On June 11, 2005, the Wantok Radio Light Network in Papua New Guinea was dedicated to the Lord's service.  Our Director of Ministries, Garry Sutley, was there in this incredible event that drew thousands of jubilant supporters

Garry traveled with our dear friend and co-laborer Joe Emert who filed these reports....

Dear Friends,

“Tank Yu Tru” (Pidgin, "truly thank you") for your uplifting prayers for us during this Radio Planting trip to Papua New Guinea.

I am delighted to report that our American and PNG installation team has completed FM translator station #2 and #3. When we finished our first one at Ialibu, we started out for Goroka to install #2. We arrived last Saturday evening in Goroka, a beautiful small city in the Highlands. It is renowned for its fantastic year-round climate and its delicious coffee! We decided, with the blessing of the local church leaders, that we had no option but to install the FM station on Sunday. We worked all day at the mutually shared transmitter site of a nationwide TV network on whose towers we are partnering. By Monday afternoon we were finished, had a prayer of dedication, threw the switch and the first Christian radio station for this city was on the air!

As we stood at the tower site overlooking a portion of the city we could look almost directly down on the Governors home. The PNG friends and partners of Wantok Radio Light pray fervently that this radio network will bring revival and healing to this hurting nation. The FM signal will reach into places unreachable by missionaries and national Christian workers.

When we turned on the power Monday morning at 11:30 it was a tear-filled moment when one sweet lady, one of the many bystanders, threw her hands into the air and with tear filled eyes gasp out a few words of praise to the Lord. She was almost speechless as she heard Christian radio in Goroka for the first time.

We had many visitors to the installation site and it was fun to watch engineer Dave Olson talk to the children and show them how his tower-climbing safety belt worked. Yes, they got the “don’t do this at home” talk! Even during the busy stress of deadlines it was wonderful to take time for the future broadcasters of Papua New Guinea!

We packed up the trucks once again and started the 6 hour drive to our final installation on this trip. Many parts of the road were extremely bad and one section was almost completely washed away. The local police were stopping traffic at this particular spot as it had just occurred the night before during an earthquake which we felt in our hotel rooms. We all woke up feeling our beds shaking. In the daze of the moment, and being unfamiliar with earthquakes, I actually thought my roommate was shaking me bed to stop my snoring! I questioned him in the morning only to learn a bit later that we had experienced a 3.2 earthquake! The roads we made even worse by the quake as we experience on our way Lae, located on the Northeast coast.

Arriving in Lae that evening tired, hot and hurting, eight of us unfolded out of the Toyota Land Cruiser. The hotel was very comfortable and a cold shower never felt so good. Lae is a tropical rain-forest area and we prayed that we would have good weather the next day to begin installation of FM station #3.


Our crew gathered together at 8:00 AM to begin. Thinking that we would need two full days for this particular installation we didn’t waste any time. Our first two installations brought us together as an efficient team so progress went very smooth and quicker than we expected. By 6:00 PM we had turned on the transmitter to begin testing. Several of our PNG helpers and bystanders had turned their FM radios on, just in stand-by. When Dave Olsen hit the switch he heard a loud shout from numerous voices. He knew it worked!

In the photo on the left, Fred and Billie install the Crown FM transmitter as Doug Doran holds it in place. On the right, these children are excited to hear quality children’s programming for the first time in their lives! Several people told us the next day that they could not take themselves away from the radio that night, even to cook the evening meal. Many stayed up all night just to hear the Christian music and teaching programs, even though we were only testing the signal and equipment.

Having finished the installation in one day turned out to be a blessing. The next day, Wednesday, a tropical rain held us captive in our hotel and lasted all day. It’s a good thing we were ahead of schedule! That evening we met Garry and Ruth Sutley from Way Truth Life Radio in State College, PA as they flew into Lae. Way Truth Life Radio has provided the funds for their sister-station at Lae and arrived in time to perform the honors of dedicating the station that evening at a local church service. The church was packed and can these PNG brothers and sisters sing! This special service was designed to launch the FM station at Lae. Two choirs sang and Garry Sutley presented some very appropriate words from the Word. Ruth Sutley was honored to cut the ribbon while Garry, via the telephone, told the team at the tower site to “Turn it on!” A shout of praise erupted from hundreds of voices and Wantok Radio Light for the city of Lae was on the air! Special thanks to Way Truth Life Radioand the Central Pennsylvania Christian Institute for their investment into the lives of these precious people of Papua New Guinea. I watched the glow of excitement burst through the eyes and smiles of these two Pastors as they heard Christian radio for the first time. It was so fulfilling!

Having completed the Lae installation we flew back to Mt. Hagen, and arrived today. (Friday) We were immediately taken to a mission station near here called Kaupena, the place where over 50 years ago a pioneer missionary named G.T. Bustin arrived to preach the Gospel. This place has been selected as the symbolic launching place where, tomorrow, an estimated 6,000 people are expected to arrive for the first nationwide live Christian broadcast in the history of Papua New Guinea. Over 3,000 happy and radio-hungry Christians greeted us today. Over 35 pigs were donated to Wantok Radio Light for a big “moo moo” tomorrow. (food prepared in the ground).

Stay tuned and keep praying!!

Joe Emert