SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST MISSION
International – Papua New Guinea / Malawi Africa
P.O. Box 233 - Mt Hagen (WHP) Papua New Guinea
Tanggi Mission Station – North Koroba, Hela Province, PNG
Missionary / Evangelist: Peter A. Halliman
Email: panagioite04@gmail.com
Website: sgbm-malawi-africa.com
Date: 11th May 2026
Dear Pastor, Church, & All Supporters:
Psalms 144:14 That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
This report will be time lined with the ending of the ordinations, however after I return to Mt. Hagen, & following the departure of my pastor and Jacob back to the U.S.A. I will find some quite time to go back and put the events, reports in order. Other than someone taking footage of daily activities, there isn’t another way to capture the sequence of events in the mission work. Jacob will have his own testimony and reports to show and tell; my pastor will have his. For many years I have tried to keep you (the reader, supporter) up to date and informed about the mission works…. (Malawi, Mozambique) and Papua New Guinea.
There is no point me trying to prove anything, the LORD knows, heaven is a witness, and those who have visited in the past become eyewitnesses to what the LORD has and is doing in the mission work being carried out. Pictures and videos will give ‘some idea’, but cannot convey the smell, feel, touch, taste etc…the momentum, energy (good or bad) the big picture, back drop of it all, only one way to experience this, be here.
10th May 2026, closed out seventeen men ordained to the ministry of the Gospel for our LORD. These men, each sat through a rigorous examination of over (150) biblical questions, several with bible texts to prove their answers. I have sat in on ordinations in the past, which should have never been allowed. Have our people become so desperate that churches, & pastors are so willing to have a ‘novice’ or unqualified man set apart, ordained, prayed over, hands laid upon him to identify with his calling…. only to find great problems later?
Bro. Tate Pierce (my pastor) started his journey from Tampa Florida to Atlanta, where his connection to Dallas continued. With bad weather his flight was delayed, which, in turn caused him to miss his connecting flight in Fiji. Pastor had to overnight in Fiji and out the next day to Brisbane AU, and then onto PNG. I had a mate in Port Moresby to meet my pastor and escort him to the domestic terminal and assist him in his check-in and see him off.
Jacob, I and others were at the Mt. Hagen airport to meet pastor, after arrival we proceeded to the lodge accommodations. With the schedule having been pushed back two days already, I was running behind. The program had already once before been
completely changed, reworked due to the initial date change in pastor’s itinerary. My sister and others who were scheduled to come had to cancel due to emergency illness with one of her daughters.
It was run from the time pastor landed; the very day he arrived in Mt. Hagen I was needing to do the last-minute shopping for food supplies and other things for our trip. I want to share some things here…. perhaps the older people may have an understanding about what I am about to share.
This idea of ‘driving to the grocery shop’ every time you forget something, which, seems to be frequent now a days, ‘I need this or that’, I have to go to town or ‘can you pick this up for me’ and so on, the real answer to all this nonsense is ‘lack of planning’, not being accountable or responsible enough to think out, plan and implement what you need to do. If you had to drive ten to fourteen hours one way with no shops, no utilities, nothing but what you brought with you, then maybe you might develop the habit of planning, budgeting and securing what you (NEED) not a want! I challenge any or all reading this report, to call Pastor Tate Pierce, or Jacob Wallace and ask them about what they think.
Jacob, and Pastor had to pack the Land Rover, this is NOT putting things inside, and or sliding the cooler in the back of the bed with camping chairs, no, no, no it is securing anything, everything with ropes after the cargo has been covered with a tarp due to rains. The rear canopy had been removed due to the work carried out on the Land Rover and we had no time to remount it.
In the meantime, I walked down to take the big truck to start loading the bags, cargo, food for the eighty plus people that would be onboard going to the Tanggi mission station for this great historical event. I spent three hours up into the night loading cargo with several men. I needed to eat; Jacob and Pastor were already at the table when I arrived back at the lodge. It was late, hadn’t had any chance to rest, I still had to pack my own things. I laid down for an hour and by 01:00 I was up making the coffee for the journey.
I had no other option but to put my pastor in the driver’ seat due to the fact I was driving the big truck with a full load of over eighty people, and cargo pushing fifteen tons. The Land Rover was loaded with our baggage, food supplies, spare fuel for the truck, tools, recovery equipment etc. It is a major operation to make these trips from Mt. Hagen out to the old mission station, this time around was even a greater task because of the nature of events which would take place.
We loaded up people at the first collection point, it took almost an hour to do this, and then driving down the mountain to collect the other passengers from the second pick up point. 0330 hrs we were departing Mt. Hagen, fully loaded, pastor was following in the Land Rover as we proceeded in the journey. It is a good thing pastor is used to driving a standard shift, however bear in mind it was in the night (hours) in a different country, different circumstances, (left hand side), with roads that are unmarked.
There would be several mountains that would top out at ten thousand feet, it is very very important you select the correct gear, no emergency escape routes, no safety road barriers, no such thing as a (rest area) as some call it, no shops, no facilities along the way, I cannot stress this enough for the American reader, when you depart Mt. Hagen you are on your own, what you have, or don’t, what you packed or didn’t, it is what it is.
Let me add, if you didn’t think it was important to pack toilet tissue in the vehicle, then you can use your imagination.
We were three hours in the way, winding up and down the mountains, with the heavy load the engine roaring in the night hours, the twisting & cracking noise of the chassis and springs, it was near the breaking of dawn when rounding a curve in the road the engine lost power, then suddenly the engine cut off. I suspected the fault, I pulled off as much as possible, Bro. Pierce behind me, tools out, headlamps on, started working on the truck.
I have been through this many times, it isn’t my first time in the saddle, the symptoms pointed to ‘fuel starvation’. Without boring you of the complete mechanical process, I will simply say, as I worked on the truck, Jacob and pastor assisted, Bro. Pierce too has mechanical knowledge which, always helps when you have a break-down.
The complete fuel system had to be bled, fuel lines, fuel filters (primary, secondary) all had to be cleaned, refilled, fuel lines from tank onwards, fuel injector pump all had to be bled from air.
For some reason (we don’t know) even up to today, why the LORD stopped us, we had several moments of prayer, pastor, Jacob & I. In God’s time, in HIS providence we would go, we are three hours’ drive from Mt. Hagen, we are a long way yet from the mission station. No one complained, all the people sitting in the back of the truck, men, women, children no one complained. Three hours we worked, got it started, ready to go, only to find the same problem again, three times this was repeated. I am responsible for all these people, the vehicles, my pastor, and Jacob it’s a heavy load to bear mentally and spiritually, my only help is in my Great God and Savour.
In God’s timing the truck started, ran, no fuel cut off, no engine failure, we had another prayer and started the journey again. As the hours passed, the mountains fell behind us, the tarmac ran out, replaced by gravel roads. Understand this, if you know what it is like driving down a riverbed without the river, perhaps you can understand the road conditions. Potholes rivet the road, corrugation, the heavy rains wash out the small gravel leaving the large stones.
The complete suspension system of a vehicle gets pushed to a point of failure with heavy loads. Someone said once about my life…. (why does Bro. Halliman) always feel, he has to have the best) …. simple answer, many times the ‘best’ is not good enough!! You are invited to buy your ticket, come here and live with me for one year. When I eat, you eat, what I eat you eat, when I go to sleep you sleep, when I work on the vehicles in the rain and mud, you do also, when it’s time to go to church and preach, you go to!
A few breaks along the way, and after fourteen hours of driving in some of harshest conditions we finally arrived at the Tanggi mission station.
The Minister of Parliament (Koroba, Lake Kopiago -Districts), gave directives to the Police in Tari (the Hela Province headquarters), to provide escorts for us to the Tanggi mission station. There were three police vehicles in the front, and two behind us. A full police escort, lights, sirens (full board) for two hours from Tari to Tanggi (15 Mph).
To be continued….
In His Name,
Missionary Peter Halliman