Walking with the Wise
Les, Allan, & Yuta’s Trip to PNG
“It’s time to visit PNG again” was the call from Les Loader in December 2023. And he was right. It was 15 sessions in a week with a lot of fellowship, meals together, and sharing life stories. God blessed my second visit to PNG a lot and thank you for your prayers. It was a privilege to spend this time together with Les and Allan Driver delivering training on marriage, spiritual discipline, and disciple making to 50 beloved PNG brothers and sisters.
Walk with the Wise EXPERIENCED
It was a great time together with Les and Allan, who are leaders around my parents’ age, and always choose to serve and help people around them. They are gentle men, putting others before themselves. Praying and trusting God first then doing what they can second. Communicating well and making friends everywhere. But one of the prominent things for me is that they always live as a model. In the first session of the training, Allan set the tone by saying, “we, including myself, are learners.” Our PNG brothers and sisters who gathered during this time are all active servants of the Lord. They are busy serving and sharing Christ, but this time was spent learning together. They are very hungry and thirsty for His Word. “God was at work among them,” Jonnie Pakuali shared with us on the third day, “people already responded to the Lord confessing their past failures, mistakes, and sins they had made as they learnt.”
They are so responsive and teachable. It all starts with leaders who are humble, teachable, honest, faithful, and models that others can follow.
Walk with the Wise SEEN
This was the very first time where the In-service training was focused on truly seeking to develop relationships and friendships on mission. I was surprised when Jonnie told me it took 30 years of praying for this gathering to happen. Every night we enjoyed listening to each other’s testimony. Since they came from different parts of PNG, it was a great way to get to know each other and pray for one another. Much of the program was conducted in the form of an interview, in a loving and caring atmosphere. The interviewers were Jonnie, Timothy, Minape, and Moses who have all completed CrossConnect in Australia. They have walked with the wise, particularly with Les Loader and Graeme Erb. They have experienced life together with God’s family and friends in Australia. Now in PNG they are developing this circle of God’s family who are on mission together. It is exciting to see it. At the same time, we pray that there will be more wise men and women that will extend the circle of God’s family by walking with the wise.
When Les taught on marriage, it was an eye-opening moment for the people. In PNG, they have a culture of polygamy. When women become too old to have children, men begin to look for new, younger wives, and among Christians they still struggle with this practice. “God’s Good Design on Marriage,” which is one husband and one wife, has been taught, yet has not been practiced in some ways. We can pray as well that there are more who seek to build Jesus’ kingdom culture where good couples and families build good churches.
As I saw and experienced walking with the wise, I was so blessed and encouraged to know Him who is my Lord and the best model. I left PNG wanting to be changed to show God more clearly through my daily walk with Him.