Mark Gilmore: Mark Gilmore: Once again, I’m Mark Gilmore here with our Go Mission podcast. Sitting with me are my eight children, and we have the incredible privilege to be talking to you from the land of Papua New Guinea, where we arrived exactly eight weeks and two days ago on December 29th. We’re now here towards the end of February, and we have been privileged to experience some amazing divine appointments in ministry opportunities. I have been personally just encouraged by seeing our team step into so many of these different moments. We’re just sitting around here at a table in our little home in Goroka, which is in the eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea, up at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. It is about perfect weather, just slightly cool evenings and days, although there’s also quite a lot of rain in the environment too. And actually, that’s a plus. Terri Lana and I will talk about that here in just a minute. But we’re just going to go around our family table here and share some highlights, just some personal moments that we’ve experienced that just have been memorable to all of us. And let’s see here. Hey, let’s say hello to everyone. 

Gilmore Family: Hey! Hey! All right. Good to see you. 

Mark: Yes. We’re all here. And I’m going to start with Anna Faith.

Anna Faith: Hello, I’m Anna Faith, and I’m 22 years old. One thing that has been a blessing as we’ve been here in PNG has been ministering to the children. So each week, we’ve been doing training times with the church here in Goroka for the past maybe six weeks, and they’ve had the men working together, the ladies with my mom, and a music class going on. But then, Hadesa, Linnea, and I have taken the children and started teaching them. And when we began, we thought that we should start teaching the children here in the church just how to give the gospel. And after several meetings with them, 12 of the kids raised their hand saying, “We need to be saved, we’re not saved yet.” So that was a really neat meeting when 12 of them got saved, and since that time, maybe three or four each meeting have also come and received Christ, so it’s been neat to see over 20 or over 30 kids get saved through our ministry to them. And so then we’ve been able to give them simple gospel cards to use to give some of their friends the gospel as well. So that’s been really neat to see some of the kids come, especially one girl that comes to mind. Her name is Judy, and she is very, very shy. She barely talks to us, but her dad came and told us that she was able to give it five times, and she was really excited about that. And she’s been at most of the meeting times. So she’s heard the gospel over and over again and how to share the gospel card. So that’s just been a blessing to see God use the children in their community and in their school giving the gospel. So it’s just been a special blessing to see God work with the kids. 

Mark: I’ve absolutely loved watching you sitting there on the green lawn and the kids responding so well. Hadesa, God has shown himself in a special way to you. And share that with us.

Hadessa: Yes, so my name is Hadassah, and I’m 18. One blessing here in PNG that I’ve experienced is God working through small ways on a day-to-day basis. Whether it’s through providing rain for a water tank or receiving fruits and vegetables for a meal, or transportation, all these basic needs have created for me a greater dependence on God that I know I would not have had in America. One example I can think of was when we needed to go to town for provisions. We go weekly and we usually have a personal taxi for our use, but it was not available at this time and we were going to have to take the public PMV. The PMV isn’t exactly comfortable, so I just prayed and asked God to provide a personal taxi for us. We left the house and began walking towards the bus stop when our car pulled in. The driver had come to talk to the pastor and would be heading to town afterwards, and he offered to take us. When I heard that, I was just overjoyed. Often I know that because of things that I think that God about my little wants or desires, but I know that God truly does delight in gifting His children, and that instince was a great challenge and encouragement to me. 

Mark: I was so encouraged just to hear that Hadessah had put that desire in prayer that trip into town was not only an answer for a comfortable ride, but it was also a divine appointment because one or two souls were saved in the back of that Land Cruiser. So God had done exceeding abundantly, even more than Hadesa prayed, God had something even greater in mind. Terri Laina, you have had a cool experience or two here in our house. What do you have to say about these living conditions that we’ve got here? 

Terri Laina Gilmore: Yes, so when we first arrived we really had no idea what our living quarters would be like. So we were pleasantly surprised with a lovely little tin home. They fixed up for us with running water and electricity. The inside walls are a kind of woven bamboo that is decorated with greenery, which gives us the feeling of a Hawaiian destination home. And the ceiling is mainly straw held by bamboo poles, night we literally share our home with some fun creatures and I think they all come out at nighttime and we literally hear rat races overhead each night. Our total count I think of killed rats is around seven and one night actually one night I was actually laying in my bed and I heard some sounds coming from Anna Faith’s mosquito net and then she went over to get something from her bed and come to find out there was actually a rat running around in her mosquito net. So I went over there and my dad was helping too and I was able to catch the rat in the mosquito net which was quite the experience. 

Mark: That was awesome. I was so proud of Terri Laina. She’s the only one that’s actually caught a rat with her own hands, basically, inside her mosquito net and a pillow. 

Terrilaina: Our bedrooms actually are all on three foot raised platforms. So we have these little stairs that we all climb up to get into our rooms. And they’re separated by these bamboo walls. So there’s literally no privacy, really, for each other conversation everyone kind of hears it so we try to give each other space but sometimes it just turns into a big party. 

Mark: It’s a really cozy environment almost like a tree house a big tree house even though it’s on the you know ground level but well when we saw what they had prepared for us we just felt amazingly privileged that folks had taken the time to care for us in this way. 

Jonathan: And with working electricity sometimes too. 

Mark: Yes. They built showers for us. They’re collecting rainwater off of the roof of the church building. So when you normally don’t want rain, we’re actually praying for rain because it basically produces running water here in our kitchen area. Daniel, share something about what God’s done.

Daniel: I think the highlight of the trip for me thus far has been the chance to speak and teach several times, around five or six, in several churches. And it’s been very neat to study and then share just what God’s been teaching me. And I don’t always realize that I have so much, but when I come over here and the people are just so hungry to learn and I have so much to offer just because of where I’ve grown up in a Christian family and a Christian environment. And one opportunity that opened up because of that was a young boy. His name’s Caleb, he’s 15 years old. And he came to me and he told me that I was his role model because I’m young and I’m preaching. And he said that he wants to grow up and serve God, not just when he’s grown up and old, but when he’s young, when he’s a young man. And that was a cool encouragement for me that just my example stepping out and letting God use me when I’m young was an encouragement to another young man. 

I would just encourage you listeners, those who are young, you have a lot to give, especially in third-world scenarios where people don’t always have the Scripture available or teaching available. You have so much to give if you’re just willing to come and go. 

Mark: Yeah, and I heard that conversation and you know, you’re right that this young man was so just ready to hear, but I was also encouraged that you were ready to give. And you really had a genuine testimony to share with him, and who knows the difference that that’s going to make. And I really thank God for your readiness for that opportunity. Stephen, God’s given you some neat opportunities as well. What’s a highlight? 

Stephen: I’ve had the privilege of leading the first test run of the Renew Purity series with the men here at PBC, that’s Passover Baptist Church, for those of you who can’t be here with us today. And these men have acted as Papua New “guinea pigs”… if you will for the Renew series.

That’s been a blessing. Getting a sneak peek at the Renew series has been life-changing for me. It’s definitely going to be a game-changer for churches as well. When we first started the series, my dad began leading it, but then he had to leave to go to lay. So that left me as the leader, which was actually exactly the role and the purpose I needed at that time. We have now watched 12 videos of the series and are hoping to finish all 14, Lord willing, we’ll see. We are leaving the video series on a jump drive with the men so they can finish it and re-watch it if they would like to. The men have seen significant growth because of this series. One pastor broke down crying about his interactions with his kids after the episode on selfishness. That really allowed for an atmosphere of humility and honest honesty, which was unprecedented up to that point. Another man has taken challenging steps to disclose some darker parts of his life, and even another testified in tears just to the impact the whole purity series has had on the life of the whole church. 

Yesterday a man came and told me that he had gotten right with his firstborn as a result of the series. So we can certainly say we’ve had a touch of revival. I’ve created a plan for moving ahead once we leave. So they should be equipped to continue in small groups and different options I’ve left with them for accountability. And I’m really confident they’re set up for sustained victory and purity. 

Mark: Amen. It’s been a blessing to see you step into that role, Stephen. God giving you wisdom, something that necessarily you hadn’t completely planned for, but that’s awesome that God’s giving you the grace and to see genuine leadership in the lives of men coming out of our readiness to step into that and be a channel and guiding in the use of those videos and that truth. It really has been powerful, life-changing no doubt to these men.

Linnea, what do you have to share here? What has God touched your heart, your life?

Linnea Gilmore: Well, as we were preparing for this trip, we had a lot of unknowns and things that we weren’t sure about what was going to happen or how they were going to happen. And I had built up a lot of fear and I had blown a lot of things out of proportion in my mind. And I knew I probably had, but I didn’t really know how to fix it. So as we came and traveled over to Papua New Guinea and started our ministry, It was definitely not as bad as I had expected. I also realized that a lot of I found a lot of fun things and things that I enjoy just daily living and I felt like all the time I had to be doing ministry in order to leave an impact on the people but one girl came up to me about two weeks ago and said that I was her biggest role model in this family because she had just seen me living out Christ and I was like, wow, I didn’t think that I had been doing that very well. But she said that not even the teaching or the preaching or any of the other ministry you had done had come close to how she had just seen our family interacting. It was just a blessing to see that even when you’re just walking with Christ and just asking Him for His enabling grace, then you impact even more than if you’re just trying to leave an impact. You impact more when you’re not trying to. So that was very cool and encouraging to see.

Mark: That’s powerful really, and that was part of our plan to actually come so we had enough time that we could actually live with people. That testimony, that’s amazing, what an encouragement that is. 

Speaking about fears, I think we’ve all experienced the fact that a lot of those fears aren’t based on reality. They may or may not come to pass. Now we’ve had some stuff happen, right? What happened when we were up in the clinic just about three weeks into the trip? What was going on there, Linnea?

Linnea: Well, I had gotten typhoid, and a couple, me, Anna Faith, and Joyanna, had gotten all the symptoms of typhoid. And we weren’t exactly sure that it was typhoid, but we were very sick. So we went to a missionary clinic, and the lady tested us and immediately knew that it was typhoid. She took me aside and said, “Your heart rate is at 150.” And that was sitting down. So it was supposed to be around 66 to 100.

So she said, “I need to pump fluids into you,” and the IV wasn’t going in. That was kind of hard for my mom to see because I guess I looked really sick. So they were able to get the IV in, and she pumped my heart rate back down to 100. She told me later that if I hadn’t gotten there soon enough, like a couple more hours with that heart rate that high, I could have started maybe going into cardiac arrest, and I was really shocked that I didn’t feel like that at all. I mean, I felt pretty sick, but I didn’t know that that was what was actually happening. And it was just amazing to see God’s provision. 

Mark: Typhoid in generations past can be a killer. That was a pretty big deal, actually. And your particular symptoms got pretty serious. And the amazing thing is that God superintended that. Had us next to a clinic. We got the medicine, the diagnosis. Four or five of us had typhoid, maybe six of us. And you could be afraid of that, but God took care of that. So part of the reason why the fears aren’t what we thought they were, is because God’s part of the equation. And we didn’t have to be afraid of it because God was going to solve the problem when we got there. And the amazing thing is that while there’s been a few relatively minor types of sickness symptoms going on, since that period of time, this last month, four, five, six weeks, we’ve all been pretty healthy. Look what God let happen right away and now he’s keeping us strong. 

Linnea: It was also very cool to see that because of our sickness and weaknesses that the people actually saw while they’re real. And it was just cool to see that after that they would try to take more care of us. But it was just cool to see how even in sickness God used that for testimony. 

Mark: Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up because part of missions is weakness and that God then helps other people see that you need God too, and I need God, and our weakness actually becomes a channel of spiritual influence. I think you’re exactly right. That’s part of what God was doing by making that happen so early in our visit here. Joanna, what is your testimony? 

Joanna Gilmore: Joyce and I have been doing Bible studies together. She is the pastor’s daughter here at Passover Baptist. And the purpose of our Bible study time was for me to train her so that she would be able to do Bible studies with the young ladies of the church after our family is gone. And it has been a blessing to study different passages with her and to see her take active steps of obedience. There’s one step that she took that stands out to me, and that was after our very first lesson.

Her father has a shop that she works at and she told me that she had stopped putting tracts out on the counter at that shop for a year or so but after our first lesson she was convicted about that and decided to put tracts out again and she reported back to me saying that many people were happy to receive a tract from her and she was able to pass out the tracts and so that was really exciting to see her obey immediately and to see God bless that decision. There was also one very special moment with her and that was after we had completed our first set of Bible study lessons and at the end of the lesson she said to me about her Bible study times, “This is the most special thing that you have given me.” And that was really neat just to see her gratitude and just to see that she realized the value of studying the Bible together. So she’s excited and ready to start weekly Bible studies with the young ladies of the church. So it’s been encouraging just to see how God works through small group Bible studies and that’s really how he wants to use every believer. 

Mark: Amen. Jonathan?

Jonathan: One of the prayers I had for myself as I came on this trip was just to see a growth and depth in love for declaring the gospel. You know, the gospel obviously means much to me and I’ve appreciated different times in my life where I’ve been able to declare it, but I knew there would probably be some opportunities to really step into here on this trip. And a couple weeks into our time here at Passover Baptist, we began teaching on church planting and the local pastors and preachers here in the church targeted a couple of villages we could go to and so we took some treks, a couple hour treks and split up several different ways and we partnered together with some of these preachers and it was a true blessing to begin that effort with them and it really has been a partnership because we will speak, will preach the gospel, and then they’ll interpret our messages. So we’re working together and several different times we’ve swapped and I’ve given the testimony and then they’ll preach-different things like that. 

But it’s been amazing to see that desire deepen in my life and God just filled me with much power and much love in declaring the gospel, seeing the people there in need of salvation. We’ve seen dozens saved as we’ve gone about preaching the gospel. And now God’s burdening our hearts to gather those believers in their villages and lead them to the next step of baptism and telling their story. And we’re seeing that happen. You know, very shortly here, we’re going to be going into one of those villages and seeking to do that. And another of the villages has requested that we come back and continue studying the Bible with their family. There’s about 12 to 15 people there, and they want us to come back. They said they’ll have questions ready to ask us about what we presented last time, which was the gospel and then some teaching on baptism as well. So we see God working in amazing ways.

Partnering with those evangelists and preachers, seeing God use us as we’re just going and going multiple times, more people getting saved, more believers preparing to gather, and so I’m just so thankful for a growth in declaring the gospel and the love for it, and I see it really changing my life. 

Mark: Yes, that just makes my heart feel overwhelmed with the goodness of God. One, giving you those opportunities because that was part of the trip to put you all in settings in which you’re in an unreached village and you’re seeing folks come to Christ, baptizing and planting a church, and that’s actually what Passover is ready to do right here in this region. So it’s been neat to see God bring both those desires there together. But when you begin to talk about learning to, or just experiencing a love for giving the gospel, that’s deep, that’s powerful. And you know, you really can’t get to love the gospel apart from giving it. And those opportunities just bring it to life. I remember a similar thing happening in my heart over in Cameroon a number of years ago, and what a joy it is to experience the glory of the gospel in that way. 

Jonathan: I think using tools to declare the gospel can be very helpful too. Dad has prepared simple gospel cards that lay out the gospel story from creation to Christ. And if you have the chance to use simple tools, I think it can be very effective in giving the gospel to your friends or your neighbors or any situation you find yourself in. And I’ve come to really, really love that resource. It makes the gospel really clear, and the need to have a restored relationship with God and how Jesus Christ is the only one who can do that. I encourage you, if you have a simple resource or access to that, or would like one… 

Mark: Just get in contact with us. In the show notes here, you can reply by email, and we’ll send you links to that resource you can use right where you’re at.

My wife is here and wow, we wouldn’t be here without her and she’s an awesome partner alongside of me and also alongside of the family, but also ministering to the ladies of the church. And she’s got something to share here. Go ahead, Joanna. 

Joanna Gilmore: Well, it truly is a dream come true to be here in P&G with my children and my husband. It’s a miracle and I’m just so thrilled.

I’m just thankful to see the Lord use each one of my children. And they’re just stepping into so many ministry opportunities, seeing the Lord guide them, grow them, use their giftings. And I’m just thrilled. And what a blessing it is to my heart as they’ve developed relationships, as my sons have preached in many different settings, all of them giving the gospel in different ways, and with the children and teaching music. I am just so thrilled. 

One thing I want to encourage young people, if you’re just willing to go and even wherever you are right now. Just abide in Christ. Look to him. If you’re willing to step out, he will use you. He’s created you with special giftings and as you are training and loving the Lord, he will use you. You just need to step out, start speaking. You’ll be amazed at what God can do in your life. As my husband mentioned, I have been working with the ladies here and one, my main lady, the translator, Mama Susan, has been just an incredible blessing. She has been able to connect me with the ladies, and we have been dealing with strongholds. And then just ended yesterday, I spent time with her on just simple, simple, simple discipleship, some of the ladies cannot even read and write. So she’s trying to teach that to some of the pastor’s wives. So that’s been an incredible opportunity. So I just want to encourage each of us, just God wants to use you, and all you have to do is step into the middle of it, be amazed. I’m thankful for my husband’s leadership. 

Mark: We allow fear to keep us from stepping into these kinds of opportunities and I just want to encourage you. Do not allow fear to become a stronghold that keeps you from what God, the special ways, the incredible experiences that God would give to you. 

Just a few days ago we went across town to a mission organization. We chatted with one of the leaders for maybe half an hour, his experiences and he said this, he said, we have a list of tribes of people still waiting to hear. He says, we don’t even bother to try to populate how complete that list might be because we can’t even get to the list that we have. But there’s a list of probably dozens of tribes still in Papua New Guinea that are waiting for a missionary to come.

In many of the tribes of PNG, when someone dies, they just have these big house cries where they gather, and they weep and they wail. The story is told just going back a couple of decades of missionaries who went among one of the unreached people groups, learned the language, translated the Bible, and began to teach the gospel. One of the couples they reached, the wife, died. People came to the house where she had died, and they were ready to wail for this dead person who had passed. But the man said, “No, go on, go to the next house, we don’t wail anymore. This Waito, as the person was called, belonged to God. Now I’m waiting for the trumpet to sound, and when it does, I’m going to hook up arms with her and go to heaven arm in arm.”

And so God delivered them from the hopelessness of death to actual excitement about what is on the other side. At these missionaries’ gathering in that tribe, the chief came to them and said this, “Before you came, we prayed to the spirits. We were always afraid and when our people died, we cried because we would never see them again. But now because of Jesus, we don’t have to be sad when our relatives die. We will see them again.” And the chief had just this authority in his voice. And then he asked these words, “The villagers in America, they knew about Jesus for many, many gardens.” The chief pointed out referring to the annual gardening cycle. He said, “Why didn’t your grandfathers come and tell our grandfathers? And why didn’t your fathers come to tell our fathers? No one came to tell them and now they all live in the fire.” 

What a sobering moment, realizing the missionaries who’d come, the ones who could have preceded him, didn’t come. And as I said, there are still tribes waiting for someone to come. And in that meeting, the chief said this, “When you go back to America, tell your friends that their money and their prayers have not been wasted. Tell your churches how thankful we are to them for sending you to give us God’s Word. Tell them how it changed our lives and that we are now God’s people.” What an incredible testimony. And I just want to challenge you young people, you can be part of something like that.

You have a short life on earth. What are you gonna do with it? Invest it in the greatest way possible, getting the gospel to those who’ve never heard. Experience the joy, as Jonathan was saying, of bringing the gospel to people who are ready to hear, who will stop and listen, and discover just the glory of that. I’m so glad Acts 2:17 talks about God pouring out his Spirit on our sons and daughters, and I feel like that’s happening on this trip. We’re experiencing the life of the Spirit in our lives. 

So remember in a world of uncertainty and turmoil, the only way to know God’s peace is to stay on mission with Jesus in His Go Mission.