Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ arrive at a remote riverside village in Papua New Guinea to begin their work in a community without water or electricity.
In this 2024 photo, missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrive in a remote river village in Papua New Guinea without electricity to begin serving their new community.© 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.In Papua New Guinea, missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometimes proselyte in remote areas without electricity or internet. For these missionaries, it might be months before they have the chance to hear the words of Church leaders from the twice-yearly General Conference.
Papua New Guinea Port Moresby Mission President Glenn Burgess wanted his missionaries to feel the spirit of General Conference as a group, so he brought nearly all his missionaries together on 12-13 April to watch and discuss the Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon sessions of the 195th annual Church General Conference, held 5-6 April in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
The group met in a hotel conference room in Port Moresby, and over the two days watched four sessions of the conference.
President Glenn Burgess said that the event strengthened the testimonies of his missionaries.
“Outside of Port Moresby, they often don’t have access to power, or the internet. It was a joy to feel the spirit of the Lord with them, and to listen to their testimonies at the end of Conference.”
One full-time missionary, Elder Sione Langi from Tonga, serves in the remote Rigo District of Papua New Guinea. After watching General Conference with his fellow missionaries he said that the experienced strengthened his testimony of Jesus Christ.
“It was good to talk about the things we saw and the things we listened to. Gathering with the other elders was a spiritually uplifting event for us.”
In the early days of the Church, missionaries often went for long periods without contact or counsel from senior Church leaders. In Papua New Guinea, as in other countries with large, underdeveloped areas, missionaries still go forward with faith into remote areas with only what they can carry in their backpack and small suitcase to preach, teach, and baptize those willing to accept the restored gospel. But on this weekend in the Port Moresby Mission, missionaries were gathered in to be strengthened and taught by living prophets so they could return to their remote areas with renewed faith and confidence to spread the love of Jesus Christ, and the glorious restoration of His Church in the latter days.
