A Python in the Translation Office: One day our maintenance guys were checking the air conditioner when they discovered a three-foot python living there. He had resided there a good while; and no, I had no idea. The snake has since found “other accommodations.”

A Broken Bridge: On a recent trip to Lae City, I crossed the Yalu River bridge just a couple of hours before it collapsed, leaving me (and many others) stuck on the opposite side of the river from my flight home. It was a big deal, as this bridge serves to connect all of the Highlands of PNG with the port of Lae. (Thank the Lord, I was able to get to my flight by crossing back over the river in a Land Cruiser driven by a good brother…)

Kamea New Testament: Even with a snake hiding in the office, July was a fantastic month for us translating the Kamea New Testament. Pastor Ben spent two weeks here while we read through corrections of our previous work in all four Gospels, plus we read through (word-by-word) the Kamea translation of  2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 Timothy! We will update you more later on our progress, but snake or no snake, the Kamea translation is getting close to being finished!

Men’s Meeting: I got to Lae before the bridge collapsed in time to speak several times at Calvary Baptist Church’s Men’s Camp. It was a great time in the Word of God, with 20 men making professions of faith, and many others making decisions. I relish the fellowship of these dear brothers on the other side of the island. Yalu Bridge may have collapsed, but God made a bridge for many during the meeting!

Baptist Bible Institute of Port Moresby: BBIPOM held its second graduation in August. Both of our 2024 graduates have already been active full-time in their local churches’ school ministries. Janelle teaches here at South Pacific International Academy, and Preacher David is in Western Province in PNG right now preaching a youth camp!

BBIPOM is already five weeks into our new semester, with many visitors attending our Tuesday evening classes on “Marriage and the Home.” We count it a privilege to have a part in gospel preaching, Bible translation, leadership training, and family building!

An Illness: Lena has had a difficult time these last several weeks with various health issues. After some internal bleeding, her hemoglobin dropped to 8.1, and she has had back-to-back infections. The blood issue seems to be healed, but as she recovers from that, the infections continue.

Not everything in life, even on the mission field, is victory and bliss. Sometimes our wise Lord chooses a more difficult path for us to walk, that He may get the glory and be our all in all. In God’s sovereign plan for us, these health issues are what they are, and they remind us that God is good, all the time.

With that said, Lena and I covet your earnest prayers for her health. We have no plans to leave the field. We are grateful for the Lord’s gift to us of a good doctor here in Port Moresby. What we need are those who will partner with us in prayer daily on our behalf. With all that we see the Lord doing, we can see why the level of spiritual opposition is high. The adversary doesn’t want God’s Word translated into another unwritten language; he doesn’t want more people saved and stirred; and he doesn’t want more ministers trained for the work. We believe the Lord has given us this work for this season, and we believe He has given you to us as partners.

We concur with a good brother of mine, who says, “We continue to have need of nothing except your prayers.” Will you pray for us specifically, daily, that we can keep running our race here, and running it well? For those friends who can and will partner with us in this prayer, we thank you!

Pressing on by His Grace and Goodness,
John & Lena Allen
Psalm 71:18

Here are some more photos from the last two months:

We had a wonderful meeting of Baptist Leaders in PNG at the end of August. Pray with us for this to develop into a furtherance of Gospel advance in PNG and beyond.

Men’s Camp at Calvary Baptist Church, Lae

BBIPOM Classes for the Fall Term 2024

At the beginning of September there was a huge fire near our church campus. Our water delivery truck teams from the ministry here delivered water to the fire trucks to keep them on site fighting the fire. Over 230 new vehicles in an import storage yard were destroyed in this “brush fire” gone wild. The quick work of the water truck teams kept the fire from spreading to the offices and warehouses.