Touched by an angel

By REV SEIK PITOI
IT was a short prayer uttered by a newly-married couple, but it was filled with faith. The prayer simply was: “Lord, give us four sons and we vow to give one son back to you for full time service”
It was 1958 and Asi Saka and his bride, Kilagaile Tanu, both of Kemabolo village, in Rigo, Central, had just tied the knot. The young couple decided to commit their family-to-be into the hands of the Lord, and like Hannah of old (1 Sam 1:11), pledged to give a fruit of the womb back to God.
Over the years, God answered the prayer and the couple were blessed with four sons. Yet, they all grew up like every young man grows up in today’s world – a foot in the church, a foot in the world, enjoying the good things of life.
However, out of the four, God slowly began to draw one closer to Him. After a series of circumstances, Duli Asi began to realise a special calling on his life. Indeed, his destiny had been set by his parents’ prayer many years before.
Duli Asi is now a pastor with the Baptist Union Church and is a lecturer at the Port Moresby Christian Leaders Training Centre (CLTC). The third born of four sons, Duli went to Kemabolo Primary School from 1971 to 1976, then to Kwikila High where he completed his secondary schooling. After Grade 10, Duli did at PETT clerical course at POMTECH. The following year, in 1982, he joined Westpac Bank as a teller. In 1985, he resigned and moved across to Lloyds International Bank, again as a teller.
A year later, Duli said he had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus which would alter the direction of his life. Coming home late one night, intoxicated, Duli heard a voice: “If you died tonight, where will you spend eternity?”
That night, with the help of family, he surrendered to Jesus Christ. Duli began to attend service regularly at the nearby Tokarara Christian Fellowship (TCF), starting a new chapter in his life.
Despite a promising career at the Lloyds Bank, Duli felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to enter the pastoral ministry. Going home to the village that weekend, he sat down and discussed the call with his parents. It was to be a sacrifice for them, considering Duli, more than his other siblings, faithfully set aside financial support for them each fortnight. Letting him go would greatly affect their livelihood.
However, thinking back to their prayer many years ago, they realised the “one son” they promised to give back to God was sitting right before them. Tearfully, the parents embraced their son and released him to God’s service. On Dec 31, 1987 Duli walked out of secular employment for the last time.
His first challenge after choosing to serve God happened that New Year’s eve. Duli said he heard God tell him to stay back in the city instead of going home to the village where he was to take the midnight service. He reluctantly obeyed. That night, drunken youths in the village seriously assaulted his father and attacked his family.
On hearing the news the next day, he realised why God had told him to stay back – he would certainly have reacted violently to the attack, thus destroying his testimony.
Duli spent a year at Keapara assisting Pastor Walo Ani of PNG Missionary Association (PNGMA) set up the Kiru Missionary Training Centre. It was there while cutting grass one afternoon that a foreboding sense of discouragement overcame him. Tossing the grass knife aside, Duli sat down dejected, asking aloud why he had resigned from a well-paid job at the bank to end up like this. Just then, the Holy Spirit illumined a verse in 1 Cor: 15: 58 which says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (KJV). His countenance changed. He had now gained victory over his second major temptation.
That year, Duli went on a Step programme (short term missions exposure) aboard the MV Doulos and spent three months in Tabubil working with senior clergyman Pastor Martin Wayne in the rugged Star Mountains. With practical ministry now under his belt, he was now ready for formal Bible training.
Starting studies at CLTC Banz Campus in 1989, Duli graduated in 1992 with a Diploma in Theology and began working with PNGMA. In 1995, he married Mary Virobo, daughter of Tauruba magistrate Rua Virobo and Logeanamo. Mary was a primary school teacher who trained in missions at her Bethel Centre Church, and also served on the MV Doulos.
The couple moved in 1996 to the Mt Hagen Baptist Church, then in 1997 to Goroka where Duli completed an Advanced Certificate in Counselling at the Melanesian Institute. During that time, he went through yet another trial – he was bed-ridden for eight months suffering paralysis from waist down. Despite that, the couple set up the Baptist Students’ Association at the University of Goroka.
After being healed of the ailment, and upon graduating, the Asi family suddenly found themselves in limbo, unemployed. For the next four months, they felt the hand of God miraculously sustaining them each day. Then he was appointment as principal of the Baptist Bible College in Kwinkia, Baiyer River.
After a three-year term, he returned to CLTC Banz for his Bachelor of Theology degree. This was followed by a term as pastor at his local Tokarara Christian Fellowship church from 2004 to 2007, and as senior pastor at Lae Baptist Church in 2008.
The following year was a blessing for Duli as he received an AusAID Development Scholarship for a Graduate Diploma in Community Counselling course at the Canberra University from 2009 to 2010. He returned the following year to CLTC Banz, this time as a lecturer. He was promoted to deputy principal, administration, in 2014 until he resigned in 2016 to move to the Port Moresby centre where he currently is. His wife Mary teaches at the PNG Life Centre School which serves the underprivileged children of the Baruni Dump area.
Pastor Asi is full of praise for God for the experiences he has gone through in life and ministry.