PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH MY LORD AND SAVIOUR
1. Life before my conversion
I grew up in a good Christian family of three children with me as the second and the only female. My elder brother a medical doctor passed away in 1991 while my younger brother is a pastor with the Christian Congregational Church of Samoa. My parents from Samoa served as missionaries in Papua New Guinea for 12 years.[1] I was born in Papua New Guinea in village called Nunumai in the Abau District of the Central Province. After returning to my home country in January 1973 my parents were then appointed as senior pastor(s) in a Samoan village.
I continued to participate in the life of the church as expected of a missionary/pastors child. I attended Sunday school and eventually became a Sunday school teacher, the church choir, girls brigade, etc. Now back in my own country and adapting to the culture of my own people I soon began to wrestle between the social lifestyle my relatives enjoyed and the godly life I was brought up in whilst out in the mission field. Soon I found myself getting influenced by the former and drifted away from the latter which my parents had taught and brought me up with.
2. Personal Encounter with my Lord and Saviour
My personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ came in 1988 when I moved to live with my cousin in Christ Church, New Zealand. I started attending a Christian Fellowship meeting. In the second year (1989) after my arrival in New Zealand I had a personal encounter at a fellowship meeting. The message of what Christ did for me on the cross moved my heart that I realized I was a sinner, lost and in need of a Saviour. It was there and then that I invited Jesus Christ by faith into my life as Saviour and Lord. And for the first time I had peace and joy I had never experienced before. Jesus had touched my life and made me a new being. I knew then that I had being born-again through Christ Jesus.
3. Life After my conversion
Life after my conversing didnt come any easy. There were storms I encountered from within and outside my family life. The death of my elder brother, the stroke my mother encountered which confined her to bed for seven years, and the walking difficulties my father endured had all took their toll on me. I took total charge of my family affairs.
Despite these, my involvement with home group fellowship and prayer intercessory ministry of the Youth for Christ ministry was able to help me hold on to the Lord. The desire to serve as a missionary like my parents began to grow in my life. I began to seek God for possible opportunities to nurture this desire.
The Lord then led me to my current husband (Amos) who also had a big heart for missions. Through our relationship, the Lord through Amos was able to help me understand more about contemporary world mission today. I now serve with my husband as missionaries amongst the Indigenous people of Australia.