Nkoto’ona’ma na’anqa häva fangoti, inä gloringa Jisas Kräisi’ointäna’ma
qunaminqina qunaminqinäna wenanqati. Amen. (Rom 16:27, Kamea)
To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
(Romans 16:27)
THE MILESTONE
In December 2005, Lena and I visited Matt and Becky Allen (and our dear granddaughters, Ariel and Hannah) to see the mission work they were doing among the Kamea people in the remote mountains of Papua New Guinea. It was both a pastoral and personal trip, as I was both pastor and dad; but we had no idea God intended it to be a survey trip.
Matt said they needed two things desperately among the Kamea people, besides the evangelism and church planting that had just begun: medical care, and the Scriptures in their heart language. The Lord touched our hearts with these needs, and we went back to the US, assured that we were to serve the Lord in PNG.
In March 2008, we returned to Kotidanga to begin ministry there. Soon, Lena started what would become Kunai Health Centre, which served over 130,000 patients in the next 13 years.
On the translation project side, our team of missionaries and Kamea speakers began putting the unwritten Kamea language into writing. With help from long-time missionaries and workers among the Hamtai people (our neighbor language), we began producing literacy material in Kamea in 2009.

In January 2014, Ben Samauyo and I began translating portions of Scripture for “The Jesus Film.” By the end of that year, we had translated and checked hundreds of verses in Luke and Mark, and had recorded the first ever video in the Kamea language, crafted almost entirely from Scripture. We made copies of the audio and the video, and to this day those copies continue to circulate among the Kamea.
With that project done, we realized that we were well on our way to translating the New Testament, so we went back through the Gospel of Luke and translated the rest of the text. Yali Tapaqueo joined us as our back translator, reading the Kamea translation and translating it back into Tok Pisin so we could check the meanings.
From January 2014 until April 2025, we worked on translating and checking the New Testament in Kamea. We worked to create a translation that was: 1. Accurate; 2. Clear; 3. Readable (hearable), in that it must sound natural to a Kamea speaker; and 4. Rich in choosing the finest words to convey the meaning.
On April 18, 2025, Ben and I finished checking the last book of our labors. The first draft of the entire Kamea New Testament is now complete! For the first time in the history of the world, the Kamea people have the Scriptures in their heart language!

Going forward, we still have formatting and more checking to do. We hope to print some preliminary copies of Mark to give away to Kamea friends, to try to get feedback. We also plan to record the entire New Testament in audio form, and that alone will take a lot of time and a lot of work. My personal hope is that we can have the text ready for print in the next couple of years. Much work remains to be done—but let us praise the Lord together, as you celebrate this milestone with us!
Many of you have had a part in this ministry over the years in prayer and support. May this fruit abound to your account. Thank you for your faithful partnership!
We had intentionally left the Book of Romans for last, but we had not thought of how appropriately the final verse of our translation would express how we feel at the end of this glorious project.
To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
(Romans 16:27)
Praising God for His Grace and Goodness,
John & Lena Allen
Psalm 71:18
For your own copy of the Gospel of Mark in Kamea and Tok Pisin, click here.