Introducing the Lello family

Fourteen years ago when I prayed earnestly for a wife, I asked God for two things—a woman who would love and serve Him with all her heart, and a loving mother to our children. In Pam, God gave me all this and much more. She is the joy of my life, and our two girls, Abigail and Alissa, have only added to our happiness. God has also supplied our needs and provided me with a ministry through a career as a mathematics teacher and more recently as a builder.

Some time ago, it occurred to Pam and me that life is not like money. We can’t save it; we can only spend it. We will spend every second of every hour of every day of our lives on something until all our time is gone. Looking back on our lives, we can see both wise and foolish choices with a pattern running through them. When in submission to God, we made wise choices. But when we failed to submit to God and spent our lives selfishly, we made foolish choices. It really is that simple.

Recently, we seized the opportunity of a lifetime to submit to Christ and spend our lives unselfishly. We answered God’s call through Adventist Frontier Missions to minister to the Ama people who live along the upper reaches of the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea.

God has called us to a remote location that we will reach by traveling 90 miles over rough roads and more than 24 hours by dugout canoe. I will travel out of the interior once every three months to get food and supplies, and Pam and the girls will only travel out about once a year. He has called us to a difficult location where we will live in a rough structure built from jungle materials and galvanized steel. He has called us to a place plagued by malaria, pneumonia, dysentery, tropical ulcers, skin diseases and many other health problems. He has called us to a place of great spiritual darkness where the people live in fear and bondage to demons masquerading as departed ancestors and nature spirits.

So why do we look forward to this challenge? Why do we find it hard to imagine doing anything else? Because God’s light shines most brightly in the darkness. Because He has prepared the way before us by miraculously inspiring the Ama people to build a house of worship to a God they don’t even know. Because He promises to go with us and never leave us. Because we are “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2).

Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” (Luke 9:23, 24)

Friend, will you lose your life for Christ? It’s your only hope of really living. Won’t you join us in answering God’s call? Perhaps He is calling you to give your life for the unreached. Maybe He is touching your heart with our mission to the Ama people and calling you to support us with your means and prayers. But one thing is certain—He is calling you, calling you to give your all.