Hearing a knock at our door, I arose to answer it. It was my friend Kapiyato, the leader of women’s ministries for the Evangelical Church of Papua (ECP) in Kotale. She had come to tell me about a special Mothers’ Day program for all the ladies of the village, and she wanted to know if I could make copies of the program. I agreed to help her.

Kapiyato showed me the program, pointing out how representative from each church were asked to make speeches. I noted that my name was on the program for the Adventist Church. At first, I inwardly panicked. Later, I asked Steve what he thought I could speak about. His immediate response was, “Find some nice Ellen White quotes about mothers and share those.”

“All right,” I agreed. “That sounds easy enough.” As I reflected on the idea and prayed about it, God impressed me to give a little talk about being Christian mothers and include some Ellen White quotes. With less than a week until the event, I prepared my talk and prayed that God would bless it and speak to the ladies’ hearts.
Mother’s Day morning, a group of about 75 ladies from three faiths—Baha’i, ECP and Seventh-day Adventist—gathered at the edge of the village and then marched through the community to the beat of a drum. They ended up at the sports field where many more were already gathered. Sitting under the shelter of bamboo and palm leaves decorated with frangipani and red hibiscus flowers, I listened to the other presenters. Soon it was time for me to talk. Genty, the lady ECP pastor, was to be my translator. “God please help these ladies to understand the message you have for them this morning,” I silently prayed.

I stood and spoke about the three obligations of a wife/mother—first to God and how to build our relationship with Him; then, to our husbands and how to be a good “help meet;” and, finally, to our children and training them properly in the Lord. These are three areas that really need bolstering among the Gogodala. Pastor Walter of the ECP sitting behind me seemed to appreciate the message. When I finished and returned to my seat, he asked to see my notes.

“You may keep these,” I whispered as I handed him the papers.

Later, a lady approached me and asked for a copy of my talk. While taking a walk through the village that afternoon, I met Genty, and she told me that she and Kapiyato had spoken together and decided I should come in the near future and share with the ECP women during their fellowship time.

When we call on God to give us the words to speak and to open the hearts of listeners, He is faithful. I can’t wait to see how He will continue to use that little Mothers’ Day speech to reach Gogodala people.

• Twitter