A Return Trip to Hewa
7 years ago, Kelsey had an experience in Hewa that changed her life.
Many of you who know Kelsey well have surely heard about her experience on Interface, Ethnos360’s 6-week summer program designed to give students the full, hands-on experience of church planting. For 1 of those weeks, students get to go into a location, live with the missionaries, and get to know the local church that has been planted there.
7 years ago, Kelsey went into a tribe among the Hewa people where the Kopf family has served for 20+ years. It is a fairly primitive place with very dark witchcraft customs that have been transformed among the believers there by the light of the Gospel*. The believers there were eager to share what God had done in their lives with all the interface students. They put on “dramas” to show “how completely in the dark” (as they say in their own words) their lives were before. They re-enacted several of their old customs of killing women, revenge killings, and attempts to manipulate the spirits in order to live forever. In the end, the church leaders shared how much freedom they have received from their lives in Christ but how the people groups around them are still living in fear and darkness.
Their testimony made a huge impact on Kelsey’s life. They specifically asked the students to “go and share our stories among your people. Then come back and help us bring this message to our brothers and sisters who have yet to hear the Good News.” This convicted Kelsey. So she did as they asked her to and now, 7 years later, we are here in Papua New Guinea as full-time church planters.
We went into Hewa to say thank you for their faithfulness to share their testimony and the need with the interface students. We told them how their story made a huge impact on our lives and the lives of many who are sending us to be here in PNG.
We spent time with the church talking and laughing. We also encouraged them to continue to share their testimony, to have the boldness to share the Gospel, and to further encourage others as they did in our lives.
We also got to serve while we were there. In Hewa, they are building a Christian School that will be run by national believers. But building structures in the jungle that last for more than just a couple of years takes a lot of work. Another missionary couple came in with us and together we were able to mill all the bearer beams for one of the classrooms.
We loved our time in Hewa. We pray that we were able to encourage the church while we continue to wait on the Lord for the right team and people group to serve among.
*If you’d like to read more about the Hewa people, you can get Jonathan Kopf’s book, “Canopy of Darkness”, on Amazon at the link here in Kindle or paperback.
