“Faith and Initiative,” Global Histories: Papua New Guinea (2022)
“Faith and Initiative,” Global Histories: Papua New Guinea
Faith and Initiative
When the first four converts in Papua New Guinea were baptized on October 19, 1980, just three months after missionaries began work in Port Moresby in July, it was the beginning of rapid growth in a small branch previously made up of foreign expatriates. The next Sunday, 63 investigators attended services.
Two of the early converts were Mauveri Wadega and her husband, Vaiba Rome. In 1980, in their settlement of Two-Mile, outside Port Moresby, Mauveri noticed how the local children liked to hold hands and walk alongside an older American couple (senior missionaries Nita and Douglas Campbell) who came to visit the village. Mauveri initiated a conversation with Sister and Elder Campbell, which led to further conversations about their church. Eventually, Mauveri chose to be baptized, followed by Vaiba. One of the first things Vaiba wanted to do was tell his extended family about his newfound religion. He traveled to his home village of Girabu, and soon his parents, Rome Kavera and Magiba Natua, were baptized, along with his uncles, aunts, and three of his brothers. They, in turn, began to tell their friends in the village about the Church.
Senior missionaries Douglas and Nita Campbell teaching a lesson to members and friends in Port Morseby, ca. 1981.
By November 1981, the Port Moresby Branch had grown so large that it was divided into four branches. Within just a few years, Papua New Guineans were shouldering the major responsibilities in the life of the Church, including sharing the gospel. In August 1982, Robert Goisisi and Johnson Auda became the first Papua New Guineans to serve full-time missions when they accepted calls to serve in the Australia Brisbane Mission. By the end of 1987, all branches in Papua New Guinea were led by local members.
By March 1987, there were 1,450 members in nine branches. Most of the members lived in towns along the coast, but as people learned about the Church and returned to their villages, they spread the gospel among their family and friends. This happened in the remote village of Kuriva when John Oii returned from Port Moresby in 1987 to bury his son, who had died from a snakebite. During a traditional two-month mourning period, Brother Oii shared stories of Joseph Smith and the angel Moroni. So many villagers were interested that he requested missionaries to teach the eager listeners while he acted as interpreter. They showed great faith and insisted on paying tithing and fast offerings before they were baptized.
The villagers constructed a chapel with a coconut leaf roof to hold a baptismal service for the 29 converts who had accepted the gospel. Three months later, Elder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited Papua New Guinea and was brought to meet the members in Kuriva. Upon their humble request and with awe at their construction of a chapel without any help from the Church, he said, “I will now dedicate this building to the service of the Lord.”