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Richard & Andrea Carver

July 2011 Newsletter:

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Altar Call at the Conference in Mendi

To all our friends and partners,

We have just returned from a lovely General Conference in the far-away town of Mendi, Southern Highlands Province. Mendi is almost 8 hours drive away from our house in Goroka, and so we were going to break the journey by staying a night in Mt. Hagen, about the halfway point. We were going to meet Mum & Dad there also, as they were flying directly into Mt. Hagen.

So we bundled ourselves (all 5 of us) into the car, with a full load of food, clothing etc enough to last the full week we would be away, and off we went. We had just gotten our car out of the workshop the week before, as it needed a major service before undertaking such a drive. The road is smooth in places, rough to very rough in others, a patchwork of tar, dirt, limestone and potholes.

Papua New Guinea is not the type of country where you can afford to have engine troubles, because if you were to become stranded on an isolated section of road, anything could happen. This includes  being held up by highway robbers, having all your possessions carried away by "friendly" locals, car stolen, or paying large sums of cash to get assistance. Or it may not be like that at all. More than likely you may receive genuine care and assistance from villagers who really want to help. The problem is, you never know which way it's going to turn out. Anything is a possibility in the Land of the Unexpected.

Other car troubles not mentioned in the newsletter - a flat tyre!

So we sailed merrily down the road, the 3 kids looking forward to meeting their Grandparents at the airport in Mt. Hagen, all excited about our trip. Hannah was sitting in the middle in her car seat, pointing out the window at everything and saying "thur", which seems to be her word for "look at that".

Dividing Goroka from the other highland areas is a mountain range called the Dualo Pass. It rises to about 2500m, and is a real test of your car's mettle. It so happened as we were nearing the top that we could begin to hear a peculiar hissing noise, but assumed it to be the gas in the air-conditioner. It got louder, however, and when we made it to the top of the pass, I pulled over and checked the engine. When I opened the bonnet (hood), there was steam hissing everywhere, rusty water baked onto the hot engine, and indications of a severe problem. The radiator hose had cracked and there was absolutely no water left in the radiator. What a predicament! This type of situation could turn very nasty.

There was only one sensible course of action - turn around and head for home. It was extremely fortunate that this happened at the top of the Pass, because if we had started down the other side, there would be no way that we would have made it home. This would have meant a night on the road - not a situation you want to be in! We filled up the radiator with water from a roadside stream, helped by some friendly locals, turned around and very slowly headed home. About halfway there, the engine gauge showed overheating again. Fortunately, this was right near one of our churches at Iufiufa. We pulled into the church, and some church members helped us find some more water and got us on the road again. We made it home, got the car fixed, and made the journey successfully on the second attempt! Thank God for his help and wisdom when we need it most.

Guest Speaker at the Conference, Rev. Oyang Seseray

We had a lovely conference in Mendi. The weather was cold and wet, with heavy rain preceding the conference, and the oval where it was held turned in to a muddy slush. However, this didn't stop about 5000-6000 people from standing there in the rain and mud for hours at a time to hear the Word of God, and at the end, running to the front to pray.

We were very honoured to have Rev. Oyang Seseray from West Papua (Indonesia) as our Guest Speaker. Bro. Seseray preached very appropriate messages and the people loved it. He was accompanied by another West Papuan, Bro. Edu, who could only speak Indonesian, therefore couldn't understand a word of English or Pidgin English, but he was amazed nontheless at the conference. The thing that amazed him most of all was the freedom we experience to worship God. In West Papua, you have to have police permits to hold gatherings or services, and to have a Conference such as we had is unheard of. Bro. Edu testified to the crowd to appreciate the freedom that they have, and not to abuse that freedom, lest our freedom in turn binds us and we become unable to worship or serve God even though we have the freedom to.

People rejoiced and worshipped, and more importantly hearts were strenghtened and renewed, and greatest of all, people gave their lives to the One who died for them. 100 people were baptised in Jesus' name, 72 received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and all in all it was a wonderful time.

Church Members travelling home by truck after the Conference. Some people travelled like this over rough roads for up to 12 hours.

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