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. 

A team of dedicated church members, mostly men, embarked on a journey to Ramu bush on March 28th, 2023, to cut down logs and mill them into timbers for the construction of the Children Discipleship Centre and the Bumpuap Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Despite the long journey, the team’s determination and devotion kept them going. After several hours of cutting down the logs and preparing them for the sawmill, they worked relentlessly to roll them into the sawmill to be cut into timbers.

The Children Discipleship Centre and Bumpuap Seventh-Day Adventist Church will stand as a testament to the team’s hard work and dedication.

As part of the church community, we are truly proud of the team’s accomplishment. It is remarkable how their efforts have furthered the work of the church.

Yesterday was an incredible day for the Wankun community as they embarked on a new Sabbath school journey that is focused on reaching out to those in the community through branch sabbath school. This innovative approach, introduced by the Morobe Mission and the PNGUM, has been encouraging churches and members to get involved in Total Member Involvement (TMI).

The church demonstrated their commitment to this new approach by reaching out to the Kennedy household and the esteemed teachers at Wankun Primary School, extending an invitation to fellowship with them.

The leaders expressed their utmost joy and gratitude in seeing their members embrace this revolutionary approach to winning souls for the kingdom. This new Sabbath school journey has filled the community with renewed enthusiasm and inspiration, and they are thrilled to continue to take on this new approach and positively impact those around them.