Jason and Toni Stuart Working in Papua New Guinea 
Dear Friends,
After a week of making a trip to several villages around Inaru, I am now back with my wife and son. For a long time I have been thinking about how to encourage churches in villages where our mission used to have missionaries, and last week our Inaru pastor Raymond and I had a chance to visit churches in 3 villages.
Raymond and I planned on first hiking from Inaru over to Wenim. Raymond had been there many years before and felt he could find the way all right, but at the last moment the Lord brought two Wenim men to Inaru and they were able to go with us and show us the trail. First we paddled about 3 hours in Raymond’s canoe and then began hiking. The hike took 4 and a half hours over a small ridge of mountains but a lot of that time was spent chasing fish, turtles, birds, and anything else that looked like it make a good supper (at the end of the day, we have 4 large fish, one large eel, one water bird, and 2 turtles; I ended up carrying the bird besides my bag; the other guys were all heavily loaded with fish and canoe paddles besides their bags). On the other side of the mountains, we found Solomon, one of the church leaders from Wenim, waiting for us with a canoe. He had gotten the message that we were coming and was waiting at the right place at the right time (not usually the way things happen, but I was glad because that hike sure let me feel how many extra pounds I have put on since marriage:-)
We had a good meeting with the Wenim church leaders that night, and the next day Solomon paddled us downriver to the next village (in spite of a painful boil on his leg; what a servant!). Hopefully our meeting with them was an encouragement and the next day Solomon continued paddling us downriver to another village that had had missionaries but had since phased out. The missionaries there never had the opportunity to do Bible translation before they left and the church does everything in Pidgin English, the trade language in Papua New Guinea. They have always been a struggling band of Christians, but I was encouraged to see them stronger on this visit than any other time I had ever visited there. I know the believers in each of these villages would appreciate your prayers as they stand on their own without a lot of encouragement from the outside. If you would like to know more specific prayer requests for each village, we would be glad to send them to those who request it.
From that village , a boat then picked us up and we drove for 4 hours to the Blackwater people, where we currently have missionaries working. While I was there, we checked the first Scripture translation in their language and the missionaries hope to start teaching the Word after the New Year. Could you please pray that the darkness in this area will be overcome by the light of Christ?
Toni and Jedidiah and I are now in Goroka, where we will be participating in a seminar for missionaries who are just starting Bible translation. We will return to Inaru on October 18. This letter had no prayer requests for the Inaru church, but most of you already know how to pray for them. It was encouraging that while Raymond was with me visiting these other villages that two Inaru men (Job and Matthew) took over the Bible teaching in his absence. Though they still are not to the place of being ordained as church leaders, it was a good positive step.
Thanks to all you for your faithful prayers for us and the Inarus and for the support and encouragement.
In Christ,
Jason, Toni, and Jedidiah Stuart
