When tasked with bringing a new church to an isolated area, the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) comes in handy.
This was reiterated by the Western Highlands Area Supervisor of SDA Mission, Richard Jacob, who worked with MAF to overcome the distance and difficulty of reaching the area. Mamusi is a rural village located near the Yuat River, in a valley bordering Enga, East Sepik, and Madang provinces.
“We’ve been doing a mission trip there. When I started as the area supervisor, they gave me the mandate to put a church there, and so I said let’s go where the aeroplane can”, said Jacob.
He mentioned that the current church was a temporary measure located a long walk away from the airstrip where the village receives support. Centrality was a challenge, and for the still-growing church that was something that needed to change.
“I spent almost three weeks there to explain what the Bible is like. Slowly people started to accept [faith in God], so I realized they need a church building where they can stay”, he added.
In March of 2023, the new church building project commenced. The land was cleared and had carpenters flown in by MAF, others walked over to Mamusi from Mt Hagen.
“They took the PMV to Ruti. From there they walked, and had to cross the Yuat River,” said Jacob.
At the beginning of this year, MAF flew multiple chartered flights to Mamusi to deliver materials for the new church, including corrugated metal sheets, timber plywood, and many cement bags.
One of the locals shared: “Everyone was very happy when the plane came. Everybody came down to help and they all carried something and brought it to the site”.
The locals are in the hopes of finishing the church in less than two months to be ready for dedication in April this year. Andrew Gee, an SDA missionary from the Baiya, will lead the new church.
According to MAF, they will continue to support the congregation in the future, in its closer location, and will also aid the movement of missionaries and materials for further SDA mission work.