Boxes filled with pre-loved sets of holy scriptures have found loving homes among Latter-day Saint youth in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Many PNG Church members struggle to afford the cost of printed scriptures. In May 2024, Elder Taniela B. Wakolo, General Authority Seventy and a member of the Pacific Area Presidency, asked Church members in Auckland, NZ, to collect good quality sets of scriptures to send to Church members in PNG.
In response, hundreds of pre-loved scriptures were gathered and shipped to PNG’s capital city of Port Moresby. They were distributed on 16 November to local youth in an evening youth activity preceding the Port Moresby Stake conference.
Boxes of pre-loved scriptures were sent from Auckland, New Zealand to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to bless the lives of young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Boxes of pre-loved scriptures were sent from Auckland, New Zealand to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to bless the lives of young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. © 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Before the activity, the scriptures were removed from their shipping boxes and spread across the stage of the chapel’s cultural hall.
Over one hundred youth waited reverently in line to receive their own printed copy of the Book of Mormon, the Holy Bible, and other books of Latter-day Saint scriptures.
Many beamed with pride at being able to hold their own scriptures.
Others were happy just to hold them close.
One young man, Uadabe Miza, 14, held his copy of the Book of Mormon tightly as he explained, “I want to learn more about the gospel and how Jesus Christ sent his disciples around the world.”
President Steven Haromeare, a counselor in the Port Moresby Stake Presidency, commented on how many youths wanted to receive printed scriptures of their own. “One picked a copy of the Book of Mormon with large print and said, ‘I’ve got the biggest Book of Mormon in the world!’ He was celebrating. Tonight was a special moment for all the youths.”
Moroni, the last prophet of the Book of Mormon, wrote that all who are new in the Church must be "remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, (and) to keep them continually watchful unto prayer." (Moroni 6:4)
On this evening in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, young Church members found new meaning in an ancient scripture, as they received their very own copies of "the good word of God," thanks to the kindness and love of New Zealand friends they never met, but who chose to follow the call of a servant of God, and, in the process, all were blessed.