MISSION OF MALAWI
PO BOX 60150 BT. 6 BLANTYRE MALAWI AFRICA
TEL. 265-999-741-007 or 265-888-751140 (mobile)
Missionary / Evangelist: Peter A. Halliman
Email: phalliman@africa-online.net / or brothersinthebush@yahoo.com
Website: sgbm-malawi-africa.com
Date: 7th Oct 2011
Dear Pastor, Church & all Supporters;
I write to you in Jesus’ Name, He who was is and forever shall be Amen! Php 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Php 1:3-4 ¶ I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy…
This report shall start a series of reports of my Mission trip to Papua New Guinea, starting from my departure in Blantyre, Malawi Africa through out the days and weeks which I have spent in PNG.
Whilst I was still in Malawi I had for several months began praying about my proposed trip to PNG based upon numerous ‘Macedonian calls, to come over and help us’. Once I became persuaded to make this trip, though I did not know how I would ever bring it to pass through my own means. I just knew that if it was God’s will it would come to pass, and all the details would be worked out and each piece would be fitted in place.
I send an email to my pastor and asked him and the church to join me in prayer that the ‘LORD would make the way possible for this mission trip, I stated that I did not know how, but would wait upon the LORD to supply the need. My pastor explained how he had been at a meeting and made this request and need known to some folks at the meeting, how the funds were offered even before the date of my email to my pastor, meaning i.e., the folks who were responsible in offering the funds for this trip had already agreed to source the funds even before my request was made known. Then after my pastor had time to retrieve his email, this is the time that he received my email in response to my purposed trip to PNG. Our God and LORD are amazing and so wonderfully gracious. (Isa 65:24) “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
At the appointed time, which, God predetermined that this mission trip should be fulfilled, HE supplied the means, and ordained those whom HE would use to humanly make this possible.
I began to put legs on the answered prayers, and soon the tickets were booked for our trip from Malawi Africa to Papua New Guinea. With our transfer from the old farm to now renting in town, there was much still to be done in terms of organizing our trip, securing the premises etc…
The days became longer and the nights shorter, it seemed that there were no enough hours in a day, and it seemed that we would not finish the preparation. I have learned over time that one must do what they can, and what doesn’t get resolved before d-day, you simply have to walk away and commit those things to the LORD.
I will not go into all the detail in which we were involved in the packing, unpacking, securing, etc… at the new residence where we are renting, however, I will say that our packing for the PNG- trip came down to the last couple days in which we both were up late and rose early. When one is packing for life in the bush, there are two rules of application, weight, and quality. For those of you who may have experienced this, it needs no further explanation, however for those whom have not experienced this sort of life, just know that most of what we “white people” have living in developed countries is simply baggage when it comes down to what is REAL!
With a weight limit of fifty-five pounds per bag, and only one check in allowed, it makes it hard to determine what to take and or not to take. There was some confusion to the ticketing and information on the Airline website. We were told that we were allowed two check in free and one carry on, the check in would meet the fifty-five pound requirement, so I packed one backpack with our camping equipment and some extra footwear. Then we each had one suite case, making two check in at the weight limit. Then we had our carry on etc…
On the 3rd of August 2011 we were packed and had our friend Allan in Blantyre take us to the airport in Blantyre, were we would board our flight for Johannesburg, South Africa. At check in we were told that we were over the required check in baggage limit of one per person. I showed the lady our tickets where it declared two free pieces of baggage for check in so they waived the issue and said we would have to sort it out in Johannesburg with Qantas Airlines. We said our farewells and boarded the flight for the first leg of our long journey. Two hours later we were in Joburg and whilst I was checking us in for our flight to Sydney, I was again told that we would be charged some eleven hundred dollars for the extra baggage. Again I argued and negotiated with them that we were not to be punished for someone else’s fault. They charged us a small percentage and told us that we would face the same issue in Sydney. We boarded the flight and for the next twelve hours we cruised at six hundred miles per hour and held an altitude of forty thousand feet. After twelve long hours of flight time we arrived in Sydney, Australia the following day.
We cleared customs, Immigration and collected our baggage , then we were directed to a National terminal where we were checked in, our bags were checked in through to Cairns without any penalty or charges for the extra baggage, this was truly an answer to our prayers regarding this issue. We would spend one day in Cairns, Australia waiting for our connecting flight to PNG. The LORD continued to work for us and over come the laws of average. It was evening when we boarded our flight to Cairns and when we arrived it was eleven pm. We found transport to the place of lodging and now after two days of travel with little sleep it was a wonderful feeling to be able to take a hot shower and retire for the evening. After our Bible reading and prayer of thanksgiving to our LORD we called it a day and turned out the lights.
In His Name,
Missionary Peter A. Halliman