“Kanika:wa sosawabega,” (“Life is terrible,”) Goba told me as we sat together on a bench in the dark hallway across from the x-ray department of Port Moresby General Hospital.

This sure is a difficult time for him, I thought. But when he pulls out of it, he will be okay. I never could have imagined the awful truth—Goba would die the very next day. How did this spry, active man who entered the hospital two weeks earlier end up in the morgue?

Despite his fierce temper and reports of domestic abuse, Goba was a well-respected man among his people. As a young man, he studied at the highly regarded Bomana police academy outside of Port Moresby and worked as a police officer and village leader. In his later years, he attended the local evangelical church. I first met him in his village when he came to me with the council chairman to talk about collaborating on some community projects. Later, he told me about a health issue he was having. He had an enlarged prostate and required a catheter to empty his bladder. This is not an unusual problem for a man of 60, but living far from medical help as he did, it was a real nuisance. “Do you have any medicine that can help me?” he asked with pleading eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You will have to go to Port Moresby and have an operation.”

Soon Goba obtained the necessary money and flew to Port Moresby. The hospital would not admit him right away due to a backlog of patients needing surgery. In fact, he was still waiting when we arrived in the capital city three months later to get supplies. While we were there, Goba finally got an appointment with a doctor who scheduled a surgery date. Laurie and I picked him up the day before his appointment and drove him to the hospital. We accompanied him to his assigned ward only to find out that all 60 beds were occupied. There was already another family there waiting for a bed to become available. After a couple of hours, some patients were discharged, and Goba finally had a bed.

We visited Goba the following evening hoping to hear reports of a successful surgery. Instead, we found him just as we had left him, with a catheter and collection bag. The surgery had been postponed a couple of days. In the meantime, we brought him food since the hospital doesn’t feed patients. We encouraged him with singing and shared Bible promises. The second scheduled surgery day came, and the procedure had to be postponed again.

We noticed that Goba’s mood and energy level were dropping. After the third scheduled date came and went without surgery, he spent his days curled up in a fetal position on the bed, letting his mind dwell on the negative things in his life rather than taking hope in the promises of God. Goba never got his operation. Having completely let go of hope, he died a few days later. People’s minds have a strong influence over their health.

In reading the culture study our teammates, David and Cindy White, put together, I noticed a quote from a schoolteacher that sums up the sentiments of many Gogodala. “[The early missionaries] told us that, if we became Christians, we would find the key to a better life in the Bible, but that life never came.” It reminds me of Christ’s disciples trying to grasp the concept of His kingdom. Even after He rose from the grave, they still asked Him, “Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) In other words, “Are you finally going to deliver Israel from the Romans?”

The key to a better life is inward change. All the church-going, all the praying, all the Bible study won’t do the Gogodala any good unless they are converted inwardly and learn to trust God and put their hope in Him. Pray for our team as we begin writing materials to reach the hearts of these people.

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