News From Wantakia (Enskt)
I want to tell you the story of the Wantakian people, but it starts with the Wusuraambyan people. They both live in the highlands of Papua New Guinea sharing similarities in language, able to communicate but using different dialects. A single mountainous ridge separates the two languages groups, and they’ve traditionally been trading partners.
BJ and Jill Sanders did their bush orientation in Wusuraambya and befriended many believers during that time. One younger married couple in particular, Willis and Kenna, had a big impact on them, and further encouraged their desire to go to Wantakia as missionaries to plant a church there. The Wusuraambyan church has been praying for more than a decade that their Wantakian neighbors would have the same opportunity that they had to hear the truth of God’s Word in their language.
God has rewarded their years of praying by enabling them to experience the birth of the Wantakian church firsthand! After weeks of teaching through the Bible, as the team in Wantakia, including the Sanders, prepared to teach the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, they had an unexpected group show up. The Wusuraambyan believers had gone out of their way from another location to encourage and pray for the missionaries in Wantakia! They had no idea where the team was at in the teaching, but because of God’s timing, they were able to affirm and validate what the missionaries taught the very next day.
There were many tears from both the missionary team and the Wusurammbyan believers as they marveled at the way God provided for them to see the fruit of their many prayers and even to be involved tangibly as they talked through their faith with the Wantakian people. These two neighboring churches will be able to fellowship with and learn from one another in the years to come. It was incredibly healthy for the new believers to see that they had become a part of a body that was much bigger than just their own language group.
Want to hear more about how the team in Wantakia taught through the Bible and the Wantakian people came to faith? Check out NTM Papua New Guinea on Facebook for videos from the team.