Who Will Tell?

AUGUST 2009
JOHN & SELINA ALLEN
Serving in Papua New Guinea

A GREAT DOOR AND EFFECTUAL IS OPENED

A few months ago I mentioned the opportunities that are opening in villages in our region. These opportunities are expanding, and truly it is a “great door and effectual!” As I write this, Pastor James Naudi and some men are going to two more villages that have requested that we come to begin a ministry there. In the last three months, we have received additional requests from these villages:

• Hoyti
• Hauwabango
• Kwaiyu
• Paingoba
• Waikuna
• Pangoni
• Kamaminga
• Auyakutumpa

These villages have literally said, “We don’t care if it is a missionary or a national pastor…we want someone to bring us the Gospel and to teach us God’s word.”

THE HARVEST TRULY IS PLENTEOUS, BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW

We are praying for the Lord to send us more Bible school students. We could place men in several areas right now if we had them. Most of the villages listed above are Kamea-speaking, but there are also open doors among the Kapirope people (Waikuna area) and the Tewata people (Pangoni area). Language work has already been done in both Kapirope and Tewata, so missionaries could start immediately. NOTE: THESE ARE REMOTE AREAS! But as has been said, the ripest fruit is sometimes out on the farthest branches.

THERE ARE MANY ADVERSARIES

Kotidanga, our home village, is filled with a lot of bad-mouthing about ‘the Baptists”…not from our misdeeds, but from our efforts to do right. A leader from a village to our south has forbidden people to go to the Baptist church at Anewa (pastored by one of our graduates). This leader tells his people that Roman soldiers will come and burn down their villages if they go to the Baptist church. Though some new converts have been frightened, my recent visit to Anewa showed 80 people packed into a small bush hut, and the attendance was down due to a morning rain. These folks weren’t afraid of the threats!

PRAY YE

• Pastor James Naudi has been holding soul-winning classes weekly with Kotidanga Baptist Church, and they are seeing fruit already. Last week one of our men brought an old man to Pastor James, and in a short time the man trusted Christ. He said, “This is what I needed to hear!”
• Pastor James and the men have made three mission trips this year, and they have seen fruit on every trip. On the last trip, he led one of his family members to Christ, and they asked him to come back and to share this “good news” with the rest of the family.
• Another of our men brings people weekly from the village of Ipaiyu, over two hours’ walk away. An older lady trusted Christ on a recent Sunday along with five others that same day as I preached on the holiness of God. Now, the people of Ipaiyu are becoming hard to the Gospel due to some illness among the people. They blame the Baptists for causing the illness. May God open their eyes!
• We got this message from a village to our north: “Our village has plenty of good gardens and food, but we are dying with all this food. Our village has plenty of coffee growers and makes plenty of money, but we are dying with all this money. “We need someone to come and teach us God’s word, because we are dying without it!”

Serving Him in the Field,
John & Selina Allen
Nehemiah 8:8

Pray for us as we continue to learn Kamea. We long to be able to witness to our Kamea people in their own heart language!

For more information about these dear servants of Christ, please visit ThatTheyMayKnow.com