Audio Bibles for the People of Papua New Guinea

Feet Shod With the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace (Eph. 6:15)

He was walking with his head bowed.

He looked down at his feet and listened to the suctioning sound each step made as his sandals pulled resistantly away from the mud. On other days, when he was walking a shorter distance, he enjoyed walking in the rain. But today, it was coming down in sheets and he had to look down to keep it from pelting straight into his face. He had been walking for five hours and had three more to go. But he had somewhere he needed to be and he wanted to be there on time . . . so he kept walking.

He rounded a corner on the path and squinted his eyes against the rain as he looked up for a moment. Ahead through the trees, slightly to the left, he could make out a house being built. Two men were sitting under the porch.

“Hi,” one of them called out.

“Hi,” Zacchaeus answered, beginning to trudge in their direction.

The two men—Mark and Steve—had been working since early morning and were thinking of taking a break when the rain began pouring down. As they sat under the newly constructed porch, watching the rain wash over the lush green jungle and pouring in rivulets from the huge leaves, they saw this small man coming down the path. He was completely soaked and carrying a black box under his arm. It looked like it may have been a radio, and it was also soaked.

Mark and Steve invited Zacchaeus to come in out of the rain. They shared that they were in Papua New Guinea for two weeks to help build this mission compound in Simbu. They were from the United States—Philadelphia.

Zacchaeus said that he was walking to the next village so he could share God’s Word with the church there.

When they asked him what the black box was that he was carrying, he pulled it from under his arm and held it up proudly. “This is called a Proclaimer. It has the New Testament on it!” He began demonstrating—“This is how you turn it on, this is how you go to the next chapter, you press here to go to the next verse. It runs on electricity, batteries, or, here—he pulled a panel up from the back of the unit—is a solar panel so it can be charged by the sun!”

Zacchaeus turned the Proclaimer on so they could hear it, and despite it being wet, a voice came from it loud and clear. But they couldn’t understand it. "What language is that?" Mark asked.

"Tok Pisin," Zacchaeus replied.

They talked for awhile, watching the rain pour down around them. Then Zacchaeus said he needed to be on his way. They said goodbye and watched him walk away down the path, carrying the Proclaimer, in the rain.

Mark and Steve were touched that here they were on the other side of the world, helping bring God’s Word to the people of Papua New Guinea, and here was this man, walking for eight hours, so dedicated to doing the same.

A week later, Mark and Steve flew to the capital city, Port Moresby. They stayed at a missionary guest house where they met two other men from the U.S. Over dinner, they found out that these two men worked for Faith Comes By Hearing, and that they were in Papua New Guinea to bring Proclaimers. They were amazed. Two times in two weeks. What are the odds?

"We have to tell you a story . . . we met a man named Zacchaeus . . ."

Soon to Hear

God’s Word in the Tok Pisin language will soon be heard in Papua New Guinea. Working closely with the New South Wales Bible Society of Australia and with the Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Faith Comes By Hearing has recorded the Tok Pisin Audio Bible. Plans are underway to begin listening programs in churches and villages!