By Nikki Wheeler, NZCMS Mission Partner to Papua New Guinea
Nikki works alongside her husband Scott with the community at Kapuna Hospital in Papua New Guinea. They support several projects around the hospital and local villages, including water sanitation and hygiene, and schooling and building projects. They have three children — Isaac, Abby and Levi.
If a farmer doesn’t harvest when the crops are ready, they are spoiled. I see and understand that in a very real way as I sit here in the lowland jungles of Papua New Guinea.
I watch my garden grow, each day looking for what will be our next fruit for lunch. I see the pawpaw tree grow from a small, green weed into a tall tree until the flowers and fruit bud. Slowly the fruit rounds and swells and you start to anticipate how they will taste. At some point there is a subtle change in colour and then you start to get ready, waiting for the colour to develop and deepen. When the time comes to pluck the fruit, you only have a day or two because if you get distracted and forget then the fruit bats swoop in with their huge wings and sharp teeth and your pawpaw is destroyed in moments!
God has much more love and desperation to see each of us thrive than I can ever have for a pawpaw. The love and hope He has for us as we develop and grow tall and change is beyond our imagination. He breathed life into each of us and wants us in turn to acknowledge and accept Him and His son. But, if we get distracted, there is also an enemy waiting with his sharp teeth ready to destroy us.
Jesus said “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”. Each one of humankind is ready for the Good News. They are ready for hope and salvation. Ready to be nurtured by the love of God and rescued from eternal separation from Him. Jesus knows how to help. He says “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send workers into His harvest field”.
Papua New Guinea is a country with a deeply ingrained history of witchcraft and sorcery. The teachings involve blame and retribution. There are daily burnings, killings, and torture as a result of ‘bad things’ happening. If a crocodile attack occurs, someone has to pay for that. If a child dies then many start asking ‘Who is to blame?’ Many people live and act from a place of fear.
We had a young man in the hospital who didn’t want to wait months for his TB medications to work, so he went to a sorcerer who recommended a mix of leaves and other things. Before long the man was vomiting blood and died. The bat can deceive you with his lies of a quick fix and easy life but his only plan is to steal and destroy.
How refreshing is the gift of grace and hope to people living in fear!
Freedom comes with the peace and comfort from our ever-loving God. The people of Papua New Guinea need this message that comes from the Gospel. But who will tell them, if not those who already know Jesus? Who will tell them, if not you or I?
We are all commissioned, and have been given all “authority in heaven and on earth”, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything [Jesus] has commanded you.” — Matthew 28:18 — 20. Jesus continues to say “…and I am with you always, to the very end of the age”. Those are both some pretty clear instructions and encouragements! Jesus doesn’t just tell us to go but He tells us He will be with us! We are not alone in this, but we do have to go. Christ is calling us to be prepared to do what needs to be done, and leave what needs to be left, so that we can go and pluck the fruit. The time is now. The fruit bat is always around.
There are Christians in Papua New Guinea but it can be a hard place to stand up against your culture, family and tradition. For Scott and me, being able to stand with our fellow believers, encourage them, and show them that this life with Jesus is worth giving up our comfortable Western world for, really supports the harvest. Scott has also been in a unique position to speak at both the youth and men’s conventions here in the Gulf province on the topic of breaking generational sins such as sorcery and encourage the men into being good Christian leaders in their families and communities.
Although our roles in Kapuna are largely practical in nature, we have made sure that we are journeying with our community members, encouraging them, mentoring them, and helping them. We especially focus on helping the younger couples navigate how to be counter-cultural Christians. We have different challenges to be counter-cultural in the western world, some of which are applicable here (greed, adultery, pornography), but Christians in Papua New Guinea also have many different areas they need to work through when choosing Christ.
What responsibility do we have as a Church? It’s pretty clear — The harvest is ready. The ripe, orange pawpaw are on the tree. Ask the Lord for workers to be sent out to the harvest before it is destroyed.
The evil one is lurking, amplifying our laziness and lust for comfort over hard work. We need to pray for ourselves that we will not succumb to our own temptations and become ineffective as workers, while also praying for those who do not know the goodness of God and so do our part to help save the lost.
And in it all, God is with us in the harvest field.
This article was taken from our 2023 Annual Report. Download the full report here.
Thank you Nikki and Scott for the amazing work you and the children are doing in Kapuna. I pray the LORD will continue to encourage and guide you in your daily lives — especially when the fruit is slow to ripen!!
He is with you.
Love, Jo xo