happy to join the family of God. 26:46 It's so wonderful and nice. 26:50 Sweet home. 26:56 It will be a sweet home for the Gogodala when they reach 26:59 heaven. The Whites and Ericksons have dedicated 27:02 their lives to bringing the gospel to the Gogodala, 27:05 a people truly searching for the River of Life. 27:08 Please keep them in your prayers. If you felt God 27:10 impressing you to support Adventist Frontier Missions, 27:13 then please send your donation to: |
Revised 2014-12-17