The three brothers were losing their struggle to control their anger. First, the drunk troublemaker had burned down their house and made no attempt to make things right. Now he was back to harass them again. Grabbing a pig spear, the brothers chased the man and stabbed him in the upper leg, hoping to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, the spear severed his femoral artery, and he quickly bled to death.

The three brothers, sons of one of our church members at May River, were charged with murder and sent to prison in Wewak. That was two years ago, and they are still awaiting trial. They have almost no contact with family back in May River.

Yesterday I attended Sabbath services at Wewak prison and met these three brothers and 50 other inmates who attended. The Seventh-day Adventist church had an evangelistic series at the prison early last year, and the brothers accepted Jesus as their Savior and were baptized. I was able to tell them of the baptism at May River this past August, which had included some of their family members and one man’s wife.

As I was sitting next to them, I asked if they would like to read a book called Steps to Christ. “Oh yes,” they replied. “We would enjoy reading anything spiritual.” I took my personal copy from my Bible case and handed it to them. A few moments later, one of the brothers leaned over to me and asked, “Could you give us an SDA Hymnal?”

“Of course!” I replied. “You can have mine.” Churches in PNG don’t have hymnals sitting on the chairs for anyone to use. Everyone purchases their own copy and brings it with them to church along with their Bible. You should have seen the brothers’ excitement to own their very own hymnal.

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