As guests arrived at the open-air, makeshift meetinghouse in Minj, Papua New Guinea, ready to organize a new stake, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in traditional dress greeted them with leis, song and dance.
Those members were among the 2,075 who gathered on Aug. 2-3 for a conference where the Minj Papua New Guinea Stake was organized, reported the Church’s Papua New Guinea Newsroom.
In addition to a new stake, 129 individuals entered into the waters of baptism.
Elder Peter F. Meurs, General Authority Seventy and the Church’s Pacific Area president, joined them for the sacred events that transpired.
He said: “There is also a special strength among these good people. In the Church of Jesus Christ, we bring sacred ordinances that will bring families together for this life and for eternity.”
Elder Brian Mabey, a senior missionary serving in Papua New Guinea, explained what he felt from the Church members during the meetings. “You could feel the love that the people had and the excitement, especially that they had for the creation of the stake there.”
A humble meetinghouse
The nation’s newest stake of the Church is found high in the country’s rugged central highlands.
Individuals who planned to attend the conference couldn’t wait for the meetings, with many arriving the night before.
President Fa’aleaga Young Yen, Papua New Guinea Lae Mission president, even reported that one family who was being baptized that weekend walked 11 miles and slept at the front gate so they wouldn’t miss it.
To accommodate the large crowd in this remote mountain region, an enormous tent was set up, casting a warm golden glow over speakers and congregants.
Elder Chris Huston and Sister Barb Huston, senior missionaries serving in the Pacific, posted on Facebook that Latter-day Saints “don’t need all that much to have a ward or stake.”
“A roof is nice, but walls aren’t necessary. Chairs are nice but are expendable. Sunday dress is river-washing your one old white shirt and wearing flip-flops instead of going barefoot. Phones and dry-wipe boards are luxuries. Printers and copiers are unimaginable luxuries,” they wrote.
A year of growth
The creation of the Minj stake is the fourth new stake organized in Papua New Guinea in the past 14 months — showing the growth of the Church in a country that had only two stakes from 1999 to 2023. This brings the total to six stakes now across the nation.
In Papua New Guinea, the Church is growing faster than meetinghouses can be built, reported the Papua New Guinea Newsroom.
Elder Mabey said, “President [Russell M.] Nelson has talked about the hastening that’s going to be happening. It’s very evident here in Papua New Guinea. You can feel the Spirit so strong.”
Stakes, whether created from a district or by dividing an existing stake, are required to have at least 2,000 members; 150 active, tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders capable of serving in leadership positions; 500 participating adults; 100 participating youth and five wards, according to General Handbook in 36.1. If created from a district, it must have the level of strength for a stake for at least six months before leaders can propose it as a stake.
President Young Yen explained that much of the growth is attributed to members bringing the truth of the gospel to their friends.
“There are no missionaries assigned to this area right now,” he said. “They are all referrals.”
He explained that they send 12 to 14 missionaries on a special assignment for a few weeks to teach and baptize those who are already prepared in areas like this.
“They come willing to join the gospel,” he said. “These people have almost nothing, … yet they find happiness in the way they live.”
Hundreds embrace the gospel
In total, 129 people were baptized over the weekend of meetings. Baptismal services were conducted in a font near the conference tent, where one by one, men, women and youth stepped into the water to make sacred covenants.
There were even more willing and wanting to step onto the covenant path. President Young Yen explained that there were 347 scheduled to be baptized. Difficulties came with long distances, not enough baptismal suits and some weren’t able to get married in time.
“Missionaries will be going out next week to do the rest,” he said.
Kol Kon and his family were among those who chose to join the Church and were able to during the conference. “I have looked for God all my life,” he said. “I believe that Jesus Christ is here in this Church, and I believe in modern prophets. I believe that more blessings will come to me and to my family in the Church.”
New stake leaders sustained
Under the direction of Elder Meurs, the Minj Papua New Guinea District officially became the Minj Papua New Guinea Stake as members unanimously sustained the organization.
After the formal organization of the stake, Elder Meurs addressed the congregation, speaking about what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can offer its growing membership in Papua New Guinea now and in the future.
“Yes, there is struggling. There is poverty,” Elder Meurs acknowledged, adding: “But we also bring the incredible resources of the Church — education resources, humanitarian resources, online resources to provide support and build self-reliance. These are resources that can change the future, bringing blessings to church members and the whole country.”
Elder Jeffery M. Nikoia, an Area Seventy who also spoke at the conference, emphasized the lasting impact of centering one’s life on Jesus Christ.
“These wonderful people are coming together with the faith that the Lord will bless their lives and the lives of those around them,” he said. “As they continue to draw closer to Jesus Christ, they will see themselves more and more as the Lord sees them. They will see themselves as they are — true children of God. And that will be a great blessing to them and others they serve in their communities.”
President Young Yen said that during the meetings, you could “hear a pin drop,” because the congregants were listening so intently to the messages.
“To me it was a testimony that the Lord is hastening his work,” he said.
Anticipating a temple and future blessings
The Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple, now under construction, will be the country’s first temple. Once dedicated, it will allow faithful members throughout Papua New Guinea to participate in sacred ordinances without the expense of international travel. Papua New Guinea is in the Suva Fiji Temple district.
The prospect of a temple in their own land has been a source of excitement for local Latter-day Saints as many members are already preparing themselves to attend and serve in the house of the Lord once it’s completed, reported the Papua New Guinea Newsroom.
Many Latter-day Saints attending the meetings were excited to just be able to take a picture with a banner of the temple.
Showing a photo of the banner, Elder Mabey said, “Just about everybody wanted to have their picture taken by that, … they were just all lined up.”
Elder Huston wrote in a Facebook post that when it was over, no one wanted to go home.
“The love and friendship they felt was too strong and the feeling of accomplishment made faces shine, both the young and the old,” he wrote.
President Young Yen wishes that others could see those smiling faces. Though he has been mission president for only six weeks, he says he has already learned so much from them.
“If you don‘t see them through the lens of the Savior, then you will miss the majesty of what is happening here,” he said, adding: “It is only then that we could really see the spiritual yearnings of their hearts. You know they are ready, they’re prepared — very humble, open, listening hearts.”
