This handicraft group has a special focus, as Papua New Guinea finds itself in a situation where many of their people have become infected with HIV and then subsequently become AIDS sufferers.
A large team of volunteers have joined together to raise money for this ministry, where volunteers make a wide range of items such as baby bags, hand-bags, 'billas' (woven shopping bag), mobile phone carriers, shopping bags, and items of clothing.
Wendy Kopelya was one of the Papua New Guinea delegates at the recent Baptist World Alliance Living Water Australasian-South Pacific conference held in Cairns where she gave a video testimony for Australian Missionary News IPTV.
This IPTV channel is a courtesy of SafeWorlds IPTV, which provides a Christian channel within their commercial IPTV network. It is run by Well-Being Australia's 'Basil Sellers Press Service International'.
"Our handicraft group bought to the Living Waters Cairns conference three huge plastic bags of our crafted items," Wendy Kopelya said. "We sold many many of them and so have raised some money for our HIV AIDS program."
The Mt Hagen Baptist Church Handicraft Group also supports widows and orphans because in much of Papua New Guinea, a widow does not remarry when her husband dies. This is not well known outside this culture.
"It is thus very difficult for many women whose husbands have died and there are children to feed and educate. Our Handicraft group makes a very special effort to help these women and their children as well," Wendy Kopelya told Mark Tronson of the Australian Missionary News IPTV.
Wendy herself grew up in a Christian family and went to Sunday School with the missionary's children, as her parents were Missionary helpers.
"I gave my life to Jesus Christ when I was 13 years old, and allowed the Lord Jesus to become my personal Saviour," Wendy Kopelya affirmed.
The greatest joy in Wendy's life is her love of Christ and that she is able to help so many others, for this is how she demonstrates her love of the Lord.
"The Lord Jesus gives me wonderful strength for living," Wendy Kopelya explained. "He sustains my in my busy life as a church volunteer, a wife and a mother of three children."