SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST MISSION
International – Papua New Guinea / Malawi Africa
P.O. Box 60150 Ndirande Bt. 6 Blantyre Malawi /
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: 12th May 2025
Dear Pastor, Church, & All Supporters:
Mission Report No.10, continued from Number 9
17th December 2024 (Tuesday),
I rose to a new day, this time in my home at the Tanggi mission station, not much I remember about the night, the previous day’s hike of twenty-five miles, I was moving slow when I did move around the house. As the morning chores got under way, camping gear, clothes, etc… the work was already outlined, (wash day). It was a blessing from the LORD to be home, moving at my pace and not having the load of preaching every day.
With the rains that come early and stay all night, it is imperative that any laundry must be prepared early and hung out. Because of the strength of the sun, it bleaches out colours, therefore the clothes are turned inside out to be hung on the line. Once dry there isn’t any waiting as the window closes early in the afternoon for the sun. I do have domestic help, but a careful eye must be set in place otherwise one might have multi-coloured clothes or bleached out colours as the domestic help, they do not see the difference between bleach and laundry soap.
The tent, sleeping back, mats, back-packs, boots cooking utensils all went through a washing and cleaning. Others I sent to the local market to find fresh greens, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and so on, the day passed quickly and before long it was time to light the candles and kerosene lamps.
18th December 2024 (Wednesday)
There was another Bible conference ongoing not far from the mission station, which I had been invited, however I had not felt as though I was rested enough from the hike I had just come off and still I had domestic chores to do. There were other people that had been in our party in the hike, and thy were coming in today, therefore I felt it was proper to wait for them to arrive at the mission station and the next day we could all attend the conference together.
I had not had any communications in twenty-one days other than a few short calls, and short text messages via a satellite phone that I had taken with me on the bush patrol, therefore I flet the need to drive out, about thirty mins to find network. I did and spent almost two hours during the mid-day doing communications with family, and some others. In the technical age we live in communication is a big issue and from my side it is challenging for me to find good signal to do this.
All the remaining people in our party that went to the Bible Conference at Mt. Kili, had now arrived at the mission station. Food was distributed to those who arrived, and as the day started ending, I was called by some of the church members (of the hosting church) having the Bible Conference. They wanted to give me an offering in the form of an animal (this is customary and proper) amongst the Huli Tribesmen. The pig/ hog would have weighed in around three hundred pounds, a healthy offering (meaning worth a lot of money) in their culture. One thing you (whoever you are) will learn IF you ever come to PNG, and visit the mission work we are involved in, that is….these people in all their poverty they find it a joy to give, give give, the giving is not the left overs, it’s not the blind, sick, left over, lame and so on, rather costly to them, needed by them but yet freely they give to the LORD’S work.
The next day I would be busy and have no time to tend to the customary mumu (cooking of food in the ground) PNG style. Therefore, I assigned several men, to prepare for the slaughtering of the hog, and the cooking of it.
It was in the evening hours when the food was cooked and brought to the house, I divided out the meat to several groups of people who had accompanied me, helped me in the bush patrol, the porters (young men who helped me). That night we thanked the LORD for this great feast, somehow all the hardships of the long days we spent in hiking to and fro the LORD made us to forget and remember HIS goodness and mercy.
19th December 2024 (Thursday)
I was up early before daybreak, coffee and sweet potatoes for breakfast, I studied for the messages that I would preach on at the Conference today. 09:00 I arrived at the meeting place, as usual most bible conferences in PNG, there are more people than what the building can hold, therefore makeshift structures are made with a covering as in (tarps) are used to form the cover.
By the time we were ready for the preaching to start, there must have been near one thousand people seated. I was surprised to see some pastors there, that I had not seen in thirty years. In previous years they had accompanied me in my bush patrols in their areas, which would have been former cannibalism. There were two present that had been saved under Elder Fred Halliman’ ministry in PNG.
I was asked if I could preach until the afternoon, the local church voted for me to preach until I could not preach anymore for that day. A word to any preacher reading this…. if your invited to PNG, and if you come, get prepared to (preach) like you have never preached before. No such thing as a thirty-minute message, they will not be satisfied with one hour of spiritual food!
I preached four messages, with some singing in-between, by three pm I was spent, the day ended, and we all went to our homes.
20th December 2024 (Friday)
The conference was on schedule, after some thirty minutes of singing, I was asked to repeat yesterday, God helped me to preach, gave me the energy, strength and the people seemed disappointed because I had stopped a bit early (2:30 pm) however, my voice and vocal cords had enough. The conference was closed with singing, lots of fellowship, and I invited the two men who had been saved under my father’s ministry, as I wanted to record their testimonies on video.
They came to the house at the mission station, and I spent nearly two hours recording their testimonies and accounting of how it was living in those primitive days, under the influence of cannibalism, being brought out of idolatry, from a kingdom of darkness into a kingdom of light, indeed these men were (new creatures) in Christ Jesus!
The day ended with thanksgiving and praise to our LORD. In the evening, I began to hear rumours that many of those who had been fighting prior to my trip out to the mission station, the word was, they had been waiting for us to finish our church services, and then the fighting would commence again. I informed the few who were going back to Mt. Hagen with me, that under the cover of darkness we would pack the vehicle, prepare ourselves, and set off back to Mt. Hagen in the early morning hours.
Quietly, yet quickly I packed my things, the vehicle was packed under darkness and in the rains. I managed to get a few hours’ sleep, woke at 0200 hrs. five people and myself loaded up in the vehicle, after prayer we departed the Tanggi Mission Station.
You the reader may have forgotten in this series of reports (as it has taken time) however in the first report (in these series) you may recall me telling about the event of the brakes going completely out on the (newer Land Rover)….This was still the case, I had parked the vehicle at the mission station when I set off on the twenty-one day mission patrol.
Prayer is constant under such conditions; the first twenty miles was under high alert for roadblocks & hold ups. God seen us through, the rest of the journey was cautious but after ten hours of driving two hundred thirty miles we arrived in Mt. Hagen. I dropped off people and then I drove to my home in Mt. Hagen.
Again, it was soooo good to have a hot shower, eat at a restaurant (I thought I was staying at a five-star hotel). Once again, it did not take me long to call it a night. The end has come for this series of reports.
I want to thank each of you for your faithful benevolent giving, I could not do what I do without your support both in prayers as well as financial giving.
May our LORD bless the work of your hands, and smile upon your lives.
In His Name,
Missionary Peter Halliman