This is a story of faith and trust in the Lord about two young missionaries who met God in His vineyard. Benjamin Patana and Russell Daniel come from a small village in the Markham Valley of Morobe Province.
After graduating from Sonoma Adventist College with a diploma in Theology in 2021, they were not successful in acquiring a job as expected, which landed them both back in their village at Wankun.
Back in their village, they met their church pastor Enepo Umba, who played a very important role in helping them to utilize their skills and serve in their local church back at home.
While serving as volunteers in the church there have been countless challenges that both Russell and Benjamin had to encounter back at their village church. “We have to support our work financially which is one of our biggest challenges,” recalled Benjamin. “Apart from that, we also face other challenges too as well, but we thank God that He has strengthened us through the support of our church leaders and congregations,” he added.
After a year of serving voluntarily, they received news from the local mission that they had been accepted into the mission to work as volunteer missionaries under the Volunteer in Action (VIA) program. It was a big relief for Benjamin and Russell to finally make it into the mission workforce at last. Not long after, within a month, they were both promoted to full-time employment.
Recalling all the struggles that they both had to endure just to serve even without pay, they thank God and the executive committee for choosing them to join the mission workforce, added Russell.
Upon receiving their postings, Benjamin Patana was called to serve in the Marawaka District as the church pastor of the Marawaka Seventh-Day Adventist Church, while Russell Daniel was called to serve in the neighboring village church of Banabin as their church pastor. On May 12th, Benjamin was finally flown into Marawaka to begin his ministry career.
Russell, the last remaining missionary of the two back in Wankun, joined them one final time on Sunday for their Adventurer Fun Day trip to the Rainforest Habitat in Lae. He will now begin his ministry career as a full-time church pastor at Banabin.
Upon farewelling the duo at their farewell gathering, the church thanked them saying, “We praise God and thank Him for all that He has done through Russell and Benjamin and their work here at Wankun Seventh-Day Adventist Church. With the same spirit that they started their journey as missionaries here, we believe that it will continue to flourish wherever they set their feet and we wish them God’s blessings,” they added.
Wankun is now focusing on grooming its young generations to become good citizens and disciple makers in the community.
(𝘙𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘯.)
(𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨)
