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: 15th May 2022

Dear Pastor, Church, and All Supporters:

1 Peter 5:8 — Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

Job 2:2 — And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

This report deals specifically with the end of the Bible Conference and a forced trip to the old mission station.

I had not even had a chance to catch my breath from arriving in PNG. The Land Rover had a fuel blockage, and I started working Monday removing the fuel tank and the in-tank high-pressure fuel pump — the second such pump now on the vehicle. I had informed conference attendees that I could not offer transportation back to their villages, as I was busy with the Land Rover.

Monday turned into Tuesday. A fuel line had broken, and no place in town had even second-hand fuel lines. I had bought some new fuel lines four years earlier and kept them in stowage — but those items were at the old mission station, Tanggi, 230 miles away, some 12–16 hours distant.

By Wednesday I had received reports that some sixty people were still waiting to return to their villages near the old mission station. They were asking if I could help transport them. I thought and prayed about it, then gave word I would make the trip since I had to go anyway for the fuel lines.

All day Wednesday, four men and I prepared the military truck — servicing, checking fluids, and clearing the fuel system. I filled the truck ($848.00 USD). The people contributed $600 and I put in the rest, keeping $200 in local cash.

At 7:30 pm I was loaded with 65 people plus cargo: supplies for local churches, 10 bags of cement, and 60 sheets of corrugated iron roofing. With all cargo and people I was near ten tons.

Through the night I drove in heavy monsoon rains. The truck had only a tarp halfway over the bed. Women, children, cement, and bags were under the covered section; the men mostly stood in the open rear in the rain.

Mountain after mountain, the truck — Ebenezer Grace — did her job tirelessly, changing gears as the engine roared through the midnight hours. Mountain grades of up to 37% take on a completely different meaning when truck driving with a heavy load. Get the right gear on the way down and you will be fine — don’t, and the brakes will glaze and you will not live to tell it.

Fourteen hours of straight driving. I was numb by the time I reached the mission station. No one complained; all were just happy to arrive safely. I had not been to the old home place since April 2021, and rats had taken up residence in the meantime.

I could not give way to fatigue but had to open the house and start cleaning with the houseman. He heated bath water while I cleaned. By lunch the house was fairly clean. A bucket bath feels wonderful after a night of driving. I cooked a meal, ate, and rested.

I arrived on Thursday and stayed through Sunday, resting and preaching at the Tanggi Bap church.

Sunday afternoon I departed for Mt. Hagen in another night drive. The truck being empty, I brought back some firewood for church people in Mt. Hagen — 8–10 foot lengths, 8–10 inches in diameter, loaded to about five tons.

About halfway back, at 02:00 hrs, I started a descent of a mountain with a 37% grade. At the bottom was an iron bridge whose steel plates had mostly been stolen. I was halfway across when the truck jumped rail and landed in a huge gap where no plating existed. Three times the truck went down and bounced up. I thought the bridge had broken, but somehow the truck managed to come out from a position from which it should not have come out. I have pictures — you decide what happened.

I sustained a head cut and a hairline fracture on my left elbow, but the two men in the cab with me were uninjured. We crossed the bridge, climbed the ascent, brought the truck to a halt, and got out to view the damage. The front bumper, which houses the 20-ton winch, had one side completely twisted and bent upward, along with other damage not visible in the dark. We had a prayer of thanksgiving and went on in silence.

That Sunday morning I had preached on “The Cry of Demons.” Every time I have preached about Satan and the evil spirits, I have faced opposition. I do not think it was coincidence that the truck jumped rail on that bridge. I am convinced the devil, walking about seeking whom he may devour, was following along in the night. Do not underestimate the power of the devil — without our LORD’S protection we are nothing.

I made the rest of the trip without further incident, arriving in Mt. Hagen at 06:00 hrs. I came home, showered, cooked a meal, ate, and went to bed. I did not wake until the next day.

The head wound has healed, and the arm is ok. The LORD is good, and HIS mercies endureth forever.

In His Name,

Missionary Peter Halliman