Truly International

The next part of our tour, at the end of August, was to Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea. There 80 different language groups were represented! About 1,000 visitors (mostly white) from other lands met with about 2,000 native Witnesses.

The impact that these various groups had on one another was unforgettable. The average white does not treat these native people kindly. Yet here was genuine fraternization by people of many races, with real love shown.

The assembly of almost 3,000 was the largest meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses ever seen on this island. It was a real “eye-opener” for the 110,000 residents of Port Moresby.

The transforming power of God’s Word was evident from the experience of a Witness from the highlands. In earlier days he had been a leader in fierce intertribal fighting, had killed several people and wounded many others. But now, as a Witness, he travels in the same area where he had led tribal feuding, preaching the good news about God’s marvelous healing of spiritual wounds, and the physical healing to come in God’s new order.

[Picture on page 22]

Welcome sign at the Papua New Guinea assembly in Port Moresby includes directions in Pidgin English