Over the last month our AWANA group focused on missions. They ended their missions month by having me talk to them about Papua New Guinea.

“Why would I like to take my family to a mountainous jungle in the Ring of Fire, full of snakes, leeches, wild animals, and poisonous plants?” I asked. The snakes and leeches got their attention. But when I mentioned that there are over 800 languages/dialects in PNG they were astounded. (We have 11 official languages in South Africa.)

My goal was for them to see how the verses they have memorised over the last year apply to our mission to PNG. I explained the following:

I. Jesus tells us that he is the only way to be right with God the Father (John 14:6).

II. Jesus tells us to go into all the world and make disciples by telling them about Him (Matt 28:19).

III. Jesus tells us to teach his disciples all that he has commanded (Matt 28:20).

I then ended with a fourth point:

IV. All that Jesus commanded and the gospel message we preach are found in the Bible (2 Tim 3:15-17).

I then asked them, “If someone does not translate the Bible, and if someone does not go and proclaim the message of the Bible, how will the people of PNG hear about Jesus and be saved?”

I was encouraged by their response, and especially how well they knew the verses I referred to. My prayer is that God will continue to use his Word in their young lives!

All the children brought R5 or R10 that evening and at the end of the session they presented me with a donation of over R500 toward our missions fund. I accepted it as if it were R5 million!