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01. Pioneers to the Highlands, 1950
What was the dream for a new mission in the Southern Highlands in 1950? In Sydney in 1949 and 1950 the Methodist Overseas Missions Board started to discuss some new work. For a long time, they had been very worried about the terrible war that came to the Pacific between 1942 and 1945. The war,

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02. Meeting for the First Time, 1950
MENDI 1950 The people of the Southern Highlands were surprised when they first discovered that there were other kinds of humans in the world. They knew their own clans, and other clans who were their enemies, as well as news of distant communities who were trading partners. The first time they saw a small plane

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03. Starting a New Mission, 1950
Mendi, November 1950 As soon as Gordon Young heard that the MOM Board had approved their new mission, he was very keen to make a start. The next time Assistant District Officer Alan Timperley went on a patrol to Mendi from Mount Hagen, Young went with him. In his first letter from Mendi, Young wrote:

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05. Setepano Nabwakulea: a Teacher from Papuan Islands District, 1951
Mendi 1951-1953 ‘We are thankful for the strong missionary instincts of the Younger Churches and for the gift of these young workers from the Solomons, Papua and New Guinea.’ Missionary Review 1953 Setepano Nabwakulea was one of the first men from Papuan Islands District to go to work with the new mission in Mendi. He

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07. Elsie Wilson, Teacher in Mendi, 1952
Mendi, 1952 Miss Elsie Wilson came to Mendi as a teacher to work in the new little mission school. She arrived with Rev Roland Barnes and his wife Miriam, and Sister Joyce Walker in October 1951. Elsie Wilson was an experienced teacher. She went to New Britain to teach in the Methodist Mission school at

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09. Letter from David Johnston, 1952
Mendi, 1952 David Johnston and his wife Beryl arrived in Mendi late in 1951. The other missionaries in Mendi were people who had already been working in New Guinea for a number of years. David and Beryl Johnston came straight from New South Wales as a young married couple. David was an agriculturalist who worked




